Chapter 171
Chapter 171
I looked down at the city from the hovering aerial vehicle. The night view of Border City was so bright that the darkness of night seemed meaningless, with pillars of light shooting up brilliantly.
‘A city like an old junk box hastily thrown together.’
Border City had no sense of order. Standards and styles were all over the place. Even the roads varied wildly in width, often narrowing unpredictably and blocking passage for no apparent reason.
It was a city where common-sense expectations like ‘Of course, it would be like this.’ simply didn’t apply. Everywhere was filled with unfamiliar and alien elements, and variables lurked at every corner. Those who couldn’t adapt to the ever-changing environment were weeded out.
‘Adapt to the environment.’
I looked down before closing my eyes. I had to empty my mind of the common sense that bound me and accept the city as it was. If I got caught up in conceptual standards and failed to keep up with reality, I would be left behind.
Reality was always more complex and dynamic than our expectations. Inflexible thinking would shatter when faced with an unimaginably unpredictable world.
Reality was an absurd lottery box filled with irrational events. Some people could reach into it just once and pull out an overwhelming fortune beyond belief, while others could reach in ten times and only grasp suffering.
‘An absurd reality.’
The world we live in doesn’t always reward relentless effort with fairness. Results often betray expectations, and hard work frequently seems to vanish into nothing.
To live in this world means to endure that absurdity without despair... and to reach into the lottery box one more time.