"So in your world, Hillary beca the first female president of the United States? Coca-Cola is green? And there’s no such thing as a smartphone?"
"That’s right, Hillary defeated Michael Jackson in 2016 and beca the first female president of the United States. Coca-Cola was initially said to be a stomach dicine, with its main ingredient being a green plant juice, so it’s green. As for smartphones—never even heard of them."
"What about Steve Jobs?"
"Who?"
"Alright, your turn then."
"Hmm... what exactly is a smartphone?"
"Simply put, it’s a handheld computer that can make calls, browse the internet, and do video communications, but we mostly use it to watch short videos."
"Short videos? What’s so interesting about that? Can you watch movies or play gas on it?"
"Sure, it can do pretty much everything a computer can do..."
This was already the third day the two of them were hiding out in this ruin, and they still hadn’t encountered any other players. With nothing else to do, like two stones, they started accounting.
As Xiao Jie had guessed, this Guan Shanhai was not from the sa world as him but from a world very similar to Earth. Xiao Jie speculated that it was likely a parallel world.
Because the two worlds were indeed too similar, various countries, cultures, celebrities, and histories were almost identical, except for subtle differences in so details.
Like green Coca-Cola, Hillary being president, and yet no invention of smartphones.
There were also so details that made Xiao Jie smile wryly, like how people in Guan Shanhai’s world didn’t usually curse "screwed the dog" but instead "screwed the pig"...
This subtle difference left Xiao Jie completely puzzled.
The array of differences between these worlds made Xiao Jie quite amused, and his mind wandered.
He never imagined that parallel universes actually existed. Although it had been written to death in various sci-fi novels and movies, proving it for real still felt pretty amazing.
And if each ga Small World corresponded to a different parallel universe, the number of parallel universes must be at least three thousand.
Initially, Xiao Jie had guessed those three thousand Small Worlds would correspond to three thousand completely different cultural worlds.
But now he had more questions, like what the relationship between these parallel worlds and the Great Thousand Worlds was. The two didn’t seem directly connected, and the history of the Great Thousand Worlds didn’t seem to align with Earth.
It felt to Xiao Jie as if they were two unrelated things, while the Small World was like a tentacle from the Great Thousand Worlds reaching into their world.
The more the two talked, the more excited they beca, eventually discussing the pop culture of their respective worlds.
Both were young, at an age that loved to play, so they naturally had more interest in such things.
When Xiao Jie talked about the rise of smartphones and influencer economies, Guan Shanhai was amazed.
"You must be kidding . Are there really that many people becoming influencers in your world? That’s too exaggerated. How could there be so many people watching them?"
"It’s not exaggerated, not at all. Everyone has a smartphone, everyone is an audience, so there’s no shortage of viewers. Besides, we have fragnted ti, and you can watch anyti. Short videos aren’t long and can be shot however you like; you don’t have to be all proper like in movies and TV shows. You can post any kind of nonsense to attract attention."
Xiao Jie cited several outrageous abstract examples he’d seen before, leaving Guan Shanhai stunned.
"...Alright, it seems my imagination is a bit lacking."
Then Guan Shanhai suddenly got excited, like he discovered a new continent. "By the way, do you know how to make a smartphone? If I could return to my ti and make smartphones, wouldn’t I be rich?"
Xiao Jie was speechless, thinking to himself, "I’m an Immortal, not an inventor." "Does an Immortal like you still need money?"
"Uh, you’re right."
"How about in your world? Anything outrageous?"
Guan Shanhai thought for a mont, "Yeah, in your world, do you have a movie called ’The Purge’?"
"We have ’The Purge Plan,’ which is about legal killing for one day each year."
"Oh, that sounds about right. In our world’s United States, they actually implented that plan and broadcast it live. But it only happens once a year in one city. Last year it was Detroit, and it had the highest ratings globally, with advertisers going crazy. It revived Detroit’s economy.
Many rich people went to Detroit with rcenaries to hunt for fun."
Holy shit! Xiao Jie thought, "Well, you guys are insane."
The two chatted about all the bizarre happenings in their respective worlds, making these past two days of hiding anything but boring.
After finishing their cultural exchange, they talked about their experiences becoming Immortals and why they ca to this world.
The part about Cheng Xian wasn’t much to discuss; both were sowhat cautious and didn’t give many details, leaving things sowhat ambiguous.
The topic of coming to the Great Thousand Worlds, however, had different reasons for each.
"Don’t even ntion it. I got tricked." Guan Shanhai got incredibly frustrated at the thought. "Those bastards at the United Nations ganged up on , set up with an upgraded ’honey trap,’ and I was stupid enough to fall for it. Let tell you, never trust won. You pour your heart out to them, and they treat you like a sucker."
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