Chapter 85 - 78: Firefly Breeding and Cultivation Room

Chapter 85: Chapter 78: Firefly Breeding and Cultivation Room

While Lin Muxue was filled with admiration, Zhang Lin turned to Zhao Han and said, "Director Zhao, from now on, my Senior Sister Lin here will be in charge of our farm’s promotion and operations. You two should exchange contact information to make communication easier!"

"Miss Lin, it looks like we’ll be in touch often then!" Zhao Han said with a smile. Since she was someone Boss Zhang had personally hired, he naturally trusted her and politely exchanged contact information with Lin Muxue.

Lin Muxue could, of course, sense the tourism bureau director’s attitude, which made her realize just how much importance he placed on Li Yuan Farm.

After they exchanged contact information, Zhang Lin took Lin Muxue and Liu Qian to a hotel to get them settled in first.

Afterward, he took the two of them to Jinmao Tower!

He had successfully poached Lin Muxue and her team, but their office space was an issue.

The farm didn’t have any office space for them at the moment, so he had to rent one. Fortunately, online operations didn’t need to be physically located at the farm.

"Senior Sister Lin, Jinmao Tower is the only commercial skyscraper in You City, and it has the best office rentals available," Zhang Lin explained as he led Lin Muxue and Liu Qian into the building.

The environment in Jinmao Tower was indeed excellent. In the end, Lin Muxue settled on a corner office with a nice view, which was large enough for the entire operations team.

After signing the lease for the office, Zhang Lin said to Lin Muxue, "Senior Sister Lin, as for living arrangements, I’m not sure what kind of environment you all prefer. Once your whole team arrives, you can find a real estate agent to show you some places. The farm will reimburse the costs!"

"Okay. Our team’s copywriter also handles logistics. She’ll take care of it," Lin Muxue nodded, quite satisfied with this arrangement.

After all, they had their own standards for their living environment and would rather find a place themselves.

Just then, Zhang Lin received a message.

It was from Chu Heng of *Super Brain*: "Boss Zhang, our *Super Brain* live challenge is about to start. We’d like to invite you to come and watch!"

Seeing this, Zhang Lin turned and asked Lin Muxue, "Senior Sister Lin, the *Super Brain* livestream from the Bamboo Maze is about to begin. Do you want to go take a look?"

"Yes, let’s go together!" Lin Muxue nodded. She was quite interested.

On her way here, she had looked up videos of Li Yuan Farm. The buzz around *Super Brain* and the Bamboo Maze was at its peak today.

Besides, the fact that a farm attraction could get a show like *Super Brain* to host a live challenge proved just how formidable the Bamboo Maze was.

She was also a little tempted to try the Bamboo Maze herself.

By the time Zhang Lin arrived at the Bamboo Maze with Lin Muxue and Liu Qian, the livestream had already started. A young man was facing the camera and declaring confidently, "I, Zhang Yang, as the annual champion of *Super Brain*, will conquer this Bamboo Maze before me!"

Following his declaration, Zhang Yang entered the Bamboo Maze with a cameraman trailing behind him.

At the same time, an image of Zhang Yang appeared on one of the large LCD screens. The camera feed from the *Super Brain* team was linked to them.

This allowed the crowd of tourists outside to clearly see Zhang Yang’s progress. This perspective also stoked more curiosity and attention, especially from tourists who were wondering what the inside of the Bamboo Maze was like.

Zhang Lin opened the *Super Brain* livestream on his Tiao Yin account, and sure enough, Zhang Yang’s feed was there.

For now, there was only one feed. Once the other contestants went in, the stream would have to switch between them.

What surprised Zhang Lin, however, was the livestream’s popularity—it had already surpassed 100,000 concurrent viewers.

"President Zhang!" Chu Heng’s voice rang out as he approached with a wide smile.

With this level of popularity, the one million yuan was well spent. He was in an excellent mood.

"Mr. Chu, congratulations on a successful livestream!"

"The pleasure is mutual! This is great advertising for the Bamboo Maze, too!"

They both knew what the other was thinking.

On the livestream, Zhang Yang was already moving forward, passing several forks in the path in the blink of an eye. This streaming method allowed everyone to see what was happening inside, generating immense enthusiasm from both the online audience and the tourists on site. It gave them a strong sense of participation.

Most importantly, they could finally see the true face of the Bamboo Maze.

But after a few more forks, his pace slowed down considerably. He had clearly run into trouble.

All the viewers thought he was just contemplating his route. Only Zhang Lin understood that he was being affected by the Bamboo Maze’s +1 Confusion and +1 Dumbing Down effects.

Seeing this, he had a good guess about what would happen next.

He guessed that even though Zhang Yang was the annual champion of *Super Brain*, his final result would likely be the same as He Rou’s.

As time went on, the elite team assembled by the *Super Brain* crew entered the Bamboo Maze one by one, and He Rou was among them.

The live feeds of the *Super Brain* contestants began to appear one by one on the LCD screens at the entrance to the Bamboo Maze.

Compared to the official *Super Brain* Tiao Yin livestream, which had to switch between contestants, the multi-screen view in front of the Bamboo Maze was much more engaging to watch.

However, only a production team like *Super Brain*’s had the capability to set up such a multi-perspective livestream. Li Yuan Farm couldn’t manage it, at least not right now.

