OFR – Chapter 84 Xuzhou Service Area.

Time flew by, and after Mu Bai had slept for about two or three hours, he groggily noticed that the car had stopped.

“Huh? Did we reach the Xuzhou service area?”

Mu Bai woke up, rubbed his eyes, and sat up in the backseat. Looking out the window, he saw the five glowing characters of the “Xuzhou Service Area” sign in the dark night.

“Yep, we’re here,” said Qian Yiwen, unfastening her seatbelt from the driver’s seat.

“Let’s not rest in the car, then. I’ll go see if there are any vacant rooms at the service area.”

Mu Bai stretched, preparing to get out of the car, but Qian Yiwen tugged at his sleeve, looking a bit scared. “Xiao Mu, can you come with me to the restroom first? The light in there seems to be broken, and it’s really dark. I’m scared.”

Mu Bai looked toward the restroom and saw that it was indeed pitch black. He knew Qian Yiwen was a bit timid—this was, after all, her first time leaving Nanjing since childhood. Trusting him enough to come along on this trip spoke volumes about her faith in him, so Mu Bai nodded and said, “Alright, let’s go.”

“I knew Xiao Mu would always take care of me!” Qian Yiwen said happily. After they both got out of the car, she locked it and checked the time on her phone—it was already past 3 a.m. The service area was very quiet, with only a few night-shift security guards and staff visible.

After a short while, they finished at the restroom and headed toward the service area’s lobby to rent a room for the night. But when they asked at the front desk, they found out there was only one large room left.

Upon inquiring further, Mu Bai learned that tomorrow was the annual Jade Gambling Festival in Xuzhou, which had attracted many jade enthusiasts from all over Jianghai Province, resulting in a shortage of available rooms.

“Is the room with two beds?” Mu Bai asked the receptionist.

“Yes, that’s correct, sir,” the receptionist replied.

“Alright, I’ll take it.”

Mu Bai didn’t hesitate, as waiting a few more minutes could mean the last room being snatched up. While the receptionist processed the room rental, Mu Bai’s thoughts lingered on the jade gambling event. He hadn’t realized Xuzhou held such an event, and it was quite a coincidence that it was happening tomorrow. This piqued his interest in attending.

After all, the last two times Mu Bai had upgraded his mystical space, he had noticed that the jade pendant he wore would subtly vibrate in the presence of jade. The better the quality and quantity of the jade, the stronger the vibration. This gave him a natural advantage when it came to jade gambling.

However, he knew this advantage could only be used sparingly. Jade gambling was largely a matter of luck, with some experience thrown in. As the saying goes, “One cut can make you poor, one cut can make you rich, or one cut can leave you wearing rags.” It’s a form of gambling, not illegal, but similar to buying a lottery ticket—regulated by law.

Since gambling, in any form, can lead to suspicion if one always wins without fail, Mu Bai was careful not to overuse his advantage, even though his identity was partially masked by the system’s encryption.

With those thoughts swirling in his mind, the room was finally booked. Mu Bai paid, grabbed the room key, and led Qian Yiwen upstairs.

“By the way, are you okay with sharing a room? There are two beds, and don’t worry, I have great self-control,” Mu Bai asked, once they entered the room.

Qian Yiwen smiled, trusting Mu Bai completely. “It’s fine. I know my Xiao Mu is a true gentleman.”

They exchanged a few more casual words, then each took turns showering in the room’s bathroom. Exhausted, they soon crawled into their own beds and fell into a deep sleep.

Qian Yiwen fell asleep first, but after a while, Mu Bai got up and returned to the bathroom. With a thought, he entered his mystical space.

It had been two or three days since he last visited the space, and he was feeling a bit anxious. After all, the mystical space was his most important asset right now.

Upon entering, Mu Bai immediately scanned the quiet space. The seven plants and animals he had been cultivating were in even better condition than before.

The platinum and red-gold arowanas, which had originally been around 80 centimeters long, had now grown to over 90 centimeters, edging closer to the size of ultra-premium arowanas. The tiger-tail grass had grown another tail, making it fourteen in total, while the purple peony, Tang Dynasty phoenix feather, ghost orchid, and Tianyi lotus had no significant changes, though their appearance had improved.

After inspecting these rare species, Mu Bai turned his attention to the saffron plants in his personal plot. As expected, they had matured, their blooms radiating a regal purple color, quite beautiful.

“Ding! Saffron has fully matured. Would the host like to use the one-click harvest feature? Harvesting 100 square meters of saffron will cost 5000 virtual copper coins. If insufficient, virtual silver coins will be used as a substitute.”

Mu Bai saw the notification and clicked to confirm, as 5000 copper coins weren’t much for him anymore.

“Ding! Auto-harvesting in progress. Estimated time: one minute.”

A flash of white light swept through the space, and after about a minute, the saffron had all been harvested, neatly categorized on the personal plot.

“Ding! Harvested approximately 15,000 grams of grade-one saffron, 5,000 grams of top-grade saffron, 500 grams of premium saffron, and 30,000 high-quality saffron bulbs. Ding! Due to the recent large-scale planting and harvesting, the personal plot requires a 24-hour cooldown before the next planting.”

Several lines of notification flashed before Mu Bai’s eyes as he stood in the mystical space.