Chapter 220

Chapter 220: Back on Track

It was the Cursed Children’s first meal in the Valley. After a night of hurried moving and the brief chaos and excitement of reaching their new home, they gathered around the long table on the platform. The staff sent by the Special Affairs Bureau had prepared steaming buns, rice porridge, and hot soup. Because everything was rushed, it wasn’t a fancy spread, but a hot breakfast was enough to calm everyone down.

Yu Sheng sat at one end of the long table, which was really long. Foxy sat on his right. Irene sat on the tabletop. The youngest Cursed Children lined up along both sides under the guidance of their older siblings, taking the same seats they used at the Orphanage. Small plates had already been set out in front of them. The “parents” and the staff carried big soup pots and steamers to the table in runs, then started serving each person.

The little Cursed Children found everything new and fun. This wide open Valley was totally different from the Old Orphanage they knew and the crowded city scenes. Sitting outdoors around a super huge table and eating with the lords was a first-time experience. Even these extra well behaved kids from the Fairy Tale Organization couldn’t help chattering nonstop.

To be honest, it wasn’t just the Cursed Children who felt it was new. The staff from the Special Affairs Bureau thought so too. At the very least, none of them had ever seen a fifty meter long dining table.

Little Red Riding Hood, after helping serve the Cursed Children, came to sit by Yu Sheng and muttered: “Seriously, didn’t you go a bit overboard with this table?”

“I just wanted the first meal to feel a little ceremonial,” said Yu Sheng, a bit embarrassed, “so we could gather everyone at one table.”

“It is very ceremonial, sure, but think about the people serving the food,” said Little Red Riding Hood as she stood, grabbed a hot bun, blew on it hard, then stuffed it in her mouth and took a big bite, “ah hot hot hot hot.”

“They just came out of the steamer, of course they’re hot,” said Yu Sheng with a laugh. He was used to seeing Little Red Riding Hood with a stiff, grown up face, but the more he saw her, the more he realized this “parent” of many big and little siblings had a childish side too. “Eat slower.”

While sucking in air, she glanced at Foxy across the table, who was demolishing buns two bites at a time: “I saw her eating so fast and thought they had cooled.”

“She cultivates,” said Yu Sheng, trying not to laugh, “she eats barbecue by folding two slices of pork belly around a charcoal ember and swallowing them together. You use her as your reference?”

“…I was wrong.”

Yu Sheng smiled helplessly. Then his phone rang in his pocket. He grabbed it and looked. The caller ID showed Bai Li Qing.

He picked up, and the cool voice of the director sounded at once: “Open a Door to the Special Affairs Bureau’s underground parking lot. The council’s staff assigned to the Orphanage have arrived.”

“Uh… oh, okay.”

Maybe his brain was dull from being up all night. It took Yu Sheng a second to process it. He hurried to agree and stood to start the Door Opening. After he hung up for real this time, he couldn’t help whispering to Irene: “Is it just me, or did Bai Li Qing sound kind of happy just now?”

Irene tugged his hair and said: “No kidding. It’s five thirty in the morning. She finally gets to call you outside normal work hours to push you to do something. Usually you file a report and make the Special Affairs Bureau jump out of their chairs. Now she has to urge you to do the Door Opening. If it were me, I’d laugh in your face.”

Yu Sheng frowned and asked: “Is it really that exaggerated?”

“My Spiritual Intuition says so,” said Irene.

Clearly, the biggest thing Irene and Yu Sheng shared was that their Spiritual Intuition rarely did anything useful.

Yu Sheng stretched out his hand toward the air. He was already used to “connecting” to the Special Affairs Bureau. Since he only needed to bring over a few people, he didn’t need to open a large Door. In the blink of an eye, a Phantom Door floated in the air. He pressed lightly, and the Door opened out of thin air.

The Cursed Children all turned to look. Yu Sheng smiled and waved to everyone: “Look who’s here!”

A tiny kid nearby was first to hop off the bench and shout: “It’s Teacher Su!”

Familiar faces stepped onto the platform one by one. These “teachers” from the council had accompanied the Orphanage children for years. They smiled as they came. They had gotten an urgent notice at dawn and came right over.

