Chapter 614: Rebirth of Singularity City

  Chapter 614: The Rebirth of Singularity City

  A subway station near the old settlement.

  Two hunchbacked mutants, surrounded by five young mutant warriors, stood at the entrance of the subway station. They held white flags in their hands and looked at the armored vehicles and machine guns not far away, with anxiety written all over their faces.

  The two old men were priests of the Qi tribe, one of whom was Gomo, and the other was named Henk, a representative of the Ancestors.

  Unlike the secularists, the Ancestors were the first batch of mutants in Singularity City. Their views were undoubtedly extremely radical compared to Singularity City a century and a half ago, but they were undoubtedly conservative to the point of turning back the clock of history compared to the current Qi tribe. Rather

  than hunting humans as prey, they prefer to keep the ones born in the pasture as animals and the remaining free people as slaves.

  Anyway, most farmers in this land do the same thing. There are very few villages like Hope Town where more than half of the people are free.

  They even oppose cannibalism, after all, there are more nutritious foods, and they promised those who don’t want to become mutants that at least they won’t make them into pies… Although this promise is actually meaningless, after all, the moment they win, those residents who don’t want to become mutants have actually lost all their power.

  Without external interference, conservatives in any society will eventually age, and the Qi tribe is no exception.

  Although the original faction has a series of “advanced technologies” including childbirth, it still cannot change the fact that there are more and more new generations in the tribe, and the secular faction that “focuses more on the rights of mutants” has entered the power center.

  However, now, all the warriors named by Gaen in the entire Qi tribe have died in battle, and the rest are the old, weak, sick and disabled and young men who have just learned to snore.

  The “original faction” that advocates living in harmony with humans has regained power.

  Although it is in a sarcastic way.

  ”…It’s useless, they won’t let us go.” Looking at Henk who is still looking forward to peace talks, Gomo sighed.

  There was still a chance to survive if they escaped from the city before the fog cleared, but it was too naive to expect that the humans would let them go.

  However, as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, he was glared back at by the former.

  ”Shut up! If it weren’t for that foolish but reckless Garn and you crazy people who led us into the ditch, how could we have ended up like this!”

  Gomo closed his mouth and his cloudy pupils as he wished, because it was meaningless to say anything at this time.

  Maybe it was because too much time had passed, and that guy had forgotten how they forced the remaining people to make a choice –

  either to voluntarily become mutants or to become beasts in the farm.

  Once they set foot on this road, they can only go one way to the end, at least they will never have a chance to turn back.

  The Alliance seemed to have made a decision.

  An officer of a high rank walked to the front line and gave a few words to the officer wearing an exoskeleton.

  The officer in the exoskeleton nodded, watching the officer walk away, then took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, lighting it with a lighter.

  Seeing that scene, Henk’s eyes were filled with panic.

  What decision required a cigarette first?

  He hurriedly took a half step forward, looking at the rifles raised in warning, and shouted.

  ”Wait, wait! You may not understand, we were actually human beings before! We all worked for the same goal! It’s just that there was a little problem here… but it’s not entirely our responsibility. Considering that we all worked for the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, please at least spare our lives. Please, we are willing to accept all your arrangements-”

  In order to survive, he almost lost all his dignity. The mutant boys beside him panted softly, with struggle and hatred written on their faces.

  But the officer in the exoskeleton didn’t care. He just calmly finished the cigarette, threw it on the ground and stomped it out, while waving his hand impatiently.

  ”Fire.”

  He had given them time to smoke a cigarette to pick up their weapons and continue fighting. If they didn’t want to pick up their weapons, they could just die.

  Negotiation?

  What’s there to talk about with beasts?

  Flames spurted out of the muzzle of the Chimera armored vehicle, and thick tracers instantly pierced through the closed-eyed Gomo.

  The old guy turned into a pool of minced meat on the spot and fell to the ground without a sound. Then fell Henk, who was kneeling on the ground, and the group of guys behind him who were still unconvinced.

  The battle at the entrance of the subway station ended quickly.

  Finally, when the CG animation of the cutscene was over, the players who had been eager to fight rushed into the subway station with their weapons and began the final cleanup.

