Chapter 275
Hearing the loud noise from afar, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi exchanged a glance, then flew together toward the riverbank.
Thanks to the construction robots, the area from the cabin to the riverbank had already been enclosed as part of the cabin territory—that is, Peace Grocery Store, Branch #4.
The robots were still tirelessly digging for iron ore—
Even after years of excavation, the mine still hadn’t been depleted. After all, this world was gigantified from their perspective.
The river was incredibly wide—they could only make out vague outlines, with no clear details visible.
But that didn’t mean they had no way to investigate.
Tang Yu’an pulled a special tool shaped like a telescope out of his portable storage.
Just like the music box, this was something he had drawn from the lottery while Zhou Qi was away.
[Ultra-Magnification Telescope]
[Description: Whatever the eye can see, this can magnify.]
Although the description was vague, Tang Yu’an had already figured out how to use it—
As long as you could see something with the naked eye, you could use this telescope to magnify it to a normal visible size.
Even the stars in the sky—if you could spot their light—you could use this telescope to see them clearly. It was basically every astronomy lover’s dream item.
Tang Yu’an set up the telescope and adjusted the magnification while aiming across the river.
The river was roughly 700 to 800 meters wide. He quickly dialed in the correct zoom level and brought the distant view into focus.
The first thing that came into view was a lush forest, similar to the giant tree forest around them. Faintly visible within the trees was a wooden house.
They had measured the trees in the giant forest before—each one was about 100 meters tall.
Tang Yu’an looked at the house, whose roof reached about a third of the tree’s height, and couldn’t help but gasp.
“That house must be at least 30 meters tall!”
What kind of person would live in such a tall wooden house? Both Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi had the same thought—Giants.
Since arriving in this world, they hadn’t encountered any humans. The giant tree forest felt like a primeval jungle—
Though that might be because their explored range was still very small.
Even a few kilometers, when scaled down by a factor of ten, was just a few hundred meters. For the giants of this world, that wasn’t much territory at all.
BOOM.
Another loud crash echoed from the other side. Tang Yu’an saw some trees falling in the forest, but couldn’t clearly make out what had happened.
“Should we go over and take a look?” he asked, handing the telescope to Zhou Qi.
Crossing a river nearly 800 meters wide wasn’t hard for them, and with the Shadow Umbrella, they could avoid most dangers from the water.
Zhou Qi observed for a while through the telescope, then shook his head. “Let’s take care of our main task first. Once we’ve picked up the people at Purple Sky Fortress, we can come back and explore.”
Hearing that, Tang Yu’an could only nod in agreement.
He was about to head back to the cabin when he saw Zhou Qi summoning several construction robots.
Curious, he hurried over to peek at the program Zhou Qi was setting.
“Brother Qi, are you going to build a bridge across the river?” Tang Yu’an asked.
“Going to give it a shot,” Zhou Qi replied. “Time moves faster here—if we leave it to the robots, maybe by the time we come back, the bridge will be finished.”
They were going to Purple Sky Fortress to pick people up, and with the return trip plus settling everyone, it would take at least a few days. By then, more than half a year would’ve passed in the alternate dimension.
So building a bridge now would be convenient in the long run.
As for the bridge design, they decided on a floating bridge. That way, part of the water could be incorporated into the protective barrier, and it wouldn’t need to reach the riverbed.
Though the river was wide, the protective barrier would prevent the current from damaging the bridge. This approach could save a lot of construction time.
As for materials, the robots could harvest timber directly from the giant forest—
Some of the forest had already been enclosed within the protective barrier, so collecting wood was no longer as difficult as it had been when they first arrived.
“Great idea! With a floating bridge, it’ll be much safer when we go over!”
Even if danger arose on the other side, they could quickly retreat to the bridge’s protection, greatly improving their safety.
Tang Yu’an helped program the robots.
Once they started working, the two of them returned to the cabin and used the teleportation array to go back to the main world.
It was morning in the main world.
