Ch 92: The World’s Number One Resort

Tang Huai browsed through his personal panel and then shifted his gaze to the bottom right of the system: My Shopping Cart. Over the past period, he had already pre-selected the cards he wanted to purchase.

My Shopping Cart had a cute shopping cart icon, which was a new feature unlocked when Tang Huai gained the title of “Small Achievements.”

Sora Canning Factory, Sora Hospital, Sora Fire Station, Sora Yacht, Sora Airplane…

The shopping cart contained more than ten miscellaneous items, mostly consisting of buildings and large transportation vehicles, which were necessities for the Great Tang Resort.

Items like the Sora Hospital and the Sora Canning Factory sounded simple, but their costs were not. For example, the Sora Hospital was a basic hospital with 300 beds, mainly catering to minor ailments and injuries like colds and stitches. It could handle various treatments except for widely recognized critical conditions, such as late-stage cancer and leukemia.

The treatment capacity depended on the doctors employed at the hospital.

The cost of the hospital was 3 million island points, with junior doctors priced at 1 million each, intermediate doctors at 2 million, and so forth. Even simple nurses started at 200,000. Altogether, the Sora Hospital’s total cost came to around 10 million.

Such a medical setup would more than suffice for a scenic area. While facilities like the canning factory and fire station were not as expensive as the hospital, they still began at 7 to 8 million points. These items in total added up to 85 million points.

Tang Huai recalculated the costs of these projects and decisively clicked purchase. He originally had 120.5 million island points, but after this expenditure, he was left with only 35.5 million.

Years of hard work, only to return to square one in a moment.

Just a moment ago, Tang Huai felt like a rich man, but now… island points were never enough!

The earnings of island points could never keep up with the speed of spending. After completing the purchase, sixteen system cards appeared in his hand. He glanced at them before putting them into his inventory.

Now that he had the cards, the next step was to recruit workers, similar to how he managed with the Sora Airport. Tang Huai planned to handle this tomorrow.

After storing the sixteen cards in the inventory, Tang Huai pondered for a moment and opened the lottery interface.

Currently, there were three golden eggs in the inventory, representing the recently refreshed lucky eggs. Familiar with the process, Tang Huai confidently spent 1.7 million island points to purchase them.

In the blink of an eye, the three eggs appeared in 3D mode before him, accompanied by a small golden hammer. Tang Huai picked up the hammer and, following his usual practice, cracked them open one by one. Based on previous experience, he decided to wait and see after breaking them all.

Crack, crack, crack! As Tang Huai swung the hammer, three crisp sounds echoed from the eggs.

Three cards of different colors materialized out of thin air.

“Damn!” Tang Huai couldn’t help but swear when he saw the details of the first card. The words on the card were none other than “Windmill.”

It was exactly like the one already in his inventory.

Tang Huai: … Am I destined to have an ongoing feud with Windmills?

Frustrated, he threw the card into the warehouse. Including the two he already had, he now possessed three Windmill cards…

Not a great start. Taking a deep breath, Tang Huai moved on to the second card.

[Oceanic Horizon Hot Air Balloon]: An upgraded hot air balloon that allows for free roaming within a 300-nautical-mile radius of Sora Island, limited to 10 people at a time, with no height restrictions.

The second card was fairly standard, a hot air balloon item. However, unlike the others, the Oceanic Horizon Hot Air Balloon could be used around Sora Island, greatly enhancing the experience for thrill-seeking adventurers.

Tang Huai examined the card and then stored it in the inventory. With the windmill and the hot air balloon out of the way, it was time for the final card.

This was always the highlight of the lucky eggs.

Nervously, Tang Huai revealed it.

[Sky Forest]: Rare card. The Sky Forest, suspended in mid-air, is both elegant and mysterious, full of ancient legends and mystique. Note: Only usable in advanced areas.

He had thought he might draw a building card like Stroke of the Brush or Sora Airport, but unexpectedly, it was a region card—and a top-tier one at that…

Tang Huai flipped the card in his hand. It was about the size of a palm, with an outer edge adorned with raised green vines and ancient-looking green totems… The entire card gave off an air of grandeur and mystery. Its design was noticeably more upscale than the regular cards, similar to the difference between a regular membership card and a VIP one.

