Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Honolulu International Airport had been in existence for more than 30 years. The facilities were slightly outdated but generally, it could still meet the needs of the tourists who came from all over the world to Hawaii through airplanes.
As Zhang Lisheng possessed an American passport, he did not have to go through customs in the airport. The instant he left the plane, he could immediately feel the scorching heat of the sun. Carrying his backpack, he was sent directly to the entrance of the airport’s outsider channel by bus together with the passengers who did not need any visa.
The instant he walked out of the bus, he suddenly found that at least one-third of the people around him were Asians. From their accent, they were mainly Japanese and Chinese.
Before the young man came to Hawaii, he had already learned from the Internet that with the economical help gained from the Les Trente Glorieuses’ from the last century, Japanese merchants had bought 80% of the high-end hotels and the property rights to almost all golf courses in Hawaii. For this reason, it was not surprising that a large number of Japanese would appear here in Honolulu Airport in this height of summer.
As for the groups of compatriots from China in front of him, the young man did not think that China’s economy was this powerful when he was still living in Western Sichuan’s mountain village. However, after he had migrated to the Americas, he was surprised to find out from the conversation of the people around him that the rich people of China were so many that it was completely uncountable. For this reason, he was no longer caught by surprise by this as well.
“Dad, Hawaii’s airport is not even half as nice as our Pudong Airport…”
“Old Yang, I was on the flight for an entire day and I’m completely giddy now. I can no longer move today! I’ll take my rest first and tomorrow, let us take a good look at Honolulu’s municipal construction instead!”
“Baby, this is Hawaii! The most beautiful, clearest and bluest beach in the world is right here…”
Upon hearing the local accent of his native country that he had not heard for a long time, Zhang Lisheng unknowingly walked together with his compatriots. Walking in the middle of the Chinese crowds who were either appeared to be in contempt, or either appeared to be very excited or were either looking around curiously, the teenager carrying a rucksack appeared to be slightly out of place.
After a long walk in the fully air-conditioned outsider channel, he once again called Tina on the phone. “Tina, I’ve already reached Honolulu Airport.”
“I was thinking that you must have arrived so I was just about to call you. Alice has been waiting for you already at the airport’s exit, Lisheng.”
“Alice? We’ve just recently been through a ‘rabbit hole’ experience and I can’t believe that I’m going to meet the original character in the story today.” Upon hearing this name, a faint strange feeling was elicited from Zhang Lisheng’s heart as he muttered.
“What did you say?”
“It’s nothing. So, it’s this Miss Alice who’ll arrange for my schedule in Honolulu and then send me to Kauai to meet you?’
“That’s right, Lisheng! I’ve already asked Alice to do so. She’s beautiful and capable… Urghh! I suddenly realized that I’ve made a mistake. I’m warning you before I could understand what is going on between the two of us, you better not entangle yourself with any other girl…” The girl half joked.
“What do you mean by ‘entangle myself with’? That sounds so degrading! It’s not like you’ve lost your memory completely! Don’t tell me that you’ve even forgotten what kind of person I am!”
Tina, who was on the other end of the phone, became silent for a moment. “Don’t mention the phrase ‘lost my memory’ again, okay? Lisheng?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright! Just don’t do it again next time.” Tina’s tone became cheerful afterward. “That’s right! How is your business doing after your slaughterhouse opened?”
“Not bad. It’s currently maintaining a net profit of around 150,000 dollars every day.”
The number Zhang Lisheng reported immediately evoked the girl’s natural instinct of a businessperson. “Whoa! This number is out of my expectations! A net profit of 150,000 dollars every day. If you can maintain this for three months, your company will be fully qualified to be listed on the stock exchange listing of the Growth Enterprise Market. In that case, in just one night, you’d become the youngest self-made billionaire in New York, in America, or even in the entire world…”
“I won’t let the company go public even if I can become a super rich billionaire. I’ve calculated it and I can earn about 100 million dollars annually once the third phase is completed. This is already enough for me.”
“It’s enough for now! But, baby, you won’t be satisfied once when you get there. That’s the nature of a human being,” the girl remarked confidently. “I’ve made my estimation already. In the carnivorous market of 18 million people in the New York metropolitan area, except for the poor and farmers who can only afford frozen meat, if you occupy the upstream slaughter market in a saturated manner, according to your pricing, you’d earn at least 800 million dollars a year, or even one billion if the market is good! I’m very optimistic about your business’ prospect but I really didn’t expect it to be so fascinating. ”
“Tina, you sound more like yourself when you talk like this.” Following the crowds, Zhang Lisheng finally walked out of the airport’s outsider channel. Zhang Lisheng looked at the pick-up crowds in the distance that were at least hundreds of people who were yelling and holding up either placards, tablets or LCD screens written with huge names before saying, “Oh, I’m almost out of the airport now. There are just too many people here to pick up tourists. It’s too noisy and I’m going to hang up soon. Bye, Tina.”
“Alice is almost as tall as me. Her skin is light caramel in color and she has very beautiful facial features that are eye-catching. I’ll see you in Kauai. Goodbye, Lisheng! I’ll wait for you,” the girl quickly said.
After ending the call, Zhang Lisheng began to look for a tall, young, and beautiful woman according to Tina’s description in the waiting crowds.
