Chapter 555.1: A New Year!

The bustling streets were packed with people watching the fireworks, and long lines had formed in front of stalls built from wooden frames.

Most of the stalls were set up by the shelter residents, but quite a few locals had followed their example too, hoping to earn some quick cash during the festive chaos.

“... So our mission today is just to eat and drink at the festival?” Pai raised an eyebrow as she rubbed her chin, looking at the stamp in her hand.

Just the day before, Chu Guang had come to her with a serious expression, and she had thought it was some particularly troublesome mission, only to find it unexpectedly simple.

All they had to do was find the stalls run by shelter residents, eat and drink for free, and then give them a tap on the VM’s digital rating panel.

It was such a strange task...

“Don’t underestimate this important mission,” said Xiaoyu seriously, clutching her stamp as she noticed the doubtful look on Pai’s face. “Brother Chu said this is a very important ‘player activity’. Many shelter residents have been looking forward to it all year. If they get a perfect score, they’ll be happy for the whole year.”

“And Brother Chu also said, there may be some strange food mixed in during the celebration. If we find any, we must press the alert button on the VM right away...

Ahem!

”

Because of her obsessive tendencies, she said it all in one breath without pausing, and coughed twice from the lack of air at the end.

“Eh?! Is it that scary?!” Pai was startled.

Seeing that she had startled Pai, Xiaoyu nodded seriously. “Yeah! So you can’t let your guard down, especially if you come across that guy called Mosquito!”

Pai glanced nervously around, seeing Xiaoyu didn’t seem to be joking.

Walking beside them, Elisa tilted her head. “If giving perfect scores brings happiness... Can’t we just give everyone a high score?”

She thought the shelter residents were all good people, and the idea of giving them a bad review made her uncomfortable.

At that moment, she was wearing a white cotton trench coat, a soft white beret with yellow trim, and a red-and-black checkered scarf wrapped around her neck.

Maybe it was all the things she had experienced, but she seemed much more mature now. Though they were about the same age, she clearly looked more like the older sister when standing beside the two.

Xiaoyu shook her head. “That wouldn’t be fair to the ones who took the task seriously.”

“It’s not to be taken lightly, who would’ve thought such a simple task had such profound meaning!” Energized, Pai’s eyes sparkled. “It’s decided! Let Pai be the bad guy!”

She would give out a few zeroes to get the party started!

Xiaoyu frowned. “You can’t! You have to judge fairly!”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be picked again next year.

Elisa looked at Xiaoyu curiously and asked, “You’ve been saying it’s a mission... But isn’t this just a festival activity?”

Xiaoyu replied, “It’s pretty much the same thing. Brother Chu said everyone is a task expert, so treating events as missions is just common sense.”

Pai leaned in curiously. “What’s a task expert?”

Xiaoyu shook her head. “I don’t know... Maybe it means people who feel happy when completing tasks.”

Such diligent people...

Listening to their conversation, Elisa felt a renewed sense of respect for those residents in blue coats.

No matter what it was, they were always leading the way!

No wonder the New Alliance residents trusted them so much.

“We must live up to their efforts.”

“

Mm

!” Xiaoyu nodded cheerfully. “Let’s do our best!”

“Let’s start with sweets!” Just a minute ago Pai had been on alert, but now that they were near the snack street, she began scanning the stalls in excitement.

Watching the two of them bounce into the street and taking in the lively atmosphere, Elisa couldn’t help but smile. That was a scene Boulder Town had never seen before.

In the past, let alone smiles... She couldn’t even see people’s eyes.

People walked with their heads down, hurrying along like puppets on strings, moving from one place to another without even knowing where they were going.

Things had changed. Everything was starting anew. People could finally ask themselves where they wanted to go in the future, what kind of person they wanted to become, what place or even which star they might reach.

Thinking of the conversation she had with the administrator the day before, a moment of clarity suddenly dawned on her. She suddenly understood why he said those words back then.

“That is not the answer.”

It was only natural that the workers’ union members would feel lost after achieving victory, that confusion was the very prize of the victor.

Only rivers, mountains, and beasts never lost their way.

“... I’m really glad I got to talk with him,” she mumbled softly to herself

How nice it would’ve been to walk through the festival with him...

She could have shared this realization with him.

As she thought about it, a faint steam rose from the edge of her snow-dusted hat, and her cheeks flushed as she shook her head, chasing away the extravagant thought.

The esteemed administrator was surely busy working behind the scenes. Bothering him to drag him through the festival would surely trouble him.

“... Father said Elisa is already a grown-up, and she can’t always rely on others.” Clenching her fists, Elisa repeated those words to herself.

