Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 336 - 306: Farming

Chapter 336: Chapter 306: Farming

After coming back from the Self Help Society, Xu Yang felt more and more uneasy.

Due to a global production and consumption decline, the economy continued to slide, with unemployed people emerging in droves, eventually being ostracized by society, leaving the world in various ways, or dying in wars.

Is this everyone’s fate? Work hard, then one day get fired, encounter violations, and then disappear.

Even the newly opened Synthetic Human factory couldn’t help. Xu Yang thought. Most jobs had been replaced by Synthetic Humans, with Synthetic Humans and automated production lines producing more of their kind. The entire new factory might only need around 100 people, mainly high-ranking engineers and AI researchers.

Most people could only have flexible employment, struggling to survive in the cracks.

Xu Yang thought about the milk he bought for Little Fool, 450 milliliters cost him 30. A food crisis loomed, so now returning to agriculture was an opportunity.

The Golden Branches obtained from Huang Feng had now grown into a Golden Tree in Rat Village. According to the research of Sun Biotech, the Golden Branches contained the power of the Forest Master, which could greatly improve soil fertility and purify soil pollution.

Then, a solution also surfaced.

Use the Golden Branches to improve the environment, invite everyone to farm, solve unemployment, and avert famine. Although it’s mid-October, they could use greenhouses to cultivate a batch of crops first and meanwhile sow the seeds of winter wheat.

Action speaks louder than words.

If we’re poor, let’s be self-sufficient. If we prosper, then we must think of the world.

Inspired by the Self Help Society, Xu Yang started to design a production model to replace corporate ideology, namely cooperative enterprise.

The new district was constructed but not yet in use. Most of the work was done in the office on the top floor of Shijin Mansion. Behind his desk, Xu Yang settled into his chair, connected to multiple panels and terminals, and quickly edited and generated the structure, constitution, and business direction for various departments of the Nestor Corporation.

Taro Tanaka was invited to visit and floated on the other end of the office, looking at everything curiously and admiringly. A brand new company was built before his eyes, and everything was running smoothly. Text, data, and charts were neatly arranged on the visual interface, and information swept rapidly across the screens like a torrent.

They joined hands to establish the Nestor-Tanaka Industrial Company, a high-tech enterprise focused on innovation, and a team specializing in technology research and development and automated factories, aimed at creating Synthetic Humans.

What caught Taro Tanaka’s attention was another "cooperative company" constitution designed by Xu Yang that mentioned employees directly participating in decision-making and management as self-managers of the cooperative company, which mainly covered agriculture and primary industry.

"Corporate ideology, centered around entrepreneurs," Xu Yang said, "has brought about violence, poverty, corporate wars, environmental degradation, and the enslavement by Witches. It’s hard to imagine they would respect this world and our descendants."

"Your talk of Pioneer Faction concepts always makes me nervous," Taro Tanaka said, a bit uneasy.

"That’s not a bad thing, you see, our company is still traditional," Xu Yang said, "We’ll recruit a team with the greatest technical strength, led by you, to drive our technology ever-changing. You enter the company with your technology, owning 40% of the new company’s shares."

"What about this cooperative company, then?" Taro Tanaka pointed at the plan, "You’re ready to use dozens of square kilometers of wilderness to build a cooperative company in this place called Asagi Township."

Asagi Township was 50 square kilometers large, currently home to 2,400 people living off agriculture. The arable area was extremely limited, and most of the land was barren due to pollution.

"I’m just gathering some unemployed people to farm, offering openly self-sufficient jobs."

"Anjiu City now has an unemployment rate of 12%, statistically speaking between 200,000 to 500,000 unemployed people, possibly more, and the number is still surging. It’s either death or escape; what’s the point?"

Xu Yang showed Taro Tanaka the map of Asagi Township swiftly: these lands, far from urban areas and polluted, had long been abandoned, without any other enterprises claiming ownership, and scattered with many historical divisions.

"This is prepared to unite them. Look, historically, this place was all fertile land, full of the ruins of villages. In ancient times, these were all arable lands; they just got polluted," Xu Yang said.

"Yeah, you know that the land is polluted," Taro Tanaka said.

"We have a way to purify the earth anew," Xu Yang said.

He had seen how a small piece of Golden Branch could nourish tens of hectares of land around Rat Village, and now it had already successfully grown into a Golden Tree.

"A large group of farmers?"

"After they feed themselves, they’ll be able to look for opportunities," Xu Yang said, "The next step is to establish a technical college, to train new experts, engineers, and skilled workers."

"This..."

"Have you ever considered that corporate ideology is systematically starving and trapping the poor to death," Xu Yang said, "giving them no chance for self-improvement, closing off mobility in positions to them, and once faced with today’s economic crisis, people can only sit and await death. To prevent something like this, we must plan from scratch an enterprise built and enjoyed by the laborers themselves."

"But do you have the extra funds?"

"We can invite people to cooperate in a more proactive manner, where they provide their own funds and labor, and as a result, reasonably enjoy their own rights and shares,"

"The power of small contributions gathering into something big?"

"Of course, it will be a free association of free company individuals, gathering bit by bit. The cooperative agricultural company is owned by the company individuals, by those who go to work in Asagi Township."

"I don’t understand."

