C1 The Seeds of the Desert

My grandfather had someone bring me back a diary, which meticulously chronicled their 438-day adventure in the Ironwharf.

Excerpt from "The Interview of the Richest"

In 2023, nineteen-year-old Everett was admitted to Hadleigh People's Hospital.

"We're out of money. Notify the next of kin!"

"He has no next of kin. His parents were with the Shaoland Exploration Team. Fifteen years ago, they went on an expedition to the Ironwharf and they..."

"What about other relatives?"

"His relatives disowned him because they thought his family was too poor."

"Oh, and he owes the hospital thirty thousand yuan?!"

"Should we remove the oxygen then?"

Everett...

"Doctor, I think I deserve another chance to be saved. I'm only nineteen, still just a kid..."

"There's nothing we can do. You're already in arrears. According to our policy, we can only... Wait, if you have no relatives, perhaps you could consider donating..."

"No, I have a friend."

Everett pulled out his pear phone and called Third Fatty Wang. Third Fatty Wang wasn't just Everett's junior; he was his brother.

Right then, Everett's only wish was for Third Fatty Wang to take him home and bury him next to the bamboo grove in his hometown. He loved the sound of bamboo leaves rustling in the moonlight.

Waiting for Fatty was a long process. In the meantime, Everett wanted some peace. He lay in bed, turned on his phone, and decided to download a game to ease his mind. Everett browsed through the app store, where there were plenty of games.

"Stimulating Soldier, King of Pesticides, Chicken You're Too Beautiful, Ghostly Basketball..."

Disappointed by the cringeworthy titles, Everett kept scrolling until a golden seed caught his eye.

"A seed?"

Everett paused, intrigued. He had been a college student and knew a thing or two about seeds.

Driven by curiosity, he tapped on the desert seed's download page. There, a countdown timer displayed: "Thirty seconds left to download this game. It will automatically disappear after thirty seconds."

An automatic disappearance? This app had certainly captured Everett's attention.

"Let's download it and find out what it's all about."

Everett tapped the download button. The app was a mere 20 megabytes, so it downloaded in a flash—no more than two seconds. (A real man never needs five seconds.)

Then came the installation, which was accompanied by some bizarre images in the game.

"In the ancient year of Taia, the planet was covered with oases, until one day, a sandstorm arrived..."

Everett stared at the images of the raging sandstorm on his screen, lost in thought.

Hadn't Earth suffered a similar fate as planet Taia?

Over a decade ago, something humans did triggered a drastic change in the deserts. The sands surged, engulfing oases far and wide. The Ironwharf Desert in North Africa had devoured all of Usneburg, and now the sandstorms were battering the borders of Shaoland. Come spring, the desert winds would even reach the seas...

The game's installation neared 90%, and the illustrations on the phone continued to unfold: The King of Gaia, having exhausted every effort, developed plants that could thrive in the desert.

Tragically, the sandstorms submerged his kingdom and obliterated his laboratory. With no other choice, the King of Gaia compressed the seeds into a chip and cast it into the cosmos.

"Stray seeds? That's a new one to me, though I've watched 'The Wandering Earth.'"

The game was incredibly immersive, and Everett was quite taken with it.

Once the desert farming game finished installing, I quickly moved to the game's homepage. But then it froze, revealing an image—the app's background—a golden seed ascending above a golden desert.

Beneath it, a line read: Go find a home for the seeds, where you'll gain endless riches and life.

"Find your sister! I'm just trying to play a game here. Are you seriously expecting me to trek to the desert?!"

[Beginner Mission: Locate the Ironwharf Desert, find it, and transform it into the world's largest oasis!]

"Are you kidding me? With my fiery temper, I'm supposed to turn the Ironwharf into an oasis? Why not ask me to coach Shaoland's soccer team to a championship?"

"My name is Everett, and I'm a materialist. So, I'm about to shut down this absurd app."

"Everett, come on, I'm here to take you home!"

Wang, the burly guy known as Third Fatty, was waiting outside. Standing over 1.8 meters tall with a dark complexion, he had a broad face and small eyes that gave him a simple look. But don't be fooled by his appearance; underestimate his intelligence, and he might just knock you out.

"Let's get out of here!" Everett exclaimed as he left the hospital, spitting in disdain. Where was their medical ethics? Was he to die just because he had no money? His grandfather, father, and mother had all sacrificed themselves in the desert for the good of humanity. How could they treat a hero's descendant with such disregard?

When the hospital security guards moved to hit him, Everett felt it was time to hit the ground. But then the hospital director emerged, remarking, "The ground is filthy. Take care as you leave, my good man!"

Everett's childhood home was nestled on a hillside. Sitting alone by the bamboo grove in the morning, he could gaze upon the lengthy Hadleigh River. The peach blossoms blooming in March evoked the lines of an ancient poem in his mind:

"The sunrise dyes the blossoms fiery red, and the spring river flows as blue as the sky."

Suddenly, Everett felt an urge to visit the desert where his parents and grandfather lay buried. Every year, countless people ventured into the desert, risking their lives, not for the hidden gold—no, but to uncover the reasons behind its harshness.

Everett, however, had a different purpose. He wished to fulfill the mission his parents had left unfinished. Moreover, as a man facing death, he preferred to meet his end in the desert rather than in a decrepit house, reuniting with his family in the sands.

By the riverbank, Everett clapped Fatty on the shoulder and said, "Fatty, take me to the desert."

Fatty lit a cigarette, took a few drags, then flicked it onto the ground. As they watched the mighty Hadleigh flow, Fatty hesitated, "Bro, I might have some family matters to attend to..."

The path to the desert was known to be perilous, a journey from which even well-equipped expeditions often failed to return.

That afternoon, Fatty's thatched cottage caught fire. Some suspected Everett's hand in it, but he remained silent. The true cause was soon discovered: the cigarette Fatty had smoked at noon had not been properly extinguished. Everett had always warned that carelessly discarding cigarette butts could bring dire consequences.

Fatty resigned himself to fate, deciding that with his home gone, he might as well fulfill a dying man's wish and accompany Everett to the desert.