185: game

Above Earth's geostationary orbit, a private space station, as brilliant as a crown, slowly orbited along with the planet's rotation.

This was the symbol of the Nikola Group's power, the space palace of Elon, the legendary figure who had left a profound mark on human aerospace history and the Chairman of the Nikola Group.

The interior of the space station was the height of luxury; a gravity simulation system maintained the environment at a comfortable 0.8G, and the air was filled with the scent of expensive spices cultivated in Martian greenhouses.

In an excessively spacious office, Elon was half-reclining in an executive chair made of memory foam and genuine leather.

Despite taking life-extension elixirs, over a hundred years of time had still carved indelible marks on his spirit. Although his skin remained tight due to technological means, his eyes, which once always flickered with madness and ambition, were now clouded with a gray haze.

Opposite him was a tall female secretary in professional attire, holding an electronic data pad and reporting the group's quarterly operations in a steady tone.

"...The first phase of the water conservancy project in Mars' Hellas Planitia has already exceeded its budget by 3%, mainly because safety reviews by the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau slowed down progress. Additionally, the Helium-3 mining station on Ganymede encountered a small-scale strike last week. Although it was quickly quelled by the security department, it caused a production gap of about 12 hours. There's also the logistics regarding the New Sun System's shipping lanes..."

Those dull numbers drifted into Elon's ears like a lullaby, making his eyelids feel heavier and heavier. He let out a yawn and waved his hand with the particular impatience of a superior.

"Enough."

Elon's voice was hoarse and low, interrupting the secretary's report. "Let the executive committee handle these trivial details. I don't pay them to dump this kind of garbage into my brain."

The secretary immediately closed her mouth and respectfully lowered her head.

Elon rubbed his temples, forcing himself to muster some energy. He was like an aging lion king; though he still held his territory, he was tired of hunting and only wanted to stay alert for the young lions trying to challenge his status.

"Get straight to the point." Elon sat up straight. "What moves has the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau made? Or rather, what has that fellow Lei Wen been up to lately?"

"Chairman, the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau is currently maintaining silence at the official level. They haven't issued any direct sanction bills against the Nikola Group, but their enforcement powers and regulatory departments are eroding our business like a colony of ants."

"In the past month, the frequency of 'routine inspections' on our ships entering and leaving the Babel Tower spaceport has increased fivefold. Several of our factories on Earth and the Moon have received environmental rectification notices, and even our mining ships in the Kuiper Belt have had their transit areas restricted for 'lane safety' reasons."

"These are all minor tricks." Elon snorted coldly. "Does Lei Wen think he can force me to yield by cutting my flesh with a dull knife? He's too naive. As long as he doesn't drop the facade, I can play this game with him until the end. What else?"

The secretary's expression became somewhat solemn. She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Compared to the official harassment, Paradox Technology's moves in the commercial sector are... much larger and very aggressive."

"Aggressive?" Elon raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. A month ago, Paradox Technology quietly released their latest generation of general-purpose AI intelligent robots to the global market, codenamed Worker Bee X."

A silver-white bionic robot appeared on the holographic screen. Its shape was sleek and its joints flexible, but it didn't look particularly special.

"What's so special about this thing? We have flexible robots too; Unitree had them a hundred years ago," Elon said dismissively.

"The special part lies in the price and the intelligence." The secretary pulled up a price comparison chart. "The selling price of the Worker Bee X is only one-fiftieth of our similar industrial robots, lower than the monthly salary of an average worker on Earth."

"What?" Elon's pupils constricted suddenly. "One-fiftieth? That's impossible! The cost of the composite materials and servo motors alone is more than that price! They're dumping! This is predatory competition!"

"Not only that, sir," the secretary added. "The learning and adaptation capabilities of this robot's intelligent core are outrageously high. It doesn't need programming; it only needs to watch a human operate once to replicate it perfectly, or even better. It can handle almost any job, from precision electronic assembly to domestic service, from basic accounting to elementary medical nursing."

"In other words, it can replace a human with a general higher education in any task. Moreover, it doesn't need rest, doesn't need social security, won't complain, and won't strike."

Elon fell silent.

He stood up and walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the azure planet beneath his feet.

He understood the profit-seeking nature of capital all too well. When a tireless, extremely cheap, and versatile labor force appeared on the market, no company could resist the temptation. Even the Nikola Group itself might not be able to resist purchasing these robots to lower costs.

"Lei Wen... what exactly are you trying to do?"

Elon muttered to himself.

He remembered clearly that Lei Wen always touted himself as a 'Guardian of Civilization,' a politician standing on the side of the common people. He had shouted loudly in the Earth Council about increasing public welfare and eliminating the wealth gap.

But now, he had unleashed a swarm of monsters capable of smashing the rice bowls of every ordinary person.

"What is the current situation on Earth?" Elon asked.

"Very bad," the secretary replied. "To survive the impact of Paradox Technology, a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises have already begun mass layoffs and are purchasing Worker Bee X. Earth's unemployment rate has spiked by 15 percentage points in just one month and is still growing at an alarming rate."

"Society is in a state of panic. Countless people have lost their sources of income. Director Raven's move seems to be digging his own grave."

