Cyber Heroes

On the day when the big boss came to collect the genetic tax, the entire Recycling Station Town made the most solemn preparations. The mayor hung up the plastic banners. These brightly colored decorations can be stored for hundreds of years without deteriorating or fading. They are considered to be one of the few "entertainment items" in the world. All the townspeople temporarily put down their work and gathered in the square on the west side of the town.

All the large construction machinery are lined up. In front of the construction machinery are senior workers with higher levels of transformation. Further forward, there are ordinary residents. Some senior workers had long since fallen to their knees. Their steel bodies ensured that they would not feel uncomfortable while kneeling. They didn't know when the "Big Boss" would come, so they simply kept kneeling.

The man took Yuki and stood in the middle of the crowd.

He saw people in the front row, including the mayor, holding babies. The level of modification in these babies was generally low. Among them, the most modified one is that the throat is connected to a nutrient delivery pipe. This can free up the labor force of both parents and allow the family to earn more.

Men always feel a little uncomfortable. He knew two months ago that those babies were "taxes." In order to enrich the diversity of the "human gene pool", lords would collect babies as taxes. And if the settlement cannot provide high-quality newborn babies, then the lord can consider the settlement to have no value. He would no longer need to provide shelter to the settlement.

This is also stipulated by the so-called "Dyson Principle". The lord could not impose further punishment for "non-payment of taxes", no punishment at all.

However, if the lord did not protect the residents, then uncivilized and uncivilized thugs called "knights" could ravage the settlement at will.

Men still find it difficult to accept the reality of treating human beings as taxes. However, he can't change anything now. His prosthetic body is made of scraps and is too weak. Not to mention large construction machinery, even highly modified workers can crush him.

He couldn't cause trouble to the town.

"How long do we have to wait..." Yuki closed his eyes. The gray ground reflected the sun, a test to his natural, unstrengthened eyes. And his natural skin couldn't stand such prolonged exposure.

At this moment, there was a commotion among the crowd.

"coming!"

The thunderous sound came from far to near. Three ground-effect aircraft were approaching quickly.

A ground effect aircraft is a dynamic vehicle that uses ground effect to provide support and fly. Ground effect aircraft are equipped with fixed wings and can fly close to the ground (or water). The lower surface of the wing is very close to the ground, forming a blockage in the airflow, providing lift and holding the aircraft close to the ground.

The three aircraft are in a triangular formation. The leading aircraft has a white base and is supplemented by golden patterns. It is very luxurious and has a somewhat classical aesthetic. The two boats at the back are painted in pure black.

The three aircraft stopped moving at the edge of the square. The injectors activate, shooting air downwards and raising dust several meters high.

All the giant machines sounded their horns in unison. The loud sound made the man's skull vibrate.

The babies howled. Their fragile eardrums simply cannot stand this stimulation. I'm afraid that after this day, these babies' ears will be useless. But no one cares. Artificial hearing organs are worthless in this day and age. In addition, in terms of sensory organs, natural organs cannot be compared with enhanced prosthetics. Even for work, a person should try to replace his natural sensory organs.

No one cares about this little thing.

After the dust settled, the construction machinery slowly stopped honking.

Afterwards, the hatches of the three ground-effect aircraft opened. Fifteen cybernetic soldiers disembarked from the two black aircraft. Their transformation should be more thorough. The head is completely like a square camera, and the limbs are slender, giving it an industrial streamlined aesthetic.

But on the leading aircraft, someone came down...

Someone who is very much like a natural person.

It's somewhat rude to say this. No one likes the natural look. Natural evolution has retained too many unreasonable designs, which have no sense of beauty at all. But he really looks like a natural. He was wearing a yellow-green military uniform with a high stand-up collar, a pair of high military boots on his feet, and he even had a dog in his hand.

If he has a body of steel under his military uniform, then the look of his face can be said to be "personal aesthetics".

The mayor had already approached the elder when he came down. But after seeing the other party's appearance, the bright smile on his face gradually solidified.

After half a second, it changed to a more flattering smile.

"This great gentleman, this is our first meeting. May I ask who you are..."

"My name is Apenning." The officer smiled and took two steps forward, then frowned.

Behind him, a Cyberman dressed as a secretary scolded: "Why are you so rude? How dare you stand to welcome Lord Apennine?"

The mayor hurriedly knelt down. Behind him, the residents of Recycling Town also knelt down in a hurry.

The man didn't react at first, but fortunately Yuki pulled him so that he didn't appear too conspicuous.

——In this era, have social and humanistic things regressed to pre-modern levels...

