Earth Survival Guide

Shopping with Liuliu feels different from shopping with Xin Chen.

If I had to describe it, shopping with Xin Chen has a purpose, like buying clothes, where our goal is durability and fit. But shopping with Liuliu is like an aimless sport with neither goals nor must-buy items. However, if we come across something fairly suitable, we'll stop and take a look. This mode of shopping is both physically and time-consuming, but the items we get can't be obtained through goal-driven shopping.

"How about this one? You have a good figure, just a bit thin." Liuzi pointed at a very trendy sweater on the rack, "Clerk, could you help take this down to take a look?"

Gu Tao didn't say a word from start to finish, simply sitting beside a kid who was waiting for their mom to try on clothes.

"Go on, try it."

"I don't really have any special requirements for clothing, I..."

Gu Tao tried to reason with Liuliu, but before he could finish, he was pushed into the fitting room. While reluctantly changing his clothes, a pair of shoes and a pair of jeans were also thrown in.

"Try these on as well!"

Seeing the shoes on the floor, Gu Tao let out a resigned sigh. He suddenly found that dealing with Xin Chen, that odd person, was better than dealing with a woman. At least Xin Chen was somewhat reasonable in certain aspects, but there was no reasoning with women. They always force you to do things you truly don't want to do under the banner of "it's for your own good."

Truth be told, Gu Tao didn't care much about clothes or appearance. A takeaway windbreaker or a big cotton-padded coat was enough. If it got dirty, he would throw it in the base for a thorough washing; if it tore, he'd have Satania repair it with nanomaterial.

Gu Tao even thought about printing clothes directly from nanomaterials, but then he figured this technology might cause industrial shocks if it fell into others' hands. Even though no one would steal clothes, it's always good to be cautious.

After changing and stepping out, Liuzi scrutinized Gu Tao while stroking his chin, "Hmm, not bad at all, young man."

Liuzi's comments were offhand, but the sales assistant nearby couldn't take her eyes off Gu Tao. She never imagined that the unkempt man who had walked in could look so transformed after changing into a new outfit. He looked just like the trendy 'little fresh meat' of the moment, so refined even without makeup.

"Are we good then? I'll change back." Gu Tao pointed to the fitting room, "I'm going to go."

"No, wait!" Liuliu called out, "Just like this is good."

"Yes, indeed, it's really good. If you two are sure, I can offer you our staff discount. Your shoes, clothes, and pants together would be two thousand three hundred, but with the discount, it's only fifteen hundred. That's a significant discount."

After uttering a series of "uh-huh"s from his throat, Gu Tao retrieved a cotton-padded jacket from the fitting room, then flipped open a pocket, "I only have fifty, given to me by Xin Chen this morning for snacks."

Upon seeing this, Liuliu waved her hand grandly, "What's this little thing? I'll give it to you as a gift."

"Then I have to give you something too." Gu Tao pulled out a round, transparent object from his backpack, "Here, take this."

"What is this?"

Playing with it in her hand for a while, Liuliu couldn't figure out what it was, but Gu Tao was already fiddling with his multi-function watch. He didn't explain what it was, but in reality, it was a tracker. Thinking with his paranoid mindset, he figured it would be better to add an extra layer of security for Liuliu.

"Okay, you can throw it away now."

"Throw... throw it away?"

"Or you can keep it."

Gu Tao didn't know how to explain, but the device only needed to complete identity verification and then he wouldn't have to bother with it. It would automatically stay within ten meters of the target. Theoretically, its top speed was Mach 15, so unless Liuliu took a freefall on a meteor, the tracker could keep up.

Although it was weird, Liuliu didn't mind, because she knew Xin Chen well and naturally understood that this junior brother recognized by Xin Chen was definitely not a normal person. It made her happy to receive a gift in return for giving away a cheap set of clothes and pants, even though this glass sphere seemed worthless...

But this glass sphere couldn't be produced on Earth for at least three hundred more years, and it wouldn't have as many functions.

"You should also change your bag."

"No, no, no... I really can't change this one." Xin Chen quickly protected his bag, "This is the last thing my father left me..."

"Oh, I see, my apologies."

Lying wasn't one of Gu Tao's hobbies, but sometimes there was no choice. He couldn't explain how high-tech the bag was, nor what was inside it, so he had to brush it off with moral excuses. In normal human social interactions, once keywords like parents, last, personal effects, or mementos come up, you can usually avoid further questioning perfectly.

Of course, being interrogated by the police would be an exception. In that case, you'd have to explain everything, even if what you carried was an urn of ashes.

With new clothes, the rest of the shopping was even more aimless. Combined with Gu Tao's instincts to avoid clothing stores, the day turned into a cycle of idle shopping and eating, peppered with random and bizarre questions from Liuliu.

