Chapter 17

“What’s the point of doing this experiment? Can’t we just let the elderly stay ill? Dying naturally would be better than all this trouble!” Wu Peng muttered as he watched from the side, feeling as if he was developing a psychological disorder.

“To figure out the patterns and report to the higher-ups,” Yun Xin replied casually.

Wu Peng was silent for a moment before he spoke again, 

“Just for that?”

“Not entirely. The original plan was to inform the whole society and warn everyone,” Yun Xin explained. 

“But the experiment results showed that casually informing people would bring misfortune to those who found out illegally. Only those with an A-grade or higher could avoid this. So, for now, we can only inform the top leaders.”

“They conducted experiments in prisons, training the senior leaders to induce vomiting. When death row inmates encountered accidents or food poisoning, the leaders helped ten of them vomit, meeting the game’s requirements and naturally gaining the necessary information.”

Wu Peng was on the verge of breaking down. “How can you talk so casually about something so horrifying? These are human lives we’re talking about!”

Yun Xin responded, “Is it horrifying to know the truth but never act on it?”

Wu Peng was speechless.

Yun Xin continued, “What about someone who says, ‘Everything I do is for the good of humanity,’ and dares to do anything, no matter how extreme? Is that person frightening?”

Wu Peng couldn’t answer. After thinking for a long time  , he finally said, “Does that mean the elderly are doomed to suffer and die for the director’s grand goals?”

“There’s no turning back once you’ve started. We agreed in the beginning, and now it’s too late to back out,” Yun Xin sighed. “I’ve thought about doing something to ensure the elderly don’t die in vain. But if the experiment ends and the senior leaders remain uninformed, with the same few people making reckless decisions, wouldn’t that truly mean the elderly died for nothing?”

“I understand. Thank you, I know what I have to do now,” Wu Peng said with newfound determination. He quickly hung up the phone, as if he was in a hurry to attend to something.

Yun Xin was bewildered. She hadn’t even figured things out herself, so what did he understand?

“This summer is really hot,” Zhu Lin remarked as she looked at the blazing sun outside and took a sip of her iced drink.

“What’s there to be afraid of? We have air conditioning inside,” Zhou Rui said as he scooped the core of a watermelon into a juicer.

The machine roared to life, and soon, a pitcher was filled with fresh watermelon juice.

“Are we almost out of watermelons?” Zhu Lin asked, peeking over.

“Yes, the new girl went to get more,” Zhou Rui replied.

“You’re okay with letting her go alone? She’s just a girl,” Zhu Lin said, standing up to head to the storeroom to help.

“I offered to go with her, but she said it was too hot and told me to rest. She insisted she could handle it herself,” Zhou Rui protested.

“She was just being polite. You took her seriously?” Zhu Lin mocked.

“If she says she can handle it, then she can handle it. Why be polite about it? I can’t even understand people anymore,” Zhou Rui muttered.

As they were about to head to the storeroom together, they saw Yun Xin dragging a sack of watermelons towards them.

Zhu Lin realized the new girl wasn’t just being polite. Yun Xin was effortlessly dragging a sack of watermelons as if they were filled with volleyballs. But volleyballs and watermelons aren’t comparable in weight. Zhu Lin was stunned.

“Watermelon juice sells well in the summer. I thought it was inconvenient to keep going back and forth, so I brought more in one trip,” Yun Xin said as she neatly stacked the watermelons in the corner.

“Ah? Oh…” Zhou Rui was a bit dazed.

He was usually the one who handled moving the watermelons. Zhu Lin would help, but only to lend a hand.

They knew it would be more convenient to move more at once, but it was too heavy! They couldn’t manage it.

“Have you specifically trained to increase your arm strength?” Zhou Rui asked curiously.

“I’m just naturally strong,” Yun Xin replied with a smile.

“That’s great!” Zhu Lin suddenly became cheerful. Moving watermelons used to be exhausting for the two of them, but now with the strong new girl, they could take it easier.

“You’ve worked hard. Sit down and have a glass of watermelon juice,” Zhou Rui said enthusiastically, pouring a glass of chilled watermelon juice for the newcomer.

Yun Xin, new and cautious, asked, “Is this okay? Did the boss agree?”

“No worries,” Zhu Lin waved her hand dismissively. “Our boss is really nice. He said employees can drink as much as they want during work hours. As long as you’re not wasting half a cup, he doesn’t mind.”

Only then did Yun Xin accept the chilled watermelon juice and take a sip. “It’s delicious!”

“Good, right? These watermelons are grown by people from the boss’s village. It’s a new variety they developed, large and sweet,” Zhu Lin explained to the new employee. “The boss’s story is also really inspiring. He only has a middle school education. He used to farm in the countryside and then came to the city to work. After saving some money, he started his own business.”

“Because the drinks are tasty and reasonably priced, he’s opened three stores now. I heard he’s bought a house and a car, and he has two kids.”

“Wow,” Yun Xin exclaimed in admiration.

“I came to work here because I heard employees can drink as much as they want and get enough to eat!” Zhu Lin said proudly, then looked at Yun Xin. “What about you?

Yun Xin’s response was refreshingly straightforward, “I’m here because this was the only place willing to hire me.”

Zhou Rui was speechless. It sounded so pitiful and sad.

“No worries,” he reassured her, “Now that you’re here, we’re all one family. If you need anything, just let us know. Everyone will help you out.”

“Okay,” Yun Xin nodded obediently.

