Chapter 33: Tycoon Simulation 3
With no customers visiting in the evening either, the group decided to head out and explore this world.
Under the glow of the streetlights, the virtual tree projections began to look fake and distorted. As expected, a fake was a fake.
About 500 meters ahead was a public transit stop. The group planned to visit a commercial street. All public transit utilized autonomous driving technology. The game had already linked the personal identities of all players who entered the instance. After their faces were scanned and the fees deducted, the group walked to the back of the bus and sat down.
Because Yu Wenhao had scouted around during the day, their curious behavior didn’t seem too out of place to the other passengers on board. Likely due to the remote nature of the underground town, they were the only three people to board at this station.
Once the skybus closed its doors, it began to steadily ascend to its designated lane. There was no telling what technology was being used, but the ascent was rapid, yet the passengers inside didn’t feel the slightest discomfort.
The skybus began carrying the three players from another world through the city. Most of the buildings here were towering and bizarrely shaped: tree shapes, mushroom shapes, corn shapes—Chu Yun even spotted an ‘I’ shape and a circular shape! Technology had taken away real green plants, but it had raised engineering to a new height.
As they passed a floating island, two female passengers in front of them cheered and began to gossip: “My favorite idol is doing a roadshow on Neverland today! Too bad I didn’t manage to grab a Neverland admission ticket.”
The other girl replied, “Even without an idol roadshow, those tickets are super hard to grab, okay? The Zhou Corporation spent tens of billions and took five years just to build that Neverland Castle. Within a few months of opening, it was ranked top 1 on the global social media check-in list. Tickets are practically impossible to get. I heard the amusement facilities inside are unprecedented, and everyone who has gone says it’s amazing.”
Chu Yun cast an extra glance at the place called Neverland. It was bursting with radiant colors, beautiful and magnificent, floating in mid-air like a phantom mirage. If she got the chance, she also wanted to visit this Neverland and see this so-called top 1 check-in spot for herself.
The skybus traveled very fast. Before Chu Yun could look her fill, the smart voice assistant announced they had arrived at their stop. They had to get off before they could even get their seats warm.
The commercial street was a commercial complex connected by several towering buildings, and the skybus had a station established on the middle floors of each building.
Upon arriving at the commercial street, the crowd grew dense. Men and women dressed in fashionable clothes walked past laughing and chatting. Meanwhile, Chu Yun and her companions looked like country bumpkins, dressed in outdated clothing and appearing thoroughly unsophisticated. The three were completely penniless stiffs; the main purpose of this trip was to browse around, check out the prices, and gain some insight. Therefore, they deliberately ignored the passing glances directed at them.
Xu Dongdong wasn’t as thick-skinned as Chu Yun. Before the game, he was the type to casually mix and match all kinds of world-famous brands, but now he only had two tracksuits to rotate between. He followed behind Chu Yun, mimicking her by pretending not to care, but his face still inadvertently flushed red.
Aside from the common shops that existed before the game, Chu Yun also saw VR experience stores, 3D printing shops, AI cafes, smart home experience stores, and so on. Among them, the display screen outside the smart home store repeatedly broadcasted an advertisement: Space Folding Backpack. Small backpack, massive capacity. Jointly produced by Vanguard Technology Company and a certain space design subsidiary of the Zhou Corporation.
Isn’t this an item similar to a spatial tool? The three exchanged glances and walked inside by a unspoken agreement. The description stated that this backpack could undergo multiple three-dimensional foldings, making its actual capacity ten times its visual size; the capacity increased, but the perceived weight remained unchanged.
The backpack was excellent, and the price was equally “beautiful”—a staggering 50,000 gold coins. In a world where the average salary was 10,000 credits, they, as outsiders, simply didn’t possess such formidable financial strength.
This was the first time the three had seen such novel shops, so they couldn’t help but browse a bit more, though they could only look. Chu Yun was a girl and naturally loved shopping, and Xu Dongdong hadn’t had any leisure time for two months either. The group remained highly energized, shopping continuously until 12:00 AM when the mall was about to close before finally calling it a day.
Most of the shops here were automated. The massive mall only employed a handful of human staff or simply utilized a lone robot, so there were no sales assistants trailing after them, allowing the three to browse completely at leisure.
People in this era had rich night lives, and public transit didn’t stop operating until 1:00 AM. Exhausted all over, the three fortunately caught the final bus and headed home.