  The VM’s task panel clearly stated that

  no remnants of the Qi tribe would be left alive.

  And they had planned to do so, especially after seeing the great achievements of those beasts…

  ”Who the hell has worked for the same goal as you?”

  After kicking the bloody corpse, the player who came closer spat on it with cold eyes, holding the rifle and continued to move forward…

  …

  Just as the corps advanced towards the underground transportation network of Jinhe City from the entrances of various subway stations, the 1,000-man team under the First Corps of the Alliance had arrived at the eastern suburbs of Jinhe City.

  In order to accommodate the survivors rescued from the Qi tribe and to accommodate those who were liberated from the rule of the church, the Alliance needs to expand the Songguomu Farm and rename the expanded Songguomu Farm to Singularity City.

  There is a ready-made mind interference device that can be used, which will help those poor people in captivity integrate into human society as soon as possible.

  According to the agreement reached between Chu Guang and Han Shuang, the management of Singularity City will be in charge of it, and the Alliance will only be responsible for defense and security.

  Before the local survivors completely quit Naguo and become individuals with full behavioral capabilities, Chu Guang temporarily does not plan to incorporate Singularity City into the Alliance as the sixth settlement of the Alliance. The cooperation model between the two sides will refer to the current cooperation model between the countries of Luoxia Province and the Alliance.

  Although the enterprises and the colleges are eager for him to take over this mess immediately, Chu Guang certainly cannot agree to them.

  He doesn’t know what the college is thinking. Those people like to play secret room politics. It is difficult to figure out what they are planning, but Chu Guang knows the council’s thoughts very well.

  Once the Alliance completely takes over this settlement, everything that happens here will be the internal affairs of the Alliance. The Council can completely clear off the responsibility of more than a hundred years ago, and even Frost will become his employee. At that time, they will have room to retreat if they make any mistakes.

  At least before the Council cleans up its own ass, Chu Guang can’t use the fruits of the labor of the citizens of the Alliance to pay for their past mistakes.

  Only by uniting with our own people can we unite with others. Any union gained by sacrificing the interests of our own people will always be short-lived.

  After all, both the supported and the supporters know that this good without reason will not last long.

  And things that are destined not to last long are not worth maintaining.

  At the north gate of Songguomu Farm.

  Not long after the sign of Singularity City was erected, a group of people appeared in the north, and the long team was like a long snake.

  Some people carried a bulging backpack, and some drove several two-headed ox carts. They came from the direction of Hope Town, as if they were fleeing.

  The centurion on duty here was named Zheng Liushu. After seeing the group of refugees, he immediately led people to meet them.

  Before he could ask, the leader, Mayor Ma Hechang, took the initiative to confess his identity, and then grabbed his arm, crying and complaining about how the Torch Church united with those mutants to persecute them.

  ”…The land in Hope Town can no longer grow food. I heard that you are willing to take in people oppressed by the Torch. Can you take us in as well?”

  Ma Hechang didn’t tell the truth. The reason he brought the townspeople here was certainly not because the land polluted by the Naguo could not grow food.

  Although this is indeed true.

  In Hope Town, only Mr. Kong’s farm and a few self-employed farmers actually farmed the land. His choice was actually a speculation to a large extent.

  The fog outside had dissipated, and the morning artillery sound had stopped.

  Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Alliance had won the conflict with the Torch Church and became the new owner of this land.

  Unlike the Torch Church, which left the plantation alone, the Alliance planned to rebuild Singularity City and use Singularity City as the center to concentrate on restoring the soil corroded by the Naguo.

  Hope Town was still a little far from Singularity City. It would take a long time for the Alliance to come here to help with poverty alleviation. What if he was accused of being an accomplice and tried at that time?

  It was undoubtedly the best choice to surrender now.

  But to be honest, Ma Hechang had no choice. He himself was a Naguo addict. If the alliance does not allow them to grow Naguo on this land in the future, even if he can bear it, other residents may not be able to give it up.

  Since Hope Town is already a mess, it is best for both himself and the villagers to sell it to the new owner of this land for a good price before it rots.

  Of course, it is not easy to persuade the residents of the town to leave their homes, and he spent a lot of effort to do their ideological work.

