Ch 133: The World’s Number One Resort

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“Daddy, can we stay for five more days? Hmm, three days would be fine too.”

“I want to keep playing. I haven’t had enough fun yet.”

“Daddy…”

…

The next morning, after a night of rest, the celebrity fathers and their kids, under the program’s arrangement, gathered at Sora Port. At this moment, the Great Tang No. 2, like a massive beast, was majestically docked at the shore.

The celebrity kids glanced at the ship, then looked back at Sora Island with a hint of reluctance. The scenery was beautiful, the roller coasters were fun, Queen Kelly was so gentle, and the food at the Delicious Restaurant was so tasty… They didn’t want to leave!

“Daddy, I don’t want to go.” As the crew was loading props onto the ship and the celebrity guests followed behind, Zhang Xinxin clutched a small purple flower and tugged on Zhang Yun’s sleeve.

It was the lilac flower Queen Kelly had given her, and she cherished it deeply. After speaking, Xinxin blinked her eyes, staring up at Zhang Yun with an adorably innocent expression.

“Don’t you miss Mommy?” Zhang Yun asked helplessly. He found it hard to resist that look on her face.

“I miss Mommy, but I also want to stay in the castle,” Xinxin tilted her head, looking slightly conflicted.

“We’ll go back first, and when summer vacation comes, we’ll bring Mommy here together. How about that?” Zhang Yun coaxed.

“Okay…” Xinxin fidgeted with her fingers and finally nodded.

She was already looking forward to the summer break.

Half an hour later, everyone boarded the ship. The Great Tang No. 2 primarily traveled between Hawaii and Sora Island, so aside from the crew of Terasure travel, there were quite a few other passengers.

The crew booked first-class cabins. Despite the large number of people, the celebrity guests remained relatively undisturbed, except for a few Chinese tourists who asked for photos.

“Mr. Zheng, when we have time, shall we bring the kids to play here again?”

“Haha, I’ve already discussed it with my wife. I’m planning to come back in October when I have fewer work commitments.”

“I wonder how they built this island—it’s such high technology.”

At ten in the morning, the Great Tang No. 2 raised its gangway. Zheng Haitao and the others stood on the deck, chatting enthusiastically. When they first came here, they treated the trip as merely a task, a job. But after getting familiar with the place, they started to truly enjoy it.

It had become an extraordinary journey.

“Boom—” Amid their simple conversation, the Great Tang No. 2 pulled up its anchor and set sail. Watching the island grow smaller in the distance, everyone looked forward to their next visit.

…

Host Name: Tang Huai

Open Areas: [Blue Sea Lake] [Bianjing Ancient City] [Sky Forest]…

Current Task: None

Island Points: 2.09 million+

Reputation Points: 10.2 million+

Item Inventory: [Windmill] X3, [Encyclopedia of Species]

Ongoing Projects: [Sora Hotel] X2, 76%. [Ancient Town Glasses Factory], 26%.

Meanwhile, as Zheng Haitao and the others departed, Tang Huai opened the mission interface at the island master’s courtyard. After more than half a month of development, the system’s reputation points had once again climbed to over ten million. He had already invested more than seventy million in the Ancient Town Glasses Factory, and with this additional ten million, production would not be a problem.

Tang Huai reviewed the details carefully and clicked the top right corner.

It was now early May, and the lucky egg had refreshed.

Basic Egg: 100,000 Island Points.

Intermediate Egg: 500,000 Island Points.

Advanced Egg: 1,000,000 Island Points.

The lucky egg is a monthly bonus. Tang Huai converted his reputation points into island points and, with a wave of his hand, purchased three eggs.

[Sora Highway]: Basic road, 20 kilometers, unrestricted area.

[Coastal Fishing Boat]: Basic fishing boat, can automatically catch one ton of common seafood daily, limited to the 300-mile sea area around Sora Island.

[Sora Dungeon]: Scenery region card, advanced.

Being an experienced egg player, Tang Huai picked up the small hammer and cracked each one open. As he did so, system notifications began to ring out consecutively.

[Sora Highway] was essential. Although the [Fishing Boat] appeared for the first time, its attributes were easy to understand. What surprised Tang Huai was the last card… It was an advanced scenery card.

