210: Chapter 210 Anchors of the Times

Chen Shuyu paused for two seconds, then blinked. "You have to admit." "It actually answered quite thoughtfully."

The livestream chat exploded with laughter. "Hahaha, Shuyu is getting a consultation online!" "No way, she actually dared to ask!" "The key is that this Robot's answer was way too steady." "I originally thought the unmanned pharmacy was just a vending machine for cold medicine, but it can actually connect to doctors from Grade A hospitals?"

Chen Shuyu casually tapped to open the display interface. Sure enough, she could see a list of "Doctors Currently Available Online," marked with free time slots for different hospitals and departments.

As the camera panned over, the chat erupted in another wave of exclamations. "No way, this really boosted the efficiency of primary care consultations." "Doctors get extra subsidies, residents find it convenient to buy medicine and get consultations... This approach is pretty strong." "This isn't replacing doctors; it's catching a huge number of minor issues first."

Meanwhile, over in the United States, President Trump's expression had turned completely grim. During the military parade, what he feared was power. But now, he was afraid of something else.

If this city truly was one step ahead in terms of security, hygiene, efficiency, medical convenience, and living experience, what would that mean? It would mean that the label of the world's most advanced smart city might not stay firmly stuck to their own faces.

It would mean that those wealthy people who value security, efficiency, asset stability, and living experience the most would start to seriously consider another possibility. Why not come here? Come here to invest, come here to settle down. Why not place money, time, focus, and a portion of the future here in advance?

For the United States, the title of "World's Most Advanced smart city" was never just about face. Behind it lay capital attraction, the inertia of choices made by high-net-worth individuals globally, and the long-term binding of financial and residential value. Once this anchor point was pried loose, the consequences would be far more than just losing face.

President Trump stared at the screen, his eyes darkening bit by bit, and finally spoke. "Continue." The person beside him immediately lowered his head. "Yes." "Keep pushing the topic of 'Robots stealing jobs' higher."

Because he understood. It was hard to attack the other areas. Security, hygiene, efficiency, convenience—these things were all real. The only thing that could still be needled was that most instinctive fear of ordinary people. The fear of being useless in the future. The fear of not being able to support themselves. The fear that the brighter the future, the further away it would be from them.

And in the livestream chat, this wind, as expected, slowly emerged once again. It started with a few scattered comments. "Once the unmanned restaurant opens, what happens to the waiters?" "Once the unmanned pharmacy opens, what happens to the regular pharmacy clerks?" "The future is great, but what will ordinary people rely on to live?" Then, there were more and more. Denser and denser.

Chen Shuyu had originally wanted to take advantage of the relaxing cat nurse segment to wrap things up, but when she looked down, her expression sank again. Just as she was about to explain, Lu Li had already reached out and gently pressed down the phone she was holding. "Don't say anything."

Chen Shuyu gritted her teeth. "But aren't they just blatantly steering the narrative?" "I know." Lu Li's tone was flat. "Saying anything right now is meaningless." This sentence was spoken very calmly. Yet precisely because it was calm, it revealed even more that he had completely seen through this wave of narrative steering.

Chen Shuyu was fuming, but in the end, she held it in. The livestream officially ended a few minutes later. The screen went black. However, related topics seemed to have been ignited simultaneously, instantly rushing to the trending searches. Not just [Beining City Future District]. There was also a string of terms clearly carrying a sense of division, all hanging up there at once. [Will Robots Steal the Rice Bowls of Ordinary People] [Is the smart city a middle-class fantasy] [Beining City: Future Template or Unemployment Template]

Chen Shuyu looked at the trending searches and almost laughed in anger on the spot. "Did these people even watch the livestream?" "We clearly filmed job upgrades and the division of labor between humans and Robots just now!" "How did it turn into 'ordinary people have no way to live' in the blink of an eye?" The more she spoke, the angrier she got. She looked down at the comments section, and her temples were almost smoking with rage. "Look, it's that same group of people." "It's that same bunch of Guangdong IPs." "I'm truly impressed. How do they know so much about Beining City, about the smart city, and about the survival anxiety of ordinary people across the country?"

