58: Chapter 58 Twenty Towns
When the system notification arrived, Lin Feng was squatting under the old locust tree, looking at the road sign.
Population: 687.
Still rising.
He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and didn't move.
Margaret walked over from the restaurant side, carrying a plate of freshly cooked mushrooms.
"Didn't sleep all night again?"
Lin Feng took the plate. "I did. Just for a little while."
Margaret squatted down beside him, watching him eat.
"Your phone rang just now. Who was it?"
Lin Feng chewed the mushrooms and said vaguely,
"The system."
Margaret was stunned for a moment. "The system? What system?"
Lin Feng stopped chewing and turned his head to look at her.
There was three seconds of silence.
Then he continued chewing the mushrooms.
"Nothing. Just dreaming."
Margaret stared at him for three seconds but didn't ask further.
She knew this man sometimes said inexplicable things and was used to it.
---
But Lin Feng knew it wasn't a dream.
The system said it wanted to replicate twenty towns.
Twenty.
It took half a year for Xinfeng Town to become what it is now.
How long would twenty take?
He squatted there, finished the mushrooms, returned the plate to Margaret, then stood up and walked toward the church.
Inside the church, the seven of them were having a meeting.
Alex was facing a computer, brow furrowed.
Rachel was drawing, tearing up a sheet after every few strokes.
Tony was holding a book, but hadn't turned a page in a long time.
Sam held a guitar, gently plucking the strings, but no melody formed.
Jenny was writing something, crossing out lines as she went.
Chris was repairing some unknown machine, his hands covered in grease.
Yuki was typing on a keyboard, her fingers flying.
Lin Feng walked in and squatted by the door.
The seven of them looked up at him simultaneously.
Alex spoke first. "Boss, those towns..."
Lin Feng nodded. "I know."
Rachel asked, "Twenty of them—what are we going to do?"
Lin Feng didn't answer.
He looked at Yuki.
Yuki blinked, then turned her computer screen around.
On the screen was a map densely marked with red dots.
Every red dot was an abandoned mining town.
West Virginia, seventeen.
Kentucky, twenty-three.
Pennsylvania, thirty-one.
Ohio, nineteen.
And other places—Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Indiana.
Lin Feng stared at that map for a long time.
Then he asked Yuki, "Are there still people in these places?"
Yuki nodded and typed a few words:
[There are. But not many.]
Lin Feng asked again, "Do they want to be seen?"
Yuki typed a few more words:
[I don't know. But we can ask.]
---
The way to ask was very simple.
Yuki worked through the night to build a website called [happiness map].
The homepage had only one line of text:
[Does anyone remember where you are?]
Below it was a massive input box where one could write anything—the town's name, how many people were left, what they wanted to say, what they wanted people to see.
The next morning, the first message appeared.
It came from a small town in West Virginia called Carbon:
[We still have 89 people. The coal mine closed twenty years ago. All the young people left. Those of us remaining are just waiting to die.]
Lin Feng looked at that message, moving his straw from the left side of his mouth to the right.
Alex asked, "Should we reply?"
Lin Feng said, "No. Wait."
The second message came from Coal Creek, Kentucky:
[We still have 156 people. Half the church has collapsed and no one is repairing it. The school closed ten years ago. I want people to know that there are still people here.]
The third came from Mill Town, Pennsylvania:
[We still have 312 people. My grandfather was a miner, and so was my father. I haven't dug up anything. But I don't want to leave.]
The fourth, the fifth, the sixth.
Within a day, forty-seven towns had left messages.
Margaret stood beside Lin Feng, looking at those messages; her eyes grew redder and redder.
She turned to look at Lin Feng.
"Do you know how long it's been since anyone mentioned these places?"
Lin Feng shook his head.
Margaret said, "Maybe almost a lifetime."
Lin Feng was silent for a long time.
Then he stood up and brushed off his seat.
"Then let's get them mentioned."
---
The first place they went was Carbon, West Virginia.
George and Chris went.
George stood at the entrance of the town, looking at the dilapidated road sign—it was even more broken than Xinfeng Town's had been, the words barely legible.
He turned to ask Chris,
"Have you ever been to a place like this?"
Chris shook his head.
George smiled. "This is exactly the kind of place I wanted to come to."
In the town, over eighty people stood on the main street, watching them.
Standing at the front was an old lady, about the same age as Margaret, but thinner and more haggard.
She looked at George and asked,
"Are you the one... from Xinfeng Town?"
George nodded.
The old lady asked again, "What are you here for?"
George thought for a moment and said,
"To see if you can still laugh."
The old lady was stunned.
Then she laughed.
It was the kind of laugh that hadn't happened in a long time.
--
The second place they went was Coal Creek, Kentucky.
Tony and Sam went.
Tony sat at the church entrance, chatting with a group of old miners.
They chatted for three hours.
They talked about coal mines, things from their youth, the people who had died, and the people still living.
Sam played the guitar nearby; as he played, someone started humming along.
As they hummed, someone started crying.
As they cried, they started laughing again.
When it was time to leave, an old miner grabbed Tony's hand.
"Will you come back?"
Tony nodded. "We will."
The old miner asked, "When?"
Tony thought for a moment and said,
"When you feel like laughing again."
---
The third place they went was Mill Town, Pennsylvania.
Jenny and Yuki went.