Was he lucky again?

Tang Huai picked up the [Sora Dungeon] card. It was about the size of a palm, mainly in grayish-brown tones, depicting a deep mountain valley. Besides that, the words “Sora Dungeon” were prominently displayed.

Compared to the Sky Forest, [Sora Dungeon] offered very little information.

Tang Huai examined it carefully, then opened the [Dungeon] details.

[Sora Dungeon]: Regional scenery card. Attributes: Unknown. Features: Advanced.

The description of [Dungeon] was straightforward. Aside from being marked as an advanced scenery card, it offered no other information.

Hmm… Not much useful information here.

Tang Huai flipped the card over a couple of times before putting it back into his inventory.

The labor cost for [Sora Dungeon] started at 20 million island points. With the current financial constraints, it would have to stay in storage for a while.

After taking a short rest, Tang Huai went out to look around.

With recent development, the daily tourist flow at Great Tang Resort was between 20,000 and 50,000. Most visitors preferred short trips of about seven days. Additionally, there were long-term guests like He Kun, who didn’t mind the expense.

The ratio of short-term to long-term guests was 8:2. The entry fee for Sora Island was $100 per person per day. Combined with tourist spending, the daily revenue of Great Tang was around 8 million dollars. After deducting the cost of AI labor, the net profit was about 3 million dollars.

Calculating the recent earnings of Great Tang Resort, Tang Huai felt a bit dazed. After over a year of development, had he become a billionaire?

“Tang.”

As Tang Huai calculated the resort’s income, a slightly awkward Chinese greeting came from behind him. Turning around, he saw a German man in his forties. The man was holding the hand of a small boy, around five years old, who was wearing a light blue parent-child outfit.

“Mr. Jon, little Jimmy.” After recognizing them, Tang Huai greeted them with a smile. The visitors were Jon and Jimmy, part of the second group of tourists at Great Tang Resort. They had met last year at Song Qing’s wedding.

“Tang, you still remember me?” Before Jon could speak, Jimmy looked up with an excited expression. After half a year and with so many tourists now, he had become increasingly doubtful that Tang Huai would remember him…

“This is for you, Tang.”

With that, Jimmy took a crayon drawing out of his backpack. It was a landscape of Sora Island. During his stay, Jimmy had visited the Sora office building twice. Each time, Tang Huai had been busy filming Treasure travel, and he had missed him.

“How could I forget such a cute little Jimmy? Is this Sora Island? It’s beautiful.” Tang Huai squatted down and gently pinched Jimmy’s cheek. The drawing depicted only the island and the sea, scribbled with crayons. But judging by the details, it was clear that Jimmy had drawn it with great care.

Tang Huai carefully folded up the picture.

“Great Tang Resort is just so beautiful! I saw the ice castle, and there’s even a floating island!” Jimmy said happily as he shared his experiences of the past few days with Tang Huai. The more he spoke, the more excited he became, gesturing animatedly.

“Such a big island, huh?” Tang Huai patiently listened, feeling a sense of genuine satisfaction. Although the resort had the system’s support, all of this had been created from nothing.

Under the bright sun, Jon watched the patient conversation between the two, feeling somewhat sentimental. Great Tang Resort was halfway built; he wondered what changes he would see the next time he visited.

Suddenly, Jon found himself eagerly looking forward to the future development of Great Tang.

After a brief chat, Jon and Jimmy departed. They had been on the island for half a month and planned to take the Great Tang No. 1 back home that afternoon.

At two in the afternoon, Tang Huai made his rounds to other areas. With the Sora security patrolling the resort, everything was running smoothly at Great Tang.

Work, Diving, Wandering.

In the following week, Tang Huai maintained a very regular routine.

During this time, apart from handling Great Tang’s daily affairs, Tang Huai also went for two dives in the ocean. Ever since his return to the sea, Yu You’s condition had been steadily improving. With Da Zhuang as his companion, Yu You could roam freely in the waters around Sora Island. However, perhaps due to a less-than-favorable first impression, Tang Huai had tentatively tried to touch Da Zhuang.

