Chapter 49.1: Relocating
Cheng Qisheng was puzzled.
Ever since her followers had started lassoing snow beasts and happily racing off into the distance, she had gone from a Creator God with so much free time that she could leisurely enjoy hot pot…
…to an extremely busy Creator God.
Not every team—or lone believer—was lucky enough to obtain a silver Item Card and build themselves a cabin on the very first day.
No matter how strong this group of pioneers with combat power above seventy might be, they were still flesh and blood. Without a place to rest or food to replenish themselves, they simply couldn’t keep going forever.
So Cheng Qisheng once again resorted to her trusty head-patting technique.
Pat one person’s head, then another’s.
This one, then that one.
And then she noticed something.
Huh?
Why were there three faith links all by themselves on an entirely different continent?
How on earth had they managed that?
Even the traveling team that had set off again and marched without stopping hadn’t gone as far as those three.
Only after glimpsing the blurry memories of their journey—through which she’d seen them “flying” all the way there—did Cheng Qisheng finally understand what had happened.
Because those three children had ended up stranded so far away from everyone else, Cheng Qisheng paid them special attention.
Every day, the moment she opened her eyes, the first thing she did was check on them.
Using her tried-and-true philosophy of it doesn’t matter if the method is simple, as long as it works, she repeatedly employed the divine head-pat technique to help them survive those hardest early days.
Even after watching their lives steadily improve, she had gotten into the habit of dropping by once a day to check on them.
And then…
The three of them obtained a snowmobile Item Card and decided it was time to return to Blue Sea.
Cheng Qisheng became even more confused.
So… you three never realized that the route you had flown along crossed a bottomless glacial rift that completely separated two continents?
At present, the situation was essentially this:
Blue Sea Safe City was on Continent A.
Song Xi, Wang Moning, and Shen Jinyang were on Continent B.
Between them stretched a massive ice chasm.
The only way across was to fly.
There was no land route whatsoever.
In other words, there was absolutely no way for them to retrace their original path.
…No wonder the three of them had been so completely unconcerned all this time. They had no idea they were stranded on an entirely different continent.
Cheng Qisheng had assumed they were simply calm by nature, which was why they had carried on with life so composedly.
As it turned out, while they were being carried through the air that day, not a single one of the three had paid any attention to what lay beneath them.
Watching them grow more and more excited as they discussed setting off the next morning, Cheng Qisheng had no choice but to issue a divine oracle.
—Don’t leave. This route is impassable.
The three young people who had been eagerly preparing for their triumphant return home all froze.
Huh?
Wang Moning went blank. A wave of panic spread through her before she could stop it.
“Does that mean… we can’t go back?”
Song Xi clutched her head.
“Then we can’t go back to exchange our cards for contribution points? I’ve already decided which district I want to buy a house in!”
Shen Jinyang remained comparatively calm.
“I wouldn’t say we can’t go back. Dazzling Star is a planet. In theory, if we head in the opposite direction and just keep walking… eventually we’d circle around and make it back.”
Although Song Xi and Shen Jinyang both appeared relatively composed—and Shen Jinyang even hugged the visibly flustered Wang Moning to comfort her—Cheng Qisheng could tell that all three of the young women were frightened.
The people of Blue Sea were not afraid of battle.
They were not afraid of death.
But the thought of never being able to return home…
Never being able to return to the embrace of their Creator God…
That was truly terrifying.
There wasn’t much Cheng Qisheng could do.
She could guide her followers’ sense of direction, but when flying was required, her guidance alone wasn’t enough.
Item Cards were incredibly mysterious. They seemed capable of producing almost anything.
She had assumed the three young women were thinking the same thing she was—that they were simply waiting until an Item Card capable of solving this problem appeared.
After all, if a whole house could come out of an Item Card, why couldn’t an aircraft capable of flying through polar extreme conditions?
If they insisted on making the journey back without relying on such an Item Card, it would indeed be extraordinarily difficult.
Still…
It wasn’t as though there were absolutely no alternatives.
If they headed in the opposite direction instead, there was a chance they might encounter another Safe City.
The sky was nothing but endless falling snow, making it impossible to determine their position from above.
But this world contained more than forty Safe Cities in total.
In other words, Dazzling Star now had more than forty known landing points—one for each Safe City.
The Blue Sea government suspected that Blue Sea Safe City had descended into what had been the ocean before the apocalypse, since no one had ever lived there.
Four months had passed, yet the people of Blue Sea still hadn’t encountered a single native inhabitant of Dazzling Star.
It was as if this endless expanse of snow contained nothing except Blue Sea’s people and snow beasts.
Blue Sea had been fighting this entire apocalypse in single-player mode.
…Not that the citizens minded. If anything, they were rather pleased about it.
However, the number of snow beasts on this continent had clearly begun to decline.
That was completely different from what the other city lords had been saying in the group chat.
One city lord had complained:
[These damned snow beasts reproduce so quickly it’s like they grow straight out of the ground. We can’t kill them fast enough. I’ve lost another batch of citizens.]
Weren’t they supposed to be impossible to wipe out?
