AYLS – Chapter 3 I Need to Register a New Account!

Now that they had the unit’s address, things became much easier at the county level. They just needed to send her over, and the matter would be considered resolved.

Finally, there was an outcome to this case, and the entire public security bureau staff felt relieved. They all thought this was helping bring about a good thing.

The bureau chief instructed the female officer who had been in closest contact with Lin Qiao—Officer Wu herself—to personally deliver the good news to Lin Qiao, handle the handover work as soon as possible, and then send this martyr’s child on her way to search for her family.

During these past two days in the county, Lin Qiao had been diligently eating well, making sure to nourish herself into looking more attractive. Her goal was simple: when she finally met her in-game romance, he would fall in love with her at first sight, become deeply smitten, and the two of them would quickly become a heavenly couple. That way, this broken game could finally be cleared.

But even for this reason, after eating the county’s canteen food for a few days, she was starting to feel sick of it. She was just waiting to set off on the family search.

As soon as she learned there was news about her fiancé, she eagerly asked, “When can I go?”

Officer Wu looked at her fairer, more delicate face after these days of good food, narrowed her eyes and smiled, “We’re already making arrangements here. When the time comes, I’ll personally take you there. Don’t worry, your fiancé is a soldier. Though he’s only in his early twenties, he’s already a cadre. He’s a People’s Liberation Army comrade with ideals and consciousness.”

As for the fact that his corps was working on construction in a very difficult place—well, that wasn’t an issue at all.

Officer Wu, full of ideological consciousness, explained that this was contributing to the country’s construction, a great cause, not about suffering.

Comrade Lin Qiao was about to embark on a great undertaking—something to be celebrated.

Lin Qiao’s heart was full of delight.

Of course!

After all, she had chosen this herself.

These days, she had learned to behave better from the little fat cat. At this moment, she even pretended to be shy, “As long as he’s a good person, that’s enough.”

After the female officer left, Lin Qiao excitedly spun around in her room, then began preparing to buy a couple of nice outfits.

By now, the public security bureau no longer restricted her freedom.

Before, she had been anxious waiting for news, not knowing when the mission would start, so she hadn’t even felt like going out for a stroll.

Now that she was about to set off, she immediately went to get ready.

She still had some money—wages earned by this body before from labor, plus the settlement allowance given by the bureau afterward.

It wasn’t much though. Altogether, only about 150 yuan.

Still, it should be enough to buy some cheaper clothes. Anything was better than this patched-up outfit she was wearing.

In Yu’an County, there was only one department store selling ready-made clothes and fabric.

Lin Qiao herself couldn’t make clothes, and she didn’t have the time, so she had no intention of buying fabric. She looked only at the ready-made clothes.

But the styles of the clothes hanging on the wall were so… tacky.

Everyone here was so thin—so why were the waists on these clothes cut so wide?

The saleswoman cracked melon seeds as she watched Lin Qiao squinting at the clothes, pursing her lips and shaking her head from time to time. Rolling her eyes, she asked, “Comrade, are you buying or not?”

For Lin Qiao, once she entered a store, there was no such thing as leaving empty-handed.

Back in her original life, even if she didn’t like something, she’d buy it anyway—if only to toss it into her storage room.

Before coming into this game, her walk-in closet next door still had piles of unopened clothes.

“Buy!” She pulled out her usual shopping swagger. “Bring out all your latest styles.”

The saleswoman widened her eyes—it was the first time she’d met a customer more domineering than herself.

Then she pointed at the wall. “Aren’t they all displayed right there?”

Lin Qiao: “…Just these?”

The saleswoman was displeased. “What, they’re not good enough for you? If you don’t like them, then go to the provincial capital. They’ve got more styles there.”

“Where’s the provincial capital? Is it far?” Lin Qiao asked with genuine interest.

She was actually planning to go. The saleswoman replied, “Not far, four hours by bus.”

Four hours? You could practically leave the country in that time! And she called that not far?

Lin Qiao clicked her tongue. Still, she thought, looking good was more important. Back in the day, hadn’t she even gone abroad just for shopping?

So she turned and went to ask where the bus station was. The county wasn’t big, and she reached it after a short walk.

The bus station was just a shabby red-brick courtyard. As soon as she walked in, the smell of motor oil hit her nose. A few vehicles sat in the middle of the yard.

From a distance, they looked like piles of scrap metal.

Lin Qiao’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe these things could actually make long-distance trips.

Weren’t they supposed to be scrapped already?

Turns out, she wasn’t even qualified to ride them. “Why? Why can everyone else sit, but I can’t? What kind of world is this?”

Maybe it was the first time anyone had asked such a dumb question, because the ticket seller with braided pigtails answered seriously, “Do you have a work unit? If you do, then get your unit to issue a certificate. Or you can go to the subdistrict office and get an introduction letter. Without an introduction letter or unit certificate, you can’t take long-distance buses. Comrade, how could you not know that?”

