Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 271: Chapter 179: No Need to Worry About Imperial Tax at All - Part 3

Otherwise, some equipment is so heavy that its own weight is more than some structures, which are not sturdy enough, can bear.

In any case, with these two gadgets in place, the Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessel could roll off the production line and be mass-produced on its own.

Of course, a servo skull is still missing. If there is no servo skull to serve as the fire control system, production is still possible; it's just that the copilot or, in other terms, the gunner, would have to aim manually. Find more adventures on M-V-L

But clearly, that would reduce combat effectiveness to some extent.

Once you have a servo skull, it's like having an auxiliary computer.

As for what exactly a servo skull is...it is actually a form of genetic technology that can turn a human with an intact brain and skull into a "wetware component". Similar to the way servitors are made, part of the brain is removed, the personality and conscious thought are erased, leaving it to function merely as a type of computer.

In many creations by the Sect of Mechanics, such an object can be found: a human skull connected to some machines by a metal spinal cord, sometimes able to move on its own, floating around...

To be honest, Gu Hang didn't quite understand why this was considered a basic technology. In his previous life, this would have been some seriously black tech, dark enough to be considered the darkest of them all.

Yet, this was indeed just a basic technology.

Like land resource exploration, servo skull technology is also blueprint in nature; it includes the manufacturing process.

A finished black box could immediately produce a set of equipment required for a servo skull conversion workshop.

It was simpler than imagined. A workshop, a junior commissioner, could produce one per day.

But Gu Hang's attention was caught by a very important part included in this process: burning incense, praying, six hours of scripture recitation...

Initially, Gu Hang didn't understand, but he soon got it.

To consider this universe as purely materialistic would be foolish. He himself was a wielder of Spiritual Energy.

Clearly, the process that could really produce servo skulls was inextricably linked to supernatural forces.

Or rather, almost all technology may have some supernatural element involved to varying degrees, whether overt or covert.

Once he realized this, Gu Hang didn't struggle with it anymore.

Just use it, regardless of the principle.

After all, he himself couldn't make sense of it.

However, Gu Hang was still somewhat uneasy about the fact that manufacturing servo skulls required a complete human head.

He wasn't obstinately ignorant, nor would he let the strict morals and ethics of the Empire restrict him utterly—since by the standards of the Empire, making servo skulls from living people wasn't really a big deal.

But he certainly wasn't going to randomly capture people to use as material.

In this regard, he had established certain rules: only convicts on death row and those who had been stripped of human rights, lacking even an E9 ranking, could be used as materials.

Only those who had no human rights could be treated as non-human and have their desires ignored.

In addition, arrangements could be made with the public, and soldiers could sign related donation documents before death; after death, their bodies could be donated, and their brains would be preserved.

Causes of death like a headshot, brain cancer, and the like, were definitely out of the question. Deaths that had occurred too long ago were also unacceptable. However, other types of bodily organ failure leading to death, if the head was preserved by special means within an hour after death, then it could undergo the conversion operation to become a servo skull.

More directly, doing it before death yielded the highest success rate.

However, Gu Hang had not yet decided whether to open up this option. It could lead to ethical issues, even murder and corruption.

For now, there was no need, but if the situation changed in the future and the demand for servo skulls was too great to be met by death row inmates, Gu Hang might actually be forced to propose it.

It was unfortunate that the prisoners who had been captured for trial and execution had been shot before Gu Hang could harvest their servo skulls, as they would have been a good source of material.

In any case, with this technology in hand, the Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessel could now be comprehensively put into production.

In the last two months, finished black boxes had already churned out eight Wind Falcons. With the continuation of production, the initial estimate is that three can be produced each month. Adding in that the black box can turn out four a month, the total would be seven per month.

Of course, this production capacity will increase over time.

By the time tax is due a year and a half from now, Gu Hang optimistically estimates that his Star Realm Armed Forces could be equipped with an Air Force Corps, with around a hundred Wind Falcons without much problem.

And this Air Force Corps could comfortably meet the standard of one million Tax Currency.

Apart from alloy cerasteel, servo skulls, and anti-gravity engines, with the Wind Falcon Rapid Attack Vessel now in production, the deep mining operations at the Ruin Mine have also been initially constructed and put into production.

The "Ruin Mine" and "Storm Mine" in Gaota Province have both commenced operations as well,

Especially the Storm Mine, Wu Jiarong has recently devoted a month's effort to mastering the primitive technology extracted from the ruins for collecting spiritualized gas and has came up with a trial version; a sturdy group of wind towers has been constructed and connected to the Energy Compressor.

According to Wu Jiarong's estimates, in two months' time, they should be able to achieve the projected monthly income of 40,000 Tax Currency in energy crystals.

Of course, this is an average, an estimation, the actual amount mainly depends on how often the Low Energy Storms blow.

According to the latest statistics from the Alliance Government's production department, in terms of Tax Currency, the annual output value of the entire Alliance can now reach slightly over two million Tax Currency.