Chapter 14 

Outside the door, the bodyguards had already filled Wu Peng in on everything in a way he could grasp.

As soon as Yun Xin stepped out, Wu Peng rushed over and whispered urgently, “I’ve checked their police badges—they’re real. Turns out, the elderly are cursed and facing all sorts of accidents! The police brought us here to help. That explains how they seem to know everything about my past actions.”

Since they were already deep in conversation, there was no need to keep secrets. Yun Xin chose to inquire directly, “How does your ability work?”

Wu Peng grinned sheepishly, “My ability, well, it’s pretty unpredictable.”

“For instance, on a specific year, month, day, and time, at a particular location, for some reason, something occurred.”

If it were the full version, it would include all the details, but my ability is more like a condensed version. It always gives me only part of the information. Sometimes it provides the date and place of an event, but never the exact time, reason, or what actually happened.

“So when you ask me, I’m also quite puzzled…”

“Moreover, this ability doesn’t react to every accident. Previously, it didn’t warn me when someone jumped off a building, or when a snake entered the house.”

Yun Xin comforted him, “Maybe your ability will improve over time.”

Wu Peng sighed, “This ability just suddenly appeared not long ago. I haven’t figured out how it appeared, so how can it improve?”

Yun Xin couldn’t just say—You need to experience a couple of near-death crises to improve it.

His ability was unreliable. What if it really ended up endangering himself?

“Then let’s take it as it comes,” Yun Xin said. “Having it is better than not having it at all.”

Wu Peng thought about it and agreed.

“Oh, by the way, how are the elderly people?” Yun Xin asked.

“Don’t mention it,” Wu Peng sighed, “One passed away from mixing medications, and another had a sudden illness because  couldn’t take medicine in time, that’s why the patient passed away.”

The mortality rate described made Yun Xin secretly alarmed.

“Is there a monitoring room?” Yun Xin asked the bodyguards.

“Yes, follow me,” volunteered one of the bodyguards.

Yun Xin gestured for Wu Peng to come along.

“You mentioned you also have precognitive abilities. What’s yours like?” Wu Peng asked curiously.

“You’ll find out soon,” Yun Xin replied.

As they spoke, they arrived at the monitoring room.

Inside, they saw hundreds of screens arranged together, each displaying different content in real-time, which was quite incredible.

Wu Peng remarked, “They’re all supposed to be police, but the more I look, the more they seem like bad guys… not only illegal confinement but also monitoring every corner.”

Yun Xin looked at one of the screens,  analyzing its contents, and then said to Wu Peng, “Initially, I could see the aura of death on people, knowing those affected would pass away within one to three days.”

“Later on, my perception abilities grew stronger, allowing me to gradually judge if I was in danger. If I’m at risk, my eyelids twitch intensely. If an accident is about to happen within the next fifteen minutes to half an hour, I also feel palpitations. The more severe the accident, the stronger the palpitations,” Yun Xin explained.

“I don’t know if it’s because my sixth sense has strengthened again, but there seems to have been some new changes lately…”

Wu Peng beside him listened with wide eyes. Compared to his own ignorance about his abilities, Yun Xin’s powers were incredibly strong!

“And what about you…” Wu Peng began to ask, wondering how Yun Xin managed all this. Could abilities really improve? And if so, how? If he followed suit, could his own superpowers become a bit more reliable?

Unexpectedly, Yun Xin’s expression suddenly changed as he stared at the screen, “There’s an incident in the cafeteria!”

With that, they swiftly run towards the cafeteria

The security guards, upon hearing about the incident, turned serious and followed suit, running out as well.

Wu Peng stared blankly at the screen. It was nearing dusk, around the time when the elderly usually had dinner. On the screen, the elderly were peacefully enjoying their meal in the cafeteria, with no signs of disturbance whatsoever.

He couldn’t help but marvel. Was this the power of a strong predictor? Being able to sense potential danger when no one else noticed anything wrong?

**Cafeteria**

In the cafeteria, as the auntie served soup, she told the elderly man, “This mushroom soup is really something. Not only does it taste good, but it also prevents cardiovascular diseases, has anti-aging effects, lowers blood lipids, and reduces blood sugar.”

The elderly man laughed heartily, “Great! Then I’ll give it a try.”

As soon as Yun Xin entered the cafeteria, she noticed that the aura of death around several elderly people had become denser, even more disturbing than what she had seen on the monitors.

Her gaze darted around. She observed that all the other windows with elderly people were normal, except for the one serving mushroom soup. When the elderly man took the bowl of soup, the gray-black aura of death around him suddenly turned pitch-black like ink, increasing dramatically and almost enveloping him entirely.

Yun Xin quickly intervened, “Don’t eat that.”

“What’s wrong?” The elderly man froze, holding the bowl of soup.

“I work in the kitchen, maybe I added the wrong seasoning when making the soup today. If the taste isn’t right, we shouldn’t serve it to everyone.” The auntie covered the pot with its lid and swiftly removed the entire batch of soup, pretending there was none left for the day.

