Ch 47: The World’s Number One Resort

“Great Tang Resort updated their Douyin, it’s the one from yesterday,” Old Three shook her phone, visibly excited. Old Three had a habit of getting up early to go to the English Corner to practice, so she was already awake by 6:30 a.m. After washing up, she habitually opened her phone.

The green icon of the Douyin app stood out on the home screen. Old Three had a color-coding compulsion with apps — for instance, the first row must be orange, the second row red, the third row green, and so on.

Since Douyin was just downloaded yesterday, and the green row was already full, Old Three placed it in the blue row on the sixth screen. It hadn’t bothered her at the time, but upon waking up, she found it increasingly annoying… so she decided to move Douyin to the second page.

After moving it, she instinctively clicked on the green icon. Since registering yesterday, Old Three had only followed @GreatTangOverseasResort.

Now on Douyin’s update feed, @GreatTangOverseasResort had a new post. Intrigued, Old Three clicked in.

A nearly hundred-meter-high city tower, giants more than 30 meters tall, inns and taverns magnified multiple times… Based on the ratio of the camera holder’s size, Old Three felt like she had stepped into the world of giants. Glancing around, there were not just gigantic ancient people but also an elevator?

An elevator that connected directly to a bronze tree — it was just too cool! The video was produced without any obvious special effects, clearly the work of a top-tier post-production expert.

“What’s this Great Tang?” The eldest and second roommates were also woken up by Old Three’s excitement and rubbed their sleepy eyes, unsure what was going on.

“Let me see.” Sun Xiang perked up, all sleepiness gone. She didn’t expect Great Tang Resort to update so quickly.

Sun Xiang unplugged her charger, swiped open the Douyin home page, and half a minute later —

“Ahhh, this is so awesome!” Sun Xiang was even more excited than Old Three. Now fully awake, the eldest and second roommates gave up trying to sleep. Following Sun Xiang’s recommendation, they opened Douyin and found the videos from @GreatTangOverseasResort.

There were only two videos. The first had reached 178k likes, and the second was more popular, with 567k likes. The second video also had over 5,000 comments.

“The voice is so smooth.”

Their focus was a bit odd. In the videos, Tang Huai didn’t show his face, only his voice and his well-defined right hand were featured. When Tang Huai compared his hand to the soldier’s size, the bronze statue looked even more majestic, making the roommates think of Hollywood monster movies.

“This is some serious skill,” they exclaimed. Naturally, they both double-tapped to like and followed the account, captivated by the voice alone.

Sun Xiang climbed out of her bed, opened the comment section of the second video, and after careful editing, left a series of “Ahhhhhh!” expressions of excitement. Like the other two roommates, even though Tang Huai had emphasized twice that it wasn’t special effects, the grand scene still made her categorize it as top-notch special effects.

@GreatTangOverseasResort was shaping up to be a tech whiz with a captivating voice, and Sun Xiang could already see them becoming a rising Douyin influencer.

A skilled techie is always in demand.

In just a day and a half, with the spread of the two videos, @GreatTangOverseasResort’s followers had grown to 30k, which was quite fast.

…

On Sora Island, in the Bianjing ancient city, Tang Huai toured the city and then took the Bianjing metro back to the city gate.

While Bianjing city was vast and magnificent, Tang Huai noticed that the main attraction was focused on the part related to “Along the River During the Qingming Festival,” rather than covering the entire city, which would have been overwhelming with over 300,000 inhabitants…

The entire Bianjing ancient city covered an area of 22 square kilometers, a massive scale. With the intermediate scenic card being this impressive, Tang Huai couldn’t help but be curious about what an advanced scenic card would be like.

Sora Island had only ten advanced regions, and the advanced cards were extremely expensive. Tang Huai regretted that, for now, he could only obtain them through tasks. He wondered if he would still be as lucky as before…

After mulling over it, Tang Huai checked the task interface. It had been a month since the farming mission, and there was still no new task issued. Tang Huai felt like his downtime was dragging on…

Tang Huai found his hoverboard and was about to leave when he noticed a five-meter-tall scenic guide map at the base of the city wall. The map was an enlarged version of “Along the River During the Qingming Festival.” Key routes were marked with red and green lines, densely packed and very intricate.

He took a couple of pictures with his phone and then left on his hoverboard.

Tang Huai returned to Blue Lake at around 5 p.m. After a simple meal, he opened Douyin. Having learned from his previous experience, he had already turned off Douyin’s notifications.

