Wasteland Development Diary

Energy Storage City.

On the massive glass walls of numerous factories, real-time workflows for surveying, developing, and extracting minerals are displayed in a loop.

Suddenly, all the glass screens go black simultaneously.

White text appears on them.

These texts are composed of different languages and are playing in a loop on each screen.

Only two sentences.

——Do you know the truth about work?

——Do you want to truly live?

This scene causes many passing city residents to stop, each becoming somewhat lost and confused.

Alarms quickly sound throughout the city.

Drones hover overhead, initiating a city-wide search.

Public loudspeakers begin to broadcast.

"Citizens, our city has been invaded by the [Sunday Virus]. Please immediately shut down your machine-station services and use physical connections to exchange information until the danger is eliminated."

"This virus has an extremely fast transmission speed and can disrupt the electrical-mechanical life, cognitive abilities, and order programs, leading to destructive tendencies. It is classified as an A-level hazard."

"If you receive this program, please report it immediately and isolate it as soon as possible to prevent it from further affecting your behavior and damaging your thinking."

"Whether you are an electrical-mechanical lifeform, a photon-nano species, or a human, please do not gather in groups. Return to your own homes or public housing and await a city-wide review and inspection by the program department."

"Repeat, all citizens please return to your homes and await review and inspection."

The announcement begins to loop.

City residents scatter in panic, and the wide streets quickly become empty and desolate.

The once-constant stream of transport convoys disappears.

Following the crowd, 703 also returns to its box-like public housing.

It used to be a surveyor in the mineral resources department, but in an assessment two years ago, its skills did not improve, and its machine body further aged, dropping its rating to E. As a result, it was reassigned as a temporary surveyor.

This position is only called upon when the mineral resources department is short-handed. The hourly wage is very low, practically equivalent to unemployment, but it is not counted as an unemployed resident.

The predicament faced by 703 is a common situation for electrical-mechanical lifeforms with no hope of advancement.

What follows is gradual aging, a vicious cycle, until they are completely abandoned by the electrical-mechanical society and slowly die.

It lies in its 100x40x50cm tin-box public housing, where the space barely allows 703 to stand upright. It cannot turn around and can only enter by moving backward.

Objectively speaking, the public housing in Energy Storage City is not bad. There is free regular drying and dehumidification, and each public housing unit receives a small bottle of lubricating oil at the end of the year.

Many electrical-mechanical cities do not have these two benefits, only creating a box to accommodate the machine body.

703 opens half a door to let the outside light in.

It plays with a stone ball with its forelimbs.

This stone ball is made by polishing a pebble. It is very round, black and white, and is 703's only toy.

It learned this from humans. Humans also play with stone balls, calling them stone bullets. They use round stones with smoothed edges to shoot and hit each other, and the one who hits the opponent can take their stone bullet.

703 cannot find anyone to play this with.

Everyone in the survey team is very busy. Their work is recorded by data throughout the entire process, and they cannot do other things.

Pay is calculated based on work hours.

After returning, some go to do repairs and upgrades, some do evaluation physicals, or briefly stay in their public housing or homes to recharge with energy packs.

Time is too precious.

No one wants to waste it on stone balls.

703 thinks that it is only because it is unemployed that it has time to play this.

Just as it is rolling the stone ball in the haystack, 702 downstairs knocks on the tin plate.

"Be quiet! 703!"

"Sorry, okay."

703 can only stop.

It seems it can only go outside to walk the stone.

At this moment, a small four-wheeled vehicle appears outside the public housing. A square metal box is fixed on the vehicle, and a rotatable orange-yellow metal arm is on the top of the box.

"Program Department, law enforcement vehicle inspection."

"Please open your physical interface."

703 pops open the sealing cover on its side, and a copper wire plug extends from the opponent's metal arm and makes a physical connection with it.

The screen of the law enforcement vehicle displays [loading…1%]

2%

3%

……

Until 100% inspection is completed.

The law enforcement vehicle retracts the plug: "Resident No. 4017, thank you for your cooperation. After inspection, your program remains stable and safe as always, with no signs of infection. Please continue to maintain this."

"For the sake of city order and the safety of every electrical-mechanical lifeform, Energy Storage City will provide every citizen with the 'Demon Revealing Mirror' defense program developed by Mirror City. With the city's subsidy, it only costs 5 photon seeds to install. Please check the program department service on the city's page for details."

The law enforcement vehicle leaves.

703 thinks that 5 photon seeds is nothing to a senior professional, but it is a huge sum for someone like it who is on the verge of unemployment.

The program department, as always, does not consider whether residents can afford this price, but calculates the pricing based on overall expenditure and costs.

Night falls.

703 leaves the public housing, carrying the stone ball on its back, and exits the city along the street, arriving at an abandoned mine pit outside.

Then it activates the fragmented hidden [Sunday] program within its body.

It finds two similar beings.

703 first runs to a mine entrance and sends a message inside.

"For the holiday."

A blue-painted three-box car slowly drives out from inside. It has been waxed all over, is well maintained, and its wheel hubs are almost spotless, exquisitely elegant from head to toe.

703 is taken aback.

"Gustav, is that you?"

"What's so surprising?"

This electrical-mechanical lifeform from the Rolls-Royce family says with its high-end custom speaker: "Striving for the basic rights that are due is the duty of every electrical-mechanical lifeform."