Lin Qiao suddenly felt like, in this person’s eyes, she’d become some clueless fool who didn’t understand the rules. Her face warmed in embarrassment, and she left with her head down.

Outside the station, she complained to Fat Cat, “…Is this some kind of game map lock rule? Am I only allowed to move around this map for now?”

Little Fat Cat said, “Stop blaming everything on the game. You should study and learn about the laws and regulations here yourself.”

Lin Qiao: “…”

“Then tell me about them.”

“No can do. I can give you the game’s outline, but adapting to this society—that’s part of completing your mission. If I interfere too much, it’ll count as cheating.”

“What happens if I cheat?”

“Not much. We’ll probably just get struck by lightning.”

Lin Qiao shivered and looked up at the sky.

She didn’t doubt the game had that kind of power. After all, it was designed by people. That twisted dog of a game planner could very well have put in a lightning-strike penalty.

But this wasn’t enough to stop her.

So she couldn’t go to the provincial capital? Fine. She’d make do and buy something casual for now.

With renewed determination, she headed back to the department store.

The saleswoman was cracking sunflower seeds when she saw Lin Qiao return. Her brows arched in surprise.

Lin Qiao walked in and cleared her throat. “Tickets are sold out. I’m in a hurry, so I’ll just make do with whatever.”

Saleswoman: “…” Oh, listen to her. Just make do, she says.

Lin Qiao looked carefully and reluctantly picked a plain, standard outfit. She figured that since everyone here dressed like this, at least she wouldn’t look too out of place.

The saleswoman took it down for her. “This one came from the provincial capital. It’s this season’s new style, and the fabric is top quality.”

Lin Qiao asked, “How much?”

“Twenty.”

Twenty? For something that looked like any ordinary piece of clothing, was it really worth all that praise?

Lin Qiao generously pulled a wad of cash from her wallet and peeled off twenty yuan.

Well, well, turns out she had money. Twenty yuan for a single outfit, and she didn’t even blink. But the saleswoman didn’t take the money. “First, give me your cloth coupons and industrial coupons.”

Lin Qiao froze. “What?” What on earth was that supposed to be?

“Cloth coupons. Industrial coupons,” the saleswoman squinted at her. “Don’t tell me you don’t have them? Without coupons, how do you expect to buy anything?” No coupons and still trying to shop?!

Her look made Lin Qiao feel like some bandit trying to eat without paying.

“…Of course I have them, I just forgot to bring them.” Lin Qiao shoved the money back into her pocket. “I was in a rush and forgot. I’ll go get them.”

Then she straightened her back proudly and walked out.

Only after she was far away did her shoulders slump. She let out a long sigh. “So embarrassing. I’ve lost face for this entire lifetime inside this game.”

“I need to study, I need to study.”

But asking people for help was impossible—her pride wouldn’t allow it. Not knowing these everyday basics clearly made her look like a fool.

So when she passed a newsstand, she bought a stack of newspapers.

Back at the guesthouse, the receptionist saw her with an armful of newspapers and asked in surprise, “You can read newspapers?”

Lin Qiao kept a calm face. “Is that strange?” She wasn’t an idiot!

Receptionist: “…” Even the maids in capitalist households could read. Was that really so strange? Or maybe, in those days, even being a maid required some education.

Lin Qiao found newspapers easier to get into than books. She skimmed through social news, some policy notices.

Of course, there wasn’t much gossip—just unit announcements and new regulations.

From these, she tried to pick out the information she needed.

For instance, the province had decided to increase the rations for urban residents. Cooking oil was being raised from two liang per month to three liang.

The grain ration had also gone up by five jin.

That’s when Lin Qiao realized—at this time, even eating was rationed.

Yawning as she read, she half-guessed and half-understood the content, gradually piecing together the rules of the game—or rather, the laws and regulations here.

Going out required proof. Shopping required coupons. And those coupons weren’t unlimited—everyone had a set quota.

The source of those coupons? They were issued by work units.

And if you didn’t have a unit, then your household registration’s local government would provide them.

Since Lin Qiao’s household registration was tied to the Lin family’s brigade, whether she actually had coupons or not was… probably a big messy question.

Anyway, Lin Qiao understood one thing: right now, forget buying clothes—having a hundred yuan in her hands, it was hard enough just to find ways to spend it.

She sighed gloomily, “Maybe this is fate. No matter where I go, I always end up with too much money to spend.”

“Luckily, I have an in-game soulmate who can gift me equipment.” Lin Qiao didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed. In the past, whenever she played games, she had always given equipment directly to her partner.

Fat Cat: “……”

The next morning, Officer Wu came to pick Lin Qiao up. In order to help Lin Qiao find her relatives as quickly as possible, she had worked overtime to finish her tasks and was now personally escorting Lin Qiao to a military corps stationed far away in the northwest.

With excitement in her heart, Lin Qiao finally set foot on the road to unlock her new quest instance.

Only… this road was a little too hard to walk.

After seven days of traveling, Lin Qiao felt like she had walked all the roads of her first half of life.

