Chapter 2 - Live Broadcast Platform – Side A
Therefore, after Ruan Tang woke up, he only stayed an additional day in the hospital before being discharged.
Fortunately, in the future, transportation was very convenient, and suspended flying cars were accessible anywhere. You only needed to use the light brain to place an order. Light brains were photon based computers used by people in the future. It was small in size, easy to carry and fully functional. Ruan Tang’s light brains was in the form of a bracelet that looked like an upgraded version of a sports bracelet with smooth lines and a metallic texture.
He successfully placed an order on the light brain, and five minutes later, a small and delicate suspended car quickly and precisely stopped in front of him. The suspended car was unmanned, fast-flying, and wouldn’t cause any sort of discomfort. It was very safe, fast and convenient.
Fifteen minutes later, Ruan Tang stood on a platform with a height of 25 stories above the ground. He held the doorknob in his hand and his legs gave a slight shake.
There were no such things as stairs and elevators in the future. The place where a window should have been was turned into a door, and there was a high-altitude platform in front of the door to allow for the cars to land. If you wanted to go downstairs, you could use the suspended board next to the high-altitude platform. It was safe and convenient.
Ruan Tang with a slight fear of heights, as much as possible, avoided looking down. He pressed his finger against the fingerprint button on the door handle and the apartment building door opened with a greeting.
Ruan Tang had just entered the door when he saw a white robot which was almost as tall as himself, standing at the door with a pair of white slippers. “Master, welcome back.”
Ruan Tang heard Cui Lei mention it yesterday. After he had signed the contract with the company, the company equipped him with a super smart butler, which integrated cleaning, cooking, massage, companionship, clerical and other functions. Although he had been let go by the company, but the ownership of the robot had been transferred to him. After all, he had just been discharged from the hospital and needed the care of a smart butler.
He couldn’t help but sigh. This company was truly a compassionate company. Ruan Tang was truly grateful and promised to find some way in the future to repay them.
“Thank you, Xiao Bai.” He wore the slippers that the robot brought to him. He remembered that Cui Lei said that the original owner named the robot Xiao Bai.
“You’re welcome. Does Master need to eat now?”
Hearing that, Ruan Tang touched his tummy and indeed, felt a little hungry, so he nodded: “Yes.”
Xiao Bai quickly brought him a bottle of nutrient solution.
When Ruan Tang saw the nutrient solution, he furrowed his brows slightly. When he was hospitalized, he also drank nutrient solutions. A small test tube-like bottle contained all the body’s necessary carbohydrates, protein and various micronutrients. It was handy and convenient. The disadvantage was that it had no taste. Although the stomach was full, the appetite was not satisfied. For those who, like Ruan Tang, grew up in the company of food, it made them feel even unhappier than going hungry.
“Is there any other food?” In any case, he didn’t want to eat nutrient solutions anymore.
Xiao Bai’s eyes began to flash blue. After a while, he said: “According to the hospital’s medical report, Master is still weak and has not eaten for a long time. It is recommended to eat liquid food. There is no stock of food ingredients at home. Only the nutrient solution meets the requirements. Master may log unto the network to purchase ingredients or directly have food delivered.”
After thinking about it, Ruan Tang was unconscious for five years. It was normal for there to be no ingredients at home. Although Xiao Bai was his smart butler, but without the permission of the owner, the smart butler couldn’t use the funds in the account.
Upon opening the light brain, the landing page of the star network appeared in front of the light screen projection. The home page of the star network was similar to the search engines from before. On top was the search bar, and on the bottom were the various popular categories index — mech, shopping, film, live broadcasts, games, intergalactic battles, etc.
Ruan Tang clicked the shopping index tab on the light screen and the page quickly jumped to the shopping mall. With his current physical condition, he could only eat liquid food, so he was planning to make a simple and delicious preserved egg porridge. But when he searched for preserved eggs in the mall, the system indicated that there were no results that met his search requirement.
