Lu Wanqing and young Zhong Li Yi only stayed at the Xiao family’s for one day. They left the next morning. When she left, she didn’t tell anyone. She simply left a note in the room, telling them that she and Xiao Yi wanted to see other places and had left.
Lu Wanqing, who had left, did not know that just three days after they left, someone did indeed lodge a complaint. Someone came to search Xiao Wei’s home. Fortunately, she and Xiao Yi had already left, otherwise, not only would they have been arrested, but Xiao Wei’s entire family would have been implicated.
Lu Wanqing and Xiao Yi took a spaceship, making several detours through various planets. After half a month, they finally successfully arrived at Mùyǎn Star.
Mùyǎn Star was vastly different from the Imperial Capital. The buildings looked very dilapidated, and the hovercars on the streets also appeared to be old. The traffic was far less bustling than that of the Imperial Capital, and the pedestrians on the roadside…
Mùyǎn Star was also a poverty-stricken planet. The people living here were mostly the lowest stratum of society in the interstellar era. Besides being poor, they had another most obvious characteristic: a high degree of physical mutation, and it was bizarre. Some people had three eyes, some had two heads, some had four legs, some had six hands, some had tails behind their backs, some were covered in fur, and some had strangely irregular facial shapes, with peculiar features. It was quite distinctive.
Lu Wanqing had checked the information before coming, so she knew what it was like here. Before arriving, she and Xiao Yi had disguised themselves. She had painted both her and Xiao Yi’s faces to look like hideous monsters, and behind them, they had added decorative tails.
It was worth mentioning that in the interstellar era, even mutated tails varied in length and appearance, some beautiful, some not. For aesthetic purposes, decorative items were sold everywhere on the streets and online. People who had an extra tail due to mutation could use these decorations to make their mutated, ugly tails look beautiful. Thus, Lu Wanqing added a tail to herself and Xiao Yi. Even though it was clearly visible that they were fake, no one suspected them as they walked on the street.
Young Zhong Li Yi had lived on the Imperial Capital Star his entire life. This was his first time visiting a planet like this, and he was a little scared, tightly holding his mother’s hand.
Lu Wanqing was also nervous, not for any other reason than the sheer variety of mutations among the people here. Even though she had seen photos and understood the situation here beforehand, seeing it in person and getting close to them still made her heart tremble.
Mùyǎn Star was quite large, and finding Zhong Li Feiyu here was a problem.
Lu Wanqing had no direction for the moment and could only first look for a place to stay.
Although Mùyǎn Star was a dump, housing rental advertisements were visible everywhere. Lu Wanqing and young Zhong Li Yi went to three or four places before finally renting a courtyard of moderate size.
Once they had a place to live, Lu Wanqing quickly closed the door and then arranged for Xiao Yi to take a bath.
They had been busy traveling all this way and hadn’t bathed for many days, which was unbearable for Lu Wanqing, who was used to bathing daily.
Xiao Yi was also obedient and quickly took his pajamas to take a bath.
After the little one finished his bath and came out, Lu Wanqing also took a bath.
Indeed, after washing clean, one felt much better.
However, Xiao Yi’s mood was not good. His father’s whereabouts were currently unknown, whether he was safe, whether he was injured – the child was very worried.
Lu Wanqing looked at the child and sighed softly in her heart. Then, she took out some food from her spatial storage and handed it to the little one. “Eat something. Once you’re full, you’ll have the energy to find your dad.”
Young Zhong Li Yi looked at Lu Wanqing and nodded. “Mm.”
Actually, they could only eat these good things at home. Outside, Lu Wanqing didn’t even dare to take out such food for fear of causing trouble.
Lu Wanqing had lived too comfortably in the Mu family and the Zhong Li family, always believing that life in the interstellar era was wonderful and prosperous. It was only after she came out that she realized that ordinary people did not live that way.
The first thing to mention was the domestic robots. Lu Wanqing had been in the Mu family and the Zhong Li family, where the food prepared by domestic robots was delicious, so she thought life in the interstellar era was very good and technology was advanced.
But now, having descended, she discovered that most ordinary households had domestic robots, but their domestic robots were far inferior to those of the Mu family and the Zhong Li family. Although general domestic robots could also cook, the taste of those dishes… was indescribable.
Not only did the capabilities of domestic robots differ, but even the vegetables purchased by ordinary people were different.
Although she had bought vegetables many times before, she had thought that was the most ordinary way of buying groceries in the interstellar era. But now, she realized that it was not ordinary at all. The vegetables she bought might have been something ordinary interstellar citizens could not afford to buy even once in their lifetime.
Perhaps it was because she had been with Mu Sijie and Zhong Li Feiyu from the moment she woke up, and they had given her quite a bit of money, so she had never noticed anything unusual.
But now she knew everything. Those natural plants, closest to the genes of ancient Earth era, were exclusive to the noble and wealthy in the interstellar era, a special supply of vegetables. Ordinary people could not afford them. What ordinary people could afford were mutated vegetables of the interstellar era.
The taste of mutated vegetables was, to put it mildly, indescribable.
Furthermore, below the ordinary people, there were the poor. Like most people on Mùyǎn Planet, they might not even be able to afford vegetables and had to live on nutrient solutions every day.
Lu Wanqing had money, but it was a special period. She dared not and could not log into her personal communication device, nor could she use the money within it, otherwise, it would be very easy for people to track her location through the network and find her and Xiao Yi.
The communication device Xiao Guanjia had obtained for her from the black market also contained a significant amount of money, but after understanding the real living standards of the lower class, she did not dare to be too ostentatious outside. Otherwise, if she attracted attention, both she and Xiao Yi would be in trouble.
Therefore, when they were outside, she and Xiao Yi could only eat nutrient solutions or some less palatable food. It was only now that they had rented a courtyard and were inside their own house, with no outsiders around, that she dared to take out the better food she had stored in her spatial storage beforehand to share with Xiao Yi.
This life was too hard.
“Do you want to eat more?” Seeing that Xiao Yi had finished a box of pastries, Lu Wanqing quickly took out another new box.
Young Zhong Li Yi shook his head. “I don’t want to eat.”
Lu Wanqing, however, was worried. Zhong Li Feiyu was in trouble, and Xiao Yi had been noticeably depressed these past few days, his appetite much reduced. He used to be able to eat two bowls of rice, but now a small portion of pastries filled him up.
She still had to find a way to improve their meals, and also think hard about how to find Zhong Li Feiyu.