Chapter 55
On the way back, Fei Fei no longer needed to hop along by itself.
Xie Xingchen held Fei Fei, got into the vehicle, and in less than ten minutes, they were back at the rapeseed flower field.
He set Fei Fei down and prepared to leave.
But the moment he turned around, Fei Fei climbed onto the top of his foot and refused to let him go.
Xie Xingchen flexed his foot and looked at Fei Fei, puzzled. “What are you doing?”
Wasn’t this little thing avoiding him like the plague before? Now it wouldn’t let him leave?
Amazing.
Fei Fei shook its little body. Not only did it block Xie Xingchen from leaving, it also let out an aggrieved “gu-gu” at him.
Xie Xingchen was so annoyed he laughed.
He grabbed Fei Fei by its long ears and flicked its fluffy forehead. “You’re pretty cocky for such a little thing, huh.”
Its personality was awful—before, it had been acting all dazed and innocent, almost fooling even him.
Fei Fei didn’t care. It kept “gu-gu”ing, and later it even made an angry hiss-hah, hiss-hah sound.
Seeing that, Xie Xingchen simply picked it up and carried it back with him.
But on the way back, Fei Fei became more and more unruly.
Xie Xingchen rubbed his forehead helplessly and complained to the rabbit, “Lord Bunny, I want to plant a whole mountain of carrots for you too. But right now I only have one seed. I have to propagate it slowly before I can grow carrots—understand?”
He felt like the rabbit could understand.
Because after he said that, the rabbit actually quieted down.
By the time they returned to the starship, the rabbit didn’t even run away. Instead, it followed Xie Xingchen step by step.
Xie Xingchen: “…” What a realistic little bunny.
A promise made was a promise to keep.
On the way back, Xie Xingchen had hoped he could rest a bit before working again. Now, his “foreman” Fei Fei completely shattered that fantasy.
Without even washing or changing clothes, and with what was basically a bird’s nest still on his head, Xie Xingchen took out the carrot seed that Fei Fei treasured most from the system mail and soaked it in growth solution.
He carefully observed the seed soaking in the plant growth solution. Only after confirming the seed was gradually plumping up did Xie Xingchen go to the bathroom to clean himself up.
Half an hour later, he took the now lively-looking carrot seed, checked it, and then soaked it in green-substance solution.
At this moment, the bunny sat perfectly still, watching Xie Xingchen’s every move.
Even when Xie Xingchen left, it stayed put, guarding its beloved carrot seed.
Its stubborn, silly look made Xie Xingchen both angry and amused.
He grabbed Fei Fei and gave it a rough ruffle. “So you’ve got two faces, huh?”
To the carrot seed: it treats it like a treasure. And to me? Tossed aside like trash?
Xie Xingchen snorted a laugh, chasing away the tacky thought that had popped into his head.
He poked Fei Fei again. Seeing that it insisted on guarding the seed, and not wanting it to get in the way, Xie Xingchen could only use his trump card.
“Prosperity, come here!” Xie Xingchen called loudly.
Not long after, Prosperity entered the breeding room.
Prosperity looked at Fei Fei, then at Xie Xingchen, and suddenly had a bad feeling.
After dawdling for several dozen seconds, Prosperity reluctantly said, “Boss… what are your orders?”
He didn’t want Xie Xingchen to have orders. Prosperity only wanted to go farm.
However—
Xie Xingchen patted Prosperity’s shoulder and instructed him solemnly, “Prosperity, this Fei Fei absolutely must stay here. So in a bit, I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on this seed—don’t let Fei Fei ruin it.”
Prosperity: ?
Prosperity: “…”
Achievement unlocked: Only Prosperity got hurt.
After leaving his instructions, Xie Xingchen patted his own butt and left.
He was exhausted. He needed to sleep, otherwise he wouldn’t have the energy to force-grow plants.
And the carrot seed needed to soak in green-substance solution anyway—using that time to sleep was perfect.
He slept deeply through the night without dreams. Only when his alarm sounded did Xie Xingchen lazily get up.
He rolled around on the bed for a while, too sleepy to want to rise.
Life was unpredictable—like stuffing sausage into intestines.
Yesterday he’d been celebrating that he’d escaped the “three-point routine,” but starting today, he’d probably be dragged back into that dull hell again.
