PGVCW 34

Chapter 34: Immortal Sect Recruitment

--"The Heaven-Saving Sect must be implemented."

The General Analysis Department always maintained backup plans of "doing" or "not doing" for various projects, but regarding the creation of a genuine Heaven-Saving Sect, they remained steadfastly committed to "doing". From the very beginning, the emergence of the Heaven-Saving Sect was not meant to be a "falsehood"; the efforts of millions, and even the future hundreds of millions of people on Blue Star, were dedicated to solidifying its actual existence. Not only in the mutated plant world, but in every subsequent world, there would be a real Heaven-Saving Sect. Even if manpower was scarce, it would be established across space-time.

"So, we have a total of fewer than a hundred people, yet we are responsible for over a million robots and such massive architecture?"

Colton's combat-useless ability [Illusory Shadow] finally realized its value in this unfamiliar world filled with blue skies and white clouds. The eight phantom hands produced by his illusion were currently typing frantically on virtual keyboards, issuing various commands.

Construction Command Group Captain Wu looked at him as if looking at an exceptionally capable old yellow ox. HQ was truly reliable; the moment he mentioned a shortage of manpower, they immediately dispatched a technician like Colton who could pull the weight of several people. While typing on the virtual keyboard before him, Captain Wu did not forget to encourage his old yellow—ah, his team member.

"Don't feel pressured. Millions of robots sound intimidating, but in reality, we only need to manage the groupings." Colton: "...... But there are three thousand groups of robots." "Eh! Dozens of people managing a million versus dozens of people managing three thousand—can those concepts possibly be the same?" Captain Wu maintained an optimistic attitude; although he was slightly older among the construction action group, he was only turning twenty in a month. One should remember that three months ago, he was still sitting honestly in university classes.

Seeing that Colton still wore a lifeless expression, Captain Wu pulled out his trump card: "Estamos saving the world here; people over twenty cannot come, so this can only depend on us." True to form, the moment these words were spoken, Colton—who had been somewhat listless—instantly perked up, and all eight of his hands waved with even greater vigor. Captain Wu added fuel to the fire: "Ah-Si." A housekeeping robot immediately glided forward.

Prior to this, the Xia State had not manufactured housekeeping robots for decades; after all, under conditions of severe water scarcity, households had little domestic work to perform. Moreover, nobody was willing to waste energy on such useless robots. Now, to ensure that the critically outnumbered technicians could focus single-mindedly on their work, housekeeping robots were brought back into the light. Colton did not quite understand why a robot was summoned so abruptly.

Instead, he watched as it glided over to Colton, featuring a round head and a round body, holding a rice bowl and a spoon in its hands. After stopping, it precisely used the spoon to scoop a mouthful of rice, while its third hand neatly arranged vegetables and meat on top, bringing it right to his mouth. It spoke gently: "Baby, time to eat." Captivated by the full spoonful of rice and dishes, Colton forgot to think and obediently opened his mouth. The fragrant aroma of the rice, the precious vegetables, and the firm meat—foods not easily obtained on modern-day Blue Star—quickly captured his heart.

After swallowing the food in his mouth, Colton remembered to ask: "Do all robots in your Xia State feed people? And why does it call me baby?" Nobody had ever called him baby when he was little. After all, adults were already running for their lives in exhaustion, leaving no time, energy, or surplus emotional bandwidth to bestow upon children.

"It seems because housekeeping robots were urgently recalled, they only had time to find these housekeeping robots used for caring for young children?" Captain Wu spoke with the air of someone thoroughly accustomed to it: "Don't pay too much attention to these titles." Colton still felt a little awkward; he was already seventeen years old, an age in Country J that could be considered adulthood, given that the average life expectancy of Country J citizens was only forty-two. Even if Ah-Si was merely a robot, listening to its gentle, coaxing tone treating him genuinely like an infant stirred a trace of shyness, a hint of annoyance at being looked down upon, a touch of embarrassment, and yet some indescribable added emotions.

Colton gave a dry cough, turned his head away, and refused Ah-Si's feeding: "I don't need to be fed; I can eat by myself." Group Leader Wu rejected his self-reliance: "We cannot be distracted by trivial matters. We must dedicate all our time outside of rest entirely to work—that is also why headquarters went through such trouble to find these housekeeping robots." "Every single person here is like this." After speaking, he temporarily slowed his manual pace and motioned for Colton to look to the side. Looking over, Colton saw that sure enough, housekeeping robots had glided beside every technician sitting in this row, and everyone was quite accustomed to eating while continuing to issue commands to light screens.

With everyone doing the same, the awkwardness in his heart instantly dissipated. Coupled with Ah-Si continuously coaxing him softly beside him—"The food is delicious," "Baby eat more meat, it's good for your health"—Colton thought to himself, What do robots know, I won't bother arguing with it, this is for Blue Star, while awkwardly opening his mouth. Listening to Ah-Si praise him with joyful astonishment as if he had accomplished some monumental deed ("Baby is so good"), the seventeen-year-old youth chewed his delicious food while the corners of his mouth quietly curled upward. He felt that he was starting to like this job a little bit.

--"Technicians face overly heavy command tasks. Not only must we prepare for them developing physical health issues, but we must also establish defenses against psychological problems."

On Blue Star, during another meeting, everyone wore solemn expressions, recording meeting notes while periodically raising questions or suggestions. "To prevent psychological issues among the construction action group technicians, we have made multi-faceted preparations, raising food, clothing, housing, and transportation standards to the highest possible level." "At the same time, we have set up a [Toddler Mode] within the operating programs of the robots responsible for caring for them, allowing them to simulate parental care amidst busy work."

