Dream Delivery System: My Delivery Jobs Keep Changing History – CH73

Chapter 73

“What exactly did the external aid show them?”

Someone finally spoke in the silence.

There had been forty-nine players at the start. Now only nine remained—proof of how brutal this game truly was. But those monsters that had previously chased them in utter panic, along with the malicious audience… were actually held back by just one person for so long?

All nine were veteran players, each still holding a number of items. Yet this game was absurd: they had to keep running while maintaining the heat of their monster livestreams. Otherwise, once heat dropped too low, the monsters would swarm them. It was mentally and physically exhausting.

The worst part was personal livestream heat: every drop of one hundred thousand triggered a negative status. Once it dipped below a million, their location would be broadcasted publicly.

Up until now, not a single player’s livestream heat had surpassed two million.

And heat wasn’t stable—it fluctuated up and down. The monster audience was too fickle; without enough stimulation, they wouldn’t stay. But if players created too much stimulation… they often died.

“Everyone was looking for the external aid, but no one knows how he even participates in the game. His existence is a giant mystery.”

A bearded man in a white robe sighed. Then he said, “That doesn’t matter now. Anyone have a one-time healing item? I’ll pay triple after we leave. I’m a member of such-and-such royal family.”

“No healing items, but we have special-effect food that boosts health and reduces negative physical effects.” Han Shuo pulled out a piece of pumpkin bread.

The two official players teamed with him stayed silent.

They were low-tier players, brought by Han Shuo to clear the dungeon.

Originally, they were well prepared, but unfortunately ran into a mutated dungeon. Thankfully, external aid appeared. The more survivors, the higher the chance of clearing.

“Thank you.”
A player with a cloth tied over his head accepted the pumpkin bread. He had to quickly replenish his energy or he wouldn’t escape those terrifying monsters.

Hmm?

After just a few bites, the royal family member immediately felt the bread’s miraculous effects. His wounds didn’t close, but his entire physical condition recovered rapidly; his long-tense nerves finally relaxed.

“Any more? I’ll pay five times—no, ten times the price.”

One of the official players looked troubled. “Sorry, we only have a few left. But if you want, you can place orders with us later.”

“Orders? Players can make special-effect food? There’s actually such a thing?”
The royal member was ecstatic—player-made items could be bought with money, and anything solvable with money wasn’t a real problem.

“Yes, in C-Nation, in Jin—”

“Shh. Save it for when we’re out.”
Han Shuo cut him off, looking half-blaming, as if saying: You shouldn’t reveal such important info.

The player realized his slip and awkwardly laughed. “Right, right—later.”

The other players pretended to do their own tasks, but in fact, all of them were listening intently.

C-Nation. Jin City.

Food was the only thing not restricted by dungeon rules—usable in any type of dungeon. If special-effect food truly existed, it was even more valuable than many items.

After all, many items had usage restrictions. A player might spend a fortune only to discover that the item couldn’t be used in a particular dungeon.

This mid-game rest lasted a full two hours—120 minutes, not a second less. After recovering, the players gathered their remaining items and walked toward their battlefield. However…

‘In the blue sky and Milky Way, there sails a little white boat…’
‘I am a broken puppet, burdened with too much…’
‘Wish me mad, wish me doomed, wish me unable to live alone…’

They came.
The monsters arrived—each with their limited-time exclusive BGM.

Once players stepped within a kilometer of them, the songs would begin playing, as if whispering by their ears:

“Careful… it’s coming!”

The players stared at each other. Should they run… or not?

“Run! As long as they don’t catch us, we win!”

The players’ miserable life-and-death chase lasted only one second for Jiang Jitang, because the moment he got kicked out for reaching the 120-minute time limit, he immediately received the announcement that all nine survivors had cleared the game.

[The contractor maintained livestream heat for 120 minutes and completed the game. Players have successfully cleared “Scream & Giggle Battle Royale.”]

[Game Over. Non-game personnel, please leave immediately.]

A notification bubble popped out:

[Congratulations, Tasker, for completing the ‘Run Sweetheart Variety’ game challenge:
Reward: 500 points
1 Wishing Star
Game souvenir: ‘Cat Bell’]

[Cat Bell: A bell prepared by a mouse for a cat. Choose a target to use it on; can be used remotely. All players within one kilometer of that target will hear the “bell sound,” which can be customized. A non-conventional one-use item—if not destroyed, it remains forever.]

“Five hundred points!”
Jiang Jitang checked his balance. Today’s three food items had earned him over 4,000 points (two-star pumpkin bread sold for two points each). Adding the 500, he was nearing 5,000.

“Can I pay off that 3,000-point remaining debt now?”
With Dream-Fulfillment Food House giving him a stable income, he no longer needed to hoard points.

The system immediately deducted his 3,000 points. His debt went from 100,003,000 to a clean 100,000,000.

Much more pleasing to the eye.

“After spending a whole night tailoring BGMs for monsters, my music library is hollow…”
Jiang Jitang shook his head, exhausted. He washed his face, crawled into bed, and fell asleep instantly.

Meanwhile, in several faraway locations, the survivors felt disappointed—they wanted to at least see the external aid, but were kicked out before that.

The three-man team from Jin City immediately entered the treatment room. After being healed by the on-duty treatment player, they went to find Minister Jiang Xingzhou.

“Minister, we encountered the external aid.”

“How was it?” Jiang Xingzhou put down his pen. Even the higher-ups were discussing how to approach this legendary figure.

Han Shuo shook his head. “We didn’t meet him directly. But because of him, we got two hours of mid-game rest. Also… for reasons unknown, after the second half of the battle royale began, all the bosses had BGMs.”

“BGMs?”
Minister Jiang instinctively glanced at the BGM generator.