At this moment, his followers had reached 39,000, and the number of likes had surpassed 680,000. He opened the comments section of the second video—

“This special effect is even more impressive than the recently released Empire of the Sky. They also featured a giant kingdom, but the effects were too fake.”

“Please upload more videos, protect our tech wizard!”

“Your voice is so soothing, can we chat?”

…

The comments were filled with likes and exclamations of surprise. Similar to the last video, viewers still thought it was special effects. Tang Huai touched his nose; to be honest, if he had seen such a video out of the blue, he would have definitely assumed it was movie effects as well.

After browsing through the comments for a while, he opened his personal dashboard.

Sole Host: Tang Huai
Unlocked Areas: Blue Lake, Snow Village, Bianjing Style, Sora Town [Under Construction]Current Tasks:
Island Value: 0
Reputation Value: 160,000
Item Slot: None

The personal dashboard was fairly standard, but upon seeing the reputation value, Tang Huai was somewhat surprised. After the Aierjian incident concluded, his reputation value had increased. As of last night, it totaled 260,000. After purchasing the Bianjing road, the value decreased to 60,000… Now, overnight, it had risen by another 100,000.

Tang Huai reopened Douyin; his two videos had roughly 1 million likes and followers combined.

Although he didn’t know the exact calculation method for reputation value, based on the known ratio, it seemed the reputation value correlated to Douyin’s popularity at about 1:10.

Even though 100,000 reputation points weren’t much, at this growth rate, Tang Huai realized he had found a potentially lucrative opportunity.

He opened his phone gallery, selected the video of the Ice Snow Castle, and posted the third video.

@GreatTangOverseasResort: Filmed on location, Sora Island’s Great Tang Overseas Resort looks forward to your visit.

Tang Huai edited the video carefully. It featured Ace High School students swinging on a cliff by the snowy mountain. The distance was too far to see the students’ faces, but from the surroundings and the screams on the swing, it had an impressive impact.

…

Now, it was early morning in China. In major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, office workers had already boarded the subway, ready to start their day. On the subway, apart from a few diligent individuals reading vocabulary or work reports, most people were using their phones to browse Weibo or Douyin.

Douyin, a trending short video app where each video lasts only a few seconds, was perfect for passing the time. After a day of likes and follows, @GreatTangOverseasResort’s videos had climbed to a middle spot on the trending page. Although it wasn’t on the front page, frequent browsing could still bring it up.

The first two videos of Bianjing Ancient City were so stunning that viewers wanted more and checked @GreatTangOverseasResort’s profile.

When they refreshed the page, to their surprise, a new video had been uploaded.

“Damn, a swing over fifty meters high? Is this for real? Were those people digitally added?”

“The Ice Snow Castle in the background is beautiful! Is it photoshopped? There’s no trace of editing at all!”

…

Upon seeing the swing and Ice Snow Castle, viewers were stunned, leaving comments in disbelief. Even through the screen, they could feel the thrill and excitement of the swing. Compared to this, the internet-famous swings in Bali or Chongqing were utterly outclassed.

“There’s another new update! This transparent ice bridge has such an artistic vibe. The scenery is incredible; it reminds me of the line ‘The autumn water shares the same color with the sky’… Well, maybe the scene is a bit different. But still, it’s worth a big thumbs up!”

“The second one looks like something out of a fairy tale. My inner romantic is screaming!”

…

The viewers hadn’t even finished admiring the previous videos when @GreatTangOverseasResort released two more videos in quick succession. One of them featured a group of men and women in down jackets walking on a crystal-clear bridge. The bridge was so transparent that it looked like they were walking in mid-air. The video was breathtaking, enhanced by the snowy mountains and the frozen lake, giving off a powerful natural beauty.

The second video showed a serene blue lake and charming treehouses in a forest. Compared to the previous ones, it had less of an eerie vibe and more warmth and liveliness.

@GreatTangOverseasResort now had five videos on its account, each as stunning as an international blockbuster.

“Why do the treehouses and the blue lake look familiar?”

“Doesn’t it look like that place from the Aierjian incident a while back…?”

…

As viewers continued to watch the videos, some of them began to feel something was off. The blue lake, the angel oak, the dark hedge… The fifth video looked increasingly familiar.

They were skeptical at first, but the internet has a long memory. Some viewers took screenshots of the Blue Lake video and searched online. To their surprise, they found previous news reports related to it, including clips from a livestream by Lazyfish Yaoyao.

After comparing them, they finally confirmed that this was indeed the same place. The location where Xiao Shengguo had traveled was known as Great Tang Overseas Resort.