With his face buried in the blanket, Xie Xingchen groaned, “Sigh… born to toil!”
Why didn’t he have the fate to enjoy the good life?
Sighing, he climbed out of bed with great effort.
He drifted like a ghost into the bathroom. When he came out, he finally felt a bit more awake.
He trudged to the kitchen, ate breakfast, sighed heavily, and stepped into the breeding room.
When he arrived, Prosperity was sitting in a chair, silent, while Fei Fei was being held by its long ears in Prosperity’s grip, unable to move.
The first moment Prosperity saw his boss, his eyes were full of accusation.
Xie Xingchen guiltily averted his gaze, not daring to meet Prosperity’s eyes.
Xie Xingchen: Uh… that does seem a bit too much?
He’d gone to sleep and left Prosperity alone to deal with Fei Fei—too lightly and it wouldn’t work, too harshly and he couldn’t.
Thinking of that made him feel even guiltier.
To keep Prosperity from speaking up, Xie Xingchen pretended to be busy and picked up the carrot seed soaking in green-substance solution.
[Carrot Seed: This is the bunny’s favorite food seed in the whole world (no exceptions). It’s ridiculously easy to grow! Companion, hurry—remember to plant an entire bunny mountain full of it!]
Xie Xingchen: Uh… that wording…
Thanks. I feel nauseated.
But ignoring the filler tone, Xie Xingchen’s eyes landed on the words “ridiculously easy to grow,” and he raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
That easy?
He pondered, then sent his mental power into the seed.
And he discovered the seed not only had no dark matter—it was actually full of rich green substance. Xie Xingchen was stunned.
Stiffly turning his head, he looked at Fei Fei, whose throat was basically being “choked” by Prosperity’s grip, and couldn’t help asking the life-shaking question…
Was Fei Fei the true chosen one?
He stepped forward and poked Fei Fei like a restless kid. Then poked it again.
After poking it more than ten times, the dumb bunny still didn’t react—but the system did.
[System Notice: Please do not frequently disturb your companion.]
Xie Xingchen: “…” Yeah. Chosen one confirmed.
Even the trash system cares about it?
Tsk.
Someone who didn’t receive the system’s affection felt weirdly jealous.
Fine—he wouldn’t argue with the chosen one. This poor working stiff would go work for the chosen one!
Picking up the carrot seed again, Xie Xingchen began to force-grow it.
In no time, the carrot seed sprouted, flowered, and bore fruit.
The moment Prosperity’s “chokehold” loosened even a little, Fei Fei saw the fresh, vivid carrot in Xie Xingchen’s hands and kicked hard—actually breaking free from Prosperity’s iron grip.
Xie Xingchen: !
Xie Xingchen spun around and shouted, “Fei Fei—stop!”
The fat bunny reluctantly stopped, staring at him with red eyes like it was accusing him.
Xie Xingchen wiped sweat off his brow.
He looked up and told Prosperity, “Prosperity, hurry and take this idiot away.”
As he spoke, he waved dismissively in disgust. Then he set down the carrot seedling in his hand, and immediately opened the system’s companion page.
[Companion Info Panel]
Name: Fat Rabbit Ji (Fei Fei)
Race: A rabbit species that loves travel and loves carrots
Status: Wants to eat carrots ing~
Pack: [+]
Note: Your companion really wants to eat carrots right now. Please prepare fresh carrots for your companion!
Xie Xingchen: “…”
Damn, this rabbit is really something.
It hadn’t even eaten the carrot yet, and it already changed the info panel’s text.
Weary, Xie Xingchen tapped open the pack [+]. He wanted to prepare travel supplies and send the rabbit off on a trip as soon as possible.
Just go already—stop messing with him and his carrots!
But unexpectedly, in the [Food] section, besides the original three options, carrot had become a new selectable option.
Xie Xingchen was slightly shocked.
Honestly, it was getting harder and harder not to believe Fei Fei was a chosen one.
Look at how the system treated Fei Fei versus how it treated him—blatant favoritism, just short of spelling it out.
He stared at the carrot in his hand and sighed.
Then he had to pour a large amount of mental power into it.
Only after he got more seeds and no longer needed to keep this carrot did he continue packing the travel bag.
With additional carrot seeds secured, Xie Xingchen generously selected carrot in the [Food] section.
