Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 247 Reversing the Future
As she stepped onto the Heavenly Ladder, Elori took a deep breath.

"What's wrong? Are you nervous?" Chen Xuan pressed the button to go to the branch store.

"Hmm... a little." The angel nodded. Although she couldn't save the mother Lucy, she still held onto a sliver of hope. What if the Angel Alliance really repented? There were still thirty years until the crystal fell. If they went all out to prepare for war, they could at least build a few more underground cities and allow more humans to survive.

She was torn between not daring to place too much trust in the alliance and wanting to believe in them, a conflict that made her anxious and insecure.

Chen Xuan didn't have that many thoughts.

This is ultimately someone else's world. As the store manager, he has done his best for the customers. If it doesn't work out, then it's fate.

The elevator only ran for about five seconds before stopping.

With a jingle, the elevator doors slowly slid open.

What met their eyes was still that small high-rise apartment, just as it had been when they left. The buildings across the street were very close together, with several clothes racks hanging between them, and freshly washed T-shirts fluttering in the wind; there was also a tenant leaning against the window smoking, looking rather lazy.

"Looks like nothing's changed." As Chen Xuan spoke, he looked at Elori and noticed a clear look of disappointment on her face.

Their efforts ultimately failed to achieve their goal.

"What are those people in the Alliance doing?!" the little angel said, exasperated.

"It's too early to say for sure," Lin Qing said noncommittally. "We'll have to go to the repair shop to take a look before we can be sure."

“Okay, I’ll book a car. Amy, Amy?” Chen Xuan called out a few times into the empty house, but did not hear a warm response from the guide robot.

They left Amy at the branch before they left last time, and it hasn't been on standby for more than a few days, so the power shouldn't have been cut off.

Chen Xuan searched every room, but still couldn't find the robot.

"Did it run away on its own?"

"Impossible... I've cleaned up its program; it should only serve us now," Lin Qing asserted.

Someone broke in and stole it? That's unlikely. Once the branch closes, it becomes a completely enclosed space. Even if the rented room is illegally entered, they are only entering the physical room.

Chen Xuan and Lin Qing simultaneously thought of a possibility.

"Let's go downstairs first!"

"Huh?" Before Elori could react, Lin Qing grabbed her hand and rushed towards the elevator.

The three of them arrived on the first floor, and the moment they ran out of the apartment building, the blinding sunlight made them involuntarily close their eyes.

It was the setting sun around four or five in the afternoon, warm and golden, shining through the cracks in the concrete jungle, making you truly feel the heat of the light on your body.

They were stunned.

The simulated sunlight in the second new Paris city only provides illumination and never changes the angle or color, because its main purpose is to power the crops in the aerial farms, and creating a sunset would be a pure waste.

Elori was the first to look up at the sky.

Residents in the working-class neighborhoods cannot enjoy holographic projection services; instead, the lights hanging above the residential buildings are always on.

However, she did not find the lighting matrices embedded in the rock strata.

After getting used to the dazzling sunlight, she saw nothing in the sky except for clouds.

"No way..." she murmured.

Chen Xuan laughed, then casually placed a hand on the shoulder of a passerby. "Ask him where this is?"

The man was initially furious, cursing and trying to pry Chen Xuan's hand open, but when he found that the hand was stronger than an iron clamp, his expression instantly became friendly.

Lin Qing translated it once.

"What else could it be... District 19, of course!"

“I was asking about the city.” The other person gave me a strange look. “Uh… Paris.”

"Not the Second New Paris?"

The man was furious but dared not speak out. "I don't understand what you're talking about at all. This place has never changed its name! Please don't hurt me, I don't have any money on me!"

After Chen Xuan released his grip, he ran away as fast as he could, muttering curses under his breath, "Damn it, you're a lunatic!"

“History has changed…” Elori looked at Chen Xuan with a somewhat dazed expression. “History has really changed!”

"Yes, and it looks like it's not a minor change," Chen Xuan replied with a smile.

This is not the refuge built deep underground.

The city of Paris remains perfectly intact above ground!
If this place hasn't suffered a devastating blow, then other cities are likely to be safe as well... This means that billions of casualties worldwide have not occurred, and the apocalypse has not yet arrived!
Only now did Elori recover from her shock. She pointed to her face and said, "Am I dreaming? Why don't you hit me?"

Lin Qing acted first, pinching her ear and twisting it half a circle.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I'm awake, that's enough, I know!" Elori cried out repeatedly.

However, the moment Lin Qing let go, she immediately burst into laughter through her tears, hugged Lin Qing tightly, and kept repeating, "That's great, that's great! We really succeeded!"

“Yes…” Lin Qing couldn’t help but empathize. “If you succeed, your future can indeed be completely different.”

People passed by from time to time, casting strange glances at them.

It took Elori a while to calm down. Although she still looked excited, she was able to barely control her emotions. Her eyes were slightly red from laughing so hard.

“Paris and New Paris are essentially two different cities. Why would the house you rented in the new city appear exactly as it was in the old city?” Lin Qing asked the first question.

“I’m curious too, but this isn’t the place to discuss this,” Chen Xuan said. “Why don’t we go back upstairs first?”

Since the city has changed anyway, it doesn't matter whether that repair shop still exists or not.

“Manager, I’d like to go somewhere else…” Elori suddenly interjected.

"Where?"

“My home. If it’s still here, it’s not far from here,” she said cautiously. “Of course… a century has passed, and it may no longer belong to me.”

Seeing the expectant yet fearful look on her face, Chen Xuan couldn't help but smile. "Alright, then we'll come to your house as guests."

……

As it turns out, Elori's home is gone.

In its place stands a luxurious and grand commercial plaza, with gleaming skyscrapers soaring into the clouds. Between the buildings, numerous floating vehicles can be seen moving about, their heights staggered, moving in an orderly fashion, clearly guided by a massive intelligent system.

Conversely, there were few cars on the streets, but rather brightly dressed pedestrians and lush green landscaped areas. Every few meters along the street stood a sycamore tree, its trunk adorned with various electronic screens, preserving modern convenience while also maintaining the city's natural beauty.

Upon witnessing this scene, Chen Xuancai realized that this was a hundred years in the future.

But this is not because he is slow to react.

Because the 19th arrondissement, which is only seven or eight kilometers away from the center of Paris, remains largely unchanged from the era he was familiar with.

"It seems your house has been acquired and rebuilt."

“It seems that’s true…” Elori smiled bitterly. “Actually, I feel relieved. It shows that our hometown has been developing and that humanity has not stopped because of the disappearance of Mother Lucy.”

"Strange." Lin Qing quickly noticed something odd. "The vast majority of people here are natural humans. I can't see any signs of cybernetics on them."

"What's wrong with that?" Chen Xuan said dismissively. "Not everyone can accept having their body filled with artificial devices, right?"

“Of course not,” Lin Qing emphasized. “It’s not a matter of acceptance or not, but when technology develops to a certain level, prosthetics will become a necessity for pursuing efficiency, just like your payment code. If you don’t use it, you will be eliminated by society. Their city is quite developed, so in theory, prosthetic technology should have caught up as well… After all, you can see a lot of modified devices on the residents of the Second New Paris.”

(End of this chapter)