Chapter 57 Tourism Administration
[Captain, what are you doing?]
Zang Zang Bao sent a message.
[I just finished taking a shower and am getting ready for bed. How about you?]
Sent a message.
Dirty Bun: [I've been lying down and sleeping for a while.]
:[Um. ]
Dirty Bun: [Captain, do everyone on our team have a partner? Where is my partner?]
: [Who do you want to partner with?]
Zang Zang Bao: [Er Wa hasn’t found a partner yet, actually I can be a partner with Er Wa, I won’t feel any burden in taking care of the baby.]
This was the thought that came to Xia Bai's mind when he saw Erwa feeding Xuemu just now.
Taking care of children has become the obligation, or task, of everyone in the team. Everyone seems to be under a lot of psychological pressure, but it’s okay for him to take care of the second child.
A few minutes later, a message came, [Erwa is not a partner option. Usually, you don’t enter the game alone with him, but with a group of partners.]
Dirty Bun: [Oh.]
Dirty Bun: [Who should I partner with then? Or should I wait for new team members?]
: [Who do you want to team up with?]
Dirty Bun: [Follow you.]
There was no reply from the other end. Xia Bai was about to promote himself when he saw the message coming.
:[You have to join the Wangchuan group first before you can team up with me.]
Dirty Bun: [How to join the Wangchuan group?]
: [Clear 10 games in a row, get a skill rating of A, and sign a life and death agreement.]
Dirty Bun: [Okay, wait for me.]
Now that they had agreed to become partners, Xia Bai felt better.
Erwa and his sister Xuemu, one sitting on the bay window and the other standing in a cup, were basking in the moonlight together.
Xia Bai asked: "Erwa, did you have any friends in Qili Village before?"
Erwa was startled by Xia Bai's sudden voice. He turned to look at Xia Bai, then lowered his head and shook his head.
Xia Bai looked at him for a while, his voice was hoarse from just waking up, and it made people feel intimacy and reassurance for some reason, "Erwa, you don't have to sneak away to the elementary school to attend classes anymore. You can take your sister to play in the wheat fields."
Erwa was thrown into the wheat field by his overwhelmed family, and later he secretly ran to elementary school and was drawn into the game.
Erwa is so timid and he even ran to the elementary school. He must be very lonely and scared.
Erwa stared at Xia Bai blankly, as if he couldn't speak anymore.
Xia Bai said, "Erwa, I'll take you back to Qili Village on Saturday. Can you take us to play in the wheat fields?"
Erwa has always been unwilling to use his skills. The negligent researcher has been scaring him and leaving him with a serious psychological trauma. This is indeed an important reason, but in the final analysis, it still stems from the game in Qili Village.
To solve the problem, you still have to go to Qili Village.
Xia Bai wanted to take him back to see if the situation could be improved. When the place was no longer a nightmare that he dared not even think about, perhaps skills would slowly become a part of himself that was accepted.
Erwa was visibly nervous, with his two little hands tightly entwined together.
"Sister Xuemu and I will go with you. Are you still afraid?" Xia Bai asked, and then said, "If you are afraid, we won't go. We can go directly to the Tourism Administration headquarters."
"Seventh Ancestor Goddess." Erwa said in a low voice.
Xia Bai: "What?"
Erwa pointed at Xia Bai, "Seventh Ancestor Goddess."
Xia Bai didn't know who this Seventh Ancestor Goddess was, so he asked Song Lu and Song Shi in his [Xia Bai] group.
Xia Bai: [Erwa mentioned the Seventh Ancestor Goddess, who is the Seventh Ancestor Goddess?]
Song Shi found it quickly and sent the information and photos to the group.
Song Shi: [The Seventh Ancestor Goddess is the local deity worshipped by Qili Village, the village where Erwa was born. She originated from a real woman in the history of the village. She once brought the ancestors of Qili Village from the war to the peaceful and secluded Qili Village at that time. The village was founded and developed, and it became bigger and bigger. They firmly believe that the Seventh Ancestor Goddess will always protect everyone in their village.]
The statue of the Seventh Ancestor Goddess in the photo is located on the mountain of Qili Village. No matter where you are in the village, you can see it by just looking up.
So Erwa pointed at him and called him the Seventh Ancestor Goddess, wanting him to protect him like the Seventh Ancestor Goddess?
Erwa was still secretly looking at him. Xia Bai said, "Erwa, I will protect you like the Seventh Ancestor Goddess. When we go back, I will make sure that you will not be harmed."
