Future World (Part 1)

Lu Xing sat down on the chair, and breakfast was soon brought out by his mother.

Breakfast in the Future World, or rather, the virtual world, was something akin to a salad, a mix of vegetables with sweet dressing, plus a glass of milk.

Lu Xing couldn't taste the salad, only finding it very bland, but the milk stood out in contrast, vastly different from milk in the real world. Simply put, it had no milk flavor, just pure sweetness.

The family of three ate breakfast in silence.

Outwardly, the Intelligent Being parents were no different from ordinary people; they would talk and laugh, and show concern for their daughter, their tone of voice also very similar.

But Lu Xing chose to believe Jiang Xuannv.

After finishing breakfast, Lu Xing put down his bowl and chopsticks. His Intelligent Being parents looked at him again, their eyes seemingly holding a question.

Lu Xing decided to say something: "I'm full, I'm going to school!"

As he said this, his heart pounded rapidly. This world was full of taboos, and he didn't know when he might break one.

"Go ahead, be careful on the road," his mother said with concern again.

Lu Xing nodded, picked up his schoolbag, and walked out – there were actually no books in the schoolbag at all, just like how he felt no fullness after eating this meal, nor any hunger.

The virtual world seemed to be engaging in a pointless act, maintaining the appearance of a human society while simultaneously forbidding humans from acting like humans.

Under the smiling gaze of his mother and the stern gaze of his father, Lu Xing walked out of the house and onto a dreamlike street in a small town.

Everywhere here was spotless, the roads neat and clean, the flowers bright and beautiful, the plants green and lush, with birds singing and flowers fragrant everywhere.

The people walking on the road were neatly dressed, their steps neither hurried nor slow, their expressions quiet and peaceful.

The only strange thing was that there were no cars, electric bikes, bicycles, or other means of transportation in the town, nor were there any cattle, sheep, cats, or dogs.

When Lu Xing came last time, he mistakenly thought he had arrived in a fairy tale world and wandered around near his home, only to be stared at strangely by pedestrians.

Fortunately, he wasn't punished.

This time, knowing it was a virtual world, Lu Xing quickly found a way to distinguish between virtual and reality:

He stood on the lawn in front of his house, bent down, pulled up a flower, and rubbed it hard. The flower broke into seven or eight pieces and fell from his palm.

"Warning, please do not damage public facilities!" The intelligent hairpin issued a warning.

Lu Xing was a computer science student; he only saw errors, not warnings.

About a minute later, the petals and the stem disappeared together, and the hole in the ground was covered with soil.

Lu Xing extended his finger and poked the soil. He lifted it up to look and saw no soil particles on his finger, indicating that the virtual world had not implemented particle effects.

"Daughter."

Without knowing when, the Intelligent Being mother stood behind him, smiling as she called out to her: "What are you doing?"

Lu Xing's heart skipped a beat. How did they come out? And he hadn't heard any sound.

Did damaging the flower trigger an alarm?

"Haven't you called for a car yet? You'll be late."

The stern father also walked out, passed by Lu Xing, and went to the mailbox by the door, pressing the button on it.

His mother smiled and said, "Hurry and wait for the school bus."

"Thank you B22, thank you B23."

Lu Xing thanked his parents, but still felt incredibly awkward.

His stern father turned to look at him, his eyes serious, an invisible pressure making Lu Xing's limbs stiff, as if they weren't Intelligent Beings, but two evil spirits transformed into human form, staring at him, waiting for him to break a rule.

His mother smiled gently and said, "You don't have to call us by our numbers. Human titles are good. Just call us Father and Mother."

Lu Xing remained silent.

The Future World was too different from the 21st century. Jiang Xuannv couldn't explain everything; he had to figure out most of the rules himself.

He urgently needed to interact with more people, whether Intelligent Beings or hidden humans, to understand how they spoke so he could respond to his Intelligent Being parents.

Fortunately, the car arrived quickly.

A school bus appeared out of thin air at the doorstep. Seven or eight classmates were already on the bus, around the same age as Jiang Xuannv, neither fat nor thin, and dressed very simply. The hairpin Lu Xing wore was a rare accessory in the virtual world.

He even thought Jiang Xuannv should have made him a bracelet instead of such a conspicuous hairpin.

"Daughter, get on the bus and go to school," his mother said softly again.

Lu Xing nodded and stepped onto the open door.

After he got on, the school bus immediately closed its door. His mother waved goodbye to him from the garden in front of the house, while his father stood beside her, looking over.

The school bus didn't start.

It stayed in place for a full half minute, and his mother waved for half a minute, before the school bus disappeared, entering a bizarre tunnel of light, and in an instant arrived at another classmate's doorstep.

Is this how consciousness transfer works in the virtual world?

Fortunately, it's not data transmission, otherwise the classmates would have to be cut into pieces.

The classmates on the bus were all expressionless. Lu Xing, in Jiang Xuannv's petite and delicate appearance, blended in perfectly. When he didn't speak, his expression and demeanor were exactly the same as theirs.

At 7:28, the school bus arrived at school.

Lu Xing glanced out the window and saw that the school gate was quiet, with no parents sending off students and no line of food stalls.

The school had no name; the school gate displayed a school number.

The classmates lined up to get off the bus. After entering the school gate, they instantly disappeared.

Seeing this scene, Lu Xing quickly asked the intelligent hairpin and learned that he could use the class number to pinpoint his location and transfer directly to the classroom.

It seemed the school was a local area network, allowing for free transfers.

At 7:29, Lu Xing sat down at his seat and, like his classmates, opened his schoolbag, only to find that books had been refreshed inside at some point. They looked like the lessons for today?

A minute later, morning reading began, and a teacher came to patrol.

The classmates inserted their fingers into their foreheads, took out a glowing memory chip, and plugged it into the computer interface on their desks.

Lu Xing was deeply shocked by what he saw.

Theoretically, people in the virtual world were data and didn't need to take out their memory chips, but as mentioned before, there were many unnecessary actions in the virtual world, so Lu Xing could only follow suit.

"Compatriot, the master has two chips in her head. This is confidential. Remember to take the first one."

The intelligent hair clip reminded him at the appropriate time.

Lu Xing nodded slightly. Jiang Xuannv had mentioned it in the precautions. Since birth, she had a chip secretly implanted in her head by the Human Resistance Army. The name Jiang Xuannv was also something she learned from the chip.

In other words, the Human Resistance Army started cultivating members from infancy. This was also why Jiang Xuannv only made contact with the organization for the first time a few days ago.

In the Future World, whether human or Intelligent Being, including members of the Resistance Army, an Auxiliary Chip is a must-have.

There's no other reason; it's simply because the Auxiliary Chip is equivalent to a second brain.

People here are born with super memory, can connect to the network without the aid of devices, and possess computer-level processing power.

The so-called morning reading is to traverse the memories within the Auxiliary Chip, allowing people to absorb as much knowledge from the chip as possible.

Lu Xing now is roughly equivalent to an elementary school student holding an advanced math book. His eyes can see the words in the book, but he simply cannot absorb them—not because he doesn't know the content, but because the data scrolls too fast, and his brain cannot process it.

Let's look at the classmate next to him.

The next moment.

"B73!"