Chapter 220: Getting Back on Track

This was the children's first meal in the valley—after a hurried overnight transfer and the brief chaos and excitement of arriving at their new home, they gathered before the large dining table on the platform. The Special Bureau staff dispatched to this side of the valley had prepared steaming buns, rice porridge, and hot soup for everyone. Due to the haste, this hardly counted as a lavish meal, but a hot breakfast at this moment was enough to calm everyone down.

Yu Sheng sat at one end of the long dining table (truly very long), Hu Li sat to his right, and Erin sat on the table. The smallest children, led by their older brothers and sisters, arranged themselves along both sides of the table according to their dining positions in the orphanage. Small plates were already placed before them. The "parents" and staff together carried large soup pots and steamers to the table again and again, then began serving food to everyone.

The children felt this was novel and interesting. This open valley was completely different from the old orphanage they were used to and the crowded city scenes. Sitting outdoors in an open space, gathered around a super huge table and eating with adults was an experience they had never had before. Even the exceptionally sensible and rule-abiding children of the "Fairy Tale" organization couldn't help but chatter nonstop at this moment.

Of course, not only did the children feel it was novel, but the staff dispatched by the Special Bureau also felt quite novel—leaving aside other things, at the very least they had never seen a fifty-meter-long dining table...

Little Red Riding Hood helped serve food to the children, walked over, and sat beside Yu Sheng, muttering: "To be honest, isn't making this table a bit exaggerated..."

"I was just thinking the first meal should have a sense of ceremony," Yu Sheng was also a bit embarrassed, "so I had everyone gather at one table."

"Yes, the sense of ceremony is quite full—you should consider the people responsible for serving," Little Red Riding Hood pouted, then stood up, took a steaming hot bun, blew on it hard, stuffed it into her mouth, and took a huge bite. "Ah, hot, hot, hot, hot..."

"How can it not be hot if it was just steamed?" Yu Sheng felt somewhat amused. The Little Red Riding Hood he usually saw always wore a stern face and looked mature, but after contacting her more now, he discovered that this "parent" taking care of a large group of younger brothers and sisters actually had a quite childish side. "Eat slowly."

While sucking in air hard, Little Red Riding Hood looked up and glanced at Hu Li on the opposite side, who was devouring buns two at a time: "I didn't think it had cooled down because I saw her eating so fast."

"... She cultivates the Dao. When she eats barbecue, she swallows two slices of pork belly with a piece of burning charcoal in one go. Do you take her as a reference?"

"... I was wrong."

Yu Sheng smiled helplessly, and then he heard a phone ringtone coming from his pocket. He quickly took it out to check—the caller was Bai Xue.

After connecting, the cold voice of that female director immediately rang out: "Open a door connecting to the Special Bureau's underground parking lot—the staff dispatched by the Council to the orphanage have arrived."

"Uh... oh, oh, okay."

Probably because he had been tossing and turning all night and his brain was a bit dull at this moment, Yu Sheng thought for a moment before remembering what was going on. He hurriedly agreed while standing up to prepare to open the door. At the same time, after hanging up the phone (this time confirming it was truly disconnected), he couldn't help but mutter a couple of words quietly to Erin: "Is it my illusion? I always feel that the voice in Bai Xue's phone call just now sounded a bit happy..."

Erin tugged Yu Sheng's hair: "Nonsense. It's 5:30 in the morning now. Finally, it's her turn to call you outside of working hours to urge you to work. Usually, you just report once and the Special Bureau jumps up from their desks. Now she actually has to come urge you to open the door. If it were me, I could laugh out loud right in front of you."

Yu Sheng frowned: "... Is it that exaggerated?"

"My spiritual intuition says so."

Obviously, the biggest common point between Erin and Yu Sheng was that neither of their spiritual intuitions did anything proper.

At this moment, Yu Sheng had already reached his hand into the air. He was already familiar with "connecting" to the Special Bureau. Plus, connecting a few people didn't require opening a very large door, so in the blink of an eye, a virtual large door had already appeared in the air. Then he applied a little force and opened that door out of thin air.

The children curiously looked over this way. A smile already bloomed on Yu Sheng's face, and he happily waved to everyone: "Look who's here!"

The smallest toddler closest finally jumped up from the stool first: "It's Teacher Su!"

Familiar faces appeared one by one on the platform. These "teachers" from the Council, who had accompanied the orphanage children for years, wore smiles on their faces. They had received an urgent notice from their superiors early in the morning and had rushed over immediately.

"Yes, your favorite Teacher Su—and also Teacher Li and Teacher Sun, as well as your favorite winter break homework..."

One of the teachers cheerfully greeted the children, then showed the things piled on the camping cart he had dragged over, and told the children the good news that even if they ran to the valley to "camp," they would still have to make up classes as usual.

