Before she was stuck on the toilet and couldn’t get up, she finally stopped thinking, and a list of police suspects had already formed in her mind.
Number one on the list was No.1 Zhou Wei, and second was No.10 Liu Qingzhu…
After coming out of the bathroom, she lay back down on the bed, unwilling to get up again.
When she opened her eyes once more, it was already 17:00 in the evening.
The room was a little dim, and the electronic doorbell sounded urgently, as if something serious had happened.
Hua Ru habitually straightened out the slightly wrinkled bedsheet, then slowly walked toward the door.
She took a deep breath and opened it, but only left a tiny crack.
Of course, if the person outside really wanted to barge in, she wouldn’t be able to stop them at all.
Leaving just a crack was purely for show.
The great actor Shatubiya once said: The reason some people can’t become movie kings is because they don’t pay attention to the details.
These little details really can affect the bigger picture.
If you ignore these small things but someone with a sharp eye notices, that might spell disaster.
Through the crack in the door, Hua Ru saw that there were three people standing outside.
One was No.15 Muscleman, another was No.11 High School Teacher, and the last was No.5 Shamate Man.
“Excuse me, you…”
Before she could finish, No.15 interrupted her impatiently, “Dinner’s ready.
There are a few people who haven’t shown up, so we’re checking if you’re dead or not.
Since you’re not dead, come down and eat.”
Why is he so angry?
I didn’t offend him, did I?
No.5 forced a smile and said, “He’s just eaten gunpowder, don’t mind him.”
Hua Ru nodded meekly and replied, “Okay.”
After the group left to ring someone else’s doorbell, she left her room and tried to lock the door.
As it turned out, she couldn’t lock it while it was open—it could only be locked after closing the door.
…
In the kitchen on the first floor, No.8 Huang Waikai was cooking, while No.14 Ye Lian’na and No.3 Qian Min were helping out.
The three of them were busy to the point of chaos, though Qian Min seemed more like he was getting in the way.
“Why don’t the veggie leaves automatically fly into the plate when you’re chopping them?”
He adjusted his glasses and stared seriously at the chubby cook.
“Do the cabbages at your house fly?”
The chubby man didn’t stop chopping as he spoke—he was like a vegetable-chopping machine, every leaf cut evenly.
“But isn’t it common sense for the leaves to go into the bowl by themselves while chopping?” Qian Min pressed on.
Is that common sense?
The chubby man didn’t answer, just glanced at the simmering soup behind him.
He lifted the lid and started adding ingredients.
“Why doesn’t your cooking glow? For example, when you just opened the lid, shouldn’t there have been a beam of light? Like a stage spotlight shooting out from the food.”
Qian Min continued to look at the chubby man with a serious face, as if he wasn’t joking at all.
“Does the food at your house glow?”
No.8 Huang Waikai replied in annoyance, scooping up some soup to taste.
“Do you really think this dish is edible?” Qian Min persisted, still asking about the food.
“What do you mean by that? I’ve been a chef at a food stall for ten years. Not to mention the locals, even people who come from other places just to eat say my food is good.”
The chubby man seemed a little angry—he couldn’t stand anyone saying his food wasn’t good.
What that kid just said wasn’t even about taste anymore, but about whether the food was edible at all.
That was a bigger insult than just saying it was bad.
“But how can food that doesn’t glow possibly be good food?”
Seeing the chubby man looking confused, Qian Min kept going: “After eating your dish, will my clothes suddenly disappear or something? Or will I be consumed by passion? Or suddenly become thirty years younger? Or maybe taste the flavor of Mom’s cooking?”
And so… No.3 Qian Min was kicked out of the kitchen.
The greatest distance between people isn’t the ends of the earth, but when you’re in the second dimension and he’s in the third.
…
Cooking for sixteen people was no small feat, but luckily the chubby man had experience.
Plus, there were already plenty of cooked dishes on the table in the hall from earlier in the day.
He just had to process them in the kitchen and dinner would be ready soon.
If not for that, it would have taken even longer.
The huge kitchen had four big refrigerators, definitely enough to feed sixteen people for half a month. But since it was all raw ingredients, preparing them was a real hassle.
When Hua Ru came downstairs from the second floor, half the food was already set out on the dining table.
Some people couldn’t help but start eating already.
She took her seat, lowered her head, and waited quietly.
This behavior naturally earned her some goodwill from No.8, the chubby man.
Even No.15, who had been full of anger earlier, calmed down a lot when he saw her quietly waiting.
Most people had arrived.
Finally, No.1 Zhou Wei and No.2 Zhang Huiran came down late, one after the other. Zhou Wei, dressed in military uniform, sat calmly in his No.1 seat, while No.2 Zhang Huiran walked a bit strangely, her face slightly flushed, her long hair a little damp, and her collar caught on the inside, not turned out properly.
Dinner was quite pleasant.
The chubby man’s skills were definitely top-notch.
Compared to the food provided by the system, Huang Waikai’s cooking was far superior.
Everyone chatted about random things—childhood embarrassments, troubles encountered as adults.
It was as if they’d forgotten about the dark world, forgotten that there were enemies among them.
While the harmonious mood still lingered, No.1 Zhou Wei suggested that everyone go to the large bathhouse to soak. Everyone agreed.
But of course, there were no spare clothes.
For most people, that wasn’t a big deal, but for Hua Ru, it was uncomfortable.
She couldn’t stand not showering for a day, and not changing clothes was even worse.
She’d already decided to go commando—even if it meant not wearing any underwear, she refused to wear the same thing for two days straight.
The group headed together toward the large bathhouse on the first floor.
After entering the first big door, they saw two signs on the wall: Men to the left, women to the right.
No.1, No.2, No.3, No.4, No.5, No.7, No.8, No.11, No.13, No.15, and No.16 turned and walked to the left.
No.6, No.9, No.10, No.12, and No.14 turned to the right.
Suddenly, everyone stopped at the same time.
This was freaking awkward!
No.2 Zhang Huiran hurriedly switched to the right, while No.10 Liu Qingzhu and No.12 Xu Kesi calmly switched to the left.