Chapter 40: Upgrade Knacks; If Only the Island Had Houses Like This

“Eldest Sister, Second Sister, you’re both so amazing!”

“Miao Miao, stand back and don’t get too close,” Bai Yu said as she easily lifted another cabinet. “This thing looks big, but it’s actually not that heavy.”

“It’s because our strength has increased,” Bai Xi said, lifting a table with one hand. “Look, Eldest Sister. Before this, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to lift this alone, but now it’s effortless.”

Bai Yu looked at the table in Bai Xi’s hand. Just by looking at it, she could estimate its weight. It wasn’t extremely heavy, but it certainly wasn’t light either. Previously, they would have needed two people to carry it, but now Bai Xi could carry it off by herself.

“It seems so. Our strength is getting greater and greater,” Bai Yu said happily. “Let’s move these things back first. Once we’ve moved this set, we’ll come back to upgrade the rooms and let the Shell help rent them out.”

“Got it!”

After the two of them moved the cabinet and table back, they worked together to move two large beds. One was placed in the house on the island, while the other was placed on the boat.

Fortunately, they were strong enough; otherwise, they really wouldn’t have been able to get that bed onto the boat.

Once they finished moving the set of furniture, the three of them returned to the high-rise building. Holding the Upgrade Cards, they performed upgrades on six of the apartments in the building.

After the upgrades were confirmed, a transparent panel similar to the one in the White Mist Plane appeared before them. It displayed potential tenants nearby who had the intention to lease. A single apartment could house several people, and it was also possible that several people would be willing to share one unit. For their first “rental recruitment,” they selected six people whose display colors were mild.

…

“Noisy, noisy, noisy! It’s driving me crazy! Who is it? You looking to die?!”

As soon as the voice rang out, the Underground Resettlement Area suddenly fell silent.

In a spot neither too far forward nor too far back, a mother and her two daughters covered each other’s mouths. Their eyes were wide with fear, and they didn’t dare to speak, terrified of provoking the speaker.

Just then, they watched as a card suddenly appeared before their eyes. The words “Lease Information” were written on it. On the back of the card, detailed information was listed, including the rent, the condition of the house, and most importantly: once a tenant confirmed the lease and was inside the room, outsiders could not break through the door.

The card that had suddenly popped out was a Room Card.

“Mama.”

The woman was stunned for a moment. Suddenly snapping back to her senses, she gripped the card and carefully read the rent requirements. The rent for this lease wasn’t fixed; it could be gold or silver jewelry, supplies, or other valuable items.

The fact that this card could suddenly appear before them meant there was a high probability that what was written on it was true.

As she thought this, she heard the angry voice outside again.

The situation in the resettlement area was getting worse and worse. Everyone’s temper was becoming increasingly volatile. If things continued like this, something bad was bound to happen sooner or later.

She didn’t hesitate any longer. She raised a hand to her lips and made a “shh” sound, then began quickly packing their things. Once their belongings were gathered into a backpack, she grabbed her two children and stood up.

The curtain in front of them was made of old waterproof cloth and barely provided any cover. She didn’t take it with her; instead, she led her children and their belongings out through the curtain.

The people around didn’t find it strange to see her carrying bags and leading children. After all, with so many people gathered in the resettlement area, it wasn’t necessarily safe to leave belongings or children behind. It was best for an adult to take them along.

Thus, ignored by everyone, the woman led her children to the building mentioned on the card.

A building that remained intact under the cataclysm didn’t necessarily mean safety. On the contrary, such places were more likely to attract people looking to hunt. However, this building looked like it had been completed shortly before the cataclysm and had not yet been occupied.

“Mama, are we going to live here from now on?”

“Yes,” the woman nodded. Looking at the information on the card, she led her two daughters into the building and all the way up the stairwell.

Soon, they reached the floor indicated on the card.

There were six rooms on this floor, and each door was labeled “Vacant.” She led the children to a room at the end and pressed the card against it.

Quickly, a prompt appeared on the door asking to fill in the “Number of Residents.”

This column appeared very suddenly, but the woman was exceptionally pleasantly surprised. The more sudden and strange things were, the stronger the room’s owner likely was.

She immediately filled in “3.”

Then, the word “Vacant” on the door disappeared, and the door slowly opened.

“Mama?”

“Come, let’s go in.” The woman immediately pulled her two daughters inside and closed the door behind her.

The moment she confirmed the door was tightly shut, she looked at the environment inside, which was no different from how things were before the cataclysm. Her legs suddenly gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor.

Then, she pulled her two children into her arms and began to sob loudly.

…

“These three are a mother and daughters; they only need one room.”

“They arrived quite fast. They must live nearby. But the surroundings are all in ruins; I wonder how they were living and where exactly they stayed.”

“No matter where they lived, it definitely wasn’t good. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so emotional right now. These houses originally belong to this plane. If they had been living well before coming here, they wouldn’t be crying so hard. It’s making me want to cry along with them.”

“Me too. I feel like life for the people on this plane is so hard. Even harder than ours.”

Bai Yu and Bai Xi spoke with sighs of emotion.

Bai Miao listened for a while, then took a stack of Upgrade Cards from her bag and held them up before the two of them. “Upgrade?”

