Volume 3, Chapter 18 – The Sea of Stars Above

For Anran as she was now, a handcart was no problem at all.

After finishing her talk with Colin, Anran casually ate a little something, then threw herself into the great undertaking of building a cart.

With four small wheels, a few steel frames, and a crossboard, Anran only spent a short while successfully putting together the handcart. After that, she stretched a piece of cloth over the top of it, so it could provide shade from the sun and shelter from the rain.

“Not bad!” Anran clapped her hands. “It almost has the bearing of my old cart.”

What else was it missing?

Plastic bags!

If she was going to sell pastries to players, she needed something to pack them in.

She couldn’t exactly have them all eating with their bare hands.

As for that, Anran simply went to a nearby shop and bought plenty.

Once everything was ready, she threw herself back into the great cause of mechanical fabrication.

Among the blueprints she had gotten from Colin, there were still several things she could make at this stage that would increase her combat power.

For example, a submachine gun, the [Colin-Style Ultra-Long-Range Sniper Rifle], [High-Energy Explosive Round], and [Flashbang].

Management on No. 1886 was not especially strict, so the raw materials needed to make this equipment could all be bought.

What Anran lacked was a bit of money.

Her savings were really running low. She had to sell those mechanical switchblades she had made.

Using the limited raw materials she had left, Anran started manufacturing components for the [Colin-Style Ultra-Long-Range Sniper Rifle]. At her current stage, she had to take it slowly and make whatever small amount she could.

Late into the night, after happily taking a bath, Anran browsed some player forums again before bed. Only after getting hold of some basic information did she go to sleep.

…

“Where are we going?”

After breakfast, Aila asked as she followed behind Anran.

“A place four kilometers from here, on Qiuyang Road, called the Twinmoon City Research Center.” Anran deliberately said a long sentence.

This time, Aila finally gave a proper response. “Oh.”

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She just nodded naturally.

But it made Anran breathe a sigh of relief. Sure enough, Colin had lifted that ten-character restriction. Thank heavens. Otherwise, every time she talked to Aila, she would have had to count the number of words in her head.

Anran opened the garage door. The morning sunlight streamed into the workshop, immediately revealing the handcart inside.

“This is…” Aila looked at the handcart curiously.

“This is a handcart. It’s an important prop for today,” Anran explained.

She pulled the handcart out, then shut the door again.

“Let’s go.”

Aila asked, “Can you sit in this cart?”

Anran’s eyelid immediately twitched, and she hurriedly said, “No, no, you can’t. This isn’t a cart for sitting in.”

If Aila got curious and sat on it…

Emmm…

Then she would have to go back and repair the cart.

“There are carts you can’t sit in?” Aila blinked.

“There are,” Anran answered. “For example, a handcart. It’s a tool merchants use to sell things.”

Aila gave an “Oh.” “Then are we going to sell things?”

“That’s right.” Anran nodded.

“Sell what?”

There’s nothing here at all.

“Pastries. You’ll see very soon. When the time comes, I’ll need your help too, Aila.”

“Why do we have to sell things?” Aila continued to ask.

“To make money.”

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“Why do we need to make money?”

Aila fully displayed the power of a hundred thousand whys.

“Once we’ve earned enough, we can take a spaceship and leave No. 1886.” Anran explained patiently and without the slightest annoyance.

She did not find playing this question-and-answer game with Aila boring at all.

“Ah?” Aila let out a surprised sound. “Why does Anran want to leave No. 1886? Isn’t it nice here?”

“It’s all right. But No. 1886 is too small. The endless starry sky above our heads, that’s where my journey lies. Don’t you think it’s beautiful there?”

“Beautiful?” Aila asked in return.

“Very beautiful,” Anran said. “Even before people knew there were countless other life-forms in the sea of stars, they were always thinking about exploring it. Now that we know how lively the sea of stars is, it only makes me want to go see it even more.”

Aila raised her head and looked at the sky.

The dazzling sunlight did not make her blink. Even so, because the sunlight hid the starlight, all Aila could see was the sky, still just as blue today.

Clear and spotless.

She had not seen anything, but all of a sudden, Aila began to yearn for the sea of stars Anran spoke of.

…

“Why isn’t she here yet? She isn’t scamming us, is she?” Leading the Charge checked the time. It was already 8:10.

Zhou Jieyu rolled her eyes. “Bro, we’ve already accepted the quest. Do you still think this is the real world?”

“…Mm, you have a point.” Leading the Charge nodded.

That counted as signing a contract with an NPC too, right? He had never heard of a game where an NPC could stand you up after you’d accepted the quest.

Just as Leading the Charge was thinking with his head lowered, Zhou Jieyu suddenly tugged on his arm.

“She’s here, she’s here!”

“Where?” Leading the Charge lifted his head.

“At the intersection,” Zhou Jieyu said.

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As soon as she finished speaking, she rushed excitedly toward Anran without even waiting for Leading the Charge to respond.

In her eyes, Anran had already turned into a walking EXP bank!

Anran also saw Zhou Jieyu rushing over with a big bag in hand.

In her eyes, Zhou Jieyu had already turned into a walking cash dispenser!

“Did you bring the stuff?” Anran asked.

“I brought…” Zhou Jieyu said with a grin.

But just as the word “brought” left her mouth, her eyes suddenly widened. Aila, who had been hidden behind Anran, stepped out and was now looking at Zhou Jieyu with curious eyes.

“So, so, so cute!” Zhou Jieyu froze. The bag in her hand was practically about to fall to the ground.

“What is it?” Leading the Charge walked up.

He patted Zhou Jieyu on the shoulder, but the moment he saw Aila, he froze too.

“…”

What a cute little girl.

Leading the Charge glanced at his own younger sister again, covered his face, and suddenly felt the gap was enormous!

That was Aila’s power.

Anran snickered.

She could already see torrents of money pouring into Aila’s pockets.

Marketing was sometimes just that simple.

It had to be said that Colin’s genes were really strong. To have such a cute daughter… thinking about it carefully, although she was a little jealous, Colin did look pretty good.

“Snap out of it!”

Anran called out.

“Oh, right.”

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Zhou Jieyu shook her head and quickly handed the plastic bag to Anran.

“There are 117 ordinary mung bean cakes and 58 ordinary osmanthus cakes in total.”

“I’ve got 108 ordinary mung bean cakes and 63 ordinary osmanthus cakes here,” Leading the Charge said as he also handed over the bag in his hand.

That was a lot.

Altogether, that made 225 ordinary mung bean cakes and 121 ordinary osmanthus cakes.

The two of them must have spent the whole night making pastries.

The moment Anran took the bags, Zhou Jieyu and Leading the Charge automatically received the notification that the quest was complete.

A few hundred EXP in hand, Zhou Jieyu was overjoyed.

Money!

Very happily, Anran handed the two bags of pastries to Aila.

Now they had the pastries. What they still lacked was customers.

Everything was hard at the start. As long as the first customer came, the rest would be easy.

Anran glanced at Zhou Jieyu, then suddenly leaned closer and lowered her voice. “By the way, can you do me one more favor?”

“What is it?” Zhou Jieyu asked.

Anran blinked. “When I set up the stall later, pretend to be a customer and buy a mung bean cake. Then just shout out what the effect of this pastry is.”

“Huh?” Zhou Jieyu let out a startled sound.

Wasn’t that just being a shill?

“Well?” Anran asked.

“All right.” Zhou Jieyu nodded. It wasn’t a big deal.

“Favorability from Anran +1.”

Zhou Jieyu, who had suddenly received the game prompt, was instantly overjoyed.