Otaku Translation: Literary Genius: This Kid Was Born Smart C171

Please support the translation by reading the translation and commenting on otakutl official site.

Thank you.

Everyone from Otaku Translation

Chapter 171: For the Benefit of Mankind

This was the first time Gu Lu’s story had been published in a magazine, but he hadn’t received his complimentary copy. Apparently, it had been lost at the courier station…

Whether or not the courier company compensated him, Gu Lu made a mental note to avoid using this particular service—Best Express—in the future.

Science Fiction World should have higher sales than Chronicles of Mystery, so why did its reach seem smaller?

In any case, Gu Lu had to walk quite a distance before finally purchasing a copy of Science Fiction World. Like most magazines, the cover featured recommendations for a few key stories.

The two highlighted works in this issue were:

[For the Benefit of Mankind

○ Gu Lu

"The peak of capitalism is when '99% of the world's wealth is concentrated in the hands of one person!'”

Wandering Moon

○ Jiang Bo

"The fate of the moon rests in your hands."]

Based on the editor-in-chief’s judgment, the lead story was For the Benefit of Mankind, a scathing satire by Gu Lu.

Most readers bought this issue because of Jiang Bo.

Jiang Bo, a renowned Chinese science fiction writer, always delivered impactful and thought-provoking works. His Primordial World Trilogy and The Dance of Shiva (translated into Japanese and published in a Japanese sci-fi magazine) showcased his considerable talent.

However, readers were puzzled: Who was Gu Lu? How had he managed to outshine Jiang Bo?

As they began reading For the Benefit of Mankind, complaints started rolling in.

“The protagonist’s name is Huatang (‘Smooth Bore’)? What kind of lazy naming is this?”

“Social Wealth Liquidation Committee? Brother Civilization? If you’re bad at naming things, let me help!”

“A hitman assignment as the opening? Is this even sci-fi?”

Perhaps expectations were too high. Even though the cover recommendations didn’t indicate hierarchy, being listed alongside Jiang Bo implied Gu Lu must be someone special.

But from the opening alone, it seemed otherwise.

There were too many flaws. First, the names: Huatang and Chige (“Tooth Brother”) were bizarre. Sure, there might be some backstory behind them—Chige always carried a saw, while Huatang had learned at an assassin school how to control the trajectory of bullet holes—but this only fueled readers’ dissatisfaction.

It wasn’t a mafia tale or a martial arts story; what was all this about an assassin school? To make matters worse, the protagonist Huatang was revealed to be an orphan raised by Chige.

Did the early part of the story have no redeeming qualities? Well, not exactly. Most readers continued reading due to two intriguing mysteries:

First, why was the “Brother Civilization” spaceship hovering in mid-air? Second, why had the top twenty wealthiest individuals on the Forbes list formed a Social Wealth Liquidation Committee and gone through such trouble to hire hitmen to kill the three poorest people on Earth?

These two suspenseful threads kept readers hooked, even those like Old Li—a veteran reader who prided himself on knowing everything about literature except sci-fi. By the time he reached this point, Old Li was so engrossed that he accidentally swallowed his tea leaves instead of spitting them out.

Old Li disliked using filters in his thermos, so he always spat out the tea residue after each sip. But now, distracted by the story, he’d swallowed it all.

“Starting with a hitman assignment feels reminiscent of Good Intentions, but sci-fi needs to stay grounded in its genre—it can’t just stray off course,” Old Li muttered.

Yet as he read further, something caught his attention.

“Oh, oh! Although Xiao Gu isn’t suited for writing sci-fi, his biting satire shines through. The social stratification among vagrants is vividly depicted.”

Among the 300,000 vagrants, the upper class bribed security guards to access upscale neighborhoods where they scavenged nearly new items discarded by the wealthy.

The middle class scavenged valuable scrap metal and electronics from waste transfer stations—but entry to these stations was controlled by local vagrant leaders.

The lowest class, the largest group, eked out a living at landfills on the outskirts of cities, sifting through worthless trash and rotting food. One of Huatang’s targets was a female vagrant so weak she could only scavenge at the very edges, picking over garbage others had already discarded.

“Scavenging garbage from garbage—Xiao Gu’s satire here is more overt than usual,” Old Li remarked. Typically, Gu Lu’s critiques were subtle, leaving half the meaning unspoken.

But was this really overt?

No, no, no.

As Old Li continued reading, the true shock came when the suspense unraveled.

Why would billionaires worth billions hire hitmen to kill vagrants?

Because the Brother Civilization had fled their dying planet and chosen Earth as their new home.

But they weren’t outright monsters—they offered humanity a deal. They would cordon off Australia as their settlement zone. When Australian authorities resisted, the Brother Civilization wiped out the entire population with a single blast from their ship’s secondary cannon.

Recognizing their inferiority, humanity had no choice but to submit.

With billions crammed into Australia, there simply wasn’t enough arable land or industrial capacity to sustain themselves. The Brother Civilization proposed a solution: For the Benefit of Mankind.

[“Under the relocation plan, the Brother Civilization will conduct a comprehensive social census of humanity to determine the minimum standard of living currently required. Based on this standard, they will allocate resources to each individual.”]

Hence the need for the Social Wealth Liquidation Committee.

Hence the push to enrich vagrants.

Hence the decision to eliminate the poorest individuals.

After all, the rich couldn’t bear to live poor lives!

“Incredible! The rich only share wealth sincerely when their own interests are threatened. This satire is absolutely brilliant!” Old Li exclaimed.

If the story had ended here, For the Benefit of Mankind would have been merely excellent. But what elevated it to legendary status was the subsequent dialogue between Huatang and a census officer from the Brother Civilization.

The twist unfolded—

The Brother Civilization’s refugees were not invaders but escapees. In other words, they were all poor—twenty billion impoverished individuals fleeing their home planet.

On their original planet, all wealth had been monopolized by a single person. The skies, oceans, and even the air belonged to him. He was called the Ultimate Proprietor.

Twenty billion poor versus one rich man! The cause of this grotesque disparity? “Higher education.” The Brother Civilization had developed technology to directly implant knowledge into brains.

But the cost was astronomical—equivalent to buying two or three 150-square-meter apartments in prime locations like Beijing or Shanghai. Only a select few could afford such education.

The gap between those who received higher education and those who didn’t was akin to the difference between humans and dogs—they were no longer the same species.

“Holy crap, holy crap! This writing…” Old Li gasped. These lines were chilling upon reflection: “This is humanity’s second evolution. The first separated us from apes through natural selection; this one separates us from the poor through another equally sacred principle: the inviolability of private property.”

Look at Old Li’s reaction—he was a seasoned editor who had read countless books, yet even he was stunned. Imagine how ordinary readers felt!

For the Benefit of Mankind detonated like a bomb within the sci-fi community!

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/literary-genius-this-kid-was-born-smart/

If you like this project, please rate or leave a review for this novel through the above link, thank you.

Join our discord you will receive update notification

If you would like to support this translation, you may choose any one of the options below.

All the tiers provide an off-line reading experience

Tier 1: 10 Advance chapters

Access fee $3.00 Monthly