Monsters Are Coming-Chapter 936 - 261: One Million Privileges, A Strange Hometown (Part 2)

"What the hell," the young man suddenly fell to the ground, clutching the back of his head and looking around, finally fixing his gaze on Ji Chen:

"What did you do?"

"Sorry," Ji Chen said, ignoring the teenager, and walked straight to the navigation address floating on his wrist.

One hour later.

"Verification passed, welcome home, master."

A blue light scanned over the door lock, and the metal door automatically slid open.

As he stepped inside, the lights automatically turned on.

"Indoor temperature is 23 degrees Celsius, air quality: excellent."

A voice of the housekeeper came from the ceiling:

"Your heart rate is detected to be high, I suggest you drink a soothing agent."

Ji Chen ignored it, his eyes sweeping over this unfamiliar home, which was his first visit here.

The novel technology he had never encountered made him curious.

The room's overall space had a hexagonal structure, and the walls were made of color-changing smart glass, currently simulating a dawn hue.

An entire wall on the left side was a data display screen, where various indicators of Data City scrolled in real-time, including atmospheric pressure, today's simulated weather, hover traffic flow, regional network load, and more.

After wandering around the room, Ji Chen finally sat down at the computer desk.

He searched everywhere but couldn't find where the power button for the monitor was on the desk.

So Ji Chen crouched down, starting to search under the desk.

"Do you need assistance?" the housekeeper suddenly asked.

"Where is the computer power button?"

"Turning on for you," the housekeeper directly awakened the semi-transparent monitor.

"Where is the mouse?"

"There is currently no mouse device purchased in the room; perhaps you can use the neural sensing wristband you are wearing for control. Would you like to connect?"

"Connect."

Suddenly, the silver-white wristband on his right hand popped up a light prompt, indicating a successful connection.

Ji Chen tried waving his wrist, and the cursor in the picture moved accordingly.

"It's not good to use, a mouse is still more convenient."

"Your thought has been recorded, and an order has been placed for a mouse that fits the size of your palm, which will be delivered in 2 hours."

Upon hearing this, Ji Chen was stunned.

"Don't you need money to place orders?"

"Citizens of Data City are composed of descendants of martyrs from the mechanical war era and top technology talents. According to Chapter 3, Article 7 of the Data City Livelihood Safeguard White Paper, all citizens of Data City enjoy an annual basic consumption quota of 20,000 credit points, 8,500 degrees of electricity, and 20 cubic nano-synthetic material printing permissions."

After hearing the housekeeper's answer, Ji Chen fell into silence.

This world made him feel unfamiliar.

His gaze turned to the monitor, opening the browser.

The navigation page already had: database query.

With curiosity, Ji Chen opened the database query function and entered his name.

Instantly, large amounts of information were listed on the webpage; there were too many people with the same name.

Fortunately, there was a search function in the upper right corner to assist in searching for information.

He adjusted the time to the year 2325, exactly 223 years ago.

Immediately, the information page was halved, and the contents of the search bar changed, with city names becoming entirely different.

He clicked to confirm the city he once lived in and then set the gender to male.

After a search, he found the information he wanted.

[Morning Fog Evening News Society Edition (March 18, 2325)]

Title: Strange Disappearance Case Investigation, Intern Researcher Missing

[Reporter Lin Yueru]: According to the missing persons notice released by the police department today, 27-year-old male Ji Chen has been missing since the night of March 15.

According to colleagues, Ji Chen left the Seventh Research Institute normally after completing his shift that day but never returned to his residence.

Timeline restoration: 18:30 captured by building surveillance entering the elevator alone

18:31 the elevator stopped at the 47th floor, after the door opened, only an empty car was seen...

...

Ji Chen's hand hovered above the file, his fingers trembled slightly.

The blue light of the holographic projection illuminated his face, further deepening the wrinkles etched long ago into his cheeks. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The young photo in the surveillance snapshot in the news made his throat tighten.

That was himself over 200 years ago, wearing the light gray uniform of the Seventh Research Institute, standing in the corner of the elevator.

In the photo, he was looking up at the camera with a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, as if knowing what was to happen next.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his profile page.

The cursor hovered over the search bar for a long time, and finally entered the names of his father Ji Mingyuan and mother Lin Ya.

After searching, his parents' information was presented sequentially.

Ji Mingyuan (Aug 15, 2391, died at the age of 89)

Lin Ya (March 21, 2398, died at the age of 93)

Cemetery coordinates: Sky Park E District Row 7 (removed)

...

Seeing that his parents lived to nearly a hundred years old.

Ji Chen suddenly laughed, but his laughter was mixed with choking sobs.

During the long years away from Earth, he had imagined countless times the silver-haired image of his parents.

He had tried countless times to return, but ultimately he came too late.

"Housekeeper, did they leave any video records?" Ji Chen struggled to make his request.

"Searching... most video data lost, only found a segment left by Lin Ya, parties have deceased, and it exceeds the fifty-year confidentiality period, viewing can be applied for."

"View."

A projection was cast down from the ceiling, and an elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair appeared in the picture, her silver hair neatly combed.

The iconic pursing gesture of his mother made Ji Chen smile knowingly.

"Xiao Xing," his mother's voice was much hoarser than in memory, "keep these old photos well... especially this one."

Her trembling hand raised a yellowing photograph.

Ji Chen held his breath; it was a family photo of the three of them at the entrance of the Seventh Research Institute on his 27th birthday.