The Demon Hunters had developed a keen interest in Blackbird City.
The more mysterious, the more secrets it held.
They could no longer dig up much intelligence in the western part of the continent, which was equivalent to three new conventional lands, and if they wished to learn more, infiltrating Blackbird City was their only option.
After numerous attempts, they found several different ways to try to gain entry into Blackbird City.
For instance, entering along with the supply channels;
or impersonating someone from Blackbird City;
or directly finding their way to the vicinity of Blackbird City, as a city so large was bound to have unguarded places where one could stealthily slip in…
However, these attempts all ended in failure.
In the process, they even lost several lives.
Ultimately, they finally discovered a reliable method: being recruited.
Blackbird City would periodically absorb some personnel from outside; nobody knew what these people were going to do, but it was said there would be a “better life” for them.
The Demon Hunters had replaced some of the people from the peripheral towns who were about to be absorbed into Blackbird City. This was not easy, but after all, Blackbird Heavy Industries’ scrutiny of the outside was not as intense as inside the city. They spent nearly a year gathering intelligence on the periphery, integrating with the locals, and finally, they succeeded.
Five of them were selected to enter Blackbird City; the remaining seven were not, but this was also good—they could provide support from the outside, transferring intelligence.
Then, those who entered went completely dark.
Ilan Bird was one of those on the outside. He was supposed to send out the intelligence as agreed, but he had never received anything.
The people waiting for intelligence on the outside were getting anxious. Today, more than a month later, a new opportunity arose: Blackbird City’s periodic personnel recruitment once again selected their people.
Ilan Bird was involved.
After some discussion, they decided to send Bird into Blackbird City.
It was a large black vehicle; together with more than twenty other people, he entered Blackbird City.
Initially, they were concentrated in one corner of the city. According to the administrators, they would later be assigned to different jobs and residences.
Bird found an opportunity, took the hidden pistol, and stealthily slipped out.
However, inside the city, he found it extremely difficult to move.
Walking in Blackbird City, he realized how the control of Blackbird Heavy Industries on the outside paled in comparison to the inside.
Here, it was as if he were in an immensely large concentration camp!
People were strictly controlled; there were patrols on the streets, and those without permission or legitimate business could not even loiter on the streets.
What was most fearsome was that the ‘civil servants’, ‘patrolmen’ and so on that he saw were all extensively cybernetically augmented. Bionic eyes, prosthetic limbs—these were the most common things. Others, whose entire bodies had been transformed beyond recognition, with several mechanical arms extending from their backs and their lower halves reshaped into four-legged forms, were a common sight.
Even purely automated robots moved about on the streets.
This scene sent chills down Bird’s spine!
He was not ignorant of various situations; he was a Heretic Demon Hunter. During the so-called ‘training’ days, his mind was filled with a vast amount of information and knowledge. Before departing, they had also reviewed a lot of information collected within the Alliance about the Fatches Family.
The scene before him led him to an almost immediate thought: Blackbird Heavy Industries had violated two of the Empire’s major decrees.
“The Ban on Autonomous Machines,” “The Ban on Intelligent Devices.”
The former prohibited any mechanical device capable of autonomous operation (servo skulls were not included, those were considered ‘human’), and the latter outright banned any computer or computer-like devices.
These two decrees were aimed at warding off the omnipresent ‘digital Demons.’
In today’s Empire World, the word ‘Demons’ might still be common, but ‘electronic’ was truly unheard of.
According to the knowledge passed down to his mind, any electronic device produced by humanity that had the ability to automate, to perform automatic calculations, could potentially be invaded by electronic Demons, causing the machine to ‘betray’ humanity.
Calculators would give incorrect results; autonomous robots would pick up weapons and harm humans; automated production lines would suddenly start assembling killing machines and riot…
Anything not directly controlled by ‘human’ at critical junctions would eventually betray humanity.
So the question arose: how did Blackbird Heavy Industries dare to do this?
Weren’t they afraid of death?
Wasn’t the Fatches Family afraid of death?
Bird realized that this was a very significant piece of intelligence and information.
Although he did not fully understand why this was happening, he did not need to know anymore. Even just based on what he saw on the streets, if he were to report back, it would be a huge deal.
This matter, if escalated, would immediately authorize the Alliance to declare war on Blackbird Heavy Industries—though in reality, no such authorization was needed as the Planetary Governor was free to do as he pleased on his own planet.
However, Blackbird Heavy Industries was special, being a property of the Fatches Family. Without a proper reason, it would be difficult to justify conflict.
Now no reason was needed.
Even the Fatches Family themselves were not safe. With such an incident at Blackbird Heavy Industries, it was likely that personnel from the Imperial Inquisition would have to conduct a thorough investigation into the three worlds of the Fatches Family.