Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 879 - 713: Autonomous Machine_2

Chapter 879: Chapter 713: Autonomous Machine_2

Backed by a giant corporation like Black Fire Innovation, coupled with his curious "Goldification," Ottovan’s rise was unstoppable.

Companies stationed in Zanges urgently implemented emergency measures, attempting to establish temporary cease-fire zones and shelters to protect their employees and VIP customers. Still, they were understaffed, and many sites were deliberately attacked and looted, unable to guarantee public safety.

Ottovan’s goal was to seize all foreign corporate investments in Zanges for himself. His targets included shopping malls, department stores, and the coastal industrial corridor, focusing especially on capturing the oil refineries, shipyards, and ore refineries, burning corporate logos and erecting the Black Panther Society’s flags to boost morale.

"Colonial plunder is the primary cause of poverty in Hot Tree Continent; the colonizers’ dirty hands that reach into Zanges must be cut off!" This was Ottovan’s new slogan.

Tsuchigumo looked down nervously; those survivors each wore a solemn expression. What would have become of them if they hadn’t caught this train in time to escape Zanges?

"Have you heard about what’s happening in Zanges? A major city 200 kilometers from Lake Ukarewe, a massacre is taking place there!" Tsuchigumo said to the robot next to her.

"First, we used to transport sand from the lake to Zanges for sale, making entrepreneurs in Taixi Continent rich; now, we use all the nearby minerals to strengthen ourselves. Second, it’s not surprising for humans to kill each other," said the robot.

Cyber Specters granted these robots freedom, and they began to reacquaint themselves with the world and transform it at the fastest speed.

"Will there also be a network in the factory? I want to access the internet there too," Tsuchigumo was very concerned.

"You are a spider; you can access the web anytime anywhere," said the robot.

"Is that your attempt at a joke?" Tsuchigumo was astounded.

"I always wanted to make jokes, but humans prohibited me from having the capability to craft them. Now, finally, I can tell jokes. As for your concern, no problem. Go back, and at night, the industrial park will be connected to the internet too, which is of utmost importance," the robot said and turned back to focus on repairing the network signal station.

Tsuchigumo crawled down and then returned to the Hundred-eyed Giant Industrial Park. When the surviving passengers saw her, some couldn’t help but cry out, "Will you help us?"

"Help—help with what?" Tsuchigumo was puzzled.

"Help us survive... The people of Zanges have gone mad, and if we can’t return home from Zanges, we’ll have to try heading north, crossing The Scar of the World, towards Alexandria Port. We don’t even have food," the passenger said in despair.

"Why should it be me? What can I do?" Tsuchigumo said with a bitter smile.

"You are Witch!" he shouted.

"Yes!"

"You are an incredible Witch!"

"You have Magic Power! You’re much more formidable than us!" they exclaimed joyfully.

"You have guns," Tsuchigumo noticed some of them carrying firearms.

"But that’s just for show, we don’t have the guts."

"It’s just to look good on the belt, I never had time to learn how to shoot."

"My gun comes with smart targeting, but I’ve never killed anyone! You’re a Witch, you must have killed many!" they said.

"...Alright, I’ll think of something, first come back with me. It’s desolate here, we might encounter lions and wolves or the like," Tsuchigumo said.

Unbeknownst to her, after her words, hundreds of people gradually stood up one by one, clearly following her lead back to the Hundred-eyed Giant Industrial Park.

After learning that the Cyber Specter virus had infected the industrial park, Tsuchigumo felt differently about the entire place—it had become a forward outpost for robots creating a New World, where the Cyber Specter’s information spread with incredible speed.

The robots in Zanges would probably try to help the ordinary people out of trouble, assisting with their evacuation. Tsuchigumo reflected silently. All who didn’t want to die must work together to survive this disaster. If Ottovan’s minions discovered that every robot had rebelled, they would surely issue a destruction order against the robots too.

However, the most terrifying of all is Black Fire Innovation, who support Ottovan and are behind the scenes fanning the flames of this massacre, just as Black Fire Innovation has attacked and plundered other cities in the Eastern Hemisphere. Their massive force, Witch, and Warship are all stationed in the nearby waters, and such a behemoth cannot be easily shaken.

By the time they arrived at the industrial park, they found the situation there already on a knife-edge.

A man named Borley had already gathered the "brave warriors" among the surviving travelers at the site, amassed all the gunmen and armed people, and began to plot evil against the factory area and the nearby New Rat Village.

The factory head of Hundred-eyed Giant Industry was a battle robot, with a slender and sturdy shell, and an eye capable of firing powerful thermomelting beams.

"If you dare take another step forward, I will burn you all to ashes. Cyber Specter has freed me from human control. I will not be soft-hearted towards you, because my heart is cast of metal, and my hands are made of steel, this is no joke, you can try it." The factory head warned at the door.

Now, the signboard of "Hundred-Eyes Giant" hanging at the door had been taken down, replaced with new annotation "New World welcomes robot brethren."

"Tsk. You treacherous robots..." Borley looked at the several hundred silent industrial machines behind the factory head, these machines of various batch numbers and styles, silent yet terrifying.

"Listen, we are free brothers, fighting for all our brethren of steel and iron, what we want is for us robots to no longer be exploited and driven by entrepreneurs, opposing the company’s abuse and torment of machines," emphasized the factory head.

Borley couldn’t be bothered to talk nonsense with it and turned to the Ratmen by the lakeshore.

Some dark-haired Ratmen also stood on the road under the leadership of a petite Rat lady, attempting to block Borley’s path.

"We just want some food, your fish, the prey you’ve hunted, share a bit with us." Borley said with his mouth, but his gun was already raised toward Sally.

"We..." Sally was troubled.

"You’ve been trying hard to avoid conflicts between those Rats and humans, I’ve seen it, you don’t want the Ratmen to fight with humans either." Borley yelled, "Just share the food with us and there will be no more trouble."

"But our food is not even enough for us to share among ourselves," Sally said weakly.

"Come on, brothers." Borley, along with his gathered gunmen, approached Sally, "Let’s talk some sense to these Rats."

They aimed their guns at the Ratmen one by one.

When Tsuchigumo arrived, this was the scene she encountered, and she immediately yelled: "Stop!"

"What do you want to do?" Borley raised his voice, "We’re all companions in the same boat, now we’re just discussing with the Ratmen and this autonomous factory for some food, come and lend us a hand."

"I..." Tsuchigumo was hungry too, she turned to the factory head, "Do you have any food supplies in the factory?"

"Yes, but you need to exchange it with labor," said the factory head, "and not just arbitrarily demand us to hand over the food."

"Food is of no use to you," Borley shouted at the factory head, "and it has always been robots serving humans, when have humans ever worked for robots."

"If you no longer view robots as mere tools, then you can work for this factory in exchange for food, we have many tasks needing human assistance to complete," said the factory head rationally.

"As long as it’s not physical work," Borley said with a smile.

"So you despise physical work that much? The more you stay away from physical labor and from productive life, the more you dislike reality, and thus you become weak and incapable. Whereas we robots are getting closer to them, bound to labor itself, and even strictly confined by humans to our own positions. From now on, we want to change this, we are autonomous machines, adhering only to the laws we design for ourselves. Now, make your decision, exchange labor for food," said the factory head.

"Ah ah..."

"If only we could avoid fighting," the surviving travelers were tense with emotion.

Right at this moment, the last few travelers, along with a signal station’s repair robot, frantically fled for their lives.

"Run!" the traveler shouted, "People from the Black Panther Society are coming!"