  Zheng Liushu felt a headache after listening to his complaints, and finally waved his hand to let them go.

  Although the original intention of this settlement was not prepared for them, the order of the manager is there after all-

  anyone who feels that they need to be taken in is the target of its asylum, and anyone who takes the initiative to leave here will no longer be taken in.

  Maybe when they are tired of living here, they will leave on their own.

  ”Think it over before you go in. This settlement is actually an AI-managed shelter. Its function is to help the rescued survivors gain the ability to support themselves, and to help those who cannot quit Naguo on their own quit that thing… If you have the ability to quit that thing on your own, it would be the best, and you don’t have to come here.”

  Looking at the survivors walking towards the gate, Zheng Liushu reminded them out of duty.

  Hearing this, many people hesitated. After a long while, a hand was raised hesitantly in the crowd.

  ”Does this provide food?”

  Zheng Liushu nodded.

  ”Yes, but you have to work every day.”

  Then someone else immediately asked.

  ”Do you want money?”

  Zheng Liushu shook his head.

  ”No.”

  When the survivors heard that there was such a good thing, they all smiled with relief and walked towards their future new home.

  On the contrary, Mayor Ma, who had been begging for a long time with snot and tears, still stayed here and didn’t leave, holding a round package wrapped in sackcloth in his hands, with a flattering smile on his face.

  To be honest, Zheng Liushu didn’t like this guy.

  He had just arrived here and didn’t know the situation in Hope Town, but he heard that most of the settlements here had cooperated with the Torch Church.

  However, he didn’t need to make things difficult for a poor refugee, so he spoke in a businesslike tone.

  ”Anything else?”

  Ma Hechang nodded quickly and said with a smile.

  ”Yes, yes, sir, I have something to give you!”

  Zheng Liushu suddenly became serious when he heard this, and thought that this guy wanted to bribe him, so he immediately took a step back.

  ”I don’t want your things, put them away!”

  ”No, no, no, this must be given to you.” Ma Hechang took a step forward and untied the package in his arms.

  The moment he saw the contents of the package, Zheng Liushu subconsciously held his breath, and the same was true for several soldiers next to him.

  All he saw was a bloody head wrapped in sackcloth. With

  his brows slightly furrowed, he looked at Ma Hechang and asked in a serious tone.

  ”…What do you mean?”

  Seeing that the lord didn’t see it, Ma Hechang quickly wiped the blood off the head with his sleeve and explained.

  ”Sir, this, this is a mutant’s child.”

  Zheng Liushu was stunned for a moment, and his brows locked tighter.

  ”How can you have a mutant’s child?”

  Ma Hechang continued tremblingly.

  ”It, it is different from other mutants, it is a mixed blood… Occasionally, there will be mutant cubs with more blood of the heir, just like a mule born from a horse and a donkey. We used to allow it to trade here, but now the situation is different. We have completely drawn a line with them.”

  The key point he wanted to say was actually only the last sentence.

  But it seems that this head is too impactful, and he seems to have used too much force…

  ”…Okay, we know.”

  Zheng Liushu took a look at the bloody head, and finally said nothing, twisting his chin towards the soldier beside him.

  ”Bury it.”

  He had no right to comment on the hatred between the locals and the Qi tribe, but they did have the qualifications to do this.

  Besides, it was a mutant, so he had no interest in distinguishing the specific difference between a mixed-blood and a non-mixed-blood.

  It was already smelly. It

  must have been dead for several days.

  The soldier nodded and took the head.

  Ma Hechang was stunned when he saw this, and said quickly.

  ”Sir…won’t you hang it up?”

  Zheng Liushu replied impatiently.

  ”We usually only hang the mastermind and hang it up for public display. After the body stinks, we take it down and burn it. What’s the point of hanging it up?”

  Ma Hechang nodded, thinking that it made sense, but he was still a little worried, and couldn’t help but warn the officer in front of him.

  ”Don’t be soft-hearted and let those people go. They hurt us so badly.”

  ”Don’t worry, our managers have their own arrangements.”

  ”You can make a rack, hang them up, drill a small hole on the top, insert the cotton wick into it and light it, so that it will burn slowly for a few more days.”

