Sandora and I stayed at Taville’s place for most of the afternoon. By the ti we understood the progress of several major projects, it was almost evening. Anses and Harlan, having no more involvent, had already taken their leave. I noticed it was almost dinner ti only when Sandora ntioned she was hungry, so we also took our leave.
As we walked out of Taville’s office, we were imdiately greeted by Taville’s mass projection, and more mass projections: each of these mass projections led a research group or project office, roaming all floors of the research center, almost like a scenery within the institute. Sandora and I continuously encountered Tavilles, all wearing different na tags, and kept exchanging greetings with the sa face—it was so repetitive that sotis we even greeted the sa person twice, and they would warmly remind us. No matter how long I get used to it, it still feels particularly weird. Actually, using mass projection for multitasking isn’t unique to Taville, all advanced researchers have this ability. But it’s indeed only that spectacled girl who uses mass projection to such a crazed extent. After greeting about seventeen or eighteen Tavilles in the corridor, I couldn’t help but suggest to one of them: "Taville, I’ve been walking for several minutes since I left your office, and I still haven’t escaped your sight, don’t you have anything to say?"
The Taville I randomly caught looked confused: "What do you an, Your Majesty?"
"You should learn to relax sotis," I gently advised her, "Even Harlan takes ti to sit in Silvia’s little shop, and Sandora has started watching TV shows. You should develop so personal hobbies too. Look at how many avatars you’re running simultaneously, aren’t you doing the work of many people alone?"
"Personal hobbies?" Taville pondered for a mont, "Oh, I do have them. I’ve recently cultivated a personal hobby and often relax. It’s just that I’m good at multitasking, so most of the projections are working even when I’m entertaining myself."
I originally brought this up just casually, hoping to suggest Taville to mind her health a bit. But surprisingly, this seemingly rigid spectacled girl really claid to have a "personal hobby," which aroused curiosity in both Sandora and : "What’s your hobby?"
"Earthlings’ sports," the spectacled girl smiled gently, "I noticed recently that many competitive sports invented by Earthlings interest ... Your Majesty, would you like to have a look? So of my mass projections are relaxing in the space behind the research institute."
I intended to take Sandora for a stroll around Food Street and then head ho. However, curiosity got the better of , and even Sandora beside looked intrigued. We both nodded eagerly: "Take us to see."
Taville imdiately led us through the institute’s central corridor to an open hall with a direct view of the back plaza. Sandora and I were speechless gazing at the scene.
The plaza had a zone cordoned off with floating barriers. More than twenty Tavilles were bustling about wearing red and white sports jerseys... playing soccer...
Above the ground hovered a massive holographic image displaying a few simple numbers, representing the current match score, which was astoundingly 1896 to 1897. Before I even blinked, the score had shifted to 1897 to 1897.
"Your Majesty once reminded to take breaks and shift my focus," a Taville (mass projection) said cheerfully behind us, "I recently realized the well-intentioned advice, freeing up so of my threads to handle lower-intensity data. This cycle indeed enhanced the overall efficiency of the Avatar Group and reduced process error rates by about one percent. ’Mood Conversion’ is truly a magical thing!"
Sandora and I: "..."
"Well, sohow I feel you have a subtle misunderstanding," I said, my mouth twitching as I looked at Taville, filled with countless questions, but ultimately voiced just one, "Do you even know the rules of this soccer ga?"
"Not really," Taville shrugged nonchalantly, "I only know you’re supposed to kick the ball into the opponent’s goal, but that’s too easy for a Xyrin Apostle. So I added so restrictions, like not using gravity control, force field locks, or super space-ti conversion. It’s quite interesting if relying solely on physical coordination."
"How long have you been playing?" Sandora, with her forehead lined like a comic strip, asked.
Taville thought for a mont: "Two days, I guess. We were experinting with basketball before, but after the score broke the five-digit mark, we moved on to researching soccer."
I felt completely unable to continue this topic and quickly grabbed Sandora’s hand to leave the institute—just as the score on the field broke the 1900 to 1900 barrier—I fear I’ll never see soccer the sa way.
"Actually, it’s not too bad," Sandora mused, "As long as Taville finds it interesting. It’s rely for shifting her focus. It’d be no different if she organized two hundred shadow clones to build a giant LEGO model—better than having Bubbles continuously subrged in gas."
I briefly imagined over two hundred Tavilles building a LEGO model and recreating a full-scale New Swan Castle, and instantly felt my brain shiver. I dared not to think further.
In winter, with short days and long nights, Shadow City is synchronized with Outer World ti and recently adopted the Winter Charm the pack. Eventually, by the ti Sandora and I returned from wandering around Food Street, it was almost completely dark. We held hands, walking down the bustling streets of Shadow City, I carrying bags of snacks ant for a group of little girls back ho, and Sandora holding...oh, she held nothing now, still eating at her usual speed that defies description.
