Inside the Central District.
The boy who had climbed down over the city wall began walking slowly again.
Compared with Rust City, the scenery here was a world apart.
Beneath his feet lay a smooth, clean surface like blue crystal.
As Qin Yiguan stepped on it, misty blue light spread beneath the floor like ripples, clearly illuminating his surroundings.
The houses here were all pure white.
They looked like precision works of art generated by a computer.
Each was a sharply defined cube of equal size, neatly arranged along both sides of the road in perfectly straight rows.
A soft white glow also emanated from inside every house.
There was no sign of decay.
Everything exuded futuristic technology.
It was impeccably clean.
Everything looked so new it might have just been unwrapped. It seemed he could search the entire Central District without finding a single speck of dust.
The only thing this Central District had in common with the boy's Rust City was that there wasn't a soul on the streets.
There were only more caretaker robots moving through them, with prettier designs and better functionality.
And like the guard robots, these caretaker robots still couldn't see Qin Yiguan.
Although the technology here was extremely advanced and the defenses were airtight.
To the boy.
It was as though no one were there.
Qin Yiguan turned to look at a cubic house beside the road.
"Residence No. 00025."
"Can't go in there again."
"Three women live inside."
"People lying in nutrient pods don't wear clothes."
"Don't ask how I know. If you do, it's because I went in last time."
After walking for a while.
An oversized cubic building suddenly appeared at the end of the street.
It caught the boy's eye. "This is a residence too, but it looks more than three times as luxurious as the others. This family must be rich or powerful. More importantly, I haven't been inside yet."
The boy waited outside the mansion for a while.
At last, the caretaker robot trimming the lawn returned to the house.
Hiss...
The robot carried an electronic key, and the access system opened the door.
Like a ghost, the boy followed behind the caretaker robot, slipping lightly inside.
All the furniture in the living room was neatly arranged and brand-new, as though it had never been used since the moment it was installed.
Beyond the hallway was a bedroom.
Qin Yiguan followed another caretaker robot inside.
At the very center of the room stood a Metaverse Nutrient Pod resembling a glass coffin.
The boy rose slightly onto his toes and squinted into the distance. "Hmm... got a dick."
Only then did he relax.
As the old saying went, look at nothing improper. Since this was a guy, there was no harm.
A row of exquisite refrigerated cabinets stood along one side of the room.
They were filled with fresh fruit and all sorts of cakes and pastries.
Passing by, the boy picked up an apple and bit into it.
Then he grabbed a bunch of bananas.
Then a bunch of grapes.
He passed over a box of candy. The boy didn't like pure sugar.
Then he picked up a piece of chocolate cake.
And again...
With a heap of food in his arms, the boy leaned gently against the nutrient pod.
Crunch.
He took a bite of the green apple in his hand.
It tasted like the real thing.
The energy blocks in Rust City, by comparison, were like chewing wax.
In this age of explosive technological growth, tasting food's natural flavor had somehow become an impossibly difficult luxury.
Then.
Chewing a large mouthful of apple, the boy looked at the Metaverse Nutrient Pod behind him and noticed a metal engraving of the character "Nine" set into one corner of its glass cover.
Nine?
Is Nine your surname or your given name?
Qin Yiguan peered through the glass cover again. Inside was actually another boy, eighteen or nineteen, about his own age.
He was fair-skinned, clean-cut, and good-looking.
"I'll call you 'Ninth Brother' for now."
"What are you doing in the metaverse right now?"
"Have you been to the experimental fields?"
Qin Yiguan had already eaten the apple down to its core.
He stared at the boy inside the nutrient pod. "Just look at you people..."
"Just because you have money."
"You can have caretaker robots keep fresh food ready for you around the clock."
"Even though you'll never log out in your entire lives."
"It just sits there."
"Like an offering."
"Whenever it stops being fresh, they replace it with a new batch."
"Can you imagine? Some kids in our Rust City might go their whole lives without ever knowing what an apple tastes like."
Qin Yiguan flicked his hand.
He tossed the apple core into a nearby trash can that was cleaner than his face.
The caretaker robot mopping the floor paused, focusing its gaze on the trash can. Its electronic voice sounded. "The master clearly hasn't awakened. How could there be an apple core?"
Thud.
Qin Yiguan finished a banana and tossed its peel into the trash can too.
The caretaker robot paused again.
"How could there be a banana peel?"
"Huh? Why are there grape skins too?"
"People eat grapes without spitting out the skins, but no one's eating grapes and the skins are getting spat out?"
"#￥%...&*..."
"Why are there grape seeds too?"
"???"
The caretaker robot's programming became slightly confused.
The boy named Qin Yiguan sat cross-legged on the nutrient pod, carefully examining the scene inside.
The boy inside was immersed in a pale green liquid, with a thin metal helmet on his head. A dense mass of wires extended from the helmet, connecting it to the entire nutrient pod.
They didn't need to eat.
The Metaverse Nutrient Pod could deliver the essential nutrients the human body needed, with dosages hundreds of times more precise than even the best nutritionists of the old era could manage.
Proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, fats, electrolytes, and trace elements-all of them were artificial.
No intravenous injections were needed. These substances were simply broken down into molecules and dispersed in the nutrient fluid, allowing the body to absorb them directly through the skin.
Most interestingly, the most important artificial protein among them was synthesized under the required conditions from peptides formed by the condensation of carboxyl and amino groups, combined with artificial bovine insulin.
It was called the peptide-insulin compound for short.
As for excretion, these people produced virtually no solid waste, because the nutrients they absorbed contained no impurities.
There was only a little yellow liquid metabolized through their skin. After the machine recovered it, it would extract the trace elements again.
In short, eating...
Hmm...
Qin Yiguan tilted his head. "There's no short name for that."
Before you continue