Chapter 49
[Ding-dong, your delivery has arrived.]
One second the courier robot was at the door; the next, Philly sprang up and yanked it open.
“Clang—”
The urgent noise of the door opening was downright disturbing in the dead of night. Before any neighbor could complain, unlucky Philly attracted the corridor patrol robot.
“Warning. Resident of unit 1209 has caused a disturbance. Warning. Please do not make noise late at night. Please do not make noise late at night!”
The mechanical voice—neither loud nor soft—made Philly go rigid. He forced a cautious smile at the robot not far away and nodded repeatedly. “Okay, okay, I understand. I’ll be quiet, I will. I’ll be gentle.”
It wasn’t that he was weak—being human and having to bow his head to a building management robot was humiliating—but these robots only followed rules and never showed mercy.
If they caught a resident breaking regulations, they gave one warning. If it happened again, they would directly kick the person out.
Philly did not want to get thrown out in the middle of the night.
He shut the door softly.
A minute later, he finally heard the management robot leave.
As he exhaled in relief, Philly suddenly felt overwhelming envy toward Xie Xingchen.
Other people’s robots: smart, obedient, capable!
The robots he dealt with: dull, stubborn, unforgiving!
Sigh…
When would he get robots as fun and useful as Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life?
Honestly, he wouldn’t even mind if they awakened into mechanical lifeforms!
After hearing Xie Xingchen constantly talk about “when my robots awaken into ___,” Philly no longer thought robot awakening was a bad thing.
Shaking off that ill-timed, strange thought, Philly hugged the fruit bundle in his arms—and the “wounds” dealt by robots instantly healed into happiness.
He’d never imagined that, as someone with terrible luck, he’d get a rare burst of “good fortune” one day!
Sure, he’d only won one fruit bundle, but compared to barbecue, raw-marinated seafood, congee, vegetables—he thought the fruit bundle was the best.
To be honest, he was very interested in drinks.
When he watched Xie Xingchen make beverages, he’d already frozen ice cubes and chilled water, gritted his teeth and bought a canister of white sugar, and even followed the trend and bought some sago.
Just now, he’d been boiling the sago—not much, maybe only twenty or thirty pearls—and he’d poured in plenty of water.
Even though there was still a lot of water left afterward, he had to admit: the sago dessert method was ridiculously simple—so simple Philly believed anyone could do it.
He poured out the extra water, turned off the heat, sprinkled in white sugar, and used the residual warmth to melt it. When he tasted it, he was stunned.
Chewy and springy, soft and sweet!
This was way too delicious!
So delicious that Philly felt like he’d lived all these years for nothing.
Suppressing the urge to cook another pot of sago, he valued the fruit bundle even more—hence the late-night disturbance.
He forced himself to stay calm and opened the fruit bundle.
Inside lay one enormous mango, three passionfruits, and two lemons.
After counting, Philly’s mouth couldn’t stop curving into a smile.
He’d thought it would be one of each fruit—he hadn’t expected Boss Xie to be so generous!
Impatient, he took out the fruits and picked the smallest lemon and passionfruit, washed them clean, and carefully prepared them before putting them into a crystal pitcher he’d already set out.
Then he added a huge amount of ice, poured in an appropriate amount of chilled water, and at once condensation beaded on the pitcher’s surface—misty and gorgeous.
He couldn’t afford honey, so he used white sugar—sugar dissolved in hot water and cooled beforehand.
With a gentle stir, yellow lemon slices, orange passionfruit pulp, clear syrup, and icy water mixed together. The pitcher instantly bloomed into a stunning fruit-tea color.
He inhaled deeply.
Philly was captivated.
Sweet-and-sour with a fresh fruity fragrance—just smelling it, he knew it had to be good.
And sure enough—
The moment it hit his mouth, Philly’s eyes lit up.
Oh my god—he’d lived this long and never tasted something so good. Even the sago he’d just learned to make couldn’t compare!
He drank his portion to the last drop, cherishing every sip. That night, even his dreams were filled with the clean, refreshing taste of fruit tea.
