Chapter 19 – The First World 19

On the evening when Chu Shici heard the news, he couldn’t sleep.

He was wondering what was happening in this world. Was all this turmoil against betas just because of discrimination?

Unable to comprehend, he ran to Su Zheyan’s side and grabbed his hand, saying, ” Yan ge, does the Empire treat betas as a shame?”

Su Zheyan leaned against the capsule and closed his eyes, resting. “No.”

“Then why do they want to exterminate us?”

Su Zheyan opened his eyes, lowered his head, and looked quietly at the robot beside him. “Maybe in the minds of the rulers, the Empire no longer needs mediocre people.”

His pair of azure eyes, at this moment, appeared like deep ocean trenches. Extremely cold, instilling fear in people’s hearts. Yet, they were also mysterious and inscrutable, tempting the onlookers to explore.

Chu Shici stared blankly, involuntarily reaching out his hand, wanting to touch those eyes.

Su Zheyan misunderstood his intention, thinking that he wanted to hold his finger. So, as usual, he extended his index finger in front of him.

Chu Shici clasped it with a thud. “But Yan ge, you are not ordinary at all.”

Su Zheyan gently curved a faint smile and held Chu Shici, rubbing him back and forth. His response was not very obvious, but a prompt sounded in Chu Shici’s mind.

【Vitality +3, Current Vitality 48/100.】

Seeing the admiration of the little robot, it made him feel much better.

According to the system, the higher the vitality value, the easier it was to get along with Su Zheyan. As long as he was in a good state, he could almost always answer questions. This was a special favor only enjoyed by robots, and he wouldn’t pay attention to others.

When Chu Shici felt like his head was about to be rubbed off, Su Zheyan stopped and said, “Since the founding of the country, I am the only beta who became a general. The other two genders shine in various fields, while betas do the most ordinary jobs and live the most ordinary lives.”

“What’s wrong with being ordinary? Should ordinary people be eliminated?”

A hint of sadness flashed in Su Zheyan’s eyes. “After the popularization of the Eternal Artificial Intelligence products, it caused massive unemployment. In just over a decade, most ordinary employees in various industries were completely replaced by AI.”

He paused for a long time and whispered, “As long as relevant knowledge is implanted into robots, they can work tirelessly. Only those with exceptional talent or extensive experience can stay in companies. When I was a child, there was a restaurant near my neighborhood run by a beta. The food was delicious, and the person was very enthusiastic. But when I went back after ten years, the restaurant was filled with nothing but robots, except for the owner.”

“Did those old employees go somewhere else?”

“The chef couldn’t find a job and jumped off a building to commit suicide, and a waiter went to the red-light district to avoid starving.”

“The red-light district?”

Su Zheyan poked his little head, “You’re a child’s toy. You shouldn’t talk about these things with kids.”

His voice was calm, but Chu Shici could hear the profound sadness in his words. As a beta, he felt compassion and helplessness towards his unfortunate compatriots.

Chu Shici also felt a bit downcast. He lay in Su Zheyan’s palm, fidgeting with his fingertips to relieve boredom.

Suddenly, the system, which had been eavesdropping all along, exclaimed, “Wait a minute. Mobile phones don’t get upgraded so quickly. Aren’t you a third-generation robot? I checked your built-in functions. You can only play radio and act like a little fool. How come Eternal Life Technology has produced such advanced robots in the blink of an eye? And in just a little over a decade, robots have become common. Is Eternal Life Technology having a clearance sale or doing charity?”

Chu Shici suddenly realized and urgently grabbed the finger in front of him, asking, “Yan ge! Has the development speed of Imperial Technology suddenly accelerated?”

Su Zheyan pondered for a moment and replied, “After the birth of the Eden System, Eternal Life Technology took thirteen years to completely propel the empire into the era of intelligence. Before ordinary people could react, they were already eliminated by the new era.”

Chu Shici continued his inquiry, “What is the Eden System?”