Weren’t they supposed to sprout from the ground like weeds?
At this rate, in another three months at most, there wouldn’t be any snow beasts left in this region.
The Blue Sea government was becoming increasingly concerned.
Using the environmental surveys and snow beast intelligence gathered by explorers, together with the information Cheng Qisheng had obtained from Coriander about Dazzling Star, the experts reached a rather frustrating conclusion.
Blue Sea’s luck had been… too good.
They had landed on a section of the planet where the snow beasts were generally much weaker—and which had been isolated from the main population of the species.
Their theory was that when the snow beasts first appeared on Dazzling Star, the higher-tier individuals—those requiring much larger amounts of food—had naturally concentrated around human settlements.
They built nests there and reproduced rapidly.
As a result, the continents with large human populations also became the ones with the greatest numbers of snow beasts.
By contrast, the region where Blue Sea Safe City had descended had apparently been uninhabited both before and after the apocalypse.
(Which only reinforced the suspicion that it had once been part of the ocean.)
As a result, the local snow beast population had always been relatively small, and the beasts themselves were generally much weaker than elsewhere.
Moreover, although this landmass was enormous—so vast that, aside from Song Xi, Wang Moning, and Shen Jinyang, no one had ever reached its edge—the steadily declining snow beast population, with no signs of replenishment, strongly suggested that it was an isolated region.
There was a perfect term for a place like this:
An isolated beginner’s zone.
Most city lords would probably have considered themselves unbelievably lucky.
What a perfect place!
The danger level was low, there were plenty of snow beasts—but not too many—and everything was manageable.
It was like winning the lottery.
But for Blue Sea, this region was rather… underwhelming.
We signed up for an Extreme Danger mission… and this is all we get?
The current snow beast population was still enough to sustain them.
But what about three months from now?
Blue Sea simply had too many people.
Even with all the cold-weather suits obtained from the Item Cards that explorers had brought back, they had only just managed to equip a little over half of the population.
The remaining minority still had no choice but to stay inside the city’s heated shelters.
Fortunately, Blue Sea had a substantial stockpile of resources. As the number of residents requiring shelter gradually decreased, they were able to scale down the heated areas after relocating and protecting essential equipment.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t even have had enough energy to keep everyone warm.
Blue Sea’s projections showed that even if they exterminated every snow beast on this continent, the total loot would only barely be enough to provide every resident with a single cold-weather suit.
There still wouldn’t be enough Item Cards to give everyone even one Item House.
Cheng Qisheng looked toward Song Xi and the others.
Her original plan had been simple: once this continent had been completely cleared, Blue Sea would head toward the coordinates of Coriander Safe City.
Coriander hadn’t minded sharing its location with her.
But honestly, Cheng Qisheng could tell that the region where Coriander was located didn’t have many snow beasts either.
Coriander itself wasn’t disappointed by that.
If anything, it was delighted.
These three young people, who had accidentally found themselves on another continent, might instead bring Blue Sea Safe City a whole new range of possibilities.
“Set out in the direction opposite from the one you came. Find another Safe City and learn its name and circumstances. The Temple may descend near it.”
Through the bond linking her to her followers, the great Creator God sent them this message.
This world was one that favored individual strength. Success depended primarily on the capabilities of each Safe City’s residents, so Cheng Qisheng had rarely spoken in the city lords’ group chat.
That didn’t mean cooperation was impossible.
By signing contracts, forming temporary alliances, and exchanging benefits, they could still obtain the coordinates of other regions.
After a moment’s thought, she gently patted the three of them on the head through the bond and added one more instruction.
“From this moment onward, the three of you are reassigned as the Blue Sea Advance Team.”
Her plainspoken words were transformed by the believers’ bond into the vague, solemn cadence of a divine oracle, yet their meaning reached the three young women with perfect clarity.
The three of them froze.
The Blue Sea Advance Team?!
The one with a guaranteed monthly salary of 3,000 contribution points, plus all kinds of benefits and special allowances?
Advance Team members also received generous rewards for distinguished service.
Any resources or Item Cards they obtained while on missions belonged entirely to them.
It was essentially the equivalent of becoming a crystal hunter—with a guaranteed paycheck.
They had heard that, back on Velvet Star, a five-person squad had discovered the coordinates of Yunbula Nation, allowing Blue Sea to locate its enormous grain depot.
The great Creator God had personally bestowed upon them the title of Blue Sea Advance Team.
And rewarded each of them with an entire house.
An actual house.
One that was completely paid off.
And more importantly…
This was an order from their God.
The great deity had entrusted them with a mission.
When they completed it…
That would be the day they returned home.
In an instant, all three lost their disappointment.
Their anxiety vanished as well.
Their eyes shone brighter than ever.
They felt unbelievably fortunate.
Each of them respectfully placed a hand over her chest and pledged in unison,
“Thank you, our God! Leave it to us! We will definitely find another Safe City!”
Alone on another continent, the three of them were as tiny as ants amid the endless snowy wilderness.
Outside the window, wind and snow raged across the vast, unknown land stretching into the distance.
