Chapter 1603 The Island of Sunrise

Vim and Hilda's conversation left the others in the back of the vehicle somewhat confused, but they basically understood that the previous time-accelerator accident had affected the foundation of this fragile society to a certain extent, and now many problems had arisen within the Erem society. However, these were other people's family matters, and as outsiders, Hao Ren and the others did not want to interfere rashly.

The hovercar was extremely fast, and it didn't take long to reach the central area of the Isle of Sunrise. After passing through an extra layer of energy barrier and crossing a high wall, the towering spires of the Erem Royal District appeared in front of the vehicle. The car flew towards one of the towers that looked no different from the others around it and landed smoothly on a semi-circular platform extending from the upper part of the tower. Hilda personally opened the car door for everyone: "This is my home."

Lily curiously sized up the massive spire, muttering, "Ooh, it looks huge."

Hilda smiled wryly, "At least we don't lack living space."

At this moment, several servant-like Erem elves hurried up from the other end of the platform. Seeing their queen, who had been missing for many days, seemed to excite these servants quite a bit. Each of their faces showed genuine joy and a sense of relief, indicating that Hilda's popularity here was genuine. Hilda and Vim instructed these servants on a few matters, then introduced Hao Ren and his group to them: "They are honored guests. Arrange rooms for them and take good care of them."

"I have to convene an emergency council of elders," Hilda turned around again. "I'm sorry that I have to leave you aside as soon as I get home, but it seems that some emergency situations have occurred in my kingdom."

Lily responded boisterously, "It's okay, it's okay, we can play by ourselves. By the way, can I wander around?"

"Please do." Hilda smiled and nodded, then left in a hurry with Vim in the hovercar.

A slender and young female elf stepped forward, indicating for Hao Ren to follow her: "Please allow me to take you to the guest rooms."

Led by the elven servant, the group entered the interior of the spire, passing through long, monotonous corridors and a series of elegantly simple archways to a place specially prepared for guests. Along the way, they encountered many curious elves. These palace staff members stopped to size up the strangely dressed new guests, but the onlookers quickly dispersed under the scolding of the young elf leading the way.

"I'm sorry, this is really unbecoming of the royal family, they are just too curious," the young elf nodded apologetically to Hao Ren.

After passing through a lift device to the middle of the spire, they were taken to an oval hall. A circle of rooms was distributed around the hall, and this was the guest room area specially prepared for distinguished guests. The entire hall and all the surrounding rooms were assigned to these honored guests, so they could use them freely. The young elf bid farewell to everyone in front of the elevator door: "Guests, please rest here. Food has been prepared in the cabinet at the end of the hall, and a formal dinner will be delivered in the evening. If you need anything, you can press the green call button in the room or directly find the royal guard in the elevator."

Hao Ren nodded repeatedly to show that he understood. After sending off the elven girl, only he and his group of companions were left on the scene. Lily had been suffocated by the serious "royal atmosphere" here halfway, and when she saw that the outsiders had left, she happily howled and circled Hao Ren several times before starting to scurry around the various rooms. Vivian stretched her back: "After all, she is a queen, and the place she lives in is so big!"

"That's right, their resources are a bit tight, but they still maintain a normal life." After Hao Ren finished speaking, he, like Lily, curiously strolled around the several rooms. He found that even the guest rooms were actually very simply furnished. They were all everyday furniture that could be seen at a glance, and the tables, chairs, and beds were obviously mass-produced products. The single style and lack of detailed decoration were enough to show that they were manufactured from some kind of low-cost production line. This was a prominent feature of a resource-stressed, life-sustaining society: the rulers of society might be able to occupy a slightly larger quota than others, but what they used was still the same as everyone else. All social resources came from cheap, fast industrial production lines, and special manual manufacturing processes and meticulous craftsmanship had been completely eliminated.

However, Hilda's status as queen still allowed for some special things here: ornamental plants could be seen in the hall and in every room. These lush green potted plants added some vitality to these monotonous rooms. The Erem elves were a race that came out of the forest, and they had an unspeakable affection for plants. Although they had to lock themselves in efficient industrial machines in order to survive, they would still try their best to add a little greenery to the places where they lived if there was any way. Hilda's guardian treant had also shown that the traditional skills of the Erem elves were inseparable from plants—but it was estimated that this "luxurious" traditional technique could now only be preserved in the royal family and nobles: the ecological dome was limited.

At one end of the oval hall was the elevator, and at the other end was a huge circular floor-to-ceiling window. From this angle, one could overlook a large area of the city. Hao Ren stood in front of the window, looking at the novel alien world scenery, watching the filtered, brilliant sunlight falling from the dome above the city, watching the gray-white city below gradually being plated with a layer of gold, and watching various small aircraft shuttle in the gradually descending sunset. Vivian came to his side at some point: "If you don't consider the terrible situation here, the scenery is actually quite good."

Hao Ren nodded without speaking. He was recalling the things explained in the employee handbook and trying to examine the whole matter with the attitude a surveyor should have: since landing on this floating island, he had been carefully observing every detail of the Erem elf society, learning about this civilization and its current situation from their urban characteristics and the words and deeds of everyone. As an outsider, and one whose worldview and race were completely different from the locals, it was somewhat difficult to make these judgments, but this kind of observation was a compulsory course for a surveyor. He looked at the scenery outside, was silent for a while, and then raised his hand to poke the data terminal in his pocket: "Give me some advice."

"No advice. From now on, handle this matter according to the standard procedure for a surveyor," the data terminal responded. "Just one tip: Inspector Crow said to let you 'handle it entirely.' I hope you can understand what she means. This unit hopes that you can use your own abilities to solve this matter. Don't call for goddess support or call other superior units at every turn. Establish your own power and connections, and solve all problems independently. This is the action ability that a qualified surveyor should have. In addition, the upper limit of action is not to interfere with other civilized civilizations. Under no circumstances can you help a civilization that you prefer at the expense of another civilization. You cannot have personal preferences on this point."

Hao Ren chuckled. "You don't have to worry about that last one. I don't even know anyone here. I can't find anyone to screw over even if I wanted to."

Lily quickly circled around all the rooms. At this time, according to her unwavering biological clock, she began to feel hungry. She remembered that the elven maid had mentioned that there was a food cabinet here, so she ran to find food and rummaged out a few rectangular boxes from a metal cabinet not far away: "This is the food? It looks weird..."

She threw these small boxes on the table. Hao Ren saw that these boxes contained some very strange... synthetic materials. Most of them were yellow or green rectangular strips, about the length of a finger, and felt a little crisp when pinched. Lily curiously threw one into her mouth, chewed it a few times, and then frowned: "It doesn't taste like anything! Just a little salty... like chalk that's been sprinkled with salt!"

"You've eaten chalk?" Vivian glanced at her.

Lily wasn't embarrassed at all. "I've eaten it. I was so curious the first time I saw chalk that I took a bite. I still remember the taste vividly."

This girl inherited the excellent traditions of her clan from her parents, that is, no matter what rare thing she saw, she would first bite it a couple of times to taste the saltiness...

Even Lily, who was never picky about food, didn't like these synthetic foods that tasted like chalk, so she found another kind of food: it was a creamy substance filled in a cylinder, it looked like cream and smelled a bit sweet. Lily, with great expectations, dug a little with her finger and sent it into her mouth, but as soon as the first bite went down, her tail puffed up all of a sudden: "It tastes like machine oil!"

The data terminal floated out of Hao Ren's pocket and checked those things: "They are all chemical products, which can provide the necessary energy for carbon-based organisms, but don't expect the taste and texture. Adding special tastes and textures will definitely require more complex production lines, which is a waste."