Of course, what Fang Zheng thought of as ’turning over his card’ was just an illusion. Nonetheless, the appearance of this bracelet did solve the biggest current issue for the Heavenly Dao Palace. In fact, when Fang Zheng logged in using the bracelet, he found out that during his absence, Little Angel had almost taken care of everything.
However, compared to the vibrant and colorful network Fang Zheng remembered, the network here seemed more like a forum-based thematic website. Upon opening the interface, users of the bracelet could choose to connect to the website or initiate communications through icons on the main screen.
Within the website, Little Angel had only created two sections. Fang Zheng wasn’t sure if this was because Synapsus didn’t have internet access or Little Angel remembered the information age differently, resulting in the website feeling quite monotonous. Essentially, the entire site looked more like a holographic map of the Heavenly Dao Palace, highlighting the location of various areas, along with all the shops in each area and their detailed information.
For some reason, Fang Zheng always had the feeling that the reason Nymph made the website into a holographic navigation map was simply because she didn’t know what else to do...
In contrast, the forum seemed much more professional. Not only did it have a dedicated admin area, but it also opened several sections mainly for Hall of the Star Dawn, Cradle Garden, Synapsus, and Guardian’s Office. Within these sections, subdivisions were made according to age and class. Fang Zheng clicked in to take a look and felt a strong sense of déjà vu to online communities. Most of the Cursed Children were posting and chatting there, with topics mostly like "A new cake shop opened in the commercial area, want to go try it out?" or "I messed up my previous assignment, can anybody help me?"
Of course, some Cursed Children also posted photos they took or landscapes, and there were even some photos of Heavenly Dao Palace and warships.
Luckily, these kids were well-behaved, so the online atmosphere seemed pretty good. At least Fang Zheng had never seen any flame wars or the like.
"Finally back to the information age, huh."
Sitting in his chair, Fang Zheng petted his cat while looking at the screen and couldn’t help but feel reflective. Even though he had kept a laptop in his personal space since he time-traveled to the world of ’Edge of Tomorrow,’ to be honest, it wasn’t very useful. Fang Zheng would occasionally use it to play games or watch movies to pass the time, but for someone from the network era, staring at a computer with no internet connection was certainly dull.
Even after establishing the Heavenly Dao Palace with just a few people, and aside from Fang Zheng, almost none of them knew how to use a computer, so even if Fang Zheng did access the local network... there wasn’t much to see.
But now, the internet finally had some life to it.
Although it wasn’t perfect... it was enough for now.
Looking at a strange icon at the bottom of the main interface, Fang Zheng was puzzled for a moment—it was a pattern of a cat’s paw, with the name of the program written below it—"Teasing the Cat."
Teasing the Cat? What the hell, do these kids miss pets so much they have to create a virtual pet program to play with?
With this thought, Fang Zheng reached out and tapped it lightly. Soon, a window popped up in front of him, and a familiar figure appeared before his eyes.
"Yo-ho, hello everyone, are you watching? Today it’s Aohara Nobiru’s turn to bring you the ’Nobiru Sees the World’ show!"
It was lucky that Fang Zheng wasn’t drinking water and that he was facing a virtual screen, otherwise he probably would’ve spat his soda all over it.
"Iona, what is this?"
Hearing Fang Zheng’s question, Iona paused for a moment before replying.
"This is... live streaming."
Facing Fang Zheng’s incredulous gaze, Iona nodded.
"Miss Nymph said to let everyone see the actions of the Heavenly Dao Palace outside, so she authorized a few people to start live-streaming programs. Every day at this time, Aohara Enju will start a broadcast, mainly to tell the children inside the Heavenly Dao Palace about the outside world and what’s been happening recently..."
"The outside world..."
This was when Fang Zheng realized that the backdrop revealed on the screen was the Northlands. However, unlike the snowstorm that had been there before, the Northlands had now become quite lively. Fang Zheng could even see many workers and Holy Knights walking on the streets, and by their sides stood building after building in ruins. If Fang Zheng remembered correctly, this cluster of buildings was where he had seen the Giant of Light and the Spider Lord battle previously.
Bishop Carl had mentioned to Fang Zheng before that the Sanctuary planned to repurpose this cluster of buildings, and now it seemed that they had already started work.
What was Nobiru live-streaming?
As Fang Zheng was wondering, he saw a stream of comments quickly flashing across the screen.
"Let’s go listen to the story the Sister Cleric told before, it was quite nice."
"I want to go see the Pegasus!"
"You didn’t continue with that exploration team in the Third District before, did you?"
Looking at the texts floating across these comments, Fang Zheng was momentarily stunned; he had a feeling that ever since he left the Heavenly Dao Palace, there had been earth-shattering changes here, to the point that Fang Zheng himself was somewhat confused about what these comments referred to. Luckily, Iona quickly provided an explanation.
"This is also one of Nobiru’s programs. After starting her live-stream, she will go see some things she finds interesting. She’s been to see the Sanctuary’s Pegasus Knights Order and the Clerics’ sermons in the past few days, and she also joined the Sanctuary’s explorations of these abandoned building complexes a few times... everyone really likes her program..."
Hearing this, Fang Zheng nodded. It seemed that Nobiru was quite talented; not everyone was suited for live-streaming. For instance, someone shy and easily frightened like Fumie Busei could barely utter a word in front of a camera. But Nobiru’s outgoing and cheerful nature made her different, and judging by these comments, the young lady seemed to be doing very well and was quite popular.
Perhaps it would be worth considering letting the young one become a professional host someday?
"Today, I plan to go back to the Third District again," Nobiru said. "We promised to finish clearing the Demon Creature nest there with the exploration team, and Midori will be joining me as well."
While speaking, Nobiru stretched out her hand, and then Fang Zheng saw the cat-eared lolita being pulled into the frame from outside the camera’s view. In front of the camera, Fumie Busei was obviously much more nervous than Nobiru. She bowed her head in greeting and then stayed silent, just walking beside Nobiru.
The audience seemed to have gotten used to Fumie Busei’s demeanor and weren’t dissatisfied; there were even occasional comments like "Midori is still so shy," "Cheer up, don’t look down!" and "Sister Midori, I love you!!"...
Well, Fang Zheng thought he should probably take some time to investigate that last comment.
But no matter what, watching the two girls’ carefree adventures and explorations was also a nice option. Watching the live stream, Fang Zheng also let out a sigh of relief.
At last, it felt like a return to the age of information!