Chapter 143 Economic Issues
"The soul absorbed by it can only be freed by using my soul as the key."
“This is the only possibility.”
"Even if it is my will, I cannot change the rules of [Knowing or Not]."
"So…"
Adam smiled expectantly: "Are you willing to accept the challenge?"
Narancia clenched his fists tightly, and he almost subconsciously wanted to answer "Accept the challenge".
"Calm down!" Bucciarati grabbed Narancia's arm and said, "This is a trap."
"I know…"
Naranja held his head in pain:
"I don't have the brains... Even Fugo failed, there's no way I can win him."
"But I won't give up just like that!"
In the darkest moment of his life, it was Fugo who rescued him from homelessness.
Now Fugo's soul was imprisoned and collected. No matter what Narancia said, he could not bear it, let alone remain calm.
"Ha ha."
Appreciating such entanglement and pain, Adam kindly reminded:
"You'd better not come and die."
"Anyone who can't even solve elementary school math problems is not qualified to be my opponent."
"you?!"
Narancia was angry at first, but then he put down his fist helplessly.
He knew that the other party's ridicule was actually correct. He was not good at competing in knowledge and did not have the strength to compete with Adam at all.
"what to do?"
Everyone was in a state of confusion and helplessness, and the air was extremely silent.
"I think..." Apache played the bad guy and said the most cruel but rational choice: "Why not just kill the bastard."
"Continuing to challenge will only cause more companions to fall into the trap."
"Withdraw in time..." He paused with some reluctance: "Only then can the losses be minimized."
Surviving with a severed arm is an ancestral skill of the Stand users, but now what needs to be severed is not an arm, but a life.
However, faced with such a cruel proposal, even Bucciarati and Narancia, who had the deepest feelings for Fugo, did not react for a moment.
Reality is not a passionate cartoon. The objective gaps cannot .
Now we have to compete with knowledge...
Narancia, primary school education; Mista, junior high school education; Abbaccio, high school education; Giorno, junior high school student; Bucciarati, junior high school dropout;
Fuge, who dropped out of college, is already the most educated among them. If even Fuge failed in his challenge, how could others succeed?
After all, they suffered from their lack of education.
“Let me do it!”
In this atmosphere of despair, the only college student in the team who had received higher education stood up.
Li Qing walked up to Adam with a serious expression and sat down: "Let me be your opponent!"
"Li Qing?!"
Giorno frowned and said in a serious tone: "Are you sure? If you get caught up in this..."
"Don't worry, I've observed..."
"If nothing unexpected happens, I should be 80% sure."
Li Qing answered so calmly.
For the first time, he did not turn on the data mode during the battle, but stared at the enemy with his own eyes:
"Listen up Adam, I, Li Qing, now officially accept your question-and-answer challenge!"
"good!"
There was a hint of eagerness in Adam's eyes.
He looked at Li Qing's hairstyle, which was very popular among high-level intellectuals, and vaguely sensed a breath of wisdom.
This soul, which seemed to contain a vast amount of knowledge, was exactly the spoils he was looking forward to:
"Very good, in that case..."
"Then let us bet our souls and begin this challenge!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the book that had just devoured Fugo's soul rose into the air again.
It opened its pages, emitting a strange halo.
The light chain penetrated into Adam and Li Qing's brains, and then a projection light screen appeared in the air:
“First round.”
"Li Qing, please ask your question. The time limit is one minute."
"You first."
Adam explained the rules to Li Qing again in an impatient tone:
"As long as you can ask a question that I can't answer, and then answer the question I asked, you win the challenge."
"Of course, the questions have to be asked within the narrow scope of knowledge."
"The test is about the knowledge that can be memorized. It is against the rules to embarrass others with some personal questions. Math problems that require a lot of time to calculate on the spot are also not allowed."
"I hope you won't try to be clever and end up killing yourself like that little brat just now."
"clear."
Li Qing laughed as if prepared:
"This macroeconomic question should be formal enough, right?"
"Well, accept my question--"
The thought was transmitted through the light chain, and a question then appeared on the projection light screen:
“Q: In 20 years, which country will be the world’s second largest economy?”
"Adam Cheever, please answer in one minute."
"What?!"
Adam's expression suddenly changed:
"Twenty years from now? Isn't this just about predicting the trend of the world economy in twenty years?"
"How can you have the right answer to a question that even top economists have difficulty answering accurately? This is a foul and should be ruled as..."
