Ikarus did not want to talk much about the physical aspects of flowers. As for the rarest places for flowering plants, apart from closed laboratories where access was strictly controlled, they were exoplanet space stations with special purposes.
For example, the nightmarish Toller Space Station.
As Ning Yongxue felt the secrets of the darkness gradually approaching him, this mysterious force also seemed to give him some solace, allowing him to temporarily free himself from the sense of emptiness brought about by the future society. In the midst of his thoughts, Ikarus gently plucked a crested blue, placing it on his lips and kissing it lightly. Ning Yongxue spent one second speculating on the significance of her move, and the next he witnessed her opening her mouth to taste the petals.
It turned out that Ikarus was trying out the flavor of the petals to determine whether they were safe to eat. Out of instinct, Ning Yongxue immediately stopped her move. "It's best if you don't just put anything in your mouth." He cautioned.
Ikarus blinked and asked with a hint of confusion, "Is this flower poisonous? I checked the information that says something similar is edible."
"It's true that the Phoenix Eye Blue is non-toxic, but not all plants are so safe." Ning Yongxue replied, "If you don't know what something is, go ahead and learn about it instead of making assumptions out of thin air."
"Is this just for flowers?" Ikarus pursued.
"No, I think that's the proper attitude towards everything in the world." Ning Yongxue replied, speaking at length.
Ikas clearly noticed that the maturity in Ning Yongxue's words did not match his appearance. "Why are you able to talk like that?" She asked curiously.
Considering that his background was meaningless in this era, Ning Yongxue felt that the question bordered on the unreal. However, after a moment's thought, he responded in the form of storytelling, "I have traveled to many places, some where people rely on rudimentary filtered water to survive, some where bullets are cheaper than bread, and others where I had to learn to discern the safety of my food lest I meet an untimely end. Simply put, our insights determine our words, not our age."
"I didn't know there were corners of the world like this ...," exclaimed Ikas, "at least never in my intranet."
"Yes, each space station, each ship and even each planet probably has its own separate internal network." Ning Yongxue explained, "Due to the speed of light limitations, the transmission of information is often delayed by hours or even longer, causing the world to be re-divided into several islands of information."
As a result, in this era, the world has not become more open, but rather more closed due to physical and technological limitations. Different classes of social groups are organized in their own ways, and communication between different regions of space is similarly limited, creating worlds that can only be fully understood by those who have experienced them.
"It's not really surprising," Ning Yongxue continues, "that most places are silent in the internet and digital recordings. All you see are snippets of a handful of people and events - the most glorious cityscapes, the most successful elite lives, the most uplifting stories, and the scandals that are easiest to laugh at. People replace reality with an ideal life, make up for their shortcomings with the achievements of others, and live in the fantasies of others. If you do not actively explore, those unrecorded things are an invisible presence to you."
These words seemed to be beyond the scope of Ikarus' understanding, and she fell into deep thought. The phoenix-eyed blue in her hand was scrutinized over and over again, debating whether or not she should try to consume it. Ning Yongxue then suggested that she could use the flower as a hair accessory, though the results of trying it were unsatisfactory - the messy hair was like a bird's nest, and the phoenix-eye blues that dotted it looked out of place and even a bit comical.
"Are you holding back a laugh?" Ikas asked suspiciously, "Wasn't this your idea?"
"It usually shouldn't be." Ning Yongxue admitted, "Since you don't feel right about it, why don't you let me help you sort it out."
Ikarus nodded in agreement, closing his eyes and waiting quietly. Ning Yongxue carefully cleaned her face and hair until the last bit of mud had been removed, and combed her wet hair neatly into a beautiful braid. Ikas opened her eyes and headed to the river to check her appearance, surprised at how much she had changed before and after.
Ning Yongxue, on the other hand, utilized the nearby clear water source to make a dilution of Spindle's Acidic Ointment by mixing it into the water. It was unclear exactly what the mixture would be used for, but he knew that it could be a means of defense in certain situations. As a man who had traveled to third world countries, he was neither a villain nor did he deny that he had made transgressions in his past defenses.
Shortly afterward, Ikas returned with a new expression. She stroked her neatly groomed hair before taking Ning Yongxue's hand and scrutinizing it. "You're good at this?" She asked, "Who would be good at something like this?"