“It’s an artificial intelligence created with cutting-edge technology, the crystallization of Imperial Technology.”

Su Zheyan paused and furrowed his brow in confusion, “What exactly do you want to ask?”

Chu Shici fell into contemplation.

He used to be a human from the 21st century Earth, where social changes also occurred rapidly. While technology eliminated certain professions, it also gave rise to new industries. Those who lost their jobs to technology could find survival space elsewhere. The widespread adoption of technology takes time and, invisibly, provides the public with opportunities to adapt.

Thirteen years were too short, so short that a group of children hadn’t even stepped out of the school gates before being sentenced by the era. Their previous efforts had become futile, as common jobs were already replaced by artificial intelligence. Only top talents and social elites had the qualifications to survive in this era.

Technology and humanity should not be adversaries, but here, technology has grabbed humanity by the throat, pressing ordinary people down in the torrent of time, causing them to drown alive. The victims are not just betas; even the relatively ordinary alphas and omegas are among them.

This at least suggests that Eternal Life Technology is not targeting betas; it is targeting everyone present here.

Chu Shici pondered for a while. “I have a strange feeling, as if the whole world is running at a regular speed, but Eternal Life Technology is on fast forward. It’s not normal. Their technological level seems to surpass this era. It’s not the era eliminating ordinary people; it’s Eternal Life Technology forcibly propelling the era forward.”

Inside the capsule, it was quiet. Su Zheyan was lost in thought, absentmindedly, without responding to his words.

Chu Shici became anxious and jumped around on his hand. “Yan ge,Yan ge!”

Su Zheyan pursed his thin lips, his voice tinged with a hint of confusion.

“I seem to have seen more advanced technology, even surpassing the level displayed by Eternal Life Technology now, but I can’t remember the specifics.”

“So, Yan ge, you’re still suffering from amnesia?”

“No, I remember everything that happened in the past. This additional memory is different from the previous ones.”

The conversation from last night was just idle talk for them. Investigating the secrets behind Eternal Life Technology was of little significance to Su Zheyan. He was more concerned about the meeting four days later.

The day that Zuo Ting had unilaterally scheduled with him arrived quickly, accompanied by twenty fully armed bodyguards.

Chu Shici originally wanted to go out with him, but Su Zheyan locked him in the capsule. It seemed that he was in a bad mood and wanted to start a fight. He didn’t have the energy to take care of Chu Shici.

Through the transparent cover of the capsule, Chu Shici saw Zuo Ting standing arrogantly opposite Su Zheyan, looking even more domineering than before.

Su Zheyan remained silent, looking at him with eyes that seemed to see a dead person. Chu Shici had a clear understanding in his heart.

If Zuo Ting couldn’t satisfy Su Zheyan shortly, Zuo Ting’s life would definitely end today. Despite his appearance of being honest, the male lead was not someone anyone could provoke in terms of strength in this story.

The two sides confronted each other for five minutes, and then a roar came from the sky.

An imperial ship landed on the desolate planet, and four soldiers escorted a researcher out.

The researcher held a document in his hand, and due to the angle, he first saw Zuo Ting. “Mr. Zuo, according to the information you provided, General Su personally came to the empire for an interview. According to imperial law, we have come to this desolate planet for genetic confirmation and to ensure that all of General Su’s clones are properly marked.”

After he finished speaking, his peripheral vision caught sight of Su Zheyan not far away.

The researcher looked at his face and couldn’t help but pause. “Are you a clone? Why don’t you have the marking?”

Su Zheyan sneered, “You’d better ask him.”

The researcher turned his head, and Zuo Ting smiled at him, raising a gun.

“He is the real person, the one you took back is the clone. And… it’s not just his clones here, but yours too.”

Translator’s Note-Guys don’t forget to support and comment your views(^-^)

Support me on Ko-fi to get an additional chapter translated within the day.

Hope you guys enjoyed it and I als don’t like Zuo Ting hehe.