As he spoke, his voice suddenly choked.
Because, after Li Qing raised this question, the absolutely fair "truth machine" did not judge Li Qing to have committed a foul.
In other words... Li Qing knows the correct answer to this question.
"How is that possible?!"
Adam couldn't help but begin to doubt his life.
Li Qing just sat there calmly, imitating Adam's previous behavior and mocking him with disdain:
"What? You only know how to recite economic theories, but can't predict economic trends?"
"You still say that your wisdom is superior to others... If you don't know how to use it, the knowledge you memorized by rote is completely garbage!"
"you?!"
Adam clenched his fists unconsciously, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged and squirmed like snakes in anger.
Li Qing's words inadvertently touched the void in his heart and reminded him of his past:
He is a genius, a prodigy.
He has a photographic memory, is well-informed, knows everything from astronomy to geography, is well-versed in both Eastern and Western learning, and is knowledgeable about both ancient and modern times... In Adam's view, these idioms from the ancient Eastern countries seem to be eulogies tailor-made for him.
He could remember all the books he had read, including the punctuation marks the author had placed on every page and paragraph.
He can remember all the knowledge he has heard, including the tone of the teacher's lecture in every lesson and every sentence.
In Adam's view, since he has the wisdom that stands at the pinnacle of human beings, he should have a position superior to others.
"I'm in the United States and just got off the plane." He doesn't even bother to take this level of life seriously.
Of course, this is just Adam's own fantasy.
In fact, this so-called genius, who had been admired by thousands of people since childhood with the aura of a child prodigy, was persuaded to drop out by his tutor when he just started studying for a master's degree.
The professor said:
“You only know how to memorize, but you have no idea how to create and apply. You think you have extensive knowledge, but you are never profound.”
"The fragmented knowledge is totally unsystematic and is just a pile of garbage!"
"People like you shouldn't be wasting time in the lab, but should be performing 'acrobatics' on TV."
The strict professor mercilessly woke Adam up from his fantasy.
But Adam refused to wake up, and he went crazy in the humiliation of being kicked out.
In order to prove that his wisdom is superior to others, he began to indulge in a boring question-and-answer game - gradually, after awakening some strange power, this question-and-answer game became the only meaning of Adam's existence.
He found great satisfaction in winning again and again, marking his victories with the souls of his opponents.
And now…
At the height of his life, Adam heard Li Qing's ridicule again: "The knowledge you have is nothing but garbage."
"hateful!"
Adam shouted angrily:
"You will pay for what you said!"
"Isn't it just predicting economic trends? I...wait..."
He seemed to suddenly realize something, and his emotions calmed down a little:
"I was almost fooled by you."
“If you think about it, it’s not that difficult to predict what the world’s second-largest economy will be like in 20 years.”
According to the theory of Italian economist Pareto, 20% of people in society own 80% of social wealth. This is the famous 80/20 rule.
This law is not only valid for a certain country, but also has equal significance on a global scale: developed countries, which account for 20% of the world's population, account for 80% of the world's wealth.
The classes have become solidified; the poor will only get poorer, and the rich will only get richer.
Today's economic powerhouse will only be stronger in twenty years.
The remaining poor countries are all peasants despised by Westerners, and are being exploited by the economic powers. Do they want to change their fate?
The Asian financial crisis two years ago has proved that this is simply wishful thinking!
"hehe."
"We have all the high-end technologies in our hands, and the market share that can be shared has already been divided up."
"Unless World War III breaks out, the status quo of the world being ruled by our old developed countries will never change!"
Adam thought carefully for a while and finally came up with an answer:
"Twenty years from now, the world's second largest economy will still be Japan!"
As soon as the words fell...
A hint of disdain appeared on Li Qing's lips.
The 3D light screen flickered for a while, and then displayed the following subtitles:
"Wrong answer."
"Correct answer: Dragon Country."
"What?!!"
Adam's face changed drastically, his eyes widened like a cow:
He had also thought that the country of Wano, which was currently far ahead, might be surpassed by Britain, France, Germany and Italy, but... he could never have imagined that the country would be the number two player!
It is now 1999, and in the Western public opinion at this time...that country is simply a weak entity that will suffer an economic collapse the next day.
Adam has read countless articles and books on economics, and not a single one of them is not pessimistic about Longguo.
Now faced with the correct answer given by the "Truth Machine", he had to doubt his life again:
how so?
It was said to be collapsing!
