After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH104

Chapter 104

At Xie Xingchen’s strong recommendation, the system put 15 New Year Fireworks Gift Packs on the shelves.

Don’t ask—because from ancient times to now, the New Year season has always run from the first day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth!

New Year lasts a full fifteen days—how could any day be allowed to go without fireworks?

And since Xie Xingchen didn’t exactly lack the money for fireworks, then of course: the more, the better!

After all—opportunities to squeeze freebies out of the system don’t come often. Cherish them while you can.

Smugly stuffing all fifteen New Year Fireworks Gift Packs into his inventory, Xie Xingchen somehow felt like even the system’s notification chime had become a little reluctant.

It wasn’t until night fell—when he finally set off the fireworks—that he understood why the system had been unwilling.

Because this New Year fireworks pack was way stronger than the New Year’s Day fireworks pack!

It wasn’t a normal upgrade. It was an upgrade that basically skipped several levels at once.

If the New Year’s Day fireworks pack was a “1” on the spectacle scale, then the New Year fireworks pack was a “5,” maybe even a “6.”

So forget the bodyguards—those “country bumpkins” who’d never seen the world. Even Xie Xingchen, who considered himself well-traveled, spent the entire show with his mouth slightly open.

Only Ludwig managed to remain calm from start to finish.

But anyone who knew him could tell from the way his eyes brightened and dimmed that he wasn’t nearly as composed as he looked.

“Boss Xie… do you have any surprises left that we haven’t seen yet?”

One of the bodyguards couldn’t help turning back, sighing in amazement at Xie Xingchen.

Ever since they’d arrived on Earth, these people who thought they’d seen everything kept feeling like total rubes.

How could Earth have so many fresh, unheard-of, never-before-seen things?

It was unbelievable.

What kind of incredible person was Xie Xingchen?

And what kind of incredible place was this “Huaxia” he kept talking about?

For the first time, these mechanical lifeforms—who had never been particularly interested in culture—developed a deep curiosity about “Huaxia.”

“Boss Xie, could you tell us about Huaxia?”

Hearing that, Xie Xingchen turned his head, a trace of surprise in his eyes.

He couldn’t help scanning this group of “culture-insulated” mechanical lifeforms up and down. “You really want to learn about Huaxia?”

The mechanical lifeforms nodded decisively.

Xie Xingchen didn’t know what he’d thought of, but he suddenly smiled.

He didn’t refuse. He glanced at the gorgeous fireworks blooming in the night sky. Not knowing where to begin, he simply started with the topic of “fireworks.”

He spoke without a strict plan—whatever came to mind, he talked about.

From fireworks to gunpowder, from gunpowder to alchemy, from alchemy to Taoist priests, from Taoist priests to Taoism, then from Taoism to cultivation… and finally, he told the myths and legends he knew—stories of immortals and divine beings.

It sounded rambling, but in truth, everything was connected.

Story after story, anecdote after anecdote—each one casually produced, combined with Xie Xingchen’s smooth, effortless delivery—made everyone understand that the “Huaxia” he spoke of was a civilization that had truly existed.

Otherwise, even the smartest person in the galaxy couldn’t chat about an object while inventing that many related stories on the fly—stories that also aligned with a civilization’s values and cultural development logic.

At first, when they heard words like “gunpowder” and “alchemy,” they could still discuss things with a scientific mindset.

But once Xie Xingchen began talking about “the Dao” and “cultivation,” and then launched into Huaxia mythic tales and immortal legends, everyone’s mouths unconsciously formed an “O.”

The earlier parts—fireworks, gunpowder, alchemy—could still be explained with chemistry.

But what came after was pure romantic fantasy.

A sword that froze the world, filling mountains and overturning seas, an entire universe hidden in a sleeve, shrinking distances with a step… Were those things real in an era that viewed gunpowder as a divine miracle? Could so-called cultivators be stronger than modern galactic citizens?

So it couldn’t be true—surely it was just the romantic imagination of ancient Huaxia people, right?

To that, Xie Xingchen smiled, shrugged, and said, “Who knows whether it was real? I wasn’t living in that era.”

Honestly, if time travel could happen, then he really couldn’t guarantee whether cultivation was real or not.

Maybe it was real.

After all, even in modern times, people studied the ancient text Classic of Mountains and Seas. And through certain validations, some experts concluded that the ancient book might actually have been a speculative world map.