"That’s why I designed two systems, one is our entrepreneurship, which is traditional, as clear as any science and innovation company. The other, in my vision, is idealistic, and you can call it a fantasy if you like," Xu Yang said.

"I wish you success," Taro Tanaka said, "But what you’re establishing is an island in a world of corporate ideology."

"When an island grows bigger and bigger, it’s hard to say which side is the real island," Xu Yang replied.

After saying goodbye to Taro Tanaka, Xu Yang pondered a matter.

From the perspective of the entire progression of civilization, were entrepreneurs truly necessary for a civilization?

Workers unquestionably created physical and intellectual products.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, exhibited managerial, organizational, and coordination abilities which were far behind excellent artificial intelligence, let alone compared to global advanced logistics and production management systems.

That is to say, for the healthy advancement of the whole civilization, entrepreneurs should have had the courage to innovate themselves and voluntarily step down from the historical stage.

But they lingered, never leaving. One could never expect top-down reforms; those in high-ranking positions had no motivation to change.

Humans dislike entrepreneurs, witches also dislike entrepreneurs. Killing entrepreneurs wasn’t a simple solution, it was also necessary to prove an important point: that humans and witches could organize production on their own without the need for entrepreneurs.

Reuniting.

People were in a constant state of negotiation, and the bargaining power of individuals was extremely weak, which led to them losing against systems and the world. But once people united, their bargaining power would significantly increase.

Xu Yang thought back to the city meeting in Anjiu City, where the representatives of the citizens achieved many favorable conditions. The key lay in the fact that the Citizen Army had guns and organization at the time, which greatly enhanced their value of being united.

Today, the scale of the Citizen Army, which had defended the city during the Blackfire siege, had greatly diminished. People were gradually leaving the temporary force to send out resumes in search of jobs, and the Citizen Army would disintegrate over time. By then, it would be exceedingly difficult for citizens to bargain with the mayor.

Uniting people was the key to everything, but Xu Yang needed some more time to accomplish this. He needed to figure out something...

Whether the Golden Tree of the Forest Master was of any use.

He went to the bottom of Aizu City, away from the crowds, took out an old Rat Communicator, and navigated his way to Rat Village.

As he passed through the rock crevices, he was dazzled by the bright gold light. After months of growth, a Golden Tree, resplendent and massive, had risen from the ground, covering the deep rocks with its lush, shimmering golden branches and leaves. The top had already pierced through the original fissures of the cave, almost causing a collapse risk to the rat burrow.

"The Golden Tree," Guan Wancang, a white-haired Ratman, emerged to meet Xu Yang, slowly straightening up; it looked healthier than before, perhaps due to improved nutrition. "Do you see? The Golden Tree you’ve given us has changed the destiny of our Rat Clan."

"This is... incredible..." Xu Yang couldn’t take his eyes off the Golden Tree, it was so grand and thriving. It had already squeezed out the original Rat Village. The Ratmen now lived across the different layers of the complex branches, and he watched the Ratmen move back and forth on the tree, with many little Ratmen scurrying around.

The Ratmen, by nature good at climbing and burrowing, managed well.

Around the Golden Tree, there was a dense growth of super-sized mushrooms. The mushrooms cultivated by Rat Village were called Luminescent Mushrooms, which already emitted a faint glow on their own, but were now completely overshadowed by the strong light of the Golden Tree.

It was brighter here than on the Ground!

Last month, Rat Village produced a total of 150 tons of mushrooms, tens of times more than before, with a small portion consumed and stored by the Rat Clan, and the majority manually carried by the Ratmen to Nestor Industrial Park, where they were packed and shipped to the Apple Orchard Nutrient Paste Canning Factory.

The Apple Orchard factory was originally guarded by Chainsaw Angel, used to produce Nutrient Paste containing human components. Now fully repaired and supplied, it was newly upgraded to use mushrooms as raw materials for the Nutrient Paste.

Beyond that, the thick outer skins of these mushrooms could also be used for weaving and as raw material for some clothing factories.

In return for the trade, Rat Village clandestinely purchased some life-improving materials, including furniture, daily necessities, medicines, and simple electrical appliances. Some clever white-haired rats were even able to break free from manual labor and start seeking education for the next generation of Ratmen.

Ratmen were still despised and therefore did not make public appearances. Many residents of Aizu City didn’t even know that their clothes and Nutrient Paste were supplied by Ratmen. But the Ratmen were indeed participating in the production and life of Aizu City, invisibly joining the entire supply and consumption system, becoming a part of civilization.

This was how reconciliation was achieved, Xu Yang thought to himself. Exchange, trade, and then eventually, a slow opening.

Xu Yang wanted to continue investigating in Rat Village, but Guan Wancang brought him to Sally’s resting place first, which was at the highest canopy of the Golden Tree. Sally lay among the dazzling golden branches and leaves, looking very weak.

"What’s wrong?" Xu Yang asked with concern.

"It’s nothing." Sally tried to brush it off, but she appeared very unwell, her fur dull and her body hunched and wasting away.

"You can tell me anything," Xu Yang consolingly said to her.

Large, cloudy tears began to well up in Sally’s eyes.

"My kin are being killed," Sally said with anxious worry, "every night I hear their screams, their cries for help as they are hunted by a cat, not far from where we are."