The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 33 Uninvited Guest

When Yu Qing and his group arrived on the first floor, they nodded to the service staff as much as possible, but two people who were selecting goods looked at them warily.

This was the first time Yu Qing had encountered real people since leaving the First Amusement Park. He couldn't help but get excited and wanted to go over and shake hands with them.

But seeing the way they looked at him, he hesitated.

He realized that he might just be wishful thinking. After all, they only looked like humans, but they might be fundamentally different from him.

Yu Qing soon noticed that their hands and feet were particularly short, while their bodies appeared disproportionately long and straight, but their overall height was not long.

From an aesthetic point of view, their body shapes are too disproportionate.

Yu Qing knew that even if he only showed the slightest hint of mockery at this moment, it could bring a lot of unexpected trouble.

So he said to them with utmost humility, "It's a pleasure to meet you all, good afternoon!"

The two men replied expressionlessly, "Good afternoon."

After saying that, they left quietly.

Yu Qing felt a little disappointed. He had imagined the scene of reuniting with humans, a scene so exciting, full of happiness and warmth. Who knew that the actual scene would be so shabby and unbearable.

Perhaps Chang'e was right; they cannot even be classified as human beings on a legal level.

But they clearly still have the same language and way of thinking as humans. This world has become too complicated, leaving him somewhat at a loss.

Yao Dan nudged Yu Qing: "Husband, are you alright? Those... they've gone far away..."

Yu Qing said, "I know. What kind of things are sold on this floor? Is there anything we need?"

Chang'e and the others chattered on and on, pointing here and there but unable to explain what they were doing. Clearly, they had never seen these things before and had no idea what they were for.

At this moment, a service representative approached Yu Qing warmly and said with a smile, "Mr. Yu, may I have the honor of introducing the products here to you?"

Yu Qing said, "Of course. But before I introduce it, may I ask if you have any flight suits here with longer battery life and better quality?"

After saying that, he lifted the flight suit on Yao Dan's body and gestured to the humanoid girl that he wanted to buy some similar products.

The humanoid woman smiled and said, "Sir, I may not be able to help you. Such flight suits have not been produced for over forty years, and we have no stock."

"Oh, why? Is nobody buying them?"

"Sir, the main thing is that people's modes of transportation have changed. In ancient times, people relied on walking and riding horses, and later cars, trains, and airplanes appeared."

Later, public transportation became very developed, and the maximum speed of vehicles between cities reached 8000 kilometers per hour, while commuting between nearby places could be done at 1000 kilometers per hour.

Therefore, people do not need dedicated transportation; they only need auxiliary devices that connect transportation stations to their doorsteps. This is why flight suits and zero-gravity backpacks for carrying luggage have emerged.

However, with the precipitous decline in population, the occupancy rate of public transportation became increasingly low, sometimes even operating with zero passengers. Eventually, the only solution was to drastically reduce the frequency of services, or even suspend some routes. In some cities, services were only offered once a month in the last month.

At this time, specialized vehicles began to become popular again. However, flight suits were too slow, had limited range, and were affected by weather, so they gradually fell out of use and became more like toys.

"So what kind of dedicated modes of transportation are popular now?" Yu Qing asked.

The humanoid girl laughed and said, "Every few decades is a cycle, and now we've returned to the automobile era of more than a hundred years ago. That is to say, things that were almost obsolete more than a hundred years ago have become fashionable again."

Yao Dan eagerly interjected, "Introduce us to the most fashionable one..."

The humanoid girl pointed to a flying car that could carry two people and said, "This kind of car, which can go up in the sky, go into the sea, and run on land, is the most popular. You can buy one for only 1800 million RB."

"Do you have a six-seater version?" Yu Qing asked.

The humanoid girl exclaimed in surprise, "My God, that's not true. Even families of three are very rare now, let alone families of six."

Yu Qing pointed at Chang'e and the others and said, "I can't just leave these guys behind when I go out, can I?"

The humanoid girl exclaimed, "I think you might have misunderstood. The seats are for human use. They can be put in the suitcase. Seven or eight can fit in."

Chang'e urged, "My lord, let's buy one. We can stack them in our suitcases."

"I wonder how far it can fly?"

