Chapter 71: Second Uncle’s Family Are His Relatives

“Upgrade the entire building? How else can this building be upgraded?”

“I don’t know either, the prompt just appeared as soon as I arrived,” Bai Miao said, looking at the upgrade notification on the Rental Interface. “Maybe after the whole building is upgraded, there will be electricity?”

“It’s possible.” Bai Xi nodded in speculation. Over the years, Bai Miao had read many books from this plane, but the origin of the Shell remained unclear. Based on descriptions in certain books, she guessed the Shell might have come from a higher-level plane.

As for the function of the Upgrade Cards, they had inferred their uses based on their experiences using them over the past few years.

In any case, every time an Upgrade Card was used, the item it was applied to would undergo further transformation.

They had saved up quite a few Upgrade Cards over the years, and since the supplies for this building had been fully collected, there was nothing wrong with using one here.

“How many cards are needed?”

“One is enough.” Bai Miao took out an Upgrade Card and tested it on the floor.

[Do you wish to upgrade?] “Upgrade.”

After confirming the use, the entire building shook slightly before quickly returning to a state of calm.

Bai Miao and Bai Xi quickly walked to the window. They saw many people standing downstairs, but there wasn’t a breath of wind outside. The people below soon realized something was wrong and returned to the building.

At the same time, the two women opened the surveillance feed on the interface.

The people who had just entered from outside were talking.

“It wasn’t the wind?”

“It couldn’t have been the wind. Since people started moving into this building, there has never been a case of it being shaken by those demonic winds. There shouldn’t be a problem today either.”

“Exactly. Besides, there’s no wind outside. How could the building be moved by wind?”

“If it wasn’t the wind, then what was the cause? Since this building reached full occupancy, there haven’t been any anomalies. This time… wait a minute, did you submit the supplies for the building upgrade?”

“I did. When I submitted mine, the progress bar had already reached 98 percent.”

“It was at 100 percent when I submitted mine, but nothing unusual happened after the submission.”

“What’s that sound?”

“The elevator! The elevator lights are on!”

“The lights in the rooms are on too! After the upgrade, the whole building has power!”

“Is that the only change?”

…

“Only these changes?”

“More than that. The range of the upgrade has expanded significantly. Furthermore, they can now submit requests for specific houses they want to upgrade based on their needs, allowing more people to move in. If they have enough space, their lives will certainly be much better than they are now.”

“That’s good. This way, the people of this plane will have an easier time in the future.”

“They definitely will.”

As the two spoke, the tenants also learned this important piece of information from the prompts on the Rental Interface. Soon, people began to take action, looking for others to collaborate with.

Ever since the demonic winds appeared, many people in this world had been forced to move their living environments from the surface to the underground. Although many people lived in this building, only those invited could come, and the number of people each room could hold was limited, making it far smaller than the underground spaces.

If they could choose which houses to upgrade based on their needs, they could use their original bases as upgrade points. Once the upgrade was successful, they would have water and electricity. This would allow them to accommodate more people while providing relatively better living conditions.

With these thoughts in mind, these people quickly took action.

Not long after, Bai Miao and Bai Xi received a massive amount of supplies for upgrade requests.

Fortunately, Bai Miao had an ample supply of Upgrade Cards. As long as someone submitted for an upgrade, she accepted them all.

After several large-scale bases were successfully upgraded, the entire city began to mobilize, transferring the citizens who had lived underground in darkness for years to the new bases.

Although the living conditions in the new bases were still limited, they were much better than before.

At this point, many people in this plane returned to a relatively normal life.

They still did not know who the owner behind these upgraded houses was, but as long as they could live a life where they could see the sun, they were willing to submit supplies as rent every month.

While this plane was gradually changing, Bai Yu, after a long voyage at sea, finally arrived at the destination where Bai He and the others might have appeared before.

In addition to searching for Bai He this time, the fleet she brought carried a large amount of supplies that could be traded with the countries here. This way, even if she couldn’t find the people, she could bring something else back, ensuring the trip wasn’t in vain.

However, if she had a choice, she hoped more than anything to find them here.

Therefore, after docking the ships, she immediately dispatched her people, asking everyone to take portraits of Bai He and Second Uncle’s family to ask around along the way.

…

The people Bai Yu was looking for, like Bai He and the others, were indeed nearby. However, because they were in an unfamiliar place, they did not dare to be too conspicuous.

Fortunately, as their lives stabilized, they found that the locals were quite easy to get along with. They slowly began to look for work, interact with those nearby, and show their true faces.

The one who went out to deal with people the most was Second Uncle Bai.

Thus, when Second Uncle Bai went out, he soon encountered a kind-hearted local who pulled him aside and told him that someone was looking for them.

“Looking for us? Why would anyone be looking for us?”

