LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 46 - Recruitment
Mai Dongzi’s meeting with Deputy Officer Chen wasn’t long—just about half an hour.
As they talked, Chen’s attitude toward her grew increasingly warm, and Mai Dongzi herself appeared more and more relaxed. However, she didn’t truly believe that just because he asked her to call him “big brother” and showed familial kindness, he genuinely felt that way inside.
Wasn’t she doing the same? On the surface, she appeared as a girl who, wounded by her family, was sincerely grateful and loyal to Prince Arthur and Deputy Officer Chen for their help. Despite her intelligence and extraordinary cultivation potential, she was still just a newly turned adult and somewhat naive.
But deep down, only Mai Dongzi knew the true thoughts behind her seemingly innocent act of revealing the energy-rich medicinal plants without negotiating terms first with Chen.
Her keen mental perception allowed her to assess that Chen had no doubts about the persona she portrayed—a young girl inexperienced in the ways of the world. After all, this persona perfectly matched the life experiences of Lucy Xi, and the original owner of her body truly had been that way.
As long as they didn’t suspect she had reincarnated, it wouldn’t be easy for this persona to break down. Mai Dongzi had noticed that the world she was in had no cultural references—no movies or books—about transmigration or reincarnation. Regardless of what either of them was really thinking, the atmosphere during their entire conversation had been very pleasant.
After seeing off Deputy Officer Chen, Mai Dongzi felt quite content. For now, getting close to the male protagonist seemed like a good thing. It gave her some leverage against the Xi family and allowed her to move forward or retreat as needed.
As for Lucy Xi being the original female protagonist of the story, Mai Dongzi had never been concerned about that since she realized she might have been transported into the world of a book.
Although she intended to rely on Prince Arthur, she had no interest in becoming the female lead. She was not the original owner, who had already been outmaneuvered by others. Besides avenging the original owner and perhaps repaying the Xi family for raising her, Mai Dongzi had no intention of doing more for her predecessor. She wanted to follow her own path.
The somewhat male-centered book had a female lead who wasn’t particularly strong in presence. The female lead in the story was a genius pharmacist who, because of her father’s connections, was recruited into Prince Arthur’s personal guard when the apocalypse struck.
During the apocalyptic war, Prince Arthur was a hero of the entire Dagula star system. It was only natural that the original owner, a young girl, would develop feelings for him. Given their proximity and the countless times he saved her during the war, it wasn’t surprising that she eventually became the female lead, as the only woman allowed to stay by his side.
However, in the part of the book that Mai Dongzi had read, the two had not yet fully crossed the line from ambiguous to romantic. After all, they were dealing with life-and-death situations and the male lead carried the burden of an entire interstellar civilization’s survival, leaving little room for romance.
Whether they ever resolved their relationship or what happened to the female lead after the male lead’s sacrifice, Mai Dongzi didn’t know, as she had only read halfway through the book.
Mai Dongzi neither could nor wanted to follow the path of the female protagonist. She didn’t want to rely on a man for survival or become like a parasitic dodder plant. Wouldn’t it be better to achieve something on her own?
As long as she worked hard on her cultivation, by the time the apocalyptic disaster arrived, she should have enough strength to form her own team. This way, if she survived the apocalypse, she would at least secure a respectable position.
While thinking about this, she continued searching for energy-rich medicinal plants. When Deputy Officer Chen bid her farewell, he asked her to spend the next few days in the survival game searching the forest for more energy-rich plants.
Chen promised that as soon as he returned to the base, he would apply to Prince Arthur for authorization on this matter.
He didn’t mention what kind of reward she would receive for her efforts, so Mai Dongzi decided to wait and see what benefits Chen would secure for her before deciding how much effort she would put into it.
When Chen arrived, the program’s livestream drone had mysteriously disappeared, only to return as soon as he left. It was clear that the program staff had known in advance about Chen’s visit, so the drone hadn’t captured any footage of their meeting.
While waiting for news from Chen, Mai Dongzi decided to stay near the forest and search for energy-rich plants. If she encountered a third-level mutated beast, she might as well take it down.
To her surprise, less than an hour after Chen left, she received a signed invitation letter from Prince Arthur.
The letter invited her to search for energy-rich plants for the Water Blue Planet garrison. The payment was that she could keep ten percent of any energy-rich plants she found.
After reading the letter, Mai Dongzi realized that the ownership of Water Blue Planet actually belonged to Prince Arthur.
It was Prince Arthur who led the team that rediscovered the long-lost home planet, Water Blue Planet. He also led the effort to clear out the high-level mutated beasts, eliminating most of the dangers and making the planet suitable for development.
Prince Arthur was also the highest authority responsible for developing Water Blue Planet.
In short, Prince Arthur was the Lord of Water Blue Planet, and his word was law regarding the planet’s affairs.
However, Water Blue Planet still belonged to the Blue-Black Empire, so taxes would need to be paid according to the level of development.
After reading the letter, Mai Dongzi was once again grateful for her “naive” and “innocent” persona. Otherwise, she might have ended up in the ridiculous position of demanding benefits for something that already belonged to someone else.
Indeed, none of these noble scions were simple. Although she had seemed to get along well with Chen on the surface, she had nearly fallen into two major pitfalls. Even if Chen hadn’t set these traps, he certainly knew about them and had no intention of stopping her from falling into them.
Fortunately, she had decided to play it “naive” and refrained from being greedy before understanding the situation. This cautious approach helped her avoid the traps.
Luckily, her persona hadn’t cracked, which led to her receiving this invitation letter.
With this letter, not only could she search for energy-rich plants on Water Blue Planet, but she could also keep ten percent of them as her reward.
Mai Dongzi was very satisfied with this payment. Since Prince Arthur owned the planet and the matter of the energy plants was now officially approved, she didn’t dare try to secretly profit anymore.
On the bright side, having her energy plants legally recognized was also good. Feeling energized, Mai Dongzi earnestly resumed her search for energy-rich plants.
Over the next two days, Mai Dongzi thoroughly explored the surrounding forest. She only managed to find eleven mutated ginseng plants, eight mutated Polygonum multiflorum, and over forty pieces of mutated Gastrodia elata.
It seemed like her luck had all been used up on the day she discovered the energy-rich plants.
Mai Dongzi realized she would need to venture deeper into the forest to continue her search.