A chorus of wails from the little heads immediately rose from both sides of the long dining table—along with the schadenfreude of the adults.

"Luckily I don't have to be like them..." Little Red Riding Hood muttered.

Before her words had even finished, Teacher Su walked over to her side and casually placed a large bag on the table: "Your homeroom teacher asked me to give this to you—you still have to do homework even if you take leave, and there are the end-of-month mock exam papers. Rely on your own conscience. When you finish, I'll help you deliver them." Little Red Riding Hood: "..."

"Bai Xue, Long Fa, and those over there—you stop laughing. The things on this cart are for you. Before we came, the Council specifically arranged to contact the teachers from your respective schools and classes. Come over to collect your homework, and the end-of-month mock exam papers."

Immediately, a joyful atmosphere spread along both sides of the long table.

Anyway, Yu Sheng watching from the side was quite amused.

However, after he finished being amused, he still reminded them from the side: "Eat first, eat first. The children were woken up at 2:30 in the morning last night. They are only eating a hot meal now. After eating, they still need to settle down and rest—the matters of homework and make-up classes can be discussed later. You all come over to eat too; it's just a matter of adding a few pairs of chopsticks. After eating, I'll take you to familiarize yourselves with this place."

After all this fuss, by the time everyone finished eating and Yu Sheng took the "employees" dispatched by the Council to walk around the camp, it was already past 9:00 in the morning.

The second batch of construction personnel arranged by the Special Bureau entered the valley at the agreed time, replacing the first batch of workers who had been busy from last night until now, and continued the finishing construction work at the settlement point, preparing to start other agreed-upon construction projects.

The settlement point itself was basically completed.

Standing on a high slope near the platform, Yu Sheng looked at that neat and brand-new "camp." He saw the older members of "Fairy Tale" familiarizing themselves with the facilities in various places under the guidance of the worker masters, handing over the keys to critical equipment such as generators and water pumps. Beside them, the roofs of the white simple houses shimmered brightly under the clear sky. The hardened roads were neat and open. Semi-grown children and several teachers carried packed daily necessities and walked along the paths between the houses. The "King" was leading a squad of guard knights around the camp catching children to send them back to their rooms to sleep. In between, one could occasionally see adults stopping, wearing a look of distress on their faces, explaining to a certain little head why they still needed to sleep even though it was daytime...

To be fair, this settlement point could hardly be called beautiful or magnificent, but just looking at it brought a kind of "comfort" that made people feel at ease. It fully met the living needs of everyone in the orphanage. Perhaps there were many inconvenient places, but it looked like... Little Red Riding Hood and the others had already started to like this place.

No errors, one sentence, one issue, one content, one inside, one look!

As for Yu Sheng, he was happier than anyone else right now.

Connected directly to this valley, he seemed to be able to feel the change in the "atmosphere" appearing in the valley. This change was very subtle. If one had to say it... it was as if under this eternally clear and bright blue sky, a simple and vibrant "town" had now appeared. Vigorous vitality was sprouting from this brand-new small town, slowly "nourishing" this place.

Yu Sheng felt he liked this vitality, liked the changes in the valley, and liked this "nourishment." This seemed to allow him to feel more truly that he was "alive"—this feeling of "being alive" was even more real than his own heartbeat.

He didn't understand what this feeling was, but the sense of joy in his heart made him feel this was a good thing.

Then Yu Sheng withdrew his gaze and looked towards the teleportation platform nearby.

Those newly built pump houses and generator rooms were located between the camp and the teleportation platform. Now the workers were extending pipes and lines out, connecting them to another construction site beside the platform.

This was the agreement Yu Sheng and Bai Xue had made previously: the "Inn" would open this valley and the crash site within the valley to the Special Bureau for their research, and the Special Bureau would provide money and manpower to complete a series of construction projects in this valley—including solving the water and electricity problems in the valley, setting up a smart vegetable greenhouse, and so on...

The nightmare overflow incident that occurred in the orphanage was an unexpected situation, but now everything seemed to be improving rapidly and had even gotten back on track.

With a happy and relaxed mood, Yu Sheng returned to 66 Wutong Road. Before the Special Bureau called him again to ask him to open the door, he wanted to take a good nap.

Hu Li lent him a tail to hold. Erin promised that her body made of rebar and stone would not suddenly jump onto the bed this time. The temperature in the room was just right, and after drawing the curtains, the brightness in the room was also perfect—there was no better environment for a nap than this, Yu Sheng thought.

Then, holding the warm fox tail, he happily closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, oh dear, the Black Forest.

The sound of an infant's crying was in his ears.

Yu Sheng: "... Damn it."

(End of this chapter)