A large portion were experts in physics and engineering. The rest had extensive experience in project management.

Since most of the unearthed shelters had been biotech-oriented, the New Alliance had long been short on physicists and engineers.

The arrival of the androids drastically improved the research teams’ recovery rate for physical and engineering-related technologies.

Their project management expertise also gave a huge boost to the many construction crews that had been thrown together in a hurry.

These androids were mostly active near Camp 101, some hired by its schools and labs, others stationed at construction sites to help workers operate the Crab engineering exoskeletons and spider robots excavated from Shelter 100.

All of them were bald, with dull gray skin. They were much easier to distinguish than models like Frost and Eclipse, who had grafted on fake human skin. Locals didn’t mind them much. The New Alliance had people from everywhere anyway.

At most, they were curious.

Those guys didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, never changed clothes, and slept by standing next to a charging post. They had no human needs whatsoever.

So everyone kept wondering... What were they even working for?

...

Shelter 101. The same cafe as before.

"Those androids have really been a great help!" As soon as Chu Guang sat down and saw Dr. Methods again, he couldn’t help but praise him.

Speaking purely from the standpoint of the New Alliance’s administrator, he couldn’t find a single flaw in the 110 newly naturalized android residents.

Their professional skills filled precisely the New Alliance’s biggest talent gap, and their enthusiasm for work put even the most obsessive players to shame.

The most outrageous part was, such outstanding employees didn’t even want to be paid! All they needed was to be recharged once in a while.

Still, even though Googel insisted they didn’t need money, Chu Guang followed New Alliance policy. The employers hiring them still had to pay their wages and triple-rate overtime, per the rules.

That was for their own good. Otherwise, no matter how many good deeds they did, some worker on the street might still throw a brick at them out of sheer resentment.

The New Alliance did not advocate free labor. It upheld the principle that every bit of work deserved fair pay. Otherwise, what meaning would the liberation of the slaves have left?

Even so, Chu Guang still took Googel’s earnest request on behalf of his people seriously.

Under his instructions, the New Alliance Bank opened a special supervised account for the androids. At their request, their wages would automatically be transferred there, and the funds would then be invested into Dawn City’s public infrastructure.

In this way, they fulfilled the wishes of their fallen comrades and gained spiritual redemption, while the residents of Dawn City reaped tangible benefits from their donations.

A perfect win-win situation.

To be honest, when Googel accepted the proposal, Chu Guang felt not only admiration but genuine respect.

They worked tirelessly, consumed nothing but electricity to stay functional, and poured every credit they earned into the New Alliance’s growth and future, fueled only by a sense of purpose and inner joy.

Such noble and selfless spirit!

Of course, he wouldn’t, as an administrator, encourage others to emulate them, that would only plant the seeds of a future disaster.

But after reading Little Seven’s observation report on the androids, he couldn’t help daydreaming a little.

If only they could produce a few more of those hard-working androids that didn’t consume anything!

Dr. Methods’ faint smile told Chu Guang that the man had already guessed his thoughts, so he decided not to hide it.

Chu Guang asked, “Why not produce more of these androids, ones with independent personalities?”

In fact, he had an even better idea. Why burden them with tragic pasts? Just spawn them with a billion-credit debt at the start. That would motivate anyone to work.

Almost as if waiting for this question, Methods smiled and said, “I know what you’re thinking. But I advise you to give up that little clever idea. True, memory can be edited through computer technology, and even personality can be simulated by algorithms, yet such androids would not be people in the social sense. They would create all kinds of issues once placed in real production.”

Chu Guang frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

Methods smiled. “Exactly what it sounds like. You’ve already realized part of it. For example, even androids who refuse wages cause problems, which is why you insisted their salaries circulate through your financial system before being paid symbolically to them.”

That was perfectly logical. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

But Chu Guang still asked in puzzlement, “What does that have to do with personality?”

“The connection,” Methods explained, “Is that personality cannot be manufactured, it can only emerge naturally within a society. A clone freshly decanted from a vat can’t even match a trained monkey on the assembly line, not because it’s unintelligent, but because it hasn’t developed social abilities.”

