I, the Guide to the Omniverse, Usher in Blue Star's Great Ascension! - chapter 18

“We know where she’s from now!”

While everyone was busy distributing Stinky Fruit, He Zhou excitedly rushed over to share the news she had found out.

“She said her name is Ah Yao, and she was originally a citizen of Qiu Luo Kingdom.”

This Qiu Luo Kingdom-even tourists who had read some of the original Journey to the West had never heard of it.

But this world was vast, with Demons and the Great Sage, and after a hundred years of development, it was only natural that other countries would have emerged.

Moreover, according to the Toad Spirit, there were also territories occupied by the demon race.

The countries here probably weren’t that large in area.

“After the new king of Qiu Luo Kingdom took the throne, tyranny reigned, with harsh taxes and levies. Coupled with years of famine, the common people couldn’t survive, so they fled. Ah Yao’s entire family died. Her mother was killed while helping her escape.”

He Zhou spoke with righteous indignation: “That’s just despicable.”

She was in her first year of high school, and now that she was taking history classes, she had begun to understand what life was like for the common people in ancient times.

She knew that when harsh taxes and famine overlapped, life for the people was bound to be miserable.

Originally, everyone had come here as tourists, but to suddenly hear that their travel destination actually had such a cruel world left them all at a loss.

After exchanging glances, it was Sheng Ai who finally spoke: “Which route did Ah Yao take to get here?”

“Over there,” He Zhou pointed in a direction. “Xiao Ma said that’s the territory of that Great Demon.”

To have come from the Great Demon’s territory, something must have happened.

Either the Great Demon simply didn’t care about such insignificant Mortals, or something had happened to the Great Demon, leaving the area unguarded, so Mortals could pass through.

But Sheng Ai and the others couldn’t figure out exactly what had happened. After all, they were essentially tourists, and this trip was meant to be just for sightseeing.

This experience alone was already enough to become a journey of a lifetime for them.

“How did you buy your ticket yesterday? Did you feel like it was a scam Travel Agency at the time?”

While Zhou Zhihui was helping to cut the Stinky Fruit, he happened to see Tang Yuanhang filming them with his phone.

Knowing that Tang Yuanhang was an online blogger, Zhou Zhihui greeted his camera warmly, saying he didn’t mind having his image posted online.

After a few interactions, they had all become familiar with each other.

At this moment, Zhou Zhihui lowered his voice and asked Tang Yuanhang what he thought.

If it hadn’t been for Tian Youyue, none of them would have bought tickets for this trip.

Tang Yuanhang smiled at the question. “I just happened to see it when I bought the ticket yesterday. To be honest, I didn’t think much of it. I thought the guide was running a new attraction called the Journey to the West Route, and for two hundred yuan, at most we’d just tour around Hu City.”

Who could have guessed they’d hit the jackpot.

Tang Yuanhang had never been this lucky in his life-even the biggest lottery prize he’d ever won was ten yuan.

Looking back now, it seemed all his luck had been saved up for this one travel ticket.

“That really is pretty lucky,” Zhou Zhihui said. “At the time, Tian Youyue insisted on buying it. We all thought she was out of her mind. She said it wasn’t expensive anyway, so why not check it out? Besides, there were five of us. Even if we ran into a shady Travel Agency, we wouldn’t be too helpless.”

Indeed, all five of them were quite muscular-even the two girls had athletic builds from years of mountain climbing, their skin tanned and exuding an intimidating presence.

Even if they did encounter a shady Travel Agency, it probably wouldn’t dare give them much trouble.

Tang Yuanhang nodded. “Then you all owe her your thanks.”
“Of course,” Zhou Zhihui said with a laugh. “We’ve already agreed-when we get back, she’s definitely going to treat us to a big meal as payback.”

That counts as a huge favor!

Zhou Zhihui said, “Let’s add each other on WeChat when we get back. After all, this trip was such a coincidence.”

“Sure,” Tang Yuanhang didn’t object. “When I finish editing the video, you guys can support me.”

“No problem!”

Stinky Fruit was cut one after another. Even though its flavor wasn’t as strong as modern durian, they’d cut so many that the entire Xiaomi Mountain was filled with a pungent stench.

If it were the old Toad Spirits, they’d definitely avoid it, but now the Toad Spirits sniffed the fruity aroma, half disgusted and half curious.

After taking the fruit from Zhou Zhihui and the others and tasting it, they were all shocked by how delicious it was.

Wu Qian came over to complain to Pei Qiu, “I never thought toads could eat durian.”

“That’s normal,” Pei Qiu replied. “They’re all spirits now, just like humans-intelligent beings. There’s nothing strange about what they eat.”

Pei Qiu saw Sheng Ai fiddling with her phone, muttering to herself.

She walked over and asked, “Sheng Ai, what are you doing?”

Sheng Ai turned her head. “Nothing.”

She was cursing at the System.

Other people paid 100 yuan per minute for communication, which was bad enough, but Sheng Ai thought she had some privileges as a tour guide.

Unexpectedly, the System said there was too little money in the account now. If she wanted to go online, she had to settle accounts with the System-discounted to 80 yuan per minute.

How disheartening.

Originally, all the money the System collected was Sheng Ai’s, since they shared it.

But the System said part of it had to be split with the Omniverse Corporation, and if Sheng Ai wanted to use any functions, she still had to pay.

Sheng Ai never expected that, as the System of The Omniverse Travel Agency, it could be so lacking in authority.

-Even being exploited by the company!

Sure enough, even in high-dimensional space-time, you can’t escape the clutches of capital corporations.

The System said: [It’s just that we’re too poor right now. When more people travel in the future, it won’t be like this.]

This time, Sheng Ai asked suspiciously, “There are ten tourists this time. What about next time? And after that? I can’t always bring so few people. And since we’ve come to Xiaomi Mountain this time, will we come again?”

[It depends,] the System replied. [Each time the travel destination and time are different, and the duration varies too. Early on, the trips probably won’t repeat much.]

So this time it’s Xiaomi Mountain, but next time it’s almost certain to be a different place.

Sheng Ai watched them busy cutting Stinky Fruit, then squatted down and grabbed a handful of Xiaomi Mountain’s soil to play with.

After looking at it, a thought suddenly struck her: “I saw in the tourist guidelines that they can take souvenirs back through the tour guide. So, does that mean things from this world can be brought back to Blue Star?”

[Of course. Don’t you bring back souvenirs when you travel elsewhere?]

Sheng Ai’s eyes lit up, but then she thought of something else.

Her world had just gone through a major pandemic in recent years and had only recently settled down. “Would bringing material from an Otherworld back cause any impact on Blue Star?”

[Definitely not,] the System said. [I’m here to make money, not to harm anyone. Normal things from here can be brought back, but if something is abnormal here, you obviously can’t take it back, right?]