That theory sounded absurd today. Given the era in which Classic of Mountains and Seas appeared, with the level of technology back then, Huaxia people probably couldn’t even get out of Asia.

Well… maybe not. If luck was incredible, perhaps they could cross the Bering Strait to reach the Americas, or head west through the far north into Europe.

But all those guesses assumed they had extraordinary luck and sufficient warm, protective gear—otherwise, with that era’s productivity and transportation, it was basically a daydream.

So whether what was recorded was coincidence or reality—no one could say for sure.

Xie Xingchen certainly didn’t know either, so he gave a “not responsible at all” answer.

It was such a casual response it was almost outrageous—yet no one could refute it.

That era was simply too distant. So distant that no images had survived. Everything was only legend recorded in books.

For Boss Xie—someone born and raised in the galaxy—to even know these transmitted myths was already impressive enough.

Plenty of people were so bad at history that, forget hidden civilizations—even the major civilizations taught in textbooks confused them.

Thinking that, the mechanical lifeforms stopped chasing the question “Did cultivators really exist?” and instead eagerly urged Xie Xingchen to keep telling stories.

Seeing them practically ready to bring out stools and sunflower seeds to listen, Xie Xingchen shook his head with an amused smile.

Then, as they wished, he began telling one of the most famous mythic stories of Huaxia: Journey to the West.

Starting with the dazzling, multicolored stone left behind when the goddess Nuwa patched the sky, the legendary tale of a monkey began.

In just one night, that handsome, dashing monkey successfully gained fans in the interstellar era.

As Xie Xingchen unfolded the story, the group’s reaction evolved from:

“The main character is a monkey?!”
to “This monkey is amazing!”
to “Great Sage, stop talking and hit them already!”

…all within a few hours of storytelling.

After finishing the thrilling “Three Strikes Against the White Bone Demon” arc, Xie Xingchen—who had talked for an entire night—finally grew so thirsty that he yawned.

Seeing everyone, especially little Randy, still staring at him with shining eyes, Xie Xingchen firmly refused:

“No, no. We agreed—once I finish ‘Three Strikes,’ you all go back to sleep.”

When Randy opened his mouth to act cute and beg, Xie Xingchen quickly covered the child’s mouth, glaring with a headache.

“Especially you, little Randy. How old are you? Ever since you got here you’ve been staying up with us every night. That won’t do. If kids stay up late all the time, you won’t grow tall, you know?”

The moment “growing taller” came up, little Randy instantly wilted.

No other reason—his height really was below standard.

Randy wasn’t that young anymore; he could barely be considered four. But at four, he was even smaller than some three-year-olds.

Before, Xie Xingchen hadn’t noticed, because he’d only just time-traveled and hadn’t updated his sense of children’s height standards yet.

But now, knowing interstellar kids’ typical height, he felt Randy was far too thin and weak.

Even if children who would eventually transform into mechanical lifeforms tended to grow more slowly, Xie Xingchen still felt Randy’s growth rate wasn’t okay.

Xie Xingchen patted Randy’s head and coaxed him softly. “Be good and go to sleep. If you don’t sleep, then tomorrow Brother Xingchen won’t tell you about the Great Sage.”

The moment he heard “Great Sage,” the child finally—reluctantly—agreed to go to sleep.

Sure enough, for kids, that monkey was more important than anything!

Just like back then, when people watched Journey to the West—how many beautiful characters did they ignore just to watch the monkey?

Then when they grew up and looked back—oh, wow, there were that many beauties in that show?

Back then they only watched the monkey; they had zero memory of the pretty girls.

But they somehow still remembered several ugly, goofy monster spirits!

Little Randy lay on Xie Xingchen’s lap, big cat-like eyes staring up at him, then stuck out his pinky—wanting to hook fingers.

Xie Xingchen indulged him and hooked pinkies too.

“Pinky promise, hang it on the hook—one hundred years, no take-backs.”

Only after the promise did the child allow Ludwig to carry him back.

The Next Day

In the morning, right after breakfast, everyone stared at Xie Xingchen with bright, eager eyes.

Xie Xingchen tried to use feeding the cats as an excuse to dodge them for an hour.

But once he returned, he finally resigned himself and began speaking.

He knew Journey to the West well, but he’d mostly forgotten some minor plot points. He didn’t fuss over it—he just told the main events he remembered. That way it went faster, and it was easier on him too.

