The rest of the conversation unfolded over the dinner table.
The local villagers were incredibly warm and welcoming. A brick-built earthen stove sat at the center of the spread, its fire crackling bright with firewood. In an iron wok the size of a satellite dish, a large spoonful of lard was heated until it was piping hot, and sliced garlic cloves and dried chili peppers were tossed in to sizzle and release their aroma. Then the carefully sliced hand-staining bolete was slid into the pan.
When cut open, the milky white flesh of the hand-staining bolete takes on a dreamy, bluish-purple hue, the exact same shade as Van Gogh's *Starry Night*.
The cured pork was a perfect three parts fat to seven parts lean, scalded clean with hot water and sliced paper-thin. The glistening little fat slices curled at the edges the moment they hit the hot oil. The hand-staining bolete slices and cured pork strips sizzled together, rendering out rich, savory fat. The mushroom slices shifted from pale green to warm yellow, and their bold, unapologetic aroma burst through the air.
The villagers' honest, earnest faces were still vivid in Xiang Yu's mind, all of them grinning warmly, urging her on. "This is a real treat, boss, eat plenty of it."
Eat this and you're done for. The boss is only in her early twenties, and she's already gotten to taste this unbelievably delicious farm-style cured pork stir-fried with wild mushrooms. Her life's standards are set forever now.
The moment she took that first bite, a bright red and yellow supermarket sale tag popped unbidden into Xiang Yu's head. Next to a big red thumbs-up were four bold characters: Mind-Blowing Delicious.
It was like spending your whole life sleeping on the top bunk of a dorm room 1.2 meters wide, with your roommate snoring right below you, then suddenly waking up in a luxury hotel, with a different dreamboat lying beside you every single night. Gamers would get to lie next to their otome game love interests, drama fanatics next to A-list movie stars, and book lovers next to the dashing, peerless young generals, brilliant yet unruly emperors, or cold, aloof princes who'd once renounced worldly life for a temple that only exist on Jinjiang Literature City pages...
Xiang Yu had always thought of herself as a low-maintenance, unflappable person. But as she picked through the last bits of Sichuan peppercorn and garlic slices on her plate, still craving more, she vaguely saw a cat knock on the door. After she called "come in," the cat padded right in.
Her Little Black Cat from her past life had turned into a 188-centimeter-tall, full-grown man with a face so perfectly sculpted it looked like a character model from a video game. He looked a little bit like the love interest she'd pined for in her favorite otome game, and a little bit like the fictional male lead she'd once obsessed over in a long-gone web novel.
Things must have started going wrong right when that cat knocked on the door. Next, a few Godzillas wandered in. She grabbed a transformation device and fought the monsters for a few rounds, until a blinking light on her chest started flashing on and off. Just as she was about to sacrifice herself to blow up for the sake of the planet, she opened her eyes and found herself in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xihai University.
Those villagers' mushrooms were the real deal. That fungus was more potent than rat poison.
That near-miss almost left her checking out for good. It's no wonder Toad Valley never got properly developed—she survived getting hit by a truck, but almost bit the dust over a plate of wild mushrooms.
Xiang Yu thought to herself that her fate was so tough it could chop down a tree. The second she touched her phone in the hospital bed, she opened the Toad Green app immediately.
Sure enough, that one extra day of lifespan she'd fought so hard to earn had been used up!
New Tianbai Snow Mountain Toad Valley Glacier Park beginner quest settlement: Hot Spring Renovation Gift Pack has been distributed. Current remaining lifespan: 28 days.
The Hot Spring Renovation Gift Pack has been issued. Please schedule an appointment for the team's on-site visit in time.
The [First Friendly Contact] quest has been completed. Please claim your reward promptly.
The [Earn 50 guests' satisfaction points] quest has rewarded 5 days of lifespan. Current quest progress: 0%.
It looks like the current exchange rate between satisfaction points and lifespan is 10 to 1. The worst part is that the details page says the hot spring renovation will cost 7 full days of lifespan.
Even at this life-or-death juncture, the game is still sticking to its realistic rules.
Xiang Yu didn't hesitate for a second to book an immediate on-site visit. She could trade positive reviews from visitors for more lifespan, and if she could find a loophole, she'd love to drag a few of her classmates out to that public toilet right now and give them a quick dip.
But even though she was used to cramming assignments before deadlines, rushing job applications before cutoffs, and pulling all-nighters for final exams, the last thing she wanted to do was run a new business on a nearly empty health bar, greeting guests while her life was hanging by a thread.
She then navigated to the system's reward page, which functioned like a mall. The items were split roughly into three categories. The first was made up of conceptual items like "Frostmourne Mist," "Fire of Cheer Hot Spring," "Soul-Snatching Bell," and "Master Tailor With Magic Hands."