Earlier, we had inford ho that we wouldn’t be returning for dinner, so Sandora and I could wander around the city a bit more. Sandora isn’t particularly fond of shopping— "out on the street in search of food" could be said to be the only attraction for Her Majesty the Queen when stepping out—but I could tell that Sandora wasn’t enjoying the shopping itself but rather the carefree ti spent wandering with : we’ve both needed so relaxation with the recent stress at work.
From the day our familiar daily life completely collapsed until now, more than five years have passed unknowingly. Everything in Shadow City has transford significantly. The place once recalling horror movies with its cold, eerie mirrored city has now beco the bustling "Divine City" and "Holy Land" within the Void. Here, two things remain unchanged: first, the recruiting ads Pandora casually tossed up still appear on promotional images throughout the city; secondly, the skies still bear the odd the packs devised by Bubbles, all featuring a clock—if you had to identify a cultural the in Shadow City, these two would be it.
Sandora and I unknowingly strayed from the comrcial district, arriving at a more tranquil area surrounding the city’s moat—one of Shadow City’s quietest areas post-nightfall. Strictly speaking, this place belongs to the rmaid residential area, and swimming in the moat is treated as trespassing, hence the silence. It was already past twilight, and the broad gentle slopes of the moat banks were engulfed in soft lighting. The street lamps here are custom-made—the Photon Generators and magnetic barriers ensure light only illuminates the road surface without shining on the water, which the rmaids living down there strongly requested: The Freshwater rmaid Clan submitted a serious report, complaining about the harsh behavior of being exposed to bright lights late at night through their windows—thus the lamps along the moat banks were changed to these advanced models.
The moat paths weren’t crowded, with a couple of strolling couples or small pairs. Just as Sandora and I were about to head to our next food hunting spot, a slow, soft voice suddenly drifted from behind: "Ah—it’s Chen, and Sandora—"
I turned my head and, unsurprisingly, it was Silvia. This rare occasion had the silver-haired mole venturing out, and alongside her was an unfamiliar girl with short pink hair and a small silver-white badge on her chest... no doubt, a Xyrin.
This girl changes faces every eting, and now I finally realize how foresighted it was when Qianqian decided to hang an ID tag around her neck initially.
"Yo," I went up and greeted Silvia, "It’s rare, you actually step out after eight in the evening."
Then I let Silvia react by herself while I turned my head to chat with Xyrin. It had been quite a few days since I last saw this "Race Consciousness," and I wondered if her work and life were on track now. This peculiar girl, who is sowhat detached from the real world, is the highest administrator of the Imperial Data Network. Now Bubbles has already handed over many suitable data processing tasks to her, but Xyrin herself is the network, and her work is entirely conducted in the cyberspace. So we often see her idly wandering outside, giving the impression of being quite leisurely. Xyrin is still living with Taville, who, being a glasses-wearing researcher, isn’t willing to let go of such a rare research subject for even a mont. Xyrin herself seems to like Taville quite a bit — she doesn’t feel like she’s being "researched" at all, but rather that Taville is a caring senior ntor. Sotis I think if these two spend more ti together, the Empire might have a new pair of ’sisters’ almost as famous as the Asida Sisters...
After chatting with Xyrin for a long ti, Silvia finally ca to her senses. She smiled sluggishly and said to and Sandora, "Good evening — actually, I fell asleep in the shop at first — then Bellavilla suddenly woke up — half-way through her walk, she fell asleep again — when I woke up, I found myself near the moat — so I continued walking — and then I ran into Xyrin..."
I almost fell asleep listening to her say such a long sentence, you know!
"Your symbiotic state with Bellavilla is really..." Sandora couldn’t help but comnt, "So you often wake up and find yourself inexplicably in so strange places?"
"Not really —" Silvia slowly shook her head, "Bellavilla shares her mories with — but I seldom go out — so no matter where I go, it feels like a strange place..."
I sighed, feeling that talking with Silvia was exhausting; the ti span between her every two sentences could almost give a rom-com protagonist enough ti to flirt with a girl.
While Silvia was slowly introducing her fusion state with Bellavilla to us, Xyrin, bored, wandered around and quickly found sothing interesting to her: there were a few short plants among the decorative shrubs by the road that didn’t seem to fit with the surrounding plants, looking like wild grasses. She approached and touched it, then looked up to call us over: "Hey, what do you think this is?"
I went over to take a look and found the plant oddly familiar. Its leaves were quite distinctive, with two neat rows of small leaflets symtrically aligned along the main leaf stem. Racking my brains for my paltry botany knowledge, I finally rembered what it was and confidently introduced it: "This is a mimosa, a plant from Earth. Just touch its leaves, and they’ll fold up..."
Xyrin shook the leaf’s stem vigorously, muttering, "But why isn’t it reacting?"
I froze for a mont, then awkwardly chuckled and explained, "...Maybe this one’s thicker-skinned."