“Yes, your favorite Teacher Su, and Teacher Li and Teacher Sun, and your most beloved winter break homework,” said one of the teachers, greeting the Cursed Children with a grin. Then he showed the piles stacked on the camping cart he had dragged and delivered the good news that even if they “camped” in the Valley, make-up classes were still on.

Both sides of the long table erupted in wails from the dollheads, plus the lords’ very open gloating.

“Lucky I don’t have to be like them,” muttered Little Red Riding Hood.

Before she finished, Teacher Su walked to her, set a big bag on the table, and said: “Your homeroom teacher asked me to give you this. You still have to do homework on leave. Here are the mock exam papers for the end of the month. It’s on the honor system. When you finish, I’ll take them back for you.” Little Red Riding Hood went silent.

“Snow White, Rapunzel, and you over there, don’t laugh,” said Teacher Su, pointing to the other side, “this cart has yours too. Before we came, the council used the Door to contact your schools and teachers one by one. Come get your assignments and the end-of-month mock papers.”

Suddenly, the long table filled with a cheerful kind of chaos.

Yu Sheng found it all pretty funny.

After laughing, he still reminded everyone: “Eat first. The Cursed Children got dragged up at two thirty in the night and only now got hot food. After you eat, you need to settle in and rest. Homework and make-up lessons can wait. You teachers should come eat too. A few more pairs of chopsticks won’t hurt. After we eat, I’ll show you around the place.”

With all the fussing, everyone finished breakfast, and then Yu Sheng led the council’s “employees” around the camp. By the time they got back, it was past nine in the morning.

As scheduled, the second batch of builders arranged by the Special Affairs Bureau entered the Valley. They relieved the first crew, who had been busy since last night, and continued the final construction work at the settlement. They also began preparing other agreed projects.

The settlement itself was basically done.

Standing on a high slope near the platform, Yu Sheng looked out over the neat new camp. The older members of Fairy Tale were following the foremen to learn each facility and taking over the keys to important equipment like generators and pumps. The white prefab roofs shone under the bright sky. The paved roads were straight and wide. A few older Cursed Children walked the narrow lanes between houses with their teachers, carrying bundles of daily goods. The King led a squad of close Knights all over camp to catch little kids and take them back to sleep. Now and then a lord stopped with a troubled face to explain to some dollhead why they still had to nap during the day.

To be fair, the settlement wasn’t grand or beautiful, but it felt calm and comfortable at a glance. It met all the daily needs of everyone from the Orphanage. There were surely many inconveniences, but it looked like Little Red Riding Hood and the others were already starting to like this place.

As for Yu Sheng, he was happier than anyone.

Because he was directly “linked” to the Valley, he could sense a change in the Valley’s atmosphere. The change was subtle. If he had to put it into words, under the always bright blue sky there now stood a plain yet lively little town. The fresh life rising from this new town was slowly “nourishing” the place.

Yu Sheng liked this life, liked the changes in the Valley, liked this nourishment. It made him feel more alive. That feeling of being alive was even more real than his own heartbeat. [I don’t really get why it feels like this, but it feels good.]

Then Yu Sheng drew his gaze back toward the Portal Platform.

The new pump houses and generator rooms were placed between the camp and the Portal Platform. Workers were laying pipes and cables out from there, linking them to another construction site at the platform’s edge.

All this was part of the agreement Yu Sheng had made with Bai Li Qing. The Hotel would open the Valley and the Crash Site inside it to the Special Affairs Bureau for research. In return, the Special Affairs Bureau would provide funding and people to build a series of projects in the Valley, including solving water and power, and putting up a smart vegetable greenhouse.

The nightmare overflow at the Orphanage had been an accident, but now everything seemed to be getting better fast, and things were back on track.

In a relaxed, cheerful mood, Yu Sheng returned to No. 66 Wutong Road. Before the Special Affairs Bureau called again to have him open a Door, he wanted a proper nap.

Foxy lent him a tail to hug. Irene promised her rebar-and-stone body would not suddenly jump onto the bed this time. The room was at the perfect temperature, and after he drew the curtains, the light was just right. There was no better environment for a nap. [Perfect.]

He hugged the warm, fluffy fox tail and happily closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, oh no, the Black Forest.

A baby cried somewhere nearby.

“…crap,” said Yu Sheng.