Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 280 Three Men
And now, he was sandwiched between two wall-faced men, the three old men squatting by the roadside, smoking and staring blankly.

Based on the theory that three men inevitably produce an idea genius, Shi Qiang couldn't help but speak up: "Hey, you two wall-facers, can't we stop squatting by the roadside and find a place to have a drink?"

"Let's not do that. The last time a Chinese person got drunk and gave a speech disguised as Hitler, it became a huge hit among Chinese people."

Hines' eyes were gloomy. He was the only one of the three who didn't smoke. He continued, "Mr. Shi Qiang, Dr. Luo Ji, if you don't mind, my wife has prepared some traditional Japanese food. You can come to my house for a small gathering."

“Japanese food… that stuff gets stuck in your teeth, oh well, might as well eat it. Let’s go, let’s get a taxi.” Shi Qiang put his arm around Luo Ji’s neck and stood up, then grabbed the dejected Hines and said, “Look at you two Wallfacers, one looks like he hasn’t woken up yet, and the other looks like he has depression. Cheer up, don’t embarrass yourselves.”

Shi Qiang led the two towards the nearest maglev flying car.

"and many more."

Hines stopped Shi Qiang.

"What's wrong?"

“My home isn’t far from here, only about ten kilometers away. I don’t want to go back so soon… Let’s walk there.”

“You’ve got something on your mind.” Shi Qiang looked at Hines’s bloodshot eyes beneath his long hair, but didn’t say anything more. Instead, he looked at Luo Ji.

"Walk over there?"

"Let's go."

"to make."

Three men strolled slowly along the roadside.

Since Hines was as quiet as a mule, Shi Qiang could only talk to Luo Ji, who was best at bringing up the most sensitive topics.

"Luo Ji, where are your wife and son?"

“Still in hibernation.” Luo Ji seemed relatively relaxed: “To be honest, I didn’t expect my Wallfacer privileges to still work after two centuries… If it weren’t for Lao Qing, I would definitely have been blackmailed by the government. My whole family owes him a debt. I’ll wake them up after I’ve adapted to the new era.”

"A wise move is to have someone familiar to guide you. I was guided by my youngest son, and Hines by his wife. Without guidance, it's easy to go astray in the new era. For example, that guy who was hailed as the second Hitler was reportedly scammed many times before."

"Heh...he's really unlucky."

To accommodate Luo Ji, whose cultivation level was practically zero, both the mid-stage Acquired Realm cultivator, Hines, and the perfected Innate Realm cultivator, Shi Qiang, walked very slowly. Soon, the nuclear fusion sun's warm light gradually turned cold. By the time the three passed through a food street, the entire Beijin Underground City was already immersed in a cool twilight.

The lights of Forest City gradually came on.

Soon, Luo Ji heard a buzzing sound, which made him subconsciously look up.

Then, hundreds of flying motorcycles roared past. These flying motorcycles looked similar to the motorcycles of Luo Ji's era, except they had no wheels and resembled jet skis. Their bodies were olive-shaped, and their appearance was rough and fierce.

The hundreds of flying motorcycles roared and whistled as they approached. Each flying motorcycle that flew over the three of them produced a sonic boom. Luo Ji got a headache from the noise, but Hines and Shi Qiang were obviously used to it.

But this was the first time Luo Ji had met him.

Shi Qiang explained, "The spirit of the biker gangs is a legacy from the early 20th century. These flying motorcycles are equipped with at least two miniature hydrogen turbine engines that use metallic hydrogen as fuel. The power is hundreds of times greater than the gasoline engines on the ground motorcycles of the past. The hydrogen engines generate thrust diagonally downwards. The speed of current flying motorcycles is basically above Mach 2 or 3. Those teenagers are physically strong and drive very fast, but they haven't caused any trouble, just a bit of a disturbance to the neighborhood."