Ning Yongxue smiled, not answering directly. He understood that it was his overly skillful technique that caused Ikarus to have doubts. However, it also proved that his skills were not just limited to combat or survival. At this moment, Ikas was no longer the little girl with a face full of mud and dust, but a young woman with an outstanding temperament, radiating a natural glow.
"We should get some guns." Ikas suddenly offered, her tone unusually serious, "It's definitely better than little glass bottles."
Ning Yongxue wasn't sure about the gun control policy in this part of the world, but he thought that Ikas lacked a concept of the value of money. "We haven't received our aid money yet, and even if we did, we should prioritize basic needs over weapons." He reminded gently.
"Is that so?" She frowned, the expression seeming to say that it was far from simple.
"Indeed it is, and what can be done beyond that? I'm not sure what prices are like in the neighborhood, but I'm afraid the aid money is barely enough for two people to make ends meet, and they might not even be able to afford a single shell casing." Ning Yongxue explained.
"Would it be better to live alone then?" Ikarus asked rhetorically.
"I've heard that the distribution of supplies is extremely strict these days, and some people use children to receive more aid and then abandon them." Ning Yongxue said as politely as possible.
"So you're planning to abandon me?" Ikarus asked him bluntly.
He paused for a moment, thinking about how to express himself. "It's not a question of whether or not to abandon me," Ning Yongxue said earnestly, "but whether or not you're going to cast a spell over my head in the middle of the night, take my things and then disappear. Can you understand that?"
"You're avoiding my question." She pressed on, "Will you abandon me or not?"
"No. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't depend on my assurances. You are an independent person, capable of making your own decisions, or at least deciding how to treat me. You don't need to pin your future on my promises or feel that I'm the only one who can show you the way. We're standing here because we're going to help each other and make sure that life goes on, not because you're going to defer to me on everything or think that I'm a hero who's here to save you. Once I'm gone, you won't perish because of it."
"You have a point." Ikarus nodded in agreement, not even denying the "magic" she had cast during the night.
It was difficult for Ning Yongxue to describe the way she mimicked an adult's way of thinking - many of her concepts were still stuck in the child stage, and he wasn't sure he had enough patience or skill to guide such a child.
"But it shouldn't be that way now." She added, "The books say that wisdom guides one to know what to do. I think you are a man of wisdom, and when I draw wisdom from you, all those puzzles that have been troubling me will naturally be solved."
This little one's ideas were out of this world, and how absurd it sounded that he should ask her to seek wisdom from him when he himself had almost become a refugee under a bridge. However, looking at her earnest expression, he could not bear to speak sarcastically.
"Then you ..." she said, once again ready to ask a question.
Seeing Ikarus's questions coming one after the other, seemingly never-ending, Ning Yongxue got up and interrupted her. "It's getting late, we should find a piece of terminal equipment first, let's talk about anything later."
Ikarus followed suit and stood up, the two of them heading in an unknown direction with no clear goal in mind.
"Actually, I had a terminal." Ikas frowned lightly with a thin brow, "It had a lot of money in it, I don't know exactly how much, but it was quite a bit."
"Lost it?" Ning Yongxue guessed.
"It should be lost." Ikas said seriously, "At that time, my clothes weren't so worn out, although they were already a bit torn ... well, they were indeed worn out, but they certainly weren't covered in mud and dirt. At that time I met a new friend ... I thought was a friend. He said he would help me get the gun I wanted, and he never came back, as if he had evaporated, how could he find it."
If he had been drinking water just now, he would have spewed it out. Thankfully, that man was just a common con artist, not a criminal who trafficked children. Ning Yongxue rubbed his brow, pondering how to respond. "Then how were you able to find me in the crowd?" He asked.
"I was afraid the same thing would happen again, so I made you easy for me to spot." She explained in slightly stilted words, always trying to mimic the tone of an adult but coming off a little odd.
"You should value your wealth, Ikarus." Ning Yongxue reminded her.
"I had little concept of wealth back then." Ikarus said, propping up his chin and inclining his head to squint at him, his tone still proper, "And are you holding back a laugh? I can see that, you could have just laughed, I don't mind."
"You can take it as me showing politeness." Ning Yongxue replied.
Suddenly, Ikarus turned his head and looked up at the sky. Ning Yongxue followed her gaze upwards, only to see a gigantic airship hovering above the city like a floating mountain, its gray metal structure crisscrossing the sky and extending deep into the clouds, making people wonder at the power of technology and the mystery of the future.