Chapter 59 Side Quest: The Great Banyan Tree Displays its Power

An older woman nearby, who was vigorously washing clothes, didn't even look up. She habitually poured cold water on the situation: "So what if it's good? We can't go. You all know what kind of mess it is outside right now. Even adults face near-death experiences when they go out to venture out. Who would dare to take a child on such an adventure? Wouldn't that be killing the child?"

"Exactly! If you ask me, the timing of this Star Territory's advertising was terrible. It made people so eager, but then the Eternal Night came, the swamps appeared, and nobody could get out. What was the point of this advertising? It just made people feel uncomfortable."

The town was densely populated, but not everyone was well-informed. At the beginning of the eternal night, the information that was widely announced through the system did indeed make everyone in this courtyard aware of the existence of the Star Territory.

Those with high-level players at home who could travel alone had pondered that message repeatedly, but unfortunately, the eternal night had arrived, hindering their travel. Even if they wanted to go, they couldn't leave for the time being.

"However, I heard that Pastor Tan, who hasn't been back for a long time, actually went to settle down in the Star Territory."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than someone sarcastically remarked, "They say they've settled down, but who knows if they're already gone? If that place is really that good, how come we only found out about it after so long?"

Speak of the devil and he appears.

They had just finished whispering when they looked up and saw Tan Yashao leading her daughter Zhu Quan from not far away.

"Pastor Tan is back."

"Quan Quan is back too?"

Upon seeing Tan Yashao and her daughter return, they all stopped talking and greeted them as if nothing had happened, but their eyes were unconsciously focused on Zhu Quan.

The little girl's face still had the rosy glow of returning from outside, and her eyes were bright and sparkling, quite different from the other children in the courtyard who had sullen expressions.

A woman who usually had a fairly good relationship with Tan Yashao put down what she was holding and couldn't help but take two steps forward and ask, "Pastor Tan, didn't you go to settle down in the Star Territory? Did something happen there?"

These words were actually quite offensive, but Tan Ya Shao was in a good mood and didn't take it to heart. She just smiled and shook her head, denying their unpleasant speculations.

"No, it's just that Quan Quan missed her friend, so I brought her back to visit."

At this moment, a girl about the same age as Zhu Quan, with two little pigtails, sidled up to Zhu Quan and whispered, "Quan Quan, you're finally back! I haven't seen you for so many days. You smell so good."

The little girl is the same Xiaoya that Quan Quan often talks about; her parents are also good friends with Tan Ya Shao.

Zhu Quan nodded shyly and whispered "Mmm," then boasted with a childlike air, "The place I live in now is so nice! I can take a shower every day and I don't have to worry about smelling bad anymore. I go to school and play every day, and my mom always takes me to the water park."

Several children who were playing with beanbags and hopscotch immediately gathered around.

"Quan Quan, what kind of place is a water park? Is it fun?"

How did you get there? Were there any giant monsters along the way?

"Quan Quan, did you eat a lot of delicious food outside? Was it a million times better than mud paste?"

“I also want to take a shower every day, but Dad says there isn’t enough water at home and we have to use it sparingly.”

The children, seeing their long-lost friends, joined in the discussion with excited chatter.

"Not only that, there's also a big park and a stream downstairs from my house. I often go fishing and play with my brother Xiao Zhou there," Zhu Quan answered their questions one by one, puffing out his little chest and adding proudly.

"Wow, your place is so nice!" The children's eyes widened as they surrounded Zhu Quan, their voices filled with curiosity and envy.

Tan Yashao found it amusing to see her daughter looking so adorable, and reminded her, "Quan Quan, didn't you say you were going to share the food you prepared with everyone? Do you want to take it out now?"

"Yes, yes, Mom, bring them all out."

Zhu Quan is still a child and cannot be a player. She doesn't have a backpack, and the gifts she brings to her friends are all carried by her mother.

There was no place to put food in the courtyard, so Tan Yashao simply took a large table out of her backpack, and the next second, all kinds of food from Star Territory were laid out on the table.

Besides the snacks that Zhu Quan had collected for his friends, most of the snacks inside were prepared by Tan Ya Shao.

It included various flavors of milk tea, pastries, and all the fruits that were currently popular in Star Territory. Even more outrageous, Tan Ya Shao also took out several bowls of rice with toppings that were still warm and packed in insulated food containers.