And just like that, once he started, he kept going… all the way until the fifth day of the New Year.

Just like ordinary office workers who usually only get a week off for the holiday, Ludwig and the others could only stay on Earth for one week as well. On the sixth day, of course, they had to go back to “work.”

After finally getting used to the lively atmosphere, now everyone had to leave again. The people leaving and the one staying were all reluctant.

When they left, Xie Xingchen sent them endless food, drinks, and fun stuff—stuffing their space buttons until they were completely full.

Standing at the spaceport, watching the enormous spaceship slowly rise, until it disappeared from sight, Xie Xingchen finally turned and left.

No matter when, saying goodbye to friends was always painful.

Later you’d realize it wasn’t really a big deal—but in the moment, there was always that small sting in your nose.

Riding his hover vehicle aimlessly, Xie Xingchen eventually ended up back at the palace wall of Chang’an City.

Squatting beneath a tree, he stared wistfully at the “imperial cats” coming and going through the wall holes, play-fighting and tumbling around.

After a long while, he propped his chin in his hands and sighed, then pulled out some delicious dried fish!

The moment the dried fish appeared, that irresistibly tasty smell spread through the air.

The little cats caught the scent and sprinted straight at Xie Xingchen, tilting their heads to act cute, or clinging to his legs while making sweet, drawn-out “meooow~” sounds.

Xie Xingchen, utterly unable to stop petting cats, immediately threw all sadness of parting to the back of his mind.

Right now, he only felt one thing: he was incredibly happy.

Waaah… how could there be such adorable little cats in this world?!

Surrounded by so many cuties, Xie Xingchen not only forgot all feelings of farewell—he even stopped wanting to work.

His light-brain kept pinging “ding ding,” but he just petted this cat, rubbed that one, living like an immortal in bliss.

But cats were all heartless little scoundrels. Every bit of their cuteness was for the dried fish. Once they finished eating, they scattered in an instant, leaving Xie Xingchen shaking his head on the spot, sighing that today was yet another day of being used and abandoned.

He opened his messaging app and saw that the three-person “Lantern Festival Event” group chat had 99+ messages.

Seeing that, Xie Xingchen felt slightly guilty.

After all, these past days he’d shamelessly dumped a huge task on his employees, taking advantage of the fact that they didn’t know about Lunar New Year and didn’t celebrate it—and he’d also unreasonably told them that unless it was absolutely necessary, they should not contact him before the fifth day of the New Year.

“Unless absolutely necessary,” and “do not.”

Any employee seeing those words would be too embarrassed to message their boss unless the situation was truly urgent.

So Ivy and Zhang Yu had accumulated a ton of questions. The moment the “sixth day” came—the day their boss said he’d return to work—they immediately sent everything into the group chat and tagged him.

But their boss was nowhere to be found.

They waited half an hour and still got no reply. After looking at each other, the two blurted out in unison:

“Did the boss get kidnapped?”

Because in their minds, Xie Xingchen was a workaholic on their level.

Even if his workaholic mode came in bursts… he’d rested for so long already. Now that it was the “sixth day” work time he set, his burst-mode workaholic trait should be activating, right?

Zhang Yu—who was closer to Xie Xingchen—immediately panicked and suggested, “Should I call him and ask?”

Please don’t let something have happened.

Ivy quickly stopped her, shaking her head. “Don’t. Let’s wait a bit longer. If the boss still doesn’t respond tomorrow, then we’ll go find him.”

Zhang Yu froze, confused. “Why?”

Why not today and only tomorrow?

Ivy gave a bitter smile, rubbing her hair, and sighed. “If someone can rest, who wants to be bothered by work? The boss has rested for so long—if he’s trying to get back into work mode, he’ll probably fall into procrastination without realizing it.”

Holiday syndrome, basically.

Zhang Yu thought about it, then nodded in full agreement. “That’s true.”

But right after saying it, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for herself.

Waaah, she was so jealous of the boss!

How could the boss rest for so long?!

After receiving this Lantern Festival event task, aside from necessary breaks, she and Ivy had been working nonstop every single moment.

If the boss hadn’t been generous with money, letting them recruit tons of people to form a team, then with just the two of them—even if you killed them, they couldn’t have pulled off this event.

And the hardest part wasn’t even the event content itself, but all the new items and new decorations the event required.

The boss rattled off endless requirements in one breath. He even drew messy little sketches to explain what was what.

