I Said No Artificial Intelligence ≠ I Do Not Use It

Driven by the civil-factory system's blessing, the speed of labor conscription exceeded Odinson's imagination.

Even by his most optimistic estimates, the entire process should have taken around a month.

The reality was that in less than a week, a hundred million laborers were gathered, and the quota was even exceeded.

Odinson turned no one away for the excess labor, accepting every single one as listed.

Following the Chapter Master's instructions, this project was not merely for expanding the starch factory; raising the lower hive's trust in the Astral Claws Chapter was also one of the goals.

Coupled with the Chapter Master's guarantee of ample material supply, Odinson arranged the nearly one hundred million extra people into the labor force.

With nearly double the expected people, Odinson initially thought that the tens of thousands of chapter serfs he brought and the personnel forcibly requisitioned from some "grassroots autonomous organizations" would be flustered.

To his surprise, however, everyone—including the conscripted lower-hivers—displayed unprecedentedly high efficiency.

The administrative staff worked conscientiously because the Emperor's angels were truly watching them; the lower-hivers were also trembling with caution because they had all witnessed the gang members' abnormalities and felt that the angels might indeed be observing in secret.

Everyone performed to the best of their ability, making the temporarily constructed experimental management system run quite smoothly.

The lower-hivers were first divided into groups, then registered their names, taking a code name if they had none. After the rosters were registered, logistics used low-grade plasteel to print work badges and distribute them to them.

The management staff felt that the average quality of this batch of lower-hivers seemed somewhat abnormally high. Not only were there no sudden outbursts of crazed trouble-making, but there were hardly even any who could not understand human speech.

The PDF troopers requisitioned to the side were actually somewhat idle, aside from occasionally maintaining the queue order and pointing the way for the lost.

Under this high efficiency, in less than half a month, everyone completed registration and grouping.

Aside from the system's blessing, another reason for this efficiency was that Huron and Odinson collectively used a large amount of electronic products, achieving semi-informatized office work.

Although the Imperium's fear of the Men of Iron caused the underclasses to thoroughly loathe and reject all electronic products and automata, the nobles naturally would not abandon this convenient technology.

Taking the Palatos Hive as an example, the spire nobles not only possessed high-fidelity virtual pods, pocket-watch-styled personal information terminals, and an internet communicating with other hives, but they also laid down a large amount of monitoring facilities in the upper hive to watch over every aspect of the upper-hivers' lives.

And the spires where the nobles lived naturally used a large amount of automation and information technology; fully smart furniture and weak artificial intelligence butlers were basically standard equipment. Quite a few nobles also equipped themselves with a large number of humanoid robot servants, and their private armies likewise featured numerous drones of various types.

Although due to aesthetic issues, these noble mechanical servants looked ugly in their own distinct ways to Huron, the technology contained within them was actually not low at all.

Having looted quite a few nobles, the Astral Claws Chapter naturally possessed plenty of resources in this regard. Therefore, frontline administrative staff were equipped with personal terminals carrying weak artificial intelligence, and connected to an information database, allowing many lower-hivers' "gibberish" to be identified as specialized lower-hive dialects, which boosted efficiency.

The collected information was also directly transmitted via the network to networked smart plasteel printers, leaving logistics only needing to replenish materials and transport work badges to designated locations.

Other links also accelerated their pace as a result, reducing a massive amount of information-exchange steps.

Although a full month passed without starting construction, Odinson still chose to provide the laborers with a sufficient amount of starch porridge as food every day. Although these machine-made starch porridges tasted indescribable, they were still able to fill stomachs.

Beyond that, a good amount of vitamins were mixed into the starch porridge to improve the health condition of this mob of laborers.

Otherwise, simply being stuffed with food every day would have been enough to kill a large number of lower-hivers.

Odinson ordered this matter to be publicized openly, making the enthusiasm of the two hundred million laborers even higher.

The benefits promised before arrival were fulfilled even before work started, so what would happen after work began?

Many people had heard that the angels seemed to select well-performing laborers to serve as their servants. Previously, they had come solely for the starch and vitamins, completely disbelieving this.

Did humble lower-hivers like them deserve to serve angels? That was the privilege of the lords in the upper hive and the nobles in the spire!

Now, however, they also began to half-believe it—what if it were true?

With everything ready, the two hundred million people were thrown into the dismantling and transportation of factory equipment.

The middle hive of the Palatos Hive, Flos District, Watt Starch Factory.

Old John, who had collected a plasteel work badge, eaten a full dozen days of meals, and consumed more than a unit's worth of vitamins, was assigned here to work.

As an experienced veteran porter of the lower hive, he was selected as the leader of their hundred-man group, and those servants of the angels even issued him a magical pocket watch.

When Old John led his team, following the route projected by the pocket watch, to the designated location, it was already a bustling scene of intense activity here.

Precision equipment had already been dismantled and transported away in advance by technicians among the chapter serfs and hired tech-priest artisans, leaving behind only bulky, rugged, ordinary equipment that was not afraid of bumps and knocks.

The pocket-watch projection on Old John's chest changed, wrapping up piles of neatly placed bulky parts and pointing toward a large truck that had just driven up beside him.

The driver was a Mechanicus serf; she opened the door and jumped down, her left eye, which had turned into a bionic eye, scanning Old John's group as she spoke, "Hurry up and load the cargo onto the truck! Do not waste time!"

Everyone looked at Old John, while Old John saw the projection envelop the Mechanicus serf as the pocket watch emitted a sound: Obey her orders.

"No problem, let's move this pile of things onto the truck." Old John took the lead, rushing to the pile of parts, lifting a component taller than himself and weighing two hundred kilograms, carrying it onto the large truck to steady it, and then running back toward the pile of parts without a red face or a gasp of breath.

After taking the vitamins bestowed by the angels, a bunch of ailments on his body were gone, and he simply felt reborn. A mere two hundred kilograms was nothing at all.

The others swarmed forward as well. With the perk of "becoming the angel lord's servant" hanging at the front, coupled with the tangible benefits already consumed earlier and the system's influence, everyone was filled with high enthusiasm, scrambling to get ahead.

The Mechanicus serf helping to transport parts estimated this mob's efficiency through her bionic eye, then revealed a satisfied smile.

According to the current efficiency, the scheduled completion time could be advanced by twenty minutes.

She intended to ask these people later if they were willing to become Mechanicus servants like her, bathing in the glory of the Omnissiah.

As this large truck drove away, another new large truck drove up.

The morning hours passed quickly, and Old John led his team to the cafeteria to prepare for lunch.