The second category was full of items whose uses were obvious just from their names: "Fast-Acting Herbal Remedy," "Insect-Repelling Sulfur Ore," "Bad-Luck-Chasing Pomelo Leaves," "Water-Purifying King Lotus," and more.
The last section was particularly bizarre: "Anti-Japanese Hero Who Tears Enemies Apart With Bare Hands," "Lightning Five-Strike Whip," "Top-Notch Spinning Top Mastery," "Hide Grenade in Crotch," "What Do I Need This Iron Rod For"...
In such a harmonious, modern society, there's still a combat module? Every single one of these skills sounds like it would get her completely humiliated and ruin her reputation the second she used it.
Xiang Yu clicked through each entry to read the details. The first two categories were for running the scenic spot, and the last row was clearly meant to boost her own personal abilities.
Most items, like the props and ability cards, could be exchanged for collected positive reviews from visitors. The conceptual-level items would probably only unlock after triggering specific related quests, and the entire section was grayed out.
The reward was a spinning wheel in the top right corner, just like a slot machine. Tap it, and all the skills, props, and cards would light up one after another.
Xiang Yu poked the screen. The grayed-out items lit up one by one in a rapid, flickering carousel, pinging and dinging nonstop. After a dazzling burst of special effects, two virtual fireworks popped up on the page.
[100% Perfect Hot Spring Egg: The egg white is soft and silky, the yolk golden and sweet. This perfectly crafted egg delicacy can only be made in a live, natural hot spring.]
[Silky Skin-Whitening Volcanic Mud: Natural volcanic mineral mud from a geothermal active zone, rich in sulfur, diatoms, and other natural skin-cleansing ingredients. It has outstanding antioxidant properties and exceptional ability to absorb excess oil and dirt, and can deep clean pores, control oil, and brighten skin tone.]
...
Hell yeah.
She wouldn't even need to advertise the volcanic mud. All those brands that hype up skin-tightening and anti-wrinkle trends would do the marketing for her. If its effects are real, it's guaranteed to sell like hotcakes and keep guests coming back.
The hot spring eggs won't fill anyone up, but they're not bad either. A beggar can't be picky about the food he's given.
Even though the wild mushrooms from the mountains tasted incredible, that kind of easily fatal food needs a proper, safe way to be served to guests. The villagers' stir-frying skills were so reckless they were like a meth cook from *Breaking Bad*—way too unreliable to leave in charge.
The system would handle the renovation, but the first problem staring her in the face right now was staffing.
She could man the front desk herself for now, and the hot spring gift pack from the system included maintenance services. But even with everything simplified as much as possible, she still needed to hire professional finance staff, hot spring attendants, and logistics workers to manage the disinfection of slippers, bathrobes, and other supplies.
All of these jobs required a certain level of expertise, or direct contact with customers.
Instead of fishing blindly in the job market, Xiang Yu wanted sharp, energetic young people—folks who'd had a bit of education, were polite, not overly bold, and ideally knew a thing or two about first aid for drowning or fainting.
But what young person would want to move out to a remote mountain valley?
If a regular business failed, the owner would just go bankrupt. But if she messed this up, she'd kick the bucket. Not only would she have no severance pay to give her employees, she'd be holding up their salaries, messing up their social security contributions, and derailing their entire careers.
Just as she was racking her brain trying to figure out where she could find such dedicated, willing workers, her phone started pinging nonstop.
Old Hao's loud, booming voice came through the line, full of the bright energy of someone who'd just had great news.
"Xiang Yu? Have you met your Senior Sister Ji? Are you busy right now?"
"Cutting to the chase, do you have time to come back to campus? I talked to the school secretary about your Chengguang Plan application. Your paperwork was all perfectly in order, so I helped you apply for the maximum funding amount, with zero interest for the first two years. It's going through the fast track, and the funds will be transferred next month. You really need to come back and thank the secretary in person."
It was exactly like getting a pillow right when you felt sleepy. Xiang Yu quickly thanked him over and over, feeling a surge of gratitude toward that old Party secretary she had never met, and even toward this counselor who had never gotten along with her.
"Now that you've found something to keep yourself busy, a weight's finally off my chest," Old Hao sighed. At this point, Xiang Yu had practically become the model graduate in his eyes, and he spoke to her in a warm, earnest tone, sharing his inner thoughts.
"I know what you all say about me behind my back. Being a counselor isn't easy, you know. Every year, we get a few tough holdouts—some who want to retake the postgraduate entrance exam, some who are set on taking the civil service exam...
They refuse to take any job, won't sign any employment contracts, and won't even answer their phones. The ones who are busy studying for exams are the better lot. Now there's even this trend of taking a gap year... I'm about to give up on those kids completely! It's like I'm the one begging them to find a job!"
"Hey." As Xiang Yu listened, a sudden thought popped into her head.
Just how stubborn are these so-called holdouts?
"Perfect, perfect," she began to scheme. "Sir, could you help me introduce me to those classmates who refuse to sign employment contracts...?"
