The Moral Chip

"Boss, leave it to me," Dr. Rong's holographic image said solemnly.

With the mission accomplished, the senior engineer naturally had to leave. However, before leaving, he gave the other party two tasks.

One is to build a large-scale biochemical laboratory.

Located overseas, yet not far from the mainland, this place is ideal for experimenting with transformation islands.

The other is to create an "ultra-realistic battlefield".

For players, this is equivalent to a large-scale dungeon.

After all, large-scale tasks don't happen every day, so during the seeding period, we need to find something for these people to do.

Establishing a faction's superiority starts with small things.

With the addition of the bronze beast production line, it's equivalent to having two large-scale architectural plans under construction.

One hundred thousand robots—no, let's discount it to a robot army of fifty thousand. With so much free labor, why not use it?

[Special NPC, Dr. Rong, joins the faction; faction experience +200,000, leader reputation +2,000]

Dr. Rong: A major robot manufacturer, his arrival effectively alleviated the shortage of low-level units in the faction.

[Mechanical Hunters gain a new class system—Modified Robots]

Modified Robot: A level 20 mechanical unit, a low-spec version created by Dr. Rong based on mechanical lifeforms. It can be used for basic combat and basic building construction. Provided all materials are available, its production efficiency is *1/minute.

[Modified Robots * 50000]

[Your current faction experience * 40 million points]

With 40 million points, that's more than enough to issue a large-scale global initiative.

"A major task," the senior engineer stroked his chin, wondering what to do.

The mecha soldier planned to leave with the senior engineer, who readily agreed. After all, having an elder in the family is like having a treasure, and with this robot version of Xiao Yuanshan, his efficiency in finding ancient missions would increase by 200%.

Xiao Yu was also eager to leave this place immediately. Xiao Bao Gong's mechanical body, like the modified robot, was also a level 20 blank body, while advanced mechanical bodies could only be exchanged in the City Never Sleeps.

She also wanted to go back and change into her mechanical body as soon as possible.

After painting a rosy picture for Dr. Rong and describing the bright future of the integration approach, this AI seemed to be working day and night.

Does artificial intelligence need rest? Of course not.

"Beep beep beep—"

"Hmm? A new mission?"

The system panel showed no changes, and it took me a while to find that a message had come from my citizen ID card.

Please return to the City That Never Sleeps within three days to complete your exclusive citizen transformation. Failure to return by the deadline will result in the cancellation of your citizen certification.

"After your citizenship is revoked, if you appear within the City That Never Sleeps area, the mechanical mainframe will erase your data—Machine Agent."

The message was sent under the guise of a machine.

This is truly remarkable.

Also, what exactly is this "citizen-only renovation"?

"Master?" Little A's tone was somewhat strange.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a news story I think you should take a look at."

The holographic projection turned on, and a host dressed like a clown was broadcasting the news in a very serious tone, while data streams slid across his eyes.

This is clearly the result of being controlled by a mechanical mastermind.

Today, the City Never Sleeps Council passed a reform bill to gradually implant moral chips in the outer city, old city, Santo Domingo district, the Asian continent, the lower central city, and the upper central city.

A spokesperson for the City Never Sleeps Council announced that the implantation of moral chips across the board will be the first step for humanity towards a greater future.

Meanwhile, thirteen companies, including Virtual Real Estate, Beautiful Interconnect, and Deep Image, announced the formation of a corporate consortium called "Virtual," and publicly declared that the city-wide chip implantation was only the first step in creating a better world. Their next goal is to achieve moral transformation of the entire 9-3 Guanzhong area.

"Currently, the moral chip implantation has been completed in the lower and upper-middle urban areas, namely the enterprise area and the mainframe area. However, the transformation of other areas has resulted in some data anomalies."

The scene shifts, seemingly transforming into a street war mode. Thick black smoke rises from buildings as motorcycle gangs, mobsters, and criminal groups launch a frenzied attack on the administrative halls of various districts.

One by one, law enforcement officers began to appear, firing machine guns and missiles indiscriminately, and began to suppress the unrest without mercy.

On the streets, large crowds of protesters, shouting and yelling, filled the air. They were a dense mass of people, including white-collar workers, drug addicts, street vendors, robots, clones, androids, and cybernetic individuals.

These people, who would never have crossed paths before, unexpectedly came together.

"Oppose false morality, oppose fake chips."

"Oppose conglomerates of giant corporations, oppose monopolies!"

"A cover-up! A cover-up!"

"Genocide! Genocide!"

The senior engineer crossed his arms and remained silent.

Xiao Yu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Is this a good thing?"

"If gangsters were implanted with moral chips, the crime rate could indeed drop dramatically."

"Then why are they objecting?"

"Probably because they're all bad people," the senior engineer chuckled, his tone odd. "How could good people be immoral?"

Xiao Yu's little brain went blank.

With her intelligence, it would be difficult for her to jump from the extremes of good and evil into the gray area.