Su Qingxue took her phone, looked at it for a few moments, and her eyes darkened slightly. She knew better than Chen Shuyu that the most troublesome part of this kind of thing was never the harsh insults. It was that it struck the softest and most fearful part of people's hearts. She spoke softly: "They are not opposing Chengbei District."

Chen Shuyu looked up. Su Qingxue stared at the comments on the screen like "I am not against technology, I am just worried about ordinary people," her voice low and steady. "They are using Chengbei District to amplify the most instinctive fear everyone has about the future."

The wind blew in slowly from the street corner. The three of them walked side by side toward the parking area. Not far away, the mechanical police dog was still patrolling in the night, the cat-shaped nurse Robot stood at the pharmacy entrance waving its little paws, and the mechanical arms in the transparent kitchen were still working quietly. Everything was so orderly. So advanced. And so easy to make people feel panicked.

Lu Li didn't speak. But in his heart, he understood better than anyone what those people were really afraid of. What they feared was never the Robots. What they feared was that after the Robots arrived, they would no longer have the qualification to live with dignity. So the problem was never about replacement. The problem was—when productivity was already high enough to support the basic operations of a city, why must people still rely on that inefficient, repetitive, and undignified labor to exchange for the most basic qualification for survival?

Chengbei was just the first test field. If one day, a city could truly rely on automation, AI, intelligent manufacturing, low-cost energy, and city-level scheduling to press the basic operating costs low enough layer by layer. Then, why couldn't that portion of the dividends overflowing from productivity return to the hands of every single person?

These thoughts flashed through his mind and quickly sank down. It wasn't enough. It was still far from enough. Urban dividend accounts, basic security quotas, unemployment security levels that automatically rise, city points linked to training, job transfers, and community services... and even Communism... That was a path too long and too heavy. So long that saying it out loud now would only sound like a joke. So heavy that even today's Chengbei District had only just taken the first step. So he didn't say it. He just kept that path pressed down in his heart.

In the parking lot, Chen Shuyu was still grumbling in anger. "If this isn't resolved, it's going to explode later." "If we really let them steer the narrative like this, no matter how well Chengbei District does, it will be smeared to pieces." After getting into the car, Su Qingxue sat next to Lu Li, stayed quiet for a long time, and then asked in a low voice: "How are you planning to handle this?"

Chen Shuyu also immediately turned to look at him, her eyes clearly showing worry. Lu Li leaned back in his seat, his gaze falling on the receding night view outside the window. After a few seconds, he spoke faintly. "It will not exacerbate unemployment." "Nor will it eliminate bottom-tier laborers." Chen Shuyu frowned. "Then what path are you going to take?"

Lu Li turned his head to look at her, his tone still languid. "It's not the path they think it is." Having said that, there was no follow-up. Su Qingxue looked at him and didn't press further. Because she knew that since this person hadn't said it, it wasn't because he hadn't thought it through. It was because he had thought it through too clearly. It was just that now was not the time to say it.

Returning to the villa, the night was already deep. After Lu Li went upstairs, he casually glanced at the system panel. That main mission that had just refreshed on October 1st was still hanging there quietly. [Main Mission: Lead the Dragon Country to reach the peak of the Blue Star, and completely crush the United States, making the other side convinced.] [Mission Rewards: Complete technology for the Space Elevator, complete technology for Space Living Areas, and technology for self-generating oxygen and ecological cycle construction.]

Lu Li took a look and then closed the interface. Space Elevator. Space Living Areas. These things sounded too far away. But if one really wanted to move forward, the road was never something you could jump across all at once. First, a street. Then, a city. Then, it might be the entire era.

Just at this moment, the phone on the bedside table suddenly vibrated. It wasn't a normal message. It was an encrypted call. Lu Li lowered his eyes to take a look and answered. On the other end of the line, a voice was steady and brief. "Chief Engineer Lu." "The preliminary plan for the first Nuclear Fusion test site is out."