Chapter 1 – Core of Landlord

In a winter night of Beijing where the cold wind is blowing.

When Wang Bo (王博 / Wang2 Bo2) get off work, it had already been dark outside. He look at the computer screen filled with bunch of codes and took a breath of relieve. Overtime is over, he could finally go home now.

Subconsciously looking at the bottom right corner of the screen, the time shown gave him a real shock. It is already past 10 o’clock in the evening. He didn’t realize that he had been working overtime for 4 hours today!

“Damn it, days like this, when would it be over? Four days of overtime in five workday week. And there is no overtime pay. Its really hard worker’s mommy opening the door for the hard worker*, its really hard working to the max.” Wang Bo lamented helplessly. He isn’t afraid of anyone listening, at this time in the office there would be nobody else.
(TL : It is a Beijing’s wording about someone being slaved away by someone else. In this case, the so called hard worker’s mommy is the slaver, and the hard worker is the slave)

Turn of the computer, turn off the lights, and lock the door. Skilfully doing all those as he always did and he took from a corner of the table two mobile phone and walk toward the train station.

After getting on the train, there is still half hour of journey. Wang Bo dig out the mobile phone to pass the time. Earlier he took with him two phone, one is his domestic-made phone, the other one is his leader’s product testing phone.

The so-called product testing phone, is a normal smartphone. But specially used to test run some program or game. Wang Bo is working for an IT company whose fame and scale aren’t big. Income source are limited. So following the gaming industry’s booming, the company intend to take the opportunity and scoop a hand*. Recently developed quite a lot of games, requiring all employees to join the internal testing for it.

Internal testing the game is not for playing, but for finding BUGs and loopholes. So all the employees are not very interested in these games. The team leaders even don’t play at all and throw their product testing phone to the soldier under their command to play in their stead.

Muttering ‘It is so nice to be a leader’, Wang Bo then unlocked the screen and on the dark black colored phone’s screen there is only a heart-shaped mark with 3D effect. He doesn’t know how the game development department thinks by making this heart-shaped icon is green and not red. By common sense, it is a bit of a violation.

Tapping open the game guide, inside it are explanation of things that are very complex. Densely showing so much that it makes Wang Bo uninterested to look at it in details. He just skim over it for a few glance looking at the essentials.

The game guide said after the player started the game, they could get a [Core of Landlord] (领主之心 / ling3 zhu3 zhi1 xin1), improve their body’s quality, no matter how weakling a person is as long as they have this core they would become human-shaped beast. And using [Core of Landlord] on a piece of territory to bind it, would make you become this piece of territory’s master, having control over the piece of territory.

Other than the [Core of Landlord], the game also have in it a kind of tools called [Core of Territory]. This [Core of Territory] (领地之心 / ling3 di4 zhi1 xin1) could be seen as [Core of Landlord]‘s separated part and can directly be used somewhere on the territory. After that the explanation go on and on, he got impatient and didn’t continue reading.

Finally, this game can delete account and re-start. If the territory is unsatisfactory, or during the development there are problem, (player) could take away [Core of Landlord], change a territory and start a new development. But if this is the case, all previous territory’s development would become invalid.

Roughly finished reading the game guide, Wang Bo stretch his hand and tapped on the 3D-shaped [Core of Landlord]. Immediately, the screen’s center started to show earth’s shape. And the green [Core of Landlord] that is made with 3D effect appeared on the screen’s top-right corner.

Game’s opening scene utilized 3D view’s animation style. The rolling round earth on the screen turn for a whole circle. After that it looks like Google Map, field of view get stretched inward. The earth changed from a long-distanced view to a close-distanced view.

Following that it looks like a geographical documentary. Every country appear on the screen like galloping to view flower (走马观花一样 / zou3 ma3 guan1 hua1 yi1 yang4 / literal character by character translation : walking horse looking flower alike). Wang Bo is doing this to test the game’s loophole. So he doesn’t have the mood to look at the game opening scene and readily get from the screen’s corner the green [Core of Landlord] and drag it to the screen. This count as making the [Core of Landlord] and territory combine.

When he let go of his finger, a dialog box appears on the screen:

• Territory’s position : South hemisphere, New Zealand, Otago, Canterbury, Eternal Sun Territory (日不落领 / ri4 bu4 luo4 ling3 / litterally : Sun Doesn’t Fall Boundary).
• Territory’s size : 1,000 square kilometers (250,000 acres, 100,000 hectars)
• Territory’s Population : 1 (Landlord Wang Bo)
• Territory’s Building : Roberts Ancient Castle
• Resources : Unknown
• Core of Territory : None
• Receive Territory : Yes?   No ?

Wang Bo roughly looked at these information and immediately tapped the “Yes” option. But after tapping this ‘Yes’, he suddenly feel somewhere is not right. Thinking for a while and could not think about the problem’s source and thought maybe he is just too much of a worrywart. So he lower his head preparing to play the game.

As a result, after he chose, the phone’s screen stucked. Only a line of word on the screen flickering: “Receiving territory, Landlord please wait patiently”.

He kept waiting for half an hour, the train have travelled to its destination, the word on the screen is still flickering.

Wang Bo tried to restart the game and even turn off the phone, but all are in vain. The phone seems to have been stucked and does not respond at all. He thought about taking out the battery, but this phone’s brand is unknown, turns out to be a very advanced piece of modified device, the device’s cover can not be opened, the battery turns out to be unremovable too.

