Ch 113: The World’s Number One Resort

“Mumbai successfully placed an order… why isn’t Seoul within the delivery range?”

“Busan and Incheon aren’t in the delivery range either.”

“Not delivering to South Korea? Is this discrimination against South Korea?”

…

It was 1 a.m. in South Korea, and many students, after seeing the latest tweet from Great Tang Resort, attempted to place orders. However, like Kim Jungbin, they found that they were not in the delivery range.

Assuming it was a system error, they vented their frustrations on Twitter. Yet, they discovered that, except for South Korea, other places like India, Australia, North America, and even smaller countries like Tunisia were within the delivery range.

So… it’s just South Korea that can’t receive shipments? This is blatant discrimination.

Though the buzz around “Biological Research” was huge within academic circles, it was still a niche field. South Korean students weren’t necessarily desperate to get their hands on Great Tang fruit; however, being singled out like this… left them feeling uneasy.

Many thought it was a technical issue on the Great Tang International website and, holding onto a sliver of hope, sent inquiries to the website’s official email.

An hour passed, then two… The students waited anxiously for a reply.

Great Tang Resort: “Sorry, due to production limitations, deliveries to select regions have been paused.”

Six hours after Great Tang International went live, Great Tang Resort finally provided an explanation. Underneath the message “Not in the delivery range” was an additional clarification: “Due to production limitations.”

South Korean students initially held onto hope. However, upon seeing the words “production limitations” and “paused deliveries,” they exploded. What do they mean by “paused deliveries”? They never shipped to South Korea in the first place!

It dawned on them—they were being treated differently!

South Korean students were frustrated. They couldn’t understand what they might have done to offend Great Tang Resort. Surely… they hadn’t, right?

…

While South Korean students were left puzzled, the Phoenix Photography Exhibition delegation, led by Clerk, finally arrived on Sora Island after crossing the ocean.

The delegation consisted of five people. They first traveled to Hawaii, then took the Great Tang No. 1 ship. Thanks to the Sora Insurance Risk Reduction plan, the journey from Hawaii to Sora Island took only two days.

“Is this a fairytale town from Ederlin World? It’s so beautiful.”

“‘Pacific Warmth’ was probably photographed up ahead.”

“The air here is even fresher than I imagined…”

Clerk led the delegation. As they disembarked and took in the view, their eyes lit up. Before them was a silver beach, glowing with a warm orange hue in the sunset’s light.

They stepped forward. About 300 meters from the beach stood a nearly hundred-meter-tall colorful windmill. A gentle breeze turned the windmill slowly, set against the vibrant colors of a fairytale town.

The town’s walls and main structures were vivid but didn’t seem chaotic.

Beach, sunset, and town. These three elements formed a warm, picturesque scene. Clerk took out his phone, which held the three award-winning photographs. He pulled up the second image; the rock formations beside the town matched the location where “Pacific Warmth” was shot.

The group was fascinated by the scenery. At that moment, two figures approached them. Leading the way was a young Chinese man in a linen jacket. He had a refined appearance, and beside him was a scholarly-looking man with long hair. They were both striking in their looks. Additionally, a fluffy, adorable white sheep accompanied them.

It was quite a unique combination.

“Welcome to Sora Island,” the young man said warmly as he approached.

“Manager Tang.”

Clerk composed himself and extended his hand to Tang Huai. They had spoken on the phone before, so Clerk knew this was Tang Huai. Clerk had assumed that as the manager of an overseas resort, Tang Huai would be in his thirties. He hadn’t expected someone so young.

“Meh.” As Clerk sorted through his thoughts, they shook hands. Meanwhile, the woolly sheep circled the group, bleating contentedly.

“Is this ‘Green of White’?”

Clerk noticed the white sheep at his feet and asked curiously. “Green if White” was the winning piece of the Phoenix Photography Exhibition, featuring the white sheep, Blue Sea Lake, and the Angel Oak. Judging by its appearance, this sheep was identical to the one in the photograph.

“Yes, it is,” Tang Huai replied with a smile. Since the establishment of Sora Ranch, the sheep had been living happily. The leader of the flock was quite intelligent, and its biggest daily joy was sneaking onto the sightseeing bus to steal fruit from the Fruit Kingdom… A single sheep couldn’t eat much, and since the leader was hygienic, Tang Huai had only stopped it twice and let it be after that.

This sheep was the star of the Phoenix Photography Exhibition, so Tang Huai brought it along.

“A celebrity sheep, huh?” Clerk and the others laughed, petting it a couple of times before taking out their phones to snap pictures. The leader sheep was not shy; it seemed to understand their intentions and posed cooperatively.

From Tang Huai’s perspective, the sheep looked as pure and dignified as a noble unicorn. It was almost as if this sheep wasn’t the same one that had stolen tomatoes and fruit before…

Tang Huai rubbed his nose, thinking, “Quite the actor.”

After some conversation, they all headed to Sora Town.

Tang Huai led Clerk and his team on a tour of the main road of the town, then took them to the Delicious Restaurant. With the positive impressions from both the sheep and the restaurant’s cuisine, Clerk and the others’ fondness for Great Tang Resort soared.