“Yes. Within a certain range from a boss—likely one kilometer—you would hear its BGM. And we believe their appearance is highly connected to the external aid. Several BGMs were C-Nation songs, and the rest were familiar to C-Nation people. We can confirm the external aid is a native C-Nation citizen.”

Han Shuo took out an item.

“This is the reward item I received after clearing the game. I had the highest livestream heat. Maybe because the external aid’s contribution counted toward us—otherwise, with my performance, there’s no way I’d get a game item.”

Minister Jiang took the item and used a special identification tool.

[Nightmare Crystal: Enhances danger perception. When an enemy enters your one-kilometer range, there is a chance to trigger sixth sense to detect its direction. Usable three times; each use lasts 8 hours.]

A decent perception-type item—given how stingy the Cube World was with item rewards.

“Additionally, the existence of special-effect food has already spread.”
Their acting skills had sold the message well.
“We also connected with a noble player from the Middle East. Here’s their contact.”

“Good.”
Minister Jiang returned the item.
“Rest well. Take a few days off. No need to rush the external aid matter.”

Once they left, Jiang Xingzhou resumed work. But minutes later, someone entered again.

“Minister, new developments on Guo Jie.”

“Oh?”
“What happened?”

“According to Guo Jie, when he executed the ‘swap Jiang Deputy-Minister with a substitute’ plan, he confirmed that Deputy-Minister Jiang (Jiang Jitang) was still an ordinary person.”

Jiang Xingzhou nodded. “Assaulting an ordinary person increases the crime. Go on.”

“After that, he repeatedly attempted to harm Deputy-Minister Jiang using others, but all attempts mysteriously failed. After Guo Tianyu died, Guo Jie tried again personally, this time using a forced-game item. But the item reported failure.”

Jiang Xingzhou paused. “What kind of forced-game item?”

“A high-grade one—powerful enough to summon even players inside a dungeon. Such items only fail for two reasons: 1. The target is dead. 2. The target is not a player.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.
Her pen tapped gently on the desk.

“Can game items be resisted?”

“There is no such resistance item at the moment.”

She thought for a while, then put down her pen.

“You want to know why it failed? No need for complicated theories. Tomorrow, I’ll schedule a meeting with Deputy-Minister Jiang.”

“You’ll… ask him directly?”, the assistant was shocked.

She nodded, “Yes—ask directly. I trust someone who joined the official side for the sake of stability.”

—

Next Morning

“Today? This afternoon works. Alright then, I’ll go to the kindergarten.” Jiang Jitang hung up the phone.

He moved all the delivered ingredients into the Dream-Fulfillment Food House. Three new dishes.

He expected today’s income to be another four thousand points or more. He was considering upgrading the vending machine and adding more shop equipment to reach the 30-environment bonus.

“Oh right—daily check-in.”

Ding!
[Check-in complete.]
[Reward: Gray Diatom Mud Wall Coating.]

[Gray Diatom Mud Coating: Automatically applies wall renovation, covering all walls. Natural materials, no pollution. Environment +5. Cannot be upgraded.]

In one second, the rough cement walls transformed into textured gray diatom mud, giving the shabby shop a sudden “luxury vibe.”

Even renovation can be drawn… Jiang Jitang felt more and more like he was playing a placement mobile game.

In three days, the officials should have accumulated enough food. Jiang Jitang posted a message on his social circle—nothing but an address: Dream-Fulfillment Food House.

Among his contacts in Jin City were confirmed members from Sun Glory Group, Research Society, and Dongying Society. Others were unknown. Anyone even slightly sharp would investigate his shop.

Customers would naturally come.

“At this rate, I’ll upgrade soon. Wonder if Parsons, Mystery Seeker’s guild leader, will sense something off. Will he be shocked?”

Thinking of this, Jiang Jitang hummed happily as he hauled large stones around.

He had already scheduled the jade-cutting session with the suburban jade workshop two days ago. Today was the day.

A big and a small raw jade stone weighed over 500 jin—an electric scooter couldn’t handle it. So he borrowed a fruit shop’s motorized tricycle downstairs.

The hidden bodyguards watched helplessly as he wore a triangular straw hat, hopped on the illegal motor-tricycle, and drove off.

“Unit 3, he’s heading toward you. Hurry, follow him. Don’t get spotted.”

Jiang Jitang arrived at the jade-processing factory—over 800 square meters, the courtyard piled high with discarded jade scraps.

In his previous life, he dealt with many gemstones, but had little knowledge of jade. Still… these “jade stones” all looked suspiciously like marble—bad marble.

“Sir, these two are what you want to cut?”

“Yes. Slice them, please.”

The worker scratched his head.
“You’re not gonna examine where to cut? No markings? Cutting without inspection? A total newbie…”

Even the factory boss came over, holding a livestream recorder. “Sorry, two master stone-cutters are here today. Both machines are occupied. Can you wait fifteen minutes?”

“Sure.”
Jiang Jitang noticed the recorder. “Livestreaming?”

“Not exactly—just recording the masters cutting jade. Good to post later for views.”

The boss grinned, showing gold teeth, “Don’t worry, we never record customers’ stones. These on the side are the ones we’ll stream. Where’d you buy these raw stones?”

He approached the tricycle and lifted the plastic cover—

A colorful, oil-sheened stone skin gleamed beneath.

“Huh? This skin… Hetian jade [1]? Hotan jade of this size?”

“Hetian jade? Where?”

Two middle-aged men in old-style shirts rushed over. Their eyes swept like searchlights—instantly locking onto the raw stone.

“Hetian jade!”

Footnotes:
[1] Hetian jade (Hétián yù) is a highly prized type of nephrite jade from the Hotan region in China’s Xinjiang, famous for its exceptional whiteness, fine texture