June 20, 2097, Thursday, clear.
In the morning, Zhong Man jogged in short, slow strides along the winding path through North Shore Jungle, panting heavily.
Notifications kept popping up in her work group and related inboxes. Corresponding messages opened and closed across her retina. Though their formats and wording varied wildly, Zhong Man, well versed in the trade, could grasp a client's requirements at a glance.
Well, that was also because so many of today's jobs overlapped.
A top-tier celebrity really was something else. If human wallets like this passed through every day, I'd be rich!
That kind of nonsense only went through her head a couple of times.
After all, with Aberrant Species still occupying most of Earth's ecosystem and dozens of major cities governing themselves within their own boundaries, the efficiency of passenger and freight movement had suffered a catastrophic decline compared with before the Third War.
Even though the information network now covered the globe, and the counteroffensive against the Wilderness seemed to be making progress, the entertainment industry, floating at the very top of society and the economy, was still painfully severing itself from past experience.
In recent years, technological advances had given rise to virtual idol businesses that seemed poised to become a trend. Yet real entertainment stars, living in the Real World and needing to eat, drink, and use the bathroom, had inevitably been hit hard as well. It was becoming increasingly difficult for them to cross the barriers between cities and build regional or even global renown.
Then again, virtual idols, accessible as long as one had a network connection and an access device, were somewhat too cheap in their own way. Fans still needed to support those real stars who had blood, flesh, distance, and flaws with their love.
The separation imposed