[Food]: Carrot ×1
[Tool]: A cute and sturdy little umbrella ×1
[Lucky Item]: Rare · Four-leaf Clover
[Other]: Empty crystal box for precious items ×1
Confirm this travel pack? [Yes] [No]
After clicking [Yes], Xie Xingchen saw Fei Fei’s status change immediately.
[Companion Info Panel]
Name: Fat Rabbit Ji (Fei Fei)
Race: A rabbit species that loves travel—and loves carrots even more
Status: Wants to travel for carrots now~
Pack: [+]
Note: Your companion saw that you packed carrots. It’s thrilled and can’t wait to go traveling!
Xie Xingchen: “…” Heh. Hurry up and go.
He stared at the status bar until he saw Fei Fei sling on its pack and leave. Only then did Xie Xingchen let out a breath, for no obvious reason.
The carrot he force-grew went into Fei Fei’s pack. The newly obtained seeds now had to be re-bred.
After choosing the most vigorous-looking seed and setting it aside as a backup, Xie Xingchen continued his forcing-growth work.
The appearance of four crops—carrot, mugwort, mint, and wild chrysanthemum—made the planting robots’ workload spike sharply.
Rose, lily, and camellia were still expanding; the tropical fruit garden was still being cleared. And then Xie Xingchen suddenly dumped four new plants on them. Even if the planting robots worked nonstop, they couldn’t possibly finish.
In the end, Xie Xingchen had no choice but to buy more robots.
Fortunately, even the smallest planting—wild chrysanthemum—already covered about three-tenths of a mu, so he no longer had to worry about seeds being ruined and failing the quest.
Also worth mentioning: whenever Xie Xingchen planted carrots… rabbits would keep appearing nearby.
To avoid turning his living area into a rabbit den, he planned to keep only a small patch here for seed stock. Tomorrow, he would go clear a piece of wasteland near the rabbits’ “headquarters” and plant carrots there.
After planning tomorrow’s work, Xie Xingchen shook his neck, which crackled loudly, then opened the StarNet marketplace.
Midnight was the day Earth Commerce’s tasting slots went live.
Xie Xingchen planned to sit and watch sales.
Earth Commerce’s tasting-slot price wasn’t high—about 10 star-coins per portion—so he could only make money through volume.
Normally, no one would price tasting slots so low. After all, StarNet marketplace took a cut; 10 star-coins split in half meant the seller barely got anything.
And right now, food was still a luxury. Add the expensive instrument rental costs, and the tasting-slot cost was at least in the millions—sometimes tens of millions. If you used luxury ingredients, prices truly had no upper limit.
Xie Xingchen priced so cheaply partly because his own food costs were low, and partly because Ludwig wasn’t charging him. Otherwise, to recoup costs, he’d have to at least double the price.
Due to StarNet marketplace rules, each product’s maximum inventory was capped at 1,000,000, and the same item could only be listed up to that daily maximum.
Xie Xingchen didn’t understand why such a rule existed, but as a user, he could only accept it.
After setting three tasting-slot products to 1,000,000 stock each per day, he didn’t think further.
In his plan, a total of 3,000,000 tasting slots would sell out in the first few days—Earth Commerce’s food had a strong reputation, and the price was low, so plenty of netizens would join just for the hype.
But after the first three days, the excitement would cool. Once people calmed down, the tasting slot’s popularity would likely drop.
Why was his outlook so conservative?
Don’t ask—ask because he’d tested the taste himself.
The instrument Ludwig brought was already the most expensive, newest, and strongest tasting-slot machine on the market.
Compared to the market standard of at most 80% realism, this machine’s terrifying price came with terrifying performance: its realism reached 82%.
Don’t underestimate that 2%. It represented a technological breakthrough—the most extreme product currently achievable.
Even so, missing 18% realism meant the taste in a tasting slot was still nowhere near real food.
And that was with Xie Xingchen owning the best light-brain on the market. If his device were even slightly worse, that 82% realism could drop to 62% in practice.
Xie Xingchen: Emmm.
In the end, the tasting slot was basically a device-eating feature.
Better light-brain device = higher realism.
Worse light-brain device = lower realism.
The tasting-slot instrument only provided a baseline.
Compared to device performance, it wasn’t the key factor—but for regular people… higher realism was still better than lower.
