This sentence actually has a grammatical error with the object. After all, whether Yi Ke earns ten yuan or a hundred thousand yuan in this operation, the ultimate beneficiaries are the residents of Taoli Community. It has little to do with Zhuang Ningyu personally. But it was fine not to dwell on this for now, because if they could really get fifty thousand Rule Coins, according to the current food prices, it would be enough to cover the daily expenses of all residents plus the monsters for a long time.
Zhuang Ningyu chose to believe in Yi Ke’s ability to make money, but at the same time, he didn’t forget to remind him: “If you want to use violent means to rob them, the probability of success is likely not high, and the rules also won’t allow you to sell that Bentley to the monsters at a discount.”
“I’ve discovered that you really have no pity for my money,” Yi Ke expressed his admiration for him. “For fifty thousand virtual Rule Coins, you want me to mortgage my brand-new, real car.”
It wasn’t a desperate time yet. Besides, the young master was just rich, not stupid, and didn’t seem to have the domineering hobby of throwing his assets away. He leaned on the sofa with his laptop, still wearing the ill-fitting birthday T-shirt. After a wash, the fabric had become even softer and more form-fitting, and together with the warm yellow light, it outlined the contours of his undulating muscles.
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t know why a righteous, solid-colored T-shirt from a specialty store would become so coyly alluring and decadent on him, but fortunately, the online meeting had already begun. Ye Jiaoyue’s voice came through the headset: “Everyone, any abnormalities tonight?”
“After the monster came home, the weather seems to have