After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH85

Chapter 85

Xie Xingchen: “Prosperity, why did you stop?”

Prosperity: “Boss, there’s a huge stretch of vegetation below the hovercar.”

Xie Xingchen: ?

A huge stretch of vegetation?

Xie Xingchen reflexively looked down.

Sure enough, the plants directly beneath the hovercar were noticeably greener than everything around them.

And it wasn’t just a patch, either. The green spread in one continuous expanse; looking far into the distance, it seemed to have no end.

Staring at that sea of green, Xie Xingchen suddenly had a premonition: he’d found something extraordinary.

His eyes lit up. “Let’s go. Drop altitude. We’re going to check it out.”

Prosperity slowly lowered the hovercar. Once they descended to a certain height, everyone could easily make out what those plants were.

The bright green “little grasses” swayed in the cold wind. That slow, gentle movement made people think of a strangely addictive phrase: “so comfy.”

From far away, it looked like weeds. Up close, it still looked like weeds.

But Xie Xingchen recognized it at a glance.

Wheat.

Don’t ask why. The answer is simple: too many side gigs, too much experience.

These days, when new shops open, who doesn’t buy a few bundles of wheat ears as a “best-seller” charm?

Sometimes it’s not even a grand opening. It’s just superstitious sellers using wheat as decoration, praying their products will “sell like crazy.”

To be blunt, wheat ears have practically become a common storefront decoration.

So even if the color was different, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize it.

The moment he realized it was wheat, Xie Xingchen turned around and laughed out loud. “Get-Rich, Prosperity, this time we’re really going to get rich!”

What does a vast, endless field of winter wheat mean?

It means he no longer has to struggle from a single seed.

It means that even if he does nothing, this naturally growing winter wheat can still keep him self-sufficient.

So this is what it feels like to “live off free gains”?

He loved it.

With his emotions running high, he was so excited he could barely speak.

He had found a staple food, a staple food he could obtain easily without grinding himself into the dirt.

And there was plenty of it. Sure, it didn’t grow as neatly as carefully managed farmland, but the density was just right. Conservatively, this field looked like it could yield six to seven hundred jin per mu.

That wasn’t as high as intensive cultivation, but…

If the heavens already planted it for you, what more could you possibly want?

Xie Xingchen got out of the hovercar, stood in the middle of the wheat field with a smile, and spread his arms as if to embrace the earth.

So thrilled he couldn’t help himself, he even marked off a section at the edge and happily poured mental power into it.

After three rounds, the wheat in that marked section began turning golden. The grains gradually plumped up, and finally the heads grew so heavy the stalks bowed low.

He pulled out a small harvester from his storage and harvested a full six thousand jin of wheat from that marked section.

That was more than seven hundred jin per mu.

Even better than he’d expected.

The result made his heart pound.

He looked at the endless sea of wheat, waved his hand grandly, and declared, “Alright, everyone. Our trip goal is completed ahead of schedule! Let’s go home and make flour dishes!”

He wasn’t from the north, but kids raised in modern society eat plenty of wheat foods.

He wasn’t the type who would go crazy if he missed one meal, but after so long without real wheat-flour dishes, he missed them badly.

Humming, he returned to Chang’an Workshop and spent a full two days turning the wheat into flour.

Six thousand jin of wheat produced nearly five thousand jin of flour. Packed at 100 jin per sack, the warehouse now held fifty sacks of flour.

That level of abundance nearly made him cry with joy.

He poured out some flour, mixed it with water, and kneaded the dough properly, then set it aside to ferment.

When the dough was ready, he split it in two: one half for steamed buns, the other for knife-cut noodles.

Buns needed steaming. Knife-cut noodles needed boiling.

So he planned to make the buns first, put them in the steamer, then make the noodles. That way, the buns would come out right as the noodles finished.

One bite of fluffy, snowy-white meat bun. One bite of springy, chewy knife-cut noodles.

Xie Xingchen ate with complete satisfaction, feeling his stomach deeply comforted.

Seeing Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life staring at him eating buns and noodles without blinking, Xie Xingchen suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

He rubbed his nose and made them a promise. “Ahem… Get-Rich, Prosperity, Long-Life, just you wait. One day when I’ve got time, I’ll develop meat-bun-flavored and knife-cut-noodle-flavored energy liquid for you.”

He talked big, but all three were delighted.