Xie Xingchen was waiting for midnight. The netizens were waiting too—some, longing desperately, were even more eager than he was!
[Little Raindrop Dripdrip: Aaaaah this is the first time I’ve felt time move this slowly! I wasn’t even this anxious when I tested into an advanced academy!]
[House Cat: Don’t panic, everyone. Breathe deeply with me—don’t let anxiety fill your mind. Tell yourself: I can do it, I will get it, I will get it!]
[Hahahaha Freak: ? I’m dying—are you inheriting my “hahahaha”? Still saying “I will”? Self-hypnosis much? Not me. I upgraded my light-brain. You’ll all be jealous in a second!]
[Watching Idiots: Uh… is “Hahahaha Freak” dumb? People still don’t know to buy through the webpage? Buying a new light-brain is pretty dumb.]
Alice’s fans’ battlefield was finally broken.
Now, using the webpage to? had become common knowledge.
Probably even StarNet marketplace’s creators never imagined that one day, a seller would make the webpage more popular than full-holo.
People sniped each other; people watched each other’s drama. Before it was even time to?, the atmosphere was already explosive.
The tasting-slot listing time matched Earth Commerce’s other products—unified midnight listing.
Though every day, plenty of people camped at Earth Commerce, today the crowd was so big it made you mad—because Xie Xingchen had posted on StarBlog this morning that low-priced tasting slots would go live at midnight.
Three foods, three million tasting slots. Normally, there’d be no queue for that many. But as always…
Since you’re already here, not grabbing something else feels like a waste.
So everyone squeezed in at midnight, planning to grab some flowers/food/flower tea too.
Tick-tock. Heart pounding.
When the countdown shifted from double digits to single digits, everyone’s eyes and minds locked onto the gray purchase link.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!
Counting silently, fingers smashing the buy button.
One second later—winners rejoiced, losers grieved.
StarBlog was flooded again with a tragedy and comedy that didn’t match.
Luckily, Xie Xingchen had listed a full three million tasting slots, so the disappointed weren’t that devastated.
It felt like… at least they got a “pity guarantee.”
Sophia stared at the empty page in front of her, disappointed as usual.
She was born on a remote planet and raised there. Her family wasn’t “bad” by local standards, but compared to developed planets, Sophia’s family could only be described as “poor.”
Her planet’s internet speed was average, and her light-brain was the cheapest bottom-tier model. Competing with developed planets using that equipment could only be described as “participation matters.”
Today was exactly the same as the past few months.
Sophia still didn’t get what she wanted most—the sunflower with 5% green-substance content. But after disappointment, she clenched her teeth and decided to spend two weeks of allowance to buy one scallion pancake tasting slot and one sugar-roasted chestnut tasting slot to try.
But due to her device limitations, even with the tasting slots, she could at most taste 60% of the flavor.
Sophia sighed. Her mother, Puli, disapproved. “Sophia, you shouldn’t spend money on things like this.”
When she was young, she’d also believed the “gourmet food” hype online. She scrimped and saved, spent several thousand star-coins on a wildly popular tasting slot—and discovered…
She’d been scammed.
Whether the food itself was mediocre or her light-brain was too bad, she didn’t know. But not only did she not taste what people described—she tasted a disgusting texture.
Since then, she no longer believed in so-called “gourmet food” online.
So Puli didn’t want her daughter wasting money on StarNet marketplace “tasting slots.”
Sophia pouted, listless. “But Mom… I already bought it.”
Thinking that tasting slots were expensive, Puli immediately grew unhappy. She frowned. “Sophia, you should’ve discussed it with me before spending money.”
Sophia frowned in confusion. “Why, Mom? It’s just two weeks of allowance. I bought it, so I bought it. Worst case, I won’t eat snacks for these two weeks.”
Puli’s mouth fell open. “Two weeks of allowance?”
She only gave her daughter 10 star-coins a week. Was Sophia lying?
Realizing that possibility, Puli’s mood darkened and her tone turned stern. “Sophia, lying is not what a good child does!”
Sophia sighed and pulled up her light-brain screen for Puli to see. “Mom, I’m not lying. It really is 10 star-coins per tasting slot. I bought two.”
After that, Sophia slumped back to her room, leaving Puli standing there, wanting to speak but stopping herself.
