Chapter 1701: Perfect District
With gem exports and high-end tourism, it was easy to imagine that District 019 should be a relatively prosperous district. Some photos on Under Dimension also confirmed this, meaning it was a place very friendly to the wealthy.
Regarding the station, "Green Sunlight" was actually a realistic description. It was said that some areas of District 019 had many cracked ravines due to geological activity. Underground, some evolved peculiar species would release special substances. These substances would rise into the sky with air currents and form a thin film at a sufficiently high altitude. When sunlight passed through this film, a marvelous optical phenomenon would occur—the sunlight would turn green.
That was the origin of the station's name.
And relying on this green sunlight, the area around the station gradually evolved into a tourist city, attracting countless visitors every year.
It was worth mentioning that public security here was excellent. To ensure that wealthy people arriving on non-player trains could spend money safely, every tourist city in District 019 was equipped with enough combat robots. Here, player brawling was not allowed. If caught, players would face a long prison sentence and eventual expulsion.
Of course, there was also an identification system. Once a mechanical eye judged someone as a disorder disruptor, the robots would, without human authorization, use various methods to trap the player—such as blocking transportation or directly altering their travel destination until they were sent into an encirclement of robots or players.
Being able to kill without leaving a trace was another matter entirely.
Every year, this place hosted many people who came specifically from other districts to spend money. So not only was tourism expensive, but many consumptions within the district were also very costly. The poor were unwelcome here, and the sufficient firepower and player configuration allowed locals to freely express their dislike for the poor—meaning discrimination was normalized. Players who had been to this district on Under Dimension would often mention terms like "chain of contempt." To put it more bluntly, if your clothes weren't classy enough, even a passing dog would roll its eyes at you.
However, when this kind of discrimination was normalized and made public, its side effects actually diminished. It was like everyone had money, the only difference being whether you used a pure gold or pure silver plate for lunch. So the conflict between rich and poor in this district wasn't that sharp.
District 019 had no true poor people among its native population. The welfare of local residents was the best. Even if they never worked a day in their lives, the district government could support them. Medical care, education, childbirth—all were subsidized by the government. To get better welfare, one only needed to abide by the law and have as many children as possible.
The "as many as possible" here wasn't forced childbirth—like deducting welfare if you didn't have children—but encouragement. The government wouldn't interfere too much with whether you had children; instead, it focused more on improving family happiness. So people here received good cultural education from birth, and of course, they also cultivated players and provided support for them.
Such a good place would naturally attract many outsiders, but District 019 was very strict about introducing foreign populations. To immigrate, one had to pay a hefty fee. Once you became homeless and started wandering the streets, District 019 would find a way to send you away.
Some might think that since people in District 019 didn't have to work, someone still needed to handle trivial and complicated tasks. Even if robots could replace most manual labor, wouldn't the technical development or core components of machinery still need to be handled by humans? However, District 019's solution was to simply buy them.
That's right—buy from other districts. With enough money, they would purchase from other districts or game bases in the name of the district government. Many people were willing to sell weapons or high-tech products to a district without "grand ambitions," and they would even provide technical guidance.
From this perspective, as long as you could successfully immigrate to District 019, it was equivalent to entering humanity's ideal home.
Indeed, many players on Under Dimension also expressed a desire to stay in this district, but with thin wallets, they could only leave with regret.
It seemed like a perfect district, but it had ticket instances and random instances. Instances were opposed to peace and tranquility. If District 019's control was strong enough, it would inevitably create certain obstacles for players trying to clear instances.
After learning more about the instance content, Xu Huo closed his personal panel and took out Dr. Zhang's puzzle ball to play with.
"That thing of yours looks very familiar," the hat player suddenly spoke up.
"Really?" Xu Huo didn't look up. "Have you played with one too?"
The hat player waved his hand. "Playing with this kind of puzzle ball requires mental evolution. I can't do that. I've only seen others play with it."
Xu Huo paused his fingers. "This ball was lent to me by a friend, who said it was made by a very impressive psychology professor. Is that the one you saw?"
"Not exactly," the hat player smiled. "It was a doctor. My friend's daughter was a high-IQ child. The school she attended had a doctor skilled in mental power control. This puzzle ball was made by him for the children to play with."
Xu Huo finally looked up and carefully examined the other person. "I wonder which district that was? I happen to want to buy a few more of these puzzle balls."
"That was years ago. I'm not even sure if the school is still open." The hat player met his gaze. "Do you know that teacher?"
"I would very much like to visit the senior who made this puzzle ball," Xu Huo said, placing his hand on the table.
"Oh, then you're too late. I heard that teacher has already passed away," the hat player said. "He was severely injured thirty years ago, then fell seriously ill. He could only move around in a wheelchair. Three years ago, I heard my friend mention his funeral."
"Could you give me an address?" Xu Huo asked.
The hat player readily wrote down a detailed address for him, at a C-level wormhole point.
"Hiring a severely ill person as a doctor probably wasn't just to take care of the students' physical health," Xu Huo said as he put away the address. "Could it be that high-level wormhole points have schools specifically for cultivating genius players?"
This was just casual conversation. Not to mention high-level wormhole points, any district would want to do such a thing.
The hat player was very easygoing and talkative. He seemed curious about Xu Huo as well, asking during the conversation which high-level wormhole point he came from and whether he had a family background of learning.
Family background of learning—hearing that term suddenly in the game was a bit novel. Xu Huo said, "Indeed, I have been guided by an elder."
"No wonder," the hat player thought he had guessed correctly and said, "You're not old, and you've undergone super evolution. You should be on the C-level player rankings."
"I've been invited to serve as a referee for a district's ranked player tournament. If you're interested, you can come and take a look."
(Chapter End)