“Let’s see how the next batch goes first,” Bai Yu said, holding the Upgrade Cards in Bai Miao’s hand while watching the mother and daughters still crying on the screen. “But if the people on this plane are really having such a hard time, we can indeed upgrade a few more rooms.”

As she spoke, she glanced at the marked individuals. The mother and daughters had actually only taken one Room Card, so that counted as one slot. There were still five slots left.

They waited a while longer and gradually saw the remaining five rooms filled by a total of twelve people. These people all came with their families, bringing along relatives and friends.

On the screen, the mother and daughters who had arrived first had finished crying. Hearing the sounds from outside, they were carefully pressing themselves against the door to listen to the movement.

Meanwhile, the three sisters were openly watching these people’s situations through the panel screen.

When they were selecting initially, they had chosen people with the mildest colors. Among this batch that came with their families, except for two people whose colors were slightly darker, the rest were very mild.

Two families happened to run into each other when they arrived. They exchanged a few words at the door, confirming that they were both lucky enough to have received Room Cards. Joyful expressions appeared on all their faces to varying degrees.

Once these people entered the rooms, they all burst into tears immediately. Only after that did they begin to inspect the rooms and try to open the doors manually without using the cards.

But these were special upgraded rooms. Forget about them; even back at the White Mist Inn, it was impossible for those people to open the inn doors manually without paying.

“Miao Miao, how many cards do we have left?” Bai Yu looked down.

Bai Miao immediately gave the answer: “Seventy-two cards.”

“Still that many?” Bai Yu was surprised. “There are six rooms on each floor below us. One Upgrade Card per room… let’s upgrade five more floors then. That’s exactly thirty rooms.”

“Do the rooms on our floor need to be upgraded?” Bai Xi asked. “There are several rooms next door that haven’t been upgraded yet. Anyone can enter a room that hasn’t been upgraded. If we don’t upgrade them, someone could come up and hide in those rooms, which would make it very dangerous for us when we go out.”

“Upgrading them isn’t a problem, but we don’t need that many rooms. Besides, the other rooms are off to the side. Would we have to go out and go to other rooms every time?”

Bai Xi said casually, “It would be great if we could turn all these rooms into one single room.”

Bai Yu stared at the Upgrade Card. “Is that possible?”

Bai Miao also stared at the Upgrade Card. After a moment, she grabbed a stack of Upgrade Cards and held them to her mouth. “I want to upgrade the rooms on this floor and merge them all into one room. Is that possible?”

When she was being serious, Bai Miao spoke very clearly.

The Upgrade Card glowed with light, and then a voice spoke.

[Do you wish to use 6 Upgrade Cards to upgrade all rooms on this floor and connect them?]

Bai Miao looked at Bai Yu.

Only after Bai Yu nodded did she nod in response. “Use them.”

[In use…]

“You can actually negotiate with the Upgrade Card?” Bai Xi expressed her shock. “Then… then… can we have the Upgrade Card directly upgrade the rooms downstairs?”

“We are on the 32nd floor. The 31st floor has already been fully upgraded. Below that is the 30th floor. Miao Miao, can you ask the Upgrade Card to upgrade all the rooms on the 30th floor?”

“Six rooms?” Bai Miao found six Upgrade Cards and looked up at Bai Yu. After receiving a nod, she held the cards and spoke. “Upgrade the six rooms on the 30th floor.”

[In use…]

Bai Miao found another six. “Upgrade the six rooms on the 29th floor.”

[In use…]

Having discovered a new way to use the Upgrade Cards, they upgraded all thirty rooms from the 26th to the 30th floor without even leaving their spot. Information for these thirty rooms appeared on the transparent panel.

At the same time, the six rooms on their current floor were all connected. Looking from where they stood, they could see a new doorway had appeared in one of the walls.

Once the room upgrades were finished, Bai Miao ran quickly toward the doorway.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi followed behind her.

Originally, a single room here wasn’t considered small, but now that so many rooms had been merged into one unit, the living space felt massive.

Even though Bai Miao’s physical health was steadily improving, she was still a bit out of breath after running back and forth for a few laps.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi didn’t run with her, but they walked around to take a look. Aside from one room that looked empty because they had moved out the bed, wardrobe, table, and chairs, the rest of the rooms were fully furnished.

More importantly, with this circle of rooms all connected, the light from the windows was completely unobstructed. This made the interior much brighter and made the items in the rooms look particularly vibrant.

Bai Xi couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. “It would be wonderful if we had a house like this back on the island too.”

Bai Yu thought for a moment. “If we have enough materials, can we automatically incorporate them when we upgrade a building?”

Bai Xi immediately recalled several instances where they had performed upgrades.

For example, the swimming pool at the entrance of the island house, some Magic Plane materials used to build the pier, and certain materials used during the upgrades at the White Mist Inn.

They didn’t even know the purpose of many of those items, but the Upgrade Card said they could be used, so they used them. Those materials always made the upgraded structures sturdier or more exquisite.

“Then can we go down and look for some?”

“If there are enough people in this building, can we pretend to be people from this Plane? We could go down with them to collect materials.”

“It seems… we can!”