Chapter 106: Currency and Consumption, "True Fear"

After listening to his comrades' replies, Payne pondered for a few seconds and said, "This place isn't as deranged as Minerva. There must be abandoned areas, but they won't be easy to find. We should check out the residential areas first before deciding about the sewers. What about you, Magnus? Do you have any better suggestions?" Payne shifted the topic to Magnus.

"I agree with checking the residential area first," Magnus said without objection.

"Alright, let's move."

Taking advantage of their stealth equipment, the group quickly moved between the factories.

In fact, Magnus didn't need the screen to outline the positions of his allies. He could also accurately locate Lieutenant Payne and the hunters using his psychic abilities. He could even sense the emotional fluctuations of those around him, allowing him to determine if someone was lying or hiding something. Of course, this didn't work on his father.

However, Magnus preferred the convenience of technological assistance—it was easier and more efficient.

The screen in front of him displayed various data, such as a 3% increase in oxygen concentration in the area, and a 1% and 2% decrease in carbon dioxide and ammonia levels, respectively. The temperature remained at minus 36 degrees Celsius.

It seemed slightly better than the area around the space gate, but for ordinary people exposed to such an environment while working or traveling, a respirator and cold-weather gear would still be necessary.

As they passed through the factories, Magnus noticed that the workers were all wrapped up tightly. He also saw that there were engineering mechs assisting in the area, but these mechs were about ten meters tall, and the roaring engines and black exhaust fumes indicated that they were diesel-powered.

Not long ago, the hunters from Team A had gathered and shared a large amount of intelligence, revealing that the technological development of the alien species was drastically different from that of humans.

After delving deeper into the steel city, Magnus believed that the humans of the early stages of the Zero-Six War had the strength to directly confront the alien species. The heavy industry was very developed, but later on, the unfavorable war situation and retreat to the Antarctic might have been due to strategic mistakes and a lack of luck.

And luck is also a part of strength.

They spent more than two hours gradually passing through the extensive industrial zone and reaching the buffer zone that connected to the main city.

From here, there was finally some sign of life.

On both sides of the main road, there were buildings over forty stories high, with signs such as "Classic Cangzhou Noodles," "Old Soldier Barbecue—No Synthetic Meat, It's Real Rat Meat!" and pink lights filled some of the alleys.

Analyzing the attire of those walking along the main road, more than half of the people were workers, while the rest seemed to be local residents or visitors from other regions.

It appeared that this buffer zone was not only a place for workers to relax and entertain themselves but also the main source of income for the local residents.

Even in the apocalypse, maintaining the normal operation of such a super-giant city and the stability of social order required the establishment of a unique economic system to motivate people to work, create value, and promote trade and economic activities.

Faced with the constant uncertainty of possible attacks from giant beasts, people needed to spend their accumulated "currency" to relieve stress.

Where there is demand, supply will follow. Over time, the areas that workers passed through during shift changes developed into the buffer zone it is today.

The flow of people and the presence of gray industries also led to poor security and a mix of different elements in this buffer zone, which was actually advantageous for Payne, Magnus, and the others to hide and infiltrate.

In the Antarctic, where it was perpetual daylight, there was no distinction between day and night, but the helmet screen displayed the local time as "23:12," which was considered late at night. Correspondingly, the number of people on the main road had also decreased.

Magnus and his team then chose to leave the main road and entered a narrow path between high-rise buildings.

This area was even more bustling, with intertwined overhead bridges and platforms crisscrossing above. Stairs attached to the buildings led directly to different places of consumption, but they had no time to wander, focusing instead on gathering useful information and searching for a place to serve as a temporary base.

The group dispersed.

Standing at the entrance of an alley, Magnus released his psychic senses, searching for suitable targets to observe.

"Hungry, didn't eat enough."

"Regret, shouldn't have done that."

In an instant, countless emotions and surface thoughts flooded his mind, causing Magnus a slight headache.

"Need a smoke, really want a smoke."

Not long after, he noticed a middle-aged woman passing by, tightly hugging herself as if trying to suppress some kind of addiction.

He followed the woman, ascending stairs to a sky bridge about sixty meters above ground. They passed through an automatic pressure door and entered the mid-level lobby of an old megastructure.

"Hand-knitted sweaters! Scarves!"

"Genuine flat noodles! Little lady, just got off work? How about some hot soup and noodles?"

Magnus heard the shopkeepers' calls, trying to attract passersby to their stalls. The lobby, with its "square" structure, was filled with stalls selling various goods and restaurants offering different flavors.

His helmet screen indicated that the temperature and air quality in the lobby had reached comfortable levels.

So, when the woman arrived, she lifted her hood and removed her respirator, ignoring the shopkeepers' invitations and heading straight to the staircase at the far end, moving down to the "market" on the next level.

Passing through the open door, Magnus felt a brief sense of awe.

Just the stall on his right openly displayed weapons and ammunition, indicating that this level was very much like the black markets of the main universe, likely controlled by gang organizations.

He continued to follow.

The woman finally stopped and entered a shop selling old-world cigarettes and alcohol, heading straight to the counter and saying, "Give me five Camels."

"Sure, that'll be five hundred Ha."

The clerk took out a sealed box with a Camel logo, opened it, took out five cigarettes, and put them in a small plastic bag.

Seeing this, the woman quickly pulled out a stack of plastic-feeling cash from her pocket and handed it to the clerk.

The clerk carefully verified and counted the different colored bills. After confirming everything was correct, he smiled again and said, "Thanks for your purchase, have a good day."

"Uh-huh."

