Chapter 4199: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (17)

Fortunately, the alien engineers also had some self-knowledge and didn't run too far, but just turned around near Crux. And because Centaurus is very close to here, and the location of Pikachu's tavern is very close to the Morning Star, it is very conspicuous, so it is inevitable that some people will fly their spaceships to take a look.

On a desolate planet, a tavern rising from the ground is still very eye-catching. This building doesn't look like a dragon's den or a tiger's den, so many aliens chose to fly their spaceships over to take a look.

Schiller was wiping glass wine glasses behind the bar when he heard the buzzing sound of a spaceship landing. He looked up at the door and saw a tall purple-skinned alien walk in. The two looked at each other and were stunned.

Schiller thought about why there were aliens here, so he knew that the construction on the side of Crux had already started, but he didn't expect someone to wander here so soon. And that alien looked more like he had seen a ghost—why did he think this place didn't look like a dragon's den or a tiger's den???

"Hello, what would you like to drink?" Out of professional ethics, Schiller still asked.

"Uh, hello, are you human? Don't misunderstand, it's just that the race scan result of my personal terminal shows you are..."

"I am human, and also the bartender of this bar. What would you like to drink?"

"Uh, is this a bar? That is, a place to drink?"

"Yes. You can drink here, and if you get drunk, there are guest rooms upstairs to sleep. The menu is on the table, if you need it, I can also introduce it to you."

The tall alien sat down cautiously, glanced at the menu, seemed completely unable to understand the colorful drinks on it, but didn't dare to ask more, so he pointed to one at random.

"Alright." Schiller walked over to take a draft beer glass. The other party ordered a dark beer, so Schiller walked under the faucet and poured a full glass of dark beer for him and placed it on the table, then said: "The dark beer you want, do you want something to eat?"

This alien was really a bit hungry, but he said with some difficulty: "I'm not sure if I can eat the things you humans eat."

"Can you eat meat? Vegetables and fruits?"

"Uh, give me a portion of everything," the alien said. "How much is the total?"

"Together... 22 universal coins. You can pay by connecting your personal terminal to the machine over there."

The alien paid the money, and soon smelled a strong fragrance coming from the kitchen. Not long after, a steak, a portion of roasted vegetables, and a fruit platter were brought up.

He first sniffed with a nose shorter than a human's, seemingly confirming that he could eat this thing, and then pinched the fork that was much smaller than his hand cautiously, forked a piece of steak and sent it into his mouth. With one chew, it exploded with juice.

In fact, in the interstellar lingua franca, aliens don't call Earth Earth, but "Water Ball," meaning more similar to "that planet full of water."

From this name, you can see that aliens are actually quite surprised by the state of Earth being full of liquid water, because this kind of planet is a minority in the universe.

Many planets are very arid, at least the surface is very arid, and liquid water is underground. There are also some planets that have no liquid water at all, and are all ice layers that have not melted for ages. Many planets that seem to have liquids, those liquids are not water, such as liquid metallic hydrogen on Jupiter. Many giant planets only have this kind of "ocean."

And like Earth, where most of the surface is water and land only occupies a small part, it is a minority. Precisely because the water element of Earth is too sufficient, many things here have very high water content, such as animals and plants. The meat steak that explodes with juice at one bite, the refreshing and moist vegetables, and the fruits where water accounts for the vast majority of the weight, which Earth people are accustomed to, cannot be grown on many barren and arid planets. And civilizations born from this kind of planet rarely can eat things with extremely rich water content. This is different from drinking water directly, any juice in food can provide a different fragrance.

For example, the meat juice of steak, many are the result of fat accumulation, and the fragrance of fat naturally goes without saying.

The alien took a deep breath, feeling the fragrance of grease permeating his mouth. The environment of the civilization he was born in was actually quite good, and he had eaten a lot of fish and meat, but the taste of this steak was still very attractive. The flesh of their race has been genetically adjusted, and the taste buds are more developed than humans, so they can taste the details of all tastes.

After one bite, he wasn't satisfied, and took another bite, then finished a whole steak in two or three bites. He went to eat roasted vegetables, although the roasted vegetables were a bit dry, the outside would form a slightly crispy shell, while the inside would still explode with juice. This alien seemed to be a bit afraid of being hot, and ate a potato and screamed.

He hurriedly poured a large mouthful of beer, and then tasted a piece of fruit. That was a piece of watermelon, this fruit was completely made of water, it was simply sweet and juicy, and it was iced, and the moment it entered, the fruit fragrance went straight to the brain through the olfactory system. Then drink another mouthful of beer. The alien looked at these three dishes in front of him, and finally felt that the fruit taste was the best.

He finished the fruit platter in one breath, and settled the bill, and said cautiously: "Can I buy another portion of this?"