"2000 kilometers by solo flight, 6500 kilometers by land, and 4000 kilometers by water."

Yu Qing was overjoyed. He thought that if he took this thing to the Second Amusement Park, there would be no more twists and turns like before. He immediately decided to buy two of them.

The humanoid woman repeatedly confirmed whether this was true, because the humanoid woman upstairs had already transmitted Yu Qing's information down, describing him as "rich but indecisive."

Yu Qing said, "I'm sure I want two."

The humanoid woman immediately processed the transaction for him and had him place his hands on the dashboard and look at the screen to confirm ownership.

The humanoid girl said, "You can give it a name, and it will obey your commands just like the humanoid girl."

"That sounds cool. Let's call one 'Second Sister' and the other 'Third Sister.' By the way, they won't get jealous, will they?"

The humanoid girl said, "They have no emotional functions; they just faithfully carry out your instructions but won't do anything dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"For example, if you command it to hit a person or a target, it will not do it. It will only do what you tell it to do safely."

"Can I unfold it into a bed to sleep in?"

"Yes, it unfolds into a closed or open bed. You can test it now."

Yu Qing laughed and said, "Second Sister, I want to sleep in a safe and secluded bed!"

At this moment, the second sister of the flying car replied, "Okay, master, please sit down first, otherwise I can only unfold into an open bed. Of course, I can close it up again after you lie down."

"Then let's open it up first."

The second sister immediately got to work, stretching and widening the car, putting the two seats together, and a compressed blanket and pillow popped out from the backrest and unfolded on top instantly.

Yu Qing jumped up eagerly, shouting, "This is so much fun!"

Daji hurriedly asked, "My dear, what should we do then?"

Yu Qing asked the humanoid girl, "Can they also command these two cars?"

"Yes, you can enable their subsidiary licensing bindings."

Following the instructions of the humanoid maiden, Yu Qing granted Chang'e and the others permission to use the flying car. After hesitating for a moment, he said to Daji, "You and I will ride together. You've been circling around me all day."

Chang'e and Yao Dan were naturally a little unhappy, so Yu Qing said to them, "Daji is the eldest, so let's start with her and take turns. You two can sit as the third sister, okay?"

Chang'e and Yaodan got into the third sister's room. Yu Qing said, "Second sister, third sister, let's stop on the roof of the tallest building in Malu."

But neither car moved. Yu Qing looked at the humanoid girl questioningly.

The humanoid girl smiled and said, "Sir, you can't unfold into a bed when you're exercising. Also, the tallest building in Malu is the spire, where you can't park at all. However, they will gradually learn your command habits and try their best to achieve the parts of your instructions that are achievable."

"Yes, yes, I understand. Second sister, put away your bed. Let's fly over to the vicinity of the tallest building in Maluo and take a look! Third sister, come along!"

The second sister quickly returned to normal, even automatically folding up the blanket and pillow and compressing them onto the back of the seat.

Then it slowly drove out of the lobby on the first floor, and after reaching an open space, it spread its wings and took flight. The two cars flew forward one after the other.

Before long, they arrived near the top of the tower, where they saw Furong carrying Yan'er on her back, standing foolishly on one leg, waiting for Yu Qing and the others to join them.

The second and third sisters circled the spire twice, but Furong ignored them until Yuqing called them a few times, at which point she noticed the person sitting in the car.

Yu Qing had his second sister fly to a spacious rooftop and stop, and then Furong flew over as well.

Furong circled the car a few times like a country bumpkin, saying, "Honey, this flight suit is so big!"

Chang'e laughed and said, "This isn't a flight suit, it's called a car."

Yao Dan said, "This car is called Second Sister, and that one is called Third Sister."

Yu Qing said, "We were so happy just now that we forgot I haven't eaten for almost a day. Can any of you go and get something to eat?"

Yao Dan said, "I'll sit with Third Sister!"

Chang'e and the others clamored to go along. Clearly, they hadn't had their fill yet.

"Go, all of you go," Yu Qing said. But he secretly tugged at Daji's hand, and Daji understood; only she stayed behind.

After Chang'e and the others left, Yu Qing had his second sister unfold the bed, where he and Daji flirted and joked to their hearts' content.