Yet their hearts burned with unwavering passion.
“Our God above!”
“Long live Blue Sea!!”
Each of them pressed a hand firmly over her heart, gazing at the howling blizzard with absolute reverence and devotion.
Our God…
We will do everything we can to return to Your embrace.
…
Blue Sea Safe City—
Snowmobiles came and went in a steady stream. Four months had passed, and most of Blue Sea’s residents were now wearing cold-resistant clothing obtained from item cards, allowing them to go outside without difficulty.
Because there were too few Silver Building Cards, snowmobiles had become the most popular means of transportation.
As long as they had enough energy, pioneers could ride them at high speed across the snowfields, drawing the attention of snow beasts and luring them into attacking.
The snowmobile rental station was bustling with people. After returning the snowmobile she had rented, Ruo Buyan entered the public hall with her teammates. She took off her outer cold-weather gear, carefully inspected it for any damage, and, after confirming it was intact, returned the cold-resistant clothing to the equipment rental counter.
“As usual, send this snow beast carcass to the laboratory.”
After finishing the return procedures, Ruo Buyan turned to her teammates and said,
“By tomorrow morning, after I’ve removed the useful parts, you can take the rest away.”
The teammates who had been quietly following her nodded.
One of the younger members asked curiously,
“Can you really extract anything useful from them?”
To him, these snow beasts didn’t seem much different from the wild animals on Dark Star. Other than their meat being edible—though a bit tough and dry—they looked pretty ordinary.
Ruo Buyan replied gently, “Everything has its purpose. If it seems useless, it’s only because we haven’t discovered its value yet.”
“From these snow beasts, I’ve found that they don’t have a continuous circulatory system of blood vessels. Instead, they possess only a single neural pathway running through their bodies. They also have detachable locking joints, extremely simple cellular antigens, and very low transplant rejection responses…”
“Wait, wait, wait!!”
The young man who had asked the question wore the expression of someone thinking, “What are you talking about? What am I even listening to?” as though he’d just been hit by a psychic attack.
“Professor Ruo, could you explain it in a way the rest of us can actually understand?”
Ruo Buyan nodded.
“Of course.”
She actually knew her teammates couldn’t understand a word she was saying. It was just that they had been working together for four months without producing any real results. She was worried they might give up on the partnership, so she had deliberately phrased it that way.
“To put it simply, in theory, as long as we can create a suitable interface, these snow beast limbs can be used as weapons.”
“Oh~”
Another young man looked excited.
“So, Professor Ruo, when are you going to make this interface?”
Ruo Buyan did her best to look completely confident.
“…I’m still researching it. Scientific research takes time.”
This was a skill she had developed back in her home world. Whenever investors asked about progress or she needed to secure more funding, no matter how uncertain she felt inside, she had to appear absolutely confident on the outside.
The investors would then ask all sorts of follow-up questions. As long as she answered them with unwavering confidence and painted an attractive picture of the future, that was enough.
And when they asked again next time…
She would simply paint them another picture.
“Got it! Then keep it up, Professor Ruo! We’ll be waiting for your breakthrough!”
“And don’t stay up all night in the lab! With this awful weather, your laboratory isn’t exactly warm anyway. We don’t mind waiting another couple of days before eating it—the snow beast meat isn’t going to spoil.”
Ruo Buyan froze.
That was it?
No more questions? They weren’t going to ask for a deadline?
But after saying those few words, the group looked perfectly satisfied.
“Let’s go grab something at the cafeteria.”
“Sounds good!”
Although there was only a chance that a snow beast would drop an item card…
Every single snow beast was made of meat!
And the bigger the beast, the more meat it yielded.
As a result, the people of Blue Sea had been living quite happily these past few months. Every day, they could see groups returning from the wilderness with snow beasts slung over their shoulders.
Their team, however, was different from the others.
Most teams hauled a snow beast back, butchered it, and cooked it right away.
Their team always handed it over to Ruo Buyan first. Only after she had finished dissecting it and conducting her research would they eat the meat.
The reason was simple: this hunter squad, “Pie from the Sky”, had signed a Materials Supply Contract with Ruo Buyan.
Their responsibilities were to provide snow beasts for her research. From time to time, they would also take her out into the field, protecting her so she could observe living snow beasts up close. If she designated a particular specimen, they would pursue and hunt it for her.
In return, once Ruo Buyan’s research produced results, she would give the team 3% of the profits generated by those results.
Three percent might not sound like much, but to the Pie from the Sky team, it was practically effortless income.
Even without the contract, they would have been heading out to hunt every day anyway. Signing it barely changed their routine. The only difference was that instead of taking the snow beasts straight home to butcher, they first delivered them to Ruo Buyan’s laboratory. By the time they got them back, the whole carcasses had simply become neatly sliced cuts of meat.
If Ruo Buyan failed to produce anything useful, they didn’t really lose anything.
But if she did make a breakthrough…
Then it really would be like pie falling from the sky.
Because of that, the Pie from the Sky team was remarkably relaxed about the arrangement. As soon as they arrived at the cafeteria, they cheerfully began discussing what to eat that day.
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