Very soon, he saw a beautiful woman who was continuously waving a tablet written with the words “Lisheng Zhang” in a thick colorful font over her head with just one hand in the midst of the crowds of fat and short Hawaiian natives who were covered in sweat.
That girl was wearing a small sweatshirt that showed her navel, while she wore short hot pants to cover the lower body. From her facial features, she should be a typical white girl who looked completely different from the Hawaiian natives who resembled the African blacks.
However, due to the reason that her skin was exposed to the sun for a long period of time, her skin was caramel-tanned, unlike her race’s skin. She was about 175 centimeters tall and her body was well proportioned and healthy. When her abdomen was relaxed, the slight protruding line highlighted the soft muscles right there.
Such a fit figure was perfect in the eyes of Westerners but appeared to be slightly too sturdy-looking in the eyes of Asians. “Oh, what a sturdy-looking girl. It’s fortunate that Tina is not like that…”
Zhang Lisheng walked towards the girl and muttered to himself.
His voice was not loud and the surrounding environment was very noisy. Even so, the girl named Alice had a pair of sharp eyes so the instant Zhang Lisheng finished commenting on her, she instantly glared at the young man.
After facing eye to eye the girl, Zhang Lisheng began to feel sorry for his abrupt muttering. However, ever since he made a breakthrough to Rank-5 Wizard level and obtained the “simplify” spell, he no longer needed to mutter incantations to command his wizard gu constantly anymore. For this reason, he no longer had to fall into the state of absolute rationality anymore and so, he did not apologize embarrassedly but pretend to be nonchalant before asking, “Are you Alice?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Tina’s friend, who is also the Zhang Lisheng you’ve written on your tablet.”
“Is that so? Let us go then.” Ever since the young man uttered “It’s fortunate that Tina is not like that…”, the girl who had long guessed Zhang Lisheng’s identity had already turned around and walked out of the airport.
It was hard for Zhang Lisheng to understand just how grave the mistake was to use the word “sturdy-looking” to describe a girl who was quite conceited about her appearance and her body. He felt that the fact that Alice showed a cold face towards him was already enough to offset his rudeness towards her.
Shrugging, the young man walked behind the girl and said, “Tina said that you’ll help me arrange everything in Honolulu. Can you bring me to the best hotel here to put my luggage first before…”
“All of the good hotels here in Honolulu are already full this season…” Alice purposely made things difficult for this skinny young man following her from behind who did not sound sorry at all.
“Since Tina knows that I’m coming, she should have already booked a room at the best hotel in this town for me, hasn’t she?”
Alice was stumped for a moment. “Huh! You’re right! She has indeed booked a room at the Royal Hawaiian for you already…”
As the two of them were talking to each other, they had already walked out of the airport. At that instant, Zhang Lisheng immediately felt a surge of heat washing over him. It was fortunate that the temperature of Honolulu’s outdoor environment was much cooler than he expected. Although the sun was strong, it felt just slightly over 30 degrees.
Taking a breath of warm, moist, and slightly salty air that was the characteristic of a tropical island, the young man placed his hand on the shelter and asked, “Where’s your car, Miss Alice? Can you drive it over here?”
By right, it was within reason for Zhang Lisheng to make such a request as he had just gotten out of the plane and was carrying his luggage. However, the instant Alice who already had a terrible first impression of him heard his words, she immediately felt that this young man was treating herself as a hired driver.
“You better walk with me to my car,” the girl replied while suppressing her anger.
Upon seeing her grave expression, Zhang Lisheng inexplicably answered “Alright!” before following her to the parking lot outside the airport. After walking for some time, they finally came to a halt in front of a pink Beetle.
“This car seems to be quite aged already…” The young man patted the roof of the car. Just as he was about to add “A young girl who can drive such a car is indeed very tasteful”, Alice had already opened the door and entered the driver’s seat.
“I know that my car is very old but not everyone is born with a golden spoon and can stay in a five-star resort every time we go for a holiday! Get on the car, Mr. Zhang Lisheng! I’ll send you to the Royal Hawaiian, the world that you’re familiar with!”
Zhang Lisheng was dumbstruck for a moment. Without explaining anything, he got on the passenger’s seat next to the driver seat and made up his mind to part with this eccentric girl after he arrived at the hotel.
As the young man was thinking to himself, Alice drove the Beetle out of Honolulu Airport’s parking lot and into the streets of Hawaii.
Along the way, a dark-skinned sculpture of an indigenous leader cloaked by colored linen while wearing a leather hat could be seen erected in front of the English-style buildings surrounded by green lawns next to the straight road.
After passing through several skyscrapers, he could see vendors strolling on the roadside, selling different strange-looking puppets and woodcarvings.
From a junction, the scenery in the distance on his side was a blue turquoise sky. However, as they drove past the junction, what he could see next was a cemetery filled with crosses.
Observing this strange city that was the capital of a primitive kingdom belonging to the natives 200 years ago that had now transformed to become the youngest state capital of the world’s most developed country, Zhang Lisheng felt that Honolulu was like a city with many civilizations smashed together and reshaped again.
The strangest thing was that the finished product was also perfectly cohering with each other.