Before Chu Guang could ask further, Methods took a sip of coffee and continued softly, “This topic was a sharp social debate early in the Prosperity Era, the question of what counts as a human being.”

Chu Guang frowned. “That’s something people actually needed to argue about?”

“Of course,” Methods replied casually. “Every era has its own issues; radicals and conservatives always coexist. In the Old Era, ‘human’ meant the unity of the natural and social person, both sides agreed on that much. Even when they fought over identity, race, or territory, no one questioned that definition.”

“But in the Prosperity Era, breakthroughs in information and biotechnology let people reshape their own bodies or even transplant their minds into better forms. That once-unshakable consensus began to crack, what used to be fantasy became feasible.”

“The radicals argued that what mattered was being a social person, whether one was biologically natural no longer mattered. As long as a continuous chain of evidence proved the inheritance of one’s personality, then even if that personality were transferred into a cat or a robot, it still counted as a citizen of the Federation.”

“Conservatives, however, held the old view, like the racists and royalists of ancient times, that only the unity of natural and social identity could define a true human. Anything else, no matter how humanlike, was merely humanoid. Based on that, limited prosthetic modification was acceptable, but large-scale mechanical replacement or non-medical genetic alteration was not.”

Seeing Chu Guang lost in thought, Methods continued, “Both sides had their logic, but setting ideology aside, they actually shared a common point.”

Chu Guang raised a brow with interest. “That being that both agree ‘being a social person’ is essential to being human?”

Methods nodded in approval. “Exactly.”

He set down his coffee cup and spoke more seriously. “When you speak of personality, you’re referring to part of those social attributes. Radicals, for instance, wouldn’t claim that a vending machine deserves citizenship, no matter how long it’s been in the Federation. But an android whose AI core’s logic evolved naturally within society and who can participate in production, they might consider such an entity the legitimate son or daughter of humanity.”

“If, however, we invent a false identity, fake memories, and install emotional plug-ins to imitate human feelings, even if our society can’t easily tell it apart from a person, such a being could only exist as someone’s pet or servant.”

“It’s like an extra puzzle piece that doesn’t belong. For repetitive mechanical work, there are no problems. It might even outperform humans, though still a notch below pure machines. But once it takes part in creative or civic work, it’ll slip up, making bizarre, inexplicable mistakes that reveal its inauthenticity.”

“The residents of Shelter 100, by contrast, were all born within an actual society. Whether they uploaded their minds into circuits or transferred them back into physical bodies, they act just like any other citizens because they understand both themselves and the society around them. That’s why you’re so satisfied with them.”

“In mystical terms, you could say their souls truly exist, and a soul can’t be copied like a program.”

Chu Guang rubbed his temples, sorting through the dense explanation. “I think I get it... Basically, an android’s logic algorithm must have developed within Society A to naturally take part in Society A’s activities.”

By extension, if Society B was similar or compatible, they could adapt there too. But in a drastically different Society C, say, a Mutant Human tribe, they would show discomfort or rejection.

That seemed... pretty similar to humans, actually.

Methods smiled and nodded.

“Exactly. So to answer your earlier question about mass producing them, from a cost-benefit view, androids are far less efficient than clones. A clone can, through learning, become an expert or scholar. An android, even if you stuff all that knowledge into its head, would only be a walking encyclopedia. It wouldn’t know how to apply or expand that knowledge.”

Chu Guang sighed in realization. “I see. I’ve learned something today.”

Coming from a world before the Prosperity Era, he didn’t just know little about such matters, he knew nothing at all.

Even his treatment of androids and of Little Feather had been trial and error, guided by the opinions of other New Alliance residents.

As long as someone opposed the return of the Wasteland Era, he would try to unite with them, androids or even mutated animals alike, and see if they shared common ideals.

Watching the earnest look on Chu Guang’s face, Methods suddenly burst into laughter.

Chu Guang stared blankly at him. “What’s so funny?”

He was genuinely confused, what part of that was amusing?

Methods chuckled, holding back his laughter. “Nothing... It’s just interesting to discuss something that’s printed in the preface of a school textbook with you. Hahaha!”

“...?”

What the hell is so funny about that?