The storefronts weren’t equipped with bedrooms, but there was a restroom where they could wash up. Chu Yun pushed the tables and chairs aside, spreading a straw mat on the floor to make do for sleep. Xu Dongdong and Yu Wenhao did the exact same.
Day 2 in Green City.
Chu Yun washed the green vegetables she might need ahead of time. Just as she opened the shop’s main door, a sharp screech echoed from the street level—it was the sound of a vehicle braking.
According to what Yu Wenhao had said yesterday, all transportation vehicles here had to travel along designated transit lanes and pull over at designated stations, with the exception of those who possessed absolute parking privileges. However, fewer than ten people in this city held absolute parking privileges. Looking across the board, they were just the few high-ranking government officials and commercial tycoons who frequently appeared in the news.
It seemed a prominent figure with a reputable name had arrived. Chu Yun braced her spirits.
Before she could think further, a familiar, babyish voice rang out: “Grandfather, Mother, look! I told you I wasn’t wrong. There really is a small restaurant here.”
Chu Yun spotted yesterday’s little boy, followed by a vibrant, sharp-eyed old man and a fragile, beautiful young woman. Her mind was as clear as a mirror as she covertly evaluated the newcomers.
The old man had a full head of white hair, but his gaze was piercing and his stride was vigorous; his physical fitness was even more formidable than an average young person. In stark contrast, the young woman clearly looked as though she had suffered a lingering ailment in the past and hadn’t fully recovered yet; the corners of her mouth were bitter and she never smiled, appearing as delicate and boneless as a sickly beauty. Aside from Butler Zhou whom she had met yesterday, the attending entourage now included two bodyguards dressed in black.
“Big Sister, I’m back again! Bring out one of every dish your shop has!” The little boy spotted Chu Yun the moment he walked down the steps.
The kid talked big, but unfortunately, Chu Yun lacked sufficient variety; she currently only had five dishes. Still, that should be perfectly adequate to serve the three of them.
Since prominent figures had arrived, and she might still have use for them during her two months in Green City, Chu Yun intended to build a good relationship. Thus, she called Xu Dongdong and Yu Wenhao over to help.
She and Xu Dongdong handled the stir-frying, while Yu Wenhao served the food. Green vegetables inherently cooked quickly, and with two people operating the woks, five plates of vibrant green vegetables were neatly arrayed before them in just a few minutes.
If this were before the game, serving a customer a table of nothing but green leafy vegetables would get you beaten, but because plants had been gone from this world for so long, that cultural meme had long since faded into extinction.
“Please enjoy your meal,” Chu Yun stated her final words and was just about to quietly step away.
“Hold on.” The old man, who had remained silently tight-lipped since entering, spoke up.
“I want to know where you sourced these things. Before coming here, we ran a background check on you. Strangely, aside from you leasing this storefront over the past few days, we couldn’t find a single shred of information regarding your past.”
“Who exactly are you?” As expected of someone who had occupied a position of high authority for many years, the moment he spoke, he exuded a powerful pressure. The two burly bodyguards behind the old man also glared at Chu Yun with hostile eyes.
For a moment, the air seemed to freeze, and no one spoke. Xu Dongdong and Yu Wenhao’s relaxed shoulders instantly turned rigid, like startled birds ready to launch an attack at any second.
“The secrets of heaven cannot be disclosed, but there is always a higher heaven, and there will always be things unknown to humanity in this world,” Chu Yun replied in a slow, unfathomably profound tone. “For you, it is enough that I can bring you benefits. What does it matter to you where I come from or where I am going?”
Staring at Chu Yun’s mystical, expert-like posturing, the old man seemed to suddenly realize something. His body jolted, and his voice trembled: “Could it be… could you possibly be the Savior from the legends? The legends are actually true! For this old man to witness the descent of salvation in his lifetime, I can die without regrets!”
Chu Yun smiled faintly, neither denying nor confirming it.
But in the eyes of the other party, this was a disguised admission. The few people opposite her were thoroughly mystified. Seeing that the usually proud patriarch was acting with such absolute deference toward Chu Yun, the gaze they directed at her instantly filled with reverence and adoration.
The legend the old man spoke of had also been wildly popular at one point. Back when the very last plant died, the world fell into chaotic turbulence and panic, and society began to grow unstable.