"If we had made this thing earlier, we wouldn't have suffered so much!"

"Honey, it looks like we can get to the Second Paradise in the next day or two. We can skip the 'soothing' thing and just fly there."

"Yes, that should be the case. We'll set off after I've eaten."

Daji pouted and rested her head on Yu Qing's shoulder, saying, "Darling, I want to stay here with you for the night."

Yu Qing pondered for a moment and said, "This... is fine too..."

Chang'e and the others had already found food, but they hadn't had enough fun, so they let their third sister wander around Maluo a few times before finally returning to Yuqing.

Yu Qing waited for a long time but Chang'e and the others didn't return, so he fell asleep with Daji in his arms. Chang'e and the others knew they were in the wrong and didn't dare to disturb them, so they squeezed into the carriage and slept lightly until they woke up the next morning.

When Chang'e opened the car door and stepped out, she was stunned by what she saw.

The rooftop was now densely packed with cars of all shapes and sizes.

With this situation, no one can fly away anymore. Yao Dan hurriedly ran to her second sister and knocked on the window.

Yu Qing was startled awake by the noise. When he came out, he was stunned by the scene before him.

He blurted out, "What the hell is going on?"

At this moment, the other car doors opened one after another, and short, burly men stepped out of each car and walked straight toward him with smiles.

He was somewhat flustered, but these people didn't seem to have any ill intentions, otherwise they wouldn't have quietly surrounded his car last night.

Those people stretched out their short, thick hands to greet him.

He hurriedly nodded and bowed, saying, "Good morning! Good morning!"

One of them grasped his hand tightly and said, “On behalf of the people of Maluo, I welcome our most honored guest to our humble abode. You are too modest; how could you rest in such a desolate place? Look, we all stayed up all night to keep watch for you.”

Although Yu Qing felt that the other person's hand was cold, he felt lazy.

He said excitedly, "I really don't deserve this honor. I was just passing by and didn't want to disturb you."

"Mr. Yu, please don't stand on ceremony. We would like to host a grand welcome party for you. We would be honored if you could join us."

Yu Qing said emotionally, "But...but I don't deserve it!"

The man said emotionally, "You deserve it. In a sense, you are our ancestor, our root."

Yu Qing suddenly understood why they had welcomed him. Genetically speaking, he was the purest and most complete human being, while these people had gone far beyond that.

He's not even sure if he's one of them anymore.

But he knew that the more this was the case, the more careful he had to be with his words and actions, and to extend the greatest goodwill to the other party.

In this situation, it would be very inappropriate for him to refuse their hospitality, so he replied, "Then... I shall respectfully accept."

The man excitedly told the others, "Brothers, Mr. Yu has agreed!"

Yu Qing asked cautiously, "Brother... how should I address you?"

The man replied, "Please call me Yuling."

Then, as if reporting the news, Yu Ling shouted to the others:

"Brothers, Mr. Yu is very friendly; he calls us brothers. Please drive away one by one, and we'll escort him to the banquet!"

So, the cars parked at the edge drove one by one to a slightly more open area, spread their wings, and flew away. Soon, the area around Yu Qing was cleared up, and Yu Ling said to him:
"You can fly now too. However... however... our party is for people only, so..."

"You mean my humanoid beauties can't come along, right?"

"I'm sorry... there were only people at the party..."

Yu Qing said somewhat displeased, "I have already granted them the same rights as other people, I'm truly sorry..."

Yu Ling hurriedly said, "In that case... how about you bring two along? After all, the party is full of people."

Yu Qing couldn't insist any longer, so he pointed to Chang'e and Yao Dan and said, "You two come with me. Daji, take Furong and Yan'er and wait here."

Chang'e and Yaodan immediately squeezed into one of Ermei's seats, while Yuqing sat in another. He told Ermei, "Follow those cars in front closely; wherever they go, go there."

After the second sister took off, Yu Ling's car followed closely behind.

Yu Qing suddenly felt uneasy again. He worried that the party might not be as simple as it seemed, and that there might be risks he was unaware of.

But now the die is cast, and there's no turning back. Hopefully, things won't get out of control.

(End of this chapter)