"It's still evening. Tonight they'll gather near the space viaduct and fly together—dozens or even hundreds of flying motorcycles—speeding through various types of forests at supersonic speeds. All the drivers are children under thirteen, the result of socialized upbringing. You didn't expect this era to have laws protecting minors, did you? Kids over fourteen don't do this anymore; they have something more exciting." Luo Ji was stunned. Flying motorcycles flying at Mach 2 or 3—in the Common Era, even fighter jets couldn't catch them; it was absurd.

J-20? Su-57? F-22? Interesting. Want to challenge my "Fiery Flying God of War"?
Luo Ji covered his ears and waited until all the flying motorcycles were far away before asking.

"Doesn't the underground municipal government care at all?"

Shi Qiang shrugged: "We could keep things under control before we defeated the dinosaurs, but now that the dinosaurs have won, all of humanity is like they're on drugs. The young people who ride flying motorcycles are the least harmful; they're just the obvious problem. The real trouble is those young people who are immersed in the virtual world. At least 15 billion teenagers in the entire United Government are addicted to the virtual network. They have almost lost the ability to take responsibility that should be in the new era. The future of humanity can only be placed on Fleet International."

Luo Ji frowned and asked, "I heard someone say the other day that there's an organization calling for learning from the spirit of our era, isn't there?"

"You mean that Cat and Dog Society (the old Star Anchor Society), right? It's useless. The year before you woke up, that Cat and Dog Society held a press conference that attracted many officials from the United Government and Fleet International, and even some officers from the Space Force joined. But people soon found that the organization was just for show, and the leader was a little girl who was too weak and not suitable for doing this kind of work that offends people."

Luo Ji sighed again.

In the past month, he had experienced a range of emotional shifts, including shock, surprise, ecstasy, bewilderment, speechlessness, and numbness. Every time he heard something similar from Da Shi, he couldn't understand it and would sigh repeatedly.

Luo Ji is actually a very avant-garde person, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a playboy, but in this era, he's no different from a fledgling.

Most importantly, although Luo Ji always scoffed at the slogans he had heard in the past, he knew that the ideal world had two standards: one was an abundance of resources, and the other was that everyone contributes according to their ability and resources are distributed according to their needs.

Now, distribution on demand has been achieved, but no one is doing their best.

Although humanity has developed the entire solar system, it has not yet achieved 'abundant resources'; true abundance of resources can only be found in the virtual world...

Luo Ji is difficult to evaluate.

Hines suddenly spoke up, saying softly to the departing "steel locust swarm": "This is not just an educational issue, it has to do with society. You don't understand children's affairs! I don't understand what's going on either, but I know those children are feeling stifled! They want to fly! Let them fly, fly as far as possible."

Shi Qiang nodded: "This Wallfacer is right. There are complex reasons behind every phenomenon. Attributing everything to a single cause is not advisable. Don't you agree, neuroscientist?"

Hines forced a smile at Shi Qiang.

The three then shifted their conversation from flying motorcycles to Wallfacer privileges. Luo Ji said, "Dr. Hines, how about we jointly launch a Wallfacer project to restrict flying motorcycles?"

Hines said, "It's not very realistic. Our Wallfacer power has nothing to do with the Wallfacer Project itself anymore. Our power comes from the dissipation of Mr. Luo Qing's Wallfacer power."

“Yeah…we’re just mascots.” Luo Ji sighed.

“If we want to change the social atmosphere, Luo Qing has to handle this personally. Does anyone know where Professor Luo has been lately?” Luo Ji asked.

"He's in seclusion for cultivation." Da Shi grunted. "Luo Ji, if you had even a fraction of Luo Daxian's abilities, whatever you say would be law."

“Speaking of this,” Luo Ji asked curiously, “Da Shi, we only met after the Wall-Facing Project started, but it seems you knew Luo Qing long before you met me. How did that happen? Would you mind telling me?”

Shi Qiang pondered for a moment: "This is a long story."

"Gentlemen, I've been waiting for you for a long time. Come on up first and then we can chat. I've just learned how to cook Chinese food."

A gentle voice rang out from above. It was Keiko Yamasugi, dressed in a kimono and apron, smiling as she watched the three people who had somehow walked up to the trunk from the 'leaf'.

(End of this chapter)