Chapter 339: Shen: I made a decision that went against our ancestors
This war documentary, which was eventually named "The Disaster of Barou", was filmed at the fastest speed possible under the strong promotion of President Levi.
The reason why Levi was in a hurry to shoot this war documentary was not to let Master Yi use it to convince the Order of the Balance.
He intended to use it to convince the Zaun people, to arouse their sympathy and support for the Ionians, and to carry out pre-war mobilization propaganda for Zaun's future cross-sea expedition to support Ionia.
As for creating pre-war propaganda works, no creative genre could be more effective than a documentary.
Because most of the time, humans are animals whose emotions are greater than their rationality.
It is often stories, not facts, that move people.
You know, the Noxian Empire has invaded Ionia for several years.
The people of Zaun and Piltover have long known that the Ionians have been suffering tremendous pain from the war of aggression - this fact is known to the whole world and does not need to be repeated by the leaders.
But once they knew the truth, did they sympathize with the Ionians?
In the beginning there was.
But then it was gone.
Because Ionia was too far away from the lives of the residents of the Twin Cities and the war lasted too long, people became completely desensitized to the suffering happening to others and had no feelings at all.
People were initially amazed by the shocking news that 10,000 Ionians had died in the Noxian massacre.
But later, as Noxus carried out more and more massacres in Ionia, this number became larger and larger.
From 10,000, to 100,000, to 1 million, or even more...
By this time, no one cared how many people died in Ionia.
As long as no one dies in front of you, that 1 million people is just a meaningless number.
How many people died in Ionia, and what does it have to do with Zaun? The Ionians have been invaded by Noxus for several years, but they have not been destroyed, right?
Since you, the leader, said that wealth is created by the working people, why should you use the wealth created by us Zuan people to support others?
…
This is what many Zaun people are thinking now.
That's why Levi wrote the article "We Should Make Zaun Disappear" to correct the wrong ideas within the association.
However, not all Zaun people are leaders who can listen to boring theories, and theoretical education has a very limited effect on them.
Therefore, leaders need to make war documentaries and turn the distant truth into bloody stories.
With pictures and sounds, people feel as if they are in the scene, as if they are the protagonist of the story.
Only in this way can you truly touch people's hearts.
Like now:
"This..." Shen, Akali, and the members of the Kinkou were all completely shocked at this moment.
This documentary, titled "The Barue Catastrophe," forcibly pulled them out of this paradise-like mountain range.
It forces them to face a cruel reality that they are very aware of but find difficult to face.
They saw many such scenes from the real images projected by the Hextech projector.
They saw:
The fleeing children drowned in the water, their bodies lying on the beach;
The wounded girl fell to the ground, and the vulture waited patiently for her to die.
The man pushed the cart with difficulty, looking at the dead bodies lying on the roadside with a numb expression;
The woman tried hard to flirt, hoping to get some of the food that the Noxian soldiers had stolen back.
…
The leader simply sent people to wander around the province of Baruo and the occupied areas of Noxus a few times, and they easily captured these cruel and real scenes.
The images, the music, the mature lens language and film editing techniques in the Twin Cities...
The impact of this documentary is even more than witnessing it with your own eyes.
"..." Shen was completely speechless. So was Kennen.
Because they knew that these were all true. They had seen many of the scenes in the film with their own eyes at the foot of the mountain.
That's why Shen was so conflicted, wondering whether to break tradition and go out to save the world, or to stick to his principles and defend the mountain gate.
While traveling in the mountains, his heart was more inclined towards the former.
But returning to the mountain, living in the beautiful scenery of this paradise, far away from the cruel reality, Shen's heart will unconsciously turn back and lean towards the conservative side.
But now, Yi brought the tragedy that happened at the foot of the mountain directly in front of him.
He could no longer avoid reality and pretend that he couldn't see it.
"Shen, Kennen..." Akali murmured.
The shock this documentary brought to her was even greater than the shock it brought to Kennen and Shen.
Because of her, there are many young apprentices of the Order of the Balance who have lived in the mountain gate their entire lives from childhood to adulthood.
Except for the brief period when they were robbed and driven out of the mountain gate and forced to move, they had almost never traveled in the world below the mountain, and had never witnessed with their own eyes the profound disaster that Noxus brought to this land.
They only knew that the Ionians were suffering, but they had no idea how desperate and terrifying this suffering could be.
And now, she finally saw it.
In the most impactful way possible.
"People in the mountains and outside the mountains, have they been experiencing this all the time?" Akali looked at Shen and Kennen: "Shen, Kennen, these things... you have all seen them, right?"
“……” Shen was speechless.
Even the old veteran Kenan was speechless.
"You've all seen it!" Akali clenched her fists in anger. "Then how can you still stick to those broken rules and do nothing?!"
At this moment, she even felt that she could understand that great enemy was doomed.
What's the point of maintaining a shitty balance if we just stand by and watch such a tragedy?
"Akali, calm down..." Kennen tried to reason.
However, he, who had previously been able to explain the way of balance to Akali with clear logic, now found it difficult and awkward to even repeat his own theory.
no way……
The documentary is still playing in front of everyone.
Kennen couldn't point at the victim in the picture in front of everyone and say, "We in the Order of the Balance have our own rules. For the sake of the overall balance of all things, let's first make these fellow Barue people suffer and let them fend for themselves."
Even if this statement really made sense, and there was some overall balance that needed to be taken into consideration, he couldn't say that.
Because this is not human language at all.
If he tells it, how can he continue to be a respected senior in the sect and a favorite squirrel teacher among the children?
"Shen." Kennen simply started to move: "You make the decision."
"I..." Master Shen's computer suddenly crashed.
He was somewhat indecisive.
Now asking him, a person with indecisiveness, to make such an important decision on behalf of everyone is simply asking for his life.
"Master Shen." Yi saw the right moment and advised, "We, the Leaders, need your support—not only to support us, but also to support the suffering people of the entire Barue Province!"
"So, please lend us a helping hand! Help us drive out the Noxian invaders, save the millions of lives in the province of Baru, and bring peace to Ionia!"
Master Shen remained silent.
But his heart has been moved.
"I know that the mission of the Order of the Balance is to maintain the balance of all things, so I don't want to get involved in the mortal world and disrupt the situation."
"But can your helping us just this once really affect the balance?"
"No!" Master Yi said while the iron was hot: "If you don't take action, the balance will be damaged!"
"Because the Noxians have already done . Their killing in the province of Barue will never stop, but will only intensify—"
"If nearly a million people in Barue die in the war, the entire island of Barue will become infested with evil spirits and barren!"
"Master Shen, do you really think that doing this is beneficial to the equilibrium?"
"I..." Shen couldn't say any more.
He watched the tragic scenes being shown in the documentary, and recalled the real scenes he had witnessed at the foot of the mountain.
The Eye of Twilight is responsible for maintaining the balance between the two worlds, which requires absolute indifference and rationality.
Evil spirits that trample on the material realm and humans that destroy the spiritual realm - these are the only two things he needs to eradicate.
All matters beyond this are not within the scope of Twilight Eyes' responsibilities.
Shen has been trying hard to emulate his father, hoping to become a qualified Twilight Eyes. But he is Shen after all, not "Twilight Eyes".
He still cares about worldly affairs and the people of Ionia.
Finally, Shen made a decision that went against his ancestors:
"Master Yi, this time..."
"The Order of the Balance can take action."
