A familiar alarm clock rang.
Hope, who was fast asleep, slowly opened her eyes, and the medical pod door opened automatically.
He coughed lightly twice, expelling the remaining liquid from his lungs.
Amid his coughing, a lingering sense of shock and confusion remained in his eyes.
The scenes of the raging wind and rain I witnessed in the square yesterday are still vivid in my mind.
Even the subject of his dream last night was that towering wave.
He struggled to climb out of the medical pod, cleaned himself up a bit, and then lay down on the large bed next to him.
Then, he closed his eyes again, turned over, and called out, "Mill, turn off the alarm clock!"
Mir is his mother's name, and also the name of his personal home smart home assistant.
The moment the alarm clock stopped, a holographic projection automatically unfolded on the bedside table.
A synthesized voice came from a nearby speaker: "Mr. Hope, Mr. Hansent has sent a communication request."
Every time Hope hears that stiff, synthesized voice, a pang of regret rises in her heart.
What a pity.
The Academy of Sciences prohibits the use of real human voices as voiceovers for personal home butlers.
“No.” Hope yawned, then closed her heavy eyelids. “Tell him I’m too sleepy.”
"Okay, message sent."
The room fell silent once more.
In a daze, Hope felt herself drifting off to sleep again.
This time, he watched helplessly as the floodwaters breached the dikes and submerged the entire city of One into the sea.
only……
What's that banging sound in the background?
“Mr. Hope, Hansent is knocking on the door.”
The stiff, synthesized voice sounded again, pulling him out of his dream.
"Damn it...didn't I tell him I was going to sleep?!" Hope, who had been disturbed several times, felt a surge of anger and sat up abruptly in bed. "Mill, turn on the webcam. I want to see what this guy has to say!"
"Activated".
Seeing Hansent standing anxiously outside the door in the holographic image, Hope greeted him irritably, "Hey!"
Upon hearing Hope's voice, Hansent's expression suddenly became agitated: "How dare you speak like that!"
"What time is it and you're still sleeping?"
"Didn't you know the torrential rain outside has stopped?!"
Just waking up, still not fully awake, Hope retorted instinctively, "Heavy rain? What does the stopping of the heavy rain have to do with my sleeping..."
His voice grew softer and softer, as if he had also sensed something was wrong.
Through the loudspeaker, Hansent's tone grew increasingly aggressive: "What's it to you?!"
"Do you know that in five minutes, the Academy of Sciences' drone swarm will be leaving City One?!"
"Don't blame me for not warning you then!"
Hope shuddered again.
He was fully awake.
Seeing that Hansent was about to turn and leave in the holographic image, Hope quickly called out to him.
...
The Hope family home, living room.
Hope, dressed in pajamas and exoskeleton armor, scratched his head with an awkward smile.
As for Hansent, he rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Ahem!" Hope reached out and turned on the holographic projector in the living room. "Watch the live stream, watch the live stream."
Hansent wanted to say something, but his attention was drawn to the images in the holographic projection.
The port at the bottom of City One slowly opened.
Although the drainage system is very powerful, the ground near the port has become muddy after such a heavy rain.
The next moment, the camera angle shifts upwards.
A line of drones filed out of the port.
After circling a few times atop City One, they dispersed in all directions.
The images on the holographic projection began to play in rotation, and each drone only had the opportunity to "appear on camera" when it discovered valuable footage.
First, what greeted Hope and Hansent was an endless expanse of blue ocean.
Unlike the previous small, insignificant bodies of water, this time it is a true ocean.
Zero's introduction then began.
"After the completion of this planetary terraforming project, the area of the five water bodies in the equatorial region of Dawn Star will increase significantly."
"After the original waters merged, they formed the largest ocean on Dawn Star—the New Pacific Ocean."
"Unlike the Pacific Ocean of the Earth era, the new Pacific Ocean has an average depth of 500 meters, with the deepest point being only over 3,000 meters."
"Currently, all six surface cities are located on the edge of the new Pacific Ocean."
"Please trust the quality of the city and the dikes, fellow citizens. There is no danger whatsoever."
"On the contrary, it will bring us a completely new living experience."
Hope stared blankly at the image on the holographic projection, her lips twitching slightly.
You call this a completely new living experience?
If you can speak, then speak more.
Before I could even complain, the camera switched.
This time, the images are from a satellite.
At this time, Dawn Star had become a planet with alternating shades of blue and yellowish-brown.
The aftershocks of the global storm have not yet dissipated, and large amounts of white clouds still float on the planet's surface.
This scene completely stunned Hope and Hansent.
Not only him, but everyone from Earth in the six surface cities was stunned in front of the holographic projection.
Zero's electronic synthesized sound was as bland as ever.
"In order to restore the landscape as accurately as possible from Earth's era, the Academy of Sciences has carried out precise terraforming of Dawn's surface over the past six months."
"Unfortunately, due to technical and time constraints, the renovation project is not perfect."
"In many detailed environmental aspects, Dawn and Earth still have significant differences..."
The scene before Hope's eyes gradually blurred.
A stream of hot tears uncontrollably slid down his cheeks.
That's what Earth looks like!
Even though he was young when he left Earth, even though he hadn't seen what Earth looked like for hundreds of years...
But he still recognized the planet in front of him at a glance.
"Hope! This, this is Earth!!" Hansent's voice trembled beside him.
Hope choked up and couldn't speak for a moment, only nodding repeatedly.
Indeed, this is practically a plus version of Earth!
Although the terrain in some areas is quite different from that of Earth, and although the surface is bare and devoid of any vegetation...
However, the general shape of the coastline and continental plates already resembles the prototype of the Earth!
Hope, her eyes brimming with tears, stared at the holographic projection before her and murmured to herself, "It was worth it..."
Centuries of wandering and fleeing, at this moment, it was all worth it!
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