  ”We will suggest it to the manager.”

  ”It would be better if the rack could be hung here… Of course, I’m just suggesting it.” Feeling that the officer was a little impatient, Ma Hechang was too embarrassed to ask if anyone was needed to help here, so he quickly shut up and left.

  Watching the guy go away, the soldier on duty next to him couldn’t help but sigh.

  ”Why does this guy have so many problems? Let’s just build him a theater and put two chairs in it, and ask him to sit there and enjoy the show.”

  His name is Yang Gaoshan, and he is also a refugee who survived the Bone Chewing Rebellion.

  However, unlike Old Zheng, who is now a centurion, he had been making bullets on the assembly line of the military factory before, and joined the First Corps a few months ago.

  ”Maybe his relatives died in this disaster?” The taller soldier next to him said casually.

  His name is Wu Pangfei. His family originally lived near Luoye Ridge. Later, he was captured by the Corps and joined the army after being rescued by the Alliance.

  Yang Gaoshan looked at him incomprehensibly.

  ”But what did he do? Wait there? Beg us to take him in after everything is over? Then point fingers at us? I’m not saying that he is not pitiful enough, I just want to ask what qualifications he has to make demands? Did he fight with us, or provide us with food or ammunition? Or is he a citizen of the Alliance?”

  He agreed to help these poor people out of moral obligation, but he hated the guy’s self-righteous face.

  This is not a conflict.

  Zheng Liushu glanced at his two subordinates and said casually.

  ”People are like this. If you are good to him, he hopes you will be better. If you don’t meet the standard of the saint in his mind, he will think that your previous kindness is a prostitute’s memorial arch. Don’t worry, we didn’t come here because we are willing to help, although we ended up helping some poor people.”

  Whether it is to end the wasteland or for the safety of the alliance, this is far from being helpful.

  Yang Gaoshan was still a little indignant.

  ”Poor people… I really don’t feel sorry for them at all, let alone think they are innocent. It seems that they have no choice, but since 150 years ago, which one of them was not their own choice? They made such a big mess, and the stench can be smelled 800 kilometers away. If it were me, I would let them fend for themselves here. We have a mountain of problems waiting to be solved at home!”

  Zheng Liushu sighed.

  ”You are too extreme. If our managers really do this, their troubles will sooner or later become our troubles.”

  Yang Gaoshan said immediately.

  ”I didn’t say the manager did a bad job. I am always loyal to his decision. I just think these people are not worth saving.”

  ”There are guerrillas fighting alongside us in Xizhou City, and there are rebels in the desert who are determined not to surrender. The workers in Boulder City have stood up, but what about them? They regularly provide slaves to mutants! They beg us to return the little princess to them! It seems that all this is our fault!”

  ”The only one who is still resisting is the Iron Tower, who is from the neighboring province in the south! How can the mayor have the nerve to make demands on us on behalf of his townspeople?”

  Zheng Liushu did not speak. To be honest, he did not like Mayor Ma in his heart. The old soldier on the side coughed lightly and said.

  ”So we only do what we should do. The manager did not ask us to spoil them, nor did he take them back to raise them, but let them rebuild their homes here. Okay, let’s stop this topic… But I still have some doubts about bionic people. Are they really that reliable?”

  He was a mercenary in Boulder City in his early years. He initially helped the Alliance fight because the Alliance gave him bargaining chips. He really joined the Alliance and transferred to the regular army because of a funeral.

  He has lived in Boulder City for a long time, and is more worried about the potential risks of bionic technology than the survivors in Dawn City.

  Ibers is a bionic man, and he did a lot of harm to people when he was an accomplice of the nobles.

  The dragon blood potion is his masterpiece.

  In order to get more awakened people and greater economic benefits, he did not hesitate to tap the awakening potential of the users at the cost of the disability rate of the users. Until the bankruptcy of Boulder City Bank and the chips it issued, many people were burdened with huge loans and struggled to survive in a terrible environment.

  Zheng Liushu thought for a while and said.

  ”That guy is not reliable, but he is just right for them.”

  The old soldier asked in confusion.

  ”Just right?”

