Chapter 220

Chapter 220: Back on Track

This was the children’s first meal in the valley. After a night of frantic relocation, plus the brief chaos and excitement of arriving at their new home, they gathered around the big table on the platform. The staff the Special Operations Bureau had sent prepared steaming baozi, rice porridge, and hot soup. It wasn’t much of a feast given the rush, but a warm breakfast was enough to settle everyone down.

Yu Sheng sat at one end of the long table—ridiculously long—with Foxy on his right. Irene sat right on the tabletop. The youngest kids lined both sides under the guidance of their older brothers and sisters, sitting in the same positions they used at the orphanage. Small plates were already set out in front of them. The “guardians” worked with the staff, hauling over soup pots and steamers trip after trip, then started serving everyone.

The little ones found it new and fun. This open valley was nothing like the old orphanage, and nothing like the crowded city. Eating outdoors like this, surrounded by lords at a gigantic table, was something they’d never experienced. Even the unusually well-behaved, rule-following children of “Fairy Tale” couldn’t help chattering nonstop.

And it wasn’t just the kids who felt that way. The bureau staff found it pretty novel too—if nothing else, they’d never seen a dining table fifty meters long.

Little Red Riding Hood helped dish out food for the younger kids, then came over and dropped into a seat beside Yu Sheng. “Seriously, isn’t this table a bit much?”

“I just wanted the first meal to feel ceremonial,” Yu Sheng said, a little embarrassed. “I thought we could all gather around one table.”

“Sure, it’s ceremonial.” She curled her lip, then stood, grabbed a steaming baozi, blew on it hard, and took an enormous bite. “Hot, hot, hot—hot…”

“It just came out of the steamer. Of course it’s hot,” Yu Sheng said, amused. The Little Red Riding Hood he usually saw always wore a stern, grown-up expression, but the more time he spent with them, the more he realized this “guardian” who looked after a whole pack of younger brothers and sisters had a childish side too. “Slow down.”

Still sucking in air, she glanced across the table at Foxy—who was shoving two baozi into her mouth at once. “I saw her eating that fast and figured they’d cooled down.”

“…She’s a cultivator,” Yu Sheng said. “She’ll eat barbecue by clamping two slices of pork belly together with a chunk of charcoal and swallowing the whole thing. You’re using her as your reference?”

“…You’re right. My bad.”

Yu Sheng chuckled, then his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out. The caller ID read Bai Li Qing.

The moment he answered, the female director’s cool voice came through. “Open a door and connect to the Special Operations Bureau’s underground parking lot. The staff the Councilor Council is assigning to the orphanage have arrived.”

“Uh… okay. Got it.”

Maybe because he’d been tossed around all night, Yu Sheng’s brain ran a beat slow. It took him a second to register what she meant. He hurriedly agreed and got up. After he hung up—this time making sure it was actually hung up—he couldn’t help whispering to Irene, “Is it just me, or did Bai Li Qing sound kind of pleased just now?”

Irene tugged his hair. “Obviously. It’s five-thirty in the morning, and for once she’s calling you outside work hours to nag you into doing something. Usually, one report from you makes the bureau jump out of their chairs. Now she has to chase you for a door. If it were me, I’d laugh in your face.”

Yu Sheng frowned. “…Is it really that bad?”

“That’s what my spiritual intuition says.”

Apparently, the biggest thing Irene and Yu Sheng had in common was that neither of their spiritual intuitions did any real work.

By then, Yu Sheng had already reached a hand into empty air. He was used to “linking” to the bureau now, and he didn’t need a huge doorway just to bring a few people through. In the blink of an eye, a phantom door shimmered into being. With a light push, he opened it out of nothing.

The children all turned to look, curious. Yu Sheng smiled and waved at everyone. “Look who’s here!”

The closest little bean popped up from their chair at once. “It’s Teacher Su!”

Familiar faces appeared on the platform one after another. The “teachers” from the Councilor Council—who’d been with the orphanage kids for years—arrived wearing smiles, after getting an emergency notice at dawn and rushing over.

“That’s right, your favorite Teacher Su—and Teacher Li and Teacher Sun, too,” one of them said with a grin. Then they pointed at the pile of supplies stacked on the camping cart they’d dragged over. “And your favorite winter break homework.”