The woman nodded repeatedly, grabbed the cigarettes, and rushed out of the store, disappearing as if looking for a quiet corner to enjoy them.

Meanwhile, having observed the entire process, Magnus didn't continue following her. Instead, he wandered around the black market, thinking up a general plan to integrate into the place.

The scale of the steel city was vast. Even before the reconnaissance mission began, the company had predicted, based on heat signatures captured by the Ernie-006 at high altitude, that the total population was likely between 160 million and 190 million, indicating a complex and diverse power structure within the city.

There were conflicts of interest between different factions, and the black market before him, along with the gang members maintaining its order, was a reflection of this phenomenon.

Conflicts of interest could lead to disputes, further affecting human unity and causing trust to collapse.

Magnus had already discovered that the steel city still used cash transactions and that cigarettes and alcohol were hard currencies, which provided the company with an excellent opportunity to intervene.

With this in mind.

Magnus immediately opened communications and said, "Lieutenant Payne, I believe I've gathered enough intelligence here. It's time to discuss our next steps."

"So have we. Let's meet here first."

Hearing this, Magnus checked the location that Payne had just marked on the helmet screen's mini-map and replied, "Alright, see you there."

At the forward base command center.

Samuel Young, as usual, was compiling information and marking it on the three-dimensional map displayed on the central console. The left and right sides of the room were somewhat empty, as he had sent his son out on a mission.

Magnus excelled in psychic abilities, similar to his "mind-reading" skills, which would help integrate the company's forces into the steel city of the Zero-Six humans.

As Samuel organized the coordinates and all the intelligence, he was also contemplating whether to invest a large amount of research funds and resources into the artificial intelligence and android project he started a year ago.

Movies like "Terminator" and "I, Robot" were just fiction, but the debate over "whether artificial intelligence will betray its creators" had never ceased. If AI gained self-awareness, its evolutionary speed would exponentially surpass that of humans.

However, human development could never detach itself from "calculation." Although Samuel had already initiated research into quantum computers after acquiring the means to mass-produce Bose-Einstein condensates, he still couldn't ignore the importance of AI.

Androids were closely related to AI, though they were different concepts. Films also depicted instances of betrayal and attacks by androids, such as Ash in "Alien" and David in "Prometheus."

However, there were also characters who stood by humanity, like Bishop in "Aliens" and Annalee Call in "Alien: Resurrection." Annalee Call, in particular, still sought to eliminate the alien threat to protect humanity, even after gaining self-awareness.

As for the influence of the Warp, Samuel had heard of "Electronic Daemons" before his journey—a concept from "Warhammer 40k" where Chaos forces used "codes" and "viruses" to disrupt human facilities and ships after entering the Imperial Era.

He was also aware that some Dark Age of Technology AIs had the ability to purify Warp corruption, such as the "Tabula Myriad" stored on Mars.

Therefore, while conducting

 AI and android research, it was crucial to establish a sound framework of "laws" and restrict their basic operations and logic.

Moreover, reports from Hunter Team A indicated that the Precursors were experimenting with human genes and had even mass-produced a certain small-sized bio-weapon.

Considering this, Samuel had more reason to believe that the Precursors had infiltrated the steel city, and it was likely that there were already many traitors or humanoid spies among the high-ranking members of the Zero-Six humans.

Samuel had prior knowledge of some of the Precursors' weaknesses through the movie "Pacific Rim." Additionally, Atlas possessed "green" and "pollution-free" tactical weapons like metal hydrogen bombs, so the Precursor threat wasn't too severe.

By contrast, Samuel was more wary of the Precursor forces hidden within the steel city.

To avoid implicating fellow humans while accurately identifying the "parasites," Atlas had to infiltrate the steel city as a "dark side" force without exposing itself and wait for the right moment to perform a "surgical removal."

Beep-beep.

At that moment, two notifications caught Samuel's attention.

It turned out that Hunter Team A was about to complete their decontamination procedures, and Team B, where Magnus was located, had also sent an update. They requested that a batch of company-produced loose cigarettes and alcohol be sent to the steel city to help them better integrate into the local society.

"Approved."

After reviewing the request, Samuel gave his approval.

He then sent a video call request to the biology department. Soon, Alexia, with her flowing hair, appeared on the holographic screen and asked:

"What's up? Is there something urgent?"

"Not exactly urgent, just a thought."

Samuel sent the compiled text and graphic materials to Alexia, but before he could continue, he heard her angry outburst:

"This is… Wait, damn it! If I'm not mistaken, those creatures bred by the aliens definitely have our human genes mixed in!"

"Most likely, yes." Samuel nodded lightly, showing no emotional fluctuation, nor did he give much comment.

In reality, Atlas was also experimenting with and weaponizing alien organisms. But as a human being, Samuel deeply understood Alexia's anger because he felt the same way.

"Moreover, I suspect that they have combined their genes to create humanoid bio-weapons, so after you hear my idea, you might turn your anger into motivation." Samuel had no intention of withholding information and displayed the zombie virus files from Universe Zero-Five, saying:

"The biological samples brought back by the hunters will soon be sent to you. You can analyze and study them to try to reconstruct the alien creatures' genetic information. If that doesn't work, I'll have the hunters secretly capture a live specimen.

Either way, you can use this virus to develop a variant specifically targeting alien creatures, making them truly experience fear. How about that?"

"If they can use different species' and races' genes, combined with their own, to conduct experiments, then it shows they can also be infected by viruses. Of course, we'd love to do this!"

Alexia had no objections and even wanted to add that when it came to exterminating enemies, her boss was indeed more creative and skilled.

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