Chapter 55: First Exploration of the Urban Area

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: First Exploration of the Urban Area

Local information, of course, wasn’t much of a secret on the internet.

Xiang Yi performed a casual search and found a great deal of content related to the area.

The planet he was currently on belonged to a Civilization Realm called the Human Federation.

To be more specific, he was on Anka Star, located in the Flowing Dust Star System, which was part of the Flow Core Star System Group, in the Southern End Star Zone of the East Cross Star Realm.

At first glance, this long string of names seemed complicated. In reality, however, it was much like a country’s administrative divisions of provinces and cities.

From largest to smallest, the hierarchy was: Civilization Realm, Star Realm, Star Zone, Core Star System Group, Star System, and planet.

Xiang Yi didn’t know much about concepts like Star Zones or Star Realms, but an obvious interstellar civilization like the Human Federation immediately piqued his interest.

After all, he was now a member of the Human Federation, and he was genuinely curious about how human civilization had developed from its origins on Earth to the present day.

A casual online search for the Human Federation mostly returned news reports about politicians of various ranks meeting with talented academics to review their accomplishments.

There were also stories of previously unknown researchers making some sort of breakthrough, contributing significantly, and then shooting to stardom.

He even found news about criminals who had their sentences reduced for making contributions, then sincerely repented after their release, reintegrated into society, and regained their social standing.

This type of news was relatively rare, as there weren’t many people who could commit a crime and still produce research of sufficient weight.

Still, it revealed the unique atmosphere of the entire society.

What Ning Ye had told him before was true. The Human Federation really did have a unique culture of revering academia; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it academic privilege.

Additionally, Xiang Yi even found news reports about the Human Federation’s interactions with alien civilizations.

Alien civilizations that had made contact with humanity existed in this world.

That all felt a bit too remote.

But there was something closer to home—the most common term he saw alongside the Human Federation was the Earth Federation.

This was another human civilization that existed in the universe. It appeared to share the same origin and people as the Human Federation, but seemed to have walked a different path.

During his search, Xiang Yi only managed to get a general idea of the schism between the Human Federation and the Earth Federation. To learn more specific details, he would have to consult history books.

But just seeing all this was enough to leave Xiang Yi feeling deeply moved.

’This world is filled with infinite opportunities,’ he thought. ’How can I let myself be confined to a place like this?’

Xiang Yi closed his eyes, restraining the urge to keep reading about these things.

Simply reading about interstellar matters wouldn’t help him find opportunities on Anka Star. He needed to look at something more practical.

Xiang Yi opened his eyes again.

His gaze swept casually over the map on the wall, then suddenly froze.

He realized something.

’A legal identity would definitely be very difficult to obtain. Someone like me could spend a great deal of money and effort and still not get one.’

’But an illegal identity is a completely different matter. A fake ID shouldn’t be a problem under normal circumstances, as long as it isn’t subjected to intense official scrutiny.’

’Although it can’t solve the identity problem completely, a fake one would at least be usable for a while. It would keep me from being unable to even enter the city district.’

When a city is planned, it always has a city center, suburbs, and areas that, by design, are less prosperous than the center.

’So, the gray areas where forgers could exist must be in places like these.’

Xiang Yi had only just realized this while looking at the map.

And right now, the area in this city with obviously lagging development was on the southwest side of the city district, about a quarter of the city’s width away from Xiang Yi.

Xiang Yi tried searching for some information on the Southwest City District with his terminal.

There didn’t seem to be much valuable information about this district online. There wasn’t much news either, and what little existed was almost entirely negative.

Through these news reports, Xiang Yi was able to see some images of the Southwest City District.

The conditions there were indeed very backward; compared to the city proper, it could be considered a full-blown slum.

’I might not find an ID forger there, but I’ll definitely come into contact with all sorts of people, and the risk of exposure is absolutely lower than entering a proper city district.’

He had indeed been overly worried about being exposed before. He could absolutely try his luck in a place like this within the city.

It might be risky, but sometimes, necessary risks had to be taken.

If he was too afraid of risks to do anything, Xiang Yi would have died long ago in that accident, or in prison.

He needed to take a trip to the Southwest City District.

「At dusk.」

The sky grew dim.

Xiang Yi spent the day making the necessary preparations. He then emerged from the sewers with a tightly wrapped Shi Tie and headed west along the wilderness on the city’s outskirts.

At this time of day, his actions wouldn’t be too conspicuous, but it also wasn’t so dark that he couldn’t see anything.

Coming out of the sewer, he skirted a garbage collection station surrounded by a wire fence. Beyond it was another vast stretch of wasteland, forming a sizable buffer zone between the city wall and the city itself.

As long as they kept a low profile, no one would notice the two inconspicuous figures.

The man and the Corpse Ghost soon approached the city district to the southwest.

A few scattered buildings had already appeared before Xiang Yi’s eyes.

The buildings on the edge of the Southwest City District, near the city wall, were mostly very crude-looking dwellings. One could even call them temporary shelters built from sheet metal.

But judging by the clotheslines and cooking stoves next to these shelters, which buzzed with the signs of daily life, these sheet metal shacks were the permanent homes for the people here.

Yet, looking toward the main city district, Xiang Yi could occasionally see flying cars or other things zipping through the air.

But here in the Southwest City District, Xiang Yi saw a scene even more backward than his own world.

It was more of a slum than a slum.

’It’s hard to understand why a world with such advanced productivity would still have a place like this.’

A few people had already noticed Xiang Yi entering the district, but they usually just glanced at him before looking away.

When your own life was precarious, you didn’t have the energy to care about a passerby.

As Xiang Yi ventured deeper into the Southwest City District, he found that the closer he got to the Central City District, the denser and more chaotic the layout of the buildings became.

There were no signs of any planning; it seemed as if the residents had built everything themselves, piece by piece.

It was clear that the people living here were truly destitute; they weren’t the sort of people involved in gray-market dealings he was looking for.

Therefore, Xiang Yi didn’t want to linger. Since he was powerless to change their tragic circumstances, staring wouldn’t help. Besides, he was in a precarious situation himself.

He could only continue walking toward the part of the Southwest City District that bordered the Central City District.

The buildings grew more and more intricate, and "chaotic" had become Xiang Yi’s sole impression of the Southwest City District.

Fortunately, however, bare light bulbs had been hung on the exterior of some buildings, powered and illuminating the paths between them.

He didn’t know if this was managed by some local authority or was a spontaneous act by the residents themselves.

Although the sky hadn’t completely darkened yet, it certainly made things much more convenient for Xiang Yi.

Gradually, Xiang Yi could feel many gazes from nearby buildings and alleyways lingering on him.

And their stares weren’t focused on him, but on the bulging backpack he was carrying.

He could faintly sense their greed and wariness.

But whenever he turned to look in the direction he felt the stares coming from, he would at most see one or two figures quickly darting away.

Of course, there were also some people who were already outside their buildings and couldn’t avoid Xiang Yi’s gaze.

Some of them met his gaze indifferently, while others chose to walk away quickly, seemingly to report the news of a stranger’s arrival.

This was exactly the effect Xiang Yi wanted.