"That... robot, can it really operate for that long?"
After leaving the ecological park, Shuang Xin looked behind her and asked.
"If there is energy supply, it should be about the same?"
Lu Ban felt that the lifespan of electronic products was not very long. A mobile phone would break down after four or five years of use. But on second thought, if these consumer electronic products were very durable, the merchants probably wouldn't make any money, so maybe these things were deliberately made to have such a short lifespan.
Because things like space telescopes and artificial satellites can operate for decades in such harsh environments in the universe, Lu Ban thinks it's not that people can't make such durable things, it's just that they don't want to.
Not to mention, the technological level in the Future City should have surpassed his time, and perhaps the robots here will be able to repair themselves automatically.
Arriving at Building A3, Lu Ban swiped his card to open the door.
This place is more like a snack street or a commercial street than a restaurant.
The dazzling array of shops inside made Lu Ban feel like he was back home.
However, the store is full of robots. These robots are not as delicate as Lin’s, and have a more machine-like texture. They sit quietly in the store like tombstones.
Lu Ban arrived at the door of a store that sold noodles and swiped his card.
"Excuse me, what kind of noodles would you like?"
Lu Ban ordered two bowls of the same beef ramen, and was somewhat curious about what would be served.
After a moment, the robot turned around and came to the two of them.
"I'm very sorry, but we are unable to make beef ramen due to insufficient ingredients."
"Is that so..."
Lu Ban tried to order some more, but found that there was a shortage of raw materials.
It is estimated that these robots have the function of identifying whether food has spoiled, so they detected that the ingredients in the warehouse had already rotted and were unable to make food.
"I'm very sorry, this is a coupon provided by our store. It can be used in any store in Future City Commercial Street."
The robot handed over two coupons.
"Thanks."
Lu Ban took the coupon and thought it would probably be of no use.
He looked around the clothing store. The aesthetic taste of people in this world was similar to that of his time, but the clothes were already soft and rotten and could no longer be worn.
"bookstore?"
Shuangxin soon saw a store that interested her.
She went into the shop, eager to find books from old times.
However, the scene before her stunned her.
In the bookstore, there were only screens, and the tablets were locked on the tables, and the screens had turned black.
"It seems they no longer use paper to make books."
Lu Ban thought of the newspaper he had read before. This store was probably some kind of cutting-edge metaverse bookstore, and all the stuff was in electronic format.
"I thought I'd find some books from that era."
Frost Heart felt a little regretful.
Sizzle, sizzle—
At this time, the sound of machinery running was heard from outside the store.
Lu Ban stuck his head out and saw that it was a sweeping robot that was cleaning. The cylindrical robot passed by one store after another, and the robots in the stores just looked at it quietly, creating a rather strange picture.
"It looks like there's nothing to eat here, so let's call the singer and Setsuna over first."
Lu Ban suggested.
The two men rode the camel worm back to their hiding place, explained the general situation, and then the four of them returned to the ecological park.
"Welcome to the Future City Ecological Park. I am Lin, the guardian of the Ecological Park. I am happy to guide you to visit this park. Please join me in entering the world of nature."
As soon as I entered the park, I heard the clear voice of the robot girl.
"Ah, there are two guests, and there are new guests. Welcome."
She seemed happy, although Lu Ban was not sure whether this "happiness" was a false emotional expression given to her by a mechanical code.
“Is this a human?”
Even after listening to Frost Heart's explanation on the way, the singer still found it incredible.
"Hello, I'm a demonstration robot, you can call me Lin."
The robot girl said cheerfully, seeming proud of being a robot.
"There will be a free special show at the Ecological Park at 7pm. You are welcome to come and watch it."
Then he started selling it.
It seems like she was very interested in that special.
"Let's go check out the residential area."
Lu Ban suggested.
Lin bowed to the four people again, as if this was her mission.
According to Lin, A4 to A10 are all residential buildings.
Lu Ban came to the door of A4.
After swiping his card to enter, he saw the elevator and a row of densely packed doors.
Because this is the sales office's universal card, he can open any door. He opened one and found that the room was only about 6 or 7 square meters, with a bed and a narrow aisle. Apart from that, there was nothing else. It was difficult to even put a table there.
Lu Ban thought of what they had talked about before: a small apartment or a shared house.
He was originally curious about how these buildings could accommodate thousands of people, but now it seems that, let alone thousands of people, even tens of thousands can accommodate them.
These houses can only be used for sleeping, playing games or watching TV on the screen in the room. There are no windows, and you need to go to the public bathroom on each floor to take a shower and go to the toilet, and you have to swipe your card to use it.
It looks more like a beehive than a house for people.
Lu Ban could almost imagine what kind of living conditions these people who lived here usually had.
In the morning, accompanied by the alarm clock for work, they swarm out like a swarm of bees, and the whole city falls into silence. In the evening, these people return to the Future City, have dinner on the commercial street, take a walk in the ecological park, and finally lie back in their own little houses. Another day has passed.
The ecological park and commercial street were probably built to prevent the living conditions here from being too depressing.
There seemed to be signs of someone living in the room, but it was already mottled, and only the messy bed refused to be taken care of.
The four people investigated dozens of rooms in succession. Some of the rooms were dirty and some had rotten clothes and damaged electronic equipment. It was obvious that the people living there left in a hurry but decisively.
"Maybe the people here got the news of the disaster, so they left for the shelter early."
Lu Ban made a preliminary inference.
The houses here are all the same with no difference in layout. According to Lu Ban's speculation, there should be an industrial park nearby.
If there really is a swarm of insects, perhaps they are lurking there.
The four of them investigated the place again. As it was getting dark, they returned to the ecological park and prepared to get something to eat.
“Excuse me, is the food in the commercial street bad?”
Seeing this, Lin asked with some concern.
“There’s no more food over there.”
Lu Ban replied.
"It's a shame. The noodle shops on the shopping street are quite good and they serve noodles from all over the world. The one I recommend most is the beef ramen, which is made of fine and flexible noodles with large slices of beef. The soup is rich and spicy."
Lin introduced them as if they were her own children.
"Have you eaten it?"
Lu Ban asked subconsciously.
“Although I haven’t tried it, the beef ramen has a 97 percent favorable rating, which I think is quite high.”
Lin said with certainty.
For machines, 1 is 1 and 0 is 0, and there is no room for ambiguous evaluations.
"But don't worry, the current situation is only temporary. After a while, the supply personnel will arrive, and by then, the commercial street will be reopened."
She said it with the same certainty, as if it were an established fact.