No Bright Future

Out in the wasteland.

A yellow, four-legged mech charged across the ground, kicking up a trail of dust several kilometers long.

Its paint was peeling, its frame was covered in rust, and engine oil splattered everywhere. Even the cockpit's glass canopy had long since shattered and gone missing.

The boy sat on the enormous power box behind the cockpit, gazing at the scenery along the way.

The wind howled, whipping the hem of his black jacket into the air.

Earlier.

He had walked alone for three hours.

Unfortunately, the wasteland stretched on forever, with no end in sight.

Fortunately, he had met a kindhearted drifter and hitched a ride on his scavenging mech.

"God's Abandoned, I just spent all that time walking."

"Then I rode a mech."

"These were all actions inside the Experimental Zone."

"Why is my Fusion Rate still zero?"

The boy asked in puzzlement.

God's Abandoned rotated gently over the boy's shoulder. "Increasing your Fusion Rate isn't as simple as you think. If you just spend time here... it'll probably take two or three years to gain 1%."

"That slowly?"

The boy frowned slightly. "But some people arrive for the first time with a Fusion Rate of 68%. Isn't that a bit too big a gap?"

God's Abandoned kept rotating gently, the voice seeming to drift closer and farther away. "It's like the real world. Some people are born with beautiful singing voices, and some are born able to pick up a brush and paint. In the same way, some people are naturally compatible with the Metaverse. Different factory settings. Nothing you can do about it."

The boy sighed silently.

Then he glanced at the driver's seat.

The kindhearted drifter, with his scruffy beard and cigarette dangling from his lips, had just shown him his Fusion Rate: 5%.

The man could pilot such a complex, four-legged mech with one hand and still turn around with effortless swagger.

"I think you need a job."

God's Abandoned paused before continuing, "A complex job, involving social connections and all sorts of things. The Experimental Zone may be vast and sparsely populated, but it has plenty of major cities."

The boy's eyes flickered. "A job?"

Forty minutes later.

The boy stood on the ground and waved goodbye to the drifter. The four-legged mech sped off in a cloud of dust.

Then he turned around.

He looked at the enormous city behind him.

Metaverse Experimental Zone-Vortex Cloud City.

The instant the boy stepped into the city, lines of blue text floated into his field of vision.

-15

-15

Tax payment failed. Insufficient balance. Expulsion imminent.

At the same time, several guard robots nearby began flashing red lights and walking toward him.

Qin Yiguan remembered this all too well.

Anyone who entered a city in the Experimental Zone had to pay its ruler a fee, calculated by the second.

He immediately looked at his information panel.

One field was labeled-Source Matter / 10 units.

This was the gift Boss Meng had given him.

But this display wasn't an inventory like those in online games.

Instead, as a mineral within the Experimental Zone, source matter existed in a form similar to the old era's "paper gold."

In other words.

The rare mineral was stored in designated vaults, while its owners held control over it and could withdraw, purchase, or cash it out online anytime, anywhere.

Qin Yiguan paused slightly when he saw its current value.

Price per unit: 185,000.

The boy remembered Boss Meng saying that source matter cost 100,000 per unit when he gave it to him. Only a single day had passed, and its value had nearly doubled?

What exactly was source matter?

God's Abandoned spoke. "Source matter is a newly emerging mineral in the Experimental Zone. Rumor has it that it's a materialized form of source code that can be used to compile anything. If that's true, its potential is enormous. It would be a source of all things!"

The boy instructed God's Abandoned to display what source matter looked like.

It was a small, irregular chunk resembling glass.

Its unique NFT floated behind it.

The term NFT also came from the old era. When the concept of the Metaverse first emerged, people had summarized its eight defining features.

They were.

Identity, friends, immersion, low latency, diversity, access anytime, an economic system, and civilization.

NFTs originated from blockchain technology and were an important safeguard for the Metaverse's economic system.

They were trusted certificates of digital ownership, a form of encryption that ensured virtual items were unique and could not be duplicated.