Although Da Zhuang didn’t outright reject the touch, his expression didn’t show much enthusiasm either. Regardless, Tang Huai took the opportunity to ride on Da Zhuang’s back, displaying a bit of borrowed power in the ocean. Under the formidable strength of the whale shark, all the smaller fish and creatures in the sea were no match.

Time slowly drifted by in this manner.

…

“Director Liu, isn’t the advertising a bit overdone this time?”

While Tang Huai was developing Great Tang Resort, Luo Hai TV in China had been busy editing the footage for over half a month. The final cut of the first three episodes of Treasure travel was finally ready, and Zheng Haitao and the others, as arranged by the production team, had moved on to film at the next location.

In the editing room of Treasure travel, Director Liu Ke was instructing the post-production team to copy and back up the footage. A post-production staff member, having reviewed the work done over this period, raised a concern.

Each episode of Treasure travel ran for about ninety minutes, with roughly five minutes of advertising placement, distributed discreetly throughout. However, this time… the post-production team replayed the first episode of Treasure travely. Besides the close-ups of the children’s backpacks, Liu Ke also included a three-minute segment of the “discussion about the glasses” among Zheng Haitao and others. Additionally, there were various product placements, advertisement boards, and small items scattered throughout.

This was the highest number of soft ads ever seen in Treasure travel. The editor felt… it might be unnecessary.

He was a bit puzzled.

“Ten minutes isn’t too much. Besides, these are soft ads, not hard ones. The overall flow is still smooth,” Liu Ke explained, waving it off.

He understood what the editor meant. Liu Ke knew very well that they had included a few extra advertisement shots for the Ancient Town theme. However, considering Great Tang Resort was the sponsor and provided a pleasant filming experience, as well as additional support for reshoots… When all these factors were weighed, the assistance from Great Tang had been immense, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty.

Although Great Tang hadn’t explicitly requested it, Liu Ke reciprocated their kindness by adding a few more shots. He had a gut feeling that there might be more opportunities for collaboration with Great Tang in the future.

“Has Romantic brotherhood finalized its air date?” After checking the final cut, Liu Ke turned to his assistant.

Mentioning Romantic brotherhood made Liu Ke feel a bit of a headache.

Romantic brotherhood was a variety show featuring young male celebrities, produced by Hu TV. According to industry sources, filming for Romantic brotherhood had already begun at the end of the previous month. It mainly followed the travels of five young male idols.

The variety show industry was thriving. Under normal circumstances, Liu Ke wouldn’t be overly concerned. However, the broadcast schedule for Romantic brotherhood was likely to clash with Treasure travel, and Romantic brotherhood’s first season sponsor was Pure Cheese, which was the previous investor for Treasure travel.

A schedule clash, combined with a sponsor switch—how frustrating!

“It’s confirmed: May 25th at 10 PM for the premiere.” Liu Ke’s assistant, while flipping through the notes in her planner, responded promptly.

Hu TV worked efficiently and had already started advertising on their official Weibo.

Liu Ke: …

It was May 18th, and May 25th was next Friday. Treasure travel was also scheduled for that day. In fact, most variety shows in China aired on Fridays, but since both Treasure travel and Romantic brotherhood were premiering, comparisons by the media were inevitable.

“Contact the PR team and release the trailer.” Liu Ke sat down, waving his hand in resignation. Given the situation, he could only hope that Treasure travel would live up to the reputation of the previous two seasons.

The assistant nodded and left the room promptly.

With the preliminary work now ready, all that remained was the premiere of Treasure travel.

…

“Aah! Taozi, Wu Zhongyang is going to be on the variety show! My little lamb is finally appearing on TV!”

Treasure travel was in the midst of its intense preparations. During a break at Luo Hai No. 3 High School, a fifteen-year-old girl was swiping through her phone, excitedly recommending something to the person beside her. The girl’s name was Zhao Yue, wearing a blue school uniform and sporting a ponytail, exuding a youthful vibe. Next to her was a short-haired girl named Gao Yiran, who was her close friend.

“Aren’t we not allowed to use phones? If Mr. Hao catches you, be ready to write a self-critique.”