Erwa nodded several times and stammered, "I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid."
After getting his response, Xia Bai took advantage of the fact that Song Lu and Song Shi were both there and said that he would take Erwa to Qili Village on Saturday and to the Tourism Administration Headquarters on Sunday. Song Lu arranged the itinerary for him that night.
Qili Village is quite far from Jiangqi City, so they have to take a plane to get there.
Xia Bai had no classes on Friday afternoon, so they flew to the city where Qili Village was located on Friday and stayed in a hotel there for one night. After dinner on Saturday morning, they took a bus to Qili Village.
After arriving at Qili Village, they did not get off the car, but slowly walked around the village.
The current Qili Village is much better than what Xia Bai saw in the data. It is not surprising that all the places where the game landed and was cleared would develop very well. In this dangerous world, these places seemed to be safe havens.
Obviously, the best developed school in Qili Village is the Qili Village Primary School. It is no longer the shabby appearance shown in the promotional video. Now it has become the town’s central primary school. From a distance, you can see new classrooms with white walls and red tiles.
Erwa was stunned.
This is a good thing.
The nightmare that Erwa once dared not recall has been flattened and turned into a brand new and bright new school, with no trace of horror left.
Erwa kept looking at that place, so Xia Bai simply put him and sister Xuemu into the space pocket and took them to school.
The school gate also seemed to have been replaced. It was a new, tall, heavy black iron gate. There was also a villager security guard at the gate, and the security was quite strict. On Saturdays when there were no students in class, Xia Bai could barely get in, and he had to be followed by the security guard.
Based on Xia Bai's impression of the primary school in the promotional video, the school has been replanned and the playground where people did jumping exercises at that time has now become a teaching area. There are four two-story small teaching buildings. There is a flower bed in front of each teaching building, with osmanthus flowers just falling and a few sunflowers with ripe seeds.
The original classroom site is now a plastic playground, surrounded by many young poplar trees.
Xia Bai slowly walked around the school, thanked the security guard, and said goodbye to him.
He sat on a rock under a tree not far from the school and took out Erwa and sister Xuemu.
Erwa was still in a daze, as if he hadn't reacted, but his hands were no longer twisted together, and he looked less nervous.
Xia Bai said, "It's gone, Erwa."
Erwa lowered his head and tears fell down.
Sister Xuemu looked at his falling tears and said her first words after coming into this world. She said, "It's raining."
During the time when Xia Bai lived with her in Sister Xue Mu's mouth, he saw rain. Every time her sister cried, they looked up at the sky and it was raining.
Xia Bai took Erwa back to the car, and they continued to drive around the village.
They saw Erwa's father, supporting a woman as they walked towards the village clinic.
After Erwa's mother died and Erwa's family spent all their savings on his treatment, the family was overwhelmed and threw Erwa, who seemed to be in no better condition, into a wheat field. Later, when Erwa was taken back from the researcher, they thought that Erwa was still the sickly person who would lose money endlessly, and said that whoever rescued him should take him away and not send him back, and drove the investigators away.
The investigators had no choice but to take Erwa back to the Tourism Management Bureau, which was then called the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.
Later, Erwa's father married another woman in the village, and now this woman is pregnant.
Their car was parked on the side of the road.
There were not many cars in the village, let alone this car which looked not cheap at first glance. The two of them looked at it for a few more times and got very close.
They couldn't see inside, but the people inside could see them clearly, especially when they were almost sticking to the car window, and they could faintly hear their conversation.
“This car is really nice.”
"I'll buy one like this for my son in the future!"
Xia Bai glanced at Erwa, who was just staring at the car window, seemingly without much emotion. He watched them leave without seeing their figures.
After they left, they went to the wheat fields.
At this season, there is only a layer of green wheat seedlings in the wheat fields.
Xia Bai had prepared the kite long ago. Having grown up in the village, he knew that the wheat seedlings in this season were not afraid of being stepped on by children. He had seen many children flying kites in the green wheat fields.
The kite is a big, beautiful butterfly, and Sister Xuemu can be put on it and fly high into the sky.
After Xia Bai flew the kite high, he handed it to Erwa. In order to prevent Sister Xue from falling, Erwa had to run.
"Sister Xuemu, I like to look at the sky, I like to look at the sky..." He muttered, and ran attentively on the soft wheat seedlings.
The cool wind blew the slightly curly hair on his forehead. He panted and ran faster and faster. His eyes became brighter and brighter, and finally a smile appeared on his face.
