Chapter 41: 40: "It's not that the club is unaffordable, but AI pills are more cost-effective.
"A type of experience that only a very few people can have, almost impossible to achieve in reality, but with just 98 credits, you can go wild in your dreams and DIY your own unique experience."
"It's not just men, women are also the main purchasers."
"In reality, everyone has a lot of concerns, moral concerns, safety concerns, health concerns, ethical concerns, future concerns, and so on."
"But in dreams?"
"Sorry to say, but over eighty percent of women don't mind having a dozen Daniel Wu-like men attending to them in their dreams, especially when it only costs a trivial 98 credits."
"Besides, there are some hidden sufferers with a bull-head fetish, who have the desire in reality but dare not fulfill it because the process is irreversible, but in dreams, isn't that doing as you please?"
"Just tie yourself up and watch your wife... "
"With all sorts of usage scenarios, combined with an extremely low price, and no side effects or addictive components, this 'AI' pill instantly blew up upon release, causing a sensation across the whole Federation!"
"The first day's sales broke through 3 billion!"
"This was despite many offline sales points not being set up, a lack of resources for a proper promotional campaign, among other factors. On the second day, sales broke through 10 billion."
"After that, the sales kept doubling day by day."
"The old lady selling pancake fruit at the entrance of the residential complex, the elders in the nursing home staring at the withered tree in the courtyard, the housewives taking care of children at home, the students who didn't dare to sneak a taste of the forbidden fruit, the working dogs with a nine-to-five job, the financial tycoons who had enjoyed all there was to enjoy, and so on, all were the target user groups for this product."
"Before this, there was no product like 'AI Pills' that could cover every demographic, every group. Even a dog, if it were conscious, it would carry its bowl to the streets to beg, just to earn enough 98 credits to treat the little red dog tied next door in its dream."
"This is a revolutionary product!"
"It proves that the Federation's biotech has climbed yet another level with this blockbuster product!"
"Never mind the rest, I just have one question for you, would you purchase this product?"
"..."
Chen Miao stood in place, his face slightly shocked; he had never imagined there could be such a product. This... this product sounded like all gain and no harm. Could there be anything wrong with it?
Any experience you desired could be satisfied in dreams!
Even if you liked car exhaust pipes, you could create hundreds of cars in your dreams and have them all aim their exhaust pipes at you, free for you to choose.
The most important part was that it was inexpensive and harmless. How could such a product be illegal?
He was the first to object!
This was an opportunity that had to be seized!
Making money was secondary; he had to personally experience whether this product was truly as miraculous as claimed.
Could you really do anything in dreams, freely control your own dreamscape?
"Heh heh."
It was at this moment—
Hungry Monkey, who had been standing by the side, apparently lost in thought with a vacant expression and about to drool, let out a silly laugh, bringing Chen Miao back to reality. Chen Miao wondered what Hungry Monkey had been thinking about to be so enraptured.
Feeling rather embarrassed, Chen Miao slapped Hungry Monkey on the face and then looked back at Zhou Yiming as if nothing had happened: "Hmm, this product really is amazing, but why is it banned? So far, I can't see any reason for it to be illegal."
"Sigh."
Zhou Yiming let out a long sigh and began to explain, "You are not part of the system, so you might not be aware of many things. A long time ago, prostitution was illegal, but the Federation didn't crack down too hard on it."
"There are many reasons for this."
"For example, it's an inevitable byproduct of social development and cannot be completely eradicated."
"And it does, to some extent, reduce the incidence of rape cases."
"But the main reason is that cracking down on it is completely unprofitable. You know, to completely eliminate prostitution, you'd definitely need to construct a special building, right? At least three thousand police officers would be needed in a city just to handle that."
"You would have to constantly monitor online information, supervise potential users and habitual offenders all day long, conduct random checks, make home visits to warn them, and so on."
"And catching someone for prostitution, the maximum penalty under federal law is fifteen days detention and a fine of 3000."
"Calculate the cost. How much money does it take to sustain such a workforce every year? What about social security and salaries? Operational costs? Where do you put all these detained people? If you fine someone just 3000, how much money would you lose every year?"
"This issue itself isn't something that significantly destabilizes society."
"But you can't just ignore it, otherwise there would undoubtedly be a lot of human trafficking of women and children, and then capital would get involved, possibly leading to brand effects where users spend 1000 to experience services worth 200, and all sorts of messy things."
"Until after the world transcendentalized—"
"Within the countless Lifestyle Occupations, 'Miss' became a Lifestyle Occupation."
"It perfectly solved this problem."
"Citizens over 18 years old, regardless of gender, could freely choose to switch to this occupation. Upon transitioning to lv.1, they would naturally possess skills like 'Flying Dragon in the Sky,' 'Surprised Dragon in the Clouds,' 'Jiaolong Playing in the Water,' and with each use of a skill, their proficiency would increase by one point. As the Skill Level increased, so would the Skill Effect and experience, which fundamentally eliminated the need for establishments to train them."
"With each client they took, they would gain experience points, and there was even a special Supernatural Occupation, 'Night Beauty,' that had 'Miss' at lv.10 as a prerequisite for activation."
"Moreover, the Federation completely destroyed all clubs with special services. All clubs were incorporated by the Federation, and each 'Miss' was given an official position, perfectly resolving the issue of it being a short-lived career with no pension and eliminating the risk of human trafficking."
"With state-run operations, where would you traffick to? If you dared to sell, it wouldn't be petty crime anymore. Getting caught meant the death penalty."
"From then on, the industry was completely whitewashed, not only legalized but also state-operated. Faced with the huge pie of high taxes from this industry, the Federation chose to run it itself, making the pie even bigger and swallowing it all."
"'Misses' no longer charged per service but received wages, with regular hours from nine to five, weekends off, and a clear promotional path within the system..."
Zhou Yiming, having said so much in one breath, felt his mouth dry. He licked the corner of his mouth subconsciously and lit a cigarette, bringing it to his lips, "This industry brings substantial profits to the Federation every year."
"To put it this way,"
"The Federation's total military expenditure last year was less than a third of the profit from this industry."
"And—"
Zhou Yiming drew out his words, sighing helplessly, "While the Federation was happily counting the endless Real Gold and Silver flowing into their accounts each year, 'AI Pills' suddenly emerged. 'Pills, Pills, the world will end sooner or later, better to indulge in our dreams, Pills'—this brainwashing ad took root in everyone's mind."
"That was seven or eight years ago, so it's normal if you haven't heard of it."
"The very moment these pills appeared, they almost instantly destroyed the state-operated clubs, which nearly went out of business on the spot."
"You should know that although the clubs were legalized after becoming state-operated, the entry threshold became much higher, and the prices weren't low either."
"Not that people couldn't afford the clubs, but the AI Pills were more cost-effective."
"As a result, just three months after these pills arrived, they were listed as contraband."
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