Chapter 536: Chapter 535: The Leisurely Life of a Salted Fish (Part 2)

After enjoying the interaction between Satono and Rishi for a while, Fang Zheng left the coffee shop. With a rare stretch of leisure time, he decided to take this opportunity to visit all the stores he had just opened, partly to familiarize himself with them and partly to see how they were actually doing.

After all, Fang Zheng had only heard of some of these shops, and some he hadn’t even heard of their names, only opening them after reading their descriptions. In such cases, no one knew exactly what world or store they would connect to.

So first… let’s go with the Hanabishi Planetarium.

Considering the journey, Fang Zheng didn’t build this observatory too far away. He chose a site not far from the town for the Hanabishi Planetarium’s construction. As with other buildings, by the time Fang Zheng arrived, he could already see the observatory.

From the outside, the planetarium looked quite pretty. It was an entirely glass structure, with a dome on top resembling that of an astronomical observatory. And at the entrance, one could clearly see the sign “Hanabishi Planetarium”.

However…

“I can’t help but feel it’s a bit dirty… Is it just my imagination?”

Looking at the dust-covered glass above, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but comment. Then, he reached out and pushed open the glass door in front of him.

A blast of cold air hit him in the face, and as Fang Zheng opened his eyes, what he saw was a dimly lit hall with a staircase leading to the second floor straight ahead and a reception desk to the right. But there wasn’t a single person around, and not only that, the entire planetarium looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time, with dust everywhere.

…

Fang Zheng silently closed the door.

I must have opened it wrong.

He took a deep breath and pushed it open again.

And what appeared before Fang Zheng was… still the same scene as before.

“…What on earth is going on?”

Walking through the main entrance, Fang Zheng stood dumbfounded at the sight of the seemingly long-abandoned planetarium, completely unsure of how to react. For a moment, he wondered if he had somehow ended up in some Resident Evil or other kind of world because, anyhow one looked at it, the planetarium seemed utterly deserted.

Is this what counts for entertainment facilities here? Am I supposed to turn this place into a Ghost House?

“Sigh…”

Sighing, Fang Zheng walked in and reached the door of the Observatory Pavilion, glancing around.

Regardless, since it was already exchanged, it couldn’t be returned, so he might as well check the condition of the equipment and other things here. If everything was intact, perhaps he could find a few people to run it.

With this thought, Fang Zheng pushed open the soundproof door in front of him and walked in.

It was at this moment that suddenly, a voice sounded.

“Congratulations, you are the 2,500,000th visitor to our establishment!”

“Huh?”

At this voice, Fang Zheng was startled and then looked ahead.

Unlike the dimly lit lobby outside, the Observatory Pavilion was brightly lit, and in front of Fang Zheng stood a girl wearing a dark blue uniform, with blue twin-tails and a sweet and cute face. Behind the girl’s head, a pair of large, bow-like objects shone brightly.

Although the girl in front of him looked very much like a human, Fang Zheng could tell from her mechanical ears the girl’s true identity. After all, he also had a little guy with a similar build following him around.

Is this… a robot?

“I am terribly sorry!”

As Fang Zheng was contemplating, the girl in front of him suddenly bowed her head in a panic, apologizing to him.

“In fact, you are not the 2,500,000th visitor, but rather the 2,487,288th. However, that number isn’t accurate either because there were a young boy and a young girl who visited without paying an entrance fee, so we made an exception and let them enter for free. Therefore, you should actually be the 2,487,290th visitor. We apologize for any confusion and inconvenience this may cause you…”

“Uh…”

Watching the girl robot spew out such an uninterrupted stream of words, Fang Zheng didn’t quite know what to say. He looked around and coughed.

“No, I don’t really mind that, but speaking of which… this is the observatory, right? Are you still open now?”

“Of course.”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s question, the girl smiled happily.

“You are the first visitor that this establishment has received again after a hiatus of 29 years and 81 days. Welcome to the Hanabishi Planetarium. I am the narrator here, my name is Yume Hoshino.”