Because their boss really did have the ability to develop different flavors of energy liquid.

Sure, he’d only made two flavors so far, but compared to everyone else in the Alliance, he was already extremely productive, especially since it was just a hobby.

Xie Xingchen finished three big meat buns and a huge bowl of noodles, so full he nearly needed a wall to support himself.

After strolling in the flower fields for over an hour to digest, he returned to his bedroom to work.

He’d spent the past few days playing in the snow up north, then the past two days making flour. Now that he’d eaten, it was time to draft a new work plan.

After all, he’d found a massive wheat field. Even if it grew naturally, if he wanted better harvests, he still needed to send robots to irrigate, weed, manage pests, and so on.

He didn’t realize it until he started writing, then he got a shock.

The plan he thought would be quick ended up taking three full pages. He wrote from a little after 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. before finally putting down the pen.

Only after carefully storing those precious pages did he dare go to sleep.

The next morning, Xie Xingchen assigned the work plan right away.

Then he went to familiar shops on the Starnet marketplace to order robots. After placing the orders, he returned to the System Shop and bought even smarter management robots.

They were all for the wheat field. He planned to build a wheat production base there.

Two weeks flew by in a blur. When Xie Xingchen finally had time to breathe, he noticed the System Shop had listed a New Year’s Day fireworks gift pack.

Xie Xingchen: ?

The System Shop was hyping the New Year’s event this early?

He stared in disbelief. “Little Mo, why is the game warming up the event so early?”

It shouldn’t be New Year’s Day so soon.

After being busy nonstop, Xie Xingchen had lost track of time.

Maybe even the system was speechless.

After a long pause, a reminder appeared:

[System Notice: Time until New Year’s Day -> 7 days.]
[System Notice: The game shop has added a New Year’s Surprise Pack. If needed, please purchase it yourself.]

He was still stunned by “seven days” when he saw “Surprise Pack.”

Huh. What was the difference between that and the fireworks pack?

He tapped into the System Shop again.

This time, besides the fireworks pack, he also saw a glowing blind-box pack with a countdown: New Year’s Surprise Pack.

The countdown was seven days. The purchase deadline was the final second before the holiday ended. The price wasn’t high, either: only 10,000 starcoins in sales revenue. Compared to System Shop items that easily cost hundreds of millions, it was basically a holiday giveaway.

But it was a blind box with no detailed description. Inside were three lucky bags.

Xie Xingchen silently prayed, then pinned the legendary four-leaf clover Feifei had brought back onto his chest, and only then opened the bags.

[Red Commemorative Medal: A New Year’s holiday commemorative medal. When worn (by the player or a companion), it triggers a random holiday buff and increases the probability of encountering holiday-related items.]

[Gongs, Drums, and Firecrackers Together Buff: A positive sound buff created from festive celebration sounds. Activating it can drive away ferocious beasts, and it is said to have a certain chance of driving away alien beasts as well.]

[System Shop 20%-Off Card: A 20%-off card for the System Shop. Shelf life: one year. Can be used on any single item in the System Shop. Discount chances are rare. Please spend rationally.]

Three bags, and every single one was absurdly good.

Xie Xingchen almost felt like the system had changed its personality.

The stingy system was actually generous?

This 10,000-starcoin pack was insanely worth it.

Worth it to the point it felt like he was dreaming.

[System Notice: Wishing the player a happy New Year’s Day in advance!]

Hearing the system wish him well, Xie Xingchen grinned and replied happily, “Same to you.”

Then he casually bought the New Year’s Day Fireworks Pack.

This one was a tiny “welfare” item: 1 starcoin. Opening it let you launch massive fireworks continuously for one hour.

A flashy but impractical item, but for 1 starcoin it was basically free.

He used to have to squeeze into crowds to watch fireworks. Now he got a full hour of huge fireworks for almost nothing. Why wouldn’t he be happy?

Xie Xingchen was satisfied.

And he even felt like he should do something to express that happiness.

So he quietly decided to host a “Celebrate New Year’s Day Together” event.

[On-screen ad text: Looking for someone in Ho Chi Minh City today – Singleflirt]

That same day, Xie Xingchen contacted Lu Fei.

[Xie Xingchen: Senior Lu, I heard your family is in the livestock business. Can your side still sell premium moo-moo beast milk?]

He went straight to the point.

