Chapter 18: A Desperate Bid for Talent
by xennovel“Special Talent Recruitment Plan? You’re really giving him that slot?”
Liu Shan was taken aback.
“Mm!”
“There is one—applied for this year—a special talent with an administrative rank. It just doesn’t sit right to hand a leadership position to a newcomer!”
“What rank?”
“Division Chief!”
“Division Chief? Well, that’s acceptable then!”
“Old Li, are you absolutely sure? Securing a formal position these days is hard enough without it being a leadership role. Besides, he hasn’t accomplished much in ancient construction—a mere log cabin won’t win them over.”
“You know how many people in the institute have worked over a decade without reaching Division Chief.”
Liu Shan still hesitated.
“Building a log cabin? Hah! Tell everyone at the institute that if any of them can build a log cabin using pure joinery—no nails or glue—I’ll hand over that leadership slot to them. The real question is, do they dare try?”
Li Jue glanced out the window. “And don’t forget, many of the ancient buildings in 49 Imperial City are on the verge of collapse. If we don’t fix them soon, we’ll be branded as criminals of the Long Kingdom! I know bringing him into our unit feels like making a last-ditch effort, but talent like his is incredibly rare. After all these years, he’s the only self-taught one—can you blame me for being anxious?”
“49 Imperial City?”
Liu Shan’s expression changed, and he fell silent.
Although 49 Imperial City still welcomes tourists, some of its palaces are deteriorating so fast that visits have been temporarily suspended.
“So, wait until he finishes his current gig, then get in touch with him?”
After a long pause, Liu Shan finally agreed with Li Jue’s plan.
“No, it’s too late for that! We need to expedite special measures. Contact the relevant departments in Wei City, Su Province—make a call later today so we can finalize this.”
Li Jue waved his hand dismissively.
“That urgent? Afraid he might not show up? Nowadays, countless young people dream of getting into the system. Online, people even say that the very end of the universe is the bureaucracy. Even some popular stars are taking civil service exams.”
“We have no choice—talent is too scarce! If we don’t lock him down soon, I’ll be uneasy. I even wonder if the kid will show up, especially with Yan City’s sky-high property prices and our unit not offering dorms. The pressure might lure him with online tips.”
“Online tips? Precisely!”
At this point, Liu Shan abandoned his own argument.
Remember, not long ago a system insider resigned after being swayed by huge online gifts during a live stream. It proves that when enough money’s in play, even the system loses its appeal.
“Mm. When you call him, tell him our unit is pretty relaxed. As long as he gets the job done, it won’t interfere with his participation in that wilderness survival challenge.”
“Got it!”
Time flew by, and soon the sun was leaning to the west.
Su Province, Tengli Desert. All the challenge contestants had gradually returned to their shelters after a busy, fruitful day.
Meanwhile, chaos reigned in Xu Hao’s live stream.
The viewer count had soared past 100,000, and Xu Hao’s followers had topped 200,000.
No word of explanation needed.
Through the live feed, viewers could see that with every strike of Xu Hao’s hammer, the frame of a 6-meter-long, 3-meter-wide Dry Willow log cabin quickly emerged on the pre-leveled foundation.
Combined with the earlier built fence, well, stove, and even the grass-patterned flooring on the sandy ground, the vibe of a rustic farmhouse grew stronger.
“No! More precisely, it now truly qualifies as a rustic farmhouse.”
In contrast, the shelters built by other wilderness survival experts were on an entirely different level.
“Damn.”
“They finished the frame and beams just like that? Simply incredible, absolutely amazing!”
“A day of waiting wasn’t wasted.”
“Impressive! Really impressive!”
“Mind-blowing!”
“He literally didn’t use a single nail or a drop of glue.”
“666!”
“This proves Xu Hao really has something special up his sleeve.”
“Eye-opening!”
“Casual onlookers are turning into fans—he’s now my bro, Xu Hao!”
Although the audience didn’t understand the mechanics behind it, that wasn’t important. As long as they knew the feat was remarkable and almost magical, it was enough.
At that moment, aside from the continuous flood of comments, viewers were sending countless virtual gifts. Some even secretly recorded and shared clips on social media with captions like “Amazing guy—built a cabin without nails or glue.”
Clearly, Xu Hao’s work left them in awe—something they had never dared to imagine before.
And that wasn’t all.
Several viewers began tagging Gongdi Ren and Matt Loyal Fan in the live chat again.
“Guys, did you see that? He can finally honor his bet!”
“Why the rush? He’s not cheating, but isn’t the cabin still unfinished?”
Soon, Matt Loyal Fan replied.
His tone was weak; though he was frustrated inside, he had to admit that Xu Hao truly hadn’t cheated.
“Stop being stubborn. All that’s left is a door, a window, and fitting a few planks onto the roof. With Xu Hao’s ability, do you really think he can’t pull it off?”
A viewer replied.
“The hardest part is building the frame; everything else is much simpler.”
“Alright, I give up! Once he finishes installing everything, I’ll honor my promise.”
After a while, Gongdi Ren responded.
“Heh, it’s not like it’ll be done by tomorrow or the day after. We’ll see what you all say then.”
A netizen by the name of Lady Niu immediately chimed in.
“Lady Niu, why do you always have to stir up trouble? If we lose, we’ll admit it. But you—you’ve been hassling us all along. What, do you have a connection with Xu Hao?”
Perhaps due to the audience’s urgency and the pressure from over 100,000 live viewers, Gongdi Ren and Matt Loyal Fan found themselves cornered and quickly retorted.
“I have nothing to do with him. I just love that rustic desert farmhouse style. What’s wrong if you support Bell, or Matt, or whoever? Please, just stop demeaning others.”
“You…”
“Don’t say Lady Niu’s the only one—I’m a fan too!”
“Lady Niu said it best.”
“Don’t praise him too much. Without those few jumping rabbits, Xu Hao would’ve been out of the contest ages ago!”
“What? Not satisfied already?”
“.”
Before Xu Hao could step in front of the camera to chat with his viewers, the live chat erupted into another frenzy.
Unbeknownst to him, while standing by the frame, Xu Hao himself was a little surprised.
He hadn’t expected that after a full day’s work he wouldn’t feel terribly exhausted—in fact, his pace kept quickening. On Earth, building such a frame would take at least a couple of days.
“What’s going on? Could this be some perk for time travelers?”
He’d only taken a half-hour break at noon and had been working nonstop ever since.
“Forget it—even if it’s a time traveler’s perk, it doesn’t matter. The frame’s up, so the rest will be a breeze!”
He muttered to himself.
Xu Hao turned to head back in front of the camera.
Not chatting with the audience all day just wouldn’t do. Since the live stream was on, he needed to show some proper streaming attitude.
Ding, ding, ding. But just a few steps later, his private phone rang out suddenly.