This wasn't narcissism; Robin was simply stating a fact.
However, that was as far as she went. She smoothed down her skirt and didn't delve any further. This wasn't out of modesty or some lofty moral principle.
The system was called the Beautiful Girl Masquerade System, and Robin assumed she likely couldn't revert to her original form. She figured all future identities would also be female, as the system's initial instructions made no mention of any "reversion" function.
In other words, this body was now hers, and she would be living in it for the foreseeable future. Wouldn't it be hypocritical to pretend otherwise?
If given the chance, Robin would undoubtedly explore her new body more thoroughly. She couldn't believe any normal person in her situation wouldn't be curious and resist investigating.
If such a person existed, she would genuinely admire them—some kind of saintly paragon, devoid of worldly desires.
But the main reason Robin stopped now was the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations.
Although the recent gesture—the new phone and bank card—indicated goodwill from the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations, Robin didn't believe this official organization would simply leave her alone. It was highly probable someone was monitoring her from afar.
Realizing this, Robin immediately stopped what she was doing.
Indeed, the Bureau agent who had brought her to the apartment hadn't left. Instead, he had moved to a building across the street and begun surveillance.
While surveillance was present, it wasn't all-encompassing, the kind that would scrutinize every detail of her actions. The agent's orders were simply to observe Robin's movements and follow her if she left the apartment—nothing more.
After calming her nerves, Robin left the bathroom, picked up the phone she had placed on the shoe rack, and took a quick tour of the apartment to familiarize herself with the layout. Then, she settled onto the sofa and began browsing the phone.
Though the apartment was fully furnished, it had been vacant for a month. Logically, she should have cleaned first, but something else took precedence: understanding this world. And the best way to do that was by reading news and history online.
Since Robin hadn't received her ID card yet, her phone didn't have a SIM card. However, she discovered a nearby Wi-Fi network with a full signal and no password, so she didn't hesitate to connect.
Opening the phone's default browser, the first three trending news topics were:
[Dimensional Rift in Cyan City: At Least a Thousand Missing, Investigation Underway]
[Quasi-City's Dimensional Rift Continues to Expand: While Currently Exhibiting No Dangerous Tendencies, Is This Truly the Case?]
[Five More Street Shootings in White Eagle Nation Yesterday: Casualties Being Tallied. Click for Detailed Data]
Scrolling down, seven out of the top ten trending topics were related to dimensional rifts, one concerned international news, and only two seemed relatively normal:
[After Ten Years of Marriage, Wife Reveals None of Her Children Belong to Husband]
[Wei Guoguo Unexpectedly Pregnant During Film Shoot: Who Is the Real Father?]
Well, even those two seemed a bit odd. But Robin had no time for celebrity gossip. Her attention remained fixed on the dimensional rifts. "Are these things really happening this often?"
However, after observing for a while, she realized the situation wasn't quite as dire as it initially seemed. Dimensional Rifts appeared to occur roughly once a month in each city, and occasionally, a few "positive" rifts would even appear, such as those that transformed ordinary people into Transformers.
The most devastating Dimensional Rift in the Dragon Nation's history had a diameter of approximately two hundred meters. It appeared in a place called Fancheng, triggering a city-wide outbreak of zombie-like monsters that materialized out of thin air, respawned randomly, and indiscriminately attacked all living beings in their vicinity. Although the military eventually suppressed the outbreak, the disaster resulted in approximately three hundred thousand casualties.
Apart from this catastrophic event and excluding the rare benign rifts, the average casualty count for most Dimensional Rifts was only around one to two hundred people.
This was actually quite low. After all, the number of people who died in traffic accidents in a city each month likely far exceeded that figure.
But... even though the casualties were relatively minimal, they were enough to trigger widespread panic.
It's like car accidents: they happen every day, but no one pays attention except the victims' families. Airplanes, on the other hand, might crash only once every few years, but each crash sparks years of public discussion.
Or consider this: a serial killer on the loose in a new city, already responsible for twenty deaths. In a metropolis of tens of millions, what do twenty victims mean?
Yet even such a serial killer is enough to plunge the entire city into terror. After all, no one wants to be the next victim.
In essence, the intense public focus on Dimensional Rifts stems from the constant threat of these "right around the corner" disasters, which have cast a heavy shadow of anxiety over everyone's lives. People live daily under this immense psychological strain.
The consequences are severe. The most obvious is a surge in crime rates.
The Dragon Nation fares relatively better, as evidenced by its third-trending search topic. Across the border in the White Eagle Nation, however, daily skirmishes likely rage unabated.
After researching Dimensional Rifts, Robin began studying this world's historical timeline.
Overall, its trajectory closely mirrored her previous life. But on August 24, 2023, during what should have been a golden age for the entertainment industry, the first Dimensional Rift materialized.
It was the largest Dimensional Rift in recorded history, appearing in the Sakura Nation, neighbor to the Dragon Nation. From it emerged a colossal monster, towering over a hundred meters tall, that fed on nuclear energy. Its impenetrable hide could even unleash devastating energy breath attacks from its maw. Over several months, it flattened nearly a third of the Sakura Nation before silently retreating into the sea, vanishing from sight.
To this day, the monster is believed to still be alive, though humanity has yet to locate it.
"What the hell? Godzilla?!" Robin's delicate, pale blue eyebrows arched slightly.
In this era of unprecedented threats, nations naturally prioritized weapon development. Many of the weapons in this world seemed absurdly advanced to Robin, including individual laser rifles—which were even commercially available, openly sold in gun stores in the White Eagle Nation.
Yet everyday civilian goods like smartphones, and entertainment products such as movies, games, comics, and novels, remained strikingly similar to those of Robin's previous life. And this was 2045!