After returning to the food section, he found out that there were only a few items in the food section. It was simply divided into meat and vegetables. There were only one or two pages of ingredients under each category, of which the meat was the better seller. Fish species were included but there were only a measly twenty different types. The categorization of vegetables was all jumbled up. It included fruits, wheat and other things of that like. There were about thirty or forty kinds, and they are all raw, unprocessed ingredients.
Every food had a “safe” green logo. Ruan Tang curiously went on the star network to search for information related to the ingredients. It was there that he learned that when humans fled Earth thousands of years ago, it was like the story of Noah from the Holy Bible. They had brought seeds and livestock of all kinds. But not long after they found a planet to settle down on to start planting and animal husbandry, than they were besieged by alien attacks. After that, it was a war that lasted for a thousand years. All human beings were up at arms. There was simply no time to devote to culinary arts. After developing the most convenient and quick nutrient solution, they basically just ate nutrient solutions exclusively.
It wasn’t until the end of the war that the Academy of Sciences used gene technology to restore these livestock and vegetation that they have kept frozen underground. Since the environment in outer space was different from that of Earth’s, in order to prevent these ingredients from mutating due to the influence of the cosmic environment, the Imperial Academy would conduct a large number of experiments on these ingredients, before confirming that they are completely non-toxic and can be eaten before they were opened to the public.
The 74 ingredients that are now seen in the shopping mall were the ones verified as safe by the Academy of Sciences. If Ruan Tang couldn’t find preserved eggs, it meant that it had not yet been restored or possibly not yet been verified. It seemed that he has to wait for a while.
Fortunately, pork, beef, eggs, rice, wheat, green vegetables and other common ingredients were available. He could make a lean vegetable porridge or beef egg porridge. The price of these ingredients didn’t seem expensive. Even the price of meat didn’t exceed 20 GM, so Ruan Tang decided to buy more at once, and bought more than 20 different ingredients from the store. Especially potatoes, Ruan Tang didn’t know if it was a promotion. For 2 GM coins, he bought 20 pieces at once. Anyway, the fresh-keeping technology was much stronger than before. It was okay to buy more.
However, at the time of checkout, the light brain issued a warning, indicating that his account balance was insufficient.
Ruan Tang hurriedly checked his account and found that he only had 200 GM in his account. Could he possibly be the poorest film emperor in history?
He checked the account’s billing details and found that five years ago, the original owner would transfer a large amount of money to an account every month until he had an accident. Afterwards, there were still ten or so thousand GMs in his account. However, the house was rented under his name. At the beginning, the rent was automatically deducted from his account. The 2,500 GMs per month was deducted for more than three years. Later, his account balance became insufficient and perhaps the other party contacted Cui Lei and he continued to pay rent for him. Plus, he was deducted 50 GMs for the ride home today, so now there was only 200 GMs left...
The average income of the average person of the ordinary class was about 5,000 GMs per month. The current situation can only be considered as extreme poverty.
It seems that he has to hurry to find a way to make money else he won’t even be able to eat rice.
The original owner was an actor with a high face value and good acting skills. But now... Ruan Tang doesn’t know the first thing about acting, and this body hasn’t recovered yet. Where was there still any face value now?
The only thing he could be any good at would probably be cooking. However, with the condition his body was currently in, it would be difficult for him to go out to work.
It seemed that he could only try to sell food online.
He returned to the star network homepage, and searched for “gourmet”. Among the results that jumped out, the first was a live broadcast platform called “Jinjiang”.
The Jinjiang Live Broadcasting Platform was the largest comprehensive live broadcast platform on the star network, and the number of online users had reached a staggering 20 billion. Thanks to developments in technology, the entertainment industry in the future was flourishing. The convenient, fast and interactive star network had become the most popular entertainment method for the interplanetary masses, and the online traffic had reached unfathomable levels.
