Rust - Chapter 512



Only Krnovel

RUST-512

The air force was wiped out by swarms of mutant birds, rat raids, and Chinese nuclear strikes that cleared major airports.

Does that mean all power is gone?

The United States Air Force’s Air Force Materiel Command’s retired military aircraft storage facility, also known as the aircraft graveyard (AMARC), was not the end.

Why is the F-22 Raptor factory in Seattle so important when there are plenty of usable ones out there that just need to be fixed and serviced?

The answer was simple. The moment the F-22 took off, fighters of lower class had to come down.

But even so, since there is no airport that is functioning properly and the F-22 is not usable as a carrier-based aircraft, wouldn’t keeping it just be a waste of maintenance costs?

Of course, you could think that way, and you might not. But imagine that the other side had that damn F-22. Imagine that they even had a factory and a parts factory and were churning it out. Would you still want to leave it alone?

[That’s true. Right now, there are no F-22s in good condition. If you think about the future, it would be right to target the production facilities and parts.]

It was true that it was better to take the lead than to regret later when factories, equipment, parts, and personnel moved to the South or West.

[···The problem is the true intention of the Empire to conduct joint operations.]

[A- Isn’t that because it’s better than going alone?]

“Since I’m out, let’s go together.”

[I see.]

[to?]

If I were in Detroit, I wouldn’t be telling you this story, but since I’m already out, I’d like to stop by Seattle before heading back.

The reason he didn’t mention Maru directly was probably to avoid giving him any excuses later.

“If you think about General Dan Brown, he probably went alone in the Empire. When that failed, he suggested a joint operation so that I could go on my own.”

[Shall we extract the information?]

If Maru’s prediction was right, there must be data on the Imperial Army’s operations in Seattle.

“Try it. You should know what happened to the imperial army that came before.”

[Uh-oh- why don’t you just ask what the problem was?]

“I guess it won’t work. Ask while you’re looking for information. I wonder what they’ll say.”

[Okay, and the head of the administration has submitted a report on artificial intelligence.]

Maru read the material sent by the PD. The main point was the argument that AI should be restricted from making legal judgments.

A large-scale fraud case broke out, the victim in the middle committed suicide, and the debt was inherited. The wife of the person who committed suicide disappeared, and a huge debt was inherited by a 4-year-old child.

In this regard, the argument was that artificial intelligence should limit administrative and judicial judgments because it allowed debt to be inherited by a 4-year-old child according to principle.

“Was the AI ​​in charge of this Samantha?”

[Yes, that’s right.]

“what do you think about it?”

[It’s unfortunate, but I think Samantha’s decision was right.]

“A 4-year-old owes 1,000 gold coins?”

[Even so, it has to be like that right now.]

“Why?”

[Because if inherited debts are forgiven or conveniences are provided, there will be people who will abuse that method.]

The nurse’s voice sounded like she was being too harsh on Hood’s words.

[Huh? But I guess there are a lot of people like that···.]

[There are many. This case is the same. Before the wife ran away, she should have renounced her inheritance so that the child would not inherit it. If she didn’t do that, it means she wasn’t paying attention. She didn’t want to pay attention.]

[Then, wouldn’t it be possible to give a grace period until the minor becomes an adult and can decide whether to inherit or renounce the inheritance?]

[What about the financial losses suffered by those who have been defrauded? Are you saying that they have to wait for a dozen years to decide whether or not they will inherit?]

[He can’t pay off the debt anyway since he’s a child.]

[That’s not it. If you renounce the inheritance, you can sell the remaining assets to make up for the loss, but if you delay in deciding whether to inherit, you will be asking to lose opportunity costs in addition to the loss.]

Hood said coolly. He added that if someone other than the parents decides on whether to inherit, there may be attempts to gain profits by colluding with the debtor to get the person to give up the inheritance.

For no reason, a power of attorney is needed. The story is that there is no such procedure that requires parents to apply in person.

In terms of this one incident alone, it’s unfortunate that the child ended up in debt worth 1,000 gold coins, but if the rules were changed, it would have caused even more problems, as it was related to money.

“What happened to those scammers?”

[They say he ran away.]

“Find him no matter what. Find him and hang him alive.”

[yes?]

[Huh? If you hang me alive… until I die?]

“Yes. To be honest, I want to do it like Chepes, but I think it’s too much. Let’s just hang him alive and end it. You can even announce that the king himself gave the order for this incident.”

[It may serve as a pretext for an opposition within the kingdom.]

[I think you’re saying that too suddenly.]

Hood and the nurse objected. Isn’t hanging it suddenly too rash?

However, Maru’s thoughts were different. The Holy Ark Kingdom was on the surface a constitutional monarchy, but in reality it was an absolute monarchy centered around Maru.

It was a kingdom that Maru had created, a kingdom that he was protecting, a kingdom that would be swept away without him. So what was the problem?

Above all, Maru was sensitive to economic crimes and false accusations. This was especially true because it was the reason his peaceful family was destroyed.

This case was the same. Whether the victim made a wrong judgment out of greed or believed that it was someone he knew, the result was the same. What crime is the 4-year-old child guilty of when his father committed suicide and his mother was abandoned?

In Maru’s eyes, the problem was con artists. So he wanted to show that in the Holy Kingdom, if you get caught conning, you’re screwed.

If forgiving or deferring debt becomes a big deal, wouldn’t it be possible to do something like hanging up the person who caused the problem?

“No. It’s too late. We should have enacted a law to punish violent crimes, fraud, and false accusations long ago. Then the fraud damage would not have been so great.”

[······.]

[······.]