At that time, the legend of the Savior emerged out of nowhere, spreading across the nation through missionary methods. At its peak, the believers accounted for nearly 80% of the entire country, injecting a spiritual sedative into the precariously rocking situation. It was just that later, after centuries passed without witnessing the descent of the legendary Savior, people began to lose heart.
The people who had witnessed the world of real plants gradually passed away. Citizens born after the extinction had never seen a plant since birth, so they didn’t possess that intense wave of resistance that existed at the beginning. Coupled with the government heavily banning data and media related to the old era, humanity slowly adapted to days of drinking nothing but nutrient solutions. Consequently, this legend gradually faded into oblivion, and the believers dwindled.
The old man was among the rare few who knew the truth. Tears nearly welled in his eyes. “Good, good, good. The Savior must have her own plans. If you require any assistance, simply speak the word, and this old man will do everything in his power.”
Chu Yun thought it over. “I wish to peacefully remain in this storefront, so…”
Trouble would definitely not be lacking in the future. If she could secure the protection of a powerful family, completing her mission would become much easier.
The old man promised, “No problem. Butler Zhou, you will arrange this matter. Make sure to convey clearly that it is my personal, explicit demand.”
Butler Zhou bowed respectfully. “Understood, Master.”
“Big Sister, this is truly delicious! I’m coming back tomorrow too.” The little boy waved his hand vigorously in farewell, and a slight smile finally surfaced on the lips of the young woman standing behind him.
Chu Yun walked out of the semi-basement to watch them depart. The old man rode in an extended, luxury flying car, circular and shaped like a small airship. He possessed specialized transit privileges, so he directly and conspicuously darted across any lane he pleased, drawing the avid attention of the surrounding general public.
They all looked down toward the underground in curiosity. What kind of attraction did this dilapidated semi-basement place possibly possess to make a renowned great family of the city visit in person? The news spread like wildfire across various major online platforms without Chu Yun’s knowledge, and people began to discuss and speculate.
An opportunist arrived around noon. Her name was Yuan Jingjing, a freelancer who made a living and gained followers by posting social anomalies and anecdotes on her personal account.
She didn’t have many followers. In a world where follower counts easily hit tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, her meager one hundred thousand or so followers were practically negligible, so her daily life was quite bitter. However, she possessed a strong career drive and a knack for unearthing stories. Having caught a whiff of some news on the internet, she immediately rushed over; her intuition told her that this piece of news would absolutely make her blow up.
This place was truly remote. She had taken the aerial maglev train to this city, transferred through two public transit lines, and walked another 500 meters before finally arriving. Nowadays, everyone aspired to live in skyscrapers—the higher, the better—and almost no one lived in a semi-basement. Yet this shop was opened in a concealed semi-basement. Interesting.
Yuan Jingjing stepped down.
There were only three shops here in total. One appeared to be vacant, the one in the middle bore the sign “Small Restaurant,” and the adjacent one on the other side was an art studio, giving off a very old-era vibe.
Yuan Jingjing was highly curious about this restaurant. Did it sell nutrient solutions? It didn’t look like it.
Shops selling nutrient solutions were generally franchised chains monopolized by major corporations, and their names would explicitly state “*** Nutrient Solution.” A woman’s intuition told her that the prominent figures were absolutely heading for this restaurant, so she looked left and right as she walked inside.
“Hello, what would you like to eat?” Chu Yun pointed at the few menu sheets she had just pasted onto the wall. “We have Lettuce in Oyster Sauce, Stir-fried Napa Cabbage, Garland Chrysanthemum…”
Yuan Jingjing was practically stunned. Usually smooth-tongued, she began to stammer: “Are… are these what I think they are…?”
“Yes.” Chu Yun pointed at the green vegetables washed and displayed beside the cutting board. What a hassle. Every time a customer arrived, she had to explain it all over again.
Yuan Jingjing’s eyes widened, confirming repeatedly that this truly wasn’t her hallucination. She seemed to understand exactly why those prominent figures had come here. This trip was absolutely worth it! Yuan Jingjing’s mind began to roar: Ah! She was among the very first batch to lay eyes on real plants! She would be the first person to reap the benefits! She was going to go viral!
“Hello, excuse me… excuse me, can I livestream the entire process? I’m an internet content creator and want to promote your shop a bit.” Yuan Jingjing stared at Chu Yun with excitement. As long as the shop owner agreed, she could blow up globally.
“Mm, sure. But I can’t show my face.”
Chu Yun agreed to her request. Having someone promote her for free meant she would earn gold coins even faster.
