After exiting Lift Shaft 9, Xu Huo instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes. Though the streets before him were bustling with traffic, it was all concentrated at ground level. The city, which was enamored with platinum, was nearly all the same metallic color as far as the eye could see: buildings, roads, vehicles, and robots ambling along the streets. Only the advertisements broadcast by the floating ad drones that occasionally swept across the sky added any color.
"What are you standing around for?" Li Kun waved over a flying car. "Air traffic is prohibited here. The flying vehicles used by ordinary people travel close to the ground. The airspace above twenty meters is reserved for the government."
The floating ad drones circling the car all moved aside once the passengers got in, then shut off their ads and changed into a single open mechanical eye.
"Welcome to the Platinum Eye. We can meet any need you have."
The flying car glided into the street and merged with the slow-moving traffic. Li Kun continued, "...As you've seen, fare evasion and theft aren't considered crimes in the Platinum Eye. The enforcement robots can't be bothered to deal with them. But if you speed, you'll be caught in less than a minute, and it's a serious offense."
"The Platinum Eye strictly regulates intelligent machines," Xu Huo said. He had noticed as much aboard the ship. Though machines everywhere carried weapons, there were plenty of restrictions on using them—or, one could say, the rules were flexible. Attacking a robot usually wouldn't even earn a warning. Ordinary people trusted robots, too; it was common to joke around with them or ask them to look after children.
"The Platinum Eye has a great atmosphere." Once they were in the car, Li Kun finally relaxed.