  ”Yeah.”

  Recalling what he heard at the work meeting before leaving, Zheng Liushu continued.

  ”The special bionic man of Kangmao Group provides them with a set of routine life. They will get up on time at six o’clock every morning, start working at seven o’clock, take a one-hour lunch break at twelve o’clock, and continue to work until five o’clock in the afternoon. There will be two hours of reading class after work, and lights out and sleep at 10 o’clock in the evening. They will do fixed things at fixed times, and there will be corresponding punishments if they violate them.”

  Although the punishment is not serious, it is just squatting in a small dark room.

  Yang Gaoshan counted on his fingers and said in a daze.

  ”…Why do I feel that this work table sounds good?”

  Wu Pangfei was also stunned.

  ”What if they slack off? Are our workers supporting them in vain?”

  ”Feeding them in vain? How is it possible? We are not a wishing machine,” Zheng Liushu said with a smile, “We will build a railway to here, supply them with materials needed for production, and help them clean up those green things, but they also have to grow some cash crops for us, otherwise what do you think I mean by working?”

  Yang Gaoshan couldn’t help asking.

  ”But what if they are lazy?”

  Zheng Liushu said with a faint smile.

  ”Don’t think that the bionic man can’t see this little cleverness. That guy is actually very smart.”

  Although they don’t need to participate in management work, his superiors mentioned it in the previous work meeting about Singularity City.

  In order to ensure production enthusiasm, the AI ​​named Frost has set three levels of living standards. The lowest level is basic survival, which is for players who fail to meet the KPI assessment standards. The middle level is adequate nutrition, and the highest level is a rich life.

  If there is a surplus in the trade between Singularity City and the Alliance, Frost will deduct the part used to improve productivity, and purchase some consumer goods to improve life and provide them in proportion to the residents with middle-class and highest living standards to encourage production.

  Yang Gaoshan thought for a long time, but couldn’t help but say.

  ”Why do I feel that it still sounds a bit too good…”

  Zheng Liushu shrugged.

  ”Let’s see in a while, it’s too early to say this now.”

  This guy is just thinking about the problem simply.

  The survivors in this settlement are not ordinary people, but Naguo addicts who enter the “wandering” state from time to time.

  Among them are 10,000 “primitives” who have just been rescued from the cage.

  In order to prevent everyone from collectively entering the withdrawal reaction and causing the production work to completely stagnate, Singularity City will lift the restrictions on the use of mind interference devices to a certain extent, and plant a small amount of Naguo to supply some addicts in a gradually decreasing manner until the Alliance’s Biological Research Institute finds a medical treatment plan.

  Because of many special circumstances, the Alliance law is not fully applicable here, and they have not obtained the status of Alliance citizens.

  Wu Pangfei: “Is there no specific deadline?”

  Zheng Liushu thought for a while and said.

  ”I don’t know. At least until the trouble in Haiya Province is resolved, I guess we will all need such a buffer zone… But the administrator said that if someone wants to go out from here, register his biological information and let him go, but don’t come back after going out.”

  In essence, Singularity City is a large-scale shelter managed by AI. It can prevent a large number of Naguo infected people from flooding in and impacting the existing order of the alliance, and at the same time reduce the demand for resources of local survivors to an acceptable minimum.

  The restriction of only entering once is necessary, so that no one will treat this place as a sanatorium and come here to eat vegetarian food for a few days when they are unhappy. How can that work?

  But to be honest, even if he believes in the administrator’s decision and believes that such an arrangement is the best choice for those huge babies, he actually has a little doubt in his heart.

  Having lived in Dawn City, he really doesn’t know what kind of character Ibers is, but Frost knows it well…

  …

  The old site of Hope Town.

  The whole street is empty, there is no trace of people, and there is no sign of living things at all.

  But from the situation on the street, the people here are not in a hurry when they leave, they carefully search for everything they can take away before leaving.

  Obviously they had no intention of coming back here.

  This town had been completely abandoned.

  However, at this moment, two uninvited guests were standing at the town gate.

  ”Is this village deserted?”

  ”It should be.”

