Ch 62: The World’s Number One Resort

Li Yuan couldn’t refuse the generous offer and finally accepted the 90% discount card from Delicious Restaurant.

He knew the value of the food at Delicious Restaurant. Although the discount card came with strict conditions, it was still extremely cost-effective overall. A delicious dish like tomato scrambled eggs cost $100; with the 90% discount, it would be just $10. Given the flavor of the dishes, that price was practically a steal.

“Thank you,” Li Yuan said sincerely as he carefully put the discount card away. It was an unexpected gift.

After chatting with Aunt Miley for a bit, Li Yuan checked the time and decided to head back to Blue Sea Forest.

As he turned around, he paused when he saw Tang Huai. Li Yuan was quite famous in China; he was a breakout star when he first debuted. Although his popularity had waned since then, he was still well-known among the general public.

Aunt Miley might not recognize him due to her age, but Tang Huai was another matter…

“Manager Tang,” Li Yuan greeted, striking a standard pose for a photo. As a public figure, he was destined to stand out.

“Have fun,” Tang Huai replied with a smile but continued chatting with Xie Yunshu instead of taking a photo with Li Yuan.

Li Yuan’s pose naturally shifted into a casual movement.

He doesn’t recognize me? Li Yuan wondered.

After thinking for a moment, he understood. Tang Huai had lived abroad since childhood, so it made sense if he didn’t recognize him. Realizing this, Li Yuan felt a wave of relief.

It’s nice to be a regular person for once.

“Is he a celebrity from China?” Xie Yunshu asked curiously as he watched Li Yuan’s retreating figure. From the livestream and Li Yuan’s behavior, it was clear he wasn’t an ordinary person. Aunt Miley, being simple-minded, hadn’t noticed this.

“A Chinese star,” Tang Huai explained with a smile. He wasn’t a fan of celebrities, so whether Li Yuan was an ordinary person or a star didn’t matter much to him. Rather than following stars, Tang Huai preferred to focus his energy on running the island.

“Manager Tang,” Aunt Miley called out. She had just finished cleaning up the table and scratched her head awkwardly. This was her first solo livestream, and she hadn’t expected things to go so wrong.

“You did great! In livestreams, you’ll encounter all kinds of viewers. If you’re not comfortable, we can always close @GreatTangAuntMiley’s stream,” Tang Huai encouraged her and thoughtfully offered a suggestion.

“No way,” Aunt Miley said, shaking her head vigorously. Despite the difficulties, she had never considered stopping the stream; she genuinely enjoyed the experience of sharing her cooking live. As for negative comments… she’d just ignore them!

Tang Huai smiled knowingly; her response was exactly as he had expected. He stayed at Delicious Restaurant for a while longer before riding his small balance bike around the area.

The travel agencies in China had sent word that the promotions had been successful, and over thirty people had signed up for tours. Since this was the first official group of visitors to Great Tang Resort, the agencies had adopted a group travel model. The tourists had already secured their visas and were expected to arrive at Sora Island in ten days.

Tang Huai checked the date on his phone; it was already January 3rd. The New Year had just passed, and Lunar New Year was only about a month away.

…

“Ring, ring—” Tang Huai was circling Sora Town, planning to visit Blue Sea Fields when an urgent ringtone suddenly broke the silence.

He glanced at his phone to see that the caller was an unfamiliar number.

He had already saved Big Burger’s number in his contacts, so… who could this be?

Tang Huai, feeling puzzled, tapped to answer the call.

“Hello.” A crisp male voice came through the phone.

Five minutes later, Tang Huai understood the situation; the call was from Sea Mystery, a flagship brand under the British company WAN. Sea Mystery had held a steady spot in the global TOP 5 for three consecutive years. It also had a significant fan base in China. Tang Huai had sent them a tentative email earlier, though he didn’t have high hopes for cooperation since tourism and high-end skincare seemed to be worlds apart.

To his surprise, Sea Mystery replied positively.

Like Big Burger, Sea Mystery’s market representative would visit Sora Island for an inspection. They showed genuine interest in collaborating with Great Tang Resort.

“Ring, ring—”

“Beep, beep, beep—”

After visiting Sora’s spiritual fields, Tang Huai returned to the Island Lord’s villa. On his way, he received a total of seven calls.

