Volume 1: Days Moving Bricks at the Construction Site
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Request for 140 jin of meat
Due to last night’s rain, the air this morning is exceptionally fresh and cool. The dark clouds in the sky have not yet dispersed, and they seem to be brewing, ready to bring another heavy downpour at any moment. Everywhere the eye can see is gloomy.
This is Shen Maomao’s first time cooking by herself, and the thought of it makes her a bit excited.
She first opens the electric rice cooker, fills it with water, and then rinses three scoops of rice before pouring them into the pot.
The rice is settled, but what about the vegetables? Cooking porridge doesn’t require much skill, but stir-frying vegetables is beyond her capability…
Just as Shen Maomao was furrowing her brow in worry, the cafeteria door was suddenly pulled open from outside, followed by the sound of a stool being dragged.
一
After all, it is broad daylight now, so she isn’t really afraid, and she conveniently lifts her head to look outside.
It turns out to be Wei Gu.
While others were searching for Yun Shengjin in the small building, he instead came to the cafeteria to wait for a meal.
Shen Maomao almost rolled her eyes to the sky.
Yun Shengjin isn’t exactly a good person, but apart from misleading Ding Hou, he hasn’t done anything to wrong others. In terms of treating newcomers, he has also put in his utmost effort…
How can Wei Gu’s actions not chill people’s hearts?
However, it’s not Shen Maomao’s place to feel disheartened; she acts as if she didn’t see it and takes the last four potatoes from the vegetable basket, placing them on the cutting board to cut into strips.
Since yesterday, the food has been insufficient, and after finishing this morning’s meal, only some rice and eggs are left.
She doesn’t know if the foreman will restock… Surely, the game won’t let them starve to death here, right?
She recalls Yan Nan’s stir-frying steps, turns on the gas stove, and sets the iron wok on top to dry out the water. Then she pours hot oil into the wok and adds the flattened garlic and chopped green onions.
The crackling sound resounded, and oil droplets splattered everywhere. Shen Maomao leaped out, and a burnt smell quickly emanated from the wok.
Shen Maomao: “…” Indeed, cooking is not something you can master just by watching.
She moved over and used a spatula to scoop out the already blackened chunks of green onions and garlic, then threw the potato strips in without further thought.
The starch stuck to the bottom of the wok, and even with a spatula, it wouldn’t scrape off.
The burnt smell and black smoke spread into the cafeteria, and Brother Long, who had arrived at some unknown time, rushed in and angrily shouted, “Are you f*cking trying to blow up the kitchen?”
Shen Maomao yelled back, “Motherf*cker, if you can do it, then you do it!”
“Get lost!” Brother Long pushed her aside with a shove, lifted the wok with one hand, and dumped the blackened mess into the trash can. He then swiftly and cleanly rinsed it under the faucet. After that, he beat the remaining eggs in a bowl, reheated oil in the wok, tossed in the green onions, and poured in the beaten eggs, letting the fragrance of the eggs spread out.
Shen Maomao stared open-mouthed, feeling like she was a little brother.
She didn’t expect that someone like Brother Long could actually cook! Truly, you can’t judge a person by their appearance.
She watched as Brother Long fried up a whole plate of yellow and green intermingled eggs and then skillfully reheated last night’s leftover dishes in the wok. She really wanted to loudly say, “Brother Long, your character setting has collapsed!”
Finally, she and Brother Long together brought the cooked porridge to the dining table, feeling as if she were living in a dream.
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The people with Xiaolou who were searching for Yun Shengjin, his wife, and Xuehua’s whereabouts also returned one after another. Everyone had found nothing, and they sat together sullenly eating their meal.
With three people suddenly missing, nine people sitting at two round tables still felt a bit empty.
After the meal, Shen Maomao stayed behind to wash the dishes, while the others continued to work.
With Yan Nan not present, she needed to do twice the usual amount of work. No one knew if the foreman would understand that her workload was more than before and not mark her late for moving bricks, so once the meal was finished, she quickly went to work.
Once she had almost finished washing the dishes, she prepared to tidy up and head out to move bricks. Who would have thought that as soon as she stepped out of the cafeteria’s main door, she would see Yan Nan, completely unharmed, approaching from not far away.
“Woc!” Shen Maomao was almost scared to death, and she immediately turned her head to detour around the back of the cafeteria.
Yan Nan shouted at her, “Why are you running?! Come back!”
Shen Maomao thought she would have to be foolish to turn back and face danger. She ran around the cafeteria towards the center, her feet splashing through puddles, with Yan Nan closely chasing her from behind.
“Big sister! Every wrong has its source and every debt its owner! I’m just a newcomer; I know nothing! Why are you chasing me?!” she cried out.
Yan Nan, exasperated and out of breath, responded, “Are you crazy or what??!”
In response to her, Shen Maomao’s figure, accompanied by splashes of mud, disappeared from Yan Nan’s sight.
“Sister Lou! Save me!” Shen Maomao rushed to Xiaolou’s side in one breath, looked up at the woman on the scaffolding, and her sense of security instantly overflowed. “Yan Nan came back to take our lives!!”
Xiaolou looked at her with an expression as if looking at a fool: “Yan Nan and Yun Shengjin are back, look up.”
Shen Maomao followed the direction Xiaolou pointed and glanced up, seeing the figure diligently working on the building. Who else could it be but Yun Shengjin?
“What happened? How did they come back?” she asked, puzzled.
Xiaolou said, “Yun Shengjin has passed through three worlds; he surely has life-saving means. But as for that little girl, there’s a ninety percent chance she has already met with harm.”
The two had just exchanged a couple of whispers when Yan Nan walked over.
She approached Shen Maomao and said in a cold voice, “I am human, see clearly!”
