Song Nanxing didn’t sleep well at all.
He’d already gone to bed late, and after finally falling asleep, he had a string of bizarre and chaotic dreams, so much so that when he woke up, he was still groggy and listless, unable to muster any energy.
Thinking of those awful dreams, Song Nanxing, toothbrush in his mouth, grumpily thought that once Shen Du was better, he’d have to make him cook octopus eighteen different ways to vent his frustrations.
After washing up and changing clothes, Song Nanxing quietly pushed open the bedroom door to check on Shen Du.
Shen Du was sleeping soundly, and when Song Nanxing touched his forehead, the temperature was back to normal—the fever had subsided. Song Nanxing was a bit relieved, left him a message on WeChat, and tiptoed back out.
As soon as he left the bedroom, he was stuck to by the Little Octopus.
The cold tentacles brushed his skin, giving Song Nanxing goosebumps all over. Instantly, he remembered some unpleasant memories, and with a blank face, he tore the Little Octopus off his arm and tossed it back into the fish tank, issuing a cold order: “Stay in the tank and don’t come out. And don’t just stick to people whenever you want, understand? Otherwise, I’ll throw you out.”
Little Octopus: ?
It waved its tentacles in confusion, watching as Song Nanxing picked up his bag and headed out.
“He’s mad.”
“So fierce.”
“Don’t want to be thrown out.”
The obedient Puppet sitting on the shelf turned its head a full one-eighty degrees, its pitch-black eyes watching the Little Octopus thrash about in the tank, splashing water everywhere, and opened its mouth to gloat, “Hee hee, you’re disliked now.”
It sat even more upright on the shelf: “I’m well-behaved. He likes me.”
*****
Because he lived far away, Song Nanxing was the last to arrive.
The other colleagues were already at their desks, whispering among themselves about the sudden emergency overtime notice.
Song Nanxing sat down at his own spot, just in time to hear Guan Jing at the next desk say, “Did you guys see the news? The whole Chunshuli complex got contaminated. I heard a bunch of people showed severe symptoms, and when they did ultrasounds at the hospital, their stomachs were full of frog eggs. It’s disgusting and terrifying. My friend’s a nurse at the Mental Health Center—she said even the professionally trained doctors couldn’t handle it during surgery, several of them threw up, and a couple of the more fragile ones broke down emotionally after a few operations and had to be replaced…”
“I also heard a bit from a friend at the Special Action Bureau,” another chimed in. “Apparently, there were some patients in Chunshuli who were so severely contaminated that they’d completely mutated into monsters. The whole bureau was mobilized yesterday and surrounded Chunshuli all night, not letting any of those things escape. I think a few people got contaminated during the capture because they weren’t properly protected.”
“Didn’t you guys watch last night’s news? Even the reporters and cameramen doing the interview got attacked. I feel like more and more people are getting contaminated lately… Before, you’d only hear about one every month or two, and only in the news. Now it’s happening right around us.”
Everyone else fell silent at those words, their eyes flickering toward Xu Cai’s desk.
Xu Cai’s death hadn’t been officially announced, but something like that was impossible to keep secret—anyone with half an ear to the ground already knew.
Guan Jing sighed and said, “This contamination seems to be related to our center. I heard there was a problem with inspections in the fresh food section, and tainted seafood got in. They say everyone over there is going to be held accountable, from the top down. That’s why we’re being called in for emergency overtime.”
Song Nanxing looked up at her. “So it’s already confirmed the contamination was caused by unchecked seafood getting through?”
Guan Jing shook her head. “That’s just the rumor I heard.” She shrugged helplessly. “All incoming goods have to be inspected at the Exchange Center. For something this big to slip through, odds are someone in the fresh food section was slacking off.”
Song Nanxing lowered his eyes, but what he thought of was what Zhou Xuan had said last night at the Community Hospital.
Zhou Xuan had said: The contaminated seafood might not be just one batch, but all of it.
If it was just a staff mistake, only one batch should have been affected.
While he was lost in thought, Director Fang sent a message in the group chat, telling everyone to gather in the main conference room.
A meeting in the main conference room meant this was an all-hands meeting for the entire Exchange Center.
Sure enough, Guan Jing’s sources were spot on. Because of the seafood contamination, everyone in the fresh food section—from the directors down to the staff—would be held accountable. But since the cause of the accident hadn’t been fully investigated yet, things were being put on hold for now.
There were two main purposes for this meeting.
First, to warn employees in other sections to avoid similar mistakes; second, to announce that an investigation into the source of the seafood contamination had begun, and all fresh food staff were suspended pending review. Replacements were needed to fill in.
The fresh food section was one of the busiest, with a high volume of goods flowing through. Meanwhile, Song Nanxing’s department—the bulk and valuable goods section—was relatively idle, so naturally they were assigned to fill in.
Because it was the rainy season, and to minimize the risk of contamination from employees going back and forth, the center kindly provided dorms. All emergency staff were to stay at the center.