Several minutes later, Puli knocked on Sophia’s door. After getting permission, she went in and apologized sincerely. Once her daughter forgave her, Puli hesitated for a long time—then opened the Earth Commerce tasting-slot page.
Seeing there wasn’t much stock left, she placed an order for scallion-oil mixed noodles.
But when she returned to the page, all three tasting slots were already sold out.
Puli’s eyes widened in shock.
Three million tasting slots… sold out in under an hour?
H-how good did it have to be?
Puli was grateful she got one.
She opened her light-brain and tried it nervously.
The first bite opened a whole new world.
So there really was food this delicious in the world!
This was what “gourmet” meant!
If Xie Xingchen’s food could blow away the developed planets, then remote planets were instantly conquered too.
“Sophia, the Earth Commerce thing called scallion-oil mixed noodles is unbelievably delicious,” Puli couldn’t help telling her beloved daughter.
Even at only 60% realism, she still thought it tasted incredible.
Sophia, who’d tasted it too, immediately smiled. She hugged her mom and jumped up and down. That indescribable magic of good food finally soothed her disappointed, resentful heart.
That night, there were many people like Sophia and Puli—so many that related StarBlog trending topics were tagged with the red “Boiling” label.
There were suggestions, and there were pure emotional outbursts.
In under an hour, Earth Commerce’s three million tasting slots sold out.
Xie Xingchen was extremely surprised.
But it had to be said—this was a great chance to gauge how well people accepted Earth’s cuisine.
After all, so many samples meant the reviews were far more reliable than before.
Xie Xingchen rarely opened StarBlog. He planned to scroll through what people were saying.
But the moment he opened it, he saw a trending tag:
#BossXiePleaseLookAtRemotePlanets#
Entering the topic and reading the first dozen posts, Xie Xingchen discovered a problem he’d never noticed before—the purchasing disadvantage faced by remote planets.
It was a realistic issue, and an easy one for sellers to overlook.
For most sellers, as long as supply exceeded demand, even if they noticed it, they probably wouldn’t care.
But Xie Xingchen was different. Compared to making money, he wanted to expand Earth’s influence and let more interstellar citizens know about Earth.
In that case, the demands of remote-planet citizens—who couldn’t compete fairly due to weaker light-brain devices—were no longer a “small matter.”
After all, selling to anyone was still selling.
And looking at these remote-planet people, many had followed him from the beginning.
During his Qiong Island livestreams, they’d stayed up with him and woke early with him.
Some familiar usernames and those envy-filled tones made Xie Xingchen feel a sense of familiarity, making him think they might even be some tiny fraction of the fans who’d helped him complete quests.
If so, not giving them some benefit did feel a bit too harsh.
After thinking, Xie Xingchen made a bold decision: reserve a purchase quota for remote planets.
After deciding, he even went to the relevant official website to look up how many remote planets existed across the Star Alliance.
When he found there were even more than he’d imagined, he quietly changed the special quota from one-tenth to one-fifth.
Then he logged onto StarBlog and posted two messages back-to-back.
[Xie Xingchen V: The new Earth Commerce “Scallion Pancake Tasting Slot,” “Scallion-Oil Mixed Noodles Tasting Slot,” and “Sugar-Roasted Chestnuts Tasting Slot” sold out within one hour. To thank everyone for the support, I’ll draw 100 users who repost this—each will receive 10,000 star-coins.]
Even passersby couldn’t help but celebrate.
Pick 100 people and give each 10,000 star-coins—Boss Xie was way too generous!
Most netizens thought he was incredibly generous, but some didn’t want the cash prize and tried to persuade him to change it to Earth Commerce products instead.
However—
Before anyone could convince him, Xie Xingchen posted another StarBlog.
[Xie Xingchen V: I’ve received your suggestions. After serious consideration, I agree the current purchasing method is indeed unfair to remote planets. Therefore, starting tomorrow, of all items listed by Earth Commerce each day, one-fifth of the total stock will be reserved exclusively for remote-planet purchases. PS: For the first hour of daily sales (0:00–1:00), only Star Alliance citizens whose purchase IP and shipping address are both on remote planets can buy via the remote-planet exclusive link. After 1:00, if any stock remains, other citizens may purchase.]
Developed-planet netizens, whose joy instantly turned to despair: ? Are you sick?
![After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]](https://i1.wp.com/panda-translations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20220822190944_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]")
