The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2851

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Chapter 2851 - Waste Disposal

The Larkinson Clan received a large influx of new recruits after Ves unveiled his latest creations.

The Four Living Aspects of Lufa, of which only two were actually accessible at the moment, did wonders in changing the opinions of the refugees.

Lost, hurt and angry, the citizens of Veoline were cast adrift ever since the Supreme Revolution overtook the Life Research Association.

If they were left to stew by themselves, who knew what kind of ugly or deviant thoughts they immersed themselves with. Of all of the refugees, few of them specialized in treating mental health issues.

The Living Aspects changed that. To those who were receptive to approaching the oddly-real and vivid statues of giant angels, they began to look at themselves, their lives and their place on this planet in a different light.

Ves saw all kinds of irritable and outright aggressive people calming down when they entered one of the plazas.

To those who lost more than others, the mind-numbing presence of the Aspect of Tranquility provided an escape from their pain.

The Aspect of Healing had an even stronger effect on people. The joy and comfort it was able to provide was particularly loved among children.

As for the Aspect of Rationality, the guards did not allow too many people to experience its special glow. Only certain leader figures and educated professionals who were already sound of mind gained an opportunity to approach the mysterious third statue.

Ves carefully studied every person who came under the effects of this aspect. He noted that each of his test subjects adopted an emotionless expression upon entry.

Different from those who basked in the silence of the Aspect of Tranquility, the people who spent time with Lufa’s third aspect became incredibly active!

Their mental activity shot up as the figures made full use of their unrestrained rationality to think about many matters. Since they no longer fell under the sway of their own irrational emotions and biases, their own thinking processes became unprecedentedly clear and honest!

The Aspect of Rationality stripped all of these defenses away, forcing everyone in its presence to view themselves from what they considered to be an objective viewpoint!

Not everyone took this unvarnished image of themselves that well, but the signs of inner turmoil were difficult to spot. Ves gradually discovered that absolute rationality was a frightening concept. While those who became severely affected by it did not act out in any way, once they exited the glow, they quickly broke down and cried in the air!

These incidents had caused a lot of surrounding Lifers to get spooked!

The attentive guards had to activate a gravitic module to drag these poor bastards to the Aspect of Healing to put them back together.

Ever since then, the time that people were allowed to spend around the living aspects was strictly limited. Ves and the others had learned that nothing good came out of spending an excessive amount of time.

No one was allowed to spend more than two hours in the presence of the Aspect of Tranquility and the Aspect of Healing. While the harm they did was minor, their effects were so desirable that the refugees started to get addicted to their glows!

The rules for the Aspect of Rationality were even harsher. The guards always pulled everyone out after they spent just five minutes in its presence.

Any longer, and the chance of suffering a breakdown rose geometrically!

"I get what you are trying to do here, but you can’t allow these poor Lifers to grow dependent on their treatment." Venerable Jannzi complained to Ves. "Did you know that more and more people who came in touch with your mechs have developed the same dependency?"

"Huh?"

"Don’t act stupid, Ves. Many of your mechs such as the Desolate Soldier are able to make people feel good in some way. There aren’t any restrictions to this effect either. As long as someone is able to access the mechs, they can enjoy a mental drug that is always constant and reliable. This problem grew more significant as your mechs became more widespread that there’s even a term for these addicts: glow junkies."

As Ves looked over the wall and down at the mobs of Lifers who adopted mindless expressions in front of Lufa’s aspects, he felt that this label was quite apt!

"While I understand your concerns, I think the risk of developing an addiction outweighs letting these citizens go untreated. Would you rather see them wallow in their own misery to the point of taking their own lives? Compared to the alternatives, I’m doing them all a favor. Besides, as long as we restrict access, this dependency won’t become a major problem."

Venerable Jannzi couldn’t argue with that. She was quite s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e towards the conditions of other people, and she could clearly see that many displaced Lifers truly needed any therapy they could get. There were worse ways to treat them than exposing them to the glows of a couple of weird statues.

"Don’t go too far with exploiting these angel statues. You look like a drug dealer who is pleased with expanding his fixed clientele. While you are doing these people a service by providing them with relief, the cure should never be worse than the disease."

"Hey, who do you take me for? I’m just a mech designer, Jannzi! My business model is not based on turning my customers into addicts so that I can continually exploit them in the long-term by pushing more and more products on them so that my mech company can earn a high and continuous cash flow!"

"..."

After multiple complaints from Venerable Jannzi, Ves acquiesced and limited people’s access to any of the living aspects to just one hour a day.

No matter how glad the existing Larkinsons were at receiving some much-needed reinforcements, the increased exposure to biotechnology led to a considerable degree of friction! _{fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓}