Overturned Tower

Page 267

Chapter 36 People Are Not People

...but not long after the hotel was built?

Russell glanced at No. 20, who was at most in his early 44s, and asked hesitantly: "May I take the liberty to ask...Miss No. 44, you this year..."

"I am thirty-two years old, sir."

No. 44 calmly replied: "Tartaros is less than ten years away from its completion, so it will be the pride of us Tongshen Islanders."

Is it really the pride of Tongshen Island people?

Russell was silent for a moment, and instead of asking this question, he smiled and said, "You look very young... What's your name?"

"I don't have a name, I'm just number 44.

"As for my appearance - all our employees working in Tartaros must have a prosthetic conversion rate of over 83%. The skin I use now is a simulated artificial skin assembled after removing the natural skin, and there is no possibility of aging with age .”

No. 44 kept his head down, showing a gentle and obedient smile, and his tone was gentle and pleasant.

But Russell could feel that the other party's heart didn't have any ups and downs, and it was as calm as a frozen lake: "Tartaros has special technology that can treat cyber mental illness. Only when the degree of transformation of the prosthetic body is high enough can we guarantee that we serve the most noble You can't go wrong when it comes to guests.

"Our body's aging process can be suspended through the 'Holy Blood Therapy' from the Holy Blood Island, and the maintenance and renewal of the prosthetic body can ensure that we will not appear aging until the age of 60. After the conversion rate of the prosthetic body exceeds 60%, The permanent contraceptive treatment has also been completed; at the same time, even if the limbs and internal organs are damaged, it can still work normally and persist until the maintenance is completed."

On the other hand, it can also be said that once they leave Tartarus and lose the unique "maintenance technology" of Tartarus, it is inevitable that they will become crazy due to cyberpsychosis.

In his mind, Russell completed the part that No. 44 hadn't finished.

"In order to prevent personal injury caused by falling from a high place, we also have a switch-type strong magnetic attraction inside our body. Even if we fall from a high place with lost limbs, we can safely return to the interior of the floor. If hijacked by the enemy, we can use the Self-directed detonation of joints to achieve a counterattack in a specific direction and distance. At the same time, we can also entrust our limbs to the artificial intelligence from Sogo Island to meet the enemy by ourselves.

"At the same time, you don't need to worry about us doing anything against you. As a high-level customer, you only need to install the 'Tartaros Service' to obtain my personal high-level management authority. It's like controlling a home cleaning robot Generally, you can directly manipulate me through background commands to perform any actions including losing specific memories and installing specific simulated personalities.”

After listening to the words of No. 44, Russell only felt a chill down his spine.

Not a machine, not a synthetic human.

"Number 44" obviously exists as a human being, but even his name has been forgotten. Although his smile is sincere and friendly, and his eyebrows and eyes are curved like crescent moons, he looks like a sister next door with a reserved smile...

But Russell could only sense a huge void from the bottom of her heart.

Like a lake that has been drained.From a distance, it is an abyss, but when you get closer, there is only mud.

…Even Bubble-30, her mind is more human than No. 44.

No. 44 brought the silent Russell to the door of Room 4401, and respectfully saluted Russell: "You can call me for anything, I'm always there.

"Rooms 4401 to 4408 have been unlocked, and you can choose different room styles. I am waiting for your call in room 4409. All rooms from 4410 onwards have different entertainment facilities. If you need any introduction With you and my companion, I will go with you."

"It's fine for now."

Russell nodded politely to No. 44, feeling that his heart was being weighed down by a heavy stone: "Thank you."

"It is my pleasure to serve you."

On the 44th, he bowed to Russell and apologized: "I said too much, which affected your mood. I am very sorry again.

"Tartaros wishes you a pleasant and relaxing evening."

Russell looked at number 44, she did not leave directly.Instead, he kept bowing deeply and stood by the door.

...It seems that if she doesn't go in, she won't leave.

Russell sighed silently and opened the door.

Although it is a hotel in name, even room 4401... looks like the palace of an ancient emperor.

After Russell went in, he didn't see where Ringo was at all—because after entering through the gate, there was a hall with a crystal fountain first.

It was a fountain pool carved from crystal, with a gradient from white, purple, pink to red from top to bottom, serving as a large humidifier.At the top of the fountain, there is a sculpture of a naked nymph holding a water bottle carved from a large piece of white jade, from which clear water flows continuously.

The water sprayed from the fountain fell into the pool of red crystal, which looked like a pool of blood.