Listening didn’t feel difficult—there was a concrete plan and a clear direction.

But once you actually had to turn designs into reality, it became far from easy—especially because they wanted to make it refined and detailed.

That truly demanded enormous time and energy.

Over this period, their twenty-person team had basically been drawing day and night.

All of it, just to perfectly present the Lantern Festival effect the boss described—and the effect they themselves longed to see.

A full week had passed. Without wasting a single second, they had finally completed most of the detailed drawings.

Now, after showing the boss, they still needed people to create 3D models in the StarNet mall, or create physical versions and scan them into StarNet. Only then could they use those assets in the StarNet marketplace.

Otherwise, trying to hold a “Chang’an Lantern Festival Event” in the StarNet plaza would be pure fantasy.

Even without a reply from Xie Xingchen, they didn’t have time to just wait.

Using the window-cutting elements Boss Xie had sent earlier, they wracked their brains designing twelve-zodiac lanterns.

Only after finishing two lantern designs did they finally receive his reply.

[Xie Xingchen]: “I think they’re all pretty good. Let’s go with this.”

Given that none of them had direct exposure to Huaxia’s ancient culture and the prep time was so short, Xie Xingchen had already set his expectations low.

And honestly, the drafts Ivy and Zhang Yu’s team produced—based only on photos Xie Xingchen provided and a few stories he told—were already genius-level in his opinion.

The moment the special notification sound chimed, the two lifted their heads and quickly entered the three-person group chat.

[Zhang Yu]: “Okay boss, no problem boss.”
[Ivy]: “OK, I’ll arrange for modeling right away.”

After replying, they immediately asked their key questions.

[Zhang Yu]: “By the way boss, you said you could handle the Hanfu and jewelry—was that true?”
[Ivy]: “Boss, you said you’d handle the architectural design. How’s that going?”

Two different questions, but both were critical. They didn’t want to rush him, but those were the core of the entire Lantern Festival event—they had to confirm the boss was actually working on them.

Xie Xingchen guiltily rubbed his fingertips together. But then he thought: in recent days he’d occasionally livestreamed cat-watching. Altogether he’d logged a little over two hours—he only needed a bit more than one hour to finish the task and obtain the Hanfu-making machine and jewelry-making machine.

With that, the guilt instantly evaporated.

[Xie Xingchen]: “The architecture issue can be solved today. In a bit, I’ll have Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life scan and upload parts of Chang’an City’s buildings into the StarNet marketplace. Once the scans are done, you can break those buildings into elements or refine them further. Save them afterward, and then you can use different architectural elements as needed.”

[Xie Xingchen]: “As for Hanfu and jewelry, that’ll be later—probably only on the Lantern Festival day itself. Current estimate: finished at dawn on the fifteenth day. Your task is to have everything else fully prepared before dawn on the fifteenth. Then everyone logs in, mass-duplicates the scanned Hanfu, and makes small adjustments to colors or styles.”

Yes—Xie Xingchen’s plan was to use the two machines he’d earn by completing the livestream task on the morning of the fifteenth.

Use the Hanfu machine and jewelry machine to produce as many Hanfu and accessories as possible, upload them to the StarNet marketplace, then have the designers and artists team make minor style and color tweaks.

That way they could quickly create a huge batch of ethereal-looking Hanfu that appeared different at first glance but were essentially based on the same core designs.

And if they had time, they could even create variations on-site using the StarNet plaza decoration interface. As long as it wasn’t ugly or bizarre, more options were better—more is always best.

Accessories would follow the same principle.

After getting clear replies from the boss, Zhang Yu and Ivy finally relaxed.

They reported more progress updates, and at the end, they also screenshot Xie Xingchen’s messages and sent them to their twenty-person work group to reassure everyone.

In the midst of cheering, everyone couldn’t help speeding up.

Not only would they get a hefty bonus after finishing this segment, but more importantly—they genuinely loved the content of this event. Nobody complained about the workload.

In fact, once they heard that Boss Xie would soon have Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life upload portions of Chang’an City’s architecture into the StarNet marketplace, the socially anxious team members—who’d been treating the plaza rental task like a terrifying monster—almost started fighting over who got to do the plaza rental.

In the end, Ivy stepped up and took the rental task.