Pea Diving Gear, Hill Watches, SUC Personal Care… The calls were from global top-tier brands. Some were even brands that Tang Huai had not contacted. At this point, these brands showed a strong interest in working with Great Tang Resort.

“Did we make it onto the trending list?” Tang Huai muttered, opening his phone’s entertainment app. Both his Weibo and Douyin comments looked normal… There didn’t seem to be any major changes.

He was confused. It had been a week since he had sent out those messages. Aside from Pizza King and Big Burger, he hadn’t received any other responses. Tang Huai had assumed the matter was left unresolved. Who would have expected such pleasant surprises now?

In fact, Tang Huai had fallen into a mental trap. Sora Island was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a remote and undeveloped area. Normally, it would indeed be challenging to secure partnerships. However, Sora Island was not just a beautiful, isolated island—it was a scenic resort. Businesspeople are driven by profit. Sora Island attracted high-end tourists, and as the island’s conditions continued to improve, top-tier brands saw no reason to pass up on this lucrative opportunity.

Over the past week, they analyzed Sora Island’s prospects and online influence. The analysis naturally showed that collaboration was feasible. As for the specific details, their representatives planned to visit soon for an on-site inspection.

Now, along with Big Burger, a total of eight brands expressed their intent to collaborate with Great Tang Resort. If just five of them finalized the partnership, Tang Huai’s mission would be completed.

After reviewing the “Preliminary Cooperation Intention” documents from the various brands, Tang Huai let out a long sigh of relief.

It was truly a wonderful day.

After washing up, he went to sleep.

…

“Mr. Chen, we’ve located Li Yuan; he’s at Great Tang Resort.” While Tang Huai slept soundly, in a high-end office building in Luohai, China, a manager in his thirties nervously reported to the man seated behind the desk.

Li Yuan was a major money-maker for Red Fruit Company. Recently, he had canceled three concerts and refused to participate in Heartbeat Speed. The higher-ups at Red Fruit were already displeased. Before they could reprimand him, Li Yuan disappeared—well, it wasn’t exactly a disappearance since he had answered a few calls. However, since he left without the company’s permission, it was effectively an unexcused absence.

Li Yuan’s popularity had declined somewhat, but he still had a dedicated fan base and ranked among the top five young male stars. He had not appeared in public for nearly half a month.

Fans, with their wild imaginations, began to suspect the company of illegal confinement. Some hardcore fan groups were causing a commotion at the company daily. If Li Yuan didn’t show up soon, this scandal would become uncontrollable.

The manager was frantically worried, but to his surprise, Li Yuan turned up at Great Tang Resort. He had heard of Great Tang Resort; it seemed to be a popular online vacation spot…

“Disobedient artists should face consequences,” Mr. Chen behind the desk said calmly.

“What?” The manager was stunned, his face turning pale. He understood Red Fruit’s intention—they were ready to abandon Li Yuan and use him as an example to warn others.

…

In the Pacific Ocean, on Sora Island.

Over the next two days, Tang Huai contacted Wu Kun from Ocean Trade. The preliminary procedures for exporting Sora Island’s fruit had been completed; all that remained was customs inspection. The merchant ship from Ocean Trade had already set sail from China. Tang Huai estimated that by the time Sora Island’s fruits reached China, packaged and ready for sale, it would coincide with the Lunar New Year, right around the resort’s grand opening.

Sora Island continued its orderly development.

“Aunt Miley, I’m going back to China,” Tang Huai said while walking Da Huang in the ancient city of Bianjing. At the same time, Li Yuan, pulling his suitcase, bid a sincere farewell to Aunt Miley at the Delicious Restaurant. After spending some time together, Li Yuan had grown fond of this warm and kind cook.

Yesterday, Li Yuan had put his SIM card back into his phone. After seeing a series of messages from his agent, he realized the severity of the situation. As an artist, he couldn’t keep avoiding reality.

Song Taiji and the others would be leaving the day after tomorrow, but Li Yuan couldn’t wait. He had contacted Alang, who would take him to Hawaii ahead of time, though the price would be higher.

Li Yuan didn’t mind; after all, it was a private service, and a higher cost was expected. Money wasn’t an issue for him.

“Will you come back?” Aunt Miley asked, reluctant to see him go. Li Yuan had been helping her with food reviews for the past three days. Perhaps it was due to his thorough evaluations, but @GreatTangAuntMiley’s followers had surged from single digits to 60,000, with daily live stream views reaching 800,000.

