Chapter 245 Accident

Chapter 157 Dog Food

Hao Ren watched Lily happily munching away (he didn't know how he could tell she was "happily munching away") and couldn't help but feel a bit curious. He went over and tried some of the synthetic food, and immediately frowned. These things might not be as bad as Lily said, but they were definitely not good. The solid food was bland and rough, while the paste had an unforgettable fishy-sweet taste. Clearly, to ensure large-scale, rapid production, these foods were synthesized directly using the simplest formulas. It seemed that even the royal family of Erim was reluctant to take things from the ecological domes – those domes should still be enough to supply the royal family, but this was a matter of principle.

Vivian and Izaak also curiously tasted it. The Great Demon said it tasted the same to him, but Vivian agreed with Lily: even when she was at her poorest, she had never eaten anything so unpalatable. In any case, Lily couldn't eat more than a few bites. She put the food back in the cabinet, took out a large bag of brown snacks from her bag, and crunched on them. She also handed Hao Ren a handful: "Here, Landlord, eat this. The dinner tonight probably won't be good either, so have some snacks to fill your stomach first. Bat, help yourself if you want some."

So, while waiting for Hilda to return, Hao Ren, Vivian, and Lily sat around the table eating snacks, each with a handful. Izaak wasn't interested, so he found a quiet corner and sat down to stare blankly as usual.

"You always seem to have food on you," Hao Ren wasn't surprised that Lily had snacks with her. This girl's greatest superpower, besides transforming, was her ability to resupply herself. If she dumped out everything edible from her bag, it would be enough to alleviate poverty in a mountainous area. "Oh, this stuff is pretty good, tastes a bit like beef jerky. Where'd you get it?"

Lily crunched loudly on the brown beans: "Dog food..."

"Pfft—"

Hao Ren and Vivian almost sprayed each other in the face, but luckily they both dodged in time. Hao Ren coughed hard as he tried to clear his mouth: "Damn it, you didn't tell me this stuff was dog food!?"

"It's pretty good," Lily said, looking confused by their reactions. "Such a waste... This stuff is more expensive than your breakfast."

Vivian subconsciously smacked her lips after hearing Lily's words: "Um... the taste is actually okay."

"Right?" Lily's tail wagged happily. "Actually, I don't eat this stuff much either, but once when I went out to buy something, I grabbed the wrong bag. After I bought it, I didn't want to throw it away, so I tried a little. I was surprised to find that it tasted pretty good. According to the ingredient list, this stuff is better than human food..."

Hao Ren finally cleared the stuff from his mouth, and looked up in disbelief: "Dogs live this well these days?"

"Anyway, it's true that people are sometimes worse off than dogs," Vivian nodded vigorously. "Take me for example, I'm still a countess."

Then the two youthful beauties (at least that's how they looked) continued to gorge themselves on dog food in front of Hao Ren. Hao Ren couldn't watch any longer, so he turned his head away to pretend to look at the scenery, while desperately trying to hypnotize himself in his mind: these two don't count as people, so you can't apply human worldviews to them. Letting two girls eat dog food in front of him wasn't abuse, even if the cops came, he was confident that he could clear himself...

Time passed quickly amid the crunching of the two strange girls. The short dusk came to an end, and the sunlight hanging on the edge of the floating island quickly sank as the island itself rotated. At this time, only a line of shimmering gold light remained. The Erim elves simulated the alternation of day and night through the movement of the floating island itself, and simulated normal atmospheric light filtering through the island's protective shield. But even so, it was still obvious that the world under this dome was vastly different from the surface of a normal planet: the sky lacked a sense of depth, the night came too abruptly, the sunset was too dazzling, and people living on the edge of the floating island probably felt a distinct sense of distortion when looking at the sky. After witnessing the sunset under the dome, Hao Ren suddenly understood Hilda's words on Earth:

"I really envy you, having such a vast sky and earth..."

Just then, a faint flash of light appeared on the "horizon," in the direction where the sun had just set.

The flash was fleeting, and Hao Ren almost thought it was an illusion, but not long after, he saw some commotion in the city below: some bright beams of light appeared on the edge of the city, and some aircraft flew from the edge of the floating island towards the royal district. Many citizens on the ground also came out of their homes, as if they had received some news from afar, and were running out in a panic to check the situation. Hao Ren used his enhanced eyes, which were far superior to those of humans, to take in the details of the city. He noticed that many people were gathering on top of various towers in the city, looking in the same direction: the end of the horizon, where the flash had appeared.

"Something seems to be happening outside," Lily, who was stuffing a handful of dog food into her mouth, suddenly perked up her ears and ran to Hao Ren's side. "There's a commotion."

"There was a flash just now, maybe something exploded," Hao Ren said quickly, then ran to the other end of the hall to call down the elevator. There were always two royal guards on duty in this large elevator. As soon as Hao Ren saw the two young elven warriors, he noticed that there was something unusual on their faces. "What happened outside?"

"Please rest assured, the guard army will handle it, the city is under control," one of the elven warriors said calmly. Although there was some unease in the depths of his eyes, he still maintained the quality of a royal guard at this time. "Her Majesty the Queen has returned from the Council of Elders, and the reception for the guests will not be dela..."

Hao Ren waved his hand to call the restless members of his group behind him, and then almost forcibly broke into the elevator: "We're not here as guests for dinner – take us to the exit, and tell us what happened."

"But Her Majesty has ordered..."

"She definitely didn't order anything when something exploded outside!" Hao Ren pressed a button next to the elevator door. "I'm in charge now, your queen will definitely agree – by the way, why isn't the door closing?"

"...That's the open door button..."

Hao Ren was slightly embarrassed: "Why is the direction of your arrows the opposite of what humans are used to?"

Seeing that these distinguished guests were determined, and remembering the queen's special attitude towards these people, the elven warrior had no choice but to compromise. However, they still asked their superiors for instructions through some kind of communication device. After receiving a positive reply, one of the elven warriors operated the elevator to descend to the exit at the bottom of the spire: "A propulsion unit exploded, and there is damage to the island's barrier. But it has been blocked... temporarily blocked."

Hao Ren suddenly felt his head buzz. He didn't have much scientific knowledge, but he at least knew what was outside this floating island. This was a spaceship with a thin skin and a lot of filling. Outside a layer of barrier was the vast expanse of space... A hole had been broken in the city!

He was only worried that the elevator's descent speed couldn't be faster, complaining that these elves all liked to live in such high places (he didn't know that this was a habit left over from the elves living in trees in ancient times). Waiting for the elevator to reach the bottom took half a minute as long as a century. As soon as they arrived at the bottom exit, everyone ran outside, and an elven warrior chased after them: "Please wait a moment, I'll prepare a magic-powered vehicle for you..."

"To be honest, that thing isn't as fast as us!"

Hao Ren left those words behind, and skillfully grabbed Vivian's arm: "Take me flying!"

The vampire girl's bat wings had already been spread, waiting for Hao Ren's words. Hearing this, she skillfully picked him up from behind and soared into the sky. Lily then lay down on the ground and let out a wild howl, scurrying out on all fours. Izaak was still like a ferocious humanoid tank, striding forward with earth-shaking steps. In the blink of an eye, the group disappeared in front of the two elven warriors and several guards.

"...The guests that Her Majesty the Queen brought back are truly extraordinary."

"Yeah, but won't the one flying in the sky collide with the vehicles?"

"...It should be possible to catch up now... um, it seems impossible to catch up."