Schiller didn't know why he was so cautious, so he nodded and said: "Yes. Do you want to pack it? The packing fee is 10 cents. But you have to be careful, this thing is easy to break, and it can't be left overnight, otherwise it won't be fresh..."

The alien nodded repeatedly. Schiller packed another box of fruit platter for him. When walking out, the alien was clearly happy, and it didn't seem to be entirely because of the joy of food.

Schiller checked the price of all products online, and in fact, the price he set was quite expensive. For civilizations that can participate in interstellar society, basically all races have no survival pressure, and the price of necessities for maintaining life has been suppressed to a very low price. As long as you don't mind the taste, drinking nutrient solution is fine, so there is no one who can't live.

And most of the food that needs cooking is not sold cheaply. In fact, the nutrition needed by carbon-based organisms is just that, and there are special planets to produce rice, flour, grain, and oil, although the quality is uneven, even the best ones don't cost much money.

Fruit is indeed more expensive, so the fruit platter is the most expensive of these three dishes. However, the currency value of interstellar universal coins is originally very high, and an ordinary restaurant, a set meal that can be fully eaten, only sells for a little over one coin. Selling a fruit platter for more than ten coins is already an astronomical price, and the amount of this fruit platter is not much, just three or four slices of watermelon, a few pieces of melon, plus some pineapple and banana. Even on Earth, no matter which country, selling such a fruit platter for more than ten coins is quite outrageous.

However, the reaction of today's guest was a bit strange, so Schiller checked online carefully again, and he found that in many civilizations with clear classes, it is not that you can buy fruit if you have money.

For example, the Shi'ar Empire is a noble system, although citizens can eat fruit, they can only eat three kinds of fruit in total, and the other dozen are exclusive to nobles. It is similar to the medieval system, all creatures in the wild are the property of nobles, and poaching is a capital crime.

In this kind of civilization, the fruit eaten by the bottom people is the kind that doesn't taste very good but has a large output, such as the Bodo fruit of the Shi'ar Empire. Although Schiller hasn't eaten it, judging from the pictures, it looks a bit like an underdeveloped primitive watermelon, which doesn't look very delicious.

But nobles can eat honey melon, which is a fruit that can flow out something like nectar when cut open, which looks delicious. There is also purple bulb fruit, which looks a bit like dragon fruit on Earth, and is also rich in juice and high in sugar.

There are even some fruits that are exclusively for the royal family, such as a fruit that grows in the heart of a strange big flower and looks a bit like lychee, and a green fruit similar to watermelon on Earth. These are not to mention commoners, even nobles may not be able to eat them, and if you get one, you can hold a banquet.

Now Schiller understands why that alien was so happy. There are not many fruits produced by aliens, and there is class monopoly, even if commoners can eat them, they are mostly not very famous varieties, and they will not be very delicious.

Now Schiller also knows why their civilization is so developed, and they don't build a large-scale greenhouse to produce more fruit. To put it bluntly, this thing is not just food, but also a symbol of status. If you make it affordable for everyone, wouldn't the noble masters be very faceless?

If you want to say what is better about electronic life than emotional life, it is probably that there is no class. Almost all civilizations of emotional life are clearly graded, and class will hinder the progress of productivity, making civilizations develop to the stage of interstellar travel, and they can still steal joy when eating fruit.

Schiller sighed, and could only hope that Pamela would exert her strength early, and quickly build an orchard, if it could export fruit to the interstellar, it would be best.

Just thinking of this, Pamela walked in, sat at the bar, sighed and said: "The soil brought from Earth is not good, under the radiation state of this star, the seeds are almost unable to germinate."

"Then what do you plan to do?"

"I'm going back to Cat Getan to get some soil."

"Ah?"

"And that Cat Getan of ours won't work, the pollution there has been treated quite well. To be precise, I have to go to the main universe to steal some soil, their energy is strong, and it should be able to withstand radiation."

Schiller put a big question mark on her with his expression. Pamela waved her hand and said: "You are not unaware, Cat Getan's soil is all-encompassing and never refuses anyone. Don't care whether it is acid rain, heavy metal pollution, chemical pollution, nuclear radiation or any other radiation, it seems to have caused pollution to it, but these pollutions have reached a weird balance, causing it to still have the basic ability of soil."

"Are you sure?"

"Really, I have tested it," Pamela said, "And the main universe's energy is not the biggest. If it still doesn't work after bringing it over, I have to go to the dark universe to find it. The ten-thousand-year silt under Atlantis in Batwoman's universe should be better."

"My meaning is, are you sure the fruit grown with this kind of soil can be eaten? I'm not going to poison all the aliens!"

"Don't worry, there will be antibodies if you eat more," Pamela didn't take it seriously at all, he said, "Don't Cat Getan people eat it every day and be fine?"

Schiller was speechless. You can't treat aliens like Cat Getan people!