They were applied to virtual items such as currency, precious metals, cultural artifacts, and rare materials.

"This NFT..."

"Why does it look so familiar?"

The boy stared uncertainly at the string of seemingly garbled characters.

Suddenly.

His eyes lit up.

Brother Lu from Rust City had given him a "souvenir" before leaving.

In reality, that souvenir was a string of code in his smart wristwatch.

Could it be...

That Brother Lu had given him a piece of source matter?

And it existed in the real world as code?

God's Abandoned said, "The Metaverse is vast, and people keep discovering new substances from time to time. But no matter what they find, the Gemini Superbrain never provides an explanation. People have to develop every use themselves."

"What's certain is that every previously unheard-of substance has the potential to bring about a revolution."

"And this time, the Gemini Superbrain seems to have... opened an interface with the real world."

The boy considered it for a moment. "Sell one first."

God's Abandoned flickered. "You spendthrift. This stuff doubles in value every day."

The boy stared at the mechanical guards slowly approaching him. "If I can't even get a foothold in the present, what future is there to talk about?"

God's Abandoned had no answer.

195,000 credited.

In just a few seconds, the selling price of source matter had risen again.

It was indeed wasteful.

But at least the money would let the boy stay in the Experimental Zone's cities for a while.

The boy walked through the city.

The buildings here pierced the clouds. There were almost no pedestrians on the streets, only aircraft darting past like streaks of light.

Everyone was striving to get ahead. Time here was far too "precious."

-As the old saying went, an inch of time was worth an inch of gold.

The age of the Metaverse had given it a perfect illustration.

He suddenly spotted a floating billboard-Hiring. Hiring strong people. Hiring badass people.

The boy smiled casually.

The job requirements might as well have been written just for him.

He reached the building's entrance and discovered there was no door.

"?"

"No door?"

While Qin Yiguan hesitated, the floor beneath his feet suddenly vibrated.

Then it lifted him up, shooting along the outside of the building and reaching the 181st floor in an instant. The dark glass melted away, and the floor carried him straight sideways, depositing him in front of a desk.

"Hello."

"This is the Wayne Machinery Group."

"We're hiring. Hiring strong people. Hiring badass people."

A man in a suit glided into view on a hovering device and gave a polite nod. "Please show us your Fusion Rate."

Qin Yiguan took a moment to steady his slightly dizzy head.

Then he instructed God's Abandoned to open his information panel. Naturally, he chose to hide the section concerning his consciousness matrix.

"Mr. Qin."

"We truly have no intention of discriminating against you."

"If you can write your name on this sheet of paper, we'll hire you."

Still exceedingly polite, the man in the black suit pushed the paper and pen on the desk toward the boy.

Scrape...

Scrape...

A grating noise rang out.

The man's face twitched.

Qin Yiguan struggled to control the ballpoint pen in his hand, but writing required precision. Not only did his "Qin" look like a dog had chewed it, but the pen tip also punctured the paper and scraped wildly across the metal desktop.

Finally, Qin Yiguan gave a sharp heave.

He successfully flung the paper into the man's face.

"Sir."

"Clearly, Qin Big Inch... is not your name."

The man removed the paper from his face and glanced at it, the corners of his eyes twitching.

"The higher your Fusion Rate, the more demanding the work you can handle. Our engineers, for example, require a minimum Fusion Rate of 6%, while 10% meets the standard for a senior engineer."

"Even with a Fusion Rate between 2% and 5%, we can recommend cleaning work."

"But Mr. Qin, your Fusion Rate is zero."

"We truly have no intention of discriminating against you."

"We're all quite busy. Goodbye."

The next instant.

The floor beneath the boy rapidly withdrew, carrying him back outside the building before plunging to ground level. It even shoved him a little farther away.

The entire process took no more than three seconds.

The boy stood alone on the street once again.

Everything had happened so quickly that he was somewhat dazed. "Did I just... go through a job interview?"

God's Abandoned clicked dismissively. "No, you just went through a round of contempt."