Qi Heng told everyone the agreed timeframe was two days away, and no one pressed further, they just treated it as a vacation.
Over these few days, Bao Tao took her little brother Bao Li out everywhere, amusement parks, water parks, all of it, since there’d be no more childhood once the apocalypse hit.
The whole family also spent half a day at a lovely farmstead retreat, and both elders were overjoyed the entire time.
This left the eldest uncle and his wife feeling quite guilty, they realized they hadn’t spent nearly enough time with the elders before this.
The day before the apocalypse arrived.
Qi Heng was extremely tense. He believed Bao Taozi about eighty percent, not that the remaining twenty percent meant he didn’t believe her, just that he kept wondering if something might go wrong. Of course, it’d be even better if the apocalypse never came at all.
That day, Bao Taozi told everyone not to go outside. Although puzzled, everyone assumed it was just the child being nervous, since she’d be facing off against her father tomorrow. Besides, it was scorching hot outside today, hot enough that an egg could probably cook on the pavement, so no one really wanted to go out anyway.
With twelve hours left until the apocalypse, the countdown on the panel made Bao Taozi feel unexpectedly nervous. As far as she knew, when the apocalypse struck, every living creature on Earth would fall into a comatose state. When they woke again, some would have turned into zombies or mutated plants and animals. Then would come 24 hours of unbroken daylight, unmutated plants would slowly wither and die under the relentless sun, and temperatures would climb higher each day.
“This weather’s so strange, it’s already past seven and still this bright out.”
At dinner, Grandmother suddenly spoke up.
Qi Heng’s heart lurched. It’s real. It has to be real.
“Right, could Hai City just get dark later than we’re used to?”
The eldest aunt wondered aloud too.
“Alright, alright, let’s finish eating and go check it out later.”
Grandfather cut the discussion short.
Go outside? No, there was no way she could let them do that. Once dinner was over, she’d need to activate the protective barrier. The system had said the barrier could block off the mutation effects, so they wouldn’t fall into the coma either.
After dinner, Bao Taozi told her aunt not to bother clearing the table, there were only four hours left until the apocalypse.
She called everyone into the living room. Although Bao Taozi still couldn’t say it outright, she could at least show them.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Bao Taozi pulled the protective barrier out of her system storage, a black sphere, weightless in her hand. According to the instructions, she just needed to toss it into the air.
A blue, net-like light immediately spread out from the sphere, forming a dome that covered the entire hotel grounds, all three villas.
Everyone stared, dumbstruck. Her little brother Bao Li even dropped his lollipop and jumped up in excitement.
“Ultraman! Sister’s Ultraman!”
Both grandparents clutched their chests, everything before them completely beyond what they could comprehend.
The eldest aunt’s plate slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor, the eldest uncle just stood there, frozen.
Even Qi Heng, who already knew a bit of what was coming, took a deep breath at the sheer scale of the sight.
Bao Taozi pulled up the panel again, selected the sign, then chose a spot to place it.
Looking around, she decided the round archway was the best fit and hung it up there.
【Peach Hotel】
A neon sign appeared over the courtyard gate, quite eye-catching.
The whole family’s jaws had dropped to the floor. Bao Taozi smiled, gently pulling them back to their senses.
The eldest uncle was the first to recover, blurting out anxiously, “Taotao! When did you get this kind of power?! It won’t hurt your body, will it?”
Taozi shook her head. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt me at all.”
Grandfather asked next, “You can’t let outsiders see this kind of power!”
Taozi smiled, the whole point was to let more people see it.
“What’s this ‘Peach Hotel’ business? Why are we suddenly running a hotel at home?”
The eldest aunt looked confused, with power like this, why do a hotel of all things, when she could conjure things out of thin air!
“I know you’re all worried about me, but just wait a few more hours, and all your questions will have answers.”
【Task Released】
Task One: Merge the villas on either side into the main villa.
Task reward: Central air conditioning x1, points converter x1, hotel single beds x2, unlock hotel room 101.
Task time limit: None.
Merge them together? That was probably going to cost a fair number of points.
She opened her panel to check.
Points held: 730
Inventory: Points-based fridge x1, points-based air conditioner x2, vending machine x1, permanent water recycling system, luxury hotel building fragment x1.
Staff: 0
Hotel rooms: 0
Level: 730/100,000
Tasks: 【Merge Villas】
She told everyone to just wait in the lounge area and not move.
Bao Taozi opened the renovation panel, and sure enough, there were some new icons, a drag-and-move icon and a hammer icon.
Clicking the hammer icon, Bao Taozi knocked down every obstacle standing between the two villas one by one, earning points here and there, 5 or 10 at a time.
She smashed through the greenery and some of the fencing, then used the drag icon to pull the left and right villas in against her own, tearing down a good number of walls in the process.
Then she used the one-click renovation to make both sides match the same minimalist style.
Now it looked right!
The layout of the hotel now went: straight through the entrance into the main hall, and continuing forward brought you to the front desk. Behind the front desk was the lounge area, and across from that was the staircase up. On either side of the stairs were the two original staff rooms.
To the left and right of the front desk ran long corridors, connecting to the two side villas. Both side villas were now completely empty, nothing but a bare 200-square-meter hall each. She’d also torn out the original dining room, since cooking wasn’t allowed anymore, for now, this hotel could only sell food for purchase, there was no way to let people cook in the common areas. Cooking would probably only become possible much later, once individual hotel rooms got their own kitchens installed.
Replacing the dining room contents earned her back 750 points, there’d been a lot of appliances in there. Bao Taozi was thrilled, moving structures around cost nothing, and demolishing things even returned points. This system really was a pushover.
【Warning! Warning! Host is badmouthing the system behind its back! Deducting 10 points!】
Damn it!
Once all that was done, she looked over at the small group sitting tensely, upright, and couldn’t help laughing, hugging her stomach.
But the preparations weren’t finished yet!
【Task One completion detected. Confirm?】
Confirm!
【Task complete】
【Reward received: Central air conditioning x1, points converter x1, hotel single beds x2, hotel room 101 unlocked.】
The other items went straight into her inventory, but room 101 wasn’t showing up anywhere. Bao Taozi looked toward the villa on the right and saw that a room had appeared in what had been an empty space. Walking over, she opened the door, completely empty inside.
She placed one of the single beds from her inventory in it, then spent 15 points on a toilet and sink, and one-click renovated it into the minimalist style.
She also pulled out the points-based air conditioner and fridge and set them up inside. Checking the instructions, all she had to do was swipe her points on the air conditioner’s panel to top it up however much she wanted.
Close enough for now, she could add more later!
Coming back out, she installed the central air conditioning in the main hall and sold off every one of the old air conditioners, earning 500 points. She loaded 200 points into the central air conditioning, enough to last two or three months!