The next morning, inspiration exploded. He opened his light-brain and started typing. That very day, he launched a food-themed novel—and unexpectedly, it hooked everyone, turning an unknown nobody into an overnight legend.
After ending the stream last night, Xie Xingchen casually found a wind-sheltered spot, set up camp, and fell asleep.
The next morning, he discovered his “Make Others Envious” quest progress had surged.
It had been only 70%. After one sleep, it suddenly jumped to 90%.
That meant he only needed ten thousand more loyal followers to complete the “Make Others Envious” quest and finally obtain the workshop he’d been longing for.
Could it be that after he ended the stream, people were still watching the replay?
Xie Xingchen didn’t understand, but it didn’t stop him from being happy.
The quest time limit was seven days. Only one day had passed, and he was almost done. How could he fail at this difficulty?
No—right now his only worry was where he should build the workshop.
He climbed out of bed brimming with energy, found a hidden spot to take care of his business, then—rarely feeling vain—carefully dressed himself up. Before the sky fully brightened, while the world was still gray and the sun hadn’t risen, he started the livestream again.
A man keeps his word. He’d said he’d wake early to watch the sunrise, so he would wake early to watch the sunrise!
Whether the viewers who stayed with him late into the night could get up, he didn’t know. But he was up—and he kept his promise by streaming the sunrise for them.
Honestly, Xie Xingchen was pretty ruthless.
He’d streamed so late yesterday, yet after only a few hours of sleep, he went live again.
It exhausted the fans who had his livestream set to “special notifications.” They’d barely slept two hours before getting his alert, then groggily dragging themselves out of dreams.
Good thing it was the weekend—if it were a workday, Xie Xingchen would’ve been cursed to hell for being a beast.
Watching viewers pour in, Xie Xingchen was astonished. “Huh? You’re all up this early?”
He’d thought hardly anyone would watch.
The viewers: too tired to complain.jpg
Who do you think made us get up?
And now he’s acting innocent?
Aside from night owls who hadn’t slept at all, the just-woken viewers couldn’t even muster the energy to type.
Only a few scattered messages scolded him. Xie Xingchen wasn’t used to it.
He clapped his hands and pumped them up. “Early to bed, early to rise—good for your health! Don’t be sleepy, everyone. Get hyped! We’re going to watch the sunrise!”
Breathing in the morning air, Xie Xingchen turned a corner.
Up ahead, the view opened wide.
Even in the dim gray light, the deep blue ocean couldn’t be concealed.
In the darkest hour before dawn, the sea still carried a magnificent beauty.
He chose a flat rock, sat quietly, aimed the liveball at the ocean—then said nothing.
In the stillness, you could clearly hear early birds calling, and waves crashing against the rocks.
Nearby, a nimble seabird flapped its wings and snatched fish from the sea. Farther out, a group of adorable dolphins played, rising and dipping along the surface…
Impatient interstellar people—like modern people—found it hard to calm down and appreciate nature, or perhaps they simply never considered such scenery rare.
But on this ordinary morning, they discovered that some things, when viewed from a different angle and in a different mood, could become an entirely new landscape.
Maybe the sea was too beautiful. For a while, even the chat went blank.
As time passed, more and more little animals appeared with the dawn.
No one knew how long it had been when they finally saw a brilliant corner of sunlight emerge over the sea.
Like gold spilled across the water—sunlight adorned the ocean with the most expensive, glittering gems. As it rose, the entire surface seemed to glow: still blue, yet suddenly dazzling.
When the golden halo spread across the ocean, the sun finally lifted above the horizon. Only when it climbed higher into the sky did the “jewels” on the water fade away.
[So beautiful!]
[Peaceful, and yet overwhelming.]
[I’ve never seen scenery this beautiful!]
People sighed and marveled.
[Suddenly I feel how small we are in front of nature.]
[The greatest craftsmanship in the world will always be nature itself!]
A sunrise like this was beyond human power.
