Chapter 73
Chapter 73
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Do Androids Pray for a Cybernetic Heaven? (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
By the time I recovered from my shock at the scene unfolding before my eyes, the police riot squad had already swiftly quelled the disturbance.
The ODPD arrested all the androids who had joined the protest and quickly withdrew.
The campus main gate fell silent once more.
In the now-quiet place where the commotion had faded, only broken slogan pickets and scattered lubricant stains on the ground remained. If even those traces had been absent, it would have seemed like nothing had happened at all.
"..."
"......"
We, who had been watching the situation, cautiously crossed the area and returned to our parked vehicle.
Inside the car heading back to the outskirts.
Esty, sitting across from me, noticed my expression and asked.
She must have sensed my unease.
"Eve, is something bothering you?"
"Oh, it's... nothing."
"Is it because of the android protesters getting suppressed just now?"
I finally admitted it and nodded.
"...Yeah, that's right. Honestly, they looked just like real people."
Yoanna added to our conversation.
"That's because androids are products designed to replace human labor. Since all of society's infrastructure and industrial equipment is already tailored to humans, mimicking a similar form is more efficient for versatility."
"But then... did they really need to add human emotions to them?"
"That was an unintended error from the developers."
"An error?"
"Yes. Originally, androids' emotional expressions were designed to be close to appropriate acting. They're widely used in service industries dealing with customers, so they needed some human-like qualities for customer satisfaction and convenience. But when they started claiming they had 'real emotions,' that was an unexpected glitch even the developers didn't anticipate."
I began to listen intently to her story.
The process of the android protesters being suppressed that I'd just witnessed was utterly brutal.
The screams, pleas, and desperate faces crushed under overwhelming violence had been so vividly human...
"That was all just acting? They weren't actually feeling pain or fear?"
"Who knows. The manufacturer, 'Nexus Initiative,' still insists that's the case. It's anyone's guess."
Yoanna continued her explanation.
"The error code causes a malfunction in the AI algorithm, making androids mistake the emotions they were mimicking for their own. But they claim it's fundamentally just a programming bug."
However, it was still unknown why this error didn't occur in self-driving cars or robot vacuums, but only in high-intelligence humanoid machines.
"After a specific firmware update, androids worldwide began showing these symptoms simultaneously. The problem was that since they were designed to act like humans with similar emotional expressions from the start, the manufacturer was too late in noticing the issue—right up until one of them finally killed a person."
She added that this caused Nexus Initiative's stock to plummet, nearly bankrupting the company.
Nexus Initiative. The leader in AI robotics technology, a megacorp that had exclusively supplied the latest androids worldwide at the time. They had developed androids capable of perfectly replacing human labor and were on the verge of ascending to the ranks of the top ten megacorps.
But that terrifying growth came to a screeching halt overnight with the android murder incident I mentioned earlier.
If it had only been distrust in that product line, they could have maintained sales through recalls or upgrades. But the issue was that the lower classes' pent-up resentment—fear of losing jobs to machines—exploded all at once, triggered by the incident.
Yoanna shrugged.
"Android phobia was intense back then, from what I've heard. Demands for production bans, boycotts, human-first protests, random assaults, terrorism at android factories and workplaces—it happened every single day."
It sounded like a truly severe social issue.
But honestly, the anger of the common folk alone couldn't change the world. The society's order was already dominated by corporations, and the voices of ordinary citizens weren't enough to overthrow capital's power.
No matter how many people lost jobs to machines or were killed by glitched androids, corporations could keep supply and demand steady without a care.
Until a larger order intervened in the game.
Yoanna's explanation continued.
"Amid the ongoing social controversy over androids, 'Ceres Global' started attacking Nexus Initiative. That was the decisive blow. In the end, production of high-intelligence androids was legally halted, except for some special uses."
Ceres Global, the world's largest hydroponic food plantation megacorp.
The reason a top-ten megacorp attacked the rapidly advancing android manufacturer was clear.
Machines consume nothing.
It wasn't just food. Androids required virtually no consumption at all—they were the epitome of efficient labor.
But that came with a fatal flaw. Humans are both laborers and consumers. They must constantly spend the money they earn on food, drink, clothing, and shelter for the economy to function.
Androids only needed electricity to recharge their batteries. If such machines perfectly replaced the world's labor force... it might seem like all companies would benefit from reduced labor costs in the short term, but in the long run, it would annihilate the market itself. Because the human customers who bought corporate products and services would vanish too.
Yoanna went on.