Lu Fei had just finished filming. When he saw the message, he was briefly surprised, then his lips curled up as if he’d realized something, and he replied enthusiastically.

[Lu Fei: If anyone else asked, the answer would be no. But if you’re asking, junior, then we absolutely have it!]

Lu Fei was mixed heritage: his father was a beastman from an animal civilization, and his mother was a pure-blood human from the human civilization.

Even in the Alliance era, reproductive barriers were still a big problem.

The Alliance didn’t prohibit marriages between different civilizations, but it absolutely didn’t encourage them either.

Because there was a harsh reality: mixed-civilization couples often had extremely low fertility. Many could spend a lifetime without having even one child, which made mixed-heritage people very rare.

A mixed-heritage child was treasured from birth.

Lu Fei was exactly that kind of “treasure.”

After graduating from the Planting Department of the First Academy in the human civilization, he didn’t work in the field. He went into entertainment instead, and still lived comfortably. A big reason was that he was his parents’ love crystallized, and very likely the only one they’d ever have, so he had the right to be willful.

By the same logic, he should have had fertility issues too.

But he was ridiculously capable: while still young, he’d already given his parents a grandson. From that moment on, he became even more precious in their eyes.

Forget premium milk. If he suddenly announced today that he was quitting showbiz to inherit the family business, his dad would probably step aside immediately.

So Lu Fei didn’t even ask his parents first. He just answered.

Better to build goodwill with his junior. Whether it existed or not, say yes first. If there wasn’t enough, they could always squeeze some out.

[Xie Xingchen: Then can you sell me a few hundred barrels of premium moo-moo beast milk?]
[Lu Fei: Nod-nod-nod.jpg Of course! When do you need it?]
[Xie Xingchen: The sooner the better.]
[Lu Fei: Got it. I’ll tell my family now and have them arrange delivery within today if possible. Is that okay?]
[Xie Xingchen: Really? Thank you!]
[Lu Fei: Hahaha no problem, that’s what a senior should do. I’ll arrange it now and message you when it’s done!]
[Xie Xingchen: OK~]

Lu Fei immediately called his beloved father. He casually explained that his junior, who sold baby formula through Earth Trading House, needed premium milk.

His dad was even more enthusiastic, thumping his chest and promising it would be handled perfectly.

Three hours later, a delivery robot shipped the milk to Xie Xingchen.

Because younglings still drank milk regularly, premium moo-moo milk was always in high demand. Without advance reservations, you couldn’t get it at all, which was why Xie Xingchen had gone to Lu Fei.

He’d assumed that getting a few dozen barrels on short notice would already be extremely generous.

Instead, they delivered at least four hundred barrels, and they were top-grade quality, basically impossible to buy on the open market without a trusted supplier.

Most importantly, they didn’t overcharge him. It was clearly sold at cost, which made Xie Xingchen feel deeply embarrassed.

So, embarrassed, he waved his hand and upgraded Lu Fei’s son’s formula allowance from one can per month to three cans per month.

When he told Lu Fei, Lu Fei’s whole family practically jumped with joy, thanking him repeatedly.

Xie Xingchen didn’t buy that much milk for himself, and he wasn’t making formula.

He bought it because of the flour he had.

After buying the New Year’s packs, he wanted to celebrate with the customers who had supported Earth Trading House.

But he quickly killed the idea himself.

Because there were simply too many fans.

He couldn’t afford to celebrate with everyone.

After tossing and turning, he chose a compromise: celebrate with the younglings.

Kids were the flowers of the Alliance, adorable little beings who deserved special treatment.

With limited resources, he didn’t feel guilty at all about shifting the target from “all fans” to “younglings.”

Over time, Earth Trading House had accumulated a sizable group of youngling fans.

Some came daily with parents, siblings, grandparents, and so on to play in the children’s corner at the end of the specialty street.

Others were even younger, too young to log into the holographic shop. Xie Xingchen didn’t know their names, but based on how their parents regularly bought mugwort-and-mint balm and children’s cashmere products, he knew these kids were loyal fans too.

He pulled a backend spreadsheet and found the number was shocking.

Even with overlap, the sheer base population still pushed it into the hundreds of thousands. Add the kids whose parents brought them to earn and spend points in the children’s corner, and the total gifts he needed to send reached an unbelievable number:

180,000.

Xie Xingchen went silent.

He nearly lost his breath.

Before he even started, he already felt like he was going to die of exhaustion.

