《Once Upon a Time in a Foreign Land》Chapter 179 : Nangong Yiren
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Without wasting any time, they set off. The business friend of their neighbor was walking with such steady steps. Jingdu Xiumin's age was roughly the same as Zhanji Xuande. He seemed perfectly healthy.
"Is your friend really not using a driver?" Yixiong asked Xuande Zhanji. Their car was right behind Jingdu Xiumin's car.
"He has a driver, but indeed, he often prefers to drive his car. So I think the driver is often has nothing to do." Xuande Zhanji laughed.
The warehouse they were going to be was not too far from Jingdu Xiumin's house. In less than fifteen minutes, they were there. The location was still in the city, but the atmosphere in that place differed from the atmosphere in other places in this city. The atmosphere in the place was quiet, like outside the city. It was the first time Yiren had explored an area in this city that was still quiet. The other areas of the city were all densely populated.
The car they were traveling in entered the fence of a warehouse complex. After arriving at the yard of the warehouse complex, they could clearly see the place. It turned out to be an enormous warehouse. Not only that, there were a total of three buildings that were used as warehouses. Jingdu Xiumin immediately led them into one of the warehouse buildings.
"All kinds of bags are stored in this warehouse." Jingdu Xiumin said proudly when they were already inside one of the warehouses. Xuande Zhanji's friend called one of his employees right away. Yixiong showed the employee the photo of the bag.
"Bags like this still exist. But the exact blue color looks like it's out of stock," said the clerk at the warehouse.
"Shall we check first?" Xuande Zhanji proposal.
They all then walked to the part of the warehouse where such bags were stored. After unpacking all the bags that were there, they did not find a bag that was exactly like the one in the photo. Just like what the employee said, there were still many bags of the same shape and size as the one in the photo, but in different colors.
Yixiong looked down languidly. Yiren didn't know what to say. It meant they had to go around the city looking for a bag like that.
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"Earlier you said that today there will be a shipment of goods," Xuande Zhanji said to Jingdu Xiumin.
"Yes! It's true. According to the schedule, the goods will arrive after half-past twelve."
"Is there a bag like this among those things?" Yixiong asked.
Jingdu Xiumin turned to the warehouse clerk.
"Wait a minute, Sir! I'll check first," said the warehouse employee. He then disappeared outside the warehouse building.
"Where did he go?" Yiren asked.
"We keep records of goods entering and leaving the warehouse in other building," Jingdu Xiumin replied.
Earlier, they saw that apart from the three warehouses, there was a house located some distance away on the right. Yiren suspected they stored the records in the house.
"What if we all just head over there?" Xuande said Zhanji.
Jingdu Xiumin then guided them to the house where the records of goods entering and leaving the warehouse were kept. When they got there, Jingdu Xiumin's employee, who had accompanied them in the warehouse, was still busy collecting the files.
"Ah! Here it is!" The warehouse clerk cheered.
The warehouse clerk brought a piece of paper in front of them. He showed the contents of the sheet of paper.
"That's right, there will be a bag delivery like what you are looking for. There are eight colors in total, including blue as you want."
The warehouse clerk's words really relieved Yiren and Yixiong.
"That means we just have to wait until the goods arrive," said Xuande Zhanji.
"It's just that usually the arrival time of the goods is not exactly the same as in the schedule. It usually arrives between half to an hour late," said Jingdu Xiumin. "In fact, if I remember correctly, at that time, they were up to four hours late." Jingdu Xiumin looked at his clerk.
The clerk nodded.
"It's all right, Sir!" Yixiong said. "We'll wait for them."
Yiren was relieved. Just like yesterday, the handover process for the ransom would take place after dark. So they still had enough time.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen," said Jingdu Xiumin. "Right now, I have to talk to Mr. Xuande for a while about business matters. So I can't accompany you, gentlemen."
"It's all right, Sir!" Yixiong said. We can take a walk around here first."
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Yixiong then took Yiren out of the building.
"Where are we going?" Yiren asked.
"This morning I was in a rush, so I only ate a little. After all, we only ate leftover pizza last night. So at this hour I'm hungry again," Yixiong replied.
Yiren laughed at Yixiong's words.
"You know what I mean," Yixiong said.
"Let's find a small shop or restaurant," said Yiren. "The goods will arrive at maybe twelve or even one o'clock. So we can go around the area first."
The two of them then exited the warehouse complex. After walking about three hundred meters, they saw a stall selling food.
"How about we just eat there?" Yiren asked.
"What food do they sell?"
"I don't know. Let's get closer so we can see more clearly," answered Yiren.
It turned out the shop only sold snacks. Yiren and Yixiong had to walk again to find a place to satisfy their hunger. They walk again. This time it was even further, about five hundred meters. Maybe further than that because they met a few turns. They cheered when they found a quite large restaurant. With light steps, the two of them immediately approached the place.