Within the brain-computer interface, the bird of paradise witnessed this scene and shook its head.

"It's another large-scale group experiment. The mother city is giving more and more power to the mechanical mainframes in various places. It is accelerating the formation of large enterprises."

"But, are you in such a hurry?"

"Moral chips, what the hell are those? And what about large-scale group experiments?"

As a tech geek, Ah Hong was not very sensitive to major events in society. However, he saw a few like-minded people among the protesters: their blank, socially anxious eyes, their flip-flops, and their Idol logos on their t-shirts.

As a hardcore otaku, Ah Hong deeply understands that if even fellow hardcore otaku can't tolerate something, then it's 100% not human.

"Do you know what this planet is called?" the bird of paradise asked.

"Machine-Splitter Star, no, Cyber Test Site."

"So you still don't know what an experiment is? How do you think those giant corporations rose to prominence?"

Ah Hong was stunned for a moment. "I've heard of it, but this is the first time I've seen it."

"But this kind of experiment has happened a second time in this Guanzhong region. Haven't you heard of the crime city west of the City That Never Sleeps?"

"That place where crime and gunfights are rampant throughout the city?"

"That place was once a mechanical city, and it also underwent mass experimentation and modification, but their modification direction was completely opposite to this one."

"What did they modify?" Ah Hong asked with interest.

"The evil in human nature has been altered in the frontal lobe, amygdala, and white matter of everyone's brain. This area is collectively known as the moral area of a person, and they have modified this part."

"They wanted to test whether human will could resist changes in the human brain."

"And the result?"

"The gentleman has become a beast in human clothing, the good man has become a wife-killing maniac, the gentle wife has become a cheating maniac, the model employee has become a slacker, and the respectable entrepreneur has become a black-hearted factory owner. In this city of crime, you can't buy a single food item without dangerous additives, you can't drink a single beverage without drugs, you need surveillance cameras to sleep, and every street and alley is a crime scene. The prison has become a safe zone."

Ah Hong gasped, "That's insane?"

"So if I go there to buy pirated copies, is it legal?" Otaku always have peculiar thought processes.

"You can't buy a chip there that doesn't contain a backdoor, don't you think?"

"Damn, according to you, a hacker like me would be a law-abiding citizen anywhere? I wonder if the idol industry is even developed there?"

"I do have idols of murder, loan sharks, and cults. Want one?"

"So exciting—"

Ah Hong subconsciously rubbed his ears. Usually at this time, Ai Duolu would have already started twisting her ears. What's wrong with her today?

He turned his head and saw that, at some point, Adorlu had fallen to the ground in pain, with the code on her body appearing and disappearing intermittently.

"What's going on?!"

The Bird of Paradise's signature flames instantly ignited the opponent, but the flames used to repair the code were ineffective.

"Let me give it a try."

A gentle voice rang out, and Gao Yuanyuan placed her palm on the other person's abdomen. The next moment, a large-scale neural circuit materialized, and the neural flow resembled a giant electronic canopy.

"What's going on?" Ah Hong asked nervously.

"Aidor's AI framework comes from another Aidoru," Gao Yuanyuan glanced at the other person and said meaningfully, "When the other Aidoru undergoes a change, this Aidoru will also be affected."

"It's unlikely that this change in the AI framework was arranged by the agency. After all, Aidoru is the company's flagship, and such a transformation would be risky. On the contrary, a bottom-up transformation might affect the other party."

"You mean, the fans' personality changes?" Bird of Paradise asked.

"Hmm, I think this is inseparable from that moral chip. Don't forget, this Adorlu is the template for underground idols—the corrupted Adorlu."

The senior engineer's voice also rang out.

"The issue of popular idols probably needs to be addressed through group experiments. Let's go back to the city that never sleeps first."

Meanwhile, the players in the City That Never Sleeps were in an uproar.

However, they don't care about social ethics issues; what they care about more is whether a moral chip is a kind of welfare.

Chips, they're so expensive.

This ridiculous game actually gives out freebies?!

"Hey, anyone got an implanted chip? How's it going? What new attributes did it add?"

"I feel completely refreshed!"

Speak like a human being!

"I felt like I was floating!"

In the small group, a group of people were talking about "pp boss".

She's the only one in the corporate section of the group.

"PP, what's wrong with you?"

"Are you still alive? Did you suddenly die?" The unlucky steamed Baozi who died...

"... It's alright." - PP Boss

"How are you feeling?" asked the ramen-selling fairy.

"I feel refreshed, calm, and detached from worldly affairs; my spirit has been elevated."

The small group fell silent for a moment, which was uncharacteristic of them.

"Is PP possessed again?"

"Brain modification, can you handle it, Baozi boss?"

"No way, again?!" Sister Ji

"Just kidding, Sister Ji. I wouldn't fall into the same trap a third time. I haven't even been modified yet," PP leader paused, "But I do feel something's very wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"How should I put it? It feels like I've stepped into The Truman Show."

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