Xiang Yu organized the materials and boarded the coach bound for Hama Valley.
The air inside the small mid-sized bus was a chaotic blend of people, chickens, ducks, cows, and sheep, along with the fruits and vegetables crammed into bamboo shoulder poles. The mountain road wound endlessly upward, one hairpin turn following another.
A sheep up ahead let out a bleat and spat a mouthful of sour water onto the floor. An old woman promptly rewarded it with a slap, cursing, “Keep this up and I’ll butcher you, you little bastard!”
Xiang Yu turned her head away and silently swallowed back the lunch roiling up her throat. Clinging hard to the window frame, she did her best to move with the bus’s jolting rhythm.
Little did she know that this was already the best stretch of road. The coach was only headed to the neighboring town. After getting off, Xiang Yu transferred to a motorcycle. The map said there was still one kilometer to go. Just when her destination seemed within reach, however, the navigation system led her to the bank of a raging river.
The mountains were deep and deserted. The farther in she went, the colder it became, and now a light rain had begun to fall. Turbid waves rolled silently in the middle of the river. At first glance, it did not seem especially wide, but through the layers of mist, the scenery on the opposite bank was almost impossible to make out with the naked eye.
Xiang Yu touched the collapsible baton in her backpack, which she had brought for self-defense. A calm female voice from the navigation app sounded beside her ear:
“Continue straight ahead, then turn right. Please watch for oncoming traffic.”
Before she could even process that, a little boat suddenly burst through the mist.
The boat moved in a peculiar manner. Behind it, the mountains rose in layers of deep green, while mist and haze locked up the river. Low-hanging vapor pressed down over the bow.
The skiff seemed to float lightly through the air, drawing so little water that it left behind only a few fine ripples, which vanished almost as soon as they appeared. Its entrance had the style of something straight out of a Gu Long wuxia novel.
As if, in the next second, the person at the oars would casually put their hands behind their back and say, “You shouldn’t have come.”
“But I’m already here,” Xiang Yu silently replied, gazing at the ripples on the water.
She let out a soft breath and straightened her back.
On the swaying coach, she had been thinking about that heavy truck whose license plate she had never managed to see clearly, no matter how many times she replayed the footage. She had also been thinking about how, for the first twenty years of her life, she had buried her head in her books while working part-time to support herself.
But after that truck, all the things she had once regarded as life-and-death and clung to with every ounce of strength had turned out to be nothing more than fleeting shadows.
There was something emboldening about that sense of release. In the past, she would never have dared follow some dubious app into the mountains.
“I’m already here.”
Xiang Yu silently repeated the words to herself.
The boat adjusted its course, and it was indeed coming straight toward her. Alone in the mist, it appeared and disappeared in turns, giving off an unmistakably eerie air.
Then she remembered the phrase “Immortals of the Three Realms” in the Hama Green app’s agreement. She still had no idea whether whoever was coming was human or ghost, but there was no turning back now. Even if it really was a toad spirit, she had to get on that boat and cross to the other side!
When the boat drew closer, Xiang Yu pulled the collapsible baton from her backpack and hid it behind her back. Then she heard the roar of an engine. The toad spirit aboard the boat—or rather, the person aboard the boat—raised a megaphone.
A clear, resonant voice rang out in perfectly standard Mandarin.
“Is this Boss Xiang? Is it! Boss Xiang, is that you! I’m Ji Kailing, the resident worker assigned to Hama Village! On behalf of the Hama Village Party branch secretary! The village committee director! The women’s director! And every single villager in Hama Village!! I welcome you to our village’s revitalization project!”
“Boss Xiang! Boss, hurry and get on the boat. Don’t let yourself get wet! I was just praising this rain—it’s rich water welcoming an honored guest!”
“Boss! Boss, why aren’t you saying anything?”
“…”
Xiang Yu silently shoved the baton back into her bag, then reached out and shook the young woman’s hand.
“Hello. My name is Xiang Yu.”
“Hahaha! Xiang Yu! What a great name! ‘In life, be a hero among men; in death, a ghost among ghosts!’”
“Thank you, thank you. The Xiang is from ‘I travel toward Yuguan,’ and the Yu is the character for elm tree.”
“Oh, oh! Ms. Xiang, your name is so elegant!”
“Ms. Ji, yours isn’t bad either!”
The two of them flattered each other while shaking hands. Only after Ji Kailing handed over her business card did Xiang Yu discover that she, too, had graduated from Westsea University. She was probably the “senior schoolmate working in the village” her counselor had mentioned.
Her eyes still held the clear, guileless quality of a college student, but after being beaten down by society, her overall air had grown more mature. Once Xiang Yu boarded, she hurriedly held an umbrella over her, handed her a bottle of water, and generally took excellent care of her. The water was a sweet peach oolong tea.
Xiang Yu noticed that Ji Kailing also had a pack of cigarettes in her pocket. Man or woman, she had clearly prepared for every possible kind of visitor.
