Chapter 613.2: Singularity City Again

Ma Hechang blinked and hurriedly added, “Sir... Won’t you hang it up?”

Zheng Liushu snapped at him, “We hang ringleaders. Once they rot, we burn them. What’s the point of hanging a child?”

Ma Hechang nodded and muttered something, though uneasy. “Just don’t go soft. They wronged us badly.”

“Our administrator will decide.”

“You could hang them on racks, drill holes in their heads, stuff wicks in them and burn them slowly...”

“We’ll suggest it.”

“If you could set a rack here it’d be best... It’s just a suggestion...”

Seeing the look of impatience on Zhang Liushu’s face, Ma Hechang shut up and left.

Watching him go, Yang Gaoshan clicked his tongue. “That guy’s full of demands. Should we build him a theater too and give him seats?”

He was a refugee from the Bonechewer Clan.

Unlike Zheng Liushu who had become a captain, Yang had only recently joined after working in the ammunition lines.

“Maybe his kin died in this disaster?” said Wu Pangfei, another taller soldier beside them. He came from the Falling Leaf Ridge. He had been drafted by the Army and rescued by the New Alliance. He too had joined the ranks.

Yang Gaoshan looked at him in confusion. “But what has he done? He simply waited in his home and begged us for shelter when it was over? Now, he wants to direct what we have to do? I’m not saying he isn’t pitiful, but what right does he have to demand anything? Did he fight with us? Did he provide food or ammunition? Or is he a citizen of the New Alliance?”

He agreed that helping the unfortunate was moral, but he loathed that man’s entitled attitude.

The two feelings didn’t contradict.

Zheng Liushu glanced at his men and said casually, “People are like that. Treat them well and they want more. The moment you fall short of their saintly standard, they’ll say all our kindness was a facade. Don’t mind it. We didn’t come here to play God. The fact we’ve helped some poor souls is just something we did along the way.”

Ending the wasteland and securing the New Alliance was far from altruism.

Yang Gaoshan still fumed. “Pitiful? I don’t see them as pitiful, let alone innocent. Maybe it looks like they had no choice, but since 150 years ago, which part of this wasn’t their choice? They made this mess so foul we can smell it 800 kilometers away. If it were me, I would let them rot. We have mountains of our own problems to solve!”

Zheng Liushu sighed, “You’re too extreme. If our administrator really did that, we will soon be dragged into a bigger mess created by them.”

Yang Gaoshan shot back immediately. “I never said the administrator was wrong. I’m forever loyal to his decisions. I just think these people aren’t worth saving.”

“There were guerrillas in West Continent Municipality who fought with us, rebels in the desert who swore never to yield, workers in Boulder Town who stood up. And these people? They supplied slaves to Mutant Humans! They begged us to return their princess as if it were our fault! The only ones still resisting, the Iron Tower, came from the neighboring province! This asshole mayor has the nerve to represent his townsfolk and make demands of us?”

Zheng Liushu said nothing. Truth be told, he disliked Mayor Ma as well.

An old soldier coughed softly. “So we just do our duty. The administrator didn’t ask us to indulge them, or raise them. He told them to rebuild their own homes here. Alright, enough on that... but I’m still uneasy about the androids. Are those things really reliable?”

He had been a mercenary in Boulder Town. At first he fought for the New Alliance because they paid money. Later, he joined the regular army after a funeral.

Having lived long in Boulder Town, he worried more about android technology than Dawn City survivors did.

Eberts was an android. As a noble’s crony, he had harmed plenty.

The Dragonblood Serum was his work.

For more awakeners and profit, he boosted power at the cost of crippling users. Many took huge loans, scraping by under ruinous debt until Boulder Town Bank and their chips collapsed.

Zheng Liushu thought for a moment, then said, “Those fellows aren’t reliable, but it’s just right for them.”

The veteran frowned. “Just right?”

“Yeah.”

Recalling the pre-deployment briefing, Zheng Liushu explained, “Health Luxury Corporate Group’s special android runs their lives step by step. They wake at 6:00 in the morning., start work at 7:00, break at noon, work till 5:00 in the afternoon, then they have to complete two hours of reading before lights out at 10:00 at night. They are going to do the same tasks at set times. If they break the rules, they get punished.”

The punishments weren’t severe, just a stint in solitary.

Yang Gaoshan counted on his fingers, stunned. “... That schedule doesn’t sound bad at all.”

Wu Pangfei also froze. “But what if they slack off? Do our workers carry them?”

“Carry them? Impossible. We’re no wishing machine,” Zheng Liushu chuckled. “We’ll lay a rail line, supply materials, burn away those green things, but they’ll grow cash crops for us. What did you think I meant by work?”

Yang Gaoshan asked, “But what if they loaf around?”

Zheng Liushu smiled faintly. “Don’t underestimate androids. That one’s sharp.”

