I asked you to write a light novel, but you wrote about living?

As Yu Wen looked at the suicide note on the screen, the memories belonging to the original owner of the body gradually settled in his mind, unfolding like a vast scroll before his eyes, allowing him to see the outline of this era.

This is an abyss where material resources are extremely abundant, yet it drains the human soul to its extreme.

With the advent of the AI ​​era, humanity has not only failed to usher in a utopia where people don't have to work, but has instead been instantly folded into two extremely extreme social classes.

Above the cloud are the 1% who control top-tier AI computing power and energy.

They enjoy pure water, real sunlight, and seamless smart services.

The remaining 99% were relegated to the "useless class" in the system's assessment and were swept into the lower city, a place perpetually shrouded in darkness, acid rain, and radioactive fumes, like garbage.

If machines are so versatile, why keep these massive slums? Why not just wipe them out?

The answer that memory provides is cruelly appalling:

In the lower city, filled with strong acids, highly toxic substances, and heavy metal dust, the corrosion-resistant coating and mechanical joints of a high-precision industrial robot would be completely worn out in less than a month. The maintenance cost of replacing a single mechanical bearing is as high as two thousand star coins.

But what about hiring a poor person from the bottom of society?

The government and conglomerates only need to distribute the most basic, tasteless "synthetic nutritional paste" every month to ensure that these poor people do not starve.

As long as they don't starve, they can continue to serve as the cheapest "flesh and blood cogs."

They sorted through discarded prosthetic bodies by hand on the black market and removed rust from the edges of high-risk nuclear fusion reactors.

If a poor person's hand is severed by a machine or they contract radiation sickness, the capitalists don't even have to pay a penny for repairs; they can simply kick them aside because there are plenty of young, flesh-and-blood people lining up in the lower city to replace them.

Human life is much cheaper than lubricant.

To prevent these people at the bottom from having any thoughts or causing unrest in their despair, monopolistic capital launched the ultimate "Cyber ​​Pacifier Project".

They broadcast low-quality, sensationalist articles and holographic short videos generated by AI to the Xiacheng District around the clock and without interruption.

"Starting with a billion-dollar fortune through a sign-in bonus," "Annulling the engagement in three seconds and becoming a god in ten seconds"...

These illogical industrial saccharins, designed solely to stimulate dopamine, have become the only source of spiritual sustenance for the lower classes every day.

People's minds have been completely emasculated in the virtual revelry, turning them into mindless zombies who can only do mechanical labor and consume electronic drugs.

In this abyss of despair, the original owner, because of his crippled legs, did not even qualify to be a cheap "flesh and blood cog," and was trapped in this rusty wheelchair all day long.

But in order to survive and to help his sister, who was working day and night, share some of the burden, he had to find something to do.

Since he couldn't do physical labor, he could only pin his hopes on the old computer in front of him.

Unable to afford the advanced AI credit limit, he relied on his own ideas and creativity, trying to painstakingly write a novel word by word with his own hands, earning a meager living through royalties in this era of AI.

As a result, as soon as the 100,000-word masterpiece was posted on the "Yuntu Literature" platform, it was spotted by "Xinghui," a master writer with advanced privileges.

Capital's supercomputing AI instantly devoured his draft, rewriting, stitching together, and generating a million-word bestseller in one go.

Subsequently, a lawyer's letter alleging "malicious reverse engineering of the AI ​​underlying corpus," along with a sky-high compensation claim of three million, directly drove the original owner to a dead end.

Yu Wen's fingers touched the somewhat worn mechanical keyboard.

He calmly slid the mouse, pressed the delete key, shredded the suicide note into the recycle bin, and then cleared the desktop.

Under no circumstances should the original owner's sister know the truth about his suicide, and she should not be burdened with this debt.

As I closed the document, a soft click came from the iron door to the basement.

"Beep... Identity verification successful."

The door was pushed open, and a crisp, cheerful voice drifted in, accompanied by a faint smell of engine oil typical of the downtown area.

"Brother! I'm off work!"

Yu Wen turned his wheelchair around.

A girl was standing outside the door.

That is the most profound existence in this body's memory... Sister, Yu Yin.

She is only ten years old this year, an age when she should be enjoying her youth in school, but at this moment she is wearing a dark gray factory uniform that is obviously several sizes too big and full of rough patches.

The cuffs and hem of the uniform were still stained with grease that couldn't be washed off from the black market junkyard.

Due to long-term malnutrition, the girl appeared extremely thin, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

She didn't have the glamorous look of those in the lower city who relied on cheap gene-enhancing drugs for plastic surgery. Her features were extremely clean, and her unmade-up face showed a paleness from years of not seeing the sun.

But in stark contrast to this dilapidated and oppressive environment, she exuded an upward vitality.

Those eyes were bright and clear, and a highly infectious smile played on his lips.

She didn't complain about the hardship of the night shift. Instead, the moment she saw Yu Wen, she stretched out her hand, which had been hidden behind her back, as if presenting a treasure.

"Ta-da! Brother, look what I brought back!"

Yu Yin walked to the wheelchair, opened her somewhat dirty palm, and quietly lay a bottle of nutrient solution with a strawberry pattern printed on the packaging. Although the edges were a bit worn, it was definitely a high-end product that was rarely seen in the lower city.

"I exceeded my quota for sorting waste materials today, and the foreman gave me a bonus!"

Yu Yin's eyes crinkled into crescents as she handed the nutrient solution to Yu Wen, not forgetting to wipe the bottle opening with her sleeve.

"I heard this not only tastes fruity, but it can also relieve brain fatigue. You stay up all night in front of the computer, drink this, and your headache will stop!"

Looking at the slightly worn bottle of nutrient solution in his hand, and then at the small wounds remaining on the girl's hand, Yu Wen's heart stirred with emotion.

Having grown up in a previous life accustomed to the coldness and indifference of human relationships, he hadn't experienced such unreserved kindness in a long time.

The lingering memories within him brought a surge of instinctive closeness. Facing the girl before him, whose smile remained bright despite her impoverished circumstances, he felt a touch of emotion.

"Brother? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Noticing Yu Wen's silence, Yu Yin squatted down, looked up at him, and her eyes showed concern.

"Is your head hurting again? Or is the editor from that platform giving you a hard time again?"

Seeing the lingering weariness in the girl's eyes, Yu Wen remained calm.

The penalty for breach of contract is three million Star Coins, with a period of less than seven days.

For him, who had just transmigrated and was disabled in both legs, this was indeed a problem that needed to be solved. But as a mature person, he wouldn't let the current predicament throw him off balance.

Now that I've taken over this body, I naturally have to clean up the mess. In any case, I can't let this little girl in front of me live in fear because of me.

He reached out and naturally grasped Yu Yin's slightly cool hand.

"No, the editor didn't give me any trouble."

Yu Wen smiled gently and smoothed her slightly messy hair. "It's just that seeing you so busy every day makes me feel a little sorry for you."

"I'm not tired! As long as you're doing well, I'm full of energy!"

Yu Yin let out a long sigh, her eyebrows curving into crescents again. She stood up, dusted off her clothes, and said, "I'll go wash my face first, brother, remember to drink your nutrient solution!"

"Okay, go wash up and go to bed early."

Watching Yu Yin's thin figure walk towards the corner washbasin, Yu Wen withdrew his gaze and looked back at the monitor emitting a faint blue light.

In seven days, a debt of three million was incurred.

In this cold, algorithmic era, he has to figure out how to settle this score.