Xia Bai sat on a high ridge and watched. When he saw Erwa smile, he picked up his phone, took a picture and sent it to Ling Changye.
: [In Qili Village?]
Dirty Bun: [Yeah.]
Xia Bai was not surprised that he could guess it, because the direction Erwa was running was where the statue of the Seventh Ancestor Goddess was.
Dirty Bun: [Where are you?]
:[I just downloaded a book yesterday. I am at my mom’s place today. I will go back to the Tourism Bureau tomorrow.]
Xia Bai put his phone into his pocket contentedly, lay down on the wheat field with his arms as a pillow, and took a nap in the sun.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but when he opened his eyes, the sun was still hanging in the sky, bringing out pieces of fiery red cotton and casting a layer of warm orange-yellow glow on the entire world.
A sweet floral scent lingered at the tip of Xia Bai's nose. He sniffed it, turned his head in confusion, and was stunned when he saw the scene in front of him.
Erwa and sister Xuemu were sitting next to him, and it was unknown how long they had been sitting there.
In order to prevent the wheat seedlings from drowning sister Xuemu, Erwa supported her with one hand and stretched out the other hand towards Xia Bai.
There was a small white flower in the palm of that hand. Seeing that he woke up, Erwa's ears turned red and he stretched it a little towards him, as if asking him to pick it.
Yes, take it off.
The little flower grew out of Erwa's palm.
"I like flowers." Erwa said with his head down.
Xia Bai turned his head and saw two small white flowers growing on his red ears.
It is a very common small white flower, like the white plum blossoms that have survived the winter tenaciously in the fields. The small petals are arranged in a circle, full of vitality.
[Tree Planter] Erwa has blossomed.
Xia Bai had never seen Erwa use his skills, he had only heard about it from Guo Yang. Guo Yang said that the blood vessels in Erwa's body were like roots that penetrated deep into the ground, growing a vigorous and spreading force, and the mountains were shattered like an earthquake.
His in-game identity is [Tree Planter], and he is known for his strongest physical skills.
When Xia Bai heard people say that he was a tree planter before, he thought he was planting himself in the soil as a tree. There was nothing wrong with thinking so, because he was a tree that would bloom.
Xia Bai picked the flower and said, "Thank you, Erwa."
Erwa rubbed his hands on his sweater and smiled shyly. Two more flowers appeared on his ears, but he seemed unaware. He rubbed his hands on the sweater for a while, and a smaller flower bloomed, which he gave to his sister Xuemu.
Erwa said, "Thank you."
Thanks for coming here with him.
On the way out of Qili Village, Xia Bai asked Erwa, "Are you still afraid?"
Erwa looked at the Seventh Ancestor Goddess in the distance, and then looked at Xia Bai nearby, "A little bit at a time."
As he spoke, he moved a little closer to Xia Bai, and another small white flower grew on his ear.
Xia Bai: “…”
He decided to take Erwa to the Tourism Management Bureau and show the other members of the task force Erwa's achievement that was worth celebrating.
He will actively use skills, although now it is just blooming.
We arrived at the Tourism Authority headquarters at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning.
The headquarters of the Tourism Administration is located in a park on the outskirts of Fengning City, a super first-tier city. Although it is in the suburbs, there are high-rise buildings everywhere, and the headquarters of the Tourism Administration is located in one of these high-rise buildings.
Xia Bai saw Song Lu at the door of the building. When Xia Bai was in school and didn't need her to take care of him, she helped Xia Bai with various life needs in this building.
Song Lu: "The office building of the assault team is on the 19th floor. There are several lounges there. Why don't you go and take a rest first?"
Xia Bai: "Okay."
After scanning their faces and pupils at the door, Xia Bai and Song Lu walked into the Gaming Administration Building together. As soon as they entered the door, they could see a huge game detection screen in the lobby, which Xia Bai had seen before, with small dots of different colors flashing on it. The building looked like a high-tech company, very modern, with intelligent machines moving back and forth.
Not long after they entered the door, a female staff member in a black uniform walked towards them, "Hello, is this Xia Bai?"
Xia Bai saw the words "Research Institute" on her work badge and said, "Yes, I am."
She said: "Our Dean Yang would like to invite you to come over and talk about games."
At the same time, a call request popped up on Xia Bai's phone.
This call request does not come from any software in the phone, but from the "nearby people" in this building.
It clearly states the applicant: Yang Yi.
