Chapter 274 Glass House

While arranging for the spacecraft in space to conduct a rough scan of the entire planet, Hao Ren knew that his group couldn't be idle either.

Many details would be hidden in unnoticed corners around them. A spacecraft in space might find a fortress hidden beneath the Earth's crust, but it wouldn't necessarily find the clues left by the survivors when the end of the world came.

The group sat in a circle in the living room, discussing the current state of this strange planet. Vivian, with her hands folded on the coffee table, calmly offered her opinion, "The biggest question now is why the natives of this planet are hiding and why they left such a strange city to trap outsiders."

The real-time news updates, entertainment programs on TV, and the recently produced goods and accompanying advertisements all indicated that human society on this planet was still functioning, just hidden somewhere unknown. The empty city before them seemed more like a closed observation room. Whether it was the Nangong couple who had been here for a hundred years or Hao Ren's group who had just been brought in, they all seemed to be treated as observation samples. Hao Ren's conjecture was supported by everyone, especially Lily—the husky had watched a bunch of science fiction movies before coming and was now full of conspiracy theories.

"They must have a purpose because maintaining the operation of this city is costly," Izhaks tapped the table. "Look at these supplies, the city's energy, the maintenance robots, and the things in the mall—most of them are left to expire and then thrown away. They maintain the normal operation of such a large city, but only use it to support two people. This is definitely not to play a joke."

Lily looked at everyone around her, raised her hand, and said, "I think we should first try to talk to the natives of this planet. They can definitely see us, right? Let's openly ask them what they want to do. If they don't respond, then we'll try to force our way through the city gates and see what the defense system here does. If that doesn't work, we'll have to fight… That's better than no progress."

Hao Ren looked at the husky girl in surprise, "Not bad, I didn't expect you to come up with such a positive plan. You're not backing down this time?"

"I've always been awesome!" Lily kicked Hao Ren under the table.

Vivian glanced at Lily, "Okay, how are you going to talk to them? Just go to the balcony and howl at the sky?"

Without a word, Lily got up and walked towards the balcony, leaving everyone looking at each other. Vivian shrugged, "I forgot that she usually goes to the balcony and howls at the sky when she has nothing to do—this has no psychological pressure on her at all."

Before she finished speaking, a series of shrill and loud wolf howls came from the balcony: "Awoo—"

Hao Ren shouted at the balcony, "Speak human language!!"

Lily finally realized and shouted outside, wanting the natives of this planet to come out and talk. After shouting for several minutes, she trotted back to the living room, "It's useless, no one is paying attention to me. Let's execute Plan B."

Nangong Wudi had been staring blankly at this group of lunatics, and at this time, he couldn't help but sigh, "This girl has a good voice…"

"If this city is an observation room, then someone must be monitoring the movements in this area. Lily's movements just now must have fallen into their eyes," Izhaks, although speechless at Lily's crazy behavior, had to admit that it really made sense. "Now we can consider forcing our way through the city checkpoints. This will probably force the locals out."

Everyone nodded, but just as they were about to go out, Elsa's voice came from the side, "Great ones, shouldn't we eat something before we act?"

Elsa was standing at the kitchen door with a large tray in her hands, with a bright smile on her face. Her lower body had also turned into a snake tail like May, and the end of her tail was wrapped around a steaming pot, from which came a strange aroma of rice. It seemed that May's ability to use her tail to develop various strange uses and do housework was inherited from her mother.

Nangong Wudi immediately stood up with a smile and greeted the guests, "Come, come, it's rare for everyone to gather together, let's taste my wife's craftsmanship first. Anyway, my wife and I have waited for a hundred years, so there's no rush to leave."

Elsa placed the steaming dishes on the table. One dining table couldn't accommodate so many people, and half of them simply ate by the coffee table. The dishes on the table were rich and varied, and most of them were unheard of, but fortunately, they all tasted good, allowing a group of people to feast. Lily was especially not picky about food, and once her head went into the bowl, basically the whole world had nothing to do with her. Hao Ren had to keep an eye on her and hand her water at any time: this was also the tacit understanding cultivated from more than a year of living together.

May looked at the table full of food and her parents sitting at the table, her eyes reddening, "It's been a long time since we've eaten together like this…"

Elsa looked at the Nangong siblings, her voice slightly hoarse, "When your parents left, you were both still half-grown children… I didn't expect you to grow so big. How have you been these years?"

"My brother and I ran all over the world. I sold songs, and my brother went to catch ghosts. We wandered around while inquiring about your whereabouts," May poked the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks. "There were no clues for more than a hundred years until we met the landlord…"

Hao Ren turned to look at Nangong Wudi, "How did you learn the language and writing of this planet?"

He and his companions had translation plug-ins to assist them, and they could quickly master any language and writing, but he was curious about how the Nangong couple learned these.

"Read books, listen to the radio, watch these shadow screens…" Nangong Wudi pointed to the screen embedded in the wall next to him. "Although there is no one in this city, you can always see these things. In a hundred years, even if I'm stupid, I should have learned it."

"Oh right, watch TV, watch TV!" Lily suddenly became happy, threw down her chopsticks, and ran to turn on the "TV". After fiddling with it for a long time, she finally found where the switch was. With a "click", the screen gradually lit up. Seeing this, Hao Ren reminded, "Take it easy, don't break anything!"

"Break it if it breaks," Nangong Wudi shook his head and laughed. "When my wife and I first arrived here, we really broke a lot of things, and we even burned down a house because of lighting a fire to cook—ha, afterwards, there are always robots to help clean up."

Hao Ren smacked his lips, "Your living costs are quite high…"

Lily randomly pressed the buttons on the "TV", and the programs on the screen kept switching, from news to advertisements to entertainment programs, almost everything. There were even TV dramas and movies—just looking at the TV content, it was as if there was a prosperous world outside where everything was as usual. After Lily pressed enough buttons, she returned to the dining table and sat down, biting her chopsticks and muttering, "I used to write a novel about a person locked in a room. The room had no doors or windows, only mountains of cans and a TV. That person was born in the room, grew up in the room, and all he did was watch TV, watch the prosperous world on TV, news and current events, watch international and world affairs. He knew from TV that he lived in a prosperous and huge city, and he also knew that his country was at war with another country. Then one day, the TV broke down, and he smashed through the wall and came outside…"

"And then, and then?" Vivian was immediately intrigued. "I didn't know you wrote such profound things?"

"Then? Then he fell straight down, endlessly falling—his whole world was that room, and outside the room was a void, nothing existed at all," Lily bit her chopsticks. "I wrote that as a thriller novel."

Vivian lowered her head and ate her rice, "This story is not funny at all."

After hearing Lily's story, Hao Ren fell into deep thought. Finally, he shook his head and pointed to the screen on the wall, "But the TV in your story wouldn't broadcast real news programs—your 'man in the room' is not placed in the sight of an observer either."

A news program was being broadcast on the screen. The news content was that the "Safety Affairs Department" and the "Development Affairs Department" had prepared for the deceleration of the planetary ark, and a stern-faced host was urging residents not to linger in places prone to collapse in order to respond to the vibrations caused by the planet's first engine switch.

The *Tortoise Rock Platform* also sent a message at the same time: the propulsion engine of the wandering planet was reducing its power, and the exhaust nozzles of several engines in the opposite direction showed signs of preheating.

This was the difference between this city and Lily's story: someone made this "glass house".

Izhaks frowned as he watched the news on the screen and suddenly stood up.

Under the puzzled gazes of everyone, he came to the window and pointed to a group of buildings in the distance.

The next moment, a huge fireball exploded in the city, and the rumbling sound was like rolling thunder.