Chapter 242: Adapting to the New Order
One month passed steadily under the new order of Night City.
This city, once renowned for chaos and violence, had indeed become much "quieter."
This quietness was not the silence of death, but a slightly oppressive sense of order born from forceful constraint.
Under the absolute rational planning of the "Administrator" AI, the underlying operational methods of the city underwent a fundamental change.
For the first time, countless people struggling on the edge of death at the bottom of society found their lives had tangible security.
They were forcibly registered for labor capacity and subsequently assigned various jobs: cleaning streets, maintaining infrastructure, engaging in production within rezoned factories or agricultural districts, and even being drafted en masse to participate in a high-profile new project: restarting the large-scale construction of Pacifica.
The Administrator determined that Pacifica—an area long stagnant due to the Unification War, filled with unfinished buildings and dangerous ruins—was the optimal solution for improving the city's overall function and accommodation efficiency under current conditions.
Massive engineering machinery began clearing the site under the AI's dispatch, demolishing abandoned structures that were originally planned as luxury hotels and high-end malls but were now nothing more than empty shells.
These expensive construction materials were sorted and recycled to build new functional municipal buildings and service facilities meeting the Administrator's standards, as well as neatly planned but dense standardized residential zones.
Most of this work was dull and heavy, far from an ideal career, but it was "official." This meant that after each day's labor, a standard daily wage and corresponding "Contribution Points" were deposited into personal accounts on time.
This remuneration was enough to exchange for basic food and centralized accommodation rationed uniformly by the city.
The food consisted of efficiently synthesized nutrient paste and compressed rations. The taste was monotonous, but it ensured satiety and basic nutrition.
Accommodation was in collective dormitories, crowded but clean, with basic security and sanitation facilities.
For those who once lived precariously, liable to die in some dark corner at any moment, not having to worry about where the next meal would come from or where to sleep tonight, not having to fear being hit by stray bullets from sudden gang wars or being kidnapped for organ harvesting—this was already an earth-shattering improvement.
The baseline of survival was stabilized. Although they lost much of their past "freedom," the probability of staying alive increased drastically.
This immediate effect caused the attitude of the underclass toward the "Administrator" AI's governance to shift gradually from initial fear and confusion to numb acceptance, and even a trace of hidden gratitude.
The visible improvement in quality of survival was more persuasive than any hollow slogan.
Consequently, street crime rates dropped significantly, and acts of open resistance became sporadic and were quickly suppressed.
After eliminating massive internal friction, the city's overall operational efficiency showed a continuous upward trend.
This efficiency boost also rippled to the corporate level.
Under the coordination of the "Administrator's" powerful computing capability, raw material allocation, production processes, and logistics were all optimized, reducing unnecessary waste and delays.
However, what truly touched a nerve with the corporations was a set of "New Work Systems" forcibly implemented by the AI.
The core of this system was a strict eight-hour workday, mandatory rest periods, and performance evaluation based on actual output.
It thoroughly abolished the cruel exploitation model used by major corporations—especially under the legacy Arasaka system—which relied on stimulants, neural regulation drugs, and cyberware overclocking to force employees to work continuously for dozens of hours until they fainted or even died.
Initially, all corporations strongly resisted this, believing it would severely damage their profits.
Efficiency? In their view, squeezing the last drop of value out of employees was efficiency.
The "Administrator" engaged in no senseless debate. It simply sent a request for assistance to Ignis via data link.
Subsequently, several five-man Secutarii squads paid "visits" to the headquarters and main factories of the companies that were most vocal in their opposition.
There were no intense conflicts, no lengthy negotiations.
These silent steel giants simply walked into boardrooms or production supervisors' offices, grounded their Arc Lances, and then Ignis or a designated Hoplite read out the "Administrator's" final decision in a synthesized, emotionless voice: "Accept the new work system, or face structural adjustment on a physical level."
Faced with the smell of gunpowder still lingering on the Secutarii from the annihilation of the Arasaka fleet, and the despair-inducing energy fluctuations emitted by the pale gold resonance shields, the courage of any corporate security force or board member disintegrated rapidly.
So-called corporate dignity and profit maximization appeared incredibly fragile before the threat of death from absolute military force.
Compromise became the only option.
However, after being forced to implement it for a while, some keen corporate management were surprised to find that after eliminating errors, accidents, and high employee replacement costs caused by excessive fatigue and mental breakdown, overall production efficiency under this slightly more "humane" system did not drop. Instead, due to stable employee conditions and improved focus, it saw a small increase.
Employee dissatisfaction decreased, absenteeism due to illness dropped, and production quality became more stable. Some calculating boards began to discuss privately whether to extend this model to branches and factories outside Night City.
After all, sustainable, good-condition "parts" were more in line with long-term interests than "parts" that burned out in a short time.
Joric maintained the stance of an observer regarding all these social experiments and data changes occurring within Night City.
His processing core received summary reports uploaded regularly by the "Administrator"—employment rates, productivity, crime rates, resource consumption, physiological and psychological fluctuation indices of the populace—all these became precious samples in his database.
He deliberately avoided direct intervention to ensure the "purity" of the data, observing the trajectory of natural evolution of this model based on absolute rationality and a contribution system within a highly complex and originally chaotic human society.
But he also clearly recognized that the foundation for this system to run smoothly was not the "correctness" or "rationality" of its internal logic, but that it was built upon the unrivaled military deterrence of the Secutarii.
It was Ignis and her warriors who ensured that every command from the "Administrator" was executed to the letter. The final guarantee for policy implementation was always overwhelming military force, not any form of reasoning. This point was demonstrated vividly in the process of forcing those habitually resistant and opportunistic corporations to accept the new work system.
Just as Night City maintained a nascent, fragile order with a nearly coercive posture internally, the situation in the broader region outside Night City was deteriorating rapidly.
The New United States of America (NUSA)'s "Unification War" had fully restarted and quickly entered a fever pitch.
Without Arasaka acting as the long-term external intervener and power balancer, and having lost crucial military and economic support, the armed forces of the various Free States were retreating defeat after defeat under the joint strikes of the regrouped NUSA regular army and its actual controller—Militech.
The battle lines were shifting constantly, and news of failures arrived one after another, highlighting a naked reality: Without powerful external aid, these loose alliances could not compete with a quasi-state entity determined to unify and possessing a complete military-industrial complex.
(End of Chapter)