The moment Leo spoke his acceptance, new text bled onto the blank lower half of the paper, as if being written by an invisible hand.
Since you've accepted, there's no going back now. Let me tell you the truth.
The bus you were on had an accident on your way home. Everyone on board survived—except you. You were supposed to die normally and enter the cycle of reincarnation, but I'm short on staff right now, so I pulled you here.
If you had chosen to sleep in the bed, you would have passed on to a new life without knowing anything. But since you know the truth, I can't let you leave.
This small world is constructed based on the Stardew Valley you are familiar with. Your mission is to develop this pocket dimension. The crops you grow will be purchased by a client who will contact you through the customer service backend on your phone.
As for the reward... how about a new life, and ownership of this world?
For specific information, please scan the QR code below to download the Stardew Valley App.
The letter ended there.
So, as predicted, he still had to work like an ox for a while—growing crops and acting as a supplier for whoever was on the other end of that app.
Although it was technically still a job, Leo was surprisingly satisfied. This was the rural life of his dreams—an idyllic, pastoral escape. Sure, farming in Stardew Valley could be grueling in the early game, but once things were automated, life became a breeze. He could do whatever he wanted. It was infinitely better than dragging his corpse to that soul-sucking office every day.
He took out his phone and scanned the QR code on the letter.
A new app simply titled "Stardew Valley" installed itself on his screen. The icon was a charming, pixelated farmhouse. When he tapped it open, it displayed a character panel identical to the game interface.
Seeing the Health Bar and Stamina Bar filled him with a profound sense of security. As any veteran knew, no matter what damage a Stardew Valley farmer took—be it from monsters or exhaustion—they never died. They just passed out and woke up in a clinic or bed the next day, wallet slightly lighter but alive.
He swiped to the second page: Skills. Farming, Foraging, Fishing, Mining, Combat.
All five were currently at zero. The maximum level was 10, with mastery experience bars sitting empty beneath them. Once a skill was maxed, he could unlock special Masteries—powerful perks that broke the game's limits.
The third page, Social, was a wall of gray question marks.
Each question mark had unlock conditions listed next to it. Some required planting specific crops, others required cooking certain dishes, and some demanded reaching specific depths in the mines.
Leo scanned the list, his gamer brain kicking into high gear.
The implication was clear: Once his farm reached a certain level of development, he would have the chance to summon these people to Stardew Valley. Until then, the town was empty. That meant no General Store, no Carpenter's Shop, no Blacksmith. If he didn't unlock them, he was stuck in a single-player world with no vendors. He literally couldn't play the game without them.
Ten minutes later.
"Mmhmm. I completely understand the meta now."
Leo let out a satisfied hum of comprehension—the sound of a gamer who has just figured out the exploit. He closed his phone and turned his attention to the backpack he had looted from the chest.
Inside the bag sat the holy quintet of farming: a Watering Can, Pickaxe, Hoe, Scythe, and Axe.
They were the basic, rusty starter tools, barely held together, but they would get the job done. The backpack itself was clearly a "Spatial Backpack"—items placed inside shrank down, only returning to their original size when pulled out.
As for the seeds, it was exactly as he expected: 15 packets of Parsnip Seeds.
In the real world, these were European radishes, but here, they were the sacred first crop of any new save file. However, there was a key difference from the game. In the game, one packet equaled one tile. Here, the description suggested one packet was enough to seed an entire patch of land.
Leo turned to the TV in the corner.
In the game, the TV was essential. It broadcasted the daily weather report, the daily fortune (Luck), and every Sunday, the Queen of Sauce cooking show to learn new recipes.
Leo had noticed earlier that the moment he installed the App, the date on his phone had synced to Spring 1st. The calendar had also shifted to a standardized 30 days per month, with three months per season. It was a slight deviation from the game's 28-day cycle, but easier for a human brain to track.
Bzzzt—
The TV screen filled with static, snow dancing across the glass. Then, the image stabilized.
A girl with vibrant green hair appeared on screen. The background looked like the interior of a Shinto shrine, the architecture familiar yet distinctly not from Stardew Valley.
"Has it started? Oh, okay!"
The girl seemed to be speaking to someone off-camera. Upon receiving a cue, she quickly straightened her priestess robes, cleared her throat, and flashed a professionally sweet smile at the lens.
"Welcome to the Gensokyo Weather Channel, your number one choice for weather, news, and entertainment! I am your host. Now, broadcasting tomorrow's forecast."
"Tomorrow will be clear and beautiful! Expect sunny skies and pleasant breezes all day long. The spirits are very happy today!"
Then, the signal cut. The screen reverted to static.
Leo stood in silence, the remote dangling from his hand.
He wasn't concerned about tomorrow's weather. If his eyes and ears weren't deceiving him... the girl on the TV just now was Sanae Kochiya, wasn't she?
"Gensokyo Weather Forecast..."
Leo frantically unlocked his phone and tapped the Social tab. He scrolled through the wall of question marks until he found a new entry. Sure enough, Sanae Kochiya's profile had lit up.
The unlock condition had been: Watch the weather forecast once.
Name: Sanae Kochiya Race: Human (Descendant of a God) Ability: Creating Miracles Residence: Moriya Shrine Occupation: Wind Priestess
"Holy crap..."
It really was her.
Leo tilted his head, processing this crossover. Before he was a corporate drone, he was a hardcore otaku. He knew the Touhou Project lore inside and out. He had even written fanfiction about Gensokyo back in the day—though two out of three were total flops, cementing his status as a failed writer.
"Gensokyo... If that's the case, I probably know who the rest of these locked villagers are."
He began scrolling through the unlock conditions again. Before, they had seemed like random RPG quests. Now, with the context of Gensokyo, they were dead giveaways.
Requirement: Host a Mushroom Feast. "That has to be Marisa Kirisame. The pilfering mushroom witch."
Requirement: Total Assets exceeding 100,000G. "That's definitely Reimu Hakurei. Only the poverty-stricken shrine maiden cares that much about money."
Requirement: 100 cooked dishes in storage. "That's Yuyuko Saigyouji. Feeding the ghost princess is going to be a nightmare."
It all made sense now.
"Whatever. It's almost eight o'clock. Time to get to work."
Leo stretched his arms, cracking his neck. "Since I promised, I have to work hard now to secure my lazy retirement later!"
He shouldered his backpack and stepped out of the farmhouse, bathing in the warm sunlight.
The once eerily quiet Stardew Valley didn't seem so terrifying anymore. When he first stepped off the bus, he was trembling like a leaf. Now, knowing he was in a world populated by Touhou girls? He felt like he was returning home.
He walked with the calm confidence of a veteran villager.
"I won't play so 'hardcore' this time," Leo muttered to himself as he looked at the overgrown field. "I've done enough min-max speedruns in my life. This time... I'm playing a casual save."
If this were the game, his "Day 1 Optimization Strategy" would be brutal: Clear all weeds with the scythe to save energy, plant the 15 Parsnips, plant every Mixed Seed found from the weeds, burn his energy bar down to practically zero, sprint to the mountains in the south to forage for Spring Onions (which only spawn in spring), scour the entire map for foragables, and dig through every trash can in town for free food to recharge his stamina.
But that was when he was pressing buttons on a keyboard.
Now, he had to physically swing these tools. Just walking here had taken half an hour and left him slightly winded.
"Why kill myself over a few extra gold?" Leo shrugged. "Slow life it is."