Gazing at the freshly polished territory, Su Li revealed a mysterious smile.
This is the dignity a Flying Device ought to have.
An energy body, initially sufficient to maintain the Bird’s Nest structure for half a year, barely restored a portion of this Flying Device’s basic functions.
This genuinely surprised Su Li; she hadn’t expected this Flying Device to be so advanced.
What a natural treasure...
How could such an advanced object have degenerated into a simple residence in the past decade or so?
Poverty really hits hard.
Simultaneously, the commotion within the Bird’s Nest was clearly reflected on the display screen in the room.
Robots powered by an energy body remained highly capable; infiltrating the interior of the Bird’s Nest was a minor case.
It’s just that the original owner didn’t see a need before, also because life was too frugal, lacking the extra energy bodies to activate the robot’s new functions.
No wonder the robots had been idle for so long.
"Hey, these kids sure are sharp-tongued; seems like life has been too good for them. It’s time for them to remember hardship and appreciate sweetness..."
The contributions made by the original owner over ten years ago had long been obscured; a significant portion of the children had not witnessed the past events, while another portion were too young at the time, and their memories were faint.
The adults who had experienced those times gradually stopped discussing the past.
But no matter, Su Li would let them know that their self-righteous choices would only harm themselves.
Thinking they can live well without a Lord like her?
Is it thanks to the old man, or thanks to Xiao Hei?
Have they grown to the point where they can stand on their own? How naive.
In the square, criticisms directed at the Lord grew increasingly fierce.
The old man was happy to see this happen.
He had stirred up such agitations many times over the years, and each time it was successful.
And the emotions of these youngsters were stirred up by him, bringing their dissatisfaction close to its peak.
Young people are fiery by nature and lack the ability to discern right from wrong, let alone the teachings of their elders of the same kind—no one would defy them.
But this time, the old man was clearly about to blunder.
Just as the complaints were reaching their zenith, display screens around the square, which usually showed various paid content from the Star Network, suddenly all went black at the same time.
After a few flickers, a message appeared indicating that payment was required to continue viewing.
Such an incident had never occurred since the construction of this study square.
All resources were always first allocated to the East Corner.
The square that had been noisy just a moment ago fell silent in an instant, with many people gaping, at a loss for words.
Every child, from an early age, was taught by their families: they must study diligently and hard; the future of Snow Mine Star depended on them.
For them, the zeal for learning came from within.
And now, with the learning content abruptly halted, many didn’t know what to do.
Instinctively, everyone turned their gazes to the old man standing beside them.
"Great-grandpa, what should we do?"
"Has the supply situation become so dire?"
"If even East Corner is affected, what about the hurricane that’s due in a few days? What do we do?"
The children chattered away, one after another, and before long panic began to spread slowly among the crowd.
The hurricanes yearly, were an unbearable natural disaster.
Due to the planet being over-mined, the ecological environment was completely destroyed. Though efforts were made to restore it, the results were still exceedingly weak.
At least the annual and inevitable hurricanes were not diminishing; if anything, they were intensifying.
In the past, it was only with a substantial supply of anti-hurricane materials and energy bodies that they could get through unscathed.
But this time, they all knew that at least currently, West Corner hadn’t received any supply news.
Now even East Corner’s studies had been halted; one could imagine just how pressing the situation had become.
Children think shallowly, and the worry on their faces and the panic in their hearts turned into soft whimpers.
Once a voice like that arose, it quickly spread like a plague, infecting many people.
Now, no one had the mind to care about Xiao Hei being slighted in front of the Lord; they were all worrying about whether their lives would be protected in the coming days.
The old man’s face was grim as he stared fixedly at the dimmed display screens, biting his lips with his aged teeth clenched.
"She did it on purpose, she must already know our plan..."
It wasn’t until then that the old man realized the Lord must have been aware.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t explain why she would hurt Xiao Hei on one hand and cut off the Bird’s Nest supplies on the other.
But one thing the old man couldn’t figure out: He thought he had always been careful, and even the Federation had begun to contact him, known only to one or two people. He couldn’t understand how this seemingly simple Lord had found out.
Could someone have tipped him off?
That was also possible.
Among the elderly who had experienced the events of more than a decade ago, he was not the only one left.
Not all of them agreed with his approach; one or two did not approve of his actions, while the others sat on the fence, helping neither side.
Could it be that those who disagreed with him had tipped her off?
The old man was suspicious but knew that now was not the time to think about these things. What was urgent was to consider how to calm down so many people’s emotions.
As for the concerns about studies and the impending hurricane, he wasn’t too worried.
From the beginning, he had seen through what kind of person the Lord was, and over ten years had proved his initial discerning insight.
The Lord would never abandon so many people; of that, he was confident.
The old man cleared his throat and then shouted loudly, "Stop crying; this is not for you to worry about. We have our elders and the Lord to take care of such matters."
"The Lord won’t ignore us. Now disperse, everyone, go back home for now. I’ll go ask what’s happening at the Lord’s place."
Su Li, who also witnessed this scene, hummed in discontent.
"How dare you be so confident, so sure I won’t abandon these people..."
What she had was a heart of steel; it was time for her to demonstrate her firm resolve.
Otherwise, everyone would think she was a soft touch, too easy-going.
"Robot, activate the invisibility function."
Meanwhile, in the study square, thanks to the old man’s words, everyone’s mood was soothed, and they all took his words as gospel truth.
Indeed, with every crisis they faced, the Lord was the most robust support.
This was the epitome of biting the hand that feeds.