Such natural yet everyday scenery couldn’t be perfectly simulated even by the most advanced civilization.
Especially the planet’s natural cycle of “sunrise and moonset”—not only could it not be simulated, it couldn’t even be attempted.
It was shaped by the planet’s unique rotation. Human effort couldn’t shake it.
[Popping in with an unrelated thought… is Earth’s environment kind of special? Right now it seems only large planets have this kind of sunrise-and-sunset rhythm, right?]
[Huh… now that you mention it, that’s true! This type of planet is most suitable for humans, and it’s easy for it to be discovered as a large planet! So should we congratulate Boss Xie on getting a habitable planet with the potential to develop into a large one?]
One person said it, then another, and soon a whole crowd was discussing it…
This made Xie Xingchen freeze.
Thinking hard, after a long while, fragments of the original host’s memories finally surfaced.
It did seem—just as the viewers said—that Earth’s environment was rather special.
But since Xie Xingchen had grown up on Earth, and the original host had grown up on a core planet of human civilization, neither of them had ever thought it was unusual for there to be a sun in the morning and a moon at night.
Now, after the viewers pointed it out, Xie Xingchen realized that not all Star Alliance planets were like this. Some had two moons, three suns, or even sun and moon visible together. Some had extreme temperature differences and different day–night lengths; some even had only polar day and polar night, and people lived purely by the clock.
A phrase suddenly surfaced in his mind:
A man holding a priceless jade invites guilt.
Before he had the ability to protect Earth, he couldn’t let such things be discussed casually.
Seeing viewers keep talking about Earth’s ecology, Xie Xingchen hurriedly laughed it off. “No, no—Earth’s environment definitely can’t compare to those big planets. Otherwise, I couldn’t have afforded it even if you sold me. You know Earth’s initial rating was just a barren planet that had only barely entered the habitable category.”
Worried that still wasn’t clear enough, he continued playing the poor card. “Sigh, I won’t say too much or you’ll say I’m fishing for sympathy, but Earth’s location really makes me want to complain. It’s too remote—so remote that you have to throw money at it just to build routes. Sometimes I even wonder if I can earn that much. Will Earth be reclaimed in a hundred years?”
He’d meant to only sell misery, but as he spoke, he genuinely got sad.
Everyone knew infrastructure cost a fortune—and planetary infrastructure cost even more.
He didn’t dare calculate the total. He was afraid he’d collapse, because it was—simply put—too expensive.
Just thinking about the money it would take made his chest tighten.
A brutally real problem: if Earth never saw major development, then at the current pace, he might need decades of building just to reach a passing baseline.
Working diligently for decades, only to keep the planet that was already his—heartbreaking.
But he had no choice. He was alone, while other planet lords had entire families—or even whole clans—working together.
Xie Xingchen sighed. “Ah… forget it. Let’s not talk about this. We’ll deal with it when we get there. I’ll work hard, and if it really doesn’t work out… we’ll talk then. Anyway, it’s still a long time before the planet’s ownership is truly decided.”
And just like that, he successfully changed the subject.
[Pat pat. You don’t need to worry too much. Remote planets do cost more to build, but as long as Earth Trading House keeps going, slowly building it up will work!]
[Exactly! We’ll always support Earth Trading House! Boss Xie, please work hard and list more products to drain our account balances—we’re willing to contribute to your planet’s construction!]
[Yes, yes—if you really run out of money, you can even raise prices. As long as it’s not outrageous, we can accept something a little higher.]
Seeing fans tell him to raise prices, Xie Xingchen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
If he’d wanted to raise prices, he wouldn’t have started so low.
And honestly, he’d already earned plenty. Raise prices again? His conscience wouldn’t allow it.
He waved his hands again and again. With so many people caring about him, he smiled with bright spirit.
“No need to raise prices, no need. I can handle it. Anyway, there’s still a long time before the hundred-year mark, and the review threshold won’t be that high. If I take it slow, I can definitely make it work. I was just complaining a bit earlier—things are actually fine.”
