#991 - The beginning of a new era

Sixteen hours had passed since Riel first presented the Ultron robots to the European Union.

In those sixteen hours, the tragedies in Italy and Turkey were widely publicized, allowing people to understand what they were facing through the internet.

And they began to understand that their military command systems were mere formalities.

Their networks needed Latvia to repair them; their governing systems needed Latvia to maintain them; their social order needed Latvia to guarantee it.

Without Latvia, without King Riel, two countries would have already fallen to Ultron!

Thinking about the interior of the Ultron robots made people panic.

So they didn't have the energy to doubt the prompts appearing on the internet, or the Latvian engineers entering mines, factories, and farms—all production facilities.

Although this small country's population was far less than the EU's, it had almost blanketed the entire Europe with signals with the help of high technology, and its control spread with those drones.

What terrified the rulers even more was that Latvia also had robots.

These robots displayed almost indistinguishable behavior from humans, and could even communicate, making it impossible to tell they were robots.

In reality, they were indeed humans, just from another world.

Latvia did not have much labor; just local construction and facility maintenance required a large number of people, plus the engineers previously sent to build networks everywhere, manpower was very tight.

However, with the combination of cyber-biological integration and cross-dimensional communication technology, the surplus labor from another world could directly arrive here.

【Night City Laborer A: The current production training chips are getting more and more advanced. I feel like this is no different from a real mine.】

【Night City Laborer B: These people don't look professional at all.】

The bionic shells controlled by "drivers" from Night City had shapes adapted to their work: those in the mines were mining robots reinforced for blasting, tunneling, extraction, and accident prevention; those in the factories were wiring robots equipped with modification, programming, and electrical control capabilities.

In the silent city, people hid at home, watching robots walk out of the Latvian mission's residence on the streets and then enter their factories.

To be honest, Europeans had experienced quite a few shocks during this period, no wonder they were filled with fear—

The powerless military, the scarcity of supplies, and the fearful atmosphere of robot legions attacking were all impacting their brains. There was no work, no life, only confusion and fear about the future.

Walter was just such an ordinary person. Since the financial collapse, the American civil war, and the network paralysis, he had been unemployed at home for several months. Finding a job was a pipe dream, and his family of four barely survived on relief rations.

Riel did not intend to hide the battles that took place in Italy and Turkey. All Europeans could watch the battlefield recordings through the internet—

Seeing the Latvians and their high-tech equipment on the streets, the cruelty of war may not have directly descended upon them, but the sense of solemnity had already been conveyed to their hearts.

"What... what will happen to us?"

In his confusion, a tingling sensation suddenly came from his head: he knew what it was, a brain-computer interface.

Although he had been unemployed for a long time, he also had a brain-computer device in his head that could access the Latvian network.

【—Latvian network connection complete—】

【—National production system restructuring in progress—】

【To all European citizens: According to the Emergency War Decree (EU Parliament Resolution No. 223), the overall social resources of the EU will now be centrally allocated.】

【In order to ensure the operation of society and prevent the war from destroying everything, all citizens need to exert their strength.】

【Data matching in progress】

【Matching occupation: CNC technician】

【Assigned to: Berlin Second Wartime Production Base】

【Production base status: Under reconstruction】

【Please go to your workplace immediately—】

【We must win this war.】

In the dimly lit home, Walter couldn't suppress his surprise and looked at his wife, only to find that his wife was also looking at him.

The glasses of the two shone with a faint blue light, and they instantly understood that they had simultaneously received a work assignment notice from the network.

【Please don't worry about family members who cannot work at home. We will provide them with separate educational institutions to ensure safety and education.】

【Public transport vehicles will arrive downstairs in 5 minutes.】

In the darkness, the couple quickly made a decision: rather than waiting to die at home, finding a job to contribute to the war effort was obviously more promising.

The streets outside lit up, and the Latvian patrol convoy was led by a soldier, with the rest being unmanned vehicles and drones as auxiliary support.

People hiding in their homes successively walked out of their houses and apartments, uniformly boarded the transport vehicles, and cooperated with the robots controlled by those Night City laborers through the vast production network.

Fear and confusion can often be broken by simple orders—

Of course, this also has something to do with Riel's image:

He did help Europe recover from the chaos, he did win against Ultron, he did save the people in the city.

Come to think of it, from the first time the name Riel appeared in people's vision, he had never had any confirmed acts of terror. On the contrary, his enemies were more hateful than the other.

If Riel was really the "Doctor Doom" that the Roxxon Group and the President of Revision Law spoke of, he wouldn't even need to help the cold-blooded neighbor of the EU!

Sensitive people would immediately realize that this information was actually bypassing the governing bodies of various countries and directly conveying it to people in various countries who had implanted brain-computer interfaces.

A smooth transition was obviously conducive to social development and mobilization.

Many politicians also accepted reality: they had no ability to deal with the current situation and silently began to promulgate laws and amend government structures according to instructions.

Of course, there were still some discordant voices in the dark: some citizens were like parasites, lazy yet industrious; some politicians were like old stubborn people, smart yet foolish.

The former's laziness stemmed from fear or stupidity, thus refusing to cooperate with Riel's allocation; but they were industrious enough to be willing to shout and protest.

The latter cleverly realized the existence of the former, cleverly realized that they could still criticize Riel for bypassing legal procedures, cleverly realized that they could mess around with the former to force Riel, this "dictator," to give up some power.

But their foolishness lay in the fact that they mistakenly regarded Riel as a kind person, a saint who could directly enslave Europe with violent and controlling means, but still hypocritically cared about things like laws.

They thought they could use this method to preserve some of their power and continue to be superior in the new world.

However, handcuffs and bullets could correct their thinking—

And completely legally, without violating "popular opinion."

It is difficult to quantify the significance of these actions, but from a macro perspective, everything transitioned so smoothly—

It was as if Riel had simultaneously won overwhelming votes in dozens of EU countries to become the leader, and had simultaneously won all the votes in all legislative bodies to become the sole legislator.

But no one felt that there was anything wrong with this, whether rationally or emotionally, they accepted it gladly.

A vast system was being reborn on the dying European continent.