Tao Yu took another look at his sister, and although Tao Lan's face still bore the pallor of postpartum weakness, the sleeping baby in her arms made her seem so resilient.
Standing in line, she even smiled and waved at Tao Yu, signalling for him to hurry into the city.
Seeing his sister's smile, Tao Yu also took a deep breath.
Then, he turned and headed towards the city gate.
As a 'partner,' Tao Yu's method of entering the Inner City was much simpler than that of the queued laborers.
His watch already contained his identity chip, which Panda had arranged for him when he set up the company, so he didn't need to be checked when entering, just a quick 'beep' with a swipe.
However, the convenience came with a price tag of 10 points of Yuan Force.
For an average Outsider family, this could be considered a day's income.
"Even if my sister and brother-in-law had such privileges, I'm afraid they wouldn't use them," Tao Yu sighed to himself.
His brother-in-law could probably enter through this route as well, but his high-level work card would exempt him from the entry fee, a reward for his diligent work in the Inner City over the years.
If they really had to pay for such work cards, it would almost equate to working for free for a day.
"Laborers enter the city to serve the Inner City residents; their 'entry fee' is actually the value of their labor. Whereas junior partners' entry doesn't necessarily bring benefits to the Inner City, so this threshold is set..."
As Tao Yu passed through the thick walls of the Inner City, the streets of the Inner City gradually came into view.
Completely different from the dirt roads and muddiness of the Outer City.
Although the overall style was not exactly clean, under the generally dim lighting, it brought a kind of oppressive sensation to the atmosphere, and even on the streets there was the occasional piece of trash.
But, all in all, it was much better than the Outer City!
On the two-lane roads paved with asphalt, you could see the drains along the sidewalk, populated with pedestrians of various appearances. At this early hour, it was mainly the laborers from the Outer City who had just passed their inspections.
The rare natives of the Inner City were easily distinguished by their vital energy and attire.
Brightly colored hair and various non-mainstream hairstyles were easy tells.
From their yawning state, it seemed many had rich nightlife and were just returning home to catch up on sleep after their nightly diversions.
Besides, most shops along the streets were still closed, presumably because it was too early for them to open, except for a bar with a colorful logo that was just closing its doors.
Those neon signs seemed to have been flickering all night long.
The adjacent buildings had a somewhat abstract style, with a wide variety of shapes as if there was no unified plan.
Giant neon signs formed various advertisements and slogans that filled the entire field of vision, extending upwards.
Those multistory buildings, reaching dozens or even hundreds of stories high, all had bizarre styles.
Those abstract architectural forms that would have been mocked online in a previous life were common here, and one could not see two alike.
"In the Outer City, one needs to worry about the occasional appearance of Grey Mist creatures; in the Inner City, no such concerns exist..."
As Tao Yu entered the Inner City and took a breath of the air, still tinged with a hint of exhaust, he felt the environment was just so-so.
It wasn't as nice as the Development Zone; Las Vegas was almost cleaned up now and honestly looked better than here.
Looking back at the laborers steadily emerging from the checkpoint, many of them seemed much livelier the moment they stepped into the Inner City.
It was as if this place embodied their hopes and aspirations.
Looking up at the sky, the Floating City loomed directly above the Inner City, adding to the oppressive atmosphere, as if the sky itself had lowered.
The reason definitely isn't a lack of money, that's for sure...
While waiting, Tao Yu maintained a low-level meditation technique and breathing exercises; not wasting time had become his instinct.
If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't exercise properly, he would have liked to practice his boxing on the spot.
After about twenty minutes, with seven or eight newcomers joining, sounds finally came from within the Task Hall.
Through the glass in the door, they spotted a girl with pink hair and sleepy eyes with a mechanical arm approach the door to unlock it. She then pushed the heavy-looking door open with a force that seemed mismatched to her stature.
"Step back, step back, watch out not to get hit," she muttered as she continued her task without pause.
After opening the door, she took out several signs and placed them at the entrance.
The signs had big, bold but few words, though highly noticeable.
They were essentially a few sets of rules.
Like no fighting, no loud noise, and the like.
"Miss Mag, are there any new tasks?"
"Miss Mag, has someone completed the debt collection task for the Broken Fang Group?"
"Miss Mag is still so energetic."
"You look even prettier today."
"Another day full of vitality."
"..."
As the girl was opening the door and placing the signs, several regulars who seemed to be used to queuing up started to greet her.
From their attitude, one could guess that this sweet-looking and seemingly adorable girl was probably in charge of this daily, and her strength and abilities were not to be underestimated.
"Cut the chatter and don't be loud, don't you know?" Mag muttered, not seeming very patient.
Dealing with this repetitive task every day seemed normal.
However, she then seemed to notice Tao Yu, and her displeased expression brightened slightly.
"Ah ha, finally some new blood, and he's a handsome guy at that."
At this, several nearby people also focused their gaze on Tao Yu, scrutinizing him.
Fortunately, since they were all here so early to line up for work, there were no hostile intentions mixed in, just a measure of assessment and observation.
"Miss Mag is quite adorable, too. I'd like to take on a few partner missions around eight hundred points each, preferably not too complicated, something one person can do, and with a shorter duration. Do you have any recommendations?"
Tao Yu fully utilized his advantage in looks and asked with a cheerful smile.
From the attitude of the people around, one could tell that Mag, the staff member of the Task Hall, was clearly aware of many tasks, and likely had access to plenty of internal information and data.
Task points usually correlate with the difficulty of tasks and various weighted bonuses.
If it was simply based on the Yuan Force price, without any point weight bonus, company tasks with about eight thousand Yuan Force compensation would be required.
The difficulty and complexity were bound to be high.
But if there were tasks that had been long uncompleted, or had weight bonuses and recommendations, there could be various levels of point increases.
Tao Yu himself was nearly completely unfamiliar with the Inner City environment. Although he was confident in taking on tasks at this price point, it would certainly be best if he could understand a bit more...