Enforcer Manual
Chapter 681: Night Talk_1

Chapter 681: Chapter 681: Night Talk_1

This lavish meal nearly burst Yeying, and it wasn’t until late into the night that she recovered from her lethargic state. Considering the uniqueness of those roots, Song Lan also didn’t sleep well. He kept a close watch on Yeying’s digestion, and by the time the little girl was fully refreshed, it was almost dawn outside.

Fortunately, he had the company of a group of workers in the building across the street.

It wasn’t until Yeying’s belly had flattened and he was almost too exhausted to keep going that these diligent workers were still at their posts, anti-fatigue medications apparently having become their snack of choice.

This couldn’t help but make Song Lan question what all this was really for.

To this, Lu Xiang’s explanation was that the workers in The First Region were far beyond ordinary people. To maintain their high efficiency and endurance, the company would replace most of their body parts within the first year of their employment. Some of these cybernetic implants not only kept their health up during long hours of work but also greatly suppressed their desires, turning them into a group of compliant workers.

"They’re hardly any different from robots now, are they?"

Song Lan yawned.

"Yes," Lu Xiang did not deny this, "The prosthetics used for work and everyday life are different from military-grade ones. Even with extensive implants, they rarely cause cyber mental illness. Some experts also think that this kind of mental disease is related to a person’s own thoughts and desires."

She remembered that when she was studying at Morning Star, she had heard experts who researched such diseases give lectures at the school. They believed that much of human suffering came from the inability to satisfy desires, whether it was for wealth, power, or the instinctive needs such as sex. By cutting off these desires, the risk of cyber mental illness could be greatly reduced.

"Looking back now, many of their theories were later applied to real life, and many work-oriented operating systems on the market now have functions to suppress desires."

"Then they might as well replace all their employees with artificial intelligence."

"Because the ’Artificial Intelligence Act’ prohibits this, the Review Meeting has clearly regulated the usage rate of artificial intelligence for every type of company."

If it weren’t for the laws concerning artificial intelligence, more than eighty percent of jobs would probably be replaced by bionics by now.

"These laws are the foundation of social order," she continued. "Otherwise, the unemployed would likely become criminals. However, even clearly defined laws cannot constrain the actions of companies. Although they can’t make widespread use of artificial intelligence, they can transform their employees to resemble bionic beings more and more. After so many implants, their physiological functions have changed."

Lu Xiang wasn’t sure whether the workers in The First Region could still be considered pure humans.

But the companies didn’t want to discuss these issues and even less wanted to spark widespread debate. They only needed everyone to stay compliantly at their posts.

Lu Xiang also brought over a chair and spent the entire night sitting next to Song Lan, both of them watching the workers in the building opposite work.

It would be hard to find something more boring, but time flew by as she chatted sporadically with Song Lan—an opportunity she rarely found.

Song Lan usually slept very early, and if this situation hadn’t been so boring, Song Lan would not have become so talkative.

"The extensive research on artificial intelligence and bionics began not long after the establishment of the United Government. Back then, many people expressed their concerns, realizing that the powerful capabilities of artificial intelligence would potentially take over human jobs in the future, sparking a series of social issues," she said.

Lu Xiang suddenly remembered some interesting anecdotes and said, "Because of this, people of that era debated countless times in various settings. In the end, those supporting the research on bionic technology prevailed, criticizing the opposition as worrying needlessly and firmly believing that the widespread use of bionics could only be beneficial, freeing humans completely from the production chain with these loyal assistants."

These people painted a bright future that even Song Lan would nod at hearing.

"Experts believed that decades after the widespread use of bionic technology, everyone’s standard of living would reach unprecedented heights. Each person could live in a big house, work only 3-5 hours a day to earn enough wealth to spend lavishly, and spend the rest of their time with family and friends."

Today, working more than 16 hours a day in The First Region has become the norm.

Companies believe that each employee should cherish their job, for they had foregone more efficient artificial intelligence to give humans a chance to work.

Artificial intelligence and bionics indeed became great helpers to humans, but they primarily served the corporate elite.

These big companies, indeed, experienced explosive growth due to the perfection of artificial intelligence and bionic technology, but they preferred to use their accumulated wealth in commercial competition and factional struggles, rather than improving people’s lives.

"What made them change their minds, prompting them to draft the ’Artificial Intelligence Act’?"

Song Lan asked, curious.

Based on his observations, the difficulty of taking action in this era was vastly greater than before the third war. The United Government only needed to deploy a ruthless Six Stars rescuer like Wild Bone to easily quell a city rebellion.