Tang Huai felt a bit dazed. This was the first high-tier card he had obtained since starting his mission. After the initial surprise, excitement quickly took over.

He opened the island’s sandbox view. There were currently fifty landscape areas marked on it, with six already developed, leaving forty-four still available.

Among those forty-four, areas thirty-five to forty-five were designated as high-level zones.

Tang Huai began a thorough examination.

After analyzing the pros and cons of each area, he decided to place the [Sky Forest] in Area Thirty-Six. This area was separated from Bianjing Ancient City by two zones, with a straight-line distance of about thirty kilometers.

Once the location was settled, Tang Huai took another look at the [Sky Forest] in his hand. The more he looked, the more mysterious it seemed.

It was now exactly ten o’clock at night, and the moon and stars were shining brightly. Tang Huai glanced outside. Aside from a few tourists who had just finished watching a movie and were strolling around, most of the other visitors stayed close to their hotels.

Feeling too restless to sleep, he decided to throw on his coat and head out.

Sora’s office building had an official tour bus, operated by a forty-year-old-looking AI. After informing the AI of his destination, they set off together toward Area Thirty-Six. Along the way, they passed by a few tourists chasing each other playfully. The safe environment of the Great Tang Resort allowed them to enjoy themselves with ease.

Watching the rows of streetlights whiz by, Tang Huai was struck by a sense of unreality. Half a year ago, Sora Island was a barren wasteland, but now it was starting to take shape. Regardless of the system’s missions, his sense of accomplishment was overflowing.

Lost in his thoughts, he arrived at Area Thirty-Six fifty minutes later.

Area Thirty-Six covered twenty square kilometers. That might not sound large, but when converted into acres, it equaled over 30,000 acres—about the size of a small county.

Currently, the area was dominated by yellowish-brown canyons that stretched out eerily into the distance. Tang Huai looked around. Area Thirty-Six bordered Areas Twenty-Two and Twenty-Nine, both intermediate zones. From the outside, there seemed to be no difference between high-level and intermediate areas.

Tang Huai took out the [Sky Forest]. A single click would generate the first high-level zone in Sora Island’s history. But…

He reluctantly put the card away. Sora Island was not what it used to be; with so many tourists around, creating a zone out of thin air like before wouldn’t be appropriate.

Putting the card away, he opted to use the [Sky Forest]’s labor purchase option instead.

“Ding! Construction Project: [Sky Forest]. Labor force: 1,000 workers. Camouflage equipment: numerous. Initial discounted price: 1,000 million island points.“

As he clicked on the purchase option, the system’s pleasant voice rang out.

Tang Huai:!

The labor costs for the Sora Hospital and Sora Canning Factory had been around 100 million island points each. After his recent purchases, he had about 250 million island points left. A hundred million wasn’t exactly cheap, but he could still manage it. Now, seeing the cost had jumped tenfold… this was robbery!

“FD730, is this supposed to be a system discount?” Tang Huai muttered, his mouth twisting into a wry smile as he addressed the system. After more than half a year of effort to break the billion-point mark, the island’s expenses seemed to be rising faster than he could keep up!

“This is the labor cost for the first advanced area. The normal price ranges between 100 million and 1 billion island points… Please rest assured, as the price of camouflage labor increases, corresponding bugs will also be fixed more thoroughly,” FD730 replied patiently, adding a bonus gift at the end.

Hearing that the corresponding bugs would be resolved made Tang Huai feel a bit more balanced. No matter what, purchasing camouflage labor was necessary.

After some internal conflict, he decisively clicked “use.”

“Ding, camouflage labor successfully deployed. Wishing the host a pleasant task!”

Tang Huai had prepared an explanation for the sudden appearance of the labor force to the tourists. However, three seconds later, aside from the system prompt, there was no sign of any camouflage laborers appearing before him.

Tang Huai: ?

“What’s going on?” he asked again, collecting his thoughts.

“The purchase was successful. The camouflage labor will arrive shortly,” FD730 responded concisely.

Tang Huai was a bit skeptical, but given the situation, he could only wait patiently.

He wandered around Area Thirty-Six for a bit before heading back to the island lord’s villa. On his way, he passed several patrol guards diligently on duty. Besides them, the whole town was enveloped in the quiet of the night.