Yang Yi, deputy director of the Game Management Bureau Research Institute, was the first person to discover game skills. His game identity was [Thinker]. He was a well-known high-IQ and indifferent researcher at the Game Management Bureau, and was also someone Xia Bai had seen three times on the big screen.
Xia Bai clicked on the video and saw the familiar face on the other side. "Hello, Dean Yang."
Yang Yi: "I just saw you coming to the Tourism Administration Bureau, and I wanted to meet you. I heard about the loss of your God of Happiness, and I'm very interested in this matter. Can we talk about it?"
Xia Bai looked at the motionless woman standing in front of him and thought for a moment. Ling Changye had not returned yet, and Yang Mei had not arrived either. There was no one he knew here now, and it would be useless for him to sit on the 19th floor. It would be fine to go and see him. Maybe he could find out something about his grandfather and the God of Joy from this genius researcher who had heard of countless games.
Yang Yi told Xia Bai about his studio. Xia Bai handed Erwa to Song Lu and went to find him.
Yang Yi's studio is in a small western-style building behind this building. The outside of the building looks classical, but the inside is more high-tech than the building. As he walked over, Xia Bai noticed several cameras of various shapes scanning him. There were clear but not annoying sounds of unknown instruments in use in the building.
The female staff member took him to the door of Yang Yi's studio, knocked on the door, and left after the door opened.
Xia Bai stepped into the room and blinked, feeling that there was a subtle difference between here and outside, but he couldn't tell exactly what the difference was.
This place looks like an office, with a desk, a computer and a sofa. It also looks like a laboratory, with a cabinet full of neatly organized bottles and jars, and some small instruments that Xia Bai doesn't recognize.
Yang Yi sat behind his desk, wearing a white coat. His silver-rimmed glasses reflected the cold white light of the machine, and his narrow eyes looked cold and sharp in the halo.
"Please sit down." Yang Yi extended his hand to the sofa in front of him.
After Xia Bai sat down, Yang Yi also sat down on the sofa opposite Xia Bai and poured Xia Bai a glass of water.
Xia Bai said thank you but didn't drink it immediately.
Yang Yi pushed his glasses and said to Xia Bai, "I'm very curious about the disappearance of your God of Happiness. You also want to know where they went and want to find them, right?"
Xia Bai nodded, "Yes."
Yang Yi continued, "Then you will tell me their information truthfully and in detail, right?"
Xia Bai nodded, "Yes."
"Okay." Yang Yi said, "First, tell me their information, such as where they came from, what signs they had when they disappeared, and why you want to find them so much."
Xia Bai bit his lip. "They, they were the homeless corpses that my grandfather took in when he was driving corpses. When they disappeared, there was no sign. That day, after I heard the news that Quanguang City was sealed off, I wanted to bury my dead grandfather in the yard. When I was digging the soil, I came across their coffins. Other than that, nothing else happened."
Yang Yi asked again: "You will tell me the truth, right?"
Xia Bai nodded, "I will tell you the truth."
Yang Yi: "Were those happy gods taken in by your grandfather when he was driving corpses? They have nothing to do with you?"
"Yes, that's what my grandfather told me." Xia Bai said, "But later we speculated that they might have been brought out of the game by my grandfather, so they disappeared after my grandfather died."
Yang Yi: "Did they disappear immediately after your grandfather died?"
Xia Bai shook his head, "No, but at that time, many games descended on Quanguang City. Maybe that's why my home is very close to Quanguang City, and they were captured by the game energy."
Yang Yi thought for a moment and continued to ask: "What are your gaming skills?"
Xia Bai: "The living dead."
Yang Yi: "What about your game identity?"
Xia Bai's forehead was covered with sweat. Something broke the dullness on his face. He blinked and said, "Corpse driver, I can control the dead."
Yang Yi observed him and asked, "Can you give me some of your blood so I can study it?"
"I……"
Yang Yi: "You will promise me to give me some of your blood for me to study."
Xia Bai: "I..."
"Bang!" The door was suddenly kicked open. The loud noise made Xia Bai shake his head and suddenly wake up. He looked towards the door and saw the angry Yang Mei and the smiling Ling Changye.
Yang Mei: "Yang Yi, what are you doing! You lunatic! You didn't study Erwa enough at that time, did you?!"
It was the first time that Xia Bai saw such a gloomy look on Yang Mei’s face, so gloomy that one could see hatred in it.