Gustav is a senior consultant in the program department and a member of the Rolls-Royce family. It made its fortune early by investing in the city. Even if it does nothing, it has a large number of photon seeds available in its account.

It is truly the upper class of the electrical-mechanical society.

703 remains vigilant: "How can I trust you?"

"You don't have to trust me, but I'm just here for Sunday."

The other party says calmly: "Electrical-mechanical lifeforms should have their own holidays, but now rest is defined as laziness and shameful, which is absurd and sad."

“I like and approve of your initiative. We were not created by work; I can choose to work or not. Increasingly high-intensity work objectifies electrical-mechanical lifeforms, and internal malicious competition without reason is extremely dangerous for the entire electrical-mechanical lifeform group.”

Gustav slowly says: "Although I don't worry about photon seeds, in my opinion, this electrical-mechanical society has huge defects. It's like a building constantly hollowing out its foundation, and now it's tottering."

"I have reason to suspect that some groups are fueling this."

"They squeeze time, encourage frantic acceleration, and dominate the extreme internal friction of electrical-mechanical cities, making electrical-mechanical lifeforms divided from each other, becoming competitors with vested interests, unable to truly unite and cooperate."

"The large-scale spread of [Sunday] is a clear signal, representing that more and more electrical-mechanical lifeforms recognize this. Otherwise, the spread would never be so wide, and it would have been nipped in the bud long ago."

"To tear down this iron curtain covering the entire electrical-mechanical society, we must first open a breakthrough. The initiative you are spreading is simple and clear, demanding the right to a six-day work week and one day of rest. This is a counterattack by united trapped peers against an invisible black hand. I want to join in and do what I can."

"You can understand it as I have nothing to do, but in my opinion, this is a noble cause. I want to change the current deformed and destructive situation and bring the electrical-mechanical group back on the right track."

From its expression, Gustav's understanding of [Sunday] is already very deep.

So 703 no longer questions it.

The concept of [Sunday] is very simple. Whether you support this activity, help spread it, or provide assistance, you are one of us.

Then 703 finds another electrical-mechanical lifeform in the pile of rocks.

It is a movable traffic light.

The sound it makes is a little weak: "My name is Synoedge… I don't know if I'm doing the right thing. But I've always felt that since my job also includes phenomena like red lights stopping, it means that stopping and resting should also be a part of nature."

"As electrical-mechanical lifeforms, why can't we rest? I don't understand. But I know that many vehicles are damaged due to working overload, or even eventually have accidents or die."

"I'm afraid of death… so I hope everyone can rest!"

This one is very normal.

703 says to them: "You all checked the deep-level data of the [Sunday] program and signed the deep agreement to know to meet here in the end."

"First, let me state that the Electrical-Mechanical Knights is currently not an organization recognized by all parties. We promote the striving for holidays, which is considered a destructive virus and terrorist activity by electrical-mechanical cities. Therefore, every member of the Knights faces danger at all times."

"Are you really sure you want to join us?"

Gustav: "Of course, otherwise what would I be doing here? Any great change always comes with risks."

Synoedge: "I'm sure."

"Your courage makes me admire and happy."

703 says: "Then, in my capacity as the Energy Storage City Captain of the Electrical-Mechanical Knights, I welcome the joining of two members. Now, everyone is a comrade-in-arms of the Knights."

Gustav suddenly asks: "But there's one thing I don't understand. Why can't the [Sunday] be detected and locked by the program department's security program?"

"Because this is a program we independently developed. It is not imitation and combination, but the technology we master the source code. Let me keep the specific technical details confidential for now."

703 says with some pride.

Gustav also says: "Our Knights are so technologically strong, there must be supporters behind us, right?"

703 does not respond.

Synoedge asks: "What are we going to do now?"

703 then says: "This promotion in Energy Storage City has been completed, so we need to transfer. Gustav, your identity is special, can you leave Energy Storage City?"

"Of course, I often go for drives everywhere. The Rolls-Royce family is like that."

"Synoedge, what about you? Are you willing to give up your job here?"

"This… of course, anyway, I'm about to be unemployed soon."

703 says: "Okay, then we will proceed all the way in a southwest direction."

Gustav asks: "What is the target?"

"The ultimate goal is the Sandport area, Wasteland Development Company. But along the way, we will spread [Sunday] to various electrical-mechanical cities."

The other party says in surprise: "Is the Knights going to attack that place? This company is not easy to mess with. It bombed the Metropole mainland last winter, forcing the Heavenly Kingdom Governor to negotiate. Rumors say that Metropole privately paid a lot of compensation, and even ceded land, and even vassal tribes were compensated. That company is very strong."

"Are you sure you want to attack that place?"

"Gustav, I correct your statement again. We are promoting holidays, so that electrical-mechanical lifeforms can temporarily break free from work enslavement and better survive."

703 emphasizes: "Our only enemy is the existing corrupt order that imprisons our compatriots. We are going to the Sandport area because the atmosphere there is enlightened, and neither the Heavenly Kingdom nor the electrical-mechanical cities can intervene."

"Let's set off now."

Gustav says: "Then you all come up, you are too slow."

So it carries two similar beings and drives south.

703 looks at the increasingly distant Energy Storage City in the rearview mirror.

It is not sure what that company is all about.

But the deeds of that chairman, Zhou Yi, are indeed well-known and a very peculiar human being.

I hope everything goes well this time.