His eyes brightened in an instant, and he immediately clicked in. Jinjiang Live Broadcasts Platform had millions of live channels, of which the live broadcast for gaming and mech battles were the most popular, occupying half of the live broadcast platform. Ruan Tang continued to scroll down and finally found the food section. He found that there were also quite a number of people who did live food broadcasts, but the number obviously couldn’t compare to gaming and mechs.
Ruan Tang found a live food broadcast with the largest number of online viewers. The anchor was a slightly plump teenager, who was broadcasting from a restaurant while he ate. Using its intelligence system, the live broadcast platform discerned that Ruan Tang was at home and it automatically switched to the holographic mode for him.
In holographic mode, it was able to produce an immersive feeling, as if the person sitting at the table preparing to dine was himself. The virtual reality technology of the future world had reached its pinnacle. The size, volume, smell, appearance, touch, and even temperature were just like the real thing. This was a very novel experience for Ruan Tang.
The little fatty spoke incessantly about how delicious the dishes in the restaurant were, so much so that Ruan Tang suddenly felt a bit of anticipation to sample the cuisine of this era.
The dishes soon came up. It was a steaming plate of eggplant and a plate of roast chicken. The dishes smelled very appetizing, but what about the taste?
The small fatty resisted salivating over the food and allowed the viewers to sample the dishes first. This was the first time for Ruan Tang to try tasting holographic data and he was extremely curious. He used his chopsticks to take a piece of eggplant and put it in his mouth.
The eggplant was steamed in broth, the only seasoning should be salt. When he first tasted it, it tasted a bit bland, but the eggplant was steamed thoroughly and was very soft. It simply melted in his mouth and there was a sweet aftertaste from the eggplant. In his heart, he gave the dish a score of 70%. At the same time he thought it was such a pity. If black bean sauce and soy sauce could be added, it would certainly take this dish’s taste up a notch.
But holographic data was still just data and while it could allow users to chew and taste the food, it couldn’t be swallowed nor could it produce any satiety. Therefore, Ruan Tang quickly turned to sample the other dish.
When Ruan Tang tasted the roast chicken, he frowned. Compared to the eggplant dish, it was surprisingly rich, after all, it was heavily seasoned with pepper. However, the texture was barely satisfactory. It was dry and tough, and it was like eating wax. In Ruan Tang’s opinion it couldn’t even garner a passing grade.
Among this different chicken parts, breast meat was an inherently difficult part to cook. Although it had high protein content that was easy for the body to absorb, it required a high level of cooking skill and temperature control to cook well. It was not at all suitable for roasting or boiling.
However, compared with Ruan Tang’s disappointment, the audience in the live broadcast room were already very satisfied.
[The Great Swindler: Wow! It’s delicious! With these two dishes, I ate two bottles of nutrient solution in one go! ]
[Superman ver 9.0: I like that eggplant, it didn’t seem boiled. This just proves that the level of certified chefs are exceptional. [Salivating a current.jpg]]
Ruan Tang raised his eyebrows in surprise. He never thought that chefs in the future would need to be certified.
[Not fat at all: Sending likes to the anchor! These dishes must have cost a lot? [funny.jpg]]
[Hee Hee Hee: Thanks to the anchor for taking us to eat delicious food, and sending a little care my way! Should one desire to sing, one would amaze the world with his first song. This crystal flower is my deep love for you! ]
Three beautiful crystal flowers bloomed across the screen, one after the other. It was vivid and lifelike and had a touch of floral fragrance. This was a gift from the audience to the anchor through the Jinjiang Live Broadcast Platform. Each crystal flower was worth 100 GMs, and was the main source of revenue for the anchors.
Although it was only 300 GMs, it caused Ruan Tang’s heart to beat incessantly. As a blogger with millions of fans in his previous life, Ruan Tang was confident that his cooking skills exceeded that of this chef’s by a lot. Presumably, he could earn a lot more money. What’s more, he had done a lot of live broadcasts in his previous world. This could even be considered the same as his previous profession.