I Found A Planet

Montana, Merica.

It was a warm, pleasant day in May in the hometown of Tom Bruce. He lived in the quiet and beautiful state of Montana.

The town was very close to the neighboring country of Cadana, less than ten miles from the border. It took only ten minutes by car to enter the territory of Cadana.

Tom’s great grandparents were all Cadanians. When he was a child, he followed his parents, who’d emigrated to Merica, and had become a Merican citizen. After all, Merica had more opportunities for development.

Tom Bruce was also proud of his identity as a citizen of Merica. He could not bear it when he saw people criticizing Merica online, claiming that other countries were better. He often expressed his own three outlooks and was even labeled as a “redneck.” He was not angry, though. He even liked the label and believed that only the rednecks could save Merica.

However, Tom was a gentle and polite young man in real life. He had no bad habits. He did not have many crooked or good-for-nothing friends. He had a very good reputation among the elders. He was an “obedient darling” in the eyes of his parents.

On this day, the 10th of May, he thought about the frozen lake melting. Fishing activities could begin. He thought of the invitation sent by his cousin, Lugers, a few days ago.

After greeting his parents and getting their consent, Tom Bruce took his fishing gear and drove to Cadana. He planned to go to his cousin’s home in Calgary to enjoy a pleasant week.

This was very common in the West. In the 365 days a year, more than 150 days were spent on holidays for “spring break,””winter break,” etc. People had a rich life outside of work. Everyone had one or two hobbies that alleviated mental stress.

A warm breeze was blowing. Looking at the blooming mountain flowers and green forests on both sides, Tom Bruce was in a good mood. He drove for a few hours.

A beautiful, three-story, white-colored villa appeared in front of Tom’s eyes. Seeing the large swimming pool at the entrance of the villa, the large garden at the back that occupied a few acres and the castle-style house which was still under construction, an envious look came over Tom’s face.

“Uncle Philip has more money than before,” he said to himself.

Uncle Philip was a trader. He did business in imports and exports. He mainly bought goods from Z nation and shipped them to be sold in Cadana, earning a middleman’s fee which was the difference between the buying and selling price.

“Z nation’s products are of the best quality and lowest price. There is no substitute.”

This was a phrase often spoken by Uncle Philip.

A part of Tom just did not agree. Were they really irreplaceable? How would you know if you didn’t try? Of course, this was only an unspoken criticism in his heart. He did not speak about it in public.

Moreover, Uncle Philip was so rich, his words could be trusted. He even spurred a few relatives of the family to follow in the trading business. In the end, those who went to Z nation for their batch of goods had profited, while those who went to buy goods from other countries earned peanuts. Some even suffered a loss. This proved that Uncle Philip was right.

Tom entered the villa.

“Dear Tom, cousin, you’re here, I miss you so much!”

His younger cousin, Lugers, was very enthusiastic when he saw Tom and gave him a warm hug.

Tom felt the weight of his cousin hanging onto him. He was very surprised. He could not even fully recognize him.

“My dear cousin, the earth’s gravitational pull is obviously stronger for you now. What is going on? You were still quite nimble last year.”

This statement was very euphemistic, but it still stabbed at Lugers’ sore spot. His face became furious and painful.

“It’s all Xing Hai Technologies’ fault!” he said hatefully.

His radish thick fingers pointed at a spot in the corner of the wall.

“That is the Wa-wah 4.0 cleaning robot. I’ve never helped my mother with cleaning after I got it.” Pointing at the direction of the kitchen, he said, “I also blame the Kitchen God 1.0 robot that can make more than 10,000 dishes. The food it makes is too delicious. It is ten thousand times stronger than the junk food made by mom. It caused my food intake to increase by more than 50%. My weight has also increased uncontrollably. And there’s this!”

His cousin pointed to the robot beside him. Its mouth was sealed with tape.

“It is the most hateful of all robots. It reminds me every day that I am overeating and how overweight I am. If I don’t control my weight, I might die of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases at the age of 40. It suggests that I exercise more and even gives me a set of healthy recipes.”

“Then you should listen to it. Don’t you want to live longer?” Tom asked.

“I am listening, so I play games every day and carry mental labor. I feel that one meal portion from the healthy recipes is not enough, so I eat two portions for every meal! I thought I would lose weight quickly. I didn’t expect to get fatter!”

Lugers delivered a ruthless kick to the robot.

“Liar, you are a liar!”

Tom was exasperated. Eating one portion made based on a healthy recipe was healthy, but that was not necessarily true when one ate two portions. His cousin’s IQ made one feel anxious for him. Tom still comforted him.

“Don’t be sad, my cousin. I will take you fishing tomorrow. We’ll go outdoors for some exercise. Follow me and you will be nimble again.”

“Okay, let’s go fishing tomorrow!”

…

The Next Day

They fished outdoors for only about a short half-day before Lugers was panting heavily and arguing to go home.

“This is not fun at all. We only caught two small fish in two hours. I want to go home, I want to fish in my game. I can catch a big fish in five minutes in the game!”

In the end, Tom had no choice but to follow his cousin’s home.

For the remaining six days, he followed Lugers and played six full days of games on the “Xing Hai Second Generation” computer with its premium configurations. Even Tom Bruce himself was deeply addicted to it.

The games developed with the Star Game Engine were so fun to play. The graphics quality was so beautiful that one could be completely immersed. Then, they would eat the food cooked by the “Kitchen God” robot. They drank cola and enjoyed the convenience brought about by a variety of robots.

Tom felt like he was living in paradise for those few days. His weight increased by 11 pounds. He felt a little like he was indulging in pleasure and forgetting his home and duty.

When his cousin mentioned that he hoped that Tom would stay here and play for a few more days, Tom Bruce almost nodded subconsciously.

But this was not his own home after all. His home was in Montana, Merica. He still had to go back or his parents would worry about him.

A flash went through his mind.

“It seems that there is no product from Xing Hai Technologies in my home. Not only are Uncle Philip and his family fans of Xing Hai Technologies, but they also have many products from Xing Hai Technologies in their house,” Tom muttered. “Those products are very great, very convenient. I bet that I would become like my cousin if I lived in that same condition for half a year. Why is there no Merican company that develops products that have similar functions as those products from Xing Hai Technologies?”

He thought about the rumors and negative whispers he’d heard about the Z nation company.

“If Xing Hai Technologies is a ‘tech thief’, how could they steal to this extent? They seem to have stolen a lot of things that we don’t have…”

This was impossible! It was also illogical.

Common sense told Tom Bruce that those good products could not be achieved merely by stealing. The products carried out their work based on data in the big data systems. The data could only be collected through daily use of the products, and only in trickles.

In the seven days he had lived with his cousin’s family, all that he’d seen and heard with his own eyes and ears was battering the belief in his heart that had remained steadfast up until this point. He gradually realized that he might be living in a huge lie.

After going home, he combined this seven-day experience into a post that was thousands of words long and published it online.

“I lived in my cousin’s home for seven days,” began the post.

No one could’ve predicted the reaction it caused. The post very quickly set off a huge wave on the internet.