An expert raised a hand to ask: "Isn't toddler mode a bit too extreme? Aren't the youngest technicians sixteen years old? Why not adjust it to teenager mode?" The middle-aged woman speaking on stage projected a light screen displaying various statistical data: "Influenced by the cataclysm, most children born after the cataclysm did not experience a normal, healthy childhood. The loss of childhood deprives them of a certain sense of security." "Taking this batch of construction action group technicians as an example, their psychological tests all exhibit problems in this regard. It might not manifest prominently in daily life, but once they enter high-intensity work, these problems will escalate."

Everyone fell silent for a fleeting moment. Everyone understood why children born after the cataclysm lacked a childhood; ever since the disaster struck, large groups of people had perished every few years, leaving behind orphaned children. Among this selection of technicians under the age of twenty, thirty percent came from single-parent families, and fifty percent were orphans. Furthermore, a significant portion of those present had lost their guardians during early childhood—particularly children of fallen military personnel who were adopted by their parents' comrades-in-arms, only for those comrades to also die in battle a few years later. At times of peak crisis, an orphan of a Xia State soldier could easily lose three or four successive sets of foster parents in the span of just five years.

This naturally inflicted severe psychological trauma upon young children, and multiple children even developed mild symptoms of mental contamination. Ultimately, the state was forced to issue a decree prohibiting active-duty soldiers from adopting children, mandating that all orphans of soldiers be raised collectively by the state. Xia Wang'an's parents grew up as orphans themselves, and when Xia Wang'an was one year old, she too became a soldier's orphan.

At this moment, she was observing this meeting through the glass partition; noting the gloomy atmosphere inside and recalling those energetic teenage boys and girls, she felt quite at ease: "I think it's fine, isn't it?" The recorder behind her thought of her staggering pollution value of 5,000 points and pretended to have heard nothing.

Xia Wang'an had already lost interest in the meeting's contents, having successfully dispatched eighty-five construction action group personnel and fifteen infrastructure action group personnel to Cangming. Currently, she found herself in a state of having nothing to do. The black-haired maiden instantly made a cheerful decision: "Since it's so boring! Let's go do test papers!" This "we" referred to herself and 007. The recorder silently mourned for 007 for a second while giving a swift response: "Understood; the test papers Wang'an requested have already been delivered, guaranteed to be absolute fresh."

Could they not be fresh? These test papers were compiled on the spot by top-tier educators assembled nationwide, guaranteed not to duplicate a single question from any test paper Xia Wang'an had previously completed. Naturally, adhering to the principle that since they were already compiled, these test papers were also introduced into various schools, allowing every student to experience the savior's joy. True to form, Xia Wang'an was overjoyed and scampered back happily.

Inside the meeting room behind her, following a brief silence, another individual raised a hand: "I noticed that among these statistics, the psychological condition of Xia State children is relatively healthy, even among orphans. May I ask if the Xia State has implemented specific measures?" The questioner was a staff member originating from Country D; evidently, she wished to study the Xia State's measures and replicate them in her own country. With Blue Star now unified as a single rope, there was nothing difficult about asking openly.

"The Xia State continues to enforce compulsory education to this day; all children must attend school and cannot participate in labor until graduating from high school." The Xia State official speaking on stage paused at this point, then added a supplementary clause: "That includes ability users on active missions." "We believe that persisting in academic studies can decelerate the rate of their mental power contamination." At the very least, when solving problems, young people—regardless of the dangerous obstacles they previously encountered—would treat the assignment before them as their greatest challenge. Especially as the homework submission deadline approached, their focus reached unprecedented heights; over the course of a single night, armed with a single pair of hands and a pen, they conjured a miracle. That specific moment was frequently when their mental state was purest and least susceptible to contamination.

Another individual raised a hand: "What about the ability operators executing missions in Cangming? Since they cannot attend school across different space-times, will it impact their mental stability?" The official smiled: "Have no concern; we made thorough preparations for that aspect as well."

Within the Cangming world, in a certain small city, the Wei-Su Squad sat aboard a flying vessel as it ascended into the skies amidst the pious, reverent gazes of the common folk who regarded them like living deities. The citizens knelt upon the ground, gazing with awe as the Immortal Sect's flying vessel departed.

--"The only way people here express gratitude is by kneeling and more kneeling; I try to stop them, but it's impossible." Captain Zhou Qi slumped across her desk with a headache.

Sharing her expression of despair were her three remaining team members. Spread across the desk were stacks of test papers. The four wailed in absolute agony: "Why does it feel like the test papers have grown even harder?!!" "It's not a mere feeling; they genuinely became harder." "Not a single question is one I have ever encountered! Homework is due tomorrow, Captain, what do we do?!"

Captain Zhou Qi—who customarily served as the unwavering anchor of the squad—found herself entirely devoid of solutions: "What else can we do? Do them by brute force!" Massaging her hair, she began tackling the questions with bared teeth: "It's utterly absurd—the entirety of Blue Star is scrambling to execute the Salvation Project, so why on earth do those teachers still possess the leisure to draft brand-new test papers!!!"

Having completed her complaints, she abruptly recollected her primary operational assignment: "Almost forgot—the advertisement!!"

Down below, the urban citizenry continued gazing upward toward the flying vessel with deep yearning. "Immortal Sect disciples—truly as formidable as rumor dictates." "Possessing such divine power and an immortal vessel, immortals surely remain completely free of worries and sorrows, right?"

Even as they spoke, someone suddenly bellowed: "Look quickly! What is descending from the immortal vessel?!" The throng strained their eyes, observing sheets of paper fluttering down from above. As the flying vessel soared past, it scattered thousands of "promotional advertisements."

The title of the advertisement was inscribed in massive lettering:

--[Recruitment for the Cangming Branch of the Heaven-Saving Sect is Imminent.]