“Cough~”
“Cough, cough~”
In the dim, cramped room, a weak, light cough sounded from time to time.
A computer monitor by the wall gave off a cold white glow, illuminating the worn black keyboard and mouse on the desk.
In the corner of the room, on a black wooden bed, a thin figure lay quietly.
Just then, the screen of the phone at the head of the bed suddenly lit up, and the crisp sound of an alarm broke the silence.
The youth slowly opened his eyes, revealing deep, dark pupils. He turned over, then reached out to silence the alarm on his phone. Weary, he sat up from the bed and took a moment to recover.
After a long while, he slowly got to his feet and walked to the window, pulling open the gray curtains.
Bright sunlight immediately poured in through the window, lighting up the entire dim room.
Looking in from outside the window, one could see a youth with a side-parted hairstyle, a frail build, delicate features, and pale lips devoid of much color.
Cough, cough~
The youth coughed lightly beyond his control, then walked over to the old desk and sat down, looking at the computer screen.
On the computer screen, the currently most popular game—Black Interstellar—was running.
The youth opened the auction shop and quickly swept his eyes over rows of data.
Today’s in-game prices had not fallen at all. Instead, just as expected, they had risen a little.
The youth then opened his inventory, preparing to sell off the equipment, items, and game currency he had been hoarding these days.
Cough, cough~
At that moment, the youth began coughing uncontrollably, and the coughing grew worse and worse.
A pained expression appeared on his face, as if he felt his lungs were about to be coughed out.
The youth hurriedly got up and walked to the side, picked up the cough medicine on the table and took a sip, then picked up the immune medicine bottle.
But when he twisted open the bottle, he discovered that it was empty. He quickly pulled open the drawer to get a new one, but after rummaging through it, he found that this type was gone.
He was instantly startled and hurried to the bedside, picking up his phone with trembling hands and operating it.
Ding~
Soon, messages popped up one after another.
“Dear Mr. Long Ming, your registration appointment at Shanchengshan First Central Hospital has been successful. Please proceed there as soon as possible.”
“Dear Mr. Long Ming, your application for a temporary Upper City pass has been approved. It is valid for 24 hours. Please proceed to the Upper District as soon as possible and leave before midnight on March 14, Era Year 120.”
Seeing the message that his application had been approved, Long Ming could not help but let out a sigh of relief.
Afterward, he immediately walked to the simple clothes rack, picked up a gray coat and put it on, wrapped a beige scarf around his neck, changed into a pair of white cloth shoes, then opened the door and walked out into the long, narrow corridor.
Much of the wall plaster in the corridor had already peeled away, revealing patches of rough cement.
Both sides of the corridor were piled with miscellaneous items, and iron doors came into view one after another. There were twenty households living on the entire seventh floor; it could be said to be extremely crowded.
Long Ming lowered his head and coughed lightly as he walked toward the stairwell.
Several minutes later, Long Ming walked out of the old building.
One blackened, towering pigeonhole building after another came into view, blotting out the entire sky.
These buildings were distributed densely and chaotically, giving off an extremely oppressive feeling.
Anyone unfamiliar with this place might even get lost.
Long Ming took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to cough, and slowly walked forward.
After a long while, Long Ming walked out of the East District’s famous concentrated zone—Yunhai.
Although this so-called Yunhai sounded quite elegant, it was in fact a gathering place for the lowest rung of the populace.
“Hoo~”
Long Ming exhaled softly, stretched, and raised his head to look into the distance. Faintly, he could see a gigantic peak piercing straight into the clouds.
That was the place he needed to go.
Immediately afterward, Long Ming raised his hand and pulled his scarf up a little, then walked toward a nearby subway station.
Along the way, electronic screens on the walls of the buildings displayed all kinds of commercial advertisements and news.
Two men wearing gray trench coats, carrying briefcases in their hands and weariness on their faces, brushed past Long Ming while talking.
“The company’s performance hit another new low this year.”
“Yeah, I heard they’re going to lay people off.”
“Sigh, when will this ever end?”
Long Ming paused slightly, then continued walking forward.
This world was called Blue Star. Its original civilization could be said to have been highly developed. However, the asteroid impact fifty years ago had caused everything to undergo earth-shaking changes.
That asteroid impact not only caused massive casualties, but the pollutants carried within the asteroid also spread over a vast area, severely damaging Blue Star’s ecosystem.
The water resources on Blue Star were also heavily contaminated. Even the seas had turned gray. Long-term consumption of contaminated water would erode the body, leading to all kinds of illnesses and the decline of bodily functions.
In addition, the air had become extremely turbid, and a large number of surface-dwelling organisms had gone extinct.
Humanity faced the greatest crisis in history. In order to survive better, the surviving people migrated one after another to areas with less pollution and gathered there, establishing shelter cities.
The three largest shelter cities were Shanchengshan, Star Tower City, and Sin City.
And the city Long Ming was in was Shanchengshan, one of the three great shelter cities.
A moment later, Long Ming arrived at the subway entrance. All ten escalators were filled with passengers coming and going, and the flow of people was extremely dense.
The population of the entire Shanchengshan was enormous, reaching an astonishing 230 million.
Long Ming followed the crowd down the escalator and soon passed through security to arrive at the platform.
Whoosh!
A train over a hundred meters long sped over rapidly and stopped precisely in front of Long Ming and the others.
Immediately afterward, the doors of the carriages opened one after another.
Crowds of passengers got off, while Long Ming and the many waiting passengers boarded the train.
The carriage was extremely crowded, and the seats on both sides were completely occupied.
For a moment, Long Ming was squeezed so tightly that he could not move.
Cough, cough~
Unable to hold it in, Long Ming raised his hand, covered his mouth, and coughed lightly a few times.
For a moment, the passengers beside him heard it, and the way they looked at Long Ming changed somewhat. They all moved aside.
Although Long Ming had long since grown used to it, he still silently lowered his head.
More than two hours later, a pleasant broadcast sounded.
“Dear passengers, the train is arriving at its terminal station, Upper City Station. Passengers disembarking, please prepare to get off.”
Hearing the broadcast, Long Ming slowly raised his head. Accompanied by a slight tremor, the train arrived at the terminal station.
A moment later, Long Ming walked out of the subway entrance and arrived at the base of the mountain peak in the city center.
He raised his head and looked ahead. A gigantic mountain peak came into view. On the surface of the mountain stood a large number of elegant buildings, while steel platforms rose and descended one after another, circling the entire peak from the base and continuously moving up and down. At the top of the peak stood a colossal mechanical pillar that pierced through the mountain and extended toward the sky, its surface emitting a faint halo.
The entire Shanchengshan was divided into three rings. The first ring was the summit of the mountain peak, which was the City Lord’s office area. Only public officials could enter and exit.
The second ring was in the middle of the mountain. The entire middle region expanded outward around the mountain into a huge platform, upon which a prosperous sky city had been built. This place was collectively known as the Upper City, and it was inhabited by elites, financial magnates, and the wealthy.
The third ring was the plain at the foot of the mountain. All the commoners lived here, and this place was also known as the Lower City.
The Upper City and Lower District were separated by high walls. Only a few designated entrances and exits allowed passage, and checkpoints were set up there.
Of course, although they were separated, the people of the Lower District could also enter the Upper District. However, they needed to apply in advance, and only after their application was approved could they enter the Upper District. What they had to take note of, however, was that they needed to leave before the valid period ended. Otherwise, at best they would be fined; at worst, they would be facing a detention package.