“Working here is pretty good. It gets busy sometimes, but when it’s slow, you can relax as much as you want,” Zhu Lin shared her experienced perspective warmly.

Just as she finished speaking, two customers walked in. “One iced watermelon juice and one original milk tea with ice and half sugar.”

“Got it,” Zhou Rui said, automatically starting to prepare the orders.

Before the iced watermelon juice and the milk tea were ready, five more customers entered. “Two chocolate ice blends and three iced milk teas.”

Since Yun Xin was new and hadn’t been taught many tasks yet, she couldn’t help much. Zhu Lin resigned herself to the situation, standing up to help Zhou Rui.

Just as they finished serving one set of customers, more people walked in. For an hour and a half, they were non-stop busy, barely getting a moment to rest.

“I can’t do this anymore, I need to sit down,” Zhu Lin said, feeling like her hands were no longer her own. “What’s going on today? Why are there so many people?”

When in doubt, turn to the internet. Yun Xin took out her phone and searched for answers. “It says that because of the extreme heat, the power grid is overloaded, and there might be power outages in some areas.”

“What?” Zhu Lin was stunned. “In this day and age, how can there still be power outages?”

“It’s true. It’s all over the internet,” Yun Xin confirmed.

“I’ll look it up myself,” Zhu Lin insisted, wanting to see it firsthand. After searching, she found that the situation was even worse than Yun Xin had described.

The power authority was asking people to limit their use of household electricity. Air conditioners should be set to 27 degrees or higher if used at all. High-power appliances like washing machines and ovens should be avoided if possible.

If everyone didn’t start conserving electricity, a city-wide blackout could occur,

“Crazy, just crazy,” Zhu Lin muttered repeatedly.

“Are shops going to lose power too?” Zhou Rui was startled. “The ice machine, the air conditioning—we use a lot of electricity here. If the power goes out, we can’t work.”

Yun Xin replied, “Commercial and industrial electricity won’t be affected for now.”

Zhou Rui was somewhat relieved. “So, work hours won’t be affected.”

But then he thought, “What about after work? Going home to an apartment that’s like an oven and not being able to turn on the air conditioner? Cooking with an electric rice cooker or oven isn’t allowed because they use too much power?”

“That’s about right,” Yun Xin nodded.

“Are they forcing me to work 24/7?” Zhou Rui fell into deep thought.

“Why aren’t you worried at all?” Zhu Lin asked Yun Xin.

Yun Xin explained, “My house has a backup power source, a generator.”

Zhu Lin got an idea. “Right, a household backup power source! I’m buying one too!”

She quickly went online, ordered, and paid in one go.

Zhou Rui also wanted to buy one, but when he saw the price on his phone, he silently put it away. “I’ll just stay at the shop 24/7… Not for the air conditioning, of course. I just love working.”

Around 1 PM, the number of customers in the shop noticeably decreased, and the three of them finally had a chance to catch their breath.

“Come on, I’ll take you to throw out the trash and show you around,” Zhu Lin said, giving Yun Xin a knowing look.

Slacking off again. Zhou Rui sighed but didn’t call her out, simply saying, “Go and come back quickly.”

“Did you hear that? Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Zhu Lin urged.

Yun Xin followed her outside.

“This is where we usually throw out the trash… Who parked their car here? Don’t they know it blocks the way?” Zhu Lin complained.

Yun Xin glanced inside the car.

In the back seat lay a little girl, around three or four years old. Her face was flushed red, her breathing was rapid, and she looked very uncomfortable.

At the same time, Zhu Lin also noticed something and started shouting, “What’s going on? The car windows are closed, it’s summer with direct sunlight, and the temperature inside the car is rising rapidly. In a few hours, the child will suffocate to death! How can a parent be so careless to leave their child in the car without noticing?”

“No, I have to call the police,” she said, taking out her phone and starting to dial.

“It’s too late,” Yun Xin suddenly said.

In her view, a dense black mist was enveloping the baby, almost completely obscuring her. Simultaneously, text appeared: “Expected death in 6 minutes and 48 seconds.”

“Oh?” Zhu Lin was still dialing, momentarily stunned by Yun Xin’s actions.

Yun Xin pulled out a pair of black leather gloves from her pocket and swiftly put them on. Then, with her right hand clenched into a fist, she struck the glass forcefully.

There was a loud “bang,” and the glass shattered. The car’s anti-theft system immediately sounded an alarm, blaring with a piercing siren.

Ignoring the noise, Yun Xin opened the car door and lifted the baby out.

The black mist gradually dispersed, and the countdown disappeared after a few seconds.

As the call connected, Zhu Lin recounted the incident to the police and urged them to come quickly.

After hanging up, she pressed her ice-cold hands against the baby’s face to cool her down, complaining, “Why did you act so quickly? What if there were security cameras nearby? Is it okay to just smash someone’s car window? Could you get in trouble for that?”

She voiced a series of concerns, clearly worried.

“I didn’t think about all that at the time,” Yun Xin glanced around. “There doesn’t seem to be any security cameras nearby. Besides, I saved his daughter, so he shouldn’t give me too much trouble, right?”

Zhu Lin considered it and nodded in agreement.

So the two stood there waiting for the police to arrive, but instead, a couple arrived first.

“I heard the alarm going off from inside the house. Oh no, the car window is smashed. Who did this?” the husband asked.

“I did,” Yun Xin stepped forward, taking initiative. “No need to thank me.”