"Justice."

"Justice? Did those big companies suddenly grow a conscience?"

"No, ’Justice’ was the name of the tactical nuke that blew up half of the Tesla Technology headquarters. To avoid another ’Justice,’ the Review Meeting was forced to implement many policies during that period."

Having been around Song Lan for a while, Lu Xiang’s own knowledge had expanded.

For the United Government, entities like δ, "Dominate," and "Justice" represented a chaotic and dark period where their emergence caused countless casualties while also objectively forcing the fearful corporate elite to revise the legislation.

If one were to look at it from a historical perspective, after the incarceration of δ and others like it, companies once again entered a period of vigorous development.

The increasingly long work hours and the increasingly unequal terms of employment were also products of that era.

"Maybe soon you’ll be able to meet the Chairperson of the Council, and perhaps some of your ideas could change the current state of life for those on the other side."

Lu Xiang said.

Even she had never met the Chairperson of the Council in person, undoubtedly one of the most difficult people to get an audience with in this world.

Not long after Song Lan came back, they had submitted a request to meet with the Chairperson of the Council through Military Intelligence Section Seven. Natalie had relayed their ideas to the upper levels of Military Intelligence Section Seven, who then drafted a written report to be submitted to the secretariat of the Review Meeting. If this report could pass the secretariat’s approval, only then could it enter the regular scheduling process.

It was a quite complex process, and if a single phase was infiltrated by someone replaced by the Worms, the application would ultimately come to nothing.

That was why Lu Xiang did not reveal the clues they had investigated.

If all went well, meeting the Chairperson of the Council in person would still be at least three to four days away.

"By the way, Jasmine said the situation in Yaku has stabilized, and there’s no longer any life-threatening danger. However, it might take about a week to fully recover. Also, she didn’t encounter the former agent of Military Intelligence Section Seven that you mentioned when she arrived."

It seemed that after being betrayed once, the person in question could no longer trust anyone.

........................

Meanwhile, in a prosthetic hospital in The First Region.

"Listen to me, Sister Jasmine, I think I’ve completely figured it out!"

Ignoring the pain in his body and refusing to listen to Jasmine, the doctor’s advice, Yaku stubbornly sat up straight, his hands constantly gesticulating in the air to make his point clear.

Ever since regaining consciousness, he had been pondering the strange occurrences they encountered while escaping through the sewers.

"I have completely seen through his ability!"

"Shh, keep your voice down!"

Jasmine gestured for silence. She didn’t know how soundproof the hospital’s wards were or whether the Worms had planted any spies there.

Obviously, Yaku had not learned his lesson and continued with his cannon fodder-like behavior.

However, curiosity drove Jasmine since Yaku was one of the direct eyewitnesses to the incident on the scene.

He had personally experienced the eerie phenomena caused when the ability was triggered.

He lowered his voice after being reminded, but his tone was as firm as ever, "I’m sure of it, that person’s ability is definitely of the interference type, and its effect is to cause those affected by the ability to experience temporary memory loss!"

This explained all the anomalies.

"And his ability causes widespread effects when activated!"

That’s why they had forgotten how they escaped the sewers with his help, the driver forgot he was driving a car, office workers forgot about the billboard ahead, and the drone operator forgot about the stairs underneath, causing him to step into thin air and tumble down the steps.

"If I were to give it a name, I’d call it ’Memory Erasure’!"

Adam’s detective-like gaze plunged Jasmine’s eyes into deep darkness.

It was then that she realized she had made a grave mistake by putting hope in Adam—though an eyewitness, he hadn’t grasped the sheer horror of what had happened in that moment.

"You should rest."

Seeing Yaku covered in injuries, Jasmine did not argue, "I have an urgent Review Meeting next."

She wasn’t lying, because since last night’s event, an emergency meeting had been convened by the Review Meeting regarding Six Stars rescuer.

Before the official start of the meeting, each person received a video.

The video indeed showed a luxury car, office workers, and a person operating a drone to capture the night view from the stairs. These were scenes captured by the surveillance cameras in that area.

All the strange phenomena occurred between the 6th and 7th seconds of the video.

In that momentary jump, everything on the street underwent a leap in time.

Yaku and the young girl he was with suddenly appeared on the street, and by their side, the car, the office workers, the photographer, and the drone in the night sky all completed an instantaneous shift.

It was as if...

A span of time they had experienced had simply vanished from the world.

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