Chapter 8: Twisted, contradictory, and strangely balanced.
After seeing the two brothers off, Nan Qi lay on the bed and recalled Carter's words, feeling a little complicated.
This world was far more complex than he had imagined. It was said that males were superior and females were inferior, but not all male insects were superior.
Low-level male insects, like female insects, are also exploited. Even because of their poor physical fitness and combat effectiveness, female insects of the same level may become targets of bullying.
After all, there are many cases where victims change their identities and become perpetrators, bullying people/insects weaker than themselves, and getting the pleasure of dominating the fate of others/insects, whether in their original world or in this strange world.
No insect cares about the life or death of useless creatures, and the same goes for those organizations that nominally protect male insects.
Rather than saying that this is a world where men are superior to women, it is better to say that this is a world where the strong prey on the weak, and the truly strong are bound by so-called laws and physical defects.
There are contradictions and distortions everywhere, yet a strange balance is achieved.
"How strange." Nan Qi murmured, "Too strange, it seems I have to be more careful in the future, after all..."
After all, he is not an F-class male insect at all, not even a male insect, but an SSS-class sentinel from another world with the spirit form of a nine-tailed cat.
Nan Qi slowly exhaled, closed his eyes, and prepared to take a rest when there was a knock on the door.
"Mr. Ed, we are the workers sent by Manager Lunk to help you install the game cabin," the bug knocking on the door said politely, "Please open the door."
Nan Qi sighed and thought that he probably wouldn’t be able to take a nap today.
He stood up and opened the door. There were two female insects and two sub-female insects standing outside the door. The female insects were taller and more muscular, while the sub-female insects had smoother body lines than the female insects.
The leader was a female insect. Seeing Nan Qi open the door, she gave him a perfectly normal smile and said, "This is our company's top-end gaming cabin, which combines competition and leisure. May I ask where you plan to place it?"
Nan Qi's house is a bit small, but the game console is quite large. It would be a bit of an inconvenience no matter where he puts it. Nan Qi was a bit troubled for a while.
At this moment, the leading female insect said again: "Manager Lunk has instructed that if Mr. Ed doesn't mind, he can provide you with an apartment to stay in temporarily. You can stay there during the competition."
"If your grades are good enough, the apartment can be given to you completely."
Nan Qi did not agree immediately, so he reminded himself to be careful and not to rashly move into an apartment arranged for him by others just because he had no place to put his game console.
After thinking for a while, he said, "You guys wait here for a while."
After saying that, Nan Qi closed the door directly and ignored the bugs waiting outside.
The leading female insect had no objection and kept smiling politely even when being locked outside the door by Nan Qi, showing great professionalism.
Twenty minutes later, Carter ran over panting, knocked on the door, and handed a key to Nan Qi.
Nan Qi opened the door next door with the key and said to the leading female insect: "You can install the game cabin in this room."
The leading female insect glanced around the barren room and smiled, "Sure, whatever you think is convenient, Mr. Ed."
Then he looked at the bugs he had brought with him: "Don't just stand there, follow Mr. Ed's instructions and quickly install and debug the game cabin."
"Yes." Ji Chong responded, pushed the game console into the room, and started installing it quickly.
The leading female insect also walked in and guided her colleagues in the installation while explaining to Nan Qi how to use the game cabin.
After it was installed, Nan Qi was asked to lie down in it. The length of the cabin was adjusted according to Nan Qi's height so that Nan Qi's body could be more stretched and comfortable to cope with the upcoming high-intensity competition.
After all this was done, the leading female insect said, "Manager Lunke has arranged a sparring partner for you according to the training schedule you gave him. Your sparring partner will arrive at the sparring room on time after 7:00 PM every night. Manager Lunke has sent you the room number and password, so please check it."
Nan Qi: "Thank you."
"It's what we should do." The leading female insect bowed. "I look forward to your praise."
After saying this, the leading female insect left with her colleagues in a neat and tidy manner.
Carter looked at the backs of the insects, then looked at Nan Qi and scratched his head.
"Nan Qi, why don't you agree to them? The new apartment is definitely better than here. Didn't you say that if you can be comfortable, you should be comfortable?"
Nan Qi retracted his gaze, ruffled Carter's hair, and chuckled softly. Adult males have relatively deep voices, and when they chuckle, the resonance of their throat, nasal cavity, and chest cavity creates a particularly magnetic and pleasant sound.
Carter was originally pulling Nan Qi's hand to rub his hair, but was nailed to the spot by this laugh, and his face turned a little red.
She seemed embarrassed, and also angry. She was angry that she stood there in a daze after Nan Qi laughed, allowing Nan Qi to ruffle her hair into a bird's nest.
Nan Qi thought this kid was really amusing, and said in a gentler voice, "Carter, there's no reward without merit. They've added benefits to the terms we agreed on before. I don't think they'll value my performance today that much."