Gao Yiran was working through some exercises, and upon noticing Zhao Yue, she cautiously reminded her. Both Zhao Yue and Gao Yiran were seniors in high school, with the college entrance exams just over a month away. With strict discipline being enforced in class, using a phone now was a risky move.

“No worries, Mr. Hao is off duty. Hey, listen to me! My little lamb is going to be on a variety show!” Zhao Yue waved it off dismissively, then handed over her phone with an excited expression.

Gao Yiran had no choice but to take it.

@RomanticBrotherhoodV: #RomanticBrotherhood# 5-day countdown! Get ready to see our free-spirited brother @WangShuo, the hand of God @Wu Zhongyang, and our soft baby Tu Yan… join us on a journey of romance. May 25th, 8 PM. Time is endless, and so are we. 【Pictures】X9.

Zhao Yue opened the official Weibo account for Romantic brotherhood, showing the latest post published just two hours ago.

Gao Yiran swiped through the images one by one. They were promotional photos of the five stars, both solo shots and group photos. Enhanced by professional retouching, each image looked refined and handsome.

After swiping through all the photos, Gao Yiran returned the phone.

“Are you excited?” Seeing Gao Yiran’s calm reaction, Zhao Yue felt displeased. She zoomed in on Wu Zhongyang’s photo and asked again.

“He’s okay, I guess.” Gao Yiran glanced at Wu Zhongyang’s photo and thought for a moment before responding. Wu Zhongyang debuted with a boy band, had a meticulously groomed appearance, golden-dyed hair, and a fashion style that often involved tight pants and studded jackets.

Although Wu Zhongyang was undeniably handsome, Gao Yiran preferred a more clean-cut, scholarly look, so she wasn’t particularly impressed.

“Oh, come on, you… wait, Treasure travel is also premiering on May 25th?” Zhao Yue, dissatisfied with Gao Yiran’s reaction and about to say more, was interrupted when a notification popped up on her phone.

@LiYuanV: “Wow, are they filming at Great Tang Resort? Excited!” 【Happy】 // @TreasureTravel: “May 25th, 10 PM…” 【Pictures】.

The Weibo post was a repost by Li Yuan.

“Hey, don’t you think Li Yuan looks so handsome? Why did he terminate his contract with Red fruit Entertainment? Now he doesn’t get any gigs on shows or TV. Even his vibe has turned so gloomy…” After reading the post, Zhao Yue expressed regret.

Li Yuan had debuted as a young idol, but less than five years later, his career seemed to be on a decline.

After speaking, Zhao Yue unfollowed Li Yuan.

Attracted by his looks, but leaving when they fade.

“Let me see.” Gao Yiran’s interest was piqued. Unlike Zhao Yue, she was partial to Li Yuan’s style, and now that he had embraced a more carefree approach, she found his aura even more intriguing.

“This looks pretty good.” Gao Yiran took in Li Yuan’s Weibo feed, enjoying what she saw.

Previously, “Li Yuan at Great Tang Resort” had trended once. Everyone knew Li Yuan had a good relationship with Great Tang Resort, and now, it seemed that this was indeed the case.

Following the trail on Li Yuan’s Weibo, Gao Yiran landed on the official account of Treasure travel.

Colorful fairytale castles, touching moments between celebrity fathers and their children, adorable kids dressed in royal cosplay… The promotional photos of Treasure travel exuded a fresh and natural vibe. The genuine smiles of the celebrity parents and children in the pictures gave Gao Yiran a sense of tranquility that resonated deep within her heart.

This feeling… seems pretty nice?

“Ding ding—”

“Mr. Hao is back; put it away.”

Gao Yiran was about to take another look when the bell rang for the next class. Zhao Yue quickly snatched her phone back.

Mr. Hao had unexpectedly returned!

The second period was history class. Gao Yiran was good at history, so after listening to the lecture for a bit, she glanced out the window. In her mind, the promotional images of Treasure travel kept flashing by.

Gao Yiran had seen the first two seasons of Treasure travel, but back then, she had been busy with her studies and only skimmed through the episodes. Now, after looking at the new promotional pictures, she found herself quite intrigued. May 25th?

Hmm, if there’s nothing else going on, she might just watch it.

And so, with these thoughts swirling in her mind, the class quickly passed.

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️