As the last contestant entered the Bamboo Maze, the ones who had gone in earlier began to complete the first stage one after another.

But as they finished the first stage, the atmosphere started to feel a bit strange. The audience noticed that whether it was the champion, Zhang Yang, or He Rou who had attempted it once before, or any of the others, their completion times for the first stage were all surprisingly similar to He Rou’s time from yesterday. Even Zhang Yang, who was slightly faster, was only ahead by five minutes.

A thought suddenly crossed everyone’s mind: ’Could it be that this team of *Super Brain*’s best and brightest won’t be able to clear Li Yuan Farm’s Bamboo Maze?’

As time passed, this suspicion grew stronger.

In front of the Bamboo Maze, the tourists began to voice their doubts:

"I’m starting to think these guys might not be able to clear it!"

"Yeah, it looks that way. One of them finished the first stage in the same amount of time as that Ah Luo guy!"

"If you look at it that way, that Ah Luo guy is actually pretty strong!"

"..."

Chu Heng’s expression was also quite awkward. After all, this was supposed to be their *Super Brain* all-star team; ’how could they not even be able to pass this Bamboo Maze?’

’This can’t be happening!’

Lin Muxue and Liu Qian, who had been watching the whole time, grew more and more astonished. They were gaining a much deeper understanding of the Bamboo Maze.

If even these people couldn’t beat Li Yuan Farm’s Bamboo Maze, then tomorrow it would become the number one challenge attraction in the country.

In that case, they really wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of buzz. People would constantly come to challenge it, especially celebrities.

Those who failed would keep trying, and anyone who succeeded would have their record challenged by others.

Time continued to pass.

Finally, someone completed the second stage. It was Zhang Yang, followed shortly by He Rou and a few others.

But after that, even Chu Heng could see that the contestants were a spent force. Not to mention the cameramen—the footage was shaky, as if they could barely hold up their cameras anymore.

Fortunately, just as the sun was about to set, Zhang Yang finally completed the third stage and found the rest area.

This offered a final bit of consolation, but by that point, he was completely drained mentally and physically. He had no choice but to exit through the safety path.

Chu Heng let out a deep sigh. It seemed their *Super Brain* team was destined to meet its Waterloo in this Bamboo Maze.

As he looked at the Bamboo Maze before him, a new idea began to form in his mind.

Chu Heng quickly turned to Zhang Lin beside him and said, "Boss Zhang, we’ve booked a table at your farm’s restaurant. How about we have dinner together tonight? I happen to have something I’d like to discuss with you."

"Sure!" Zhang Lin agreed. He figured whatever Chu Heng wanted to talk about was related to the Bamboo Maze.

He also invited Lin Muxue, "Senior Sister Lin, this is a perfect chance to try our restaurant’s farmhouse cuisine. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed."

"I’m looking forward to it!" Lin Muxue had seen online reviews from tourists praising the food at Li Yuan Farm’s restaurant.

Now that her Junior Brother Zhang himself was saying so, she figured the farm’s cuisine must be excellent.

As night fell, when they actually tasted the food at the service center’s restaurant, the +1 Delicious Cuisine attribute made her marvel. ’It’s actually this good!’

’This Li Yuan Farm is truly magical in every way!’

After the meal began, Chu Heng finally couldn’t hold back any longer and said to Zhang Lin, "President Zhang, I’d like to propose a long-term partnership involving your Bamboo Maze. I’m planning to produce a permanent spin-off series for *Super Brain* themed around your maze."

"Uh..." Zhang Lin hadn’t expected such a proposal. He could only say, "Mr. Chu, our Bamboo Maze needs to stay open for business. We have tourists who want to experience it!"

Chu Heng quickly replied, "Boss Zhang, our show won’t interfere with your tourists. They can still go in while we’re filming. In fact, our contestants can have a lot of interaction with them. On top of that, we can cover the construction costs for the Bamboo Maze!"

Hearing this, Zhang Lin smiled. "Mr. Chu, building this Bamboo Maze wasn’t cheap. It cost ten million!"

"Ten million is no problem! We’ll pay for it!" Chu Heng said with almost no hesitation.

"In that case, the farm has no problem at all. Mr. Chu, you can start preparing the relevant documents," Zhang Lin said, his smile widening.

After all, he was just planning to build a campground but was short on funds. And now, someone was showing up with a timely donation.

After dinner, Zhang Lin took Lin Muxue and Liu Qian back to their hotel.

Back home, he looked at the game-like data in his mind. As he thought about his recent plans, he suddenly remembered he still had one available building slot.

This meant he could build another structure with special attributes in the real world.

He immediately opened the building and facility market and began browsing through the available, lit-up options.

He didn’t have the money right now, but if he really needed to build something, Li Yuan Farm’s current success meant he could definitely get a loan.

After reaching Level 3, quite a few new farm-related facilities had become available, such as a compost shed.

Suddenly, a special building caught his eye.

[Firefly Breeding and Cultivation Room: Quality 1]

[This is a special Firefly Breeding and Cultivation Room. Fireflies raised in this room gain: Breeding Speed +1, Growth Speed +1, Vitality +1, and Luminescence +1!

Restriction: Can be built within the farm’s boundaries!

Construction Requirements: 1. 2 mu of land. 2. 1,000,000 yuan. 3. Possess 20 pairs of wild fireflies!]

Zhang Lin was genuinely surprised. ’Something like this exists?’