Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Fu Hua returned after handling matters in Shenzhou.

She had worked herself to the bone dealing with the "talents" who were illegally crossing the border. She was even worried they might starve or get into trouble on the way; after all, they were all people of Shenzhou, and she felt compelled to help them if she could.

So, the ever-helpful Fu Hua personally cleared a path, making it easier for them to cross. Along the way, she even recruited some locals to find jobs for her "brothers," then watched with concern as the people of Shenzhou, supporting one another in solidarity, made their way to America.

It must be the work of corrupt officials in Shenzhou, she thought. Otherwise, why would these people abandon their homeland and flee?!

Our dear Fu Hua was but a single immortal adeptus; she couldn't save everyone. So, she simply decided to let them cross into North America. In a flash of inspiration, she realized that if she couldn't save them, she could let someone else do it. Thus, the brilliant idea of opening a "new sea route" was born.

Meanwhile, Welt Yang received the latest news...

After the people from Shenzhou blazed their "new sea route" to North America, they arrived practically penniless. With no work, many ended up joining America's "happy grass" industry.

Apparently, a lot of people who couldn't make it in the States had turned to cultivating it.

Word was that these border-crossers had a seemingly blessed journey, carving paths through mountains and building bridges over water, encountering no significant trouble along the way.

They had even established an underground border-crossing agency, a business that raked in a lot of money and even brought a meager income to the locals along the route.

In a short time, their numbers swelled to tens of thousands, nearly surpassing the number of their "amigo" counterparts from the south.

What's so great about that dump North America anyway?

Welt fell into a contemplative haze. As a North American himself, he knew the situation there all too well. If you were a multi-millionaire capitalist, it made sense to come; it truly was a capitalist's paradise.

But for the "middle class" to rush over, spend a fortune, and become truly "proletarian"—what was the point? Was it to get an in-depth experience of North America's latent communist foundations?

As if that wasn't enough, our dear Fu Hua had sought out Comrade Welt again.

"Yang, why are you using AI to infiltrate and manipulate public opinion in Shenzhou?"

Fu Hua had been run ragged in Shenzhou recently. While she had grown accustomed to the modern era to some extent, she wasn't so clear on its murkier aspects. The honest girl didn't even know how to use the internet or AI systems for her own benefit yet.

Noldrei was there to mediate between the two.

After all, they were both his top generals. It wouldn't do for them to start fighting over their respective cultural identities and interests. Besides, Welt didn't look like much of a match for her, especially now that he had lost his Herrscher Core.

According to Elysia, all thirteen of the Fire Moth warriors possessed a sort of trump card that could be unleashed, a fact even Prometheus had confirmed.

Welt was silent for a moment before replying, "Is it possible... that your own people did it? If I remember correctly, plenty of people in Shenzhou like to use our name. They pretend to be Westerners, but it's all for their own benefit."

Fu Hua frowned. "If there weren't North American interests funneling money into it, how could there be so much AI-driven opinion manipulation? They even used your Anti-Entropy's quantum computer to build the AI."

Since when did we at Anti-Entropy do that?

Welt instinctively glanced up at Dr. Einstein, who silently mouthed a word to him.

'Rented.'

Great. It seemed Anti-Entropy really was responsible. Welt was in a tight spot now. He immediately tried to deflect. "It must be your own internal problem. And why did you send all those people to America to grow 'grass'? I thought Shenzhou had the strictest prohibitions against that stuff."

Fu Hua was taken aback by the accusation. She quickly turned around and made a call to her people back home to get the specifics.

Soon, a look of relief washed over her face. She turned back to Welt and said, "That's something you guys legalized yourselves. Besides... we sent you a non-toxic version of the happy grass. You should be thanking us."

Noldrei looked over at Welt, whose eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets. He had probably never imagined in his entire life that a "non-toxic version" could exist.

He mulled it over and over, finding the whole thing too surreal. He started to wonder if he was dreaming again.

Welt was silent for a long time. He lit a cigarette to steady his nerves.

"How... did you people create it?"

"We bought some technology from Academy City. Plus, Shenzhou was already doing its own research. After getting the tech, we increased the euphoric effect and completely removed the toxic properties. It can already be launched as an official beverage and consumer product. I heard they got the inspiration from local mushrooms. The people there seem to enjoy eating mushrooms to find happiness."

Fu Hua's explanation made Welt's scalp tingle. What on earth were these people doing researching this stuff?

Once this thing spread to North America, he probably wouldn't even have a reason to ban happy grass anymore. The people of Shenzhou had thoughtfully removed all the toxicity for them.

"Why are you researching this? Are you trying to secretly undermine North America?"

Welt was starting to doubt Fu Hua's intentions. How had she become so... abstract after just one trip back home? Was she still a warrior fighting against the Honkai or not?

From Noldrei's perspective, there was indeed a lot of conflict between the two.

The interest groups they represented had many clashing production sectors. Who would have thought that Anti-Entropy, in an effort to cover the maintenance costs of its quantum computer, would rent it out only for it to be used to attack Shenzhou?

One could only say that the people in America were also quite the "talents."

Thinking of this, Noldrei couldn't help but ask, "How did they carry out the AI attacks?"

Fu Hua stated impassively, "Because corruption in Shenzhou has been quite severe in recent years, and the number of civil servants is remarkably low relative to the massive population, it's led to a situation of insufficient manpower and capability. On top of that, some industries have hit the common people very hard. I was just planning to introduce some of Academy City's urban construction technology to give 'those things' a good hammering."

"If no one had interfered, it would have just been the natural course every country takes; after all, everyone goes through it. But I never expected someone would specifically feed those AIs this kind of critical literature. The end result was this strange thing with sharp rhetoric that's incredibly effective at swaying public opinion."

Welt thought this was getting ridiculous. Anti-Entropy's quantum computer had been used to train an AI of this caliber, and he, the head of Anti-Entropy, knew nothing about it.

He looked at Dr. Einstein and asked, "Did we really do this?"

To his surprise, Einstein stated frankly, "No. We just outsourced it. The Far East and South Korea did it. It has nothing to do with us."

Fu Hua stared at Dr. Einstein in shock, completely floored that her two friends, who had fought alongside her against the Honkai, could say something so shameless.