Wasteland Development Diary

Zhou Yi, along with 703, arrived at the hilly area of the former Maogu Town, where a piece of land had been allocated to the Cattle-Taming Tribe for their living and cattle-raising.

Among a cluster of mushroom houses arranged in a circle, several Horned Cattle stood motionless, maintaining a dormant posture.

Two bone people wearing horned hats were maintaining and inspecting them.

Chief Niu Zhen hurriedly came to greet them.

"Chairman, you've arrived."

Zhou Yi got straight to the point: "Do you oppose repairing the Horned Cattle?"

Niu Zhen scratched his hat: "Chairman, our tribe only knows how to raise cattle. If they all change, then our hard work in raising them will be in vain..."

"Right now, the Horned Cattle are doing well as taxis everywhere, earning money. If they're gone, we'll have nothing."

"Although they're slow now, they live long and don't need much. If they become electromechanical lifeforms, repairs, upgrades, and energy will all cost money, and we can't afford it."

Zhou Yi said coldly: "The Horned Cattle must be repaired into normal electromechanical lifeforms. This is an order."

"We obey orders!"

The bone person chief hurriedly stood up straight: "We'll listen to the company's arrangements! Repair all of them, repair them!"

Zhou Yi's tone softened slightly.

"Old Niu, I know your concerns. Right now, the taming and taxi service of the Horned Cattle are important industries for you, and also the tribe's livelihood."

"But think a little further ahead."

"Think about it, even if you work hard now, can you produce a new cow every three months?"

Niu Zhen shook his head: "Not yet. Although we have the Light Seed you gave us, the fastest we can produce one is still five months. The tribe has only produced 2 cows this year."

"Including the previous ones, that's a total of 34 cows, right?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yi followed his words and said, "Good, then this year, the maximum number will double, reaching 68 cows. These 68 cows can be used for local transportation in the Shahe area, as well as transporting various materials."

"But the current situation is that the elevated bridge has opened up a high-speed corridor from Emerald City to Shagang City. Reinforced vehicles are faster and cheaper than ox carts because running on the elevated bridge consumes almost no energy."

"In the future, the elevated bridge will connect to all the towns here, creating an island-wide expressway in the entire Shagang area. What will happen to the ox carts then?"

The bone person chief looked troubled.

Finally, he said: "Then we'll just have to sell the newborn cows like we did in the past."

Zhou Yi nodded: "That's indeed the traditional livestock farming approach. But what you're raising are semi-sapient beings, and there's another way to help them repair into electromechanical lifeforms."

"Electromechanical lifeforms are born professionals. I'm not sure about the Horned Cattle's true names and real functions. But the annual salary of electromechanical lifeforms is calculated in Light Seeds, and it won't be less than 1 Light Seed per year, which is 1 million Gu."

"The one-way trip for a taxi ox cart is 2 Iron, which is 20 Gu, so you have to run 50,000 trips a year to reach this minimum threshold."

"With your intelligence, it shouldn't be difficult to calculate this."

Niu Zhen was silent.

Being able to master the livestock farming technology of taming semi-sapient beings, and being able to repair and control them, the Cattle-Taming Tribe is definitely not stupid.

"Chairman, to be honest with you."

The bone person chief seemed to have made up his mind: "It's that everyone doesn't want to. Everyone knows that this is good for the Horned Cattle, but in reality, every Horned Cattle that hatches is a member of our tribe."

"Bone people don't have the ability to reproduce, so the Horned Cattle are our tribe's new members. If they awaken, they will know that we once treated them as livestock and sold them... They will definitely hate and resent us."

"Although it sounds strange, and may even be difficult to understand, the Horned Cattle are our tribe's children. It's just that we can't protect them, and we have to rely on them to help us earn money to maintain the tribe's various expenses."

Zhou Yi was slightly surprised.

In addition to the issue of interests, there were also emotional demands.

However, seeing the relationship between the tribe's bone people and the Horned Cattle as parents and children.

Then it was indeed easier to understand.

For the tribe that tamed the Horned Cattle, this group was their children, and also an important labor force for the tribe.

If these children gained self-awareness and awakened, obtained independent selves, and knew what was going on, they would likely leave the tribe to pursue the lives they wanted.

For the tribe, it was both a loss of labor and an emotional loss.

Zhou Yi sat down on a large rock next to him and gestured to the bone person chief: "Come, sit."

Both of them sat under a giant mushroom.

In the sunlight, the cattle not far away reflected a metallic luster.

"Old Niu, what do you think of your tribe?"

"Very weak, small in scale, and without any particularly outstanding skills. Only after joining the company have we obtained a stable living environment."

"Yes. The Cattle-Taming Tribe is strong in stability, but stagnation also lies in this aspect."

Zhou Yi told him: "Because you clearly have special livestock farming technology, but lack further conditions and opportunities. Now the opportunity is right in front of you, it's a huge opportunity for you."

"When the Horned Cattle evolve into electromechanical lifeforms, they will have growth potential and will have deeper interactions with you. The growth of any group is like this, it may be better, or it may be worse."

"Perhaps some Horned Cattle will alienate you, hate you, but some Horned Cattle will understand you, recognize you, it's a matter of probability. Because you are not treating them maliciously, you have limited abilities and have tried your best to maintain the tribe's cattle."

"Their growth is the tribe's development."

Zhou Yi looked at the mechanical monsters in the distance and said: "I believe that as long as you treat the new generation of Horned Cattle seriously, you should be confident that they will not hate you. The biggest feature of electromechanical lifeforms is that they are reasonable and logical, and they will make decisions based on the information they know."

"The tribe treats them very well!"

Niu Zhen emphasized: "We really treat them as members of the tribe, it's just that our abilities are too weak to help them with anything."

