Inside Central City.
The youth who had climbed over the city wall began to walk slowly again.
The scene here was a complete reversal from Rust City.
Beneath his feet was a ground as clean and smooth as blue crystal.
As Qin Yiguan stepped forward, a mist-like blue light radiated from beneath the floor, spreading out like ripples while clearly illuminating the surroundings.
The houses here were all pure white.
Their shapes resembled precise artworks created by computers.
Each building was a sharply defined cube of equal volume, neatly arranged on both sides of the road, perfectly aligned in every direction.
Each house also emitted a soft white light from within.
There was no sign of decay.
Filled with a sense of futuristic technology.
Extremely clean.
Everything looked as if it had just been unpacked, as if searching the entire Central City District would not yield a single speck of dust.
The only similarity between this Central City District and the youth's Rust City was the complete absence of people on the streets.
Instead, there were more beautifully designed and perfectly functional nanny robots roaming around.
And just like those guard robots, these nanny robots were also unable to see Qin Yiguan.
Despite the advanced technology and impenetrable defense systems here.
For the youth, it was as if he was entering a land with no one around.
Qin Yiguan turned his head to look at a cubic house by the road.
"Residence No. 00025."
"I can't go there."
"The house is inhabited by 3 women."
"People lying in the nutrient pods are not clothed."
"Don't ask me how I know. If you ask, it's because I've been there before."
After walking for a while,
At the end of this street, a significantly larger cubic building suddenly appeared.
The youth's gaze was drawn to it, "This is also a residence, but it seems to be at least three times more luxurious than the others. This family must be rich or noble, and the main point is I haven't been inside before."
The youth waited outside the mansion for a while.
Finally, when the nanny robot that was trimming the lawn returned to the residence,
Sss...
The robot carried an electronic key, and the access control system opened.
Like a ghost, the youth followed the nanny robot inside, moving quietly.
All the furniture in the living room was neatly arranged and brand new, as if it had never been used since the day it was placed.
Passing through the hallway led to a bedroom.
Qin Yiguan also followed a nanny robot into it.
In the center of the room, there was a metaverse nutrient pod that looked like a glass sarcophagus.
The youth tiptoed slightly and squinted to look, "Hmm... with a handle."
He then felt at ease.
As the saying goes, "Do not look at what is improper." Since it was a man, there was no problem.
On one side of the room, there was a row of exquisite preservation cabinets.
They were filled with fresh fruits, various cakes, and pastries.
The youth passed by, grabbed an apple and bit into it.
Then he picked up a bunch of bananas.
And a bunch of grapes.
He passed by a box of sugar cubes, not fond of pure sugar.
He then picked up a piece of chocolate cake.
Again...
With his arms full of food, the youth gently leaned against the nutrient pod.
Crunch.
The youth bit into the green apple in his hand.
The taste was genuine.
In contrast, those energy blocks from Rust City were like chewing wax.
In this era of technological explosion, experiencing the real taste of food had become an extremely difficult feat.
Then, the youth, while munching on the apple, looked behind him at the metaverse nutrient pod and noticed a metal engraving of the character '九' (nine) on a corner of the glass cover.
Nine?
Is your surname Nine or is your given name Nine?
Qin Yiguan peered through the glass cover to see inside; there was also a youth, about eighteen or nineteen years old, similar in age to Qin Yiguan.
Fair-skinned and handsome.
"For now, I'll call you 'Brother Nine.'"
"What are you doing in the metaverse right now?"
"Have you been to the experimental fields?"
Qin Yiguan had already nibbled the apple down to its core.
He stared at the youth inside the nutrient pod, "Look at you..."
"It's because you're wealthy."
"That you can have nanny robots prepare fresh food for you at any time."
"Even though you'll never go offline in your entire life."
"But just to have it laid out like that."
"Like offerings."
"When it's no longer fresh, they'll replace it with a new batch."
"Can you imagine? In our Rust City, there might be some children who will never know what an apple tastes like in their entire lives."
Qin Yiguan tossed the apple core into a trash can cleaner than his face.
The nanny robot cleaning the floor paused, focusing its gaze on the trash can, and a robotic voice sounded, "The master clearly hasn't woken up, so how is there an apple core?"
Thud.
Qin Yiguan finished eating a banana and threw the peel into the trash can.
The nanny robot paused again.
"How is there a banana peel?"
"Eh, and grape skins?"
"People eat grapes without spitting out the skins, who eats grapes and then spits out the skins?"
"#￥%...&*..."
"And there are grape seeds?"
"???"
The nanny robot's program became slightly confused.
The youth named Qin Yiguan sat cross-legged on top of the nutrient pod, carefully observing the scene inside.
The boy inside was submerged in a light green liquid, wearing a thin metal helmet on his head, with dense wires extending from the helmet and connecting to the entire nutrient pod.
They didn't need to eat.
The metaverse nutrient pod could deliver the basic nutrients required by the human body, with extremely precise measurements, hundreds of times more accurate than the top nutritionists of the old era.
Proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, fats, electrolytes, and trace elements, all of these were artificially made.
There was no need for intravenous injections; instead, these substances were molecularized and dispersed in the nutrient solution, absorbed directly through the skin by the body.
The most interesting part was that the most important artificial protein was a peptide formed by the condensation of carboxyl and amino groups, with artificial insulin added, synthesized under necessary conditions.
Short for peptide insulin must.
And for their excretion, they didn't have any solid waste because their nutritional intake contained no impurities.
There was only a little bit of yellow liquid excreted through the skin, which, after being recycled by machines, would have its trace elements extracted again.
In short, eat...
Hmm...
Qin Yiguan tilted his head, "This doesn't have a shorthand."