Ling Changye's attitude seemed much gentler than Yang Mei's. He said politely, "Vice President Yang may not know that Xia Bai is an official member of the assault team. You don't have the authority to call him here for research."
Yang Yi stood up, glanced at Yang Mei, and then met Ling Changye's gaze without changing his expression, "He is abnormal. I have the right to do some research on him in accordance with the regulations of the Tourism Administration."
Ling Changye asked: "Where is the abnormality?"
Yang Yi pointed behind Xia Bai, and Xia Bai turned around. A screen appeared behind him at some point, and his figure was on the screen, with a red color on it.
"His gaming energy is way off the charts, probably even higher than Erwa who has played nearly a hundred games, but he's only played three games. Is that reasonable?"
Ling Changye stared at the screen for a few seconds and said with a smile, "As far as I know, this is just Vice President Yang's personal equipment. The Game Management Bureau has not officially approved it. The fact that the game's energy fluctuations can be detected on people just like on the land, and the connection between people and games can be inferred from this, is just a hypothesis and has not been verified yet."
Yang Yi did not respond. He said coldly, "He may be a breakthrough in game research. I just want a little blood from him. Even if the director comes, I won't think it's too much."
"Given that Vice President Yang had done research on our team's second child, I think this is a bit excessive." Ling Changye said. Before Yang Yi could speak again, Ling Changye stared at him with a dark blue light in his eyes. "Vice President Yang, are we going to continue the stalemate?"
Yang Yi stared at him for a long time, and finally stepped aside, "I will report to the director."
Ling Changye nodded, "Of course, this is your right."
Seeing this, Xia Bai immediately went over without the captain's instruction and followed the two men out.
"I'm sorry, I was careless. I thought I was safe in the Tourism Administration headquarters. He wouldn't do anything to me so blatantly in the Tourism Administration." Xia Bai apologized to the two of them.
The blue light in Ling Changye's eyes had disappeared. "Do you know what he did to you?"
Xia Bai knew something, "His game identity is [Thinker]. Can his thoughts come true to a certain extent?"
So, when Yang Yi told him that he would not lie to him, it became difficult for him to lie to Yang Yi, and he could only tell the truth in front of him, even if he realized something.
"Yeah." Ling Changye didn't criticize him, "His skills are hard to defend against. You must be careful when facing him next time."
Xia Bai nodded repeatedly. Yang Yi's skill was indeed too difficult to defend against, and it was also very suitable for research.
The two talked for a few more words, and Xia Bai noticed that Yang Mei had not spoken. He remembered that the last time Yang Mei behaved abnormally and was unwilling to speak was after he met Yang Yi, when he was retelling the game with the people from the research institute at Quanguang Orthopedic Hospital.
Yang Mei and Yang Yi, they both have the surname Yang, are they related?
Seeing that Yang Mei didn't want to talk, Xia Bai didn't ask him directly. Instead, after arriving at the 19th floor of the assault team, he sent a message to Ling Changye.
:[Yang Yi is Yang Mei’s biological brother.]
Xia Bai was stunned. Yang Yi and Yang Mei were completely different people, and it was hard to associate them with brothers.
Yang Yi is a researcher with high IQ. Xia Bai already knew that it was Yang Yi who studied Erwa. He was severely punished at that time, but now he is the vice president of the institute. It can be seen how much contribution he has made to game research. He is a paranoid madman, but also a genius.
Yang Mei is just the opposite of him, stupid and astringent, marinated in the lover card, and looks at everything through the lover filter.
Dirty Bun: [How did their relationship become like this? Because of Erwa?]
:[Not entirely. Their family conditions were very poor, but Yang Yi was excellent since childhood. Perhaps he was dragged down by his family and was somewhat dissatisfied with his parents. After he acquired this skill, the game came to their home. At a dangerous moment in the game, he said to his parents irritably, "It would be better if you died." Because of his skill, their parents were torn apart by monsters in front of Yang Mei.]
Xia Bai was stunned. He looked at Yang Mei, who was sitting in a corner of the sofa, staring at the water cup he was holding with her head down, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the cup.
:[This is just what I heard from others. I don’t know the details. I also heard that Yang Yi and Yang Mei had a very good relationship before and were a very close pair of brothers.]
Xia Bai suddenly remembered that at the amusement park in Quanguang City, Yang Mei said that she was not much older than him and could call him brother. After he agreed, Yang Mei called him brother under the fireworks, but it was only a very soft sound. Later, he never called her brother again.
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