"You’re the one who’s thick-skinned!" A sharp voice suddenly sounded beneath our feet. That ’mimosa’ suddenly started shaking its leaves violently, as if in protest, "I’m a Forest Spirit, not a mimosa! Can’t I find a place to sleep in peace?"
Xyrin thought for a mont, then suddenly reached down to dig into the soil beneath the plant: "The mimosa is talking!"
I was still in shock when the plant started shaking more violently, then with a couple of snaps, used its leaves to push away Xyrin’s hand, trying hard to crawl out: "Hey, stop it! How can you be so rash! Okay, okay, I’ll co out. I know sleeping on public roads and occupying public greenery is wrong, but this city is too big, okay? From here to the nearest teleportation point is a full five hundred ters, five hundred ters! Do you know what five hundred... Hey, can soone give a hand here, my roots seem to be tangled with the shrubbery beside them."
Ignoring the shock, Xyrin and I quickly started digging the plant out of the ground. Once it... he or she revealed itself, we were truly stunned: the plant part itself wasn’t too surprising, with brownish roots about half a foot long beneath the leaf section, a bulbous stalk, but what was astonishing was the presence of chanical parts extending from its roots and stalk. These components had the sleek curves and biotric joint structures typical of Tobelu Insect Clan technology.
"Is this also a resident of Shadow City?" I scratched my head, utterly confused; this was obviously an intelligent lifeform standing before us. Despite appearing plant-like, upon seeing those chanical legs, I didn’t know if I should count it as half an animal...
Actually, it’s not the first ti I’ve been astounded by seeing peculiar residents in Shadow City; in this Capital of All Realms interconnected with the entire Macro World, countless bizarre lifeforms co and go every day. If you were to line up all their race nas, it’d not only circle Earth once but several tis over, spinning it into a ball of twine. Thus, many residents who live here get accustod to such an environnt, where greeting the curbside landmarks in the morning becos routine. Therefore, when I saw a mimosa (despite its firm denial) hopping around in front of , my surprise stemd not from its life form being strange, but from having not heard about any new race like this settling in recently... although at the very beginning, it indeed gave quite a start.
"I ca here with a rchant caravan!" The mimosa was prancing around on the ground cheerfully, its roots curling up to avoid wear when moving, using chanical legs underneath to travel instead. Observing those chanical legs move without any apparent friction sounds, it seed to use a low-output but highly effective bionic power source. How did a plant... an herbaceous race develop such technology? How did their civilization get started?
"Oh, a caravan," Sandora nodded slightly, "Hmm, with the bustling activities of the Void Consortium recently, many rchants from the Macro World have been drawn here, including many obscure and secluded races. Your race is...?"
"Forest Spirit, I said it’s the Forest Spirit!" The mimosa bounced around on the ground. "Are you the city managent? Or the neighborhood office? I heard from the Guide that these two departnts oversee resident behavior norms. Occupying greenery and damaging the landscaping shouldn’t be too big of an issue, right?"
"You don’t know who we are?" I conversed quite awkwardly with a mimosa, unsure if I should look at it, her, or his... which part was the head, and which the body?
"No, I don’t," the self-proclaid Forest Spirit mimosa wobbled its leaves, "I can’t see you. My auxiliary photosensors are burnt out; they won’t grow back until tomorrow. Now I can only detect outlines through infrared sensing with the plant body. I just got here, unfamiliar with the place; this city, it’s too big, too big. And you guys don’t even have community flowerbeds for plant races, it’s inconvenient, really inconvenient..."
Observing this chin-wagging "Intelligent Plant," I found it quite amusing. That’s the unique charm of Shadow City: every ti a quirky new species appears, a set of ’survival laws’ tailored for them cos into being. After the rmaid Clan moved in, there were separate salty and fresh water residential districts. When a certain chanical race settled, public ends were fitted with charging ports overseen by the food supervision departnt. Now a new herbaceous race has appeared that needs to root into the ground to rest... maybe so of the city’s public green space should be opened up.
And anwhile, that mimosa was still grumbling on: "...So unlucky, really unlucky, amid so many rchant caravans, it had to be ours that ran into trouble. We thought of broadening our horizons by coming to the Capital of All Realms, but ended up bumping into a Ghost Ship. The cargo is lost, and I’ve burnt a component, now I’m borderline refugee status..."
I suddenly snapped back to alertness: "Wait, did you say you ran into Ghost Ships?!"
(Lately been reading Rebirth of Super Battleship — don’t critique the title. Just started the beginning, it’s quite interesting. Though the conspiracy-driven plot and fast-paced opening have their faults, in the landscape of web novels, it’s comndable to see sothing focusing on knowledge-based sci-fi rather than taking the leveling-up path. If interested, give it a look. Note: This is an irresponsible book recomndation, don’t bla if it ends up with an incomplete story; I’ve just started as well.)
(To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welco to vote for it on Qidian (qidian) by voting recomndation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian for reading.)
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