Ch 117: The World’s Number One Resort

Tang Huai opened a document to review the current accommodation facilities of Great Tang Resort.

• Blue Sea Treehouses: 35×2, 70 people.
• Snow Village Snow Houses: 20×2, 40 people.
• Ice and Snow Castle: 10×2, 20 people.
• Bianjing Ancient City: 10x30x20, 6000 people.

These were the current accommodation options at Great Tang Resort, with Bianjing Ancient City having the largest capacity. Even so, the total only amounted to about 6,000 people.

That was far from enough.

Reluctantly, Tang Huai instructed Sora’s AI to prepare the rooms in Bianjing Inn, including the Zuixian Pavilion and private residences. In total, this could accommodate up to 10,000 people. The rooms in Bianjing Ancient City were spacious, so if they bought some foldable beds and modified the rooms, they could accommodate even more guests. However, Bianjing Ancient City’s main function was a scenic area, not a hotel. Using it as a hotel would go against its intended purpose.

Tang Huai skimmed through the document and then opened the system marketplace.

• Three Houses Inn / 3 million,
• Penglai Hotel / 8 million,
• Tianya Residence / 10 million…

The system offered a wide variety of items, including many hotel buildings with modern and aesthetically pleasing designs.

These buildings looked nice and were quite functional. For example, Tianya Residence was a 100-story futuristic hotel, with each floor containing 50 rooms. Assuming two people per room, it could accommodate up to 10,000 guests.

This could alleviate the accommodation pressure at Great Tang Resort, but finding the right place for these hotels was another issue. Tang Huai considered the Blue Sea Treehouses and Bianjing Ancient City but decided that a modern hotel wouldn’t fit well with these areas.

After some thought, Tang Huai purchased two Tianya Residences, along with some disguised laborers.

He chose the location for the hotels in the Snow Village Scenic Area.

The Snow Village Scenic Area covered 12 square kilometers, known mainly for the Crystal Bridge and the Ice Snow Castle. Aside from these, it was surrounded by continuous snow-capped peaks.

Tang Huai’s gaze fell on these peaks.

Sora Island covered a total of 100 square kilometers, having expanded with the island’s level-up. If referenced with Hong Kong Island’s population density, the island could potentially accommodate at least 2 million people. However, like Bianjing Ancient City, Sora’s identity was that of a vacation island, not a residential city.

Tang Huai planned to limit the island’s capacity to 500,000 visitors at most. Of course, with the current visitor count at less than 10,000, this was more of a future consideration.

After purchasing Tianya Residence, Tang Huai headed to the Snow Village Scenic Area. He chose a location on the mountains behind the Ice Snow Castle and clicked ‘use.’

The construction period for Tianya Residence was set to one month, prepared as a precautionary measure.

After finishing all of this, it was now 10 a.m. The Snow Village Scenic Area had only a few scattered visitors, and it was the same for Bianjing Ancient City and Thrilling Racing. With the strong promotion from the lion dance teams, all the tourists were now eagerly heading toward Sky Forest.

Everyone was excited about the new attraction.

…

“This is a miracle. How was this built? It defies logic,” one of the first batch of visitors exclaimed, stepping off Bus 15 and staring in stunned silence at the scene before them.

In front of them stretched a vast, seemingly endless crystal floor. Its material was similar to that of the Crystal Bridge, with rows of neatly arranged blue lights underneath.

It was a highly futuristic sight. And above the crystal ground hung a massive ‘stone curtain,’ 20 square kilometers wide, completely blocking out the sun. The visitors didn’t quite know how to describe it; it felt like the crystal floor had been split in half and raised 2,000 meters into the sky.

“Is Sky Island really up there?” They blinked, clutching the promotional flyers in their hands.

The flyer showed a floating island lush with greenery, dotted with villages and castles, like a paradise.

“Sora Access Card has been updated. There’s a guide for Sky Island on it,” someone said, refreshing their card’s display.

The others quickly opened their cards.

Sky Forest guidelines, travel tips, map displays… The Sora Access Card contained numerous categories. The group clicked on ‘Sky Forest Guidelines.’ Ten minutes later, they had a rough understanding of the project’s background.

Sky Forest was constructed by FillTech Corporation using 7th-generation suspension magnetic technology. After ten years of research and seven years of trials, it was finally completed and simulated on Sora Island.

