The general feeling of this town is: lifeless.
For fifty years since the establishment of the empire, it has always paid great attention to territorial development and population control, and even small and remote places will be equipped with a complete identification system. Currency points are directly connected to the identity recognition device. Paper money is extremely rare. If you exceed a certain point, you must swipe your ID card. Both parties to the transaction are clear at a glance.
But there is nothing here. There is no obstacle when entering the city gate. There are many empty stalls on both sides of the simple stone road, and a few scattered shops are empty. Occasionally, housewives come out to shop in a hurry, mostly using a kind of paper money that they have never seen before.
Everyone was silent, bowing their heads and shrugging their shoulders, looking deeply depressed for some reason.
Gavin and Heinrich walked in front of a small hotel, only to hear the owner sitting behind the gate talking on the phone with someone, speaking with a strong federal galaxy accent. They were still some distance away from the shopkeeper, and they could only vaguely hear him saying: "The wind is getting tight recently, and everyone who goes out of the city... the transition gate is also locked, there is no way, there is still time before that..."
After finishing the call, the owner turned off the communicator and sat there. Gavin and Heinrich glanced at each other, walked forward and knocked on the door.
The shopkeeper suddenly looked up, and saw that he was a strange boy of eighteen or nineteen years old, with handsome features, pale complexion, gentle and sincere smile, and unconsciously softened his tone: "What's the matter?"
"Come here to ask for some water." Gavin said with a pleasant smile, and even spoke in a fluent Union voice: "Uncle trouble, our car broke down outside, and we walked all the way..."
Heinrich stood not far away, tried his best to restrain the strong Alpha breath on his body, and bowed to show his respect following Gavin's words.
The shop owner looked them back and forth for a few times, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he immediately got up and invited Gavin inside: "Come in, come in, it's fine anyway, there haven't been any visitors for a long time... What do you want to drink? Moonlight Flower Do you want wine? Can I add two cubes of ice for you?"
Gavin refused, but went into the hotel with Heinrich and sat down. The living room is fairly decently furnished, with a few sofas in the corner surrounded by an artificial fireplace, and a holographic projection projecting full-body portraits of singers from the Alliance era onto the ceiling, who is singing sadly at the moment.
"Your moonlight flower wine—" the owner brought two glasses of light blue wine with ice, and asked enthusiastically, "Would you like something to eat?"
Gavin immediately stopped his hand from putting the wine glass on the table: "I'm sorry uncle, we have no money with us, and we left it in the broken car outside..."
The owner paused, but his enthusiasm remained undiminished, and he insisted on putting down the two glasses of wine: "It's all right, it's all right, isn't it just for drinking? Pick it up when you're free, and if it's inconvenient, don't give it up." Never mind—where are you from?"
The shopkeeper put the tray away, sat on the sofa in front of the two of them and began to inquire. Heinrich glanced at Gavin unobtrusively, and he said calmly, "North."
The shopkeeper asked strangely: "Meteor Field? The people there have been extinct many years ago, where are you going?"
At the same time, the two thought that the original name of the wasteland was Yuyeyuan, and they must find an opportunity to search online to find out which planet it is. Gavin hesitated for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, "To tell you the truth, Uncle, I and him... my family didn't quite agree, so I didn't tell others when I came out, and the result of my random intrusion..."
Most of the people in this town, including the shopkeeper, are Betas and are not sensitive to Omega pheromones, but Gavin has just passed the estrus period, and the smell cannot be eliminated for a day or two. Now that he said that, the shopkeeper became more sure, and asked in surprise, "You are—are you an Omega?"
Gavin didn't answer, and sat down next to Heinrich, who immediately leaned over with interest.
Even the ratio of Beta to Omega on Egret, the capital of the empire, is 5,000 to 1. This small border planet does not know how disparate the ratio is. The shopkeeper got up suddenly in shock, and after a while he sat down slowly, stunned: "No—sorry, our Omega is too rare, probably only... you alone in this city..."
