Over the next few days, the technology transfer was all wrapped up. Annie had barely taken part in the process, but she considered her mission complete, so she threw herself wholeheartedly into eating, drinking, and having fun.
Well?
Today, Annie had taken her Wallfacer security convoy to a city more than a hundred kilometers away. Following the city's promotional posters, she had wandered straight into a city square full of flowers.
It was already dusk. Most people had finished work or eaten dinner, and the sunlight had softened into a rosy glow. So, even though the square wasn't very large, it was already packed with people and buzzing with activity.
In the fading evening light, the flowers' vivid colors looked even more dazzling, as if someone had spilled a paint palette across the ground, drawing visitors from all around.
Some people held up cameras to capture the brilliant scene. Others strolled in groups through the sea of flowers, laughing and chatting. Vendors called out over one another as they sold all sorts of flowers, garden ornaments, convenient grilled skewers, and the cold drinks most popular at the turn of summer and autumn. The air was filled with the tempting scents of flowers and food.
Children, led by their parents, curiously reached out to touch the bright, blooming flowers, their eyes shining with innocent delight and curiosity.
But after arriving and looking around, Annie realized that this so-called flower square was just a few flowers and a bunch of random decorations set up in the middle of an otherwise empty, marble-paved plaza. It was probably only the size of one or two soccer fields, nothing like what she'd imagined or what the promotional posters had made it out to be.
After thinking about it for a moment, she understood. Ever since