The suspension technology of Sky Forest has already been granted a world patent. Its safety and floating capabilities are absolutely reliable.

“What exactly is this ‘Fairy Tale COS’?” A young woman in her twenties softly asked after reading the Sky Forest’s details.

The woman was Gu Jiao, a senior student from South China University. With her light course load, she and her boyfriend had planned a short trip, deciding to go out and have some fun.

The fairy-tale atmosphere of Sora Town, the Thrilling Racing, and the scenic beauty of Blue Sea Forest had kept Gu Jiao thoroughly entertained over the past three days. Her social media had been updated daily with five groups of nine-photo collages. In today’s world of advanced communication, categories like “travel photos,” “mommy bloggers,” and “foodie posts” were the three major trends on social media.

Gu Jiao had a steady personality. When she casually posted an update two days ago, it unexpectedly garnered 130 likes and over 50 comments, despite her WeChat friend list consisting of only 203 contacts.

People first teased her about her and her boyfriend’s profile pictures, then eagerly inquired about her experiences at Great Tang Resort. Currently, Great Tang Resort was one of the most mysterious and legendary travel destinations in China. The “Great Tang Scenery” was also one of the most downloaded wallpapers online.

Everyone was captivated by the picturesque scenery.

Gu Jiao patiently responded to the inquiries. Afterward, she began sharing daily photo updates. Because of this, the class president of her Economics and Management class even created a small group chat specifically for Gu Jiao’s photo updates.

Gu Jiao felt a bit embarrassed but was happy to continue sharing her experiences.

Over the past three days, she had toured most of Sora Island. She hadn’t expected to catch the opening of Great Tang Resort’s new project…

What luck!

Thinking of this, Gu Jiao opened the WeChat group chat and typed: “Big surprise coming soon.”

After sending the message, she closed WeChat, feeling excited about the upcoming itinerary.

“It should be up there, right?” someone pointed to the vast sky-covering platform overhead after hearing Gu Jiao’s words. There was no denying that Great Tang Resort excelled at piquing people’s curiosity.

“Oh my God, is that really floating up there? What if it falls?”

“My hands are shaking! I need to take some pictures and post them on Douyin first.”

“This is too incredible. Great Tang Resort’s technology defies logic!”

…

As people chatted, three more sightseeing buses arrived. In just a short time, over a hundred people had gathered at the entrance of Sky Forest. They had all come after receiving the promotional flyers, and many others were still waiting for buses.

The suspended ground spanning 20 square kilometers was too awe-inspiring. Everyone was buzzing with excitement, yet no one dared to move forward.

“What are you all standing here for? Let’s go take a look.” A twenty-year-old young man with dyed yellow hair took the lead, speaking up. As he talked, he followed the manual’s instructions to find the nearest entry point.

“Should we go too?” Gu Jiao glanced at her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend, named Chen Gang, was in the same department but a different class.

After hearing her, Chen Gang nodded.

With that, the crowd began moving forward in small, scattered groups. The suspended platform above loomed like the Sword of Damocles, and everyone feared the possibility of a technical failure, imagining the whole structure crashing down unexpectedly. If that happened, there would be no chance of escape, and being found intact would be the best outcome.

At that thought, they shivered. It truly felt like they were putting their lives on the line for this adventure.

While deep in thought, the group found the nearest elevator point.

Gu Jiao and Chen Gang hadn’t gone far and chose the No. 2 elevator. Each elevator could hold up to twenty people, and the group lined up to get in.

“A moving crystal bridge…” someone in the crowd nervously muttered the moment the elevator began to rise. Although they knew the floor was made of glass, the slow ascent was still incredibly terrifying.

Some of the more timid visitors sat on the floor with their eyes closed, thinking that if something did go wrong, at least they could fall with some dignity.

Gu Jiao steadied herself and carefully observed her surroundings. It was a 3×3 elevator cabin with four crystal columns of the same material on its outer sides. Each column extended vertically for two thousand meters. The elevator’s mechanism was probably similar to that of a shopping mall’s, except it was several thousand times more advanced in terms of technology.

“Damn, you can do that too?” As Gu Jiao pondered, a voice of regret came from the crowd. She turned to see a sleek, black, enlarged game pod-like object on the south side of the elevator slowly ascending.

It was a sky gondola.