“I can’t believe such a grand ancient city exists in the world…”

After their meal, Clerk and his group were taken to the Bianjing Ancient City. The moment they saw the giant statues, they were utterly captivated. It was a marvel of architectural history.

…

At 10 p.m., Clerk and the others sat by the windowsill of the Bianjing Inn, sipping red wine and looking out. The inn stood nearly a hundred meters tall, and from their vantage point, the giant statues outside resembled massive mechs. Although they were all atheists, the view still filled them with a sense of awe.

“This is a magical island. I think we don’t need to consider any other options,” Clerk said, taking a sip of his wine. Though he was only the chairman’s assistant, he held significant authority within the Phoenix Photography Exhibition and was the head of this evaluation.

“What about Rose Valley?” asked a man in his thirties from Poland. He referred to Rose Valley, located on Norfolk Island, Australia—a new tourist destination famous for its sea of roses spanning nearly a thousand acres. With convenient transportation and scenic beauty, it had developed over the past decade into a world-renowned vacation spot.

The fourth and seventh place photographs of the Phoenix Photography Exhibition were taken at Rose Valley. Before their departure, Rose Valley had reached out, hoping to be the featured recommendation of this vacation guide. After all, compared to the relatively unknown Great Tang Resort, Rose Valley had an undeniable advantage.

The Phoenix Photography team was still deliberating.

“This time, the winner is Great Tang Resort, not Rose Valley,” Clerk replied earnestly. In terms of both scenery and popularity, Great Tang Resort was the undisputed champion. Their team of five was here just for the final assessment.

The Polish man shrugged regretfully.

Rose Valley wasn’t short of visitors; what it sought was global recognition, with the Phoenix Photography Exhibition being the most prestigious. Rose Valley had been meticulously preparing for five years, and if it weren’t for Great Tang Resort, it would have been the unquestionable first place this time.

But… Rose Valley’s luck had run out.

The Polish man was merely making a passing inquiry. With that, the conversation shifted topics.

So, they continued sipping their wine and gazing at the giant statues outside, enjoying this unique experience.

…

Blue Sea Lake, Fruit Kingdom, Bianjing Ancient City.

Over the next two days, the group thoroughly explored Sora Island. As their experiences deepened, Clerk and the others grew more and more impressed with Great Tang Resort. The Phoenix Photography team was highly satisfied, and Tang Huai was also keen on collaborating.

Thus, the partnership was sealed with mutual agreement.

The cooperation involved offering an overall package price at a 20% discount, similar to the arrangements with Chinese tourists.

With the contract signed, Chelk and his team returned to their country. According to the agreement, the Phoenix Photography Exhibition would heavily promote the travel guide for Great Tang Resort. Based on past trends, the first batch of tourists should arrive within five days.

As for the number of people… that remained uncertain.

Tang Huai was noncommittal. After Clerk and the others departed, he opened the mission panel.

Host Name: Tang Huai
Intermediate Mission: Receive tourists from ten countries within one month, with each country providing no fewer than 1,000 people.
Mission Completion: 10%, China.
Remaining Days: 23.

Inventory: [Windmill] x3, [Species Encyclopedia].

Seven days had passed, and the mission progress stood at 10%.

Tang Huai reviewed the mission panel carefully, then headed toward the Sky Forest.

Now that the Sora Hospital and Sora Fire Station were completed, the next step was to acquire special AI units. Both the hospital and the fire station had no issues, and as for the Sky Forest, it was more than halfway built after a month and a half of construction.

Sky Forest was located in Area 37, about 30 kilometers away from Bianjing Ancient City, with 3,000 disguised laborers. The forest was surrounded by a continuous range of mountains, and with the aid of advanced technology, these mountains provided considerable camouflage.

An orange sightseeing bus leisurely drove in, and Tang Huai got off.

Upon seeing the scene before him, Tang Huai was momentarily dazed. The entire Sky Forest base looked like a massive construction game, with each laborer working mechanically and rhythmically.

Sky Forest covered an area of 20 square kilometers. Looking ahead, the ground had sunken nearly ten meters, revealing steel beams and plates resembling a car’s engine. Atop this “engine” were blue, glowing threads.

While the “engine” might sound ordinary, the fact that it stretched across 20 square kilometers made it truly awe-inspiring. Under the illumination of the blue threads, the entire base looked like a vast sea of deep blue.

The laborers wielded machinery as they worked in a highly systematic manner. Tang Huai took a closer look and found that these “blue threads” were strips of light about two centimeters in diameter, arranged in a grid pattern with roughly fifty centimeters of spacing.

These blue threads were laid out automatically by large machinery.

The scene resembled a high-speed, futuristic factory in operation. However, this “factory” was incredibly vast, stretching far beyond the horizon.

Tang Huai looked up in bewilderment.

Above him was a massive black disk. The disk was over 2,000 meters above ground, towering even higher than Mount Tai in China. It featured some blue threads reflecting the “blue sea” below. Due to the angle, Tang Huai couldn’t see what was on top of the disk, but he knew it was the main structure of the Sky Forest.

This project was even more astonishing than Bianjing Ancient City, despite being only half-finished.

After some thought, Tang Huai opened the system mall.

With the first wave of international tourists about to arrive, he decided to speed up the progress to ensure the mission was completed effectively.

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️