Deceitful Game

Chapter 229 Three Worlds

Mingbo really likes hovercars.

Because he really enjoys the feeling of looking down at the earth.

Three hundred years ago, humans invented the hot air balloon, thus taking their first steps away from the ground.

But it was dangerous and slow. Every gust of wind made one nervous, and one wrong step could send one plummeting from the sky.

One hundred years ago, humans invented the airplane, which allows us to soar freely in the sky.

It is said that the experience was not good, and the technology was eventually used in war, killing countless people.

It wasn't until five years ago that humans invented the levitation vehicle, truly breaking free from the constraints of gravity.

He used his first paycheck after starting work to buy a hovercar.

Ai Shiping advised him to pay off his student loans first, but Mingpo thought it wasn't necessary. For these corporate employees, some loans might not be a bad thing.

If you scrimp and save to pay off your loan, only to die in a mission not long after, wouldn't that mean you've spent your whole life working for the company? It's better to use the money to entertain yourself and live as long as you can.

To prevent air crashes, the company alliance requires all hovercraft to fly in an arc, like satellites of a planet, taking off around a sector and then landing again.

Mingbo flew around the Longevity Sector.

The Changsheng Sector 1 was known as Asia twenty years ago.

Twenty years ago, in the corporate war between mortals and charlatans, all concepts of nation, ethnicity, and race were destroyed. Out-of-control nuclear weapons wiped out everything of the old era, and only the "Corporate Alliance," possessing four "gods," survived the ruins. No one could have imagined that a destroyed civilization could be so easily rebuilt in the wasteland.

Humans now coexist with non-human, sentient beings across six "sectors." Each sector consists of a "spire," a "middle ring," and a "nest." The further away from that radioactive wasteland one is, the cleaner the air and water become.

Mingpa's airship takes off from Central, offering a perfect view of the "Spire", "Central" and "Nest City" at the same time.

He could see the neat, white skyscrapers of Central gradually receding and shrinking in size. The building models, like those in sales offices, seemed unreal, like toys.

As the hovercar continued to move outward and upward, he could see the dividing line that was indistinguishable to the naked eye.

It was something like a glass fish tank, forming towering spires. The noblest people, and even the gods, lived peacefully and carefree within them, like a legendary paradise or Valhalla.

Mingpo has been there once.

Everything there was completely free of radiation; the sunlight, temperature, and humidity were all perfectly balanced. The air was so clean that he even felt the exhaust fumes he exhaled were polluting the space.

Mingpo vaguely remembered watching a TV series called "Journey to the West" when she was a child. At that time, the war had just begun and had not yet affected everyone.

Sun Wukong can somersault into the sky and walk in the heavenly palace filled with clouds. As for the residents of the "spire," they live in this heavenly palace.

He couldn't do a somersault up there.

But he did have a ring around his neck, just like Sun Wukong's golden headband.

That's a "collar." It's something all Central residents must wear to prevent them from one day becoming con artists and using chips to alter the past.

This surveillance is necessary for the stability of everyone's lives.

As for the hive... the hive is basically incapable of producing charlatans.

Once the prosthetic body percentage exceeds 66%, they cannot enter the Deception Game. And if it's below that number, they're basically already dead. In the unlikely event that a Deceptionist is born, the Executive Department will receive instructions from Tianwen to eliminate the threat immediately.

The hovercar reached the top and began to spiral outwards. Other hovercars flying alongside it followed the same curvature, arcing through the air like streaks of different colors.

Central is composed of numerous skyscrapers. Each one is exquisite and imposing. If the residents of the city had the opportunity to overlook the city of Central, they would feel a sense of awe and awe at the "civilization" it represents.

But Mingpo has seen it far too many times, and it's really not aesthetically pleasing anymore.

As the airship continued to move forward, the underlying nest city was revealed.

That was a wasteland after a nuclear war.

The layers of bridges and roads between the skyscrapers of Central resemble a knitted sweater or a conical hat, blocking out almost all the light. Because of this, it's difficult to see the city from above; only abyssal darkness is visible, and the shadows of ruins can only be seen from the side. Some city dwellers call this gaping, cracked canopy "twilight."

And now, Mingpo is right there on the side.

