Chapter 87: The Earth Village Mission Hall

With the large-scale expansion of buildings, the area of Earth Village more than doubled in an instant.

A thunderous rumble echoed from outside the village, accompanied by the ground shaking violently. The villagers stared in shock as a winding mountain range suddenly appeared not far from the village.

Just a few rumbles, the ground cracked open, and right before everyone’s eyes, a mountain range rose up from the earth.

The villagers were just as stunned as when they’d seen the wooden houses appear after the white mist cleared. In fact, since they’d witnessed the mountains emerge with their own eyes, a few people were so shaken that their knees buckled and they dropped to the ground with a thud, bowing as if greeting an immortal!

Pei Yu turned and looked over, his peach blossom eyes filled with sincerity as he asked, “Are you sure the one with the power to move mountains and seas isn’t actually an immortal?”

Yun Qimu was taken aback, squinting in thought for a moment. “Well… I guess it’s a case of quantity turning into quality.”

Pei Yu: “…What does that mean? Can you put it in plain language?”

“It’s just that the spiritual energy overflowing from the village buildings can’t affect the plants inside the village anymore, so it ended up creating a mountain range instead. It’s kind of similar to an immortal’s divine powers.”

“Oh.”

Still not quite understanding the principle, Pei Yu chose to keep quiet, not wanting to further expose his ignorance.

At that moment, Yun Qimu’s gaze was fixed on the snow-covered mountain range. She could sense that the protective barrier that once covered Earth Village now included the mountains as well, meaning that area was now part of the village’s territory.

She wondered what treasures might be hidden in those mountains.

Yun Qimu’s eyes sparkled with excitement, itching to go explore, but with nightfall approaching, she had to suppress her curiosity for now.

As everyone buzzed with discussion, Meifang snapped back to her senses and hurried over to Yun Qimu, greeting her enthusiastically, “Village Chief Yun, how do we sign that electronic contract you mentioned?”

Yun Qimu returned to herself and smiled, lips pressed together. “It’s in the Earth Village Mission Hall. Dailisi and I need to sign a contract too, so just come with us.”

“Great, great!” Aunt Meifang beamed, delighted beyond words.

She quickly followed Yun Qimu, but soon paused, turning to look for her son.

She was still secretly hoping that Village Chief Yun might take a liking to her son and become her daughter-in-law, so of course she wanted them to spend more time together.

But alas, her son was nowhere to be seen—such a big guy, yet he’d managed to disappear without a trace.

She stomped her foot in frustration, but could only call Lai San and Cook to come along.

A few others followed as well—some from the Tengu tribe, who, seeing the example, brought out their old clothes to sell to the remaining four tourists.

This left Meifang rather disgruntled. She muttered under her breath, “Copycats.”

But there was nothing she could do. Their family didn’t have many old winter clothes—just one per person—and her own was too small to sell anyway. So she could only let these “copycats” take advantage of the opportunity.

Leaving a trail of footprints in the snow, the group soon arrived at the Earth Village Mission Hall.

“Wow, this place is so bright and spacious!” The group entered, looking around in awe, eyes wide as if they’d never seen anything like it before.

Especially the native Tengu tribespeople, who had lived in caves or earthen houses for generations. The most impressive thing they’d ever seen was the spaceship that came to collect garbage. They’d never seen such a beautiful building in their lives.

Aunt Meifang stroked one of the hall’s beautiful white pillars, her eyes shining with excitement. She thought to herself, This move was really worth it. Otherwise, how could I have ever seen such a beautiful place in my life?

The spacious mission hall was irregularly designed, with three large glass counters for handling business.

They were divided into the Mission Registration Desk, Mission Issuance Desk, Contract Management Desk, and Earth Village Information Desk.

The layout and division of labor were clear at a glance.

In addition, the large hall had plenty of open space in the center and corners, furnished with smooth white stone benches—long, round, and oval-shaped.

There was even a small indoor garden in the center, planted with greenery.

The decor was simple yet elegant, pleasing to the eye.

“I see it! That’s where we sign our contract!” Dailisi’s violet eyes sparkled as she pointed excitedly at the Contract Management Desk.

“Yeah, I see it too. Let’s go,” Yun Qimu said, the corners of her lips curling up as she looked over.

“Welcome to the Management Desk. Due to a lack of staff, there is currently no in-person service. The all-purpose system will handle your requests for now. What business would you like to conduct?”

As soon as they stepped within the yellow line in front of the Contract Management Desk, the indicator light above lit up red, signaling that a transaction was in progress.

A mechanical voice sounded, emotionless—just like the usual game prompts they’d heard before.

Yun Qimu’s face darkened. So she’d have to arrange staff for this place too?

[Host, remember to pay me, okay? Full-service intelligent management is only ten spirit coins a day, dear.]

Yun Qimu couldn’t help but laugh. “So you’re just making decisions without consulting me? I refuse to pay you before we’ve agreed on terms.”

The main system whined, [You’re so stingy! You’re biased! You pay that clothing shop owner three thousand spirit coins a month—one hundred a day! I’m only asking for ten!]

Yun Qimu cleared her throat. Admittedly, she was being a bit biased. “But the clothing shop makes money selling clothes. How much can the mission hall earn? If I pay you in spirit coins, I’ll be losing money. Do I look like a sucker to you?”

[Who says you won’t make money? You can charge a tax—three percent on every mission issued. Accessing Earth Village information costs spirit coins too. Signing a contract costs spirit coins. If people want our services, they have to pay. Otherwise, we’d be working for free!]

The main system made it clear it wasn’t about to work for nothing.

Well, this little system was getting smarter by the day.

Yun Qimu thought about it and realized the main system made a lot of sense.

Signing a contract required the system to supervise both parties, which used up energy. Why shouldn’t there be a fee? Of course there should.

“I think a three percent tax on issued missions is reasonable. Each contract should cost ten spirit coins. As for accessing Earth Village information, let’s make it a benefit for villagers—just one spirit coin. But if tourists want information, it’s ten spirit coins.”

[Wise decision, host! I fully support these fees.]

And so, the two—person and system—hit it off immediately and set the prices, recording them in the mission hall’s data management system. From now on, that’s how it would be.

Yun Qimu, finding the main system surprisingly agreeable today, decided not to make things difficult and agreed to pay it ten spirit coins a day for full-service intelligent management."