"Do you remember the way back to the warehouse earlier?" Yixiong asked suddenly.
Yiren flinched at the question.
"I don't forget, but maybe not a hundred percent remember," said Yiren. "Does Xiongge not remember either?"
"Well? Then how are we going to get back there?"
"Never mind! That's a matter for later. What's important now is that we eat first," said Yiren.
They then entered the restaurant. They sat down at a table in the corner. Beside them was an immense window. Yiren and Yixiong could see out of the window.
The waiter came and brought them the list of food. At that time, the atmosphere of the restaurant was still quiet. Only the two of them were there. After they finished ordering their food, they waited quietly at the table.
"This area is very quiet. Don't you think they have nothing to lose by opening a restaurant as large as this one here?" Yixiong said.
Yiren agreed with Yixiong. Even at lunchtime, he predicted the place wouldn't be too crowded either.
"But we don't know about this area yet. Maybe there are factories or other places of business around here," said Yiren.
"I don't think factory workers eat in restaurants like this," Yixiong said.
Less than five minutes later, their entire order had arrived. They eat voraciously. Yixiong even ordered another serving of rice. Yiren laughed at seeing Yixiong. Yixiong seemed so starving.
After they finished eating, they didn't go anywhere. It was still early, not even eleven o'clock. Because they were full, they were lazy to walk everywhere. After paying for the food, they decided to sit there for a while.
"I'm sleepy now," Yixiong said. "How about you?"
"I'm also a little sleepy," replied Yiren. "But I don't eat as much as Xiongge, so I'm not as sleepy as Xiongge."
"Then I'll sleep here for a bit. You'll wake me up when it's twelve." After saying that, Yixiong laid his head on the table straight away.
Yiren looked out the window that was right beside him. It was not like before. Now the streets were getting crowded. Yiren did not know what caused it. He observed the people and vehicles that passed that road. Ten minutes later, he was bored. A feeling of drowsiness began to creep over him. But Yiren couldn't sleep. If the two of them slept there until the afternoon, then there would be trouble. So by holding back the drowsiness, Yiren kept trying to observe the scenery outside the window.
Suddenly, Yiren felt like he was electrocuted. There was something out there that he didn't expect at all.
"Xiongge, Xiongge! Let's wake up!" Yiren shouted while shaking Yixiong's body.
Yixiong raised his head. He opened his eyes. "Why are you shouting? Is it twelve o'clock now? It's only been a flash!"
"Look at that!" Yiren said, still in a loud voice. He pointed across the street.
Yixiong directed his gaze in the direction indicated by Yiren. At first, he didn't react. But then he started rubbing his eyes. It was as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"What is Dage doing there?" Yixiong spoke softly.
Across the street stood a figure. A figure that was very similar to Duanmu Shanquan.
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Alviona (undergoing Rewrite).
This fiction is going to undergo severe Editing and a Rewrite over next few months. Here is what it hopes to accomplish: 1) Fix the glaring issues from Style in every chapter 1-31 (Dialogues, POV switches and Head-hopping too much) 2) Add some new chapters in and justify the development between Sofia and Anita 3) Remove the info dumps and make it more organic 4) Finalize the genres that this fiction belongs to 5) Create warning in the synopsis relating to the contents of the fiction. 6) Overhaul and show what Mira's view on Alviona is (slowly) 7) Introduce new characters 8) Show chapters the way they were intended, as clues apparently were not visible at all! 9) Make Alviona a bit more serious. 10) Make me (Author) enjoy reading my own work more (yes! :)) Hi. I have been gone for quite a long while. With heart surgery and such that has happened two months ago, I had not had a chance to log on RR due to being hospitalized. I had some other issues that the admins were kind enough to deal with on this fiction. It's good to see everything in one piece. The synopsis has been removed. Chapter 1 should be coming out sometimes before christmas. A lot has changed. I hope for the better. Instead of edits, I have re-read every single chapter and found it to be unsatisfying. A lot did not make sense and unless you have previously speculated what Alviona is, many things she does won't fall into pieces. Well then, time to address all of this. Ladies and gentlelmen, this fiction is undergoing a full scale re-write. While the characters and developments stay the same, it's being done differently. So much that the world should feel darker as it should have been. For those who have stuck around and know the story: Awesome. I worked hard on this, and hope that you will like my re-write. For thos that are new: Welcome. Give me some time, as I am super sluggish. I don't know much time is some time, but I gurantee chapter 1 will be up before Christmas. This said, again, thank you and know that I am back. And that this fiction will be completed. AT ANY COST. I will update synopsis after I post chapter 1. I might post Alviona (revised, as this current one is far too.... simplified, watered down, and dissapointing version of it) seperately. Those that want this, here. But I don't want to add chapter 40. It won't make sense without the backup and world-building of re-write. It will piss myself off. Now then, let's write hm? *This beautiful piece of art is provided by Charee from DeviantArt* https://www.deviantart.com/chalii
8 387Tales of Cultivation
The Wu Clan is under attack, their cultivators prepare for a last stand. But when Wu Jian’s father makes the ultimate sacrifice, they have a chance at something more, something greater than just being a small clan on the outskirts of the Qin Dynasty. Join Wu Jian as he manoeuvres through the muddy waters of clan politics, cultivates towards immortality, and shows the world that messing with the Wu Clan is a very, very bad idea.