Clearly he didn’t want to talk about it, so he chatted a few more lines and—once again—shifted topics.
By now, the sun was high.
After watching the sunrise, he jumped down from the rocks.
But after only two steps, he felt something underfoot.
He looked down—there was a big clam beneath his foot.
Xie Xingchen: Huh. Looks familiar… a pearl oyster?
He wasn’t sure, but it was huge—like a deep-sea mother pearl oyster washed ashore.
He crouched, picked up the unbelievably huge clam, and knocked it twice.
[Is that a shell?]
[That shell is huge!]
[Boss Xie, are you going to cook something delicious for us again?]
Seeing him pick it up, viewers’ eyes lit up.
Just as they were guessing wildly, the merfolk showed up.
[Wow, such a big pearl oyster—there should be lots of pearls inside!]
[Didn’t expect Earth to have pearl oysters too. If he gets a big pearl, Boss Xie will be rich!]
The moment the word “pearl” appeared, mouths fell open across civilizations.
From ancient times to now, pearls had always been a raw material for beautiful jewelry.
In the past, pearls were natural; now, cultivation dominated.
But just like modern times, interstellar pearls were still divided into cultured and natural. Cultured pearls were less valuable—but if you raised a “king pearl,” that was another story.
Natural pearls were also divided into freshwater and seawater pearls. Freshwater pearls were less prized for quality reasons, while seawater pearls varied greatly in price by species, size, color, roundness, and more.
Back on Earth, the best pearls were South Sea pearls, and Qiong Island’s “South Island pearls” were a type of South Sea pearl too—top-tier southern pearls, with “South Sea golden pearls” the rarest of all.
But what the situation was like now, Xie Xingchen had no idea.
Earth had been abandoned for so many years—who knew how pearls might have evolved?
Xie Xingchen had once enjoyed watching “opening pearl oyster” videos as a stress relief, so he wasn’t unfamiliar with the process.
Now that he’d found a huge clam that looked like a pearl oyster, his fingers itched.
“How about I livestream opening the clam for you?” he suggested.
The chat eagerly agreed.
[Yes yes! I’ve never watched someone open a pearl oyster!]
[Same! Pearls are common, but no one livestreams opening pearl oysters?]
[What’s strange about that? Humans who like streaming don’t like running into the sea, and merfolk from pearl-producing places don’t like streaming~]
Xie Xingchen was surprised. “Merfolk don’t like streaming?”
In the original host’s memories, he’d seen plenty of merfolk streams—some were even big stars!
Naively, Xie Xingchen said exactly what he was thinking, and the moment he did, he got laughed at.
[HAHAHA come look, everyone—an idiot! Can you believe someone this naive still exists? Too rare!]
[I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts. Boss Xie, you’re too funny… Those you mentioned are celebrities and influencers. Of course they stream! We mean ordinary citizens—on Merfolk Planet, regular people who stream are super rare. Rare enough that whenever a merfolk goes live, the streaming app posts a little announcement!]
“Country bumpkin” Xie Xingchen was shocked. “Huh? Really?”
So merfolk really had that kind of status?
Going live came with an announcement?
Awesome!
[Yeah. A while ago—back in April—there was even drama. A bunch of human streamers said this kind of special treatment was unfair and demanded platform reform.]
[I watched too. Useless. Complaining didn’t change anything—things stayed the same. Merfolk streamers are the minority. If the platform doesn’t support them, merfolk streams might disappear completely.]
[Totally agree. And merfolk are generally very good-looking! Such visuals going to waste is tragic. Honestly, even I—someone who doesn’t really watch streams—would idle there just to admire their faces!]
After being hit with an education barrage, Xie Xingchen sighed regretfully. “April, huh? I was working like a dog that month—no wonder I didn’t know.”
Everyone said: you should be busy. If you weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to buy happiness.
Xie Xingchen: Great, I got sentimental for no reason again.
The viewers didn’t care whether he was busy. They only cared whether they could buy things.