This setup doesn't look like it was prepared in just ten minutes before the train's departure.

Faced with this table full of delicious food, not to mention the children, even the adults watching were swallowing hard.

Tan Yashao looked around and said with a smile, "Everyone, don't just stand there. This was prepared for you all, so come and eat!"

"This...this is too much..." A woman was the first to recover, waving her hands hurriedly, her face full of embarrassment. "These are all precious things, it's too much of a waste! Pastor Tan, you...you...how can we accept this for free..."

"Yeah, yeah, this must be so expensive." The others chimed in, verbally refusing but unable to take their eyes off the food.

They were both shocked by the unprecedented delicacies and amazed that Tan Ya Shao could produce so many good things. They kindly advised him to put them away quickly.

In today's world, ordinary food is more precious than gold in the old days. People keep their good things to themselves and eat them slowly.

"Don't be so formal, everyone. These are common foods in the Star Territory. They're not as expensive as you think. Over the years, Quan Quan and I have been taken care of by everyone. These are all gifts of gratitude."

Seeing that they were still hesitating, Tan Yashao raised her voice and pretended to be sad, saying, "Or am I so insignificant in everyone's eyes that they won't even accept a thank-you gift?"

"How could that be? Pastor Tan, don't think like that. We'd love to try all the food."

With someone taking the lead, everyone became less reserved and stepped forward to choose the food they wanted to eat.

Actually, after eating too much nutritional puree, they want to eat any kind of food, but after all, they are adults and don't want to lose their composure too much for the time being.

Adults still care about their image, but children don't have that concern.

Xiao Ya held a meat bun in her left hand and a candied hawthorn in her right, her mouth dripping with oil as she ate. She also had a cup of milk tea in her arms. Looking at Zhu Quan sitting next to her and eating with her, she asked curiously, "Quan Quan, do you get to eat this kind of food every day outside?"

"yes."

Xiao Ya said enviously, "Quan Quan, you are so lucky. Your mother can take you out to play and bring back so many delicious things. My mother says it is too dangerous outside and won't let me go out no matter what. I really want to go and see it too."

The little girl's innocent words silenced the adults present.

They also longed for their children to see that kind of world, instead of being trapped in this dark underground, living in fear and anxiety.

Unfortunately, my level is not high enough to allow me to freely enter and exit the surface of the earth like Pastor Tan.

I heard that prices in the Star Territory aren't expensive. It's more upsetting than not being able to afford something at all if you can't buy it because of the distance.

"How about this, Pastor Tan, I'll give you some money, and you can buy me some food next time you come back?" one person tentatively asked Pastor Tan.

“No way. There are explicit rules in the territory that things cannot be resold. I don’t want to be blacklisted by the territory.” Tan Yashao quickly shook her head. It’s not that no one has tried to do this before, but the consequences are very serious.

Tan Ya Shao replied too quickly, and seeing the other person's expression darken instantly, she added, "But if you want it, you can just go and buy it yourself."

She was actually a little confused by her neighbors' attitude.

The man sighed, "If I could go, why would I be saying this?"

Tan Ya Shao was even more surprised upon hearing this, "Didn't I say that?"

"say what?"

"Now the Star Territory and our town have reached a cooperation agreement, and a train service has been opened between the two places. There are dedicated tracks and protective barriers. In the past, a trip only took ten minutes and was very safe."

"These things are just ordinary food that you can buy in the time it takes to ride a car."

After he finished speaking, the entire courtyard fell into an eerie silence.

A few seconds later, a voice finally broke the silence: "...Pastor Tan, why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"

Tan Ya Shao's words not only shocked everyone present, but also alerted the other neighbors who were resting at home. After discussing it, they decided to go to the entrance of the town to take a look.

"Mom, can I go out and play like Quan Quan?" Xiao Ya stood at the doorway, looking at her parents who were packing their things, and asked excitedly.

“Of course.” Little Ya’s mother nodded and put her daughter’s favorite blanket into the game backpack. “If Little Ya likes that territory, we can stay there for a while.”

She had just noticed that Quan Quan's complexion was much rosier than when she had seen her before, and he even seemed to have grown a little taller, looking exceptionally healthy standing next to her own daughter.