At the Singularity City meeting, his superiors had noted that to ensure productivity, Frost the AI set three living standards. The lowest was just subsistence, for repeated KPI failures. The middle standard was adequate nutrition. At the highest level, they would be comfortable.

If trade with the New Alliance produced surplus, Frost would skim part for productivity improvements, and spend the rest on consumer goods to reward the middle and top tiers.

Yang Gaoshan mulled it over, then muttered, “Still feels a bit too nice...”

Zheng Liushu shrugged. “We’ll see. It’s too early to tell.”

He knew that Yang Gaoshan was oversimplifying his thinking. These survivors weren’t ordinary, they were Na Fruit addicts prone to “trances.”

Moreover, 10,000 of them had just been freed from cages.

To prevent mass withdrawal crashes, Singularity City would loosen neural interference limits, and grow small Na Fruit supplies to taper addicts, until the Biological Research Institution found a way to treat them.

Because of such exceptions, New Alliance law didn’t fully apply. Those people weren’t citizens.

Wu Pangfei frowned. “Is there no deadline to the treatment?”

Zheng Liushu thought for a moment and answered. “We’re not sure. Until Ocean Edge Province’s troubles are settled, we’ll need this buffer zone. But the administrator said that if someone wants out, record their biometric data and let them go. Once they leave, they will never be accepted again.”

In essence, Singularity City was an AI-run asylum. It prevented addicts flooding the New Alliance and kept resource demands tolerable.

The one-entry rule was necessary. It wasn’t a holiday retreat.

Though he trusted the administrator’s decision, Zheng Liushu still harbored doubts.

He didn’t know Eberts well, but he knew Frost...

...

In the ruins of Hope Town.

The street lay empty and deserted. There was no sign of life.

However, it looked like the townsfolk had left calmly, stripping all portable goods with them as they left. They clearly weren’t coming back.

The town was abandoned.

At the gate, two unexpected visitors stood.

“Is this place deserted?”

“Looks like it.”

“A shame, with so many fields cleared.” Daydreaming Star River sighed.

Falling Feather beside him felt the same, but understood.

“It’s pretty much expected. Without treatment, crops here won’t grow. The Na Fruit remnants eats everything.”

Daydreaming Star River frowned.

“Didn’t the hive get destroyed?”

Falling Feather nodded.

“Yes. But the mycelium doesn’t vanish. It just regresses from stage three to stage two.”

Daydreaming Star River sighed, “It’s like crushing a cockroach, but the eggs scatter.”

Falling Feather replied, “Look on the bright side. At least it won’t spread further. Plant Camu Trees, burn the soil with synthetic oil and maybe the ash works as fertilizer... It’s like land scorched by flamethrowers.”

“I see...” Daydreaming Star River nodded, then eyed him curiously. “So, what’re you here to find?”

They met by chance on the airship. Daydreaming Star River hadn’t asked then.

Falling Feather scratched his head. “A person... Well, not exactly a person.”

Daydreaming Star River blinked. “... What?”

Falling Feather hesitated, then sighed, “When I first came, I thought he was a Mutant Human. But really he was a victim. I want to at least apologize.”

Maybe it was a side quest for treasure, or a recruitable follower.

He disliked teaming with other players and preferred solo exploration. He would have come alone if Daydreaming Star River hadn’t insisted on repaying him.

Daydreaming Star River, unaware he was unwelcome, thought hard and offered, “Do you remember his name?”

Falling Feather shook his head. “Didn’t ask.”

Daydreaming Star River sighed, “Then you’re out of luck. Hope Town has reset and there are no NPCs to ask. Best let it go... Or maybe, you can ping the developers on the forum?”

Falling Feather shook his head. “Forget it. It’s a private matter. I won’t bother them.”

Maybe it was just a 100,000 silver coin quest detour. Maybe he missed a side path.

In an RPG with no save states, there was no going back.

Still, he was content. He even survived miraculously.

There was no medal for a one-life clear in the war, but he felt accomplished.

In this land, death was normal. Living was rare.

“Give me a moment.” Drawing a knife, Falling Feather walked to the gate.

Daydreaming Star River gasped, “What’re you doing? Need privacy?”

“Shh. Wait here.”

He stopped at the gate and carved a line in Federation language.

It was for an NPC.

[You must have warned the townsfolk that day. Thanks, friend. Without you, few would’ve survived even if we came to help.]

[I’m Falling Feather. If you see this, leave your name beside it. I’ll check when I pass again.]

As soon as he carved it, Falling Feather regretted it.

Other players would see it and fill the wall with silly quotes.

He chuckled, scratched it out, and added.

[Forget it. If fate lets us meet, I’ll ask in person.]

Sheathing the knife, Falling Feather nodded, satisfied to end this adventure.

After the Tide, he planned to visit that tavern, take another quest, and see farther lands.

Grabbing his rifle, he crossed wheel tracks at the gate and rejoined Daydreaming Star River.