Chapter 54 Territory Survey: The Mayor of Yunpei Town Visits
Nine days have passed since the eternal night descended. Since she sent that "advertisement" to channels around the world, it has indeed attracted some new faces to come and spend money, but the number of familiar faces from Yunpei Town has greatly decreased.
Overall visitor traffic is still showing a downward trend compared to before the night.
This is not what Lin Nanxing wanted to see.
She had previously inquired with the system about the reason, and the reply she received was that Yunpei Town had not yet fully grasped the distribution pattern of the newly generated swamps under the Eternal Night, making travel more difficult and deterring players from taking risks.
"What if I could drive this train directly to the entrance of Yunpei Town?"
Imagine a vehicle that ignores the swamp beneath its feet, the eternal darkness, and moves at high speed under its own protective barrier. She thought, no one could resist such a temptation.
At that time, residents of Yunpei Town will be able to easily and safely travel by train to Star Territory for work, shopping, or even short trips. The transportation costs generated by the stable daily passenger flow between the two towns alone will be a considerable source of income.
There are still quite a few elderly people in the game who are unable to go out due to health reasons. With the train, they can now leave the town normally.
More importantly, with this train track, Lin Nanxing was even more confident in establishing friendly diplomatic relations with Yunpei Town.
Lin Nanxing thought it was feasible more and more. The next morning, just as he was about to contact Zhou Qisheng to discuss how to implement the idea, a system notification popped up.
[Special personnel detected entering territory]
[Identity Verification: Yun Aobai, Mayor of Yunpei Town]
"Huh?" Is this a case of speaking of the devil?
*
Through the tireless efforts of the exploration team, and combined with the swamp distribution map provided by Star Territory, the exploration team of Yunpei Town finally managed to find a relatively safe travel route, although it took twice as long, after nine days of eternal night.
As the mayor of Yunpei Town, and also the player with the highest professional level and strongest combat power in the entire town, Yun Aobai was naturally the vanguard and backbone of this exploration mission.
With the arrival of winter, most monsters become less active and enter a state similar to hibernation, temporarily reducing their threat to human settlements. This means she doesn't have to stay in the town all the time to oversee things.
The moment the path exploration was successful, Yun Aobai did not hesitate at all. He immediately led a small but elite guard team and headed straight for the Star Territory along this hard-won safe route.
Of course, she did this not for fun, but for research.
As early as a year ago, the energy fluctuations of the protective barrier of Yunpei Town became extremely unstable, with the light sometimes bright and sometimes dim, and the defensive strength slowly but continuously decreasing.
The town's management tried everything and spent countless resources, but they couldn't stop the decline or find the problem.
If things continue like this, the barrier around Yunpei Town may not be able to withstand this long winter, or it may be completely breached by a powerful monster tide or an unexpected event at some point.
Without the safety barrier, apart from powerful players who can leave on their own, the townspeople are no match for a single, casual strike from a high-level monster.
Yunpei Town will then become a living hell.
With the population of 20,000 in Yunpei Town weighing on her shoulders, Yun Aobai, as the town mayor, was extremely anxious. She had to find a way out for all the residents of the town.
The suddenly rising Star Territory, located on the surface of the earth, naturally became her primary target for investigation.
She desperately needed to see for herself whether this supposedly magical planet was really as safe and prosperous as advertised.
Is its barrier strong enough? Is its administrator trustworthy? Is it possible for it to accommodate a large number of residents from Yunpei Town in the future?
The moment Yun Aobai stepped into the Star Territory commercial district, his senses were subjected to a series of gentle yet continuous shocks.
A cool breeze dispelled the stickiness from the high temperature on the skin, the air was filled with the aroma of various foods mixed together, the buildings were well-planned, the whole territory was brightly lit, and there were carefully arranged green plants along the way.
In a daze, Yun Aobai even had a kind of illusion, as if time had reversed and he had been reborn back to that orderly, peaceful world.
This overly realistic sense of everyday life stirred up a complex mix of emotions within her that were difficult to describe.
“Mayor, this place is so different!” A young guard beside him couldn’t help but exclaim, his voice filled with disbelief and awe.
The sighs of those around her promptly pulled Yun Aobai back from her wandering thoughts. She quickly composed herself, regaining her usual coldness, and ordered in a low voice, "Now is not the time to relax. Remember our mission."
"As per the pre-departure plan, work in pairs, disperse, and focus on observing the stability of the barrier, the distribution of defensive facilities, the mental state of the residents, and the abundance of supplies. Return here promptly in one hour to report."
"Yes, Mayor!" the team members responded in a low voice. The ten-person team dispersed quickly and naturally, like drops of water merging into the ocean, and silently disappeared into the flow of people.
Yun Aobai herself had a clear goal and headed straight for the residential area. She needed to see the living conditions of ordinary residents, as that often reflected the true inner workings of a territory.
However, she was unaware that her every move had already been observed by the landowner.