Elon narrowed his eyes, his brain beginning to calculate.

He didn't believe Lei Wen would make such a low-level mistake. Lei Wen might be idealistic at times, but he was by no means stupid. He must have a deeper purpose for doing this.

Was he forcing a restructuring of the social order? Or was he laying the groundwork for some even larger plan?

"I'm old..." Elon suddenly sighed, feeling a wave of deep exhaustion. "I don't want to guess those young people's riddles anymore."

He turned around and sat back in his chair.

"Since he's handed us a knife, we'll take it and stab him back."

"Notify the think tank to activate the contingency plan for a public opinion attack."

"Since the public is panicking, we will guide that panic. Use all the media resources we control—news networks, social platforms, and self-media—to bombard them from all sides."

"Tell those who are unemployed, tell those who are still worrying about mortgages and bills—who stole their jobs? Who made it so their children have no food to eat?"

"It's Paradox Technology! It's that cold-blooded capital monster! It's Lei Wen!"

"Paint him as a demon scientist who disregards human lives to promote technology, a dictator trying to replace humans with machines."

"Let the anger burn, let the public will boil. I want to see demonstrations. I want to see the gates of the Earth Council flooded with letters of protest."

"Yes, sir." The secretary quickly recorded the instructions.

"Also," Elon added, "the Nikola Group will not purchase Worker Bee X on a large scale for now—at least not on the surface. We need to make a gesture, claiming we insist on being human-oriented and protecting the right to work, in order to win over the people and win over the forces dissatisfied with Paradox Technology."

"In this moment of chaos, whoever can stand on the moral high ground will win the next round of the game."

...Over the next few months, Earth's society fell into severe turmoil.

With the popularization of the Worker Bee X robots, unemployment was no longer exclusive to the lower class; it spread upward like a plague.

First it was assembly line workers, then cashiers, drivers, junior clerks, translators, and even doctors and paralegals in basic positions.

Countless people woke up in the morning to find not work emails, but termination notices generated by AI.

"Sorry, we have found a more efficient alternative."

This sentence became a nightmare for millions.

Under the public opinion offensive fueled by the Nikola Group, all fingers pointed at Paradox Technology and Lei Wen.

"This is technological tyranny!"

"We want work! We want food! We want to survive!"

"Smash the robots! Oust Lei Wen!"

Massive protests and demonstrations broke out in major cities around the world. Angry crowds besieged Paradox Technology's branch offices, and some even tried to storm the factories using robots.

Every day, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Earth Council Building, holding banners, burning models of the Worker Bee X, and shouting anti-AI slogans.

Faced with such overwhelming public sentiment, governments were overwhelmed. They had to urgently issue relief funds, but this massive expenditure quickly drained their treasuries.

Hundreds of millions of people lost their income and could only survive on meager government relief. Social order deteriorated sharply, crime rates soared, and a sense of despair spread through the air.

The golden age that was once praised seemed to have turned into the eve of a cyberpunk wasteland overnight.

At the center of the storm, in the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau, Lei Wen remained disturbingly silent.

He didn't defend himself, didn't stop the production of robots, and didn't order the GDS Forces to forcibly suppress the protesters.

He just quietly watched it all happen, like a patient hunter waiting for a specific moment.

Until a few months later, when social contradictions had accumulated to a breaking point and despair was almost crushing the backs of every unemployed person.

Paradox Technology suddenly held a global press conference.

A simple and striking advertisement window popped up on all platforms across the entire web.

The image was an entrance to a virtual world full of futuristic and fantasy colors, with only one line of text above it:

[Are you tired of days with nothing to do?]

[Do you long to find the meaning of existence in a new world?]

[Paradox Technology's 'Virtual Realization' plan is officially launched.]

[Position: Full-time Virtual World Tester.]

[Number of recruits: Unlimited.]

This advertisement caught everyone off guard.

With a mix of skepticism, curiosity, and even anger, people clicked on the details page.

The recruitment conditions were very simple: any citizen of the Human Federation with full civil capacity, regardless of education, experience, or age (as long as they were an adult), could apply as long as they were unemployed.

And the benefits were so generous it was hard to believe.

[Base salary: 3,000 New RMB per month (enough to maintain a decent life in any city, paying for rent and high-quality food).]

[Job content: Simply wear the latest brain-computer interface helmet provided for free by Paradox Technology daily, log into the virtual reality platform named 'zero test zone,' and engage in online activities for no less than 8 hours.]

"What is this? Getting paid to play games?"

"Is this a scam? How can there be such a good deal?"

"Do they want to use us for human experimentation?"

Questions and doubts flooded in.

But under the pressure of survival, there are always those willing to be the first to try.

An unemployed truck driver named Tom, having spent his last bit of savings and facing the desperate situation of being kicked out by his landlord, gritted his teeth and filled out the application.

The next day, a package with the Paradox Technology logo was delivered to his dilapidated apartment door.

Inside was a streamlined silver helmet and a tube of nutrient solution.

After reading the manual, Tom nimbly put on the helmet.

The next second, he found himself no longer in that cramped and messy rental room, but standing under a vast starry sky.

"Welcome to 'zero test zone,' Tester No. 1024."