Chapter 23: This World

In her previous life, Luo Yan was an otaku.

In this life, although she had become a girl, during the two idle days she spent at home, she still maintained the “excellent style” of staying indoors.

As for meals, she always chose fast food delivery.

Although such a lifestyle was energy-efficient, for Luo Yan—who had no income and no savings—even these seemingly trivial expenses were actually a problem.

Fortunately, she was currently in a state of being “kept” by the young lady Lu —

Lu Xiao Na, as a way of repaying her, had given her a generous sum of money as a thank-you gift. So, for the time being, she didn’t need to worry about money.

In fact, at her current spending rate, she probably wouldn’t need to worry about food or clothing for the next few years.

If this were a peaceful era, Luo Yan wouldn’t mind being a salted fish who just ate and waited to die.

But in this world full of crises—where a bento box could arrive at any time—she constantly felt a sense of unease.

Moreover, having transmigrated into a girl, she was now a veritable “femme fatale.”

If she didn’t work hard, she might one day become a human (R) weapon (B) (Q).

If that ever happened, it would be more unacceptable to her than death.

So, while it seemed like she was just lazing around at home, before Lu Xiao Na came to find her, she was actually busy researching the growth pattern of photon count.

Staying at home was simply a way to reduce external variables and accurately measure photon acquisition efficiency in a completely energy-saving state.

As for watching dramas and anime every day and browsing various social forums with great interest—it wasn’t because she was lazy, but because these were necessary acts to better understand the culture and customs of this city and this world.

To survive long-term in an unfamiliar world, aside from having enough strength, gathering intelligence was crucial.

At certain times, the consequences of information asymmetry could be fatal.

She remembered a saying from her previous life: To understand a country, one must first understand its culture.

And the fastest way to understand a country’s culture was to start with its popular media—film, television, entertainment, and the internet.

Some classic TV dramas and literary works could even be seen as another kind of encyclopedia.

After some in-depth exploration, Luo Yan discovered that although the two worlds followed similar world lines, the environmental changes brought about by the Millennium Anomaly had deeply influenced this world’s pop culture.

In her previous life, entertainment and cultural works with ability-based themes had their fair share of fans. But compared to this world, they were nothing.

Here, not only was the audience for ability-themed content far larger, but the theoretical depth of ability system construction far exceeded that of her previous world.

After all, in her past world, abilities were just fantasy—wild imagination with no grounding.

But in this world, abilities truly existed, and that made all the difference.

So, if someone wanted to create content related to abilities here—whether it be film, variety shows, novels, or comics—they needed solid theoretical knowledge as a foundation.

Anyone who got it wrong would be mercilessly criticized.

Under the backdrop and tone of the times, most creative works carried a subtle sense of heaviness.

The sand sculpture style that had been popular in her past life didn’t resonate as much in this world.

People walking through sorrow and despair didn’t just crave simple joy—they needed hope and faith.

After browsing online for two days, Luo Yan also discovered something else.

Although the global map was riddled with contaminated zones and wastelands, this didn’t stop people from staying connected through the internet.

In other words, this world still maintained a concept of global internet.

But in these special circumstances, different countries and cities remained highly guarded against each other.

Whether in the real world or online, everyone had their own “walls.”

Even if there were “ladders” on the internet, long-distance connection speeds across regions were abysmal.

While she had faced similar issues in her past life, the situation there was far better.

After all, in her previous world, nations were the main political entities. But in this world, actual countries were rare.

In contrast, city clusters were more common, and each city had its own wall.

The difficulty of inter-regional connection was self-evident.

[Does any big shot have a free ladder? I heard there’s a new mobile game in Asia called “Queen Connect Re:Dive”—seems pretty popular. I want to try it too…]

[Don’t even think about it. With the full ping delay, you’ll go crazy just trying to climb trees in guild battles.]

[Sigh, I hope our city gets the rights for “Queen Connect.” I really want to play… it’s so frustrating.]

[Borrowing this thread—does any old bro have that kind of resource…]

After browsing for a bit, she found that most discussions about ladders followed this kind of style.

Luo Yan shook her head and smiled wryly.

In her past life, playing foreign server games had been relatively easy as long as there was an agent.

But this world, with its many semi-independent networks, was clearly much more frustrating.

“Overall, in terms of the internet—not counting environmental impacts—the technical level of this world should be similar to my past life. Of course, I mean the general level. As for the Neo Aonan region, with its 5G-like network, it’s already ahead of many first-tier cities from my old world.”

“What’s even more bizarre is that while many technologies—including the internet—are similar to my past life, this world has somehow made shocking advancements in other areas. It’s unreal.”

Luo Yan stared at the forward-looking information scrolling across the screen, clicking her tongue in amazement.

She had already felt this stark contrast on her very first day in Neo Aonan, when she saw those sci-fi-like drones and patrol robots.

But this strange sense of dissonance finally reached its peak over the past two days, when she read about the Lunar Star Project and the Sky Ladder Project.

The Lunar Star Project was a space initiative jointly led by the two major political entities of this world—the Republic of Asia and the Europa Union—alongside participation from the US-Canada Federation, the Kingdom of Britain, and several independent cities.

Its aim was to establish a lunar base on Blue Star’s natural satellite, both as a stepping stone for humanity’s venture into space and as a demonstration of inter-human cooperation.

As for the other project, it left Luo Yan even more stunned.

This project could be summarized in a single line:

Soaring ninety thousand miles straight up.