Like this he turns out to be more eased down, he doesn’t want to overtime half day then go back home and still have to do overtime work — although just playing games. But playing a game that he doesn’t like and doing overtime have no difference right?

Walking out of the train station, a burst of winter breeze blow over, Wang Bo tightened up his feather woven jacket, strides in big steps into the room rental neighbourhood.

At the entrance of the neighbourhood, a middle-aged man is pushing an oven cart selling baked sweet potatoes, Wang Bo knows him but not too close, only knows his surname is Liu usually calls him Bro Liu (刘哥 / Liu Ge / Brother Liu).

This Bro Liu have a very good business sense, at the neighbourhood entrance he open his stall and do some small business. In the spring he sells veggies, summer he sells fruits, autumn he sells snacks, winter he sells baked sweet potatoes and roasted chestnut. Four season in a year his business keeps changing and could always earn money.

When he saw Wang Bo, the middle-aged man warmly gives a greet : “Little Wang (小王 / Xiao Wang / Little Wang), how come you are back so late? Don’t want to buy a baked sweet potato to eat? It is still warm, sweet potato from my hometown, its fragrant, its sweet, eating it would surely make you sleep tight.”

Wang Bo is shy, being greeted like that by someone he is embarrassed to walk away immediately, so he walks over and said : “Bro Liu still haven’t closed for the day at this time? Alright, choose a sweet potato for me — ay ay ay, I suppose don’t need to choose such a big one right?”

He just said choose a sweet potato, the middle-aged man directly choose the biggest one to put on top of the electronic scales, while weighing he said : “You don’t know, Little Wang Brother, for girls the more tender makes her more fun to play with, for sweet potatoes the bigger it is make it more delicious. That Xiao Tao (小涛 / Xiao3 Tao1 / Little Billow / Little Tao), what are you doin’? Your uncle Wang is here why aren’t you greeting him yet?”

From the other side of the oven circled out a little boy wearing a very thick feather woven jacket, using a very crispy sound said : “Uncle Wang, hello.”

Wang Bo embarrassingly laughed : “Call me Brother Wang, I’m still not at the age to be called Uncle yet.”

After the kid came out, he also became too embarrassed to ask for a change to a smaller sweet potato, after all he at such a cold day bringing his child out while doing business is not easy.

The middle-aged man wrapped the sweet potato using newspaper and handed it to him, turned around and said to his kid : “How did daddy usually teach you? Just know how to say hello? Can’t you say anything else?”

Wang Bo cooperatively asked : “Right Xiao Tao, what else did your father usually teach you?”

The little boy’s eye ball dropped and turned a few round, grinned and said : “Yesyes, daddy also taught me to learn Tang poetry from Song’s period (唐诗宋词 / Tang2 Shi1 Song4 Ci2), let me read it for you, ‘While young and strong does not try hard, grown up doing IT’ (少壮不努力, 长大搞IT / shao4 zhuang4 bu4 nu3 li4, zhang3 da4 gao3 IT) …”

Wang Bo after hearing these words almost used the sweet potato to smack on the middle-aged man’s head, what hatred and what resentment do I have with you, in the big night taught a child to stimulate my anger so much.

The middle-aged man also turned awkward and quickly said : “I’m just joking, Little Wang don’t take it to the heart, sweet potato is 10 dollar 10 cent, just give me ten dollar is enough.”

Wang Bo gave the money took away the baked sweet potato and crawled back to his little nest, the house is co-rented with a friend. This moment that buddy had already hugged his girlfriend and is fast asleep for who knows how long.

He carefully changed his slipper and gone back to his room, peel away the sweet potato’s skin and had two bites, the sweet potato’s taste is indeed not bad, glutinously sweet and smooth in the mouth, after peeling the skin showing a baked golden brown with a little bit hemp-red colored flesh, the sweet fragrant aroma is hovering around, making people’s appetite increase.

Looking outside the window at the blowing winter breeze, while eating sweet potato Wang Bo unintendedly remembered his childhood memories when he was still at his hometown in his old house during the winter, the whole family would sit around the furnace, his father would roast for him a sweet potato, the homegrown sweet potato wasn’t big, but it felt like the taste is better than this.

After eating half sweet potato and imagined various things for a while, he took out the phone and have a look, the screen’s image is still not changing, still can not turn off the device, like this he can only left the phone on shower and brush teeth then sleep, wait till it used up the power and will automatically turn off.

Turned off the light, get on to bed, closed the eyes, sleep, tired out from the whole day of work, very quickly he entered the village in his dream. In the dream, a piece of heavenly land slowly appeared: fertile lands for hundred of miles* (沃土百里 / wo4 tu3 bai3 li3), mountains lined up like cotton (山丘连绵 / shan1 qiu1 lian2 mian2), birds singing with flowery fragrances (鸟语花香 / niao3 yu3 hua1 xiang1), green trees makes the shading of the scene (绿树成荫 / lv4 shu4 cheng2 yin1), wind blowing like the waves (风吹浪飞 / feng1 chui1 lang4 fei1), beasts roams naturally (野兽悠然 / ye3 shou4 you1 ran2), what finally decide the style was a grand, tall but ancient and simple medieval styled castle…

(TL : Miles as in Chinese mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_(unit) )