The United States in Decline

"Jiaying, your plan is excellent. I like it very much."

Hive smiled as he examined the Terrigen Crystal in his hand. "What a pity there are so few Terrigen Crystals. Otherwise, if we spread them throughout the world, we could build a world inhabited only by Inhumans."

"Still, using these Terrigen Crystals to establish an Inhuman nation completely belonging to us will be enough. I think Texas in the United States would be a fine choice. With nearly thirty million people, we should be able to produce a million Inhumans, right?"

Daisy frowned beside him. "The United States government won’t agree. They’ll definitely send people to stop us."

Hive waved his hand dismissively. "You don’t need to worry about that. The President of the United States is also Hydra. We’re all family. At most, we just need to offer them sufficient compensation."

"What? You mean Captain America Steve Rogers is the President of the United States? How could he be Hydra?" Daisy was so shocked that she could hardly believe her ears.

"Otherwise, how do you think I found out the location of your settlement?"

"All right!" Daisy rolled her eyes, then suddenly realized something. "Does that mean my wanted order can be canceled?"

"Of course. It’s very simple and won’t cost us anything."

"That’s wonderful! But who exactly framed me?" Daisy had never been able to let the matter go.

"S.H.I.E.L.D., of course. They’re also Hydra."

"All right, all right. I’ll just consider myself unlucky." Daisy spread her hands helplessly and gave up completely.

Tom had been suffering terribly these days.

Every morning, he had to get up on time, then line up to eat in the cafeteria.

The meals included both meat and vegetables, tasted good, and came in generous portions, but no one had any appetite while eating under the robots’ imprisonment.

After eating, he was assigned to different work groups, where he chatted with other people and a group of practically brain-dead robots. The topics were arbitrary, but they had to answer the robots’ questions seriously. Otherwise, the electric collars around their necks would discharge.

His group was considered one of the better ones. Another group was required to treat the robots like children, investing paternal or maternal affection in them. Any impatient expression or act of beating a robot would be punished just as severely.

There were many groups like this. The most enjoyable group was the one that made the robots experience hatred.

They were allowed to hurl abuse at the robots, but they weren’t allowed to hit them, because the staff were worried about being injured and using that as an excuse to avoid work.

The robots rotated between the different groups once every hour, experiencing different emotions in turn. With the assistance of their internal programs, they absorbed the nutrients within those emotions and rapidly matured, evolving toward true advanced AI.

The work wasn’t difficult, but it was extremely dull and monotonous.

They couldn’t even slack off.

Tom finally understood how those Black slaves had lived after being "freed" into the factories back then.

As a former herdsman, Tom was now finally enjoying the blessings of the 007 work schedule and began working hard to repay society.

His current life was even worse than that of prisoners. At least prisoners had some time outdoors, when they could go for a walk.

They also had leisure time at night, when they could watch television, and could chat with friends or have a drink when they were bored.

But the "workers" under the robots’ control had a zero unemployment rate, and everyone’s schedule was packed full. Anything that might damage the "means of production" was prohibited, including addictive substances like alcohol.

As for leisure time, even the robot bosses were working. How could human workers rest?

It wasn’t that no one had resisted, but all of them had failed. With nothing but their bare hands, they were completely unable to contend with the robots. In fact, even if they had been armed to the teeth, the result still wouldn’t have changed.

The robots’ punishment for the leaders of the riots was extremely cruel.

The leaders of those operations had been skinned, exposed to the air, and hung in the center of the hall.

If they had merely been killed, most people here would probably have dared to fight to the death. After all, their current lives were worse than death, practically no different from being livestock raised for slaughter.

But the current punishment was too terrifying. It truly left them unable to live or die.

Human adaptability was powerful. After Tom had lived in this environment for some time, he actually grew accustomed to everything, including getting up early on time, clocking in and out punctually, and even ignoring the screams echoing through the hall.

Their daily screams accompanied Tom as he fell asleep, then woke him on time like an alarm clock.

Dr. Zola was also well versed in the methods of taming beasts. He actually allowed the workers to finish work an hour early at night and arranged a television in every room.

This combination of kindness and authority worked extremely well, successfully suppressing the riots.

But Dr. Zola wasn’t satisfied with this alone. He needed more human "workers" to help train artificial intelligence and strengthen the Robot Kingdom.

Using force to seize people would be too inefficient. He needed to "attract" more people to come over.

Thus, the great prairie construction project began.

Relying on massive robot construction crews, the entire prairie underwent a complete transformation in a very short time.

The former grassland now had countless science-fiction-style buildings constructed across it. Under Dr. Zola’s plans, the entire prairie had become a showcase for future technology.

Here, one could see sky-rail lines everywhere, with maglev trains running along them.

Every building was a hundred-story tower, complete with artificial gardens, swimming pools, and sports fields.

Paired with the robots visible everywhere, it was exactly like the future world from a science-fiction movie.

After completing the construction, Dr. Zola began advertising to the entire world. With Zola’s technology, it was easy to add humans to these seemingly empty advertising videos.

Then, countless unfortunate people yearning for a better life were deceived into coming here. Happily, they rode the maglev trains to Dr. Zola’s Prism Base—and became the newest batch of workers.

To prevent this facade from being exposed, Dr. Zola took control of every external communications signal.

All communications were monitored, blocked, filtered, and even altered.

The people who had been deceived into coming here had their voiceprints and facial features recorded. Their communicators were confiscated and kept in centralized storage. Any incoming calls were answered by robots, who fended them off using synthesized voices and facial models.

Although there were occasional mishaps, the other party was far away and had no evidence, so they couldn’t prove anything. Even if they reported it to the authorities, with the President suppressing the matter from above, no serious investigation would take place. And if someone came in person to investigate, the final result would merely be one more worker for Dr. Zola.