Psychics don't die from gunfire

Chapter 814 Independence Day (Part 2)
"For a long time, we have been suffering from a misconception."

"Our genes are taken at will and become commodities to be sold in the company's laboratories. Our bodies are forced to be implanted with redundant and inferior prosthetics, just to maximize the negligible efficiency gains on the production line."

In the alleyway overflowing with sewage, a homeless man let out a burp, his drunken head lifting as if wondering where the voice had come from, before falling back asleep.

"The air, water, food, and even sunlight we depend on for survival are all monopolized. Survival itself is put on a price tag, dignity is worthless, and individuals are placed on a shelf for others to choose from."

Sizzle—smack! The scorpion of unknown species was roasted until its shell cracked, and yellowish-green juice seeped out, but on the barren land, it was already a rare delicacy.

The homeless man licked his lips, his index finger twitching with anticipation, but the incessant chatter from his portable radio was truly irritating. He changed several channels in a row, only to find that they were all saying the same thing.

"They made promises—promises about the future, about security, about hope. But all those promises were hypocritical lies, poisons that corrupt people's souls. Consumerism has alienated humanity, emotions, and freedom. All beauty has been submerged by the torrent of capital, reduced to ugly footnotes."

On the soft hotel bed, the call girl, still half-asleep, giggled, thinking how lucky she was. She'd heard those poor bastards jumping up and down in frustration again that morning. Ugh, all they wanted was to envy her income! They had to spew spittle and act all righteous and indignant.

"Then, the company kept telling us, day after day, that it was all right, that it was all as it should be."

"This is an illusion."

Boom! The gates of the Priscilla Institute, a research institute with a considerable reputation in the field of engineering, were finally breached by gunfire. Armed mobile forces belonging to the Science Ethics Committee stormed in and took over the place under the pretext of technology misuse.

"This is not right, this is not what it should be. We deserve a better world, a world where humans are no longer replaceable parts, resources to be extracted. We are not walking balance sheets, we are living, breathing human beings—"

An uninvited guest arrived at a mining site belonging to [Southern Heavy Industry]. The armed forces of the Enlightened Ones stormed in, intending to seize state-owned assets. The mine's garrison naturally refused, and a firefight ensued between the two sides amidst the roaring, massive engineering machinery, filling the mine pit with smoke. Even the miners, who were working deep underground and whose bodies were more like machines than humans due to excessive implants, could faintly hear vibrations coming from the surface.

"We are silent, worn down by the roar of the assembly line; we are numb, drowning in the sensory torrent of entertainment to the death; we are fearful, trembling under the threat of a barren credit point base."

First came a loud crash, then the door was smashed open, and a blinding white light shone in. Lying on the blood-stained operating table, the girl, who had been injected with anesthesia and had her organ removal locations outlined, could barely move her eyes.

Those usually manic and ruthless gang thugs were mercilessly smashed to pieces by the intruders, howling in pain.

Their matte black uniforms were almost non-reflective, making them look like a group of walking lead blocks. The sides of their guns were branded with the Invoker's symbol. They made a gesture, brought over stretchers, and carefully removed the lambs, like girls waiting to be slaughtered, from the operating table.

"Yet something still remains, the embers of humanity within us, born from the seeds of resistance sown by our predecessors. Its growth is so arduous and painful, nourished by scalding blood, nurtured by the flesh and blood of the fallen, yet it faces the fiercest storms. It teeters on the brink, withering away time and again, falling into the mud, and being carelessly crushed."

"But it takes root and sprouts again and again."

The armed forces belonging to [Time Sequence Transport] received their orders, and rows of heavily armed units roared to life, accompanied by excited company employees around them. They would then leverage [Time Sequence Transport]'s unparalleled amphibious transportation network to rapidly deploy to the required locations and quell the rebellion.

"I hereby declare." "We are here—we represent all the deprived, monitored, and alienated souls, all the individuals struggling to survive in the shadow of the company—to declare once again to the world."

"We break free from the company's rule, we sever the chains imposed upon us, and we reclaim our right to be ourselves."

At some point, a dozing office worker on the subway suddenly awoke with a start. He was astonished to find the carriage eerily quiet, most people looking up, staring blankly at the screen at the far end. In the silence, only the thick, sugary-smelling smoke lingered in the air.

"We are declaring the establishment of a free space for everyone—a new world governed by laws rather than corporate rules and regulations, with sound social cognition, and protecting individual rights and data sovereignty."

"Here, there is no board of directors that reigns supreme over all beings and claims to be gods; there is only a regulated order. Here, there are no eternally unchanging slaves and enslaved; there are only free individuals who make their own choices."

The indigo plasma cannon struck an Enlightened soldier, the high-energy plasma destroying metal and flesh, causing the soldier to explode with a bang.

The next moment, the rocket roared into the air, destroying the source of the plasma cannon. He casually tossed aside the rocket launcher, stepping over the blood and flesh of his comrades who had been dismembered by the plasma, and continued the charge with the others.

Is it beautiful? Is it happy? Is it full of hope?

"No, we cannot give such an answer, because beauty, happiness, and hope are too abstract, ambiguous, and unpredictable to be expressed verbally. We cannot say that such a world is perfect, nor can we say that such a world is for everyone."

"But one thing we can be sure of is that we can give an unchanging commitment."

"—That was a better world than it is now."

An image appeared on the screen behind Chaklo Vaughn.

That was a pattern that no one had ever seen before.

It was an abstract bird shape composed of simple triangles and arcs, with blue and white as the main colors.

"I hereby declare—"

In a daze, an echo came from the mountains and barren lands, from the corners of skyscrapers and slums, then blew through the sewage-filled industrial areas, reached the unreachable clouds, and then descended to the world.

"—The 'New Order Federation' is established today!"

(End of this chapter)