The man felt twisted again. But what followed was an emotion called "fear".

Who am I? How long have I been asleep? What happened while I was sleeping?

Why……

When officer Yaning Ping saw everyone kneeling on the ground, he showed a gentle smile: "Don't worry, I won't blame you. This is all the fault of my predecessor, Mr. Bernini. He was too lax with you. , failed to shoulder the responsibility of a tax officer, that’s why this happened.”

"Two months ago, a group of knights broke into Bernini's mansion, beheaded Bernini, and completely destroyed his biological brain. Then, as the youngest son of the lord, I took over the job, and from now on I will I am your tax collector. I hope you can obey my affairs well. I believe that we will get along very happily during my term of office."

The mayor put the baby aside, kowtowed and said, "I will listen to the eldest master's orders."

"Very good." Yaningping nodded: "According to the data, your town is very good. The fertility rate has increased for ten consecutive years. This is really good."

"It's all thanks to the lord." The mayor didn't dare to take credit.

"No, in my opinion, this is mostly Mr. Bernini's mistake, right?" Yaningping frowned: "According to the data, you should hand over nineteen babies as taxes this year, but... your town The mortality rate is a little high.”

"This... this is an ancient battlefield of the Ascension War after all. There are dangerous metals in the ground, and it is indeed easy to get sick..." the mayor said in a low voice.

"No, no, no." Yaningping shook his head, walked up to the mayor, and rubbed the crying baby with his boots: "Is the quality of your town's population good?"

"It's really good!" the mayor shouted: "We transport recycling materials to the city every day, which shows that our workers are all great guys! They are all great!"

You can never fail to pay taxes!

Everything about these officers can be seen by the lord, or a greater figure. They are not the ones directly providing protection, but merely the ones responsible for collecting taxes. As long as they collect taxes, they can't deny it.

However, the tax collector could decide how many babies to take away based on the quality of the population.

Although the human gene pool must ensure diversity, it still gives priority to individuals with excellent genes.

"This kind of thing doesn't count if you say it." Yaningping squatted down, patted the mayor's face, then walked to a soldier, took out a loaded gun, and shot at the mayor. .

Countless bullets fell, making the ground dusty. The mayor screamed. After a while, the dust slowly fell.

The mayor was unscathed, but a perfect circle drawn by the bullet appeared on the ground, with a radius of three meters.

"That circle is the venue." Yaningping tugged on the leash in his hand: "You choose a representative to compete with my dog. As long as you can support it... just five minutes!"

He took out a thumb-sized projector and threw it on the ground. The projector automatically projects a three-dimensional image in the air.

That's a "05:00:00" countdown.

"After one person fails, you can replace another person. No matter how many people come up, as long as you give me enough time for five minutes, I will recognize the quality of the population of your town and allow tax collection - it can be done ?"

The mayor looked at the dog blankly. The dog was wagging its tail and looked harmless. But the mayor knew that these things that looked like creatures from the old era were probably artificial creations. This dog might be some kind of weapon. He really didn't want to do such a thing.

But if you can't pay the tax...

Yaningping shook his head and pulled out a short stick from his waist: "Tsk, high-energy electric shock device. How about I lend you an extra weapon?"

The old mayor gritted his teeth and kowtowed: "Please allow me to discuss this with the townspeople."

"Go." Yaningping waved his hand with a smile.

While the mayor and several other old people were discussing, Yaningping's secretary came over, squatted down, and untied the dog's leash. During this process, the infrared signal transmitter in his palm shook at the dog's pupil camera: [Don't kill too many people, the young master was just driven out by the master to do something, and he wanted to find something to vent his anger. If everyone is really dead, it will be no good for me. In the end, I just delayed it for five minutes and let these guys pay the tax. 】

The dog snorted.

A few minutes later, a four-meter-tall worker came out. Although his body was in the form of a large humanoid that could be used for transportation and rough processing, his head was still the size of a normal human, and his face was full of fear. Although the size difference between the two sides is huge, the mayor has already made his interests clear. He didn't dare to push too hard, so after entering the circle, he put away his fists and pointed them at the dog.

He didn't pick up the weapon. His hand couldn't hold the electric shock rod at all.

"Start!" the secretary gave the order, and the countdown began.

The worker's fists were ejected violently under the action of the hydraulic press. This time, the scrap steel can be pounded into a shape that is easy to transport.

However, the dog jumped up slowly and stretched its limbs. The steel fist slid under his belly. The dog ran effortlessly on the worker's half-meter-wide arm.

At the same time, the man blurted out: "Bionic boxing?"