Viewers exchanged glances in confusion. If the fifth video was real, did that mean the previous four scenes were also real?

“Could this be true?” Some found it hard to believe.

The viewers scrolled through @GreatTangOverseasResort’s Douyin page for a while, but to their disappointment, the host stopped updating after the fifth video and hadn’t replied to a single comment…

It was driving them crazy.

…

Meanwhile, on Sora Island, Tang Huai wasn’t paying attention to Douyin or the comments. At that moment, he received a rather unexpected phone call.

“You want to come to Sora Island?” Tang Huai asked, slightly surprised. The call was from Hank. Tang Huai had invited him many times before, but for various reasons, Hank had always declined. He hadn’t expected Hank to take the initiative this time…

“Yes, Tang, I’ll be coming with my grandfather, George…” Hank replied, sounding somewhat helpless. His grandfather, George, was now eighty-seven. Since his grandmother’s passing, George had become increasingly stubborn and grumpy. Recently, his grandfather suddenly started talking about wanting to go on an island adventure—they had met on a rocky island over sixty years ago, which had since disappeared with the passage of time.

It was clear that his grandfather missed his grandmother. Hank had just completed his work in Los Angeles and was now free, so after some consideration, he decided to take his grandfather to visit some nearby islands.

His first choice was Hawaii, but his grandfather had visited Hawaii several times in his youth and rejected the idea, saying it had lost its charm. Hank suggested other places, like Clipperton Island and the Polynesian islands.

His grandfather kept refusing, growing increasingly impatient. Hank was at a loss until he thought of Blue Lake and remembered Tang Huai. The fish Tang Huai had sent him was the most delicious he had ever tasted.

“We could visit Sora Island. The Blue Lake fish come from there.”

Hank cautiously suggested. Tang Huai had sent five fish, and George ate two of them himself…

“Okay.” This time, George didn’t refuse. It was unclear whether he was interested in exploring the unknown island or simply wanted to eat the fish. Either way, their travel plans were set.

“Tang, George can be quite grumpy, but he means no harm…” After some conversation, Hank hesitated before giving a heads-up. George was known for his fiery temper, and Hank didn’t want his grandfather to affect his relationship with Tang Huai.

“You’re warmly welcomed,” Tang Huai replied with a smile. He certainly wasn’t going to hold a grudge against an eighty-seven-year-old man, especially when that man was Hank’s grandfather.

Hank breathed a sigh of relief.

After chatting for a bit, they hung up. Hank would travel to Sora Island on Reno’s fishing boat. Including preparation time and the journey itself, they expected to arrive in about seven days.

After the call, it was already eleven o’clock. Tang Huai hadn’t slept well the previous night, so he freshened up and went to bed early.

The next morning, the weather was clear and bright. Tang Huai went down to the water to catch two fish. After eating his fill, he headed toward Sora Town.

The disguised laborers were tirelessly at work as usual. They worked day and night; when there were tourists around, they would take turns staying in small tents. The laborers were strong and efficient, their FillTech work uniforms now showing some wear from the continuous building—another detail that the system handled remarkably well.

“Awoo!” Tang Huai had just made a round when Da Huang came wagging his tail to his side. Da Huang had been staying in Sora Town lately. With the flock led by the head sheep, Da Huang had an easier time and preferred the lively atmosphere over the 80 sheep and 19 chickens on the mountain.

“I’ll take you to Mexico next time,” Tang Huai said, rubbing Da Huang’s forehead. He knew the dog was getting restless on the island.

“Awooo!” Da Huang seemed to understand, jumping around excitedly. Tang Huai played with him for a while, then approached the Delicious Restaurant.

The town had been under construction for over two months now, and places like the Delicious Restaurant and the Sora Cinema were already taking shape. Two of the hills had been excavated to about two-thirds completion, and everything was expected to be finished in a month.

Tang Huai pushed open the door and entered. The Delicious Restaurant was built in a traditional style, with two floors. The first floor had thirty tables and covered about 2,000 square meters. Perhaps due to the system’s automatic maintenance, the interior was immaculately clean. The kitchen was also fully equipped with both Chinese and Western-style cooking appliances.

After inspecting the place, Tang Huai thought for a moment and took out a card: [Aunt Miley of Despair].

Aunt Miley was a mid-level AI skilled in cooking.

Sora Town was not fully operational yet, but at least the Delicious Restaurant was ready. Tang Huai twirled the card in his hand and then clicked to use it.

Hank would arrive in a week, and Tang Huai wanted to leave them with a memorable experience.

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️