When Dragon City just transmigrated, it was a civilization based purely on machines. The constructions of the city, its operations and defenses were all based on various types of machines.
But as they ran out of energy and the failure rate of the machines just kept increasing, many of the sophisticated machines were rendered useless, and they gradually lost the technological legacy from Earth.
Before the rise of the new generation of machines made with the carving of runes and crystal engines, the transmigrators had to temporarily live in the ancient era where they relied on manual labor and beasts of labor.
However, they soon discovered that when the superhumans who cultivated spirit energy and the monsters who had endless power were grouped together, they could bring out power that did not lose to that of heavy construction machines, and to a certain degree, they had power that those cold metals could not compare to.
Even when runic symbol technology was developed and new automatic machines were continuously developed, the humans’ will to modify monsters and head down the path of biotech never changed.
And the clash of machine civilization and biochemical civilization spread through various levels of Dragon City.
The clash between Spirit Creations Creatures and Heavenly Works Machines was the most typical example.
Heavenly Works Machines was the company that was the first to use runic symbol technology on large construction machines.
When the ancient machines from Earth were rendered useless and started becoming covered in rust, the new general heavy machines entered various frontlines. They were covered in runic symbols, spat out spirit energy, had black smoke rolling out of them, and let out deafening roars while they performed various forms of construction and other work for Dragon City’s development. Heavenly Work Machines was the symbol among all the companies dealing with machines.
To this date, the dozens of different type construction machines that Heavenly Work Machines created were digging tunnels, building forts, creating hornet nest-shaped residential areas, developing the roads leading from Dragon City to the mines around it… They were extremely useful in various areas.
However, construction machines that relied on runic symbol technology were facing incredibly powerful challengers.
The Giant Sandworms modified by Spirit Creation Creatures could replace traditional tunnel boring machines, roadheaders, excavating machines, and all sorts of underground construction machines. The capital they used to clear each kilometer of a tunnel was only one-third of a runic symbol machine, and they did not pollute the environment and were not a public nuisance. They produced slightly smaller tremors in the area, and so, they could be used in weaker terrain or underneath buildings.
With this advantage, Spirit Creation Creatures had already snatched quite a number of deals from Heavenly Works Machines.
This time, the battlefield of their fight was Subway No.20 in Dragon City.
It was an incredibly important subway because it would go through Red Dragon River, and for the first time over the past half a century, it would connect the main city area with Jiangnan.
The construction had a lot of significance, and the difficulty was naturally very high as well.
Red Dragon River was wider than many of the famous rivers on Earth due to the rivers from the Other World joining together with it. There were also various monsters who were very sensitive to tremors in the river, and they would cause a rampage if they sensed anything off. It was not an easy task to clear an underground tunnel that would span several kilometers.
Despite the difficulties, the construction companies in Dragon City still rubbed their palms together and were determined to get the project.
Everyone knew that whoever managed to get the construction plan for Subway No.20 would become the leader in the field, and they would be able to take the initiative in future construction works.
Dragon City had a long-term plan that would end at New Era Year 100, and its goal was to build more than fifty transportation lines. Among them were nine transportation tunnels that would cross rivers.
Aside from this, Celestial Dragon Area was being developed in the north like a raging fire, and it was a big pie that smelled like loads of money.
The profit would be astronomical.
It was enough to make everyone go mad and become reckless.
At that moment, there were two main development plans for Subway No.20, and they were born from two main trains of thought. One of them was to use Giant Sandworms s, and the other was to use runic symbol machines and the traditional tunnel boring machines, roadheaders, and other machines.
The providers for the technology for the two construction plans and the ones who came up with them were Spirit Creation Creatures and Heavenly Works Machines.
“To clear the underground tunnel going under Red Dragon River, we put in a lot of money to modify a breed of Giant Sandworms that like humid environments, create very small tremors when eating rocks, and are very quiet,” Xie Xiaolei said. “During the experiments, our Giant Sandworms have shown that their efficiency, energy consumption per unit of distance, failure rate, pollution, and all other aspects show that they’re better than the traditional equipment from Heavenly Works Machines.
“Now, this major deal is about to land in Spirit Creations’ hands, so some people in Heavenly Works must have realized that they have no other way but to use another method from a safe angle.
“They racked their brains about how to prove that our biochemical beasts are not safe and will go out of control at any moment. If there were vicious cases that would terrify those who hear them, we’d lose the deal. It’s only through this method that they could snatch it away.
“Look, at this critical moment, someone from the middle management of Heavenly Works died under the claws of his own pet. If the mangled corpse’s picture was uploaded online, it would bring fear to all the citizens, and under the pressure of public opinion, not only would we not be able to get the deal to build Subway No.20, the company would also be ruined!
“Elder Ning, Meng Chao, do you think that there can be such a coincidence?”
Ning Shewo and Meng Chao looked at each other. Both of them agreed that there was something strange about this.