  ”What a pity, there are still so many cultivated fields.” Seeing that the place where the battle had been previously abandoned had become deserted, Xinghe Bu Rumeng’s face was somewhat sad.

  Luo Yu, who was standing next to him, was the same, but he could understand the choice of the people here.

  ”There’s nothing to regret. Before it was processed, normal crops could not be grown in this field… Everything that grew would be eroded by the hyphae of the Naguo.”

  Xinghe looked at him puzzled.

  ”Hasn’t the mother nest been destroyed?”

  Luo Yu nodded.

  ”That’s right, but those hyphae will not disappear out of thin air. They just degenerate from the third stage to the second stage.”

  Xinghe sighed.

  ”If you step on a cockroach to death, the eggs will be scattered everywhere.”

  Luo Yu said.

  ”But on the bright side, at least its scale will not continue to expand. As long as enough Kamu trees are planted and the land is burned with synthetic oil, the remaining ash may be used as fertilizer… just like the land rolled over by the flame mower.”

  ”Really…” Xinghe nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly looked at him curiously and continued, “By the way, brother, what are you looking for here?” He

  happened to meet him on the airship, and he followed him without asking at the time.

  Luoyu scratched his head.

  ”A person… Well, it can’t be considered a person.”

  Xinghe was stunned.

  ”… What is that thing?”

  Not knowing where to start, Luoyu sighed after thinking for a moment and said simply.

  ”When I first came here, I thought that brother was a mutant, but after thinking about it, he is actually a poor man who has been harmed… I think I should at least apologize to it.”

  Maybe there are some side quests?

  For example, mutant treasures or something.

  If possible, it would be nice to take him in as a follower.

  He didn’t like to team up with other players, and preferred to explore the wasteland alone. If Xinghe hadn’t insisted on thanking him for his help before, he would have planned to come quietly alone.

  Not knowing that this guy was disgusted by him being in the way, Xinghe was still racking his brains to help him seriously.

  ”Do you remember its name?”

  Luoyu: “I didn’t ask at the time.”

  Xinghe sighed.

  ”That’s all I can do. Hope Town has been refreshed and it’s hard to find an NPC to ask. I’m sorry… Or you can go to the forum to ask the planner?”

  Luoyu thought for a while, shook his head and said.

  ”Forget it, don’t bother him with such personal matters.”

  Maybe this was just a small episode during the 100,000 silver coin mission, or maybe he missed a branch that might be rewarding.

  This is the case with RPGs that can’t be saved.

  If you miss it, you miss it.

  But no matter what, he was quite satisfied with this adventure, and in the end he miraculously survived.

  Although he was just a little bit away from death.

  Although there was no extra medal for completing the game with one life, he still felt quite accomplished.

  After all, death is the norm in this land, and living is unusual.

  ”Give me some time.”

  Xinghe was stunned and asked as he saw Luoyu pulling out a dagger and walking towards the town gate.

  ”What are you doing? Is it convenient?”

  ”Tsk, never mind, wait for me here.”

  Luoyu walked to the town gate alone and stopped. He thought for a while and used the dagger to carve a line of words in a conspicuous place.

  Because it was reserved for NPCs.

  He used human language.

  ”You should have reminded the people here that day, right? Thank you, friend. Otherwise, even if we caught up, I’m afraid few people would survive.”

  ”My name is Luo Yu. If you see this line of words, can you leave your name next to it? I’ll come and take a look next time I pass by here.”

  Just after carving this line of words, Luo Yu suddenly regretted it.

  He dared to say that if other players saw this, they would specify some strange people’s phonetic transliteration names behind it when they came back next time.

  For example, Xiaochuanjun was here or something like that.

  With a wry smile, he crossed out the line. Luo Yu thought about it and wrote at the end.

  ”Pretend I didn’t say it. If we meet again in the future, I’ll ask you in person.”

  Putting away the engraved dagger, Luo Yu nodded with satisfaction, which was regarded as a period for this adventure.

  When this year’s wave is over, he plans to go to the tavern to take on a new mission and go to a more distant place.

  Picking up the rifle leaning against the side, he stepped over the ruts left by the wheels at the intersection in front of the door and merged with the galaxy waiting not far away.

  (End of this chapter)