Before Hood and the nurse could say anything, Maru was grabbed.

“Ah- and I think it would be good to apply the joint liability system to treason, violent crimes, fraud, and false accusations.”

‘It’s common for criminals to embezzle assets under the names of their family members and relatives.’ Maru smiled coldly.

[······.]

[······.]

‘How do I stop this?’ Hood locked eyes with the nurse. The nurse tilted her head. ‘This is hard.’

“Isn’t it funny? If you commit a big scam, your family will be ruined? We need to root out the idea that you can sell out the country, leak core technology, and ruin people’s lives by false accusations and just run away. At least in the Holy Kingdom, I don’t plan on seeing that kind of thing. Isn’t the way to reduce social costs by completely ending it?

[······.]

[······.]

[···Are you saying that you will change the law not just this once?]

“Yeah. Now that it’s happened, I’m going to get it over with this time.”

Hood felt that Vladimir Kalin’s thoughts were dangerous.

A strong punishment is necessary, but is it really necessary now that the kingdom is beginning to settle down? And to hang him completely instead of increasing the sentence seems too extreme.

Hood sent the current situation to the city administrator in Detroit.

The PD who received the call was bewildered. He sent the data because he wanted to put limits on the judgment of AI that lacks ‘humanistic concerns’ or ‘humanity and conscience’, but the results were ‘guilt by association’ and ‘hanging.’

How did it come to this?

PD and Hood tried to stop him several times, but Maru was firm on this point. The only fortunate thing about pushing for the joint punishment system was that it didn’t involve hanging up the criminal’s family, right?

‘Confiscation of property related to criminal activity.’

‘Isn’t it a relief that if you haven’t received a single penny from a criminal, you’re exempt from the property seizure?’

‘Wouldn’t there be any family that isn’t related? I must have had a meal with my relatives.’

‘Surely it can’t be that it doesn’t go beyond that.’

PD’s worries became reality. As soon as evidence emerged that AI had material benefits, it immediately began the process of confiscating assets.

‘No, how would I know you made money by cheating? I told you I didn’t know?’

[We will confiscate only 50% of the amount, taking the circumstances into consideration.]

So, a law that would have worked in the Middle Ages or early modern times was implemented in the kingdom. Even retroactively. Artificial intelligence started investigating and judging by applying new rules, saying it was good.

‘No, really, I just borrowed money for investment. I just borrowed it to run a business.’

[We will confiscate only 70% of the amount, taking into consideration the circumstances.]

The AI ​​was persistent, vicious, and merciless.

Maru was shocked at how there could be so much fraud, false accusations, and violent crimes in a kingdom that had been founded for less than a year.

[It is natural that crimes run rampant when society is in chaos.]

I even applied for citizenship to avoid that situation.

[I think this is the extent of the control that was achieved by issuing citizenship. At least there was no looting or rioting, right?]

The PD who failed to block the floor filed a report in vain. There were people who opposed the extreme punishment of half-ruined and half-disgraced by association rather than reeducation through labor, but the kingdom’s response was consistent.

‘If you don’t like it, get out.’

It was a kingdom that introduced pre-modern methods such as reeducation through labor, collective punishment, and public execution, but paradoxically, it was a kingdom that succeeded in securing a lower crime rate and more stable public order than any other region.

Hood said incredulously.

[It’s completely different from the crime-related papers?]

It was a paper that said that strong punishment does not have a significant correlation with lowering the crime rate. It was a study that said that in order to lower the crime rate, identifying the motive for the crime and solving it is effective in reducing the crime rate.

However, it was a thesis that did not apply in the reality that was halfway to the end. The Great Reset occurred as the Holy Kingdom was declared in the aftermath of the mutant virus and nuclear war.

In fact, the gap between the rich and the poor was very small because economic activities had to be started from scratch again. In this situation, should we understand the motives and circumstances of those who commit fraud, embezzlement, robbery, theft, and false accusations?

Maru simply thought, ‘There’s no need for that.’ So the kingdom began to operate with spicy AI judiciary and administration, and the results were good.

“The situation when you wrote the paper is different from the current reality, so the results would have been different. So, did you confirm that the Empire sent a solo operation to Seattle?”

[Yes, I checked the information, but it was strange.]

Until recently, there was a fair amount of information that was leaked and passed on, but not anymore. The security level has been raised to the highest level overall.

It would be possible to get in if they wanted to, but it would be difficult to get in without leaving a trace. Since they could find it somewhere else, there was no need to do that, so Hood went to the frontline military bases to get information.

[They say there is no clear ruling power in Seattle, and that small powers divide up their districts and rule over each other.]

“Why did the Imperial Army fail?”

[It is said that there is a force that has tamed the monster bear. They have succeeded in taming the monster bear in three different places, and they have also taken over the F-22 production plant.]

A video of the Imperial forces and bears engaging each other played on Maru’s HUD.

“Objectively speaking, it’s bigger than a normal bear, but it’s smaller than the one we caught last time.”

In the fight depicted in the video, size was not an issue. The firepower available to the Imperial infantry was simply not enough to deal with the monster bear.

“If I asked you directly, what would you say?”

[He simply replied that he had sent a small force because the situation in the empire was not favorable, and that there had been no news.]

“Really? You didn’t say the other person was a bear?”

[Yes. He said he would let me know if I participated in the F-22 facility securing operation.]

It didn’t seem like there was any deception on the part of the Empire, but it didn’t seem necessary for Maru to go himself.

“Let’s send Miss Kim and some of the strike force waiting in Toledo.”

It was a chance to see if Kim Yang and the strike team alone could take down the monster bear.