It was already 3 a.m. Tang Huai washed up quickly and went to sleep.

A good night’s rest.

…

“What’s going on? Why are there so many people?”

“No clue, but this ship is pretty impressive. The displacement must be at least fifteen tons, right? Let me check… The Great Tang No. 2? This is the new ship of the Great Tang No. 2.”

“I’m confused… is that a helicopter on the ship?”

…

Early the next morning, Tang Huai was woken up by a cacophony of chatter. After a quick wash, he opened the window. The moment he saw the scene outside, he finally understood how quickly FD730’s “shortly arrive” could actually be.

The island lord’s villa was positioned at a height, directly facing Sora Port. Tang Huai could see a massive, five-story cruise ship docked there. The ship was primarily gold and silver, similar in color to the Great Tang No. 1, but larger and more imposing overall.

Four large characters were painted on the ship’s hull: “Great Tang No. 2.”

This was what Tang Huai had purchased yesterday: a 160,000-ton ship with a capacity of 30,000 passengers, costing him 25 million island points, the largest expenditure he made yesterday.

The deck of the Great Tang No. 2 was spacious. A small helicopter was parked on it, measuring ten meters in length with six seats. It wasn’t very large; Tang Huai mainly intended to use it for emergency response.

In addition to the helicopter, the deck of the Great Tang No. 2 was also occupied by many Sora workers in blue overalls. The workers came in various ethnicities—Asian, Caucasian, African. They all appeared rather stoic, and the words “FillTech Company” were printed on the backs of their uniforms.

The sudden appearance of the Great Tang No. 2 caught everyone by surprise, leading many tourists to gather near the Sora passageway, whispering to each other in curiosity.

The workers carried themselves with an impressive demeanor, making it clear they were not from an ordinary company.

Tang Huai closed the window, threw on a jacket, and headed out.

As he walked, he reflected on the events of the previous night.

On his way back the previous evening, FD730 had asked if he wanted to use the other cards as well. Tang Huai followed FD730’s suggestion and clicked “use”… He was curious about how the system would handle the situation, and it turned out to be straightforward and direct.

Five minutes later, Tang Huai arrived at the Sora Passageway, where several tourists were busy taking videos with their phones.

He made his way through the crowd.

“Manager Tang,” called out Xie Yunshu, who was on the ship overseeing the docking of the Great Tang No. 2. Seeing Tang Huai, he greeted him casually. Tang Huai nodded in acknowledgment and proceeded toward the captain’s cabin. Inside the cabin was an AI dressed in a captain’s uniform. It wasn’t an intelligent AI, merely serving as a decoy.

The captain AI handed Tang Huai a roster.

It listed a total of 1,600 camouflaged laborers, whose identities were registered as overseas employees of FillTech Company, with traceable backgrounds. Tang Huai skimmed through the list and, under Xie Yunshu’s coordination, led the laborers to various construction sites.

Although the camouflaged laborers had limited intelligence, their appearance and interaction were indistinguishable from that of normal AIs. Thus, they lined up, carrying construction tools, and marched toward Sora Town in an orderly fashion.

Some headed to construction sites for the Sora Hospital and other town locations, while others took buses in groups to Area Thirty-Six.

“Is this a high school sports event?” tourists murmured, struggling to find the right words as they watched the workers move in such an orderly manner. Unlike the usual, more laid-back workers, these FillTech Company employees moved with the precision of German soldiers.

The tourists snapped a few close-up shots of the laborers.

Afterward, they fell into deep thought. If the company’s workers were this disciplined… what kind of company was FillTech Company?

…

“FillTech was established in 1902 and is the world’s leading environmental simulation company. Since its inception, it has obtained 1,023 patents. It is located in the Indian Ocean, but its specific location has not yet been disclosed.”

The sudden appearance of the Great Tang No. 2 and the efficient work of the camouflaged laborers sparked curiosity among the tourists about FillTech Company’s identity. FillTech Company was not easy to investigate, but some tourists had connections. After some inquiries, they finally uncovered a general background.

A century-old environmental simulation company?

A hundred years ago… that’s way ahead of its time!

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️