Tang Huai had purchased ten sky gondolas from the system’s marketplace. Each cost 1 million Island Points and could hold up to ten people. Unlike the elevator cabins, the sky gondola was a paid ride, costing 20 USD per trip. It was operated by an AI pilot, and if requested, it could provide a scenic tour around the Sky Island.

“The Sky Island guide includes information on the sky gondola, but I didn’t read it carefully earlier…” the regretful voice continued. Gu Jiao opened her Sora Access Card and found that there was indeed a “Sora Transport” section in the lower right corner.

“Quite spectacular.” The elevator had now reached a height of a thousand meters. Looking down, the sky platform resembled an enormous blue surface, crisscrossed with purple, green, and other lines—the signs of tourists using the transport tracks.

Despite its seemingly perilous nature, the entire sky platform looked as intricate as a futuristic transportation map.

Ten seconds later, the group found themselves engulfed in darkness, only to re-emerge into light.

“This defies all logic…” The crowd had expected to step into a cold, mechanical facility. To their surprise, they found themselves surrounded by lush greenery, a vast version of the Blue Sea Forest.

Throughout their journey, “illogical” was the word that came up the most.

Though not experts, they all sensed that the technology developed by the Phil Company was undoubtedly world-class.

Before them lay a winding river, crystal clear and about five meters wide. Large, flat stones were scattered across its surface, providing stepping paths.

Looking up, they saw a large monument on the other side of the river, with the words “Brave Warrior” inscribed on it.

“Shall we go check it out?” one man suggested. The group of twenty didn’t know each other, but the sudden entrance into this unfamiliar environment naturally bonded them into a small team.

“Let’s go check it out!”

“Haha, this really is like an adventure in another world.”

After the man spoke, the others began to joke around. Just moments ago, they had been on a high-tech sky platform, and in the blink of an eye, they were now in this place. It was indeed an adventure in a different world.

The surroundings resembled a tropical jungle, but the air was fresh and pleasant, with none of the usual dampness or mosquito bites. After a brief orientation, the group crossed the river to the other side.

Gu Jiao opened her Sora Access Card. On it was a rough map, and she realized they were on the outer edge of Sky Island, only about five hundred meters from the edge.

She wanted to warn the others, but most of them had already crossed the river. She opened her mouth to speak but decided to keep quiet.

Three minutes later, the group had all crossed the river and continued walking. After turning a corner, the scene before them suddenly opened up.

“Oh my god.”

Gasps of astonishment echoed through the crowd as they took in the view. They found themselves on a vast open space, and right ahead was a sheer cliff—the edge of Sky Island. They were only fifty meters away from the precipice, and it felt as if a gust of wind could blow them right off.

There was no strong wind at the moment, but instead, a large parasol provided shade with five lounge chairs underneath. In addition, there were harnesses, ropes, and other bungee-jumping equipment.

A middle-aged man in his thirties, dressed in a European-style knight’s outfit, was adjusting the gear.

“Bungee jumping, thirty dollars a go,” the man said, turning around with a cheerful smile as the group approached.

Only then did Gu Jiao and the others notice a large signboard in front of the parasol, inscribed with the words “Brave Warrior, Challenge Yourself” in bold letters. At the bottom, it listed “30 USD per person.”

Behind the sign was a modern desk with a computer and a printer, though the group was unsure of their purpose.

“Sky Island is offering a 20% discount on all activities during the first week of opening,” the middle-aged man pointed to the computer and announced.

A piece of A4 paper stuck to the back of the computer bore the official activity announcement from Great Tang Resort.

The crowd glanced at the A4 paper and then looked outside. Sky Island was now two thousand meters above the ground, and with the entire island floating in mid-air, the thrill level was even higher than the famous bungee jump on TreeSound.

Everyone’s legs went a bit weak.

The middle-aged man smiled broadly, as if saying, “New store opening, special deals—don’t miss this chance!”

The crowd felt like crying. Was the discount really what they were worried about? Absolutely not!

Sky Island spanned twenty square kilometers, which meant at least fifteen kilometers of cliff edges. If someone accidentally fell, survival would be impossible.

With such a high danger factor… was this really okay?

Even the Royal Gorge suspension bridge bungee jump in the U.S. was only around three hundred twenty meters high. Now, this two-thousand-meter jump was on a whole new level!

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