Asset Donation

The driverless electric car sped along the road as Zhang Yuan calmed his inner emotions.

It was already the 23rd century, an era that placed extreme importance on intelligence, yet the attribute of "attractiveness" remained significant in interpersonal relationships. Good-looking people possessed a certain advantage in their personal development, regardless of gender.

Zhang Yuan felt that... he looked quite good. This probably wasn't narcissism, as friends and family had always said so, and the decent romantic luck he'd had since childhood indirectly proved it.

As for why there were no girls around him, it was because he had aspired to be an astronaut since he was a child, so he had consciously suppressed those needs.

There are plenty of girls who would chase after me...

With less than a month of vacation left, such a short time would at most lead to a mutual attraction of hormones; it was impossible to develop any connection on a spiritual level.

Of course, finding a girl for a purely physical interaction wasn't difficult. If it were agreed upon beforehand that it was just for fun, there would still be a heap of "modern women" willing to have a little story with "astronauts," which might even become something to brag about to his peers later on...

In this open-minded era, few people cared whether their future spouse was a virgin.

However, Zhang Yuan didn't like casual hookups.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

He tapped on the phone; it was a piece of spam.

Because he was always too lazy to organize his notifications, there was a pile of unread red dots on the screen.

[4 of your phone contacts have set you as their "secret crush" on Yuemo. Since you have not registered, we are notifying you via SMS... Download link...]

Soft advertising, how annoying. Even in the 23rd century, these things still couldn't be eradicated.

"Forget it, forget it."

He wasn't some veteran of the dating scene. Since he couldn't achieve the state of being completely emotionless, there was no need to add emotional burdens to himself before leaving.

After skipping this memo, Zhang Yuan felt much more at ease.

The driverless car traveled along the road at a steady pace. The cars on the road were orderly, almost all moving at the same speed, with no barbaric behaviors like cutting in line or squeezing through traffic.

When it came to driving, artificial intelligence was far more reliable than humans; manual driving in non-emergency situations had become an illegal act.

Zhang Yuan wasn't a "second-generation rich kid," and this driverless car wasn't his own; it was just a shared taxi on the side of the road. Regardless, it arrived whenever called, no different from having his own vehicle.

The screen inside the car was playing a documentary on space history.

"...We have come a long way, treading through mud and obstacles. Exploration and development will always be the main theme of the era..."

He watched the documentary with interest.

It had to be said that the development of modern technology was far slower than what humans of the old era had imagined.

In 1969, when Americans first landed on the moon, many scientists optimistically believed that humans would be able to colonize the moon by the year 2000; by 2020, humans would occupy the solar system and become a true interstellar civilization.

Humans would find legendary aliens, clash and friction would occur with extraterrestrial civilizations, and artificial intelligence would develop self-awareness and rebel against humanity...

As it turned out, unfortunately, none of that happened.

Throughout the entire 21st century, there was nothing.

There were no brain chips, no singularity era brought about by strong artificial intelligence, and certainly no immortality technology.

The cost of virtual imaging technology remained high; AR glasses, which attempted to replace mobile phones, were popular for a while but were phased out because they were inconvenient; battery capacity could never meet the demand; room-temperature superconducting materials were long overdue...

Not to mention things from science fiction novels like warp drives, wormholes, time travel, and anti-gravity.

Living in comfort, humanity seemed to have reached the upper limit of its civilization. The progress of informatics gave people the illusion that science was still booming, numbing the nerves of humanity.

It was a pity that some crucial technologies had yet to see a breakthrough.

Finally, at the end of the 21st century, the depletion of oil caused a terrifying energy crisis on a global scale.

Two successive world wars caused human society to regress by a hundred years!

The entire 22nd century was bleak, later referred to by people as... the "Gray Era"!

The bass voice in the documentary spoke with a magnetic tone: "Fortunately, we survived it all. We explored the unknown and found a new direction..."

"Controlled nuclear fusion!"

"...The successful ignition of the artificial sun, accompanied by the booming development of space industry, space botany, and nanomaterials, has brought human civilization into a golden stage once again!"

"In the latter half of the 23rd century, we will open an unprecedented era—the era of interstellar colonization!"

The documentary was inspiring, even containing a bit of exaggeration, which was certainly enough to fool some of the general public.

Zhang Yuan shook his head and smiled.

Nuclear fusion did indeed bring endless energy and changed the living conditions of humanity, but it didn't mean that all of humanity could achieve a life of extreme wealth because of it.

Because oil wasn't just an energy source; it was also an important industrial raw material.

To give a few simple examples: without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, human food production would be cut by more than half.

Where would fertilizers and pesticides come from? Naturally, from petroleum derivatives.

Without acrylic, polyester, nylon, and vinylon, the price of clothing would skyrocket, and the vast majority of people wouldn't be able to afford clothes and would have to live naked.

Where would these synthetic fiber products come from? The answer is petroleum derivatives.

Without petroleum solvents, chemical raw materials, lubricants, and other petroleum derivatives, over 90% of industrial factories would simply shut down.

"Oil is the lifeblood of industry"—this statement is no exaggeration.

Although nuclear fusion energy is inexhaustible, there are still costs associated with extraction, power transmission, and plant maintenance. Attempting to use industrial methods to forcibly synthesize organic matter from inorganic substances via electricity remains far too expensive, far exceeding the costs of extracting oil in the old era.

To this day, people in many impoverished small nations still cannot get enough to eat precisely because they lack a substitute for oil.

Fortunately, the booming development of space botany is slowly curing humanity's "oil dependency."

Many industrial raw materials, such as polymer fibers, ethylene, benzene, methane, and so on, can find substitutes in space-mutated plants, and these plants can be cultivated on a large scale on the ground.

Just as the president of one small nation once proclaimed: "Praise space botany, for it has finally allowed us to escape our survival crisis! Praise!"

An hour later, the autonomous vehicle passed through the agricultural and industrial zones in sequence before entering the city.

"Distinguished guest, you have arrived at your designated destination. This service lasted 1 hour and 2 minutes. The charge is 43 yuan..."

A soft electronic chime sounded. Zhang Yuan paid the fare, exited the vehicle, and returned to his home.

"Nothing beats the comfort of home."

He first took a cold shower, then turned on his computer, logged into the notary office website, and excitedly clicked the "Property Donation" button on the webpage.

After thinking it over carefully, he uploaded a photo of his property deed.

A line of information popped up on the webpage: "No. 2236-9, Beiping Street, Donghua City, floor area 163.3 square meters, estimated value 2.865 million Federal Credits."

Donating the house to a social welfare organization!

Zhang Yuan took a deep breath. He felt a twinge of reluctance, feeling as though he had turned into one of those legendary wealthy eccentrics who throw money around just to show off...

"Donated is donated; I'm just that noble!"

In truth, it wasn't that his moral character was particularly high.

Zhang Yuan had no elders to support and no children to raise. Since he had made up his mind to leave Earth, could he really take his earthly possessions onto the spaceship?

(ps: Updates every night at eight o'clock.)