They had stayed in the alternate dimension for three months—but here, only three days had passed.
Tang Yu’an stretched lazily. Instead of rushing to Purple Sky Fortress, he first made a stop at the Desolate City Haven.
The pregnant women and elderly that Zhou Qi had brought back had been settled properly, and over the past few days, more expectant mothers had gone into labor.
With more experience under their belts, the residents were now handling things much more smoothly.
Tang Yu’an visited the maternity ward and took photos with his light-brain of the new moms and their babies.
With his boyish, innocent face, delicate features, and round cheeks, he was incredibly charming—hard not to like.
Everyone knew he was the boss of Desolate City Haven, but because he was still young, most people treated him with affection rather than awe.
As for Zhou Qi, he had taken off the Dark Moon mask, and no one recognized him.
His tall, athletic build and serious expression made him seem hard to approach, so most residents instinctively kept their distance.
Zhou Qi didn’t mind—he just quietly stayed by Tang Yu’an’s side.
After taking photos of the moms and babies, Tang Yu’an went to see how the elderly were doing with their jobs and captured those moments on camera too.
Many of the older folks had useful skills. The most popular were probably the two grandmothers who were excellent cooks.
Not only were those grandmothers skilled in cooking, but they were also generous in teaching others. Thanks to them, the food in the Desolate City Haven cafeteria had undergone a qualitative leap—it was no longer just a pot of mushy “pig slop”!
As for the other professions, Old Li had assigned everyone to suitable positions. Two of the elderly were traditional Chinese medicine doctors, and they were even provided with a dedicated clinic.
Though these elders were advanced in age, life in the Desolate City Haven was already much better than what they had in the post-apocalyptic world they came from. They were all more than willing to work in exchange for the right to live here.
Also, since the settlement hadn’t fully installed electric lighting yet, work usually stopped around 6 PM.
After that, they could socialize with other residents, watch movies, play games—and some were even trying to make musical instruments. Their lives were full and joyful; they couldn’t be happier.
After saying goodbye to the elders, Tang Yu’an stored his light-brain back in his portable storage and went to say hello to his father.
Yes—this filming project was something Tang Sheng had asked him to do.
Because Dark Moon had vanished with dozens of people without a trace, and some of those who had previously left didn’t keep the secret, the incident had eventually spread throughout the base.
While many still trusted Dark Moon, the event had inevitably caused some negative rumors. So Tang Sheng had asked Tang Yu’an to take some photos and videos to help calm public opinion.
As for those who had chosen to stay behind—if they felt regret after seeing these images, that was out of their hands.
Just as Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi were about to leave, they ran into Old Li.
The moment the old man saw them, his usually stern face broke into a kind, warm smile.
“Xiao An, thank you.”
In just a few days, Yu Lixia had successfully leveled up to Lv5. Not only had he unlocked the forum privileges, he had also added Old Li as a friend.
“After all these years, being able to reconnect with an old friend is truly a blessing.”
Although Yu Dongzhi had passed away a few years ago, the fact that he had survived the apocalypse and lived to old age could be considered a peaceful end. Old Li had no regrets.
“You two are going to Purple Sky Fortress to pick people up, right?” he asked.
Tang Yu’an shook his head and replied innocently, “We received a task to build a new branch store over there. Once we finish, we’ll come right back.”
Old Li nodded without pressing further, then hummed a tune as he returned to his work.
“I think Grandpa already guessed it,” Tang Yu’an said confidently.
Zhou Qi shrugged. “We go to Linhai Town, and Silverlight Dark Moon shows up in Linhai Town. We go to Purple Sky Fortress, and Silverlight shows up there. How could he not guess?”
Tang Yu’an thought it over and agreed. But even if Old Li had guessed, so what?
There was more than one “Divine Envoy” in the world. And besides…
Even if others had guessed their identities—Grandpa included—what did it matter?
They were no longer the weak children they used to be. They now had the strength to protect themselves.
“Brother Qi, let’s go.”
“Mm.”
