I, the Guide to the Omniverse, Usher in Blue Star's Great Ascension! - chapter 8

“Hello, everyone! Now that we’re all here, let’s gather together!”

As soon as everyone was assembled, she was more excited than anyone else.

She immediately led her group of five to join up with the other five.

Aunt He watched as the five tourists behind them came over in a big crowd and exclaimed, “Oh my!”

Wu Qian was a bit nervous.

She and Tang Mengmeng were together, and now that the main group had arrived, it meant they were about to set off.

Sheng Ai pretended to check her phone, but in reality, the System was notifying her of the meeting point.

Sheng Ai was still a little excited.

After all, this was her first time on a cross-world tour.

The coordinates quickly appeared.

But when Sheng Ai saw them, she was a bit dumbfounded.

Because the meeting point was inside the mall’s elevator.

And the System told her that once she entered, she would reach the destination.

Sheng Ai: “?”

Are you kidding me?

But at this moment, Sheng Ai had no choice but to call everyone to bring their luggage and backpacks and head to the elevator to gather.

The mall elevators were large, easily fitting twenty people at a time.

Although each of them had a backpack, there was plenty of room.

Strangely enough, the mall was bustling, and the elevators were usually busy.

But when they arrived, out of the three elevators, one was conveniently empty just for them.

Sheng Ai quickly led everyone inside.

Everyone was still fairly relaxed in the mall, since it was a public, crowded place.

At this moment, the tourists thought they were just heading to the underground parking lot to gather.

They chatted and laughed.

Aunt He was the most enthusiastic, seeing all these tourists as her juniors, handing out sunflower seeds to everyone.

Luckily, she had brought a whole bunch of seeds this morning.

Sheng Ai hadn’t even wanted her to bring them!

Tang Mengmeng saw them getting into the elevator and winked at Wu Qian, but didn’t insist on joining them.

Sheng Ai knew Tang Mengmeng was Wu Qian’s friend, since the two were always together.

Now that Tang Mengmeng wasn’t coming in, Sheng Ai felt relieved.

Because the System required that no one else be in the elevator, and if someone tried to get on, Sheng Ai wouldn’t have the right to ask them to leave, right?

She grumbled to the System in her mind: “Your requirements are really inhumane. This is a public mall, people coming and going, and you expect me to keep strangers off the elevator?”

System: [You’re right, I’ll pay attention next time.]

Sheng Ai: “…”

Why did the System sound just like an old hand at this?

Still, she was curious-after the elevator, where would they end up?

Meanwhile, Tang Mengmeng and Wu Qian waved goodbye, actually planning to see which floor they were going to.

As the elevator doors closed, the System suddenly said: [Press all the number buttons from 1 to 7.]

This was a commercial elevator, with only floors one to seven.

Sheng Ai muttered, “Isn’t pressing all of them a bit much?”

But despite her complaints, she pressed all the buttons from one to seven.

Her actions naturally drew attention from the others. Tang Yuanhang was the first to ask, “Guide, which floor are we going to?”

Sheng Ai gave an awkward laugh, “We should be there soon.”

Just as she finished speaking, everyone clearly felt the elevator start to move, with a slight shake.

The movement was minor, something you’d feel in any elevator, so no one paid much attention.

Aunt He even said to Sheng Ai, “Xiao Ai, why are you acting like a kid, pressing every floor? That’s a bit much.”

Sheng Ai: “…”

But at that moment, everyone suddenly felt something was off.

Because Sheng Ai had pressed floors one to seven, but there were also two underground parking levels.
-1, and -2.

When the elevator was running, the floor displayed above was not the one Sheng Ai had pressed.

Instead, it rapidly showed -1, -2, -3, -4…

The elevator was moving down!

Pei Qiu was instantly stunned: “Wait, does this mall have so many underground floors? Isn’t it just two?”

She had been to this mall before!

Aunt He and the others were also a bit dazed.

Wu Qian was even more nervous, her voice trembling: “Y-yeah, where did this mall get so many underground floors…”

As they spoke, the elevator had already reached -10!

The five tourists huddled together were from out of town, so they didn’t know the details.

But they knew the basics.

What kind of mall has so many basement levels?

Something was clearly off!

He Zhou called out cautiously: “Sister Ai?”

Sheng Ai was actually very nervous, but she had to stay calm: “It’s fine, I told you we’re going to the Journey to the West Route, we’ll be there soon!”

Everyone: “…”

Suddenly, everyone fell silent.

Journey to the West Route-wasn’t that supposed to be a joke?

And the elevator was descending rapidly. In just a moment, it reached -99.

“Ding.”

The mall elevator gave a friendly mechanical female voice prompt: “You have arrived at your floor.”

The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing to everyone a huge, brightly lit space, like an old-fashioned passenger station from a bygone era.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a horror story scene.

Sheng Ai cautiously poked her head out and found that although there was no one outside, it was clearly a place that looked like the bus station from her childhood memories.

As Sheng Ai stepped out, the tourists behind her also carefully exited the elevator.

Wu Qian unconsciously grabbed Pei Qiu’s arm nervously: “Where are we?”

Pei Qiu swallowed: “I don’t know, I’ve never been here, I didn’t know this mall had a floor like this!”

Aunt He and the others also followed out of the elevator.

As everyone stepped out, the elevator doors quickly closed behind them.

This was a bus station with a strong old-time vibe; they were probably in the waiting hall.

Outside was an empty platform.

Inside were several rows of seats, with old-fashioned posters pasted on the walls nearby.

Some places were covered in iron filings.

“No way, this can’t be real, what is this place?”

“How come I’ve never seen this place before…”

Pei Qiu and Aunt He muttered to themselves.

Aunt He was also very surprised: “How does this look like one of those old bus stops?”

Just then, a softer, more peculiar female voice announcement echoed through the hall: “The bus to Journey to the West Route-Xiaomi Mountain is about to arrive. All tourists, please proceed to the platform to wait for boarding and prepare for departure.”

At this moment, Sheng Ai was already having a heated exchange with the System: “Wow, so to go to the Journey to the West Route, we really have to take a bus?”

[Otherwise, would you rather fly there?] System: [Cross-time travel is expensive. You don’t have enough money right now, so you can’t afford anything better. Just make do for now.]

Sheng Ai: “…”

And now it’s her fault for not having money!

But aside from the tourists’ 200 yuan, all the other expenses were paid by her.

If it weren’t for the miraculous rewards the System offered, Sheng Ai would have quit long ago!

At that moment, a bus with a style from the last century pulled up to the platform. Everyone, still dazed, followed Sheng Ai over, only to discover that outside the platform was a vast, endless wilderness.

Blue sky, white clouds, a single bus-the scene was inexplicably gentle and beautiful.

At the very least, Tang Yuanhang instinctively took out his phone to record the moment.