Carter muttered, "I don't understand what you're saying. As long as you don't regret it, that's all that matters. Siphis said this room is 100 star coins a month. Don't forget to rent it to him later."
"Okay, I understand. Thank you for making this trip for me." Nan Qi ruffled Carter's hair again, took out a handful of chocolate from his pocket and stuffed it into Carter's hand. "Go back. It's too late and your brother will be worried."
Carter held the candy, wanting to return it to Nan Qi, but feeling reluctant, and struggling internally.
Their Tro system is full of mountains and forests, rich in minerals, and produces various energy crystals and precious metals, and its industry is extremely developed.
Also because of the rich minerals, there are very few flat and fertile lands suitable for cultivation, and the Zerg are numerous. The products produced in their own galaxy are not enough to supply themselves, and they rely almost entirely on imports, so things are naturally expensive.
Of course, this expensive price is only for these poor bugs. For those ordinary bugs that are not on the most marginal planets, it is only slightly expensive, not unaffordable.
And Porter Star isn't just remote.
Porter Star is located at the intersection of two galaxies, and the galaxy where they intersect is the galaxy where their mortal enemy, the Star Beast Clan, is located.
It's good enough that the star beasts don't come to plunder them, how can they possibly trade with them?
Therefore, the variety of food on Potter Star is extremely scarce, and this beautifully packaged chocolate is extremely expensive, costing 20 star coins per piece.
A bag of nutritional supplements costs only 10 star coins, and the best is no more than 20 star coins, but a bag of nutritional supplements can fill your stomach, while a piece of chocolate can't do anything.
He and Arnold worked so hard that their combined monthly salary was only 4,000 star coins. He couldn't even dream of having this kind of chocolate.
Carter looked at the delicious chocolate in his hand with nostalgia and took a deep breath. "You, you should take the chocolate back. I promise that as long as you win, I will be at your disposal and you don't have to give me anything."
After much deliberation, Carter decided to return the chocolates to Nan Qi. They were too expensive, and he was a man of his word, so he couldn't take Nan Qi's things.
Nan Qi was surprised that Carter still remembered this incident, but she also felt that Carter was truly principled. He seemed sharp and awkward, and unforgiving in his words, but in reality, he was trustworthy and enthusiastic.
Maybe it was because of the bad environment that made Carter sensitive and mean, but we still have to admit that this child has a good nature.
He didn't say anything about the bet being void, nor did he take back the chocolate. Instead, he said in a commanding tone, "You said you would do whatever I ordered and listen to me. Now I order you to take some chocolate home. Do you obey me or not?"
"Hmph, you don't know what's good for you." Carter cursed and turned to run, but Nan Qi saw the corner of Carter's mouth raised.
"Little brat." Nan Qi cursed with a smile, turned around and went into his newly rented house.
Since he couldn't sleep, he might as well play the game and get to know it better.
Nan Qi did it right away. He locked the door, lay down in the game cabin, and entered the game.
***
Beep, beep—
A series of sounds pulled Bai out of his work state. He picked up the Star Brain next to him, took a look, stood up, walked out of the study, and entered the room next to it.
The room was very empty. Apart from a gaming console similar to Nan Qi's and a desktop Star Computer, there was nothing else in it.
When Bai went in, the housework robot was busy cleaning the room, waving its little gauze-like wings. The blue and red colors made the robot look very beautiful.
Seeing Bai coming in, the robot insect flapped its wings and flew in front of Bai: "Bai, Lily is cleaning."
"Lily, go and rest." Bai gently tapped Lily's little wings, "I need to use the room."
"Okay, Bai. In half an hour, it will be time for you to take your medicine. Please set the game time and don't forget."
"Yeah, I see." Bai flicked Lily's little wings again, "Thanks for the reminder."
"You're welcome. This is what Lily should do." Lily flew around Bai in a circle before flying downstairs to charge. Before leaving, she carefully helped Bai close the door.
Bai withdrew his gaze, opened the game cabin, and lay down in. After the cabin door closed, he did not obediently set the game timer to half an hour, but entered the game directly.
There is a barrier between the virtual and reality of the game. Even for the most advanced and sophisticated gaming cabin, it takes some time for the data to be transmitted after connecting to the neurons.
The specific feeling is like traveling on a starship and the small vibration that occurs when jumping through space.
It's obvious, but when there is no real jump, it's unbearable for the insects.
This kind of tremor can actually be reduced to a negligible level by adjusting the data, but the game company did not make any adjustments in this regard in order to prevent players from confusing reality and virtuality.
It even deepens the tremor players feel when entering and exiting the game to remind them of the transition between reality and virtuality.
Bai opened his eyes as usual after the tremors stopped. He thought that it would be the same as usual, and what he would see was a group of insects with enthusiastic smiles, eager to see who would win.
In fact, the enthusiastic voices of the insects were still ringing in his ears, but what he saw was a face with a half-delicate metal mask and a slightly raised mouth corner.
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