Shen Maomao awkwardly smiled, “I see clearly, I see clearly, it’s really great that you’re all fine hahaha.”
“Thanks for handling things this morning, I’ll wash the dishes at noon.” With this assured statement, she turned and walked to her work area.
Shen Maomao stuck out her tongue at her back.
As if by unspoken agreement, no one mentioned Xuehua’s matter again.
The teenage girl disappeared in this game, and Shen Maomao’s only impression of her was that lifeless face.
Xiaolou, looking at the sky where dark clouds continuously gathered, softly said, “Death for her was a kind of relief.”
Xuehua looked like a high school student, but her face never showed the liveliness and innocence one would expect from someone her age. In the game world, there was only endless fear; players became numb, indifferent, and defensive. Human nature’s selfishness was infinitely magnified here, making living a kind of pain…
She patted Shen Maomao’s head with her hands covered in dust: “But it has nothing to do with you. Working hard at moving bricks is the real deal.”
Shen Maomao: “F*ck, your hands aren’t clean! Don’t touch my hair! I don’t dare wash my hair myself!!”
Having been at the construction site for three days and worked for two, the bricks around the pool are now half a person’s height, requiring them to climb onto the scaffolding to continue stacking.
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Fortunately, today is cloudy; otherwise, working at such a height all morning could be deadly.
When tired from the work, Shen Maomao lay on the top layer, looking towards the pond.
The pond’s area is not large, and due to yesterday’s rain, there is some standing water and mud. She thought of the community’s name—Shui Tian Yise (water and sky are one color). With no rivers or lakes nearby, the developer chose to dig a stagnant pond in the center of the community, maintaining a pool of dead water.
And their current task seems to be aimed at completely sealing off this pool of dead water…
Moreover, when they asked the foreman yesterday where Ding Hou should be buried, the foreman blurted out, “Just in the middle, in that pool where we build the wall, it’s definitely a good place,” giving her reason to suspect that the foreman had done the same thing at the same location before!
Thinking of this, she couldn’t sit still and immediately went to find Xiaolou to explain the situation.
After hearing her reasoning, Xiaolou glanced at the mud-filled pool and refused, “Unless the water dries up, there’s no way I’m going down there.”
The pond’s condition indeed isn’t suitable for stepping in… but is this really the time for being concerned about cleanliness?!
Shen Maomao puffed up her chest and righteously declared, “Let Golden Retriever go!”
Xiaolou and she reached a consensus: “I think it could work.”
The two exchanged a smile, understanding everything without words. Golden Retriever on the scaffolding sneezed loudly, warily sizing up the surrounding environment.
—He felt like being schemed against.
Fortunately, the game did not intend to starve them.
At noon, when Shen Maomao and Yan Nan went back to prepare the meal, the foreman brought a small amount of fresh vegetables.
In any case, lunch was certainly enough.
As usual, Yan Nan cooked while Shen Maomao assisted. However, this time the foreman stood in the cafeteria watching them, making the two of them feel somewhat restrained.
After the meal was ready, the foreman said to the two of them, “This afternoon, you two don’t need to stack bricks. The kitchen still lacks some ingredients. I can handle the vegetables, but the workers can’t work without meat. Go out and purchase 140 jin (70 kg or 154 pounds), remember to take the receipt, and come back to find me for reimbursement.”
Yan Nan’s face instantly turned very grim, and Shen Maomao was also somewhat at a loss.
To begin with, not mentioning the strange things outside that are unknown whether they’re human or ghost, just the fact that they have no money can directly declare the mission a failure.
Yan Nan said, “Foreman, we don’t have that much money on us…”
The foreman furrowed his brows, somewhat dissatisfied: “I am going to reimburse you, just act quickly and remember to return before dinner is finished.” After speaking, he patted his backside and left.
It seems this problem has no solution.
The two people in the kitchen each had their own thoughts. Yan Nan, with a serious expression, said to Shen Maomao, “I have a way to find meat without going out. Whether you want to do it with me is up to you. But if you choose to join me, you must listen to everything I say.”
“Ah?” Shen Maomao said with a confused look, “Where to find it?”
Yan Nan glanced towards the nearby pond: “There’s ready-made meat there…”
Shen Maomao’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t help but take two steps back.
Yan Nan was actually planning to use the corpses!
When they were alive, they suffered greatly; must they still be “used to the fullest” after death?
Shen Maomao couldn’t accept it.
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Yan Nan saw her reluctance and mocked, “They’re all dead, and I don’t know what you’re pretending for. Since you’ve made your choice, go buy the meat yourself. I won’t give you any of the meat I get!”
The prepared meal was placed on the table, and the players working at the construction site returned to the cafeteria. Yan Nan took Yun Shengjin outside to speak privately. Shen Maomao couldn’t accept Yan Nan’s method and had no solution of her own, so she just looked at Xiaolou with a burning gaze.
Xiaolou couldn’t swallow her food: “What are you doing?”
Shen Maomao: “Sister Lou, save me!”
Xiaolou: “What happened?”
Shen Maomao briefly explained what happened: “The foreman, that idiot, made Yan Nan and me go out to buy meat without giving us money. Yan Nan and I didn’t agree on what to do, so we acted separately.”
“Oh, I see——” Xiaolou said, very troubled, “I’ll find someone else to be with in the next world.”
The eavesdropping crowd around them showed surprised expressions of “what, you two were already together?”
Shen Maomao: “…Could you please not say things that lead to misunderstandings? I still want to find a handsome young guy to fall in love with in the future…”
Xiaolou: “There aren’t any handsome young guys, but there are quite a few ghostly guys.”
Shen Maomao: “…” That makes a lot of sense.
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