Harper quickly started rummaging around the room.
The definition of the middle class in this world struck Harper as odd.
The military's term "poor laborers" didn't sound like the middle class at all.
They looked down on second-class citizens, yet the medical insurance of second-class citizens covered all medical expenses.
This was something even the most welfare-friendly countries in the first world couldn't achieve.
This situation suggested either that Smith's speculation about the citizen classes of this world was wrong, or...
The rich in this world were too rich, and the poor were too poor.
On the table was a slightly outdated processor. Although it looked different from those in the first world, it was easy to tell from the accompanying screen and keyboard that it was a computer.
Harper looked through the books and supplies around him.
The bookshelf was filled with many puzzle toys, most of which were worn out.
He turned on the computer, which had no login password set.
He opened a browser called "Empire Web" and checked Jerome's browsing history.
The browsing history contained a lot of video websites, adult sites, social media platforms, streaming websites...
A 17-year-old boy, even with social anxiety, was not hindered from accessing information online.
Harper quickly scrolled through the browsing history, gradually sketching out an image of a teenager in his mind.
Jerome was well aware of his problem, but compared to social anxiety, he was more concerned with another impact of Asperger's syndrome—savant syndrome.
The internet said that all the famous geniuses in history had Asperger's syndrome.
He visited a lot of IQ testing websites, filled out many forms, and even paid several membership fees for so-called "savant clubs."
Harper chuckled.
From this point of view, it seemed that the "savant syndrome" had not befallen Jerome.
All those fees went down the drain, causing "Jerome" quite a bit of frustration.
The information in the social software was also worth scrutinizing.
From the names of the group chats in the software, it was clear that Jerome was still regularly attending school.
He was a student in Class 3 of the high school division of Sunset Middle School and was the labor committee member of his class.
He had been granted two months of leave by his homeroom teacher due to the car accident.
He had very few friends. In the chat list, apart from the polite greetings from his homeroom teacher and class president, there were no other greetings from classmates.
This was a good thing. Harper didn't want to have to deal with interpersonal relationships among classmates while handling family relations.
However, a message mixed in the "Do Not Disturb" group chat piqued Harper's interest.
【Thanatos】
Did you go see that mural?
...
The time was 1:18 am on July 21st, a message from two days ago.
At that time, Harper was unconscious in the hospital.
Harper frowned, wanting to scroll through their chat history, but was surprised to find that all previous chat records between "Jerome" and "Thanatos" had been cleared.
Did Jerome clear it himself?
His hand hovered over the keyboard, hesitating for a moment, then quickly typed.
【Sisyphus】
No, I had a car accident and stayed in the hospital for several days.
...
After sending the message, there was no immediate reply from the other side.
Harper waited for a while, then shut down the computer.
The internet was a vast repository of knowledge, but it was also a dangerous swamp.
Posts on the Smith Game forum mentioned that during the pioneering period, many players were discovered and killed by the governments of the second world because they searched for too many things they shouldn't have on the internet.
These unusual searches were monitored, and soon, the local military came knocking.
Players were not allowed to reveal the existence of the "Smith Game" to the natives.
Once revealed, Smith would erase them on the spot.
Many players lost one "character creation opportunity" in this way, just by looking up some word meanings on the internet.
After shutting down the computer, Harper lay on the bed lost in thought.
After completing the side quest "Survive the Interrogation", Smith didn't give any new tasks.
Every step he took from now on had to be very cautious.
His heart was beating fast in his chest, a feeling of trepidation he had never experienced before.
"Dum-dum."
There were two moderate knocks on the door from outside, followed by Jefferson's emotionless voice, "Come out for dinner."
Harper looked up at the time, it was mealtime.
When he was in the hospital, since no one brought him food, he ate the energy bars provided free by the hospital.
They were similar to the energy bars he saw in sci-fi movies, hard and gel-like in texture, with a taste that was neither good nor bad.
Lillian tried hard to find him different flavors, but after eating them for two days, he still found them hard to swallow.
Hmm...
Thinking of Lillian, he should thank her later. He owed her a lot for taking care of him these past few days.
Harper gathered his thoughts and opened the door.
The Jerome's place wasn't small, roughly a three-room and one-living-room setup excluding the shop floor area. One room was Harper's, one was Jefferson's rest room, and the other was Jefferson's workroom, which was always closed.
As he opened the door, Jefferson brought in two bowls of rice.
The rice was overcooked, looking like dry porridge.
On the table were simple stewed dishes.
These were pre-packaged meal kits, a huge pile of them stacked on the kitchen shelf.
They had a long shelf life, were nutritionally balanced, and easy to prepare.
They just needed to be heated in an appliance similar to a microwave.
But the taste was far inferior to cooked meals.
Harper noticed the green onions and coriander in the dishes. Since he didn't know if "Jerome" had any food aversions, he didn't touch the coriander.
But it seemed Jefferson didn't care. He didn't look at his son, nor did he ask how his son was doing.
He just kept shoveling food into his mouth while flipping through the book in his hand.
"Practical Mechanics - Advanced Studies"
The book seemed to have been read for a long time, the edges were frayed from Jefferson's flipping.
Another book was placed at the edge of the table, within reach of Harper.
Harper glanced at the title, hesitated for a moment, and reached out to take the book.
Jefferson just glanced at him quickly, then lowered his head again to study his own thing.
A thought crossed Harper's mind.
He spread the book in front of him.
"Practical Appliance Repair Manual", First Empire Publishing House, 755th year edition.
The book was very thick, the same thickness as the New Hua Dictionary, but much larger.
Harper skipped the introduction by a professor from the Imperial Civil Electromechanical University and went straight to the main content.
The article started with a very common household appliance—the rice cooker.
The content was not difficult to understand, and it was richly illustrated.
The various parts of the appliance were clearly labeled.
As Harper was shoveling rice into his mouth, he suddenly heard a barely audible voice.
【Skill 'Practical Mechanics' unlocked.】
【'Practical Mechanics' experience +1】
【'Savant Syndrome' bonus activated, you will gain an additional 1 point of experience on top of the base experience bonus.】
【'Practical Mechanics' experience +1】
【'Savant Syndrome' bonus activated, you will gain an additional 1 point of experience on top of the base experience bonus.】
"..."
Hmm?
A thought crossed Harper's mind, and he glanced at Jefferson without changing his expression.
The latter was frowning, apparently looking at something difficult to understand.
Harper finished his meal in a few bites, lifted the book in his hand, "Can I take this to read?"
Jefferson glanced at him, "Hmm."
Harper took the book and returned to his room.
---