The car entered the Upper City District.
“My God…”
Qiao Anni couldn’t help but gasp, nearly pressing her face against the car window.
After all, this place was a world apart from where she had been living for days.
The filthy, sewage-strewn old neighborhoods and squat buildings were gone.
The listless pedestrians and grotesque thugs on the streets had noticeably dwindled, replaced by office workers hurrying past.
Elevated bridges snaked between the buildings, and massive holographic fish swam through the city.
Several pitch-black aircraft weaved through the steel jungle along the indicator lights between the high-rises.
It was hard to imagine that two suchๆช็ถไธๅ scenes were separated only by a single wall.
“Welcome to the Upper City District,” Bres said.
“To this entire city, this is where ‘people’ begin.”
“If this is where people begin, then what are the residents of the Lower City District?” Qiao Anni asked.
Letting out a sigh, Bres gave his answer.
“Consumables. The vast majority of them.”
So the residents of the Lower City District weren’t even considered people to Nightless City?
The scenes she had seen upon arriving surfaced in Qiao Anni’s mind.
She once again realized what kind of world she was in.
Just then, a strange object in the distance caught Qiao Anni’s attention.
“And what’s that?”
Qiao Anni raised her hand, pointing at a huge hemispherical dome in the center of the city.
The sphere was probably several thousand meters in diameter, and its surface, made of unknown building materials, reflected a mysterious light under the sun.
“That’s the Dome,” Bres said, looking at the mysterious sphere.
“If the gap between the Upper and Lower City Districts is the ‘Urban District Gap,’ then that place is the true ‘Another World.’ At least Olivia and I have never seen what’s inside.”
Qiao Anni noticed that countless “tentacles” extended from the sphere, reaching every corner of the city.
“And those?”
“Pipes,” Olivia replied this time.
“Essential goods and important resources are transported to the Dome through those pipes every day in large quantities.”
Qiao Anni stared at the enormous, eerie sphere.
It sat quietly in the center of Nightless City, absorbing the city’s nutrients to sustain itselfโ
“It’s just like a tumor,” she blurted out without thinking.
“Haha, I like that analogy,” Bres laughed.
“But don’t let the higher-ups or the police hear that… Oops.”
Both of them looked at Olivia in the driver’s seat.
Olivia just shook her head and continued driving.
Though she couldn’t say it openly, she actually shared the same view.
From clean water to money, the Dome and the Upper City District had taken most of the resources.
That was a major reason Nightless City had developed into its current state.
Still, she probably had no right to say that, she thought with a bitter smile.
Wasn’t she also one of the beneficiaries?
Olivia shifted her gaze from Bres and Qiao Anni in the rearview mirror, looking out the window.
She looked past the cars ahead, past the blinking traffic lights, past the bustling city, toward the distance.
Nightless City needed change.
But who could achieve it?
Even if it was just her wishful thinking…
“I hope things will change someday.”
Her voice was barely audible, instantly drowned out by the roar of the engine.
The car stopped in front of a delicately decorated clothing store.
“Wait for me a minute. I’ll go park the car.”
With those words, Olivia drove off and disappeared behind the store.
Qiao Anni and Bres stood at the entrance of the clothing store.
It was early summer, and the morning sun scorched the asphalt road.
Heat waves shimmered and stung the skin.
Within minutes of leaving the car’s air conditioning, Bres was already drenched in sweat.
“I’m dying of heat… Don’t you feel anything at all?”
Bres tugged at his collar, fanning himself with his hand endlessly.
“I don’t really feel it…”
Qiao Anni shook her head.
Although she could register the fact of “heat,” her body wasn’t secreting much sweat.
That seemed to be another effect of her modification.
“Damn it… Why isn’t Olivia here yet? Can’t she let us wait inside?”
“No choice… This place seems to be membership-only.”
Bres glared angrily at the entrance of the clothing store.
Two tall security guards stood on either side like gate gods, blocking the way when he had tried to enter earlier.
Qiao Anni noticed that they were clearly equipped with quite a few combat prosthetics.
Even the security guards had such a level of configurationโit was hard to imagine.
After waiting a few more minutes, Olivia, who had parked the car, hurried over.
“Sorry, finding a parking spot took a while… You look pretty rough.”
“Just let us in,” Bres said, his voice weak and exhausted.
Olivia placed her wrist on the scannerโprobably some chip implanted in her wrist.
A second later, the door opened.
“These two are with me,” Olivia indicated to the guards at the door.
The expressionless guards finally stepped aside, and the three entered the clothing store.
As soon as they stepped through the door, an enthusiastic salesclerk greeted them.
“How can I help you?”
“Let’s go to the lingerie section first. I need to buy you a few new ones.”
“Mm…”
“Certainly, please follow meโand would this gentleman like to wait in the lounge area over there?”
The clerk also noticed Bres’s embarrassed expression and thoughtfully pointed out the location of the lounge.
“I’ll wait for you over there.”
Without waiting for Qiao Anni or Olivia to respond, Bres walked briskly toward the lounge and plopped down on the sofa.
“I knew it… Let’s go, Qiao Anni.”
“Mm…”
When they reached the lingerie section, Qiao Anni’s gaze was a bit unfocused.
This was her first time in a place like this, and she had no idea where to look.
“Miss?”
The clerk called out to the dazed Qiao Anni.
“Huh? What is it?”
“She’s asking for your size,” Olivia said on behalf of the clerk.
“S-size?”
Who knew something like that?
At the negative answer, surprise appeared on both the clerk’s and Olivia’s faces.
“You’ve never been measured?”
“No.”
“My God, your parents… Sorry.”
Suddenly realizing she had misspoken, Olivia shut her mouth.
The clerk, however, nodded knowingly.
“Shall I take you to get measured now?”
“Sure, thank you.”
The clerk led Qiao Anni to a room that looked like a fitting booth.
“Please go in. There will be prompts to help you measure.”
“That’s great.”
Qiao Anni breathed a sigh of relief.
Having someone else measure her would have been too awkward, especially for lingerie.
She entered the room and pulled the curtain.
The screen on the wall lit up.
[Please remove your clothes]
Following the instructions, Qiao Anni took off her clothes.
[Raise your arms parallel to the ground]
[Please bend over] [Please stand up straight]
A blue light scanned Qiao Anni’s body.
A dozen seconds later, a thank-you message appeared on the screen.
It ended faster than she expected.
As soon as she put her clothes back on and stepped out, the clerk handed her a tablet.
Looking down, it was the measurements just taken.
Bust, waist, hips, height, reference size, and other data were listed in detail, though most of it was incomprehensible to her.
“All measured?”
Olivia came over and took the tablet from Qiao Anni.
“An A cup…”
She looked at Qiao Anni, then back at the tablet, and finally her gaze involuntarily fell on Qiao Anni’s barely noticeable chest.
“It’s okay!”
Olivia awkwardly patted Qiao Anni’s shoulder.
“There’s still plenty of room for improvement!”
“I’m not exactly looking forward to that kind of improvement.”
“Don’t say that.”
It wasn’t sour grapes.
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