8 155Starchild
“It’s life’s illusions I recall. I really don’t know life at all.” from the song, Both Sides Now, by Joni Mitchell Starchild is an adventure novel set within an understanding of reality that is rooted in Eastern spiritual traditions.It takes as its starting point experiments in remote viewing that were genuinely undertaken by the American military in the nineteen-nineties under the name of the Stargate Project. It then imagines how a more advanced attempt to weaponise the capabilities of consciousness might have been developed in the present day.The story then explores how Ultimate Reality might respond to such a threat.Deep, elemental forces thus bring together Samantha Martin and Sahadeva Varma, old colleagues from the Stargate Project, to avert the apocalyptic consequences of this military attempt to weaponise consciousness. This fast-paced story spans genres including romance, action, adventure, science fiction and more. Although this story is based on concepts drawn from established spiritual traditions, these have sometimes been extrapolated to the point of very extreme speculation for the needs of an adventure story.Much of the underlying philosophy, however, as explained in the dharma talks given by Samantha Martin, is paraphrased from the guidance of respected spiritual teachers. Scheduling: Starchild is a previously unpublished novel of one hundred thousand words which was serialised in weekly instalments over twenty-five weeks from 15th November 2021 to the 29th April 2022. Each instalment contains five chapters – an average of approximately four thousand words in each instalment. Acknowledgements: All the mandala images, with one exception, were drawn by Brian Huggett using the Spirality mandala drawing application. The mandala associated with chapter 82 and which occupies the centre of the front cover of Starchild is attributed to Jgmoxness, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons. The comet image is derived from a photograph by Marco Milanesi downloaded from Pexels. The cover image was assembled from these images by Brian Huggett.
8 104A New World? I'll Do What I Want!
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8 180Cast Out
My name is Raes Bastion. I had everything once. I was the CEO of a multi-billion corporation at the age of 19. I married the girl of my dreams, and we had a beautiful girl together.Then my uncle betrayed me.He and the rest of the Board members at my company set me up for fraud and embezzlement, something which led to the crash of the American economy.It took me 20 years, but now I'm free from prison.My wife left me when they threw me in there. She took my daughter and burned all the bridges between us, making sure that there wasn't anything I could do once I was free.Now I'm a penniless, middle-aged man with no hope for the future. But with my friend Caesar, and the new Virtual Reality, I think I can do it. I KNOW I can do it. I'll rise to the top again,AND THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY WHEN I DO!!![Author's Note: I might be adding Mature scenes later on in the story, but I'm not sure yet. If I do, then I will definitely add the tag on beforehand, and give proper warning. I'll be adding tags in as I go, and I may or may not be adding a few elements from other stories. If I do, I'll be adding their names down so you know what stories I'm getting them from.]WARNING: Curse words are present in some chapters, Mature ideas are present in some chaptersNext Chapter: Chapter 9 is Up!!
8 171Forced Development (What does it truly mean to live a fulfilling life?)
To get things started I would like to admit that this story does not bring much new to the table when it comes to the over-saturated Litrpg genre in terms of things like mechanics and power systems. Then what exactly am I trying to bring to the table with this work? A nice slow-paced novel about people maturing and growing older think of it as the re: zero or jobless reincarnation of Litrpgs. A story that tries to take into consideration how a worldwide system would affect the economics and culture of a world. A story that is much more character-focused than the typical heavy progression-focused novels this genre is known for. The RPG system, like any good power system, is there to actually explore the themes of the story and not just as a plot device for characters to get stronger. This is a story where we will see the growth of the Mc from being a baby to when he dies of old age. With plenty of heart-racing actions and intriguing plot developments along the way. Exploring themes like; What does it mean to improve at something and what does it mean to mature as a person? How does magic, the constant threat of monsters and people so much stronger than the average joe that they can destroy countries affect one's culture both on the micro and the macro scale? How people are affected by the culture in general? Generational trauma Nature vs Nurture Talent vs hard work What is morality, society, and people's opinions on both? What does it mean to be human and what does it mean to be alive in the context of a world with multiple sapient species vastly different from one another in basic biology? All these questions are going to be explored from multiple angles using the system as a catalyst for those discussions. So if any of does questions sound interesting to you what are you waiting for, I'm sure you are going to love this story. PS - Chapter come out every Friday at about the same time.
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