They were about the same age, and after exchanging a few pleasantries about home and work, Ji Kailing said with a grin that she, too, had been unable to find a job and had decided to try for an “iron rice bowl.” Unfortunately, there were barely two copper coins in that rice bowl, so she couldn’t compare with a young and accomplished boss like Xiang Yu.
She mentioned Hama Valley every other sentence, saying that the place clearly had outstanding advantages in terms of its unspoiled natural environment. All it lacked was an investor with a discerning eye, foresight, and the courage to take action!
And now, the person who had made this wise and magnificent choice had descended from the heavens.
Her gaze shifted through countless shades of emotion—at one moment tender and honeyed, at the next as fierce as a wolf’s. It reminded Xiang Yu of the cat she used to feed whenever it saw a giant chicken leg. The cat would gaze at her with the same drooling, pleading intensity.
Even when saliva was about to drip onto the floor, it would still find the time to rub against her hand while chewing the chicken leg, as if to show its gratitude.
Xiang Yu could afford to give the cat a giant chicken leg. But as she listened to Ji Kailing, unease began to drum in her heart.
Somehow, snow mountains and hot springs had dropped out of the sky and landed in her lap. She wasn’t a rich second-generation heir, nor did she have any management experience. Her only special ability, as far as she knew, was that she could burn through her own lifespan.
The little boat slowly pulled up to shore. The instant Xiang Yu set foot on the soil of Hama Valley, the background music “We’re All Doing Our Best to Live” began playing in her mind again. Her scalp tightened. This time, what appeared before her eyes was not a heavy truck, but a notice.
[Beginner Mission Settlement: Tianbai Snow Mountain Hama Valley Glacier Park Hot Spring Renovation Package Issued
Current Remaining Lifespan: 29 days
Equipment to be Purchased: Smart Thermostatic Mixing Valves, Platinum Resistance Temperature Sensors, Electric Three-Way Control Valves, Multiparameter Water Quality Analyzers, Plate Heat Exchangers, Spray Cooling Towers
Expected Results: Basic Renovation of the Hot Spring’s Appearance; Precise Temperature Regulation Through Heat Exchange and Water Mixing
Designed and Constructed by a Professional Geothermal Engineering Team. Please Schedule a Team Visit at Your Earliest Convenience.]
Oh, heavens!
The beginner’s mission package I was owed had finally arrived!
True, she had been hit by a truck and forced to sign an exploitative agreement, but the truth behind it was heartwarming after all. Surely this was all for the sake of letting Hama Village—no, all of Westsea, no, all of Huaguo—have hot springs to soak in. She had been entrusted with such a noble mission.
It was all fate’s arrangement!
Even more astonishingly, simply setting foot on Hama Valley’s soil had increased her lifespan by one day. It was true that she had never treasured her days particularly much before. She would waste them scrolling on her phone, running errands, or doing odd jobs. But how could a day of negative growth compare with a day of positive growth?
That was genuinely inspiring.
She had thought that dying would be fine and living would also be fine, but the moment she saw her lifespan balance increase by one day, the instinctive human fear of death hardwired into her genes immediately delivered powerful positive feedback.
With her adrenaline surging, she even experienced a faint sense of superiority. After all, everyone else came into this world heading toward death, losing one day with every passing day. She, on the other hand, had come here to stay alive—and the longer she lived, the more days she gained.
It was simply too positive, too uplifting, too worthy of touching all of Huaguo…
Xiang Yu hurriedly took out her phone. The app had already synchronized the notice. It also displayed detailed information about the equipment to be purchased, the renovation style, and other matters. In addition, a newly released side quest had appeared.
[Complete your first “friendly contact” with a local and receive one item draw. Quest progress: 80%]
“Boss? Boss?”
Xiang Yu came back to herself, slipped her phone into her pocket, and looked at Ji Kailing with blazing excitement.
This wasn’t a local—this was a monster-spawning farm.
Ji Kailing was looking back at Xiang Yu with an equally fervent mixture of concern, anticipation, and excitement. This wasn’t a recent graduate—this was a walking fortune.
The two kindred spirits instinctively clasped hands. One was thinking about farming monsters, while the other was thinking about making money. Their eyes brimmed with tears as they gazed at each other, their hands clasped tightly between them. They were so moved that they could only stare at one another through tearful eyes, speechless with emotion.
I don’t know how to tell everyone that I’ve unlocked a cheat, and that from now on, no one will have to soak in eighty-degree hot springs anymore.
Xiang Yu could only grip Ji Kailing’s hand firmly and say solemnly, “Don’t worry. I guarantee I’ll make sure everyone gets to soak in hot springs as warm as bathwater.”
Her own hand was clasped tightly in return and shaken vigorously. Their two pairs of sincere eyes met, and then a ding sounded in her mind as the system announced:
[“First Friendly Contact” quest complete. Please open the app to claim your reward.]
