Chapter 12: Welcome to the Global Village

The second morning on the Exile Star.

The raging, perilous night had finally passed. Much of the gray dust that had filled the air seemed to have been swept away, and the sky looked a little clearer.

Sunlight streamed in through the small window of the wooden cabin, casting a few bright rays across the cramped room.

Yun Qimu lay lazily on the little wooden bed, slowly opening her eyes. She raised a hand to shield herself from the light, only moving it away once her eyes had adjusted.

She glanced to the side—her little companion, who had slept next to her, was already gone. Faint, cheerful shouts drifted in from outside.

Yun Qimu’s face, no longer as rosy as yesterday, was a bit pale, but a gentle smile lingered on her lips.

With a lazy arch of her brow, she wondered, What’s got Little Yun so happy this morning?

As she pondered, she sat up in bed. Her gaze fell on a neatly folded set of plain white clothes at the foot of the bed, with a pair of high-waisted black pants underneath.

Clearly, her thoughtful little companion had left them for her.

Yun Qimu’s smile widened. She picked up the clothes and headed to the bathroom. After washing up, a slender, capable, and simply dressed young beauty emerged.

The stylish bell sleeves made her look even more elegant and radiant.

“What are you all talking about out here, laughing so loudly?” Yun Qimu called out with a smile as she walked into the small living room.

Outside the cabin, Yun Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up. He jumped to his feet, grinning wide to show his tiny rice-grain teeth, and waved excitedly. “Dai Mu, Dai Mu, come look! We’ve got baby bok choy growing here—so green and fresh! They look even better than the ones the elves grow, and the system says they’re all free of dark matter!”

Yun Qimu was a little surprised. Since when did the main system get so generous—throwing in free baby bok choy?

She quickened her pace, replying, “They’re not elves, just humans who’ve awakened elven bloodlines or similar abilities.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know,” Yun Xiaoyu mumbled, not really listening, and dashed over to tug her toward the little vegetable patch.

The small garden outside the cabin wasn’t big—an irregular diamond shape, maybe about a cubic meter in size. Just as Yun Xiaoyu said, it was filled with a crop of lush, tender baby bok choy.

But Yun Qimu, who’d seen it all in full-immersion online games and even farmed a few acres herself, wasn’t particularly impressed.

If this “Build the Global Village” game developed like the ones she’d played before, little bok choy like this would soon be everywhere—harvest after harvest, more than anyone could ever pick.

“See, these are baby bok choy! I bet you’ve never seen them before, Dai Mu!” Yun Xiaoyu lifted his chin proudly, pointing at the greens, his chubby cheeks glowing with pride. He kept chattering excitedly.

“Right, you used to stay in your room all the time, so you definitely haven’t seen these. The ones the elves grow are super expensive—three hundred energy coins each! Only Grandma was generous enough to let us have them every meal. Auntie would always buy them for Yun Shangyang, that little chubby, and he’d show off in front of me every day. Hmph, I’m not jealous anymore, because now I have even more baby bok choy than him—and these are the best kind, with no dark elements at all...”

Yun Xiaoyu’s eyes sparkled as he gazed at the garden, waving his pudgy arm as if declaring, “This whole patch is mine!”

“Yes, yes, it’s all yours,” Yun Qimu replied warmly, finally seeing a bit of that innocent, adorable child in him.

“Dai Mu, let’s have stir-fried bok choy for breakfast! Dad knows how to make it—Mom taught him back at home. I even brought salt!”

Excited, Yun Xiaoyu scampered back to the living room to look for the salt.

Yun Qimu quickly called after him, “I put it in the kitchen last night. Come back out—we’ll pick the veggies first, then look for some wood to use as firewood...”

After all, the little stove in the cabin needed wood to burn.

“But...” Yun Xiaoyu rushed back out, his little face scrunched up in worry, nervously twiddling his fingers. “But we need wood to upgrade the cabin too. If we burn it all, will we have enough? The system says if we have enough wood and three thousand energy coins, we can expand the cabin to have two bedrooms. Then we’ll both have our own beds!”

“Three thousand energy coins...” Yun Qimu’s smile faltered.

That damn main system—couldn’t trick her, so now it was trying to trick her little brother.

Three thousand energy coins—that’s thirty spirit coins, more than half the cost of building the whole cabin, and all you get is one extra room? Seriously...

[......]

The main system was playing dead. It had thought it could squeeze a fortune out of the wealthy Little Yun by getting him to upgrade the cabin, then refuse a refund on the grounds that the transaction was final. But who could have guessed that as soon as it gave Little Yun the quest, he’d spill the beans? Tut.

“What’s wrong? Are you upset?” Yun Xiaoyu immediately sensed her change in mood and looked up at her anxiously.

“No,” Yun Qimu forced a smile, her long lashes lowering as she reached out to ruffle his hair. “I just think thirty spirit coins is way too expensive. There are better, cheaper ways.”

Little Yun’s eyes lit up, curiosity written all over his face. “What’s better and cheaper?”

Yun Qimu just smiled mysteriously and led her puzzled little brother outside.

Yun Dad, still crouched by the vegetable patch, immediately stood up, alert as a big dog guarding his pups, and followed closely behind.

Yun Qimu smiled gently, then glanced over to the other side of the cabin. There, a makeshift clothesline made of a few mechanical pipes was strung up, with her clothes, as well as Yun Dad’s and Yun Xiaoyu’s, fluttering in the breeze.

She looked at Little Yun. “Did you and Dad wash those?”

Little Yun’s cheeks flushed as he turned away shyly. “I—I just gave directions. Dad did the washing. He made the clothesline too. Dad’s the best.”

Yun Qimu chuckled softly, reaching out to take Yun Dad’s big hand. The three of them—tall, medium, and small—hand in hand, looked just like a family heading out for a picnic.

She agreed, “Yes, Dad’s amazing. And so are you—without your direction, Dad wouldn’t have thought to do all this.”

“Well, I’m just a little bit amazing,” Little Yun said, his face lighting up with joy, though he quickly tried to hide his smile. Still, his steps grew lighter, and he even started to skip.

“Dai Mu, where’s this better, cheaper way?”

Yun Xiaoyu looked around, puzzled. He didn’t see anything valuable nearby, his little head full of questions.

“There it is, right over there,” Yun Qimu said, her eyes landing on the unconscious maid lying ahead. A devilish smile curled at her lips."