They cheerfully delivered the worst possible good news: even if you ran off to “camp” in the valley, classes and tutoring would continue as usual.

Wails instantly rose from both sides of the extra-long table—along with the lords’ gleeful laughter.

“Good thing I don’t have to suffer like them…” Little Red Riding Hood muttered.

She didn’t even finish before Teacher Su walked over and dropped a heavy bag onto the table. “Your homeroom teacher asked me to bring this to you. Even if you’re on leave, you still have homework. There’s also the mock exam paper for the end of the month. Do it on your own, okay? When you’re done, I’ll send it over for you.”

Little Red Riding Hood stared. “….”

“Snow White, Rapunzel, and you guys over there,” Teacher Su added, pointing down the line. “Don’t laugh. This cart is yours. Before we came, the Councilor Council arranged to contact the teachers from your schools. Come get your homework—and the end-of-month mock exam papers too.”

In an instant, the long table filled with a bright, cheerful kind of misery.

Yu Sheng, for one, enjoyed watching it a little too much.

After he finished laughing, though, he still reminded them, “Eat first. The kids got shaken awake at two-thirty in the morning. They’re only just getting a hot meal now. After they eat, they still need to settle down and rest. We’ll talk about homework and tutoring later. You should come eat too. It’s just a few more pairs of chopsticks. Afterward, I’ll show you around.”

By the time everyone finished eating—and by the time Yu Sheng took the “employees” the Councilor Council had sent to walk around the camp—it was already past nine.

The second batch of construction workers arranged by the Special Operations Bureau entered the valley on schedule, replacing the first group that had been working nonstop since last night. They continued the finishing work on the settlement and prepared to begin the other agreed-on projects.

The settlement itself was basically complete.

From a high slope near the platform, Yu Sheng looked out over the neat, brand-new “camp.” He watched the older members of “Fairy Tale” learn their way around under the guidance of the worker masters, taking over keys for critical equipment like generators and water pumps. Nearby, the roofs of the white prefab houses gleamed under the clear sky. The paved roads were wide and tidy. Bigger kids carried packed daily supplies along the paths between buildings with a few teachers. The “King” led a squad of guard knights around the camp, catching little ones and herding them back inside to sleep. Now and then, a lord would stop, looking pained, to explain to some doll-headed child why they still had to sleep even though it was daytime.

It wasn’t beautiful or grand, exactly, but just looking at it brought a quiet sense of ease. It met everyone’s basic needs for an orphanage. Maybe there were still plenty of inconveniences, but… Little Red Riding Hood and the others were already starting to like the place.

As for Yu Sheng, he was happier than anyone.

Because he was directly “linked” to the valley, he could almost feel a change in its atmosphere. It was subtle, but if he had to describe it… it was like a simple, lively little town had appeared beneath the eternally bright blue sky. Life was sprouting here, slowly nurturing the place.

Yu Sheng found he liked that vitality. He liked the way the valley was changing and being “nurtured.” It made him feel, more clearly than ever, that he was alive—and that feeling was even more real than his own heartbeat.

He didn’t understand where it came from, but the warmth in his chest told him it was a good thing.

He drew his gaze back and looked toward the portal platform.

The newly built pump house and generator room sat between the camp and the platform. The workers were extending pipes and wiring outward now, connecting them to another worksite beside the platform.

This was the agreement Yu Sheng and Bai Li Qing had made earlier: “Hotel” would open this valley—and the crash site within it—to the Special Operations Bureau for research. In return, the bureau would provide funds and manpower, completing a series of construction projects in the valley: water, electricity, even something like a smart vegetable greenhouse.

The nightmare spillover at the orphanage had been unexpected, but now everything seemed to be improving fast—almost like it was all sliding back into place.

In a relaxed, buoyant mood, Yu Sheng returned to No. 66, Wu Tong Road. Before the bureau called again to make him open another door, he planned to get some real sleep.

Foxy lent him a tail to hug. Irene promised their rebar-and-stone body wouldn’t climb onto the bed again. The temperature was perfect; the curtains were closed; the light was just right. There was no better setup for catching up on sleep.

Yu Sheng hugged the warm, fluffy tail, closed his eyes, and drifted off, pleased.

When he opened his eyes again…

Great.

The black forest.

A baby’s crying filled his ears.

Yu Sheng swallowed. “…Shit.”