He took out a bucket from his spatial button, placed the pearl oyster the merfolk had identified inside, and then searched around. He actually found two more.
Three pearl oysters total. One was about as wide as the bottom of his bucket; the other two were even bigger. In the end, he had to switch from a bucket to a large basin to fit all three.
He found a flat patch of sand and took out his tools—a shell-opening clamp and a pry bar.
Everything ready, he put on protective gloves and began.
Only three pearl oysters. They were huge, but not too hard to pry open.
He opened them in order of size, starting with the smallest— the one he’d stepped on first.
The thick clam meat made your mouth water, but Xie Xingchen knew pearl oyster meat didn’t taste good, so he tore it open without hesitation and reached inside to feel for pearls.
Since this wasn’t artificially cultivated, there usually weren’t many pearls.
No matter how big the oyster was, it probably held only a few pearls—if you were unlucky, maybe none at all!
Luckily, Xie Xingchen’s luck was good. The moment he reached in, he felt several bumps.
He quickly cut an opening and squeezed. Immediately, a huge, glossy black pearl popped out.
Xie Xingchen: !
Everyone watching: !
[Holy—black pearl! A black pearl that big—Boss Xie just hit the jackpot, right?]
[No way. That could go straight to auction. At least 28mm in diameter. This luck is unreal!]
The perfectly round black pearl stunned Xie Xingchen.
He truly hadn’t expected to be this lucky!
He wiped it clean and placed it into the basin, then reached in again and said excitedly, “There are at least two more pearls in this oyster!”
Then he added regretfully, “But they don’t feel very regular.”
Still—irregular or not, they were deep-sea pearls!
If the shapes were unique enough to have collector value, they might still sell for a high price.
With rising excitement, he cut another opening and squeezed out a second pearl.
It was also black, but only half the diameter of the first—and not perfectly round, more oval. Still, the shape wasn’t ugly and the quality was good; it would fetch a fine price.
That left the last pearl in this huge oyster. It was right in the center. It felt big—yet oddly uneven in thickness.
Xie Xingchen didn’t expect much.
But when it came out, he discovered it was a flawless teardrop-shaped black pearl!
Not only was the form perfect, the quality was superb—the kind that would drive people mad at an auction.
Xie Xingchen: !
Was his luck exploding today?
He could pick up top-tier treasures like this?
He was practically blessed by the god of fortune!
Xie Xingchen was fired up.
While his luck was hot, he excitedly opened the remaining two giant pearl oysters.
The second oyster was even larger than the first, but for some reason, its pearls weren’t as big.
The pearls it produced were very round, but smaller— even smaller than the smallest black pearl he’d just gotten—and there were only two.
Still, one thing made them special—
They were two rare silver pearls!
Just the color alone made them even more precious than the black pearls.
Xie Xingchen was delighted. Eyes smiling into crescents, he said, “Looks like today’s luck really is great—two beautiful silver pearls.”
Now Xie Xingchen had: one super-large black pearl, one smaller black pearl, one perfect teardrop high-quality black pearl, and two extremely round silver pearls.
Just these five pearls alone meant a clean profit in ten digits!
Better than winning the lottery.
He took a deep breath and picked up the last pearl oyster.
Please be a gold-lipped oyster…
After a brief prayer, he opened it nervously.
Perhaps the gods truly favored him—his wish came true.
This final, enormous oyster really was a gold-lipped oyster.
And the South Sea golden pearls inside were astonishingly rare.
He extracted three pearls total. Two were huge, high-diameter golden pearls—and the last was an irregular pearl.
In the industry, irregular large pearls were usually average in price.
But this one was different.
What he’d opened was nature’s miraculous craftsmanship.
Nature was unbelievable— it could produce a pearl like this?
It was only a natural irregular pearl, yet it somehow looked exactly like a small deer lying down to rest.
Even more incredible: the “eye” area was darker than the surrounding color, adding the perfect finishing touch.
A naturally formed deer-shaped pearl!
Xie Xingchen’s eyes slowly widened.
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