Chapter 78: Many Variations
Ning Xiyue froze for a moment, stunned — she hadn’t expected that a check-in location could even be a building she built herself.
The thought of creating her own check-in spot felt exciting just thinking about it. She rubbed her chin, wondering what the result would be.
“Check in.”
Ding! [Check-in failed. Unable to obtain a complete check-in photo.]
Only then did Ning Xiyue realize she was still inside the building and couldn’t capture the whole structure in a photo.
She hurried outside, found a good spot, struck a “V” pose — this was her own creation after all, so the photo had to be perfect. Later she could even have the system print all the check-in photos and bind them into an album as a keepsake.
“Check in.”
Ding! [Check-in successful. Reward: One kitchen, with a full set of fully automatic kitchen appliances. It has been placed in the host’s mustard-seed space. Note: Kitchen size can be adjusted up to 100 square meters. This reward is only usable inside the space.]
Ning Xiyue’s eyes widened in disbelief. This check-in reward was absolutely incredible — her space now had a kitchen with adjustable size.
And the appliances were fully automatic! This was a lazy person’s dream. She wouldn’t even need to light a fire to cook slop for the pigs anymore — just toss in the ingredients, set the settings, and wait for it to be done. It would save her both time and energy.
“Love you, System.”
Now she started considering whether she could build another house. Getting such a generous reward from a self-built location was too tempting.
“System, what if I build another place to live? Would I get something even more shocking as a check-in reward?” she asked tentatively through her thoughts.
The system rolled its metaphorical eyes, looking at her like she was dreaming: “Host, you can try it yourself. I cannot answer that question.”
Alright, message received.
“Seems like not every random building will become a check-in spot. I’m really curious about how all our check-in locations are triggered.”
So far, Ning Xiyue had encountered:
1. Ordinary check-in locations — visible everywhere, just walk up and check in.
2. Special locations — requiring a pose to be struck for check-in.
3. Combined check-ins — where five story protagonists had to appear together.
4. Event-triggered check-ins.
5. Check-ins on animals.
6. Self-built check-in locations.
She had to admit, her system really had many tricks up its shell.
Ding! [More check-in methods and locations await. Please stay tuned, Host.]
“You don’t even have to say it. I’m already full of anticipation. Every time is a little surprise.”
Ning Xiyue returned to her small kitchen, shut the door, took Little Gray’s lunch out of the space to feed it, and simultaneously fed the sow in the space too.
Only after that did she begin inspecting the new check-in reward.
The kitchen came with a remote control to adjust its size — just like turning up or down the volume on a TV. Within the range of 5 to 100 square meters, she could make it as big or as small as she wanted, completely to her liking.
She had fun playing with the remote for a while before finally setting the kitchen size to 40 square meters.
Then she went and learned how to weave a screen from vines, made a bamboo bed from bamboo strips, and even crafted a large screen and a two-meter-wide bamboo bed in the simulation room to bring back into the space.
Back in the mustard-seed space kitchen, she set the screen in the middle of the room to section off 25 square meters as a bedroom. With the bamboo bed placed inside, the small kitchen successfully evolved into a cozy little house.
Looking at the now properly structured small home, Ning Xiyue clapped her hands and rested them on her hips, thoroughly pleased with herself.
“Host, I’ve gotta hand it to you — one word: impressive.”
For the first time, the little turtle saw a host who could make such efficient use of available resources — not only exploiting the simulation room’s loopholes to learn skills, but also bending the item rules to serve herself. Total respect.
Ning Xiyue patted the little turtle’s head. “Calm down, don’t act like it’s such a rare sight. Come on, let’s go eat lunch.”
Exiting the space, she opened the kitchen door and walked back toward the educated youth compound.
At lunch, Ning Xiyue spoke to Chen Yechu:
“I checked the kitchen today — it’s almost ready. We can probably start using it in a few days. I was thinking, when we deliver the grain in a few days, I’ll go with the team to buy supplies. Once we’re back, we can each start cooking on our own.”
Chen Yechu nodded. She had been thinking about the same thing — it was frustrating having a treasure trove they couldn’t use.
“Sounds good. I’ll buy some things too. Once we’re done, we’ll split the cooking.”
And just like that, the cooking arrangement was settled.
That afternoon, Ning Xiyue clearly noticed the atmosphere of the work team becoming much more intense.
Even though there was still time, many people were rushing to get to work.
Even some of the older women in their drying group were taking the job more seriously than usual, chatting less.
As Ning Xiyue took a sip of water and wiped the sweat from her forehead, she asked Aunt Liu beside her, “What’s up with Aunt Zhang? She’s not even taking breaks anymore?”
Aunt Liu sighed as she watched Aunt Zhang working diligently. “It’s for her son. She thinks if the family shows they’re hardworking, it’ll help her son’s chances of being selected.”
Uh… that’s some serious overthinking.
But it was clear that Aunt Zhang really cared about this matter.
Aunt Qian splashed some cold water and scoffed, “Pfft, I think it’s useless. I heard from people in the neighboring county that they only evaluate individuals there. Our team will probably do the same. She’s just wearing herself out for nothing.”
Aunt Liu stood up with a fine sieve in her hand. “Come on, let’s hurry and sort the impurities out of the grain. Yang Liu said we have to deliver the public grain the day after tomorrow. The sooner we deliver it, the sooner we’ll get the results. This whole thing has everyone on edge.”
“You’re right, Auntie.”
Ning Xiyue carried the dried grain to the hand-cranked winnowing machine to blow away the impurities.
No matter their motives, everyone in the drying group was working hard with a unified goal — preparing for the grain delivery.
It was the biggest and most important thing at the moment, tied to several major matters. Everyone was eager to see the outcome.
As for Ning Xiyue, she was looking forward to the delivery too — so she could use the opportunity to make a trip into town. And after that, she was ready to sit back and enjoy the drama that would surely follow.
