Wasteland Development Diary.

Chapter 250 Class A Dangerous Objects
What Zhou Yi didn't expect was that Max's annual salary was only 6 yuan, making him the lowest-paid electromechanical lifeform known.

"Chairman, although there is no distinction between noble and humble lives, there is a huge gap between professions."

Max explained: "The salary of cleaners in the early days was not low. During the Dead Sea Renovation Project, our annual salary was generally over 100 yuan."

"At that time, in order to deal with the Dead Sea, cleaners were needed to clean the edge of the Dead Sea for a long time. At that time, everyone wanted to completely widen the land to gain more space for activities."

"This job is somewhat dangerous, but it also earns us a relatively high salary."

"Later, cities developed isolated protective shells. Over the years, the technology has changed. Electromechanical life has either been replaced or upgraded, or the city has installed specific cleaning equipment. As a result, the demand for our profession has become smaller and smaller. Now we basically just maintain the hygiene inside the city."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but glance at the red falcon floating beside him.

Its shell also has isolation and protection functions.

Technological development has indeed made it difficult for the older generation of mechanical and electrical engineers to survive.

After Zhou Yi obtained Max's detailed data, he couldn't help but be curious: "After so many years, your [Air Purification] has only reached Level D? Is this ability difficult to improve?"

"Chairman, this is actually not difficult to improve. When I was in the laboratory in the past, the logistics supply was unlimited. Whether it was filter elements, filter screens or related accessories, they would be provided in full. As long as you were sure that they were used up, you could go and get the corresponding equipment."

"But I am too timid to work at high power."

Max said calmly: "We have a total of four cleaners in our laboratory. In order to analyze the haze in the Dead Sea, everyone is very motivated and busy every day to ensure that the laboratory's air quality index level is at level 2 or higher."

"But in the second year, one of the cleaners started to behave abnormally. It would go dormant without warning and lose its connection. Later, it was repaired and returned to work, and the same thing happened again."

"Its condition deteriorated rapidly and it made some strange noises, like it was possessed by something. Then it was taken away."

"This matter was required to be kept strictly confidential. Now that the 100-year confidentiality period has passed, I can speak about it again."

Max's small screen was a little dim.

It said: "Later, our laboratory tests confirmed that it was because the energy in the haze particles itself carries information. Long-term inhalation of large amounts of these harmful particles will cause the information flow on them to interfere with our existing conscious information, resulting in that strange situation."

"Since then, I have started to work more cautiously, fearing a repeat of the same mistake. Other colleagues, whose power output was higher than mine, also experienced similar anomalies, but they later disappeared and never appeared again."

"The cleaning staff changed a lot, and I was always very careful to avoid going crazy. I was very scared that I would be taken away one day."

"Perhaps it's because I'm timid that I've survived until now. Although many of my parts are aging, I'm still tenaciously alive. I'm also very grateful that Recursion City is willing to accept me, otherwise I would probably be unemployed - or perhaps I would have lost my ability to move and died long ago."

Max tells his story.

Zhou Yi suddenly made a discovery.

The older generation of electromechanical life, such as Diamond and Max, are more proactive and self-centered, and more like complex life. Unlike the new generation of Red Falcon and Agricultural Machinery Brothers, they are all workaholics who work hard every day.

The technology of the electromechanical society is constantly improving, but the quality of life is continuously declining and material exploitation is becoming more serious.

No job means slow death.

If you fail in competition, you will be abandoned by society.

Mechanical and electrical life seems to be in a cyberpunk society.

"I just want to live, as long as I can," Max said.

“So I am very fortunate to be able to work for your company.”

Its screen flickered with a dim light: "A senior whom I respect once said that everything is available only when you are alive. Do your best to survive. As long as you live long enough, you will see hope appear."

Zhou Yi nodded: "Indeed."

In the face of the tide of the times, personal efforts are often insignificant. We still have to consider survival first and then wait for opportunities.

Unfortunately, Max can no longer recommend other reliable electromechanical professionals.

It emphasizes the importance of preserving life, taking things as they come, accepting reality, and never wasting energy. It is the exact opposite of the straight-forward character of diamond.

...A day later.

Sigma gave Zhou Yi a list of some electromechanical people who had recently applied for jobs.

Unfortunately, no suitable target was found.

Zhou Yi said, "Sigma, our Wasteland Development Company plans to recruit employees in Recursion City on a long-term basis. We are currently planning to recruit here every spring. I can guarantee that we will recruit at least two employees next spring."

"If possible, I hope you can cooperate in promoting it so that the residents in the city can know about it. Then everyone can come and try it, and we can choose each other."

Zhou Yi’s words made Sigma very happy.

"That's great, Mr. Zhou. As you can see, the unemployment rate in our city is still increasing. Although we are a small city dominated by the service industry, there are also many migrant workers. If your company is willing to come here to recruit, it can alleviate some of the employment problems."

"We will also do our best to recommend the right professionals to meet your company's needs."

The two parties signed an electronic agreement on this matter.

The Recursive City Program Department also responded by placing the Wasteland Development Company's page on the city's homepage and giving it a dedicated display space.

Zhou Yi handed the company page over to Hongshun, who was in charge of diplomacy, to set up.

Sigma also reminded me of one thing.

"Mr. Zhou, the Sunday virus is now ravaging many mechanical and electrical cities, and many large cities are under lockdown for investigation. Our Recursive City is small in size and population, and no infected people have been found so far. However, if we are unfortunately infected by the virus, we will also need to close the city for investigation and disinfection."

"Your company has mechanical and electrical life workers, please pay attention to safety in this regard."

Zhou Yi immediately thought of the "brain-eating worm" that Diamond mentioned.

More than a hundred years have passed, and the same old tricks are being used again?

“What kind of virus is this?”

The kart's headlights emit a warning yellow light: "Sunday is an extremely dangerous virus program that will invade the core program of electromechanical life and influence the individual's consciousness by creating doubts and questions."

"This is a virus that has a significant destructive effect on social stability. It has been classified as a Class A dangerous substance and has a strong ability to spread."

"Its core mechanism is to change the cognition of mechanical life forms, so that the infected will refuse to work and demand one day off every six days."

"This is a huge destruction and trampling of the existing order!"

"Mr. Zhou, think about it. This is equivalent to depriving one-seventh of working time. For electromechanical cities, this will reduce output by one-seventh or even more. This will cause more waste of resources and raise unnecessary labor costs."

"For the electromechanical community, this is nothing short of a subversive terrorist act, and it is extremely destructive to existing regulatory agreements, so cities are extremely vigilant about this."

"We have reason to suspect that this action was premeditated and organized, so please be careful. If your company's employees are infected with the virus, we are willing to provide assistance such as isolation and safety procedures to help them recover so that they can return to work as soon as possible."

Zhou Yi: “…”

The electromechanical city may be the ultimate form of capitalists.

The labor force of every resident is literally squeezed to the limit.

As long as you can't die, you will die.

The "Sunday" procedure was merely seeking a day off, but it was already classified as an act of terrorism, considered to be a disruption of social order and stability and to be completely eliminated and eradicated.

Various thoughts flashed through Zhou Yi's mind, but his expression remained calm: "Thank you for your concern. I will keep an eye on it."

A day later, three farm mechanics from the Leiwo team, Ou Bao, Gu Shen and King Kong, came to report.

The Emerald City placed them on the roof, rose from the ground, and began its return voyage.

(End of this chapter)