They headed to the basement of the Purple Sky Grocery Store, put on their masks and cloaks, and under the cover of the Shadow Umbrella, flew out of the fortress.
A faint yellow-green gas lingered above the sea.
Tang Yu’an had found a type of mask in the dimensional marketplace that could effectively filter out toxins. It fit under their masks, allowing them to breathe freely without worrying about poisoning.
They flew for half a day until Purple Sky Fortress was no longer in sight. Then they purchased a ship and placed it on the sea.
The intelligent cruise ship could carry up to 2,000 passengers and was equipped with plenty of rooms, bathrooms, and complete facilities.
It was listed in the marketplace at 1.2 million points. But with a discount card, Tang Yu’an bought it for just 720,000 points.
He had asked his dad—this type of cruise ship would be worth over a hundred million in their original world.
Clearly, points here had a lot of purchasing power.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi landed on the ship, entered the control room, and activated the mapping system—neither of them knew how to sail, so they had to rely entirely on the ship’s AI.
About half an hour later, the ship, which Tang Yu’an had named The Peace, finally began moving slowly toward Purple Sky Fortress.
They had to leave with the passengers before nightfall. Once the mutant jellyfish became active, the ship’s AI systems would become paralyzed. If that happened, they’d be stuck until the next day.
*
Purple Sky Fortress, Fishing Village.
“Boss, you really think the Merchant God Cult is sending a ship to take us to land? Is that even real?”
Hai Qian stood on the upper platform of the barrier wall, peering at the calm sea. Apart from other fishing boats heading out to sea, there was nothing in sight.
Ever since Zhan Xiong had told them the news three days ago, everyone had been eagerly waiting—but each day ended in disappointment.
Zhan Xiong himself wasn’t fully confident, though he didn’t show it.
“You know how dangerous sea travel is. Who can say exactly when a ship will arrive? We just have to be patient.”
“It’s not that I’m impatient—it’s the kids from the next village…”
Zhan Xiong’s mission had stated that the first group to leave should include 500 people.
Their village only had 408 people total. To make up the remaining 92, he had gone to a neighboring fishing village to recruit.
Thanks to his good reputation and his offer to cover food expenses during the wait, the other village had sent over all of their children under 16.
“Ninety-plus kids—aren’t you afraid they’ll eat till you’re poor?” Hai Qian said. “Maybe we should send them back for now. Once the ship arrives, we can call them over again.”
Zhan Xiong thought it over and realized Hai Qian had a point.
Even with more trade income lately, feeding that many mouths every day was a massive drain on his points. The pressure was real…
“Beeeep—”
Just then, they heard a long horn echo across the sea—distant and deep, carried by the wind into everyone’s ears.
The fishing boats that had been preparing to depart came to a halt.
In the distance, a small black dot appeared on the horizon, gradually growing larger.
The sound of the horn continued to rumble, vibrating through the air.
They hadn’t heard a ship’s horn like that in ages—everyone was startled by the sudden sound.
Inside Purple Sky Fortress, alarms had already begun to blare, summoning all fishing boats back to the harbor. Guards appeared on the platform above the fortress walls.
The captain of the city guard raised his binoculars to take a look. When he finally saw what it was, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
“Captain, what kind of sea beast is that? That sound is terrifying!” the pale-faced guard next to him asked, trembling with fear.
“It’s… it’s a ship?”
“A ship?”
Before the captain could explain any further, the metallic giant had already torn through the fog wall and boldly entered everyone’s line of sight.
The towering bow of the ship, dozens of meters high, sliced through the waves with majestic force. It was so massive and awe-inspiring that the waves it generated shoved nearby fishing boats out of its path.
People stared in stunned silence at the steel behemoth, watching as the name Ping’an slowly came into view on the ship’s hull.
The city guards wore expressions of complete confusion.
But on the platform where Zhan Xiong and his group stood, a wave of wild cheering erupted.
“It’s the Merchant God Cult! They really sent a ship to pick us up!”
“We’re saved!”