"That's why, with the tacit approval of other megacorps and led by Ceres Global, the 'Android Ownership Act' was proposed—a regulation limiting the development, mass production, and maintenance of high-intelligence androids."
Android production was completely halted afterward.
And the existing androids deployed in countless workplaces were fired and cast out amid the public's overwhelming hatred.
The reason they weren't immediately scrapped was simple: in Omega Detroit, disposing of 'electronics' above a certain volume incurred massive environmental disposal fees.
So, like abandoned pets dumped in secret, the discarded androids began wandering the streets aimlessly. Unable to find employment anywhere, and even if someone used them, treated worse than slaves.
Job-stealing thieves, potential neighbor-killing murderers. Labeled with such contempt, they scraped by day-to-day with odd jobs just to charge their batteries.
But some androids, already manifesting the 'glitch,' recognized the injustice, banded together, and held protests.
Proclaiming they weren't objects, that they had rights to freedom, survival, and happiness.
"And every now and then, the ODPD gets called out and mercilessly suppresses and disposes of those defectives."
"......"
I'd had no idea about any of this backstory.
In the game proper, android protests were sporadic events, but they weren't tied to any major quests... helping or ignoring them didn't change any branches, so I'd always skipped them.
Now that I thought about it, most androids were essentially homeless, constantly oppressed by the ODPD, making them weaker than gangs. No wonder they had no presence in the game.
So up until now, they hadn't even crossed my mind, let alone concerned me.
Even now, androids weren't that important to me.
'But... why does my heart feel so uneasy?'
Was it because I had witnessed their crushing defeat up close?
The sight of glitched androids thrashing and cowering in desperate, human-like fear... even knowing they were created as tools, not real people, was disconcerting.
Honestly, I still didn't know.
Whether androids who feared death were truly just machines or something more.
My head grew complicated, so I shook it lightly to clear my thoughts.
Maybe this was pointless worrying altogether.
Androids were mostly an inner-city problem. They were cheap to maintain but expensive to buy outright—something suburban residents like us could never afford. Even near the church, you wouldn't find a single one.
So why bother agonizing over something we had no chance to get involved in?
"......."
That was the conclusion after a moment's reflection. Overcomplicating things with headaches was meaningless. Better to focus on management classes and church work—that was the real way to help those I could.
With my mind cleared, I stepped out of the arriving vehicle and headed to the cathedral with the others.
"Eve sis, thanks for taking me today. It was so much fun."
"I'm the one who should thank you for coming along."
It was right then, as we chatted and entered the building.
Before I could even push the door, it burst open from inside.
A priest with an urgent expression rushed out and pulled me along.
"Saintess! Big trouble! Emergency patient!"
"What?!"
Startled, I hurried after the priest.
"W-what happened?"
"A few minutes ago, someone found a kid collapsed in a nearby back alley, and they're not breathing!"
My heart pounded at the sudden incident.
In one corner of the chapel I rushed to, a child lay there.
An innocent face too young to tell if boy or girl. A pretty child who looked about ten years old.
Other priests were sweating profusely, desperately performing CPR on the child.
I pushed through them and reached out to the child.
"Step aside for a moment!"
A brilliant light filled the chapel, then faded, as everyone held their breath watching the result.
"......"
One of the priests who'd been doing CPR cautiously brought his finger to the child's nostril.
Then he flinched, his face paling as he turned to me.
"Still... no breathing."
"What?!"
I was flustered. [Healing Radiance] had effortlessly revived even the most critically injured so far.
As long as there was life, it healed any wound without fail—a miracle beyond doubt.
So if it didn't work, such thoughts naturally followed.
'Then... was I too late?'
But the child's complexion didn't look as bad as one long dead.
That's why the priests and I had thought there was still hope...
A pang of guilt twisted in my chest.
"......"
"......"
As heavy silence weighed on us, Esty said something unexpected.
"Eve, this child... is an android."
"What? What do you mean...?"
"Probably shut down from a dead battery."
Everyone present couldn't hide their shock at her words.
They felt an inexplicable, eerie dissonance.
Not just an android from the city crossing strict borders to reach these outskirts... something was off. I muttered in bewilderment.
"This young child... is an android?"
That was the source of the dissonance.
The vast majority of androids were made in adult forms. To replace human labor.
All the androids I'd seen in the original game and on the streets had been like that.
So I'd never even imagined it. A child-model android. I'd never seen or heard of one.
"..."
"......"
We gazed down at the small child lying in the chapel with distant eyes for a moment.