Chapter 325

Chapter 326: Thriving

While Yu Sheng was struggling his way through a pile of interstellar navigation rules, the “technical support staff” arranged by Bai Li Qing finally began to arrive.

Among the first group were familiar faces: Engineer Sun and the Engineering Team he led, the same crew that once helped the Orphanage’s Cursed Children build their temporary camp.

There were also dozens of experts in the Deep Space vessel Domain.

In the depths of the Valley, near the Black Forest and on the Youth Formship Docking Platform, a short, stocky man with dark skin stood in a Special Affairs Bureau Engineering Team uniform. Tilting his head back to stare at the pitch black Giant Tower planted in the platform’s berth, Engineer Sun whispered in awe for a very long time.

Pulling his gaze back, he looked at Yu Sheng with deep feeling and said: “The last time I came, you only had one big slab in the middle of the Valley with a toilet on it.” He swept an arm at the surroundings and added, half laughing, half stunned: “And now, in such a short time, you’ve even put up a Youth Form Port! That big slab has turned into a Pyramid too…”

Yu Sheng tugged the corner of his mouth and replied, a little helpless: “I’ve said it a lot of times, that wasn’t a toilet. Still, it’s nice that you at least admit my new Transit Hub looks like a Pyramid. Little Red Riding Hood and the others keep saying it looks like a grave mound.”

Hearing that, Engineer Sun almost burst out laughing, but when he saw Yu Sheng’s face he rushed to make up for it, saying with a cough: “Well, actually I wanted to say that too… but to be fair, it’s pretty grand. If someone insists on calling it a grave mound, then it’s a record setting one. I once led a team ‘out of town’ to help build a Museum that sat right on an alien burial site. That grave was about the size of this one and got listed locally as one of the Eight Great Ancient Builds.”

Yu Sheng’s face turned almost green as he waved him off and said: “How about you stop trying to fix it.”

Engineer Sun cleared his throat twice and steered back to business: “The Director gave orders: all my projects next will revolve around this Valley. Whether it’s building the Youth Form Port, adding basic infrastructure, or doing interior outfitting and water and power for your ‘hub,’ you just bring the requests to me. I’ll get you plans fast. Funding is specially allocated by the Bureau-so don’t worry about progress. It’s an ‘internal project,’ so whatever good tech we have, you’ll get.”

Listening, Yu Sheng silently looked up. Not far away, heavy six legged robots were laying thick cables around the Youth Form Port, workers in powered exoskeletons were setting foundations on the platform, and engineering shuttles that looked like alien ships were ferrying materials toward the Valley’s center. He curled his lips and said: “I can tell… when you came last time, you didn’t bring gear like this. You sure hid it deep.”

“Different job, different loadout,” Engineer Sun answered with proud good cheer. “My team can take anything. You want a disguised civilian house near a Door in Boundary City? No problem. Another colony is under rebel siege and needs a pair of orbital fortresses dropped in? We have armed engineering ships for that. The Bureau has eighteen teams like mine. We roam the map plugging leaks and putting out fires.”

While he spoke, this middle aged man-who looked no different from a foreman on an ordinary site-dug in his pocket, took out a card, and handed it to Yu Sheng as he said: “Here’s my private number. Next time you head ‘out of town,’ you might need it. If it’s inside the Borderland’s sphere, even if I’m short on hands, I can connect you to one of the other seventeen teams.”

Yu Sheng accepted the card, put it away with care, then raised his eyes again to the Giant Tower resting in dock.

“The Director suggested I change this ship’s ‘style’ a bit,” he said, thoughtful now. “He says the silhouette screams Hermitage Order, which will bring trouble if we fly around outside.”

“I heard. Old Liu is in charge of that-he’s with the Aerospace Vessel Engineering Department and reports here tomorrow,” Engineer Sun nodded, then asked with curiosity: “Still, how are you planning to change it? I’m no ship master, but I know a little. A ‘special fit ship’ like this usually can’t be changed too much.”

“I know. I’ll stick to new paint and some shelling on key parts,” Yu Sheng answered casually, as his mind replayed the family meeting where he, Foxy, and Irene had talked this through.

Facing the Hotel’s first “big item,” their first heavy transport, Irene and Foxy were both thrilled. When they heard the ship would be refit, their debate got very lively.