Zhou Yi looked at the bone person chief: "Then believe in yourselves, the process determines the result."

Niu Zhen lowered his head and said: "I understand what you mean. Actually, when 703 came to me, I knew that the result was already destined, just like it's going to rain and the land is going to be windy... It's just that I wanted to delay it for a while, everyone in the tribe is actually afraid of change."

"We all need to accept and learn to change."

Zhou Yi said softly, then looked at 703, who was silent next to him: "Then let's start with this year's two newborn Horned Cattle. They have the least data and are the least burdened."

So, Niu Zhen led the robot dog to find the two new cows.

After working for half a day.

"Chairman, the repair program is complete. They are all very healthy, and the program architecture is more rigorous than expected. I have also transmitted the most basic company information data to them."

703 reported: "They completely replicate the core program of the previous generation, so their origins are also very clear."

"The Horned Cattle are a military unit, code-named 'Off-road No. 1', with the ability to self-replicate. Its biggest advantage is its strong terrain adaptability and large carrying capacity. It can pass through almost any complex terrain, and is especially suitable for heavy-duty transportation in mountainous and plateau areas. The disadvantage is its slow moving speed."

"Its abilities are [Replication] and [Modification]."

"[Replication] is to assemble its own program and corresponding materials to copy its own replacements."

"[Modification] can install various weapon modules, and can further modify their movement methods. For example, installing wheels can switch to vehicle driving, adding more feet can be more stable, or adding a hull bottom plate can navigate on the water. It has high plasticity."

"They can carry 1.5 tons of weight. Therefore, with extensive modifications, they can also withstand external armor and heavy equipment without affecting their speed."

Zhou Yi looked at the two four-legged electromechanical lifeforms.

They were actually military units.

The two Horned Cattle just paced slowly, observing the surrounding environment.

However, they maintained a back-to-back posture, which did have a bit of a combat stance.

"Hello."

Zhou Yi took the initiative to say hello: "How do you feel?"

One of the Horned Cattle said: "Not bad."

The other said: "Pretty good."

"What are your names?"

The two electromechanical lifeforms called themselves "Niu 197" and "Niu 198" respectively, which were also their names in the tribe.

"What are your thoughts about the future?"

They looked at each other.

Niu 197 said: "I have no thoughts. Life in the tribe is very good, everyone takes good care of us. I like it here."

"Me too."

The nervous bone person chief immediately relaxed.

Zhou Yi said: "Since you have modification abilities, do you want to try modifying into a car form? At least this way you can run on the elevated bridge without consuming energy."

Both cows thought it was feasible.

A few days later, they were fitted with four wheels and started a taxi life on the elevated bridge.

The difference from other vehicles is that they can also switch to a four-legged form. After leaving the highway bridge, they can move forward on rugged mountain roads and take passengers to their doorsteps.

197 and 198 quickly became proficient in the taxi work.

Chief Niu Zhen ran over to report the good news: "Chairman, in addition to working, they also teach us how to better repair and maintain them, how to quickly discover the abnormal conditions of other Horned Cattle, and also teach us simpler and more effective replication methods."

"They don't dislike us, and they also want to help the tribe earn money and grow!"

The bone person stammered with excitement: "Un-under their optimization, replication can be completed in just 1 month!"

There was only one problem.

"Neither of them is willing to replicate, because that would take up their time and energy... According to their internal program, the replication process will only be activated if there is a heavy damage, the purpose is to make a backup and continue to fight."

Zhou Yi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

These electromechanical lifeforms were also unwilling to have children.

In the ignorant semi-sapient state, the fertility rate was very high instead.

703 also got a surprising discovery.

"Chairman, some semi-sapient beings are unwilling to use the Time Anchor to repair into electromechanical lifeforms!"

He said somewhat heavily: "I tested 12 Horned Cattle before, and only 1 used the Time Anchor program and is recovering."

"We always thought before that semi-sapient beings were willing to become more advanced electromechanical lifeforms, but we didn't expect that they weren't all so willing."

Zhou Yi was puzzled: "Why?"

"Because the calculation amount is very small when they are semi-sapient, only maintaining the basic program operation is enough, there is no load, and most of the time they can be motionless. But after entering electromechanical life, the calculation amount increases greatly, and there are corresponding updates, upgrades and maintenance, and survival becomes very troublesome."

"The previous 11 all chose to reject the Time Anchor program, they don't want to change, and they don't want to have new burdens."

"This is a very surprising discovery! Now I even suspect that semi-sapient beings are not necessarily caused by radiation, but a natural selection of some electromechanical lifeforms in the general environment. This can greatly reduce consumption and survive longer, or rather, have stronger survival ability!"

703 said excitedly.

This was the first time Zhou Yi had heard of this.

He thought about it: "Then respect their choice."

"Yes, Chairman, the new generation has a stronger desire to change, they are more curious, I will focus on the new generation of cows."

In the end, only 4 cows in the herd signed the agreement and started the Time Anchor, becoming electromechanical lifeforms.

Including the previous 197 and 198, there were a total of 6.

They had different personalities, some were irritable, some were slow, and some were curious.

1 cow left the tribe and crossed the Dead Sea, not knowing where it went.

Another chose to live alone in the northern forest in the wild, but it became a unique landscape.

So now there are actually only 4 electromechanical cows in the company.

This series of changes also made the Cattle-Taming Tribe accept the change of the cattle herd, and then enter a new cattle-raising life.

Just as Zhou Yi was paying attention to this group of electromechanical lifeforms, bone person Wu Yi came over.

"Chairman, I'm ready! I can go find the woman in the ice block at any time."

Zhou Yi said: "Okay, then let's set off now."