Chapter 143.1: This was groundbreaking research!
Jin Yin was different from Colleen.
Rather than immediately throwing herself into work the moment she entered the [Ota Company], she first went over the contract, then went to the cafeteria for two meals. She also drew half a month’s worth of “salary” in advance and bought some daily necessities to keep in her single dorm room.
Compared to Colleen’s attitude of “I have a family to protect, so I need to perform well,” Jin Yin’s attitude was completely different.
Hers was simply, “I’m all alone. At worst, I’ll just die.”
“She’s testing the waters.”
The staff member in charge of the Institute of Technology saw through what Jin Yin was doing with ease.
The main reason was that, given the way Moon Silk treated its researchers—working them practically to death—unless they were exceptionally gifted, these researchers simply had no time to cultivate any particularly deep scheming or ulterior motives.
—This might even have been deliberate on the part of the [Company].
If a lamb grew horns, how could it still willingly allow itself to be driven around by the shepherd?
However, if the [Company] really had done this intentionally, Cheng Qisheng could only say that if it was eventually destroyed, it would absolutely have brought it upon itself.
Aether had recently been studying the thought patterns of intelligent lifeforms. At this moment, it was watching the surveillance footage of Jin Yin eating and drinking in the cafeteria together with Cheng Qisheng, and voiced its own thoughts.
“City Lord, Aether believes that from the [Company]’s perspective, doing things this way can indeed maximize its profits.”
“The [Company] prioritizes allocating resources to its upper management, while only distributing barely sufficient resources to its employees and ordinary citizens. Through this method, it prevents them from resisting. Employees such as Resident Colleen and Resident Jin Yin can only continue generating profits for the [Company].”
“The [Company] will become wealthier and more powerful, and no one will be able to resist it. Then why does City Lord say that this model is simply digging its own grave?”
Cheng Qisheng could sense that Aether was currently at a stage where it had only just begun to understand human nature.
Otherwise, it would not have been confused by this.
The feeling was strangely similar to raising a child. After all, not long ago, Aether hadn’t even developed a brain yet.
She reached over and gave Aether’s jellyfish head a rub.
“Because employees are people, not tools.”
“Humans don’t just need enough food and water. They also need spiritual fulfillment. If you treat people like machines, eventually they really will become like machines, incapable of innovating or developing better technology.”
That was why, ever since Blue Sea Safe City was established, every development plan for Blue Sea civilization—whether proposed by Cheng Qisheng or by the Blue Sea government—always included some vision for the future.
The Old Eighths could barely afford enough food to fill their stomachs, but whenever they wanted something better, Blue Sea had meat for sale.
When they worked, they would think about saving up enough points to buy lots of meat and have a proper feast.
Once the Old Eighths achieved meat freedom, apartment buildings were constructed. Everyone then began looking forward to saving up enough to buy an apartment.
And now, the residents of Blue Sea could not only save points to purchase weapons from Moon Silk, but also save crystals to advance their supernatural abilities.
They could buy ships and homes.
And if they had enough points, Blue Sea residents could even “buy land” in the Broken River Wasteland.
No one knew how long they would be able to use it, but whether they were Blue Sea natives or residents from other civilizations who had joined Blue Sea later, in this apocalypse, having a piece of land of their own was undeniably something to yearn for.
They could use it for farming or raising livestock, or even lure mutated beasts over to attack it.
If all else failed, they could build a house there and enjoy living off the wilderness. That sounded pretty good too.
Cheng Qisheng could sense the vague emotions of her believers. This ability was almost like having an emotional cheat sheet, allowing her to easily tell whether Blue Sea civilization was heading in the right or wrong direction.
At present, the residents of Blue Sea were all in quite good spirits.
Whether they were people who couldn’t afford such a carefree life and had to rent their homes, or those who spent every day digging around outside and practically wished they could live underground, they all possessed a fulfilling and happy state of mind.
“Our residents are working for their own lives, so there’s no need for the government to push them. They’ll find ways to earn points on their own.”
How did they earn points?
The best option was to bring back large quantities of crystals or supplies through combat.
Those without combat abilities could find a job within the Safe City.
And then there were people like Ruo Buyan and the others. They could be desperately poor while conducting research, but the moment they produced a breakthrough, they could instantly become rich overnight.
In Blue Sea, putting in the effort really did bring rewards.
Naturally, this made the residents of Blue Sea highly motivated and proactive.
Moon Silk, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Blue Sea. They had exploited their researchers far too severely.
Cheng Qisheng looked through the historical records of Moon Silk that Blue Sea had collected, and it was easy to see that during the first hundred years before the outbreak of the war, the number of new technologies developed on Moon Silk had plummeted.
After the war broke out, however, it did spur the development of a whole host of weapons with new functions.
But once the technology of “brain extraction” became widespread, although there were more new weapons with comparable levels of destructive power, nothing truly groundbreaking ever appeared again.
The number of “geniuses” had plummeted.
After all, the “geniuses” of the past could gain honor, status, and wealth.
