The Alpha Archaeological Aircraft returned to the Void Mothership, its quantum timing guaranteeing perfect accuracy.
The temperate environment, the humidity, the fresh-air systems enriched with oxygen—every new human had a domestic robot at their side. Yet they would rather communicate with one another through 3D light screens than speak face-to-face with the people standing within arm's reach.
Within Heavenly Net, people brimmed with incomparable warmth toward one another, yet in reality, they were strangers indeed.
Heavenly Net had seeped into every facet of new human life. It provided the necessary support for the creation of a brilliant and splendid culture and civilization, vastly accelerated the speed of information exchange among new humans, and even rivaled the exchange of will between higher lifeforms. Yet it had also taken something from them.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak..."
The domestic robot placed the creature Alpha had captured into live storage. Even though they faced mountains of corpses and seas of blood every day in the Virtual Heavenly King Game, when confronted with real death rushing straight at them in real life—even if it was only a drop of blood—most new humans would still faint from terror.
Having long depended on Heavenly Net's meticulous greenhouse-like protection, every new human was as fragile as a chick freshly hatched from its shell, unable to withstand the slightest wind or rain.
"Alpha, what flavor do you like? Using the old humans' anti-cooking methods, we can make it numbing or spicy to cover up the gamey stench in the meat."
Other than on special commemorative days, new humans rarely ate foods with strongly stimulating flavors.
After living in nutrient pods year after year, people had grown accustomed to nutrient fluid or bland, primitive natural food, achieving the most rational use of nutrition.
Perhaps, to these new humans, they had