After Russell entered, he keenly felt that his mood immediately became tranquil... This should be some kind of crystal-based psionic technology.

After bypassing the fountain, you can see many decorative vines and natural-style wooden furniture from the deep purple hall.Russell felt the breath of "nature" from the carefully prepared fragrance and the right concentration of oxygen injection.

The beauty of nature is perfectly restored by industrial means, and unnecessary mosquitoes, dust and soil are removed-for example, although the ground under your feet smells like wet soil, it is absolutely Won't stick to shoes.Even if you touch it with your feet, it will never get dirty, and even if you roll around on it, it will never stain your clothes.But its touch and taste are very close to the soil of the rainforest... that is the natural memory of the earth age that no longer exists in the sky island era.

The only thing that doesn't fit the theme of the room are the pink crystal ornaments that sparkle in the light.They make this house dreamy, like pink stars.Russell also realized why Ringo chose this one... probably because of her girlish heart.

...Of course, if Russell's guess is correct, those pink crystal ornaments that don't match the "nature theme" should be well-disguised cameras with microphone functions.

Just like what Russell said to the "knights" when he was away from the Tartaros Hotel before, No. 44, who came out of the hotel later, was able to answer Russell immediately without repeating it.This shows that she has already heard what Russell said.

If there is no accident, every "knight" on duty and even every corner of every room should be filled with monitoring and listening equipment... That's why No. 44 told Russell that there is no need to call Or go to the front desk and make requests directly to the air anytime, anywhere, and she can hear them immediately.

They made no secret of the fact that every corner of Tartarus was monitored, and they didn't care about personal privacy at all.

But it's also reasonable.

After all, the worry called "worried about the leakage of personal privacy" is actually worrying about "the leakage of personal privacy will bring all kinds of troubles to oneself".

Being able to live in a high-rise hotel in Tartaros should not be something that can be achieved simply by having money——if you have such overwhelming power that you will never allow others to interfere, then this kind of privacy violation is essentially a problem. It's no different from a personal eunuch.Because they absolutely do not have any means and ability to betray Tartarus and make enemies of the guests.

Even their memories and personalities can be manipulated by guests at will.

Since there is such a technology... That is to say, in theory, everyone in Tongshen Island can be treated in this way.

no doubt.

The people who live here are the "monarchs" who can rule everything on this empty island.

Chapter 37 Alcohol is not drunk, everyone is drunk

No. 44 mentioned one point, that is, "high-level guests can even decide the life and death of low-level guests."

He is now on the 44th floor, and he can ask the hotel to catch the guests below the 43rd floor and send them directly to him in a way that he chooses to live or die.

It's just one layer behind, and it has overwhelming power.

And from No. 44's words, Russell keenly grasped a natural fact...that is, on Tongshen Island where almost everything can be bought with money, the high-rise rooms of the Tartaros Hotel are not Things that money can buy.

At the top of money, is power.

Russell doesn’t know the place in the early twenties, but at least the floors above the 44th floor can’t be bought with money, but are directly allocated by the board of directors of Shenzhi Heavy Industry... How long will this allocation last from the 44th floor down? Layer, Russell did not know.

But one thing is for sure.That is to use money to shake the authority of the board of directors, which was impossible from the very beginning.

That is the so-called "not for sale".

Compared with this floor, a mere human life is easy to buy.

You don't even need to pay... just sit here and let the hotel grab whoever you want.Such is the privilege of living in the upper echelons of Tartarus.

substantive power.

It is completely different from the situation of Happy Island and Sogo Island—at least in the two empty islands that Russell is familiar with, human directors hardly squander their power.In other words, they will be very cautious when exercising their power.Although they occupy the position second only to the standing directors of the longevity species, they are essentially puppets selected by the elves to meet the requirements of the dragon.

Although he still has overwhelming power over his subordinates in the same company, that's all.

The deterrence from the dragon can even make the elf directors dare not kill an ordinary person; human directors will eventually run out of life, usually focusing on collecting money for future generations, or focusing on raising their children. Seeing that he is still alive and sent to the highest possible position.

That's all.

Corporations are indeed behemoths.You don't even need to be a director, just a middle-level and high-level leader can change the fate of thousands of people with a single word.But all must act within the rules set by the dragons... on thin ice.

However, Tongshen Island is different.

Russell hasn't met the elf directors here yet, only Chairman Thrall.He was indeed an affable and kind man.

But the human directors here seem to be crazy instead-the complete opposite of the situation in Happy Island.