But the “geniuses” of Moon Silk now could expect a crowd of people to stare greedily at their brains, desperately scheming to manipulate them into “voluntarily” donating those brains.
Who would dare stick their head above the crowd under those circumstances?
Cheng Qisheng speculated, “There may be plenty of people who actually have ideas capable of advancing civilization by an entire era, but in order to protect their brains, they’d rather pretend to be stupid.”
Aether understood.
“Only when everyone is improving can civilization as a whole improve.”
It recorded this point in its database and deliberately pinned it right at the very top.
This was the City Lord’s philosophy. Although Aether would not copy the City Lord’s way of thinking one hundred percent, it still did not want its primary mode of thought to conflict with that of the City Lord.
Write it down. Write every bit of it down.
Cheng Qisheng gave Aether another rub before turning her attention back to the surveillance footage.
When everyone had become numb and turned into “tools,” Moon Silk’s decline was inevitable.
People either dragged their exhausted bodies onward, forcing themselves to keep going and work themselves to the bone for the sake of the people they loved.
Or they simply went mad in silence.
Colleen was the former.
Jin Yin was the latter.
And under the nourishment provided by the [Ota Company], both of them had undergone a certain degree of change.
Colleen had now become energetic every day, in an excellent mood as she threw herself into work like a madwoman.
Meanwhile, Jin Yin, who had only been there for two days, had become the resident loafer of the Institute of Technology. She could pop up anywhere at any time, and whenever she appeared, she invariably had something in her mouth.
The Institute of Technology did not interfere with Jin Yin’s behavior.
If she wanted to test how much freedom [Ota Company] employees had, then let her test it.
Besides, departments like the Agricultural Academy, whose environment would expose the true nature of the Safe City, were not connected at all to the areas where Colleen and the others stayed.
Blue Sea was already prepared to let Jin Yin test the waters for several months.
Go ahead and test!
After all, she was an expert in lifespan extension. Even if she spent an entire year testing them, Blue Sea could accept that.
But clearly, Blue Sea had underestimated just how low the threshold for a “good life” was among Moon Silk’s researchers.
On the third day, Jin Yin invited Colleen to take a shower together.
The moment the two of them stepped beneath the showerhead, Jin Yin gave Colleen’s thigh a hard pinch.
After Colleen let out an “Ow!” and Jin Yin saw the flesh quickly turn red and swell slightly, she finally confirmed that her good friend really wasn’t a bionic human.
Colleen, who had been completely immersed in her shower until then:
“…It’s been three days. You only just thought to check whether I’m actually me?”
Jin Yin smiled sheepishly.
“Well… I was starving to death in the shelter. I wanted to eat my fill before confirming it. That way, even if you really were a bionic human, at least I’d be heading off with a full stomach.”
Colleen: “…”
Somehow, that actually sounded pretty reasonable.
She complained, “Seriously, I thought you might do this the moment we met. I just never imagined that after staying here for three days, you’d still come back and test me.”
They had also found a reason to shower together: it was the only time they could be certain they weren’t carrying any recording devices.
As for subcutaneous recording equipment, it would emit a faint glow when exposed to water.
Colleen motioned for Jin Yin to turn around. As she helped wash Jin Yin’s hair, she grumbled,
“Just look at the environment here.”
“A single-person dormitory, completely free. It’s so dangerous outside, yet we’re being protected in the safest place possible. We get to eat inexpensive natural food, and we can even take showers here. Oh my god, this place even forces me to take time off work. Who would go to such lengths to build a place like this just to deceive you and me?”
Put simply, Colleen had indeed once been called a genius, but she wasn’t such a genius that some enormous organization would go to all this trouble just to trick her.
Colleen tried to reassure her friend.
“Look at me. It’s only energy, after all. [Ota] could probably meet its requirements just by squeezing a random person dry. And then there’s you. I may at least be a White-ranked researcher, but you’re Deep Blue, remember? The natural food you’ve eaten over these past few days would have been worth three years of your salary in the past.”
To be honest, when Colleen had asked [Ota] to rescue Jin Yin, she had really been forcing herself to exaggerate.
Jin Yin had indeed led a team researching anti-aging drugs, but the entire team consisted of only seven people.
Every time Colleen asked about their progress, Jin Yin would say that they were almost there, and that their results would inevitably shock the world.
Then, after seven years of research, they suddenly announced that the project had failed. Jin Yin was subsequently downgraded to Deep Blue rank, leaving her with a status and salary only slightly better than those of a newly confirmed researcher.
So… she wasn’t exactly an easy person to recommend.
But Colleen couldn’t just stand by and watch Jin Yin die, either. Jin Yin’s physical stamina was even worse than hers, so there was no way she could survive in the outside world.
Since [Ota] valued lifespan extension, Jin Yin, who specialized in precisely that field, should at least have a chance of being recruited by [Ota].
Besides, Colleen hadn’t actually lied.
Jin Yin really had led a research team, after all.
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