The meeting lasted all morning, and when it finally ended, everyone was sighing in dismay.
They only had their lunch break to go home and grab a change of clothes and personal items. By the afternoon, everyone had to be on duty.
Song Nanxing had lunch in the cafeteria, packed another meal for Shen Du, and drove home to get his things.
When he got home, he found Shen Du cleaning—the man looked much better, almost back to normal.
“You just got over being sick, why are you cleaning?” Song Nanxing took the mop from him and set the packed meal on the table. “I brought you food from the cafeteria. Eat first.”
Shen Du sat at the table, watching as Song Nanxing opened his suitcase and started packing, a bit puzzled. “Why are you packing all of a sudden? Going somewhere?”
“Yeah.” Song Nanxing replied helplessly, “We got sudden notice for overtime. With the rain, it’s not convenient to go back and forth, so I have to stay in the company dorms for a while.”
Shen Du paused, hands on the meal bag, and asked, “How long will you be gone?”
Song Nanxing shook his head. “No idea. At this rate, we might be working overtime until the rainy season ends.”
It was only late April now; the rainy season wouldn’t end for at least another half month.
“So I’ll be eating alone for half a month?” Shen Du joked.
Song Nanxing sounded regretful. “Yeah, the cafeteria food is nowhere near as good as yours.”
After Song Nanxing finished packing and Shen Du finished eating, they left together.
Shen Du went back next door, while Song Nanxing headed to the company.
Song Nanxing dragged his suitcase downstairs. Shen Du stood motionless in the corridor, watching him until his figure disappeared, then walked to the end of the corridor and looked down.
He saw Song Nanxing’s figure at the entrance, dragging his suitcase, soon getting into the car and driving away.
Shadows pooled at Shen Du’s feet, silent and deep.
The voices of Little Octopus and the Puppet echoed in his neural ring: “We’ve been left behind.”
“Don’t want to be apart.”
“Let’s follow him.”
*****
That afternoon, Song Nanxing was assigned to his new job and officially began work.
Compared to the bulk and valuable goods section, the work in the fresh food section was much more tedious and demanding. But since the contamination risk was actually higher in the bulk goods section, the fresh food section had a more streamlined inspection process, with many tasks already automated.
As a security inspector, Song Nanxing’s job was to record data, verify goods, and re-inspect anything suspicious.
If everything checked out, he’d stamp and approve the goods for entry into the city. If not, the goods would be rejected.
Because of the seafood incident, the inspection standards in the fresh food section had been raised—every item had to pass three rounds of checks before being cleared.
Song Nanxing didn’t leave his station all afternoon; even the automatic stamping machine started warning that it was low on ink.
He found some ink and went to refill the machine, taking the opportunity to stretch his stiff body.
While refilling the ink, Song Nanxing caught a whiff of a strange, fishy stench. The smell was odd, as if coming from the ink itself.
He leaned in for a closer sniff—it really was the ink.
The inspection stamp in the fresh food section was different from their department’s. Bulk goods couldn’t be stamped directly, since it would damage the items, so they usually issued a certificate with a traceable approval number. The fresh food section, to streamline things, had switched to automated stamping long ago—once a product passed inspection, the machine would stamp it automatically. Supposedly, the ink was specially processed and impossible to counterfeit. Every box that entered the city needed that stamp.
Song Nanxing frowned as he poured the ink into the machine. The smell was so strong he almost wanted to pinch his nose. Who knew what kind of special ink it was, to stink like that.
After refilling, he went back to work.
With the increased workload, everyone worked overtime until eight that night.
When they finally left the inspection warehouse, everyone was sighing and grumbling.
Some colleagues still had the energy to complain, but Song Nanxing, who’d barely slept the night before, was already so exhausted he had no desire to talk. He silently made his way to the cafeteria for dinner.
The cafeteria was rowdy and noisy—complaints, gossip, laughter… all sorts of voices crashing together like a raging river into Song Nanxing’s ears, making his head spin. He grabbed a quick meal to go and escaped.
Luckily it was raining outside, and there was hardly anyone around.
Song Nanxing breathed a sigh of relief, found a quiet spot to eat, and then returned to the dorm.
There was a bit of distance between the cafeteria and the dorm, requiring him to pass through a warehouse and a long corridor. As he walked the corridor, Song Nanxing couldn’t help but glance back.
On either side of the corridor were thickly planted ornamental trees, their branches interwoven into a canopy. Raindrops, caught by the leaves, gathered into thin streams that dripped down with a “tick-tock, tick-tock” sound.
Song Nanxing listened closely. He had the vague sense that, mixed with the ticking of the rain, there was another sound—something else following behind, the wet body of something sliding along the ground with a sticky, squelching noise.
But when he turned around, there was nothing there.
The dry corridor floor showed no trace of water, only the edges were splashed by rain.
His furrowed brows relaxed a little, and Song Nanxing turned to continue on his way.
Yo my man, you should’ve reported that immediately. Stop being nonchalant my guy