Free Web NovelChapter 1088: Chapter 488: Whose Life Is This Time?
"Lin Li, next time, don’t make the discrimination so obvious."
After the female passenger was dropped off at her destination, Du Zhuo looked at Lin Li with a mixture of exasperation and amusement, sighed, and remarked:
"If a sharp-eyed passenger remembers my license plate and reports us, with a charge of discriminating against customers, I’d at least have to pay a 200 fine, and maybe even write a self-critique to be publicly displayed in the company.
The last time we had a passenger with the surname An, he was quite sharp-eyed.
Luckily that time, Passenger An wasn’t the one who placed the order, he just lay in the limo without speaking, very aloof and somewhat unsociable, but at least the good news was he couldn’t leave a negative review."
"Brother Du, don’t worry, this is my area of expertise, I have plenty of funding, and rich experience in writing self-critiques. Coincidentally, I just finished a thousand-word self-critique today, my fingers are hot right now, do you need me to write a backup one for you now?"
Lin Li’s eyes lit up.
Du Zhuo: "(;☉_☉)?"
Hey, you really won’t budge, huh?
This stuff can be ’hot-fingered’ too, huh.
What exactly are your eyes anticipating!
No wonder you’re into research, your thought process is really different from normal people’s.
Seeing the corner of Du Zhuo’s mouth twitch, Lin Li chuckled and finally said something closer to human:
"Don’t worry, Brother Du, I got it. I won’t discriminate against these ’non-sample range passengers’ anymore, at least not so obviously."
"That’s good." Du Zhuo nodded, then remembered Lin Li’s goal and asked with concern:
"I noticed you didn’t talk to the passenger just now, did you really collect the data you needed?"
Lin Li’s initial screening was successful, and Du Zhuo was still a relatively honest person.
Because he saw Lin Li not speaking throughout the journey, he thought Lin Li might be shy and unsure about how to communicate with passengers, so he took the initiative to chat with them a bit, the content of which was just casual talk one might make while driving, hoping to help Lin Li.
Mainly because the money charged was quite significant.
If Lin Li didn’t gain anything, holding onto the money would feel a bit guilty and restless.
"Don’t worry, Brother Du, it’s all good. What I need is just this kind of experience, I’m actually always observing and recording data, oftentimes without speaking." Lin Li replied with a reassuring smile and nod.
Lin Li’s smile was genuine.
——[Drive the Mecha to complete at least 10 related commissions from citizens of a foreign empire (2/10)]
The change in task progress proved that his operations were entirely feasible.
Next, he just needed to continue taking passengers.
If a ride is short, it only takes about a dozen minutes, and with speed, this task could be completed tonight without needing to venture into the club district later.
Seeing Lin Li satisfied and without pretending—now the sunshine didn’t feel fake—Du Zhuo also breathed a sigh of relief.
This way, there was no unease about the money.
"Brother Du, where is the best place to wait for passengers right now?"
Currently, they were parked only temporarily, so as Lin Li started the vehicle, he asked this of the experienced driver.
"If you’re hoping to simply wait for passengers to come, there’s really only a few spots in Xiling you can wait.
There’s Nansang Station, the bus passenger center, and Big Ditch Bridge, but none are really good spots to wait." Du Zhuo explained to Lin Li,
"When I used to run a taxi, you could often see passengers flagging or waiting by the roadside, but almost none do now; it’s all about ride-hailing now, and taxis can’t avoid that."
"Usually, I would wait at bus stations during busy times, like just now, but otherwise, it’s all about taking orders online, that’s the main deal for taxis now, it’s unavoidable."
"Now the car’s in your hands, it’s up to you how to choose. If you’re going to wait, then head to Big Ditch Bridge or a station."
After hearing Du Zhuo’s explanation, Lin Li nodded in understanding.
Indeed, he couldn’t really remember the last time he took a taxi.
It seemed to be when he was a child, back when taxis had a smell of leather and perfume, a bit overwhelming, it made passengers feel dizzy and prone to motion sickness.
"On the order platform, can you tell the gender of the customers?" Lin Li then asked.
"To protect privacy, they definitely don’t display specific genders, especially now with gender issues being such a hot topic. Just recently, some even demanded to rename ’Angry Birds’ to ’Happy Big Green’. If we could screen for this, we’d hope to avoid female passengers as much as possible, particularly at night."
Du Zhuo shook his head, looking somewhat apprehensive and unsettled, as if people around had encountered something unpleasant, but he didn’t detail further, continuing to inform Lin Li:
"But if forced to delve into it, some customers might have highly feminine nicknames and avatars, through which you can sometimes deduce gender from certain angles."
Du Zhuo quickly poured a cold bucket of water in response:
"But this method isn’t too reliable, firstly because accuracy is low; many people’s nicknames and avatars are set to system defaults, sometimes girls, considering their identity information, intentionally set unconventional avatars and nicknames.
Secondly, there’s often not enough time to use this method to discern.
Because there are two modes for taking orders, one is entirely manual, essentially hand-picked, but it’s hard to secure orders this way since most are prioritized to automatic order-taking vehicles.
The second is automatic order-taking. Although it allows setting certain filter conditions for the system, for example, our current situation with passengers already in the front seat, only accepting ride-sharing orders or discount orders for three passengers or less, it definitely doesn’t include gender."
