Ita Era

Chapter 47 Going Home (10)

Following the road uphill for about 300 meters, there was a dilapidated farm. Ding Shi pushed open the door and entered. The situation was pretty much as he had expected. Ri Tian, ​​Kai Ge, and Chu Yu had already subdued a male dwarf.

Chu Yu explained that they found a row of iron cages in the warehouse. Two adults were unconscious, while the male dwarf was still awake. He claimed to be Yingying's younger brother and said that the bad guys had just left, asking everyone to save him.

After releasing the male dwarf, Chu Yu took him to the front hall for questioning, while Ri Tian and Kai Ge tried to find a way to treat the two adults. Chu Yu had already learned from Mu Mu that Ying Ying was a dwarf, so she remained wary of the male dwarf. When the male dwarf committed the crime, Chu Yu, who had taken Jeet Kune Do for ten years, subdued him.

When Ding Shi first met Chu Yu, he described her physical characteristics as fair-skinned and strong, with long legs and broad shoulders, which already indicated that Chu Yu was an athletic girl.

Ding Shi didn't go to help in the warehouse, but instead went to the yard and the owner's residence. There were quite a few houses, but most of them were dusty and empty, without any furniture, dilapidated and desolate.

Soon, Ding Shi found the room of the two dwarfs.

The female dwarf's room was simple: a bed, a table, and a chair. On the table lay a diary. After reading it, Ding Shi gained a more objective understanding of the world he was supposed to return to.

Fifty years ago, AI emerged, and in pursuit of fairness, people entrusted judicial power to it. Because AI upheld fairness and impartiality, satisfying everyone, 45 years ago, people entrusted administrative power to it. AI is incorruptible, waste-free, efficient, and capable, and was once welcomed by the people.

Forty years ago, AI introduced the concept of collective planning, which, simply put, aims to achieve the interests of the majority while minimizing the sacrifices of a minority. One aspect of this was relocating people from rural areas far from cities. The first benefit was restoring villages to nature and protecting the ecosystem. The second benefit was reducing administrative costs and allowing everyone to enjoy the conveniences of city life.

The rebels launched an uprising and clashed head-on with the AI. Unfortunately, the AI ​​soldiers were endless, and they were top-tier soldiers from the moment they left the factory. From mining to manufacturing, the AI ​​had achieved a fully mechanized industrial chain. Even if all of humanity united, they could not stop the AI ​​from dominating the world.

The surviving rebels dispersed and retreated into areas without signal coverage. Unable to directly command the soldiers in these areas, the AI ​​resorted to annihilation. Robots, traveling in aircraft, spread the X-virus from the air into the non-signal zones, while residents of the signal zones had already been vaccinated. Lacking medical supplies, the rebels were forced to enter the signal zones to loot food and medicine, and even plunder people, becoming what the residents called a bandit gang. Each rebel operation was extremely costly, ultimately leading to the rebels' defeat without a fight.

The dwarf siblings miraculously survived the X virus, but their bodies underwent mutations, which is why they became dwarfs. Even more interestingly, although the virus made them dwarfs, they retained their childhood appearances. To survive, the siblings became bandits on a nameless street.

If someone trespasses on an unnamed road, the older brother, who is watching from a high vantage point, will immediately notify his younger sister. The sister will then pretend to be a child in need of help, claiming that her brother or younger brother is missing and asking for their assistance in finding him. The sister will then look for an opportunity to ambush and kill the lone target with a dagger, while the brother will lie in wait in the farm, waiting for his prey to arrive.

Because the brothers looked exactly like children, they had repeatedly succeeded in their crimes, and had lived a relatively comfortable life over the years. The problem arose because they had just attacked Yingying's family when Ding Shi and his accomplices entered Wuming Road. The older brother only had time to deal with Yingying; he hadn't even driven the car away yet.

Ding Shi remembered the mission: to find and help Yingying's parents, not to find and help Yingying's family. At first, Ding Shi thought this was a trap set by the system to make players believe the dwarf sister was Yingying. Now, it seemed the system was quite honest; it knew Yingying had been murdered.

Ding Shi opened the drawer and saw a stack of banknotes. He roughly counted them and found about two hundred counterfeit banknotes. Inside the drawer was also a dagger made of a special material, both thin and hard.

Ding Shi glanced out at the courtyard, heard Ri Tian and the others' footsteps, put away the dungeon coins, picked up the dagger and played with it in his hand, and continued to read the diary carefully.

Seeing the flashlight beam, Kai and Ritian came over. Ding Shi greeted them, saying, "This diary is quite interesting. It records how AI will rule the world and enslave humanity." Kai took the diary and said, "What's so interesting about it? Isn't it just an old-fashioned science fiction story?"

Ding Shi said, "What's interesting is that AI requires humans to work 35-40 hours per week. It requires humans to have a physical examination at least once a year. It requires humans to attend university and obtain a degree. It requires newlywed couples to pass a prospective parent assessment... a whole bunch of requirements."

Kai was taken aback: "These demands sound really unreasonable."

Ding laughed, and Kai Ge laughed too. Ri Tian, ​​being an honest man, shouted, "If aliens like that invade Earth, I'll be the first to surrender." Ri Tian was a typical corporate slave in a small to medium-sized company. 996 was already a blessing for him; his daily routine was 007. Working only 40 hours a week was something he couldn't even dream of.

Kai asked, "Besides the dagger, what else did you find?"

Ding looked at the drawer: "It's gone. The room next door seems to be the male dwarf's room; I haven't gone to check it out yet."

Kai read the message aloud: "I've searched this room. Whether there's anything there or not, I only care about a dagger. But I'd rather waste time reading the diary than search the second room. As for what treasures you might find in the second room, that's up to your luck."

They have a sense of morality, but not many.

Kai went to the next room, and Ritian looked around the room and, seeing that it was empty, also went to the male dwarf's room.

……

The Fish Team held a meeting in front of the car headlights. The meeting had two topics. The first topic was that there were three vehicles: a Fish Car, a red sedan, and an SUV at the farm.

The second topic: The mission to rescue Yingying's parents was completed, but no reward was given immediately; presumably, it would increase the completion score. What they wanted to discuss was a new mission called "Extreme Express Delivery."

Players must deliver an X-pathogen obtained from the farm to their doorstep. The rebels will then collect the pathogen at the player's location and conduct research in the AI ​​lab. Once the time is right, the rebels, led by Old Ghost, will launch another uprising, seize a no-signal zone, and continue their fight against the AI.

The pathogen is only the size of an index finger and does not require refrigeration. Successfully completing the mission will increase your mission rating by 1.5 levels. For example, if you were originally rated C, this mission will increase your rating to B+.

The device storing pathogen X is made of special materials and contains a positioning signal. Once pathogen X appears in the signal area, it will be detected by AI. However, due to its age, the positioning signal has been greatly weakened, and the AI ​​can only locate it within a range of 100 meters, unable to achieve precise positioning.

(End of this chapter)