Just as Gavin was about to say something, his expression changed upon hearing the words.
He originally wanted to take the opportunity to inquire about pharmacies around, but when he heard that there were no Omega in the whole city, then the pharmacies would definitely not be able to prepare what he wanted.
Heinrich reacted so sharply that he immediately glanced at Gavin.
"Do you have a place to go? Where do you live at night?" The owner immediately became more enthusiastic: "We have few customers recently, it is quiet and convenient, why don't you stay here? You can repair your car whenever it breaks down. Just take a walk around the city..."
Heinrich was a little hairy when he heard it, and immediately declined with a smile: "Thank you for your kindness, but we are in a hurry, and we don't have the money to pay for the accommodation—"
"No, no, no." The shopkeeper waved his hands again and again, fell silent for a while, turned to Gavin rubbing his hands together embarrassedly, and said, "Actually, I want to ask... If possible, can you throw something down when you leave? The coat , socks and so on, if possible, underwear is better, I will put it in the store for safekeeping... "
Gavin:"… "
Now even Gavin was starting to get hairy.
The owner of the shop was too enthusiastic, and Gavin declined his enthusiasm as a guide after repeated refusals. He only agreed to stay overnight, and then the two went out together to continue shopping on the street.
Gavin was a little absent-minded all the way, and Heinrich glanced at him and asked coldly, "What are you looking for?"
"..."
"I've been looking around since I entered the city, looking for a pharmacy?"
"..."
Gavin took two quick steps to get to the front, but Heinrich, with long legs and big strides, followed closely beside him and couldn't even shake him off: "Don't even think about it, some illegal drugs are even sold on the black market on Egret Star." Not necessarily, let alone that kind of... I don’t understand why the things in the small pharmacy can be eaten indiscriminately? What should I do if I take one dose and die?”
Gavin didn't say a word, his face was extremely ugly.
Heinrich had some complacency in his eyes, and turned his head with a stern face.
If it were someone else, he was ready to turn his back on him now; but Gavin Silia, after all, can bear it all, and after a long silence, he spoke again, with a nonchalant tone: "There is something wrong with this town."
Heinrich glanced at him, and said humbly, "Yes, there are quite a few people, but the business is deserted, and everyone speaks with a Union accent. Did you notice the decoration in the hotel just now?"
"What's wrong?"
"A lot of snake patterns are used, also on the carpet, and there is a big bronze snake on the front desk, which doesn't look very comfortable..."
For some reason, Gavin suddenly remembered the giant poisonous snake locked in the iron box in the Dark Star Hall, and his face changed slightly.
"The boss is also overly enthusiastic," Heinrich snorted, "I always want to know where we came from, and when I heard that I was an Alpha, I started to be vigilant in every possible way; when you said that we have lost contact with our family, he also Immediately try to stay us for a few more days... "
Heinrich is an outstanding politician, and he has a strong ability to observe the situation and see the subtleties. What's more, the shopkeeper did not succeed in concealing it just now, so he easily discovered the clues.
Gavin nodded, and said for a while, "You are right, but this is not what I am most concerned about."
He stood still on the side of the street, turned his head and looked at Heinrich, his eyes were very solemn for some reason: "There is no inter-galactic contact point, no interstellar communication shop, we can't send any signals to Egret; and there are no networking facilities on the roadside And electronic newsstands, the square we passed just now didn’t even have a big screen broadcasting interstellar news.”
"It is difficult for people here to get in touch with the outside world, let alone send messages to other planets—this situation cannot be formed naturally, it must be caused by someone deliberately controlling it."
The two of them looked at each other for a long time on the street, and Heinrich understood what he wanted to say.
"This is an isolated place," Gavin said. "Someone deliberately isolates the residents here, preventing them from contacting the outside world, and preventing them from knowing what's going on around each other; this is not a simple matter. Whoever the main messenger is, must have some kind of extraordinary purpose."