Irene’s first idea was to ditch the black paint that screamed villain and make it pink. If not pink, then magenta. Foxy wanted the ship to show some Immortal presence, like putting a star catching pavilion on the tower’s tip and surrounding it with five colored auspicious clouds. Later the two reached a joyful agreement: they should also blast out the Hotel’s branding. The strongest brand was Yu Sheng himself, so they wanted a full ring hologram on the tower playing a loop of Yu Sheng’s giant headshot.

In short, the final compromise would be a pink Giant Tower drifting through space, a little pavilion on top, purple red clouds swirling around it, and Yu Sheng’s face circling the pink column again and again.

Yu Sheng pictured it and decided that while it might not look like a villain’s ship anymore, even villains would call the police. [Better to get shot down by local air defense than fly that.]

Engineer Sun had no idea why Yu Sheng suddenly spaced out. When the other man stopped speaking halfway through his sentence, he waited, then couldn’t help asking: “Uh…?”

“It’s nothing, I zoned out a little,” Yu Sheng rubbed his forehead and shoved those scary mental images aside, then asked: “Where were we?”

“Paint job and maybe a shell.”

“Right. Paint,” Yu Sheng said, still rubbing his forehead. “When the folks from the Engineering Department arrive, ask them to add some white trim to this ship. Take off those spooky looking spikes and the Runic Chains on top or turn them into normal connecting bridges. That should do it.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Yu Sheng answered with the firm look of a man ready to fight a whole ship of cultists again. “And remind the Engineering Department: if Foxy and Irene sneak over to ask for ‘extra features,’ they must not agree. And tell me at once.”

Confused but compliant, Engineer Sun nodded and said: “Oh. Okay.”

Yu Sheng let out a long breath, watched the ship platform roaring at full tilt for a little while, imagined what it would look like after the Youth Form Port was finished, then casually pushed open a Door and stepped through.

He arrived in the small town at the Valley’s center.

After a period of building and running things by the members of Fairy Tale, the “town” now had a real shape.

It might even be a bit too “well shaped.”

Beyond the rows of temporary houses stood a swarm of new buildings, all “new homes” that the Cursed Children of Fairy Tale had dreamed up and built. Since their ideas ran wild, what they made came out all kinds of strange. Treehouses floating in midair and bright candy houses were only the basics. There was a stone house like a tiny Castle (Snow White’s), an entire giant pumpkin shaped “pumpkin house” (Cinderella’s), and a piled up cave like a Dragon’s nest (Dragon Slayer’s).

He even saw a huge cat tree-over two hundred square meters, three stories tall, a maze of ramps with a shoebox sized basket in the middle. King lay curled in that little basket while two Sycophants stood on either side opening cans of cat food for it.

The whole town carried a strong vibe of: “No one is stopping us, so do whatever makes you happy.” It also gave off a hint of pent up, now explosive joy after being held down for too long.

By comparison, Little Red Riding Hood’s honest two story wooden house was a clear stream among all these odd shapes. The other clear stream was Mermaid, who still lived in her assigned simple room. She only dug a huge pit behind the house. People said she went there every day to practice swimming. In an hour of practice, she could stay underwater for fifty nine minutes, then someone would fish her out during the last minute.

Yu Sheng walked to the Castle roof deep inside the town and looked over the place, now completely changed and several times bigger than before-expansion made sense, because those strange builds ate space. A smile crept across his face.

A soft rustle came from beside him.

Following the sound, Yu Sheng saw a golden ball of hair crawling up the Castle’s outer wall in the shade. When it reached his feet, a sun bright smile popped out from the hair: Rapunzel chirped, “Brother, came to soak up some sun?”

“Playing hooky for half a day,” Yu Sheng said with a glance toward the town rim, then added: “You’ve built fast.”

“Of course. The Kingdom Craftsman that King summoned are amazing, and the Thunder Titans helped too,” Rapunzel said, delighted. “How is it? Pretty? Lots of houses were designed by everyone together!”

Yu Sheng looked off into the distance for a long while. After thinking it through, he smiled and said: “Very Fairy Tale.”

“Very Fairy Tale?” Rapunzel tilted her head, like she didn’t quite get what he meant, but she soon laughed along and said: “Right, it’s the Fairy Tale headquarters after all. Red Hood said we should have our own Organization style. That’s the word, right? She is always that serious.”

She put both hands behind her on the roof, tipped her head back to the bright sky, and her waterfall of golden hair spilled down the eaves as her smile grew brighter.

“That serious girl turns eighteen tomorrow.”