The two kids looked pretty much the same when we met last time.

The food in the game store is all different kinds of nutritional mud, all high-tech products. How can it produce such a good complexion?

It must be the good food from the Star Territory that made up for it.

"Yay! Mom and Dad are the best!"

Seeing her daughter's happy expression, Xiaoya's mother couldn't help but smile as well.

She and her husband were only slightly lower in rank than Tan Ya Shao. Some time ago, they went out to hunt demons and missed the news about the Star Territory. By the time they found out, the Eternal Night had already arrived.

They had originally planned to take their daughter to the random swamp on the surface after it stabilized, but thankfully, there is now a more convenient option.

Many people shared the same idea, and within an hour, a large number of people gathered at the entrance of Yunpei Town to queue for tickets.

The players who had just come from the Star Territory were originally just visiting relatives and planned to return to the Star Territory in an hour. However, seeing the endless stream of people at the ticket booth, they considerately chose the next train.

Lin Nanxing didn't have this concern. She jogged all the way and finally made it back to the carriage two minutes before the train started to depart. She sat back in her seat, a little out of breath.

The wheels turned slowly, and the train smoothly pulled out of the station. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and relax.

Turning around, I was surprised to find that the people sitting next to me were all familiar faces.

"Sister Lin, what a coincidence, we meet again!" Yun Ziming looked at her and immediately waved enthusiastically, his expression like that of an enthusiastic golden retriever.

Sitting next to him was Yun Junqi, the daughter of Mayor Yun Aobai. The young girl seemed a little shy, but she still smiled politely at Lin Nanxing.

Lin Nanxing looked around the carriage and found that the five children who had visited the territory before were all there, as well as some unfamiliar faces.

"Oh, it's you guys! Why did everyone take this bus? Did you plan to go out together?"

Yun Ziming eagerly answered, his tone excited: "We heard that the train line has opened, and my parents said we can go more often in the future. Qiqi also got my aunt's approval, so we formed our own team and came!"

Another slightly older boy added in a particularly familiar manner, "The adults at home said it's very convenient and safe to go there now, and they want us to go and see for ourselves."

After Lin Nanxing brought up this topic, the carriage immediately became lively. She listened to the children's chattering but did not feel annoyed.

Lin Nanxing knew very well that this was Yun Peizhen's way of showing goodwill towards her. After all, even their own children were allowed to travel to Xingxing Territory on their own, which meant that they trusted her territory.

She appreciated it.

In the midst of this relaxed and pleasant atmosphere of greeting, the system's notification sounded clearly in Lin Nanxing's mind:

[Ding! Host's affinity with Yunpei Town has increased to 80%, triggering a side quest]

Side Quest: Business Expansion, Open Branch Stores

[Mission Introduction: Strong friendships are the cornerstone of business expansion. Leverage your good relationship with Yunpei Town to successfully open the first "Star" brand branch there, extending your business influence to your ally's territory.]

[Mission Objective: Open and successfully operate one branch store within the territory of Yunpei Town.]

[Quest Reward: Reputation Points +1]

Great task!

Lin Nanxing had figured out the system's pattern: it would never issue tasks proactively, but could only trigger them passively, and each task was a beneficial move for the development of the territory.

But when Lin Nanxing saw the task reward, he couldn't help but click his tongue. The system was as stingy as ever, with the task reward being only one point of reputation.

But if we open a branch, who should be in charge?

After a moment's thought, Lin Nanxing had a candidate in mind.

The train traveled smoothly under the cover of eternal night, with endless desolate darkness and the occasional passing of twisted swamps outside the window.

Aside from combat players who regularly hunt demons, most of the passengers on this trip were children and the elderly. For these people who had not stepped out of Yunpei Town since the fall of Eternal Night, this unfamiliar environment instilled a lot of fear in them.

Suddenly, a loud 'bang'!

A violent jolt, accompanied by a piercing metallic scraping sound, suddenly rippled through the train. Without warning, the entire train abruptly slowed down, and the immense inertia caused all the passengers to lurch forward.

"What's going on?!"

"What happened? Why did it suddenly stop?"

"It looks like I bumped into something."

"Is it a monster? There are so many swamps outside, there must be monsters inside."