“Those people are all holding portraits. The person in one of the portraits looks like you to me, though I’m not certain. They have several other portraits too. Since you’re a refugee who ended up here, you should go take a look.”

“Impossible,” Second Uncle Bai instinctively shook his head in denial. “It’s impossible for our relatives to find their way here.”

After all, when they were drifting at sea, they had encountered a massive storm. After barely surviving, they had completely lost their sense of direction. They only managed to follow a passing cargo ship all the way here.

Over the years, they had gained a rough understanding of their location. If nothing else, just looking at the completely different eating habits and the seasonal temperatures compared to their hometown, they knew they were very far away.

At such a great distance, the chances of relatives finding them were minuscule.

Moreover, back then, they had all been forced out to sea. Everyone was ignorant about the ocean. It was hard enough just to survive, let alone organize a team to search for people.

Despite his thoughts, Second Uncle Bai still harbored a glimmer of hope in his heart.

After rushing home, he put down the things in his hands and said quickly, “I heard that people are outside looking for someone. The neighbors said one of the portraits looks like me. I have to go see. You all stay careful at home. In case… it’s the people who forced us out to sea originally, don’t go out under any circumstances.”

“How could they find us here?”

“It might not be them, maybe it’s someone else,” Second Uncle Bai said uncertainly. “If Eldest Uncle and the others happened to meet a kind-hearted fleet, perhaps they could convince them to come looking for us.”

“I hope so,” Eldest Aunt said expectantly. “If we can find them, we can go look for Xiao Yu and the others. I’m not as worried about the others; although no one was familiar with the sea, we originally lived on the water, so we could manage to scrape by a living even at sea. It’s just Xiao Yu and the girls. Three girls who aren’t that familiar with the water would face a much higher probability of danger.”

Second Uncle Bai nodded.

Anxious to know who was looking for them, he soon went out again. But fearing it might be an enemy, he didn’t dare to be too bold. He could only wear a hat and carefully hide while observing.

Soon, he saw the people holding portraits and asking questions.

Following the curious crowd, he quickly saw the person in the portrait.

It was a portrait of Bai He.

Second Uncle Bai looked at the person in the portrait with surprise, then back at the man questioning him. He thought to himself that if this were an enemy searching for them, the effort put into this single painting alone was immense. Furthermore, the people who had taken them out to sea back then didn’t seem to have caught a clear look at their faces.

However, he still didn’t dare to be careless. He tried to inquire, “If we see someone who looks like this person, how should we contact you?”

The man answered quickly, “We are staying at an inn not far from here. You’ll see it when you head over. We’ve booked the entire inn, and there are flags standing outside. The character on the flags is exactly like this one.”

Second Uncle Bai watched as the man pulled a handkerchief from his robe. He fell into a state of shock upon seeing the character “Bai” embroidered on it.

He remembered clearly that the people who forced them out to sea did not know their surname. Therefore, it was absolutely impossible for them to be searching for someone under the name of a “Bai” flag.

So, this “Bai” was certainly not an enemy, but a relative.

At this thought, he immediately took off his hat and asked in the dialect of his hometown, “Who is the one looking for us?”

The man who had been walking about suddenly stopped in his tracks. He replied in a somewhat halting version of the same tongue, “You are…?”

“It’s him.” A person nearby pulled out another portrait. The person depicted in the painting was none other than Second Uncle Bai.

Bai Yu received the news and rushed over in a hurry. At a single glance, she saw Second Uncle Bai and Second Aunt standing side by side.

“Xiao Yu!”

“It’s me, I’ve come to find you,” Bai Yu ran up to the two of them and opened her arms to embrace them. “It really is you. I thought I would end up with nothing again this time.”

“Are you all doing well? I’ve been so worried about you these past few years,” Second Aunt said, taking her hand and looking closely at her appearance. “You’ve grown taller and filled out a bit. You look quite spirited.”

“I’m great, we’re all doing very well. Not only have we lived well these years, but we’ve also formed a fleet to do business everywhere. It was during this process that we got news of you. We’ve been searching for you all this time,” Bai Yu said with a smile, letting Second Aunt examine her. “Where is Bai He? Is she alright?”

“She’s fine. She’s working for someone to earn money, and it’s fairly stable. Someone has already gone to call for her,” Second Aunt said with a smile. “Our neighbors are all quite kind, and life has stabilized over the last two years.”

“That’s good.” Bai Yu breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they had stabilized, it meant their lives weren’t too bad.

Soon, Bai He was called back. The moment she saw Bai Yu, she immediately rushed forward, hugged her, and burst into loud sobs.

Back when they were still on the mainland, Bai He had been closest to the three sisters. After they were separated, Bai He had been the most worried about the situation of Bai Yu and the others. Now, seeing Bai Yu standing safely in front of her, it felt as if they had returned to the past. Her heart was filled with an indescribable joy.