Chapter 1260: Card City Entertainment
In fact, this was somewhat similar to the current situation in Zone 001. The Zone 001 government supported a large number of ordinary people, simply because they could provide new players or become pets.
The more pronounced this divide became, the more the mere parity of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation could no longer gloss over it. This was a chasm carved by human nature.
Perhaps to most government personnel, those mediocre, useless individuals who only consumed government grain were like scabies or ringworm—a minor irritation they could ignore when not thinking about it, but a speck of dust that had to be wiped away when it came to mind. People do not place dust on the same level as themselves.
Even if those ordinary people were treated as non-existent, those who already held resources would not be willing to share them. Thus, this divide would never disappear, and no matter how you looked at it, it was a more brutal hunting ground.
Just as he closed the Message Collection Terminal, the hotel received a communication saying that friends had come to visit him.
After confirming it was Jiang Zifeng and Ye Bingxin, Xu Huo had someone bring them up.
"An entire floor just for you to live on? That's way too extravagant!" As soon as he entered, Jiang Zifeng couldn't wait to jump onto a nearby cloud-shaped soft chair. After bouncing a couple of times, he continued, "Is it really free? Staying here for one night must cost at least tens of thousands of White Notes!"
Xu Huo smiled and asked them what they wanted to drink.
"Let me start with some alcohol." Jiang Zifeng lay there, gestured at the menu for a while, then had the automatic bar send up all the mixed drinks listed.
The bar was visible but silent, not disturbing their conversation while it quickly began mixing drinks.
"Life with money is really different." Ye Bingxin walked to the window. "I heard from the front desk that you can watch performances here too?"
"You can hire people individually, and it doesn't cost anything either," Xu Huo said. "If you want to watch something, you can tell the hotel."
"Of course we want to watch!" Jiang Zifeng immediately jumped up and carefully looked over the list of performance troupes. "Pick the most popular one and have them perform right in front of the hotel!"
Ye Bingxin thought he was being a bit embarrassing and asked Xu Huo again if it really cost nothing, because the Yongxing Hotel's bills couldn't be defaulted on, and she didn't want him to end up in debt because of this.
"That's what the hotel staff said." Xu Huo gestured for them to continue.
"But how did you get the free voucher?" Jiang Zifeng asked curiously. "The ones being handed out outside are all fifty-percent-off vouchers."
"One of the Instance rewards," Xu Huo said with a smile. "It only lasts seven days."
Hearing this, Jiang Zifeng felt it was a bit of a loss instead. After all, it was just for entertainment consumption, and only for seven days. It wasn't as good as a prop.
"If you were spending it alone, that would really be a loss," he said, patting Xu Huo on the shoulder and grinning. "It's not a loss to take advantage of the District Government's benefits."
Then he ordered a full set of entertainment that the hotel could arrange, including but not limited to aerial performances, parade airships, extreme trampolines, and also requested an intelligent filming machine to record their upcoming happy times.
"Arranging so much, can you even enjoy it all? Don't you need to sleep?" Ye Bingxin pressed down on his head.
"Of course it's an all-night party! Who needs sleep?" Jiang Zifeng laughed heartily.
When it came to money, they certainly weren't lacking, but they usually spent a lot and wouldn't waste it on things like this. Having finally encountered a free opportunity, they naturally wanted to relax properly.
Jiang Zifeng was the type who could have a great time on his own. He wanted to participate in all the projects he had booked, while Xu Huo and Ye Bingxin each picked two or three to join in for form's sake.
It was late at night, and both of them wanted to catch up on sleep.
The three of them had an early dinner together, then started the first entertainment project. Before dark, they took a parade airship to overlook the entire Card City from the sky.
The route would pass by the Game Government Base, the District Government, and several branch companies of Stellar Corporation.
When the airship passed the outskirts of these places, the buildings themselves released an energy wall to isolate interference. Of course, this wall was also a barrier that the airship absolutely could not enter.
Almost all important facilities were protected by instruments. Once inside, Space Items would first be interfered with, followed by measures to block certain props.
"If you got through the door, you'd have to fight the machines before even seeing a person." Jiang Zifeng also looked down and said flatly, "Speaking of which, the Game Government is pretty sneaky. The interference instruments they sell all have range and level restrictions, and they also limit the quantity. As for props, they're not that comprehensive. Simply put, it's like having a few swords facing a three-hundred-sixty-degree fully enclosed shield—one side has flaws everywhere, the other is airtight."
"If it weren't like that, wouldn't the Game Government have been overthrown by Super Players long ago?" Ye Bingxin said. "Even if there aren't many Super Players, if they took time to attack one every day, it would be enough to give the Game Government a headache."
"Don't think it's that simple either. Who knows if Super Players have developed post-evolution sequelae?" Jiang Zifeng said. "At that level, ordinary props have no appeal anymore."
Post-evolution sequelae—this was also a dark cloud hanging over every player's head.
"I've also visited a few government bases and Stellar branch companies... and it seems the game still hasn't found a way to solve this problem." Jiang Zifeng laughed again. "Although no one can escape it, the good thing is that no one can escape it either. Everyone's the same."
"That's easy to say, but we still need to find high-level Evolution Agents," Ye Bingxin said. "The earlier you use a high-level Evolution Agent, the later the sequelae appear. That's from Stellar Corporation's public report."
"I seriously suspect they're just trying to sell their medicine," Jiang Zifeng scoffed. "Ordinary Evolution Agents and high-level Evolution Agents only differ in evolution intensity."
"We have no choice but to believe..." Ye Bingxin turned to Xu Huo. "Brother Xu, what's your evolution rate now?"
"Over forty," Xu Huo said. "I've heard that Evolution Agents should be taken gradually. The larger the dosage and the higher the frequency, the more likely degeneration is to occur."
"That's true. It's not worth taking large amounts of Evolution Agents to gain physical ability in a short time." Ye Bingxin nodded. "Jiang Zifeng and I are about the same as you. We're both over fifty."
Xu Huo was quite surprised by this. Many C-level players he had encountered had evolution rates exceeding sixty percent.
"Look." Jiang Zifeng suddenly pointed below.
Xu Huo looked down and saw several aircraft parked on the square of Stellar Machinery Branch Company. As the hatches opened, automatic transport vehicles carried crates of instruments into the warehouse, and machines were also handling the distribution.
"See that black crate?" Jiang Zifeng said. "Stellar Machinery Branch Company uses the color of the crates to grade the instruments. A black crate is at least B-level—a genuine good thing."
Ye Bingxin pointed at the camera following them. "Watch your surroundings."
"Can't even take a look?" Jiang Zifeng turned back and winked at Xu Huo, as if egging him on.
Unfortunately, Xu Huo wasn't very interested. "Maybe next time."