Ivy said, “Alright, alright—stop fighting. I’ll handle the venue rental. I’ll rent the best location. As for you guys: those who should be drawing, keep drawing; those who should be designing, keep designing; those who should be modeling, hurry up and model. Get everything done. Tomorrow we’ll stop work for half a day to decorate the venue. After the venue is set up, we’ll brainstorm based on the environment and see if new inspiration comes.”

Everyone respected Ivy’s work ability.

And they were even more satisfied with her method.

“Great, great—this plan is good!”
“As expected of Ivy—so thorough.”
“Then it’s settled. Let’s work overtime today. Especially the modelers—you’d better finish all models by tomorrow morning, or I will hit someone.”
“Exactly. If there aren’t enough modelers, come to us. We can pause our work—finish modeling first, then do everything else.”
“…”

In the online meeting, everyone nodded in agreement.

Clearly, they were dying to see the results of their hard work.

Every person here had poured everything into this event. They all felt this was the most inspiration-explosive week of their entire careers.

Forget the money Boss Xie paid—just that overflowing sense of creative flow made them feel the long-lost thrill of loving this industry again.

Add in the good work atmosphere, and the praise and affirmation they received when others admired their drafts… they were confident this event would be a massive success.

They already had momentum—but after hyping themselves up, the momentum became even more frightening.

Everyone worked so intensely they forgot to eat, completely lost in the process. When they finally stopped, they realized it was already late at night.

And at that moment, Ivy—who handled venue rental—posted the rental info in the group, along with photos of certain Chang’an City buildings.

Instantly, the group exploded.

“Waaah… I can die without regrets—what kind of immortal paradise is this?!”
“Ivy was telling us to design architecture earlier, but after seeing this I just want to say—do we even need to design anything? Let’s just use it directly, @Ivy!”
“I agree—we can directly reuse it! With the plaza size Ivy rented, we can basically drop several streets in there, then extract key landmark buildings to form a grid-like layout with interconnected roads!”
“I totally support Lilith’s idea! And we can put a multi-story tower in the middle of the grid area—make it the prize exchange center. Players can redeem different prizes on different floors, and we hang the grand prize at the very top—this will definitely attract tons of people!”

Everyone got more excited as they talked. Ideas surged like a tide.

Little clever details came out one after another—each one making people’s eyes light up. The brain-storming high was downright addictive.

In the end, Zhang Yu and Ivy made the call: no more waiting. Build the venue’s basic framework first; everything else could come after.

So, all at once, everyone logged into the holographic marketplace and arrived at an open-air plaza located at the intersection of Roads 355, 356, 357, and 358—Starlight Plaza.

The previously empty plaza was now surrounded by thick mist.

Because they had verified themselves as Earth Commerce employees on the login page, the mist didn’t block them. They simply walked right in.

Inside, the scene was completely blank. All of Starlight Plaza’s original facilities and decorations had vanished, leaving only an empty starting field.

All the girls stared at Ivy with bright eyes. Ivy smiled, calmly opened the plaza’s decoration interface, entered the Earth Commerce decoration permission password, and pulled up the Chang’an City ancient architecture assets that Xie Xingchen had uploaded earlier that day.

Because their goal was to build a large grid-style “mini Chang’an City,” Ivy directly selected [Building Cluster].

After choosing it, she began clicking previews one by one. Everyone stared unblinkingly at the environmental changes around them and the system’s preview results.

When that mini Chang’an—made of several elegant ancient streets—appeared, they all felt mesmerized.

Especially because it was New Year: the scanned courtyards had red lanterns, red silk, and red couplets hanging at their doors.

The red felt festive—without needing any words, you could feel the holiday atmosphere.

“How about we stitch this street, this street, and this street together?”
“Should we add a river on the side? The rivers are so beautiful—I feel like so many people will love that.”
“Right! Isn’t there a tavern too? Perfect—sell food and drinks by the river. For atmosphere we can put a small boat on the water, or even a large flower boat to guide players along the river, or make it a gameplay point!”
“Hey, that’s a great idea! If we do that, we can add more ‘living’ elements—like the cats Boss Xie showed on stream. What if we set them as special NPCs? Random cats appear, and if they meet someone they like, they give them gifts!”

Everyone grew more and more excited.

Looking at this “mini Chang’an City,” every pair of eyes glowed.

They wanted to give it the best of everything. They wanted it to become everyone’s unforgettable white moonlight and cinnabar mole. They wanted the Lantern Festival event held here to become a memory people could never let go of.

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