Inside the city, another person who had also been disconnected from the world for over a month was now staring at a candy stall, hesitating whether to buy some.
Her hand was no longer on her canteen, because she had discovered that she couldn't protect the water at all.
The water in the canteen had already dropped to the dangerous halfway mark. In its place were a sweet potato in Bianka's left hand and a roasted corn in her right.
And in her stomach were a small cream cake, sausages, and even ice cream...
Cecilia had literally taken her from one shop to another, buying a little something for Bianka to try at each one.
Shouldn't the main point be that I don't refuse anything?
Bianka had an epiphany. She had to learn to refuse in order to protect a lunch that would be enough to fill her up.
After getting a fragrant roasted sweet potato, Bianka made a painful decision to start refusing new food at the next shop.
Obviously, she failed.
Looking at the Homu candy in front of her, Bianka's lips moved several times, but no words came out.
She remembered back in the Fire MOTHs, after completing the "training to drink bitter melon juice without changing expression" with Li Sushang, Li Sushang would secretly share a candy like this with her.
That sweet taste was only so sweet because of the contrast with the bitter melon juice, so it wasn't cloying, but rather had a lingering taste.
So a few times, even though Bianka had successfully drunk a whole glass of bitter melon juice without changing her expression, she would still break her composure the moment she ate the candy.
Rita, on the other hand, would always have a smiling expression, whether it was bitter or sweet. Bianka felt that her training was not enough, and that she could work harder.
And then she would be tormented by the second glass of extremely bitter melon juice until her face was twisted.
A little... nostalgic...
Cecilia looked at Bianka's dazed expression. This time, she didn't buy it directly from the boss, but squatted down and pointed a finger at her side.
"Little 'Kiana', do you want those candies?" This was the first time she had actively asked for Bianka's opinion.
It wasn't that she hadn't respected Bianka's thoughts at the previous shops. She had given Bianka many opportunities to refuse at each shop, she just hadn't asked as actively as this.
If Bianka had refused directly at that time, Cecilia would have been happy to see such a scene.
Because that was Cecilia's goal.
To reintroduce Bianka to human society and guide her to express her inner thoughts.
Although Bianka hadn't realized Cecilia's purpose yet, looking at Cecilia's serious expression as she asked, Bianka looked down at the canteen at her waist.
Just one candy... it shouldn't cost much water, right?
No matter how much water she used, she would definitely return it to Cecilia in the future!
With that in mind, Bianka finally took a brave step!
"Excuse me... how much water for one of these candies?"
"Two hundred milliliters for one."
Bianka's courage was shattered!
"Two hundred milliliters?!" Bianka looked at the candy she was pointing at in disbelief, her already round eyes widening even more.
After the consumption at the past few shops, Bianka had a rough idea of the purchasing power of water here.
Twenty milliliters could get you a roasted sweet potato as big as your face, or three roasted corns. Even a delicious small cake was only a hundred milliliters...
One candy? Two hundred milliliters?!
Is the wrapper made of gold or is the candy itself made of silver?
Cecilia's goal was still achieved. Bianka excitedly expressed her opinion. She hugged her canteen in horror and, with her two short legs, ran out of this "black shop."
The shop owner was a middle-aged local woman with a headscarf. She looked at Bianka, who had been "scared away" by her, and helplessly nudged her chin at Cecilia.
"Miss, you know what sugar can be used for in this day and age. It's just these not-so-pure fruit candies. Pure white sugar is not allowed to be sold."
Cecilia, of course, understood why a single candy could be sold for so much.
As something that could quickly provide energy, sugar had always been a controlled item. In this era, the difficulty of making sugar had increased, and so had the demand. With demand exceeding supply, the price naturally soared.
Cecilia thought for a moment, then said something to the owner.
Her voice was well-controlled, and Bianka, outside the door, heard nothing.
Soon, she saw the owner nodding like a pecking chicken and stuffing something into Cecilia's hand. Then, Cecilia walked out of the shop.
Seeing Bianka hiding behind the completely transparent glass door, still peeking sideways, Cecilia said nothing, just smiled at her.
"Let's go, little 'Kiana', to the next shop."
Bianka shrank her head and shook it, raising her hand to protect the canteen at her waist.
"So expensive..." This time, she didn't just follow Cecilia, but whispered to her.
Cecilia was stunned for a moment, then suddenly felt a sense of relief.
"Alright, if you don't want to continue, we'll go look at other places, how about that?" Cecilia squatted in front of Bianka and patted her head.
Bianka lowered her head slightly, not dodging.
The food was delicious. The roasted corn had a light smoky flavor but still retained its sweet corn aroma. The sweet potato was large and had a faint sweetness, perhaps because she had just eaten cake.
The cream on the cake was very sweet, but the cake Cecilia had chosen for her didn't have much cream, supposedly because of some "saccharin" reason.
Was it even more terrible than bitter melon juice? To the extent of a nutrient solution?
Bianka had clearly refused, and Cecilia would not, of course, do something like carrying on with her own idea after getting someone else's reaction.
Compared to some people who didn't even bother to pretend and just acted on their own ideas, Cecilia thought for a moment and then led Bianka away from this street.
The City of Sighs was huge. It only seemed empty and simple now because of the small population. In fact, there was a reason why so many people flocked here.
If you excluded [Xanadu], one of the three wonders of Future City, then the City of Sighs was the most developed place for entertainment in the world. From the forbidden gambling and drugs to children's amusement parks, you could find everything here, except for some things that were truly against human ethics and could not be put on the surface.
After all, once you've earned money, you have to have a place to spend it.
And now, you didn't even have to spend money.
In the current rules of the City of Sighs, as long as you had the ability to restart those abandoned facilities, they would be yours by default.