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墨書 Inktalez
"Wake up! We're here!"
A jolt of turbulence jolted Lin Xiaofan awake. His neck throbbed from being twisted for so long, and he felt the dried drool at the corner of his mouth. Su Yuqing stood in the aisle, looking at him with a face full of disdain.
"Are we... here?" Lin Xiaofan wiped his face, noticing that it was completely dark outside, with only a few dim yellow lights flickering in the distance.
"A transfer station," Su Yuqing said as she slung her backpack over her shoulder. "We'll spend the night here and take a tractor into the mountains first thing tomorrow."
Lin Xiaofan stumbled off the bus, the biting mountain wind immediately seeping into his thin suit. The "transfer station" before him was a makeshift wooden cabin, with a crooked sign hanging at the entrance that read "Qingshan Inn," its paint peeling to the point where the words were nearly illegible.
"This... is it?" His teeth began to chatter.
Without looking back, Su Yuqing pushed the door open and stepped inside. "If you don't like it, you can sleep on the bus; it returns tomorrow."
The inn was filled with a musty smell mixed with cheap tobacco. Behind the counter sat an old man with a face full of wrinkles, gnawing on corn with his only yellowed tooth. An electronic clock on the wall displayed the temperature: 12°C.
"Two rooms," Su Yuqing said as she took out her ID card.
The old man squinted at them. "Couple? One room is enough; save some money."
"Two rooms," Su Yuqing's voice was as cold as ice.
The old man shrugged and tossed two rusty keys onto the counter. "20 per room, shared bathroom, hot water until nine."
Lin Xiaofan's room was less than five square meters, with a wooden bed taking up most of the space. Suspicious stains on the sheets made him hesitant to think too much about it. He pulled out his phone, but the signal barely flickered with an "E," and he couldn't even send a single WeChat message.
"Damn..." He kicked the creaky bedside table, causing its door to fall open.
[System Notification: Current environment check complete]
[Recommendation: Adapting to harsh conditions will aid in task completion]
[Special Reminder: Please bring warm clothing tomorrow]
Lin Xiaofan stared at the message, nearly throwing his phone against the wall. Was this damn system training him like a special forces soldier?
Footsteps echoed in the hallway, followed by a gentle knock on his door.
"What?" he asked irritably.
"Time to eat," Su Yuqing's voice came through the door panel. "Downstairs, five minutes."
The so-called "dining area" was just a folding table set up in the inn's back kitchen. On it sat a bowl of vegetable soup floating with oil droplets, a plate of pickles, and several dark-colored steamed buns. Lin Xiaofan's stomach twisted—he hadn't eaten something like this since military training in college.
However, Su Yuqing skillfully tore apart a steamed bun, stuffed some pickles inside, and finished one in just a few bites.
"Is this... really what we're eating?" Lin Xiaofan asked cautiously.
"If you think it's bad, you don't have to eat it," Su Yuqing replied without looking up. "Once we go into the mountains tomorrow, there won't even be this."
Lin Xiaofan steeled himself and took a bite of the steamed bun, its rough texture nearly choking him. He stole a glance at Su Yuqing, who was eating quickly and quietly, as if she had long been accustomed to such poor food.
"Do you come to places like this often?" he couldn't help but ask.
Su Yuqing put down her chopsticks, finally meeting his gaze. "At least once a month. Do you think those donations just fly into the children's hands?"
Lin Xiaofan was left speechless. He recalled his own donation of five thousand yuan, which was merely a number in the system; now it had materialized into this bland soup and hard bun.
Before dawn the next day, the tractor's deafening roar jolted Lin Xiaofan awake. He put on all the clothes he could find but still shivered from the cold. Downstairs, Su Yuqing was already helping the driver load supplies onto the vehicle.
"Give me a hand," she said, tossing him a box of stationery without looking up.
The box's weight caught him off guard, and he nearly strained his back. Su Yuqing watched him fumble with a hint of mockery at the corners of her mouth.
After four bumpy hours on the rugged mountain road, Lin Xiaofan's backside had gone numb. When the vehicle finally stopped in front of a low earthen house, he almost rolled out.
"This is... a school?" Lin Xiaofan couldn't believe his eyes.
The building before him was even more dilapidated than the inn from last night; cracks in the walls were wide enough to fit a fist. The roof tiles were missing in places, and several pieces of plastic fluttered in the wind. A dozen children dressed in patched clothes stood timidly at the door, their eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Principal Li!" Su Yuqing called out loudly.
An elderly man with a hunched back emerged from inside, his wrinkles etched with the passage of time. He warmly shook Su Yuqing's hand but cast a skeptical glance at Lin Xiaofan.
"This is Mr. Lin; he funded the nutrition lunch donation last time."
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