Not far behind her, in the shadows of a building corner, Lin Nanxing peeked out, curiously looking in the direction Yun Aobai had gone.
Beside her, a banyan tree spirit the size of a landscape plant stretched out one of its branches, keeping her company as she furtively peeked around, making the scene look somewhat comical.
"Da Rong, what do you think she's up to?" Lin Nanxing asked her plant companion in a low voice, puzzled. "She went straight to the residential area, not shopping or buying anything. She doesn't seem to be here for fun, more like she's here to...inspect the work?"
Lin Nanxing received a system notification the moment Yun Aobai and his group approached the Star Territory barrier.
Since the mayor of the town, the largest neighbor in the area, personally visited, she naturally had to pay close attention.
The banyan tree spirit's branches and leaves swayed gently a few times. [The banyan tree watched the show, but couldn't understand it.]
Lin Nanxing didn't expect the banyan tree spirit to give her an answer. She stroked her chin and said slyly, "Let's go, let's follow them and see."
In fact, Lin Nanxing's lord map clearly shows the movements of everyone in the territory, but watching on a screen is not as interesting as being there in person.
After Star Territory was upgraded to a town, its overall layout underwent a dramatic change compared to before. Yun Aobai, who only knew about the situation of Star Territory before the arrival of Eternal Night, searched for quite a while before finally arriving near the residential area.
She was quickly drawn to the bustling, brightly lit fresh food supermarket.
"Welcome to Xingxing Fresh Supermarket." The young clerk at the entrance, wearing a neat striped apron, greeted her with a warm smile. She seemed to know at a glance that it was her first time there and skillfully handed her a sample. "The first batch of cantaloupes is ripe and on the market today. New customers can get a free sample pack."
Although Yun Aobai is the mayor of Yunpei Town, she rarely goes out and rarely appears in front of the townspeople. Even though most of the people in the Star Territory come from Yunpei Town, they basically don't know her.
She instinctively took the small cardboard box, inside which were two neatly arranged golden honeydew melons, their flesh plump and emitting an enticing sweet aroma.
Such precious food being used as a tasting sample here gave Yun Aobai a deeper understanding of the Star Territory's immense wealth.
She politely put two pieces of melon into her mouth, thanked the sales assistant for following her, and decided to explore on her own.
A woman with a powerful aura walked among the spacious and brightly lit shelves, her gaze sweeping over the various sections of the supermarket. Vegetables and fresh meat were plentiful, and they were restocked the moment they were bought up by players.
"These are...live fish?" She looked at the still-swimming fish with undisguised surprise. The abundance of water resources here was an eye-opener for her; there was even extra water to raise fish.
"Yes, ma'am," a girl in a waterproof apron enthusiastically introduced from the seafood section. "These were just caught from the stream this morning, absolutely fresh. Would you like one? Steaming will preserve their sweetness to the greatest extent, and we can even help you with the braising if you prefer."
Yun Aobai shook his head, his tone tinged with regret: "I'm sorry, I'm not a formal resident of the territory, so I can't buy it for the time being."
She had done her research before coming and knew the rules of the Star Territory.
The girl maintained her smile: "It's alright, you're welcome to visit often. Who knows, you might decide to settle down someday?"
The people here are remarkably stable, unlike the short-tempered and easily angered people they were in Yunpei Town. Yun Aobai sighed again as she passed by a mother and daughter in the vegetable section.
"Mom, all the pretty pumpkins have been picked." The little girl with pigtails pouted and tugged at her mother's clothes. "The pumpkins here aren't round. What if my pumpkin lantern is the ugliest in tomorrow's craft class? My classmates will laugh at me."
“Let me see… This shape isn’t very regular, but it’s quite unique.” The mother picked up a crooked pumpkin and gently comforted it, “We can make it into a cute crooked hat pumpkin, it will definitely be one of a kind.”
Craft class, classmates? There's actually a school here that's on the right track?
Yun Aobai seemed to be deep in thought, and silently noted down these details.
Meanwhile, two Yunpei Town team members responsible for exploring the commercial area were standing at the entrance of the Iron Tree Forging Workshop when they were drawn to a conversation coming from inside.
"I really love this shield. Could you give me a discount? I'm only 400 game coins short." A young tank player wearing leather armor scratched his head, looking at the waiter with longing on his face.
The clerk behind the counter wore a professionally embarrassed expression: "Sir, this is already the cost price. Master Iron Tree's craftsmanship and the cost of the meteorite iron are worth far more than this."
"Why don't you go and apply for a job in the guard team? It's paid by the day, and the daily wage is exactly 200 game coins. With your skills, you can complete it quickly."
The man's eyes lit up: "That's right, thanks for reminding me, I'll go apply for the job right away!" With that, he rushed out.
The two team members exchanged a glance and stepped into the shop.
The waiter immediately came forward: "What type of weapon would you two like to see? Would you like me to give you a detailed introduction?"
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