r18novel Chapter 48 The Golden Age
Chapter 48 The Golden Age
Food delivery drones, flashing yellow lights, weave through streets and alleys, flying to higher floors.
The streetlights, funded by Tianyu Technology Group, played a holographic projection of GG on time. A beautiful woman in a white dress introduced the latest brain-computer interface, which is said to have a network speed that surpasses nearly 90% of the products currently on the market.
If you choose to make installment payments through Tianyu Financial, there are a series of preferential offers.
"Tch, only a fool would open a hole in their brain."
Yu Jing, holding an umbrella, walked past several children playing in the water on the street wearing rain boots, glanced at GG, and said dismissively.
As I walked along, I smelled the aromas wafting from each restaurant, while flipping through the Explorers Headquarters Newcomer's Handbook.
The benefits of enhanced sense of smell are not limited to exotic adventures; it can also be used to find delicious food.
As for whether he'll be noticed for so openly carrying around the new employee handbook on the street, there's absolutely no need to worry.
The newcomer's manual distributed by the Explorers Headquarters has no decorations or markings on the outside.
Even if passersby notice him, they will only think of Yu Jing as a bookworm.
Moreover, due to the influence of the "Savage Physique," even if Yu Jing, who is nearly 183 centimeters tall, stands still holding the manual, most people would probably have to stand on tiptoe to see the contents of the pages.
"Um?"
Sniffing, Yu Jing suddenly stopped and turned to look at the restaurant on his left that specialized in home-style dishes.
That enticing aroma was indeed coming from their shop.
I went straight in, found a seat against the wall, grabbed a bottle of soda, and ordered all the signature dishes.
While the food was being served, he continued to flip through the newcomer's handbook, trying to quickly learn about the mysterious organization he was about to join.
However, the Explorers' Headquarters' newcomer's handbook contains quite a lot of information.
Considering that I'm officially starting my job at the border tonight, there's definitely no time to read through it line by line.
Similar to the introductory remarks, the explanation of the concept, and the organizational structure, which can be learned about later, Yu Jing only picked out the key points to read, so as to get a general understanding of the Explorers' Headquarters in a short time.
As the pages turn, a vast organization, uninterested in worldly power and money struggles, and only passionate about exploring exotic lands, comes into view.
Yu Jing originally intended to skim through it, but after a few glances, he was drawn to the contents of the newcomer's handbook.
This was the first time he had learned about the epic and turbulent past that the Explorers Agency had experienced since its founding.
I was so engrossed in it that I even slowed down my chopsticks when picking up food.
According to the manual.
It has been 50 years since the founding of the Explorers Agency.
The founders are the wanderers mentioned in the visitor information on the official website.
The original intention of the Wanderer's Guild in creating this organization was very simple: to provide a place for wanderers to settle down, exchange information and resources, and explore, record, and even conquer various exotic lands together.
At that time, the Explorers' Headquarters was a "club" founded by a group of explorers with lofty ambitions.
In these adventures, they search for the meaning of life and seek new ways out of a world where resources are dwindling.
However, as time went on, the frequency of appearances in other realms increased dramatically, leading more and more wanderers, civilian forces, and even official organizations to discover and join the cause of exploring other realms, which in turn triggered a massive influx of resources.
This should have been a good thing.
Reality, however, is far crueler than imagined.
As the saying goes, wherever there are people, there is a world of conflict. This is especially true in a field that has attracted trillions of dollars and offers far greater returns than space exploration. As a result, there is endless competition!
The Explorers Headquarters referred to that dark period as the Lost Decade in its newcomer handbook.
In order to dominate the exploration of other realms and seize the resources already discovered, the major powers not only suppressed their counterparts in other realms, but also extended the struggle into the real world.
Using their influence in the real world, they seize and firmly control many passages from the present world to other realms that should be open to everyone. Then, they use these passages as leverage to coerce and entice adventurers who can enter and leave these other realms to join them.
For explorers who were unwilling to join or who were hostile forces, kidnapping, assassination... they used every means at their disposal.
The consequence of this is that most explorers either choose to join one side, hide away and go it alone, or simply give up exploring foreign lands altogether, not daring to communicate with the outside world for fear of being found.
This kind of vicious competition continued until most forces realized that it was not worth the losses and were forced to ease up.
There's nothing we can do, the losses are too great!
It's important to know that otherworldly realms have never been tourist attractions.
Explorers who enter must exert all their strength to fight against various threats from other lands. They are also subject to vicious competition and must be wary of other explorers. The atmosphere of mutual help and support is completely gone, leaving only a dark forest of deceit and treachery.
This caused the probability of explorers getting lost or dying in foreign lands to rise sharply during the decade of their disappearance.
Ultimately, all the major forces found themselves in the same predicament, with their efforts and gains being completely disproportionate!
After all, not everyone can go on an adventure to a foreign land.
No matter how many people there are in the world, only one in a hundred or even one in a thousand are truly qualified to enter the other realm.
Elite explorers, trained at great expense, suddenly disappeared during an expedition to a foreign land. Not only was all the previous investment was wasted, but the question of whether to send more people in later became a new problem.
Against this backdrop, the Explorers' Headquarters, which was then just a fringe organization, began to rise.
Initially, several top explorers suddenly broke away from their respective factions to join the organization, and then announced that they would establish a neutral organization that would not interfere in worldly affairs and would focus on exploring other realms.
To everyone's surprise, this act, which was almost a betrayal, was tacitly approved and even supported by various major powers.
Thus, all the explorers realized that this was a compromise made after years of covert power struggles among various factions.
The Explorers Headquarters also made no attempt to downplay this point in its newcomer's handbook.
In fact, it was thanks to the tacit cooperation of various national governments and various private forces that the lost decade was able to end, and a golden age of exploration into foreign lands was ushered in!
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Explorers Agency was able to rapidly grow into the giant multinational organization it is today over the next few decades.
The border area that Yu Jing is going to tonight is a special area that was discovered and developed during this process.
Ring ring~
The sudden message notification interrupted Yu Jing's thoughts.
Take a deep breath and give your overheated brain a break from processing too much information.
Closing the newcomer's handbook, I picked up my bowl and chopsticks and started enjoying my meal while checking the information.
The message was from Xu Lang, inviting him to dinner tonight.
He said he wanted to introduce him to a few friends, and even specifically noted that they were all beautiful women in the fitness circle.
Yu Jing, who had already arranged to meet Qing Gui and the mercenaries at the border, naturally declined.
Unexpectedly, Xu Lang still had no intention of giving up and invited him to meet again the next night, as if he was very eager to introduce him to his friends. He even sent a photo of a dinner party, in which several scantily clad beauties sat around the table, which was quite eye-catching.
Thinking about the nearly empty bank account again, and that the other party was his current nominal boss, Yu Jing did not refuse this time.
It's just having a meal with a few beautiful women, they're not going to eat him, are they?