Chapter 979: Three Segments of Life
Taking out the trash, folding the blankets, collecting the laundry, mopping the floor…
Zou Zhuo reluctantly played the role of a household robot, doing chores inside a 300,000-yuan VR gaming pod.
There was a bus stop sign at the front gate.
The backyard wall wasn’t very high—he could jump over it, and once over, he could go straight to the front door.
He found “Red Ice” hidden in the laundry detergent, and Todd grabbed him by the neck, threatening him harshly.
In Todd’s upstairs bedroom, he discovered antidepressants and a handgun.
He got the key from Alice and saw the painting in the box. It turned out that Kara wasn’t sent for repairs because she was hit by a car, but because Todd was beating the child during a domestic violence episode, and Kara intervened, so Todd dismantled her.
Zou Zhuo went to Todd’s bedroom and picked up the handgun.
He really wanted to try just shooting Todd in the head right then and see what happened, but Kara immediately put the gun back and said, “I can’t mess with Todd’s things.”
Clearly, when Zou Zhuo attempted to do something that didn’t match the role he was currently playing, he temporarily lost control of that body, and the current character would automatically correct him to ensure the story line roughly followed the preset plot.
Overall, though, Zou Zhuo had a lot of freedom; he was only corrected by the system when he tried actions that seriously contradicted the story’s progression.
Just by cleaning the house, Zou Zhuo understood Kara’s current situation.
Todd had lost his job because of androids, maxed out his credit cards, was addicted to Red Ice, and had been taking antidepressants for a long time. As a result, his mental state was extremely unstable, often leading to violent outbursts and domestic abuse. Alice, on the other hand, was in a very fragile state due to Todd’s mood swings—timid, cautious, and even somewhat withdrawn.
After finishing the housework, Kara’s storyline came to a temporary halt.
This storyline only had one ending, and because Zou Zhuo had searched very thoroughly, all the hidden elements were activated.
The surrounding environment shifted again, and Zou Zhuo found himself in a different role.
Neither the negotiation expert Connor nor the household maid Kara, but a male android with a buzz cut—Markus.
At this moment, Zou Zhuo was in a park in the city center. He needed to cross the park to reach a paint shop in the commercial district across the street.
As he walked forward, Zou Zhuo curiously observed everything around him.
On the streets, humans and androids mingled together; a quick glance made it hard to tell them apart. Many humans had their own android companions, either to carry their bags while shopping or to jog alongside them. There were also many androids sweeping the streets or working on roadside construction, replacing humans in many jobs.
Androids were everywhere—sales kiosks, stores, advertisements—and crowds of consumers gathered in front of display windows, picking out androids. All of this highlighted the massive market for androids.
Arriving at the paint shop, a light touch on the counter’s touchpad confirmed his identity. After making eye contact with the android clerk, he could pay directly—a true “eye transaction.”
“Wow, this future world is really well-made. If only we had androids in real life, I could have them do all the errands.”
Zou Zhuo was walking down the street holding the paint when suddenly, a white man with a thick beard and a megaphone blocked his way.
“Hey, look, we caught a tin can.”
A group of people suddenly surrounded him. Before Zou Zhuo could react, he felt someone shove him hard from behind. He stumbled and fell straight to the ground.
“???”
Just as Zou Zhuo tried to stand up, someone else kicked him, and he ended up on the ground again.
“Look at this stupid bastard. You took my job, and now? You can’t even stand up,” a blonde woman said viciously.
Zou Zhuo tried to get up again, but someone nearby kicked him once more.
Zou Zhuo got angry: “Are you guys fucking done?!”
Whether he was falling or being kicked, the pain Zou Zhuo felt was very mild. But mild didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed off—no one would feel good after being shoved to the ground and kicked repeatedly.
The anger in this scene came more from the humiliation. Clearly, these people didn’t see him as a peer or a companion.
Just as Zou Zhuo was about to fight back, a police officer pushed through the crowd and stopped the white man who was ready to attack.
“If you break it, I’ll have to give you a ticket,” the officer said casually.
Zou Zhuo still wanted to fight, but the officer came straight over to him, shoved and guided him toward the direction of the bus stop.
Zou Zhuo glared back at the group unwillingly. He really wanted to try going back and beating them up to see what would happen, but glancing at the gun on the officer’s belt, he knew that would likely end with him getting shot dead.
As for grabbing the gun first? Forget it—that was clearly asking for death.
Zou Zhuo had no choice but to reluctantly head to the bus stop and wait for the bus.
After boarding the bus, Zou Zhuo finally noticed something was off.
The front 70% of the bus was for humans—spacious and nearly empty, with only two or three passengers. The back 30% was specifically for androids, completely separated from the front compartment by a partition, and it was packed full, with the androids forced to stand.
“Even riding a bus requires segregation? Realistic—too fucking realistic. I give up.”
Zou Zhuo was completely speechless. Before playing this game, he had thought a future world where humans and androids coexisted peacefully would be wonderful. But after playing, he realized it was nothing like that at all…
After experiencing all three protagonists, Zou Zhuo found that each one seemed to face discrimination…
The negotiation expert Connor went to talk, but the mother didn’t trust him at all, and Officer Allen treated him with condescension and no kindness. Kara diligently did the housework, but Todd was a lazy good-for-nothing at home with a severe tendency toward violence. Markus just went out to buy paint, and a bunch of unemployed people surrounded him, shoving him around as if he had killed their entire family…
Especially experiencing all this as an android, Zou Zhuo felt an overwhelming sense of frustration.
What had he gotten from playing this 300,000-yuan VR gaming pod?
Nothing enjoyable—just a whole lot of humiliation…
But one thing was done well: in the short span of a few dozen minutes at the start, it presented a panoramic view of a future Detroit, and it was very realistic. Technological progress had brought earth-shattering changes to people’s lives, but it wasn’t all good—it was also filled with many problems.
Androids had replaced human jobs, freeing many people from housework and daily chores, but they had also caused many to lose their jobs, intensifying social conflicts.
Zou Zhuo was curious: where would this future world head?
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