"Little junior brother, I have a date with my girlfriend tonight."

"Hmm, I know my way, I can go back on my own."

Uttering such words in this situation was practically akin to giving a dismissal. Although Gu Tao was a straightforward guy, he was aware of the unspoken expectations behind these words.

"Who said you're going back? If you do, my mom will bombard me with questions, and senior brother will give me a hard time too. You have to come with me, and I'll let you meet my girlfriend while we're at it."

Hearing the word 'girlfriend' come out of a girl's mouth felt odd to Gu Tao, and then the face of Xin Chen flashed through his mind, turning his face pale with the fear that he might have turned gay.

While Gu Tao was chaotically pondering over issues of gender and ethics, a commotion suddenly erupted upfront. Liuliu, who probably loved excitement in her bones, dragged Gu Tao with her without a second word and rushed over.

Once there, they found everyone around them looking upwards. Following their gaze, Liuliu let out a scream, because on the fifteenth-floor window ledge, there was a child about three or four years old gripping the railing, looking like they were about to fall at any moment, which was heart-wrenching to see.

"Junior brother..."

Liuliu looked at Gu Tao for help, as the child seemed on the verge of falling. It was no use calling the police now, let alone calling Xin Chen.

"It's not my problem."

Gu Tao turned his head away...

"But you can do it, right! Senior brother has such faith in you." Liuliu clenched her teeth and gazed at him intensely, "You can do it, can't you?"

"No."

He rejected the idea quickly, but his heart was actually more anxious than anyone's. Saving someone from the fifteenth floor, by flying up there? Well, he could fly, but that would surely cause a huge commotion, and his quiet days would likely be over. But to watch a life fall before his eyes without doing anything?

At that moment, the crowd around them let out a scream, as the child finally lost their grip and fell. Liuliu cast a disappointed glance at Gu Tao before angrily turning to leave.

However, Gu Tao didn't follow her. Instead, he looked upwards, watching the child's fall.

Suddenly, just as the child was about to hit the ground, Gu Tao made his move at incredible speed, so fast that even freefalling seemed like slow motion to him. He rushed to the front of the crowd, and to the others, it looked as though a gust of wind had passed by since their attention was on the child who was about to hit the ground.

Falling from the fifteenth floor and attempting a catch would be fatal even if successful; it could kill or at least break the spine. Therefore, a jumping action was needed at this point, to join the child in freefall at the lowest point of the parabola, and the distance they would fall together was crucial.

An exoskeleton covered Gu Tao's eyes, wrists, elbows, shoulders, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. His eyes were filled with data now.

When the child almost reached the second floor, Gu Tao suddenly leapt up, grabbed the child midair, and after making slight adjustments, he used three pulses from the geomagnetic buffer in his waist to reduce the speed of impact. Upon touching ground, he rolled in the dusty ground and retracted the exoskeleton in the instant of the roll.

The whole process happened very quickly. To onlookers, it was as if in the blink of an eye, a figure rushed from the crowd, caught the child, and landed safely.

The entire block erupted into cheers and fervent applause, while Gu Tao sat on the ground, looking at the child in his arms who had been frightened into silence. He smiled gently, flicked the child's forehead, and said, "Learn your lesson next time, okay?"

After that, he put the child down gently, got up, dusted off his dirty clothes, and walked off amid the applause and adoring gazes of the crowd. As soon as he squeezed through the crowd, he was met with Liuliu's intense gaze.

"My new clothes are dirty..." Gu Tao looked apologetically at his soiled appearance, "Sorry about that."

"You were amazing!" Liuliu suddenly rushed over excitedly and hugged Gu Tao.

Damn, coach! She's charging with the ball!

"How did you do it just now?"

"Physics, basic physics." Gu Tao, now back in his cotton-padded jacket, sat in a milk tea shop looking very ordinary again, "You can't learn from movies. Without a buffer, both the rescuer and the rescued would be severely injured."

"I mean... how could you think of all that in such a short time? And be so accurate!" Liuliu was so excited she could barely contain herself; she looked at Gu Tao as if he were a superhero.

Gu Tao thought for a moment: "The calculation wasn't difficult. The real challenge is accounting for air resistance, which involves considering atmospheric pressure, wind speed, humidity, and temperature, and also..."

"Wait wait wait, I can't follow anymore. Anyway, you were just really, really cool! Super cool!"

"But my new clothes are dirty..." Gu Tao sighed, "I actually could have prevented that."

"It's okay." Liuliu squinted her eyes and smiled, looking very attractive, like a cat, "I'll wash them for you!"