The First Order

Chapter 719 Artificial intelligence

Outside the gates of Stronghold 61, a group of people were standing at the entrance as they waited for their identities to be verified. “Name?”

“Jiang Xu.”

“Did you bring your travel documents with you?”

“Yes, yes!” An accompanying reporter next to Jiang Xu quickly handed over their documents. Ever since Stronghold 61 accepted refugees into the stronghold, this place had been the focus of the entire Alliance of Strongholds. On one hand, it was because this was the only stronghold that was comprised fully of refugees. On the other hand, it was due to the presence of the Wang Consortium’s artificial intelligence.

Right as Ren Xiaosu and the others arrived at the Sacred Mountains, the Wang Consortium’s official media did not idle around for even a moment. Every day, they would spare no effort to record the daily life in the stronghold, as well as how good the security was and how quickly criminal cases were cracked.

Since Jiang Xu wanted to report the truth of their entire era, how could he possibly miss out on something like this? It was likely that this was a revolutionary change of the times and could even affect the lifestyles of humanity in the future.

Therefore, Jiang Xu applied to visit Stronghold 61 in his role as chief editor of Hope Media, to which the Wang Consortium immediately agreed.

Stronghold 61 was not a pilot project. Everything that took place here made all of the stronghold overseers of the Wang Consortium extremely proud. They would even often lament publicly that they never expected refugees to be much easier to manage than stronghold residents.

Everyone in the Wang Consortium was very busy recently. It was even said that Wang Shengzhi was thinking about moving the Wang Consortium’s administrative center to Stronghold 61.

The soldiers in charge of checking the travel documents at the city gate quickly verified the identities of Jiang Xu and his entourage. This included checking their documentations’ authenticity and whether the photos were of the holders themselves.

It wasn’t until ten minutes later that an officer came over and said politely, “Chief Editor, welcome to Stronghold 61. Let me immediately arrange for a private vehicle to facilitate your tour of the place.”

Jiang Xu’s influence was not only limited to Luoyang City. Everyone’s respect for him was from the bottom of their hearts.

This respect did not come from his authority or wealth, but from his attitude and wisdom.

However, Jiang Xu waved it off and said frankly, “I’m here to find trouble with you all on this trip, so, please, you don’t have to see to our needs. Moreover, I’m afraid I can’t get an unbiased view if I follow the itinerary you all

set.”

That Wang Consortium’s officer smiled and said with an embarrassed smile, “We don’t have anything to hide in Stronghold 61. Please feel free to look around all you want.”

“OK, thank you in advance,” Jiang Xu said with a smile. Then he strolled inside holding his cane. There were only five people in their group. Other than Jiang Xu, the rest were all reporters from Hope Media. He said to the four of them, “Take a good look around and take good notes. Don’t forget what we’re here for.”

After entering the stronghold, the sight they saw was somewhat different from what they had imagined Based on the reporters’ expectations, since there were only refugees in Stronghold 61, shouldn’t everyone be dressed poorly and have gloomy expressions on their faces?

However, the people here did not look any different from the stronghold residents at all. There was no sense that anyone was always looking miserable.

Jiang Xu turned around and said with a smile, “What? You all can’t bear to see others doing well?”

“That’s not it.” One of the reporters scratched his head. “I feel it would be quite a slap in the face if we were to report this matter to the stronghold residents.”

Before this, there were stronghold residents in Luoyang City who were very much against refugees being accepted into the stronghold. Some of the people also regarded the refugees as an inferior race. They said refugees would never learn to become stronghold residents even if they entered the stronghold.

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But now, the refugees in Stronghold 61 did not look any different from those who were stronghold residents.

In just a few months, the refugees already started dressing neatly and even knew how to behave politely. It was rumored that the Wang Consortium had even set up night schools in Stronghold 61, with many of the refugees voluntarily signing up to gain new knowledge after work. They were all extremely motivated.

Therefore, it seemed that circumstances shaped people, not that people shaped the circumstances.

Jiang Xu did not respond to that remark. Instead, he saw a middle-aged man standing on the sidewalk and went up to him and said, “Hello, I’m a reporter. Can you spare two minutes of your time for us to ask you a few questions? It’s fine if you don’t have the time. I just hope we’re not troubling you.”

That middle-aged man hesitated for a moment before agreeing

Jiang Xu suddenly saw the middle-aged man raise his head and look around. Jiang Xu followed his gaze and was surprised to see the man checking for cameras on the street.

However, Jiang Xu did not mention this. Instead, he asked, “What job do you have in Stronghold 61?”

“Oh,” The middle-aged man said, “I work at the water company. My job involves supplying water to the people. Sometimes, I also help out with the heating systems.” “How’s the pay? Is it enough to cover your food and clothing expenses?” Jiang Xu asked.

“Of course it’s enough. Besides, we don’t get exploited by the foremen anymore, so it’s still pretty good.” The middle-aged man said, “When I was working at the construction site outside the stronghold, they said that they would pay us 2,000 yuan a month. However, we only received around a 1,000 yuan or so in the end. But these days, such bad practices don’t exist anymore.”

“Oh?” A reporter asked, “You must feel really lucky then?”

“We don’t get what luck is. In any case, we’re leading a better life than before,” the middle-aged man replied.

The reporter muttered, “It looks like the Wang Consortium wasn’t lying.”

Jiang Xu smiled at the middle-aged man and said, “Alright, thank you. I’m sorry to have held you back for so long. We have a small gift for you. Please take it.” Afterwards, he had the reporter behind him hand a box to the middle-aged man. There was an exquisite fountain pen inside.

Jiang Xu suddenly asked, “Earlier, I noticed you were standing on the sidewalk the entire time. Were you waiting for someone? If you’re busy, we won’t disturb you any further.”

The middle-aged man smiled wryly and answered, “I wasn’t waiting for anyone. It’s just that I saw a wallet on the ground just now when I was passing by. I was the first to see it, so I had to wait here for the owner to come back for it.”

One of the reporters was stunned. “Then you’re a really honest person.”

The middle-aged man waved it off. “Not really. It’s mainly because of the stronghold’s laws that state that if I don’t pick it up and just leave, I’ll be fined. If I keep it for myself, it will be even more serious, and I’ll be jailed for seven days.”

The reporters looked at one another. They did not expect there to be such laws in Stronghold 61.

But it was also a good thing to discourage people from keeping what wasn’t theirs. It was just that it was a little too strict. Although it felt really weird, the intention behind it was still good.

The middle-aged man waited for the rightful owner of the wallet to return before leaving.

Jiang Xu thought for a moment before saying to the reporters around him, “Let’s stay here for today. We still have to slowly observe what Stronghold 61 is really like.”

Jiang Xu looked up and noticed the surveillance cameras nearby had turned in their direction. When Jiang Xu tried walking about 10 meters forward, the cameras followed him closely and turned as well.

He knew the cameras were capable of capturing audio, so their conversation with the middle-aged man earlier had also probably been recorded in full.

For some reason, even though the passerby who had just been interviewed had expressed he was leading a good life, Jiang Xu still felt that something was off.

Jiang Xu was someone who had his own freedom, with the definition of freedom being that he could make a choice based on his own initiative. But if this freedom were constantly being monitored by others, it would somehow make him feel an inexplicable sense of awkwardness.

But when Jiang Xu thought about it, it was great for the refugees to be able to live well in this world. The refugees would not have any unnecessary concerns like him, right?

Jiang Xu was not a bigoted person. If the artificial intelligence could prevent more people from starving to death by just monitoring everyone, he would not really say too much about it. After all, he could not represent the views of the refugees.