She had been vomiting along the way, saving on rations that way. She hadn’t eaten anything worse than the already awful food at the county guesthouse—only some equally unappetizing dry rations.

If not for Fat Cat’s help, her painstakingly recovered face would have sunken again.

If not for her stubborn belief that she’d meet her in-game soulmate and live a good life after, Lin Qiao felt she might have given up and lain down waiting for failure already.

This was simply inhuman.

The female officer traveling with her even encouraged her: “You’re just not used to traveling. Once you get used to it, it’ll be fine. After all, once you start living with the corps, even just going shopping will mean long trips by bus. Comrade Lin Qiao, you simply haven’t gone out enough. Blame it on those evil capitalists who tied down the common folk, making them unable to adapt to society.”

Lin Qiao shook her head furiously. No, no, no—she didn’t want to get used to this.

Arriving at this place called Suinan County, Lin Qiao had only one impression: this was worse than Yuan’an County.

At least Yuan’an had green mountains, clear waters, and shady trees. Here… something seemed missing.

There were even mud houses in the county town.

And the people here had a different complexion compared to Yuan’an. In Yuan’an, folks were a malnourished yellow; here, the skin tone was darker than yellow, with a tinge of black. And much rougher.

“This is just a transfer stop, right? Right? We’ll be transferring to another vehicle soon, heading to a big city with malls and cinemas, right?”

Fat Cat: “……” Silence is golden.

Officer Wu took her to the county public security bureau, and while Lin Qiao was still dazed, explained their purpose.

The local comrades were warm, cooperative, and eager to guide them—fully embodying the spirit of mutual support.

And so, Lin Qiao soon found herself seated in… a horse-drawn cart.

That’s right, a horse cart.

And an open one, no less.

Just like that, she left the Suinan county town she had just scorned, heading toward an even more desolate place.

Lin Qiao’s eyes suddenly stung, her nose too.

She felt that ever since entering this game instance, everything had started changing.

Sure enough, games only grew harder as you went on.

Grabbing Officer Wu’s hand, she asked, “It’s here already?”

Officer Wu thought she was simply overcome with emotion and smiled, “Yes, we’re here. You’re about to meet your family.”

“……”

Lin Qiao pressed her lips together and let a few golden teardrops fall.

Then she pulled her headscarf tight to keep the dust out of her eyes.

Suinan’s Fifth Regiment was a newly established corps, only around for two years. Its main focus was land reclamation and construction.

But the land here was poor, the climate harsh, and the reclamation task very tough.

To make it easier to reclaim land and train troops, their camp had been set far from the county town.

Still, because of their presence, this barren land had found hope.

Just imagine—walking through vast wilderness and suddenly discovering a military camp—wasn’t that exciting, wasn’t that reassuring?

At least, the two police officers with her were excited.

They had finally arrived.

Lin Qiao, however, was dumbfounded. “This? This? Here?”

This was the game zone where she would be stuck for a long, long time?

After they got off the cart, the Suinan police immediately went to speak with the sentry at the gate.

This was the corps, but not as strict as other military zones. They often cooperated with civilians, were used to visitors, and were familiar with one another.

When the sentry heard they were looking for Company Commander Gu, he immediately told them to wait, then phoned from the guardhouse.

After a brief exchange, he hung up and said solemnly, “Company Commander Gu will be right out.”

“Great, great, that’s good.”

The Suinan police quickly shared the good news with Officer Wu, who also looked relieved.

Lin Qiao, though, was still in a daze, unable to accept this place.

But she kept trying to console herself: “Maybe the camp itself will be nicer. After all, he’s an officer.”

And if he’s a really good person—gentle, sweet-talking, and takes great care of her—well, maybe she could tolerate it.

The corps wasn’t very big. From the office to the gate only took a few minutes by bicycle.

While Lin Qiao was still busy comforting herself, she saw a soldier pedaling toward them.

From afar, his figure looked tall and broad.

It was too far to see his face clearly, but his posture was upright and strong—the kind Lin Qiao preferred.

As he neared the gate, he stopped his bike and walked toward them with steady steps.

One step, two steps, three steps…

Lin Qiao’s gaze rose from his boots to his waist, and finally to his face. His features were lean, lips on the thinner side. His nose was straight, and his eyes—those long, spirited eyes—were so sharp that Lin Qiao felt as though all her secrets were laid bare.

By all rights, she should have been satisfied. But that face… Lin Qiao’s heart sank lower and lower…

She knew it. She shouldn’t have hoped.

Everyone here was so dark-skinned—how could her soulmate be any exception!

The other party first glanced at her with a blank expression, then turned his head, before looking back again and giving her a nod. He even seemed to be trying to offer Lin Qiao a smile, but his eyes were so sharp and intense that it made people feel an inexplicable pressure.

So this was her handsome, gentle, and cultured military fiancé?

Lin Qiao pressed her lips together, forcing a smile, while screaming frantically in her heart: “Change, change, change! Can I restart my account? Can I choose the female worker instead? Let me reselect!”