Chapter 15

“Think again carefully. Besides today’s date and the apartment building, what other key information is there?” Colleagues patrolled back and forth but found nothing amiss. The Bodyguard brother was deeply concerned, only able to catch Wu Peng and ask incessantly.

Wu Peng was almost going crazy.

Originally, the sixth sense was like a mischievous child, suddenly throwing small paper balls at him, with fragments of phrases that didn’t make sense.

He also wanted to know what was going on!

But no matter how hard he tried to think, the sixth sense ignored him. What could he do?

Wu Peng wished he could knock himself out so he wouldn’t have to face Big Brother Bodyguard’s questioning.

After a while,

Wu Peng had been questioned too many times and finally couldn’t bear it anymore, “Shut up! Ask again and I’ll kill myself!”

Big Brother Bodyguard, “…”

“Room 406, 9 o’clock tonight, send someone to check,” Yun Xin said.

Big Brother Bodyguard was momentarily stunned, then immediately arranged for someone to inspect the room.

After dinner, Lao Liu, as usual, boiled a small pot of water and then went to bed early.

His plan was well thought out—he intended to read for a while before sleep to help him relax, and before sleeping, he would boil water and keep it warm in the thermos so he could drink it when he got up at night.

Little did he know, as he continued reading, his eyelids grew heavier. Accompanied by the sound of the water boiling, he gradually fell asleep.

If it had been a modern electric kettle, there wouldn’t have been much of a problem. Modern electric kettles have safety features that automatically shut off once the water boils.

However, Lao Liu was traditional and used to using an old-fashioned

The kettle. These old models require someone to turn off the power before they stop working.

To make matters worse, some electric kettles whistle when boiling, but Lao Liu’s model was mute—it didn’t make a sound.

As the water evaporated into steam, it boiled dry, and the kettle burned through. Soon, a fire started and began spreading to nearby furniture. Luckily, two night patrol officers rushed in, swiftly removed their coats, and extinguished the flames.

After putting out the fire, one of them sighed with relief, “My goodness, that was close to becoming a fire.”

The other officer sniffed hard, uncertain, “Did I smell something wrong? Why is there a hint of alcohol in the room?”

“Really? I didn’t smell anything,” the colleague sniffed hard but couldn’t detect anything.

“It’s there, very faint. Let me look around,” relying on his keen sense of smell, the patrol officer managed to unearth two bottles of liquor from the deepest corner of the wardrobe.

The night patrol officer shuddered at the thought, “First, the electric kettle boils dry and catches fire. Then, it sets the wooden table and cabinet on fire, and the liquor adds fuel to the flames. If we hadn’t arrived early in the evening, who knows how bad the fire could have become?”

His colleague was speechless, “The medical records indicate this elderly person’s liver isn’t functioning well… Why would he still sneak drinks? Is he trying to end it all?”

“Could it be that because he can’t quit drinking, his liver has become so bad?” the patrol officer mused quietly.

They glanced at each other, then back at the elderly person who slept deeply despite all the commotion, known for having exceptionally good sleep quality, and remained unable to speak for a while.

**Congratulations to the player for surviving the “Fire Incident” in instance number 113892.**

Upon receiving the notification, Yun Xin knew the crisis was temporarily averted.

Shortly after, Big Brother Bodyguard received a report from colleagues confirming the fire had been promptly stopped.

Big Brother Bodyguard looked at Yun Xin in surprise, his expression asking how she knew about it.

However, considering their respective abilities, it wasn’t unusual for them to have premonitions, so he didn’t press for details.

Yun Xin thought to herself, after inspecting all the elderly residents and identifying the first one to pass away, sending someone to check earlier had indeed nipped the accident in the bud.

Over the next two days, the elderly continued to experience accidents at an alarming rate, with incidents so bizarre they constantly challenged everyone’s imagination.

Despite repeated warnings from Yun Xin and Wu Peng, undercover police officers did their best to cooperate, yet there were inevitably times they couldn’t be everywhere at once. Often, a single oversight meant losing a few elderly residents.

To make matters worse, after three consecutive days of high tension and inadequate rest, everyone’s energy was far from the vigorous state of the first day.

It was during this time that Yun Xin realized the nursing home was indeed understaffed. Despite every position being supposedly filled, when considering the need for round-the-clock care split into day and night shifts, manpower suddenly became scarce.

Moreover, the director’s initial email had been a mere ploy to deceive Yun Xin and Wu Peng into joining. The contents were hardly credible. For instance, stating that caregiving hours were from 8 AM to 5 PM—when so many had to work overtime just to ensure the elderly’s safety—how could they possibly leave on time?

Wu Peng felt embarrassed.

So for three consecutive days, apart from 7 hours of sleep, the remaining 17 hours were spent trying to activate their sixth sense and gather more clues.

“Will this lead to sudden death?” Wu Peng could manage 7 hours of sleep, but the other undercover police officers could only get three to four hours a day. After seeing this happening for a while, he couldn’t help but worry about their physical condition.

Meanwhile, Yun Xin was considering another matter. “With a third of the elderly gone, even the most obtuse person should start to notice that something’s not right. Even if they don’t realize the accidents are happening frequently and think these people are dying peacefully in their sleep, losing so many people around them in such a short time might create an illusion—people of similar age are passing away, am I next?”

Wu Peng sat up straight with a start. “Surely not?”

As soon as the words were spoken, someone reported, “Just received word, the resident in Room 303 took a large amount of sleeping pills and has passed away.”