The security guards who arrived helped defuse the situation, “If the soup isn’t drinkable, how about I accompany you to get something else to eat?”

After saying that, they assisted the elderly man to another window.

“But I want to drink the soup…” The elderly man hesitated to leave.

“Tomorrow! Tomorrow we’ll have an even better batch of soup!” The security guard persuaded while gently guiding him away.

Yun Xin felt relieved as she saw the intense ink-black aura of death around the elderly man revert back to a less severe gray-black hue.

At that moment, a group of medical personnel arrived upon hearing the news. Yun Xin pointed out two elderly individuals and signaled for the medical staff to take them for induced vomiting and a thorough medical examination.

The medical team understood her instructions and dispersed to attend to the elderly.

“Oh my, how could you have mushroom soup and chicken? Didn’t I tell you that your condition doesn’t allow for oily foods?” the doctor pretended to scold.

“Huh?” The elderly lady was confused.

“Didn’t you tell me that in your daily diet, you should have some mushrooms and a bit of meat in moderation? Did I misunderstand?” The elderly lady started doubting herself.

“You’re getting mixed up, dear. Come on, let’s go for a check-up to make sure everything’s alright,” the doctor urged.

With the doctor’s insistence, the elderly lady had no more objections. She left her meal half-eaten and followed along in a daze for her check-up.

Next to them, a nurse exclaimed, “Oh dear, we’ve been telling you all afternoon that you needed to fast for your check-up. Why did you come here and eat?”

The elderly person froze. When did you tell me this afternoon that I needed to fast for a check-up? And when did you specifically remind me to fast? That never happened.

Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly felt dizzy, feeling like he needed to sleep.

“Oh no! The patient’s condition is deteriorating! Quickly take him to the operating room!” the nurse shouted urgently.

Others rushed over to assist immediately.

Moments later, the elderly person, now unconscious, was lifted onto a wheelchair and swiftly wheeled out of the cafeteria.

Witnessing this, others couldn’t help but sigh, “When people get old, their memory fails. They become so absent-minded that they even forget what the doctors say.”

“Medical advice must be remembered and followed meticulously. You can’t forget or mix things up. I’m afraid of forgetting myself, so I write it down and carry it with me.”

“That’s a good method. I’ll do the same in the future. We shouldn’t be like them, always causing trouble for others.”

The elderly continued to enjoy their meals peacefully, creating a serene and harmonious scene.

Half an hour later, the investigation results were in.

The bodyguard reported solemnly, “We took samples for testing, and indeed, the mushroom soup was poisonous. Consuming it would cause severe vomiting and diarrhea. While younger individuals might only feel discomfort, for the elderly, ingesting a larger amount could be fatal.”

“Fortunately, we caught it early. Only four elderly individuals had the mushroom soup, and two others didn’t drink it in time.”

“The two who drank the soup suffered a lot during the induced vomiting.”

“How could they have thought to make mushroom soup?” Bai Wei frowned. “What’s the situation now? Doesn’t the kitchen know about this? Shouldn’t mushrooms, given their nature, have been avoided initially?”

“The chef mentioned that mushrooms can be beneficial for the elderly. He was quite sure that these mushrooms were not poisonous, so he used them for the soup.” The bodyguard sounded increasingly frustrated. “Later, upon checking the ingredients, we found that non-toxic mushrooms had been mixed with toxic ones, leading to food poisoning.”

“The non-toxic mushrooms have larger, sparsely spaced circles, while the toxic ones have smaller, more densely packed circles. It’s difficult to distinguish between the two types when they’re mixed together.”

“Even more absurdly, these toxic mushrooms were never seen before, possibly a new species,” the bodyguard added.

Hearing this, Bai Wei felt a sense of powerlessness deep inside. It had been the same before. Whenever they informed about the existence of Evolution Game, there were always such mistakes and flaws. It seemed impossible to prevent them all.

“The poison mushroom incident is considered resolved,” the bodyguard continued, “but Wu Peng also mentioned that something will happen at the apartment building tonight. However, he doesn’t know the exact time or what exactly will happen.”

“Assign people to check for hazardous items and increase patrols tonight to ensure the safety of the elderly,” Bai Wei instructed firmly.

As a large bucket of mushroom soup was disposed of, Yun Xin received a message.

[Congratulations, player, for successfully surviving the “Poison Mushroom Soup Food Poisoning Incident” in instance number 113888.]

[Because you identified the source of the disaster, promptly destroyed it, prevented further danger, and avoided more human injuries, your performance rating is “A.” Attribute point rewards: Strength +0.2, Agility +0.2, Stamina +0.2, Spirit +0.2.]

In that moment, she felt like the world had changed.

Looking around again, Yun Xin noticed something new besides the aura of death on some elderly people. There was a line of text added:

“Estimated time until death: 4 hours, 17 minutes, 23 seconds.”

“Estimated time until death: 4 hours, 12 minutes, 49 seconds.”

“Estimated time until death: 4 hours, 26 minutes, 11 seconds.”

The numbers were counting down, resembling a countdown timer for their lives.