Yuki set up a giant screen at the town entrance, scrolling through photos of 'Happiness Express'—George growing mushrooms, Edna talking to the 'Ear', Mike mixing drinks, Tom editing clips, and tourists laughing.
The people of the town came over one by one, standing in front of the screen, watching.
They didn't speak.
They just watched.
They watched for a long time.
Then a little girl, about seven or eight years old, pointed at the photo of Edna on the screen and asked Yuki,
"What is this grandma laughing at?"
Yuki was taken aback.
She squatted down to look the little girl in the eye.
Then she typed a line on her phone and handed it to her to read:
[She is laughing because someone sees her.]
The little girl stared at that line for a long time.
Then she laughed, too.
---
A month later, the messages on the happiness map had grown to over three hundred.
Yuki organized them every day and replied every day.
The content of the reply was always just one sentence:
[Seen.]
Someone asked, "What happens after being seen?"
Yuki replied:
[Then, you can decide for yourselves.]
---
Two months later, the first town to actively seek them out appeared.
Millfield, from Ohio.
The mayor was a man in his forties, driving a beat-up pickup truck and carrying a stack of documents, standing at the entrance of Xinfeng Town.
Lin Feng squatted under the old locust tree, looking at him.
The man walked over and stood before Lin Feng.
"Are you Lin Feng?"
Lin Feng nodded.
The man said, "I'm Dave, the mayor of Millfield. Our town still has over four hundred people. The coal mine has been closed for fifteen years. We want to learn from you."
Lin Feng looked at him and didn't speak.
Dave continued, "We saw the happiness map. We saw your videos. We saw what those towns looked like after the changes."
He paused.
"We want to try, too."
Lin Feng was silent for three seconds.
Then he stood up and brushed off his seat.
"Try it then. It's not like it costs money."
Dave was stunned.
Lin Feng pointed to the group of people behind him.
"They'll teach you. Once they're done, you do it yourself."
---
Three months later, Millfield's first batch of mushrooms was produced.
Dave took a photo and posted it on the happiness map.
In the photo, over four hundred people stood by the edge of the mine pit, each holding a mushroom in their hand.
The caption read:
[Thank you for letting us be seen. Now we can see ourselves.]
Lin Feng squatted under the old locust tree, looked at that photo, and smiled.
Margaret walked over and squatted beside him.
"How many now?"
Lin Feng said, "Seven."
Margaret asked, "Thirteen to go?"
Lin Feng nodded.
Margaret looked at the people busy in the distance—George was teaching newcomers how to grow mushrooms, Alex was helping the new town build a website, Sam was writing songs, and Yuki was replying to messages.
She said softly,
"Lin Feng, do you know, these people before..."
Lin Feng interrupted her,
"I know."
---
Half a year later, the red dots on the happiness map had become twenty-seven.
It had exceeded the system's requirement.
Alex ran to the old locust tree holding a report, out of breath.
"Boss! Twenty-seven! We've exceeded the goal!"
Lin Feng took the report, glanced at it, and nodded.
Alex asked, "Aren't you happy?"
Lin Feng said, "I am."
Alex asked, "Then why aren't you smiling?"
Lin Feng thought for a moment and said,
"I'm thinking about the next one."
Alex was stunned.
Lin Feng stood up, brushed off his seat, and walked toward the church.
After two steps, he turned back.
"Are twenty-seven enough?"
Alex didn't answer.
Lin Feng answered himself,
"Not enough."
---
That night, the church was full of people again.
Over eight hundred—the population of Xinfeng Town had already risen to over eight hundred.
Lin Feng squatted in front of the altar, looking at the people below.
George, Edna, Mike, Tom, Alex, Rachel, Tony, Sam, Jenny, Chris, Yuki, Margaret...
And those who had come from other towns—to learn, to help, to give thanks, to stay.
Lin Feng was silent for a long time.
Then he spoke:
"Twenty-seven towns have finished their transformations."
The room was quiet for a second.
Then someone started clapping.
Then a second, a third, then everyone.
Lin Feng waited for them to finish clapping and continued,
"But there are more."
He pointed to Yuki's computer screen—on the happiness map, there were still hundreds of red dots not yet lit up.
"In those places, there are still people. They also want to be seen."
He paused.
"So, we continue."
---
At midnight, the crowd dispersed.
Lin Feng was squatting under the old locust tree again.
His phone vibrated.
It was a system message.
[Ding—Congratulations to the host for completing the first stage of Volume 4—]
[Task Name: Let the 'Xinfeng Town Model' influence the globe]
[Completion Progress: 27 towns have completed replication]
[Current Stage Reward: Happy Planet · Basic Version activated]
[Next Stage Goal: 100 towns]
[Tip: Happiness is not copy-paste. It is letting every place grow its own happiness.]
Lin Feng stared at that message for a long time.
One hundred.
He smiled.
He stuffed his phone back into his pocket, stood up, and looked at the lights in the distance.
The church lights were still on.
The bar's music was still drifting over.
In the farm, someone was working overtime.
On the main street, in front of a newly opened shop, young people were still chatting.
Over eight hundred people.
Living, real, smiling.
He watched for a while, then turned to walk into the town.
After two steps, he stopped and looked back at the road sign:
[Xinfeng Town, Population: 843]
That line "Still rising" was still there.
He smiled and disappeared into the night.
[Chapter 58 End]