Wu Peng felt extremely frustrated, “We’re not eating well, not sleeping well, and we’re risking our lives trying to save them. How could they be so desperate to resort to suicide?”

No one responded.

A suppressed emotion spread among them.

Many began to doubt deep down—am I just wasting my efforts? Can we really save them?

After persevering for three days without improvement, the frequency of accidents only increased. Would there really be a turning point in this situation?

“Think about it carefully, ‘predict danger, avoid danger, and everyone will be saved’—that’s just the director’s unilateral statement. What if her approach was wrong from the start?” Yun Xin suddenly remarked.

Wu Peng was speechless.

Previously, Wu Peng had only been concerned about whether everyone could continue. Yun Xin’s remark directly crushed their morale—suggesting that if they had been on the wrong path from the start, their persistence would be futile.

For a moment, the room fell into profound silence, the atmosphere heavy with gloom.

The fourth day arrived.

Yun Xin was in the monitoring room, watching the surveillance footage, when suddenly, a commotion could be heard outside.

“What’s happening now?” From his initial shock at the accidents to now gradually becoming numb, Wu Peng had indeed experienced too much during this period.

“The lawn is on fire! There’s an elderly person trapped inside, unable to get out.” Upon learning the situation, the security personnel immediately sprang into action, rushing outside.

In the monitoring room, only Yun Xin and Wu Peng remained.

Wu Peng leaned in and quietly asked, “Aren’t you going?”

Yun Xin glanced at him but remained silent.

“You’ve predicted many accidents recently, but not this one?” Wu Peng asked again.

Still, Yun Xin said nothing, eventually shifting her gaze back to the screen after a moment.

At this moment, a security guard returned to the monitoring room, seemingly intending to guide his colleagues through the radio to fight the fire and rescue the trapped individual.

Wu Peng instinctively shrunk back into a corner, too afraid to utter a word.

Outside, the lawn and its surroundings were ablaze. Due to the dry conditions, the fire spread rapidly.

The elderly residents were frightened and started running to open areas. However, due to their advanced age, they couldn’t run fast at all. Some needed canes to walk, while others had to be pushed in wheelchairs.

Now, as they watched the flames approaching, about to surround them, they could only cry out helplessly, “Help! Save me, save me!!”

But there were only a limited number of experienced caregivers available. Those who were pushing wheelchairs or assisting elderly individuals couldn’t spare a moment.

At a critical moment, a thin, elderly man stepped forward. “Who can’t walk well? Come here, I’ll push you out.”

The wheelchair was his own, but under these circumstances, he relinquished it and intended to push someone to safety.

“Thank you, thank you.” An elderly woman with white hair was assisted into the wheelchair by others and was the first to sit down.

Without wasting any words, the old man pushed the wheelchair swiftly to an open area and helped the person out. Then, he returned running with the wheelchair. “Who’s next?”

Several times back and forth he went. By the time the security arrived to extinguish the fire, he was already gasping for breath from exhaustion. Yet, even so, he persisted in going back to bring over the elderly who couldn’t move.

Little by little, like ants carrying sugar, the elderly were gradually moved to safety.

When everyone was finally out of danger, the old man collapsed on the ground, his calves trembling from fatigue.

At that moment, the fire was extinguished, and a transparent panel appeared in front of him.

“Welcome to the Evolution Game.”

“Congratulations to the player for surviving in instance number 114032—’Cigarette Butt Fire Incident.'”

“Because you saved ten humans, your evaluation is ‘A,’ and you are rewarded with attribute points: Strength +0.2, Agility +0.2, Stamina +0.2, Spirit +0.2.”

“Note 1: Players can only discover the existence of the Evolution Game by achieving ‘A’ or higher evaluations one or more times.”

“You discovered it prematurely through unconventional means, gaining the ‘Misfortune Bound’ debuff. Achieving ‘A’ or higher evaluations automatically removes the ‘Misfortune Bound’ debuff.”

“You have achieved an ‘A’ level evaluation, and the ‘Misfortune Bound’ debuff has been removed.”

“Note 2: Standard attributes for an adult male are Strength 0.6, Agility 0.6, Stamina 0.6, Spirit 0.5. Single attribute values exceeding 3, 6, or 9 grant special abilities.”

The lengthy text left the old man stunned.

After the security investigation into the cause of the incident, it was determined that the fire started due to an unextinguished cigarett.

Some elderly residents were heavy smokers who couldn’t quit. Unfortunately, after smoking, they casually tossed the cigarette  without extinguishing it. This time, the happened to land in the lawn.

With recent dry weather conditions, a small spark was enough to ignite the entire lawn.

Once the investigation concluded, the security team criticized and educated the elderly residents about the dangers of littering cigarette butts. The matter was considered resolved.

Meanwhile, in the director’s office,

Bai Wei looked serious as she turned to Yun Xin, “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Based on the experiences of the past few days, while minor incidents occasionally occurred due to oversights, major accidents could typically be anticipated. The lack of prior warning this time indicated that someone had withheld information.

“I do,” Yun Xin nodded, speaking earnestly, “Director, I would like to resign.”

Bai Wei paused, “Are you afraid after seeing continuous incidents involving the elderly?”

“I’m not afraid,” Yun Xin replied calmly, “It’s not like I’m being chased by the Grim Reaper. It’s just like getting on a bus without a ticket—when the Grim Reaper chases after you to pay the fare, there’s nothing to fear.”