After agonizing for ages, he rubbed his face and almost gave up.

But after sleeping on it, he still decided to recall all robots.

He was going to teach them to make children’s cookies.

Materials were ready, even butter was prepared.

He had mentally prepared himself.

But there was a phrase called “things never go as planned.”

One hundred and eighty thousand gift portions of cookies.

Even if he cut portions again and again, down to just two or three cookies per gift, the total quantity was still astronomical.

Just thinking about it made him despair, and his mental preparation collapsed once he realized the actual production speed.

He nearly quit.

But watching the robots seriously learning from him, he decided to go all in.

There were still six days until New Year’s Day. If time got tight, he could even count the holiday itself. Anything before midnight still counted.

So there was still time.

With over a hundred robots helping, why couldn’t 180,000 gifts be done?

He taught the robots the full cookie-making process, then split them into specialized roles.

Then he ran to a mechanical shop and ordered several ultra-large ovens that could bake enormous batches at once.

He also bought cute cookie molds in bulk, and ordered sealing bags and gift boxes from familiar factories.

And with that, the New Year’s Day “Kids’ Cookie Surprise” project officially began.

The giant ovens would arrive quickly, but some specialized cookie-making machines he pre-ordered needed research time, so this cookie run ended up being truly hand-made.

The robots ran a production line: mixing dough, pressing molds, baking cookies, sealing, packing.

Endless cute cookies went into cute sealed bags, which went into childlike gift boxes.

The bags and boxes were covered with chibi illustrations of Earth Trading House items and the games kids loved most.

The designs came from Zhang Yu, the designer who had joined Earth Trading House. The design assets were from her “paid slacking” collection over time.

When she heard Xie Xingchen wanted to give youngling customers a holiday surprise, the bored Zhang Yu volunteered. In just two hours she produced dozens of packaging and gift-box designs, all full of childlike charm.

She even suggested producing matching plush toys and badges to place inside the boxes along with the cookies.

Xie Xingchen took one look and was tempted.

He immediately found manufacturers who could produce sealing bags and gift boxes and ship them as they were made, then found a high-quality toy manufacturer to produce plushies and badges.

They promised the order would be finished in three days. Xie Xingchen told the packing robots not to seal the outer boxes yet, just place the sealed cookie bags inside and leave the gift boxes open.

That way, once the toys and badges arrived, they could randomly add them into each gift box and ship everything together.

The toy manufacturer took the order seriously. They said three days, but before even half of day three was over, they contacted Xie Xingchen: everything was finished.

Because it was urgent, they had to ship via express delivery. Xie Xingchen paid a painfully high shipping fee.

But the result was worth it.

The quality was amazing. Every product matched the samples. The plushies had no extra threads, and the badges’ shapes and colors were perfectly accurate.

If there was one downside, it was simple: expensive.

But Xie Xingchen was used to it. In this galaxy, anything without dark matter contamination was never cheap.

Even parents buying toys for kids had to think twice.

In fact, Xie Xingchen’s order for 180,000 plushies was big enough that the factory manager personally received him.

Dozens of different plushies and badges piled up like mountains. The half-finished cookie gift boxes were stacked just as high.

Xie Xingchen pulled half the packing robots over, led them, and started the final “surprise” step: stuffing plushies and badges into the boxes and sealing everything.

Everyone involved, human and robot, had a blast.

It really felt like being Santa Claus delivering presents.

Randomly adding cute plushies and badges, carefully sealing the childlike gift box, even repetitive work felt strangely joyful.

They worked steadily for several hours. The mountain of half-finished boxes shrank by half.

But that was the limit. Other robots were still baking cookies, and more half-finished boxes kept flowing in. Unless production stopped, it was impossible to finish packing early.

Time passed.

On New Year’s Day at 11 a.m., all 180,000 kids’ surprise gift boxes were finally complete.

At noon, robots shipped them out in batches: scanning addresses into tracking numbers, then handing them to delivery robots.

Xie Xingchen and over a hundred robots worked from bright daylight until the moon rose high. By 10 p.m., the final parcel was sent.

On Star Calendar Year 366, New Year’s Day, countless families celebrating the holiday suddenly received a magical notification:

“Ding-dong. You have a parcel from Earth Trading House: ‘New Year’s Surprise Gift Box for Younglings.’ Please have a guardian confirm and sign for it!”

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