Aunt Miley felt a bit dizzy from the rapid growth. She didn’t have the habit of reading comments, and ever since she turned off the speaker feature last time, she hadn’t re-enabled it. Because of this, she remained unaware of Li Yuan’s fame.

“I’ll come back,” Li Yuan said, giving Aunt Miley a hug. He had arrived at Sora Island feeling lost, but now he had found his direction.

He was only twenty-five, with a long life ahead. He couldn’t keep living like a mechanical puppet.

After the hug, Li Yuan, feeling light-hearted, pulled his suitcase and headed toward the port.

Aunt Miley stood there waving, eagerly looking forward to their next meeting.

…

“Ahhh, this is so thrilling!”

“The ice lake is cracking; I wonder if there are sharks in there.”

“Hahaha, where would sharks come from here? But skating on the lake feels incredible!”

As Li Yuan set sail, Song Taiji, John, and others were having a blast on the ice lake in Snow Village. They were skating on the lake as part of the ice lake skating project. Although there weren’t many scenic spots on Sora Island, the activities offered were varied and fun. With the Sora Pass in hand, they went through all the island’s attractions over and over. The balance on their pass had been topped up again and again.

The Sora Pass was linked to the Sora App, where they could view their transaction history.

The detailed breakdown of their spending on the app was clear and precise. Though they were surprised by how much they had spent, after confirming that the itemized charges were accurate, they didn’t dwell on it.

This was a rare vacation; they were determined to have the most fun possible!

As the sun set, the group reluctantly boarded the shuttle bus, leaving the scenic beauty of Snow Village behind. Instead of returning to their unique hotels, they hopped on Bus No. 7, heading towards Sora Town.

As dusk approached, Tang Huai, who had just returned from the ancient city of Bianjing with Da Huang, looked up and saw the bustling scene of the group getting off the No. 7 sightseeing bus.

“Manager Tang,” Song Taiji called out excitedly, clutching his camera as he disembarked and spotted Tang Huai.

…

Fifteen minutes later, the group found themselves in front of a building with sleek, silver-gray accents and a modern technological flair. The structure had a unique design, with a long flight of stairs leading up to three grand entrances, exuding a majestic and somewhat metropolitan, post-modern theater vibe.

Standing before this grand theater, they looked up to see a line of large, silver-gray characters at the top, spelling out “Sora Cinema” in both Chinese and English, making it easily understandable to everyone.

“Manager Tang, are ‘Final Storm’ and ‘Kaz’s Secret’ showing here?” Song Taiji asked, excitedly standing on the steps, ready to dive into the experience.

Currently, only two venues were operating in Sora Town: the Delicious Restaurant and the Sora Cinema. Watching a movie in a tourist area might seem a bit unusual, but since Sora Cinema was one of the town’s unique features, the group was eager to check it out.

“Final Storm” and “Kaz’s Secret” had just been released earlier in the month. One was an action film, the other a suspense movie, and both had received rave reviews and dominated the box office.

Song Taiji, a suspense fan, had been eagerly awaiting “Kaz’s Secret.” With anticipation, he looked at Tang Huai with shining eyes. The others also turned their gazes toward Tang Huai, curious to explore the cinema that boasted such a high-tech design.

“Ahem, we don’t have ‘Final Storm’ or ‘Kaz’s Secret’ at the moment. We only have one film available, um… ‘My Boyfriend is a Dragon,'” Tang Huai said, coughing lightly as he slowly explained.

Sora Cinema was a new type of cinema featuring 10D technology, allowing viewers to watch movies in a 360-degree, immersive experience. Due to the unique projection requirements, regular films couldn’t be shown here. This was a hallmark of FillTech’s movie technology.

Additionally, due to copyright issues, Sora Cinema couldn’t screen movies like “Final Storm” or “Kaz’s Secret.”

“My Boyfriend is a Dragon” was a 10D animated film that cost 100,000 island points. Due to the high playback cost, Tang Huai hadn’t yet viewed it himself. In fact, the movie had been sitting in his inventory for nearly half a month without ever being officially screened.

“‘My Boyfriend is a Dragon’?” As Tang Huai pondered these thoughts, Song Taiji and the others exchanged puzzled looks.

This “boyfriend dragon” film wasn’t something they had ever heard of.

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️