As she spoke, the girl turned and walked over to a chair nearby. Then, she picked up a “bouquet” and handed it to Fang Zheng.

Although it was called a “bouquet,” in reality, it was composed of an incandescent light bulb, a microphone, wires, and various other items wrapped together with cloth to form a “bouquet”… well, a medium-sized non-flammable piece of trash?

“Please accept this commemorative gift from our establishment.”

Looking at the “bouquet” handed to him, Fang Zheng silently reached out to take it. But before he could say anything else, the girl bowed again.

“I am very sorry, because we couldn’t prepare a real bouquet, we had to use this as a substitute…”

“No need to apologize, this bouquet is indeed quite original, so I’ll accept it,”

Hearing this, Fang Zheng smiled and waved his hand, then he put away the bouquet and looked around again.

“I’m here to see the observatory… when does it start?”

In response to Fang Zheng’s question, the girl smiled again.

“Please wait a moment, it will start projecting in seven minutes. If you don’t mind, would you consider enjoying our special 2.5 millionth visitor commemorative projection?”

“Then I’ll look forward to it.” Fang Zheng nodded in response to the girl’s words, then he casually found a seat, sat down, and turned his head to take in his surroundings.

But come to think of it, watching stars in an observatory was a first for him. He remembered there being an observatory in the city where he grew up, but hardly anyone went there. By the time Fang Zheng grew up, he had forgotten about the state of the observatory, perhaps it was demolished during urban construction.

“Click.”

As Fang Zheng was lost in thought, suddenly the hall dimmed, and he focused his attention forward. Soon enough, spotlight suddenly illuminated the area not far from him, shining on the standing interpreter girl who respectfully bowed and then looked at Fang Zheng.

“Welcome to Hanabishi Planetarium, I am the narrator Yume Hoshino. Before we start the projection, please allow me to go over a few rules…”

This looked like a scene from a post-apocalyptic era, and she was probably able to remain herself only because she was a robot. An ordinary human wouldn’t have been able to maintain their identity for so long in such a place.

Watching the narrator girl, who was still systematically presenting the “please turn off your mobile phones, no smoking, and no eating during the projection” rules in front of him, the only guest, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but feel moved. He wasn’t sure what kind of world this was, but from the looks of it, this place had obviously been abandoned. There was no sensation of excessive toxins or radiation in the air, which meant… it probably wasn’t a radioactive wasteland.

But there must have been some problem…

“…Yena is the name of this big machine, so please say hello to Yena…”

While speaking, the narrator girl raised her hand and made an inviting gesture towards the projector.

………….

………

…..

However, nothing happened.

But the narrator girl didn’t get discouraged and raised her hand again.

“So, let’s ask Yena to say hello once more…”

…………….

Staring at the stationary planetarium projector, both Fang Zheng and the girl fell into silence.

The last thing you want is for the air to suddenly become quiet.

After a while, Fang Zheng finally broke the silence.

“This… it wouldn’t happen to be broken, would it…”

He paid money to exchange for an observatory, and it was one thing that there was no staff to manage it, but even the equipment was damaged? Was the system cheating his money?

“I’m really sorry!”

The narrator girl bowed her head once more.

“My apologies, but it seems that the projector is now severely malfunctioning. The director and staff have gone travelling, and I’m simply unable to check on it…”

…Traveling?

Who takes a trip for over twenty years!

“No worries, I’ll get someone to fix it.”

“Ah?”

The narrator girl looked up in surprise upon hearing Fang Zheng’s reply.

“You would help?”

“Of course. Though I’m here as a guest, the truth is, I am also the owner of this planetarium… It’s just that I hadn’t expected things to be in such a bad state…”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng activated the communication system, and within moments, Tilia’s image appeared.

“What can I do for you, Elder Brother?”

“Tilia? Bring your students over to me, there’s work to be done.”

As Tilia appeared before him, Fang Zheng quickly issued his command.