“Xiaolei, you have to be responsible for what you say. Your words now are a major accusation,” Ning Shewo said while frowning. “Are you trying to say that someone intentionally used some method to make the three biochemical beasts go violent and cause such a bloody case? If that’s the case, this isn’t an accident, but murder.”
Xie Xiaolei snorted coldly. “If you knew just how great was the profit in this, you’d understand that some people would even commit genocide for it, much less murder.”
Meng Chao scratched his head and thought about it.
Ning Shewo cast him a glance and asked, “Meng Chao, what are your thoughts? Since I brought you here, I won’t be treating you like a normal university student. If you have any thoughts, just say them.”
“I understand the general gist of the matter, I just… think that it’s rather strange.” Meng Chao looked at the Giant Sandworm hatching through the window. “Let’s say that someone from Heavenly Works Machines has really gone mad and intentionally stimulated the modified biochemical pets created by Spirit Creations to engineer this terrifying, bloody case, then why choose to attack in Blessed Paradise, and why sacrifice a person of the middle management?”
Xie Xiaolei was slightly stunned. “It’s naturally to increase the influence of the matter so that we can’t suppress it. You must understand, Blessed Paradise is right next to an educational area. Many of the teachers from famous schools, high or middle-ranking officers from research labs and development centers like purchasing houses in Blessed Paradise. If that person did something in Blessed Paradise, he or she could land a huge blow to Spirit Creations.
“As for sacrificing a member of their own middle management… They’ll be able to wash their hands of any suspicion if they do this, don’t you think so?”
“No.” Meng Chao shook his head. “Even when we were just talking to each other, we didn’t exclude Heavenly Works as a possible suspect. Would the police really be that easily fooled if they interfered? It’s obvious that once people’s lives are involved, the nature of the case will change. Perhaps even the adjudicators of the Supernatural Tower will have to take action, and the matter will not be solved so easily.
“Hmm… even if the judgement of some person from Heavenly Works was impaired because of the profit so they decided to act regardless of the consequences, there’s just no need for them to choose Blessed Paradise.
“Blessed Paradise is a commercial housing area that is rather high class, and it’s precisely because of this that its capacity isn’t high. It’s also sealed off completely, so when such a vicious case happens, the property management would lock down the news, and no unrelated personnel could come and go as they please.
“This won’t create a storm that will influence public opinion. Look, the case happened two days ago, but there has been nothing on the news and forums. There’s no way to create any pressure using the public opinion like this.”
Ning Shewo nodded a little and looked at Xie Xiaolei.
The creator of the company let out a dry cough and said, “But it’s what happened. After we heard of the accident, we immediately rushed to the site with the representative from Heavenly Works. That person was naturally angry and said that he wants to make this public… but no matter what, this matter is too strange, and it can’t be ascertained that it’s fully our responsibility.
“Besides, there are a lot of parties connected to this due to their interests, and Heavenly Works is worried that there are other factors related to the situation. That’s why we reached an agreement that we will lock down the news for the time being. We’ll say anything only once we’ve understood the cause.”
“That’s the right way,” Meng Chao said. “Regardless of whether it’s Spirit Creations or Heavenly Works, you’re both major companies. Even though you fight against each other in many areas, at the end of the day, you see each other frequently, and since this happened in a place like Blessed Paradise, it won’t be easy for you to turn into sworn enemies against each other.
“If I were the possible schemer and really wanted to use the pressure of public opinion, I would not use Blessed Paradise as my site for murder. It would be much better to use Blessed Heavenly Garden.”
“Blessed Heavenly Garden?”
Ning Shewo and Xie Xiaolei were both stunned.
“That’s right. I rear a Sword-toothed Hunting Dog at home, and it was modified by Spirit Creations. Many of my neighbors keep biochemical pets modified by your company as well,” Meng Chao said. “Our area has a lot of people, and we don’t use security guards or area lockdowns. The CCTVs only work occasionally, so it’d be very easy for someone to do something to the biochemical pets.
“If something similar happened in my area, I can guarantee that within an hour, it would have spread to the other eight areas around us, and in half a day, around fifty articles would appear online. They’d find more than one hundred witnesses for the cases, and in twenty-four hours, it would spread through the entire city!
“If you want to create pressure with public opinion, Blessed Heavenly Garden is the best choice.
“Oh, but wait, there’s an even better choice than Blessed Heavenly Garden, and that’s the markets and downtown areas, where people constantly move around. If someone was killed by a biochemical pet modified by Spirit Creation in the market, there would be hundreds of people who would see it. Blood would splatter on dozens of onlookers’ faces. In such an event, do you think that there would be anyone who would be able to suppress the news?
“Regardless of the results of the investigation, normal citizens would view the biochemical beasts only with fear, wouldn’t they?”
Ning Shewo and Xie Xiaolei shuddered.
“So, you think that this matter has nothing to do with Heavenly Works, but is an accident or a flaw from the modification process?” Ning Shewo asked.
“I don’t have enough information, so I don’t know,” Meng Chao said. “President Xie, what is the general procedure for modifying biochemical beasts in Spirit Creations? Do you… need to drill holes into the spines of your biochemical beasts?”