The passengers, who were already anxious about the unfamiliar environment, instantly erupted into chaos. Everyone present nervously peered out of the windows, but the windows were too small and their view was obstructed, so no one saw what was happening.

Just then, a roar shattered the silence, and then a huge black shadow appeared, standing outside the barrier on the side of the train, attacking fiercely.

The train was also forced to stop because of its attack.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Heavy impacts rang out one after another, and the barrier rippled violently as it was smashed. People were horrified to see what the monster looked like.

"Holy crap, what a huge monster?!"

It was an unusually large ape-like monster, enraged by something, frantically pounding on the barrier.

The glowing mushrooms that had just been transplanted next to the track had been trampled and destroyed by it.

"It's a monster! A huge monster!"

"It's attacking the barrier! Will the barrier break?"

"We're doomed, are we going to die here?"

Chaos erupted inside the carriage, and a sense of despair began to take hold.

"I knew I shouldn't have joined in this fun. Now look what's happened, I haven't even gotten to eat the meal I was looking forward to, and I'm about to become monster food."

"Sigh, I've been hiding underground for ten years. If I can witness what the world looks like now before I die, I can say I have no regrets."

Just as everyone was in a panic, a mechanical female voice came through the train's public address system: "Please do not panic, stay in your seats, fasten your seatbelts, the problem will be resolved soon."

As soon as the words were spoken, the door on the side closest to the monkeys opened, and a banyan tree the size of a landscape plant stepped off the train, then instantly grew larger in the astonished gazes of the crowd.

The banyan vines cast a dense canopy, making the originally huge green train look like a half-person-sized toy in comparison.

"It's the magical banyan tree that guards the Star Territory!" A player who frequently travels to and from the Star Territory recognized it.

Amidst everyone's anticipation, the banyan tree's branches, like a nimble giant python, instantly coiled around the monkey's waving arms and torso.

The ensuing battle was almost entirely one-sided.

In less than five minutes, the once ferocious ape collapsed to the ground, turning into specks of data and disappearing, leaving only some shimmering materials behind.

The crisis is over.

The banyan tree slowly retracted its branches, as if it had completed a trivial task. It even straightened a few of the trampled glowing mushrooms before shrinking back to give a warning and stepping back onto the train.

The carriage was deathly silent.

Everyone stared in disbelief, their faces still bearing the lingering fear and despair of the previous day, speechless at the incredible reversal before them.

It wasn't until the train let out another long whistle, slowly restarted, and steadily accelerated forward that people seemed to wake up from a dream.

"This...that's it?"

Immediately afterwards, a discussion even more heated than when they first encountered the giant ape broke out in the carriage.

"My God, that magical plant is amazing!"

"The Star Territory actually harbors such a powerful fighting force, so it will definitely be safe for us to go there."

Some were amazed by the banyan tree spirit's fighting prowess, while others patted their chests in lingering fear: "This battle ended too quickly; I thought I was doomed."

After this battle, all the passengers on the train, especially those who were originally filled with fear of the outside world, felt a great weight lifted from their hearts, and their sense of security and trust in the Star Territory reached an unprecedented level.

The discussion inside the carriage continued, but the carriage where Lin Nanxing was located remained deathly silent.

Inside the enclosed space, everyone's eyes were fixed on the large banyan tree at Lin Nanxing's feet, which had just easily hunted down a high-level monster.

"Well done, Da Rong, you really made me proud." Lin Nanxing took out a bottle of pond water and poured it on the banyan tree branches as a reward.

The banyan tree spirit immediately stretched out its branches, its leaves rustling, clearly pleased with Lin Nanxing's praise.

Yun Ziming and Yun Junqi exchanged a glance, their gazes toward Lin Nanxing growing even more fervent.

Despite an unexpected incident along the way, the train still arrived at the territory parking lot on schedule.

"You all eat and drink well, I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now." After saying goodbye to the children who had become even more enthusiastic since Da Rong intervened, Lin Nanxing breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Qisheng saw it and jokingly said, "This is the first time I've seen you so disheveled."

"Don't even mention it, my ears almost started ringing during those ten minutes in the car." Lin Nanxing waved his hand with lingering fear and walked towards the office building: "Brother Zhou, send a message to Sister Lan, we'll wait for her in the office."

Zhou Qisheng immediately straightened his expression and caught up with her: "Did something happen?"