When she found something delicious later, she decided she would bring some over for him to try!

With that in mind, she picked up her pace and caught up with Xiaoyu and Pai.

The two were standing in front of a strange-looking machine, eyes sparkling at a fluff of cotton candy wrapped around a wooden stick.

“Oh oh oh! What kind of candy is that?!”

“How do you eat this? Wait! You’re that Mosquito guy!” Xiaoyu exclaimed in surprise, instantly recognizing the man standing beside the machine.

Pai immediately stepped back from the machine as she went into full alert mode.

Their reactions amused the others. Stopping Fights and Killing Gods broke into wicked laughter. They even covered their faces to avoid Pai and Xiaoyu associating them with Mosquito.

“Hahaha, you’ve gotten that infamous already?” Stopping Fights nudged Mosquito with an elbow and grinned mischievously.

“

Pfft

! Infamous? I call it...” Mosquito rolled his eyes at his apprentice, but then spotted Pai and his eyes widened. “Holy crap?! You’re that goddess...

AHEM

! You made the jet fuel?!”

“Huh?” Pai folded her arms and frowned. “You’re being rude... Wait, have I seen you somewhere before?”

A sheepish grin spread across Mosquito’s face. “That was all a misunderstanding... Oh right, I never got the chance to thank you in person, thanks so much for the jet fuel! It really helped!”

Well... It helped both in game and outside...

Pleased by the praise, Pai instantly forgot her irritation and said proudly, “Don’t mention it, it was no big deal.”

“Hehe,” Mosquito laughed awkwardly and rubbed his hands together. “Got any more stuff like that? Do you have finished products or blueprints?”

“Stuff like that?” Pai gave him a strange look. “What are you even talking about? I just got it by mixing a few things together. Wait second... Don’t tell me you’re still trying to build a chemical propulsion aircraft?”

Mosquito replied eagerly, “Why not? It still works, right?”

Pai shook her head. “Give it up. That kind of thing was practically obsolete by the Prosperity Era. Who would waste time researching it? Asking me that is like asking for some secret gunpowder formula. Best I can tell you is to add a bit of sugar.”

Killing Gods and Stopping Fights exchanged glances. Stopping Fights shrugged helplessly, and Killing Gods scratched his head.

Mosquito sighed, “Yeah... when you put it that way, it does make sense.”

After all, the Prosperity Era had supposedly developed FTL engines and antigravity technology. Chemical rockets were probably ancient history by then.

He had some inside info about Wasteland OL. The game’s development team had quite the background. While most of the technology was fictional, some of the low-tier technologies had real-world theoretical basis.

In other words, they could be used back on Earth.

Official and private groups had both exploited the fact, and it had become an open secret, but that was another story. Even without all the messy politics, he really enjoyed the cheerful, light-hearted MMORPG.

“Ah... Almost forgot the main thing,” Mosquito grabbed three sticks of cotton candy from Killing Gods and eagerly handed them to the three customers, grinning as he passed the VM over. “Dear judges, please give me a good rating, thank you!”

Standing nearby, Light Wind reminded him kindly, “Asking for good reviews gets points deducted, you know.”

Mosquito froze. “Crap! I was just saying it casually, is it really that strict?!”

It happened last time too! He had blurted something out in excitement and got the ban hammer slammed down on him by that damn Tail who reported him instantly.

Little Ghost averted her gaze with an awkward expression. “Some judges just can’t say no, you know...”

Honestly, she wasn’t even sure if she had recreated the flavor properly. It had been a long time since she’d eaten that candy as a kid.

Thankfully, her worries were clearly unfounded.

Barely two seconds passed before a shriek of delight rang out from the stall. “

Waaah

! This is delicious! Do I need to spit the cotton out, eh? It’s not cotton?! It melts in your mouth?!”

Pai’s eyes were wide as a look of amazement made its way onto her face.

Next to her, Xiaoyu had already buried her face in the cotton candy, her eyes turning the color of it.

“How... How is this made?!” Elisa nibbled at the snow-white fluff, her eyes filled with wonder.

She looked eagerly at the people behind the stall, but then hesitated and added softly, “Is it rude to ask about the recipe...? If it’s inconvenient, just pretend I didn’t ask.”

Light Wind giggled, “It’s not a problem at all. The principle is simple, just a heater and a motor. Even if you didn’t ask, we planned to teach the survivors here anyway!”

It wasn’t a difficult skill, anyone could learn it quickly.

Elisa looked at her with excitement. “Thank you!”

That meant they wouldn’t have to wait for the festival anymore! Boulder Town would always have the wonderful, magical dessert!