At first glance, the city center doesn't seem much different from Central. The only difference is that all the buildings there are ruins from destruction. Much of the steel reinforcement is exposed, and some walls have four completely different colors… No one tries to renovate it, because it's pointless.

The population of Nest City is much larger than that of Central City because their birth rate is unrestrained. Although Mingbo doesn't quite understand... why they have so many children when they can barely support themselves.

You should know that almost no one in Central has children. Probably not one in a thousand.

People usually keep pets.

Raising those non-human, sentient beings is much cheaper and less stressful than raising children. Not to mention a partner.

In this day and age, if anyone still believes that there are partners who will never betray them, they will probably also believe that companies will not steal personal information.

Some people like cats and dogs, others prefer soft, warm humans, and still others like square plastic cubes. These days, technology can create anything from warm skin to cold metal, and both are readily available. Imbuing them with artificial intelligence can give them life and consciousness.

That's how Mingpo's cat is.

It doesn't need to eat, doesn't poop, won't get sick, and won't die. It doesn't shed fur or destroy things. It has the same personality and behavior as a cat, but it's softer and more docile to touch. It can even sleep with Mingpo without Mingpo worrying about accidentally rolling over and crushing it.

This is much better than a real cat.

Mingper doesn't like cats, but this kind of cat is okay with them.

Mingpo didn't know how to replenish the population of Central if things continued like this... After all, they were the first generation of residents of Central, and they had lived on the ground with their feet firmly on the ground when they were young.

However, the company doesn't seem to be in a hurry, and it's not their place to be in a hurry.

In the hive city... the hive people still retain some pre-war cultural practices. For example, marriage, morality, and gangs. They use gasoline-powered cars that were phased out decades ago, and they kill each other with weapons from decades ago.

Those people will still foolishly use outdated, easily counterfeited paper money for transactions, simply because fiat currency is monitored by companies.

The person Mingpo is looking for, the mining machine that escaped from the mine... she's right there.

Her prosthetic body was locked, she couldn't use the Time Chips, and she didn't have the kind of "physical money" that the Nest City people recognized.

Mingpo didn't know why she wanted to go to Nest City. It wasn't paradise. Contaminated food, contaminated water... Even if the company ignored her, she would only get sick and die a painful death there.

Moreover, the company can't just ignore her.

As a mining machine, she possesses the cutting-edge technology of this era. This is why she was able to acquire even more advanced technology after arriving in the future. Scientific research in this era is conducted this way; no one would slowly devise their own solutions… that would be too slow.

By the time you finally come up with an innovative idea, ten different development paths have already emerged. You can buy the most crucial "inspiration" and "time," and these are precisely the two most important things in scientific research.

Mingper spent six years in the Executive Department and saw too many mining machines escape into the Hive City.

Coincidentally, they were all eventually found in a room without windows.

The people of Chad believed that lead could block signals... and perhaps that is indeed the case.

But it couldn't stop the Heavenly Questions.

The hovercraft tilted slightly and began to descend.

The light emanating from the spire, the cold geometric lines of Central, and the shadows of the city skyline merge into a complete, rainbow-like arc outside the window. Three worlds overlap under the same sky, yet remain untouched.

Mingpu looked away and put the champagne back in the refrigerator. He habitually took it out, but didn't drink it. Perhaps taking out the champagne was a kind of "ritual," a ritual he used to convince himself that he was relaxed at that moment.

Mingpo suddenly thought of something.

If he falls off this floating car one day, in which world will he land?

Before he could come up with an answer, the hovercar had already arrived at its destination.

Mingpo's identity verification was successful, and the glass wall on the third floor of Gaotian Infrastructure opened automatically. He stepped out of the hovercar, which then retreated and parked itself on the shelf outside the window, quietly sitting next to the air conditioner unit.

A young man with a flippant smile was humming a tune as he fiddled with his new coffee machine.

He also wore the same dark green choker as Mingbo around his neck.

Dark green...that's the symbol of "High Heaven Life".

"You're here so quickly?"

Ai Shiping was also somewhat surprised to see Mingpo.

He smiled and waved the expensive coffee beans in his hand: "Would you like some coffee?"

Mingbo smiled and adjusted the collar around her neck.

"OK."