"Level 2 Neural Network Engineer Xu Yang, this month's income is 7,500, outstanding debt 4,606,300, deducting 7,500 for repayment, remaining debt 4,598,800, actual income this month zero."
Xu Yang numbly pulled out his cash card, the content on the screen switched to the slogan "Your service makes Kyushu High Pavilion prosper," accompanied by a round smiling face.
Kyushu High Pavilion is one of the giant corporations in the Eastern Hemisphere, having prevailed in successive corporate wars, with comprehensive departments, abundant manpower, booming operations, focusing on vehicle development, industrial production, and security services.
Xu Yang was a "corporate person," a term used to describe those who stay in the company from birth till death.
His parents were also corporate people, too busy to care for him, and died early at the age of 35.
According to the company, they fulfilled their consumption and labor obligations and were model employees of the company.
All costs of Xu Yang's upbringing, accommodation, education, medical care, and so on, were provided by the company. By the time he graduated, these expenses were about 500,000, which he needed to work hard to repay.
To enhance his work efficiency and avoid being replaced by machines, he borrowed more than 4 million from the company to install cybernetic enhancements.
Thus, the loan grew even harder to repay.
The circumstances for other corporate people were similar to his, the more they worked, the more they owed the company, and they had to work their lives away to repay the debts.
There was one method to reduce the loan, and that was to reproduce.
For every child born, the debt owed to the company would be reduced by 25%, the only reason why company employees have not gone extinct, even though they knew their offspring would also become corporate people, they accepted it.
Xu Yang returned to his workstation, opened the box meal in front of him, which had a stick of nutrient paste resembling whitish putty, bland in taste, but he liked it very much because it was efficient and convenient.
Because he had no real income, he ate the company's, used the company's, slept at the company, received monthly consumption vouchers from the company, exchanged them for a bunch of things he didn't need, helping the company reach its consumption targets.
"Hurry up with the report on your side."
"In the Eastern District, from 28 families, 30 Witch babies have been collected, 2 defective ones, 18 with industrial potential, 6 with combat potential, 4 with unknown potential."
"That's enough performance for this month."
Xu Yang wanted to close his eyes and rest for a while, but the chatter of other corporate people at faraway workstations annoyed him, and he'd rather continue working.
He unplugged the data cable from his right wrist and inserted it into the jack.
Xu Yang's mind had integrated a technology known as "Digital Mind."
Digital Mind is a cutting-edge modern technology; it converts biological neural currents into electrical signals. In Xu Yang's mind, the Digital Mind's panel took shape, laying out the entire building's security system at a glance -- every camera, alarm device, automatic defensive equipment, robotic security, and laser traps were all linked directly to him.
He held the position of Level 2 Neural Network Engineer in the company's network security department, his daily duties including monitoring employee actions and maintaining network security.
As a trained Neural Network Engineer, Xu Yang could use Digital Mind to connect to the shared network, where most modern electrical devices were included for easy centralized management.
Although Digital Mind was a brand-new design, it adapted well to him. After the modification, his technical expertise greatly improved, and his position within the company rose significantly. He had high clearance, able to monitor the daily activities of thousands of employees, also inspecting for vulnerabilities in the embedded defense systems of the company -- a terribly monotonous task, with thousands of devices needing maintenance, guarding against hostile hackers, and warning those corporate people who cheated and slacked off.
Because of his proficiency, work from the department tended to pile up on him, filling his daily schedule.
Xu Yang monitored and controlled devices with his consciousness without using his hands. In his mind, these devices could all be directly inspected, controlled, and modified. With help of the implants, his brain was almost like an advanced computer.
But today was different.
The first camera Xu Yang came across had already been inspected.
He rapidly reviewed all of the company's equipment, shocked to find they had all been maintained. He hurriedly searched the logs, discovering that an AI system called "Heavenly" had done his work for him.
How could that be?
Xu Yang's heart pounded frantically.
He had performance targets to meet each day, and the devices being maintained today didn't mean he could rest, just that he was short a day's work.
There's a penalty for not meeting the performance targets!
He quickly opened the terminal at hand, contacted the department head, Huang Na.
"Sister Huang, why don't I have any work today, haha." Xu Yang sent the message hypocritically, anxious inside.
"Hmm, the tech department developed a new model, code-named 'Heavenly.' It has so many features. After the stress test, it went live and will be our new colleague."
"It seems to have done my part, what about me?"
"Isn't it nice for you to relax for a bit?"
Xu Yang almost cursed, he clenched his fist and then relaxed it. Subconsciously wanting to access the company network to continue inspecting, but the "Heavenly" AI had gained higher privileges, completely superseding Xu Yang's status, monitoring and controlling the entire building for him.
"Do I have any other work to do?" Xu Yang hesitated, then added another message, "Please assign me some work."
Without work, a man would die.
"Sorry, everyone has finished their assigned tasks today, I don't have any work for you. The department will soon go through personnel adjustments, so stay alert."