They are deeply addicted to the poison of power.

Make humans into machines and machines into humans.

Disassemble one's superior power into "floors" with clear hierarchy, rent the lower floors above [-] floors to rich people; and rent the floors below [-] floors to criminals and those without code anyone.And as long as they lived in the hotel, Tartarus would keep them safe.

Russell looked down from the window—even the floating vehicle of the Shenzhi Heavy Industry Executive Department did not dare to approach here, and could only park half a street away.Russell had no doubt that if it got any closer, it would be directly shot down by those drones patrolling the sky.

The employees of Tartarus can only serve Tartarus throughout their lives.

Also known as indentured labor.

In theory, indentured workers still have recognized human rights; they are only bound by legal contracts and cannot leave their jobs.Because although they have human rights and freedom, they do not have the freedom to "leave work" because of the existence of the contract.

The degree of transformation of the prosthetic body has reached this level, if there is no Tartarus—or the unique technology of Shenzhi Heavy Industry to maintain it, it will definitely go crazy.That is to say, no matter how much money they earn and how much savings they accumulate here, they will never be able to leave Tartarus.

Because of this, they are trustworthy "security guards" and "managers".If the loss of personality is regarded as a kind of spiritual death, then the only result of their betrayal of Tartarus is the demise of personality.

In this fifty-story hotel, there may not be many such employees.

But what makes Russell feel heavy is that since such "contract labor" can clearly exist in Tartarus.

That means that there are probably other places in Tongshen Island... such as Mr. Otter.Researchers like them didn't even dare to drink outside, presumably they signed some kind of contract.

The deformed society of Happy Island...Compared among the seven sky islands, can it really be regarded as a "happy" sky island?

So, Chairman Sai Lun will become a saint?

Because she really did a good deed?

—what good has he done?Let Happy Island not be the worst.

...so ridiculous.

Russell even let out a direct snort, and couldn't help but sneer.

It's no wonder that Tongshen Island doesn't suppress uncoded people like Happy Island... Even if the synthetics rebelled and snatched a red machine soldier, they still held the banquet as usual.

Because they simply don't need it.

Those rebels composed of uncoded people couldn't damage the Tartaros Hotel at all.

Shenzhi Heavy Industry did not study "weapons", so it did not touch the bottom line of the dragon.

However, the advanced materials they studied - the indestructible building, the "knight" transformed by high-strength prosthetic body, can easily ignore most of the firepower by the material alone.

And those "multifunctional drones" equipped with cameras, searchlights, bugs and other equipment also have firepower.

The more violent the rebels are, the more they are helping them sell "hotel tickets."

These tickets are like "indulgence tickets".Or a ticket to Noah's Ark.

No matter how rich the boss is, he can only enter a certain floor after the board of directors nods his approval.The room on which floor can be bought depends not on how much money they have, but on how much face the board of directors is willing to give them-and what they pay is definitely not just the little "accommodation money".You must pay more, and even become another kind of "contracted laborer" of the board of directors to gain security and power.

No matter what they are afraid of.

Be it rebel synths, uncoded killers, or mercenaries and mages... they can only come to Tartarus.

Voluntarily give up something, to enter "hell".And how long they can live in it is obviously not their final say.

Even if they have paid 100 years of accommodation fees, as long as the board of directors wants to, they can grab him out of the room.It was even the "security guards" who were protecting them.

"...Speaking of which, it's also very suspicious that those synthetic humans who have lived in the laboratory since birth suddenly mastered a giant machine soldier."

Russell frowned.

If he guessed right...

I'm afraid that the "synthetic rebellion" itself also has the behind-the-scenes driving force of the board of directors.

He vaguely had an idea in his heart...

If it was him before, he would not have dared to do such a bold thing.

But for him today, the sense of restraint from human morality has eased a lot.

He shook his head, putting this thought aside for now.Continue to search for Ringo in room 4401.

When he entered the bedroom, he finally found her.

But when Russell saw her, he really couldn't help raising his eyebrows.

Because at this moment, Lingo really doesn't look very decent——

She was holding a cup of hot cocoa, sipping it lightly.Her cheeks were flushed, and her collarbone was dyed red all the way, as if she had drunk too much wine.

Seeing Russell coming in, Ringo seemed a little unresponsive.

But then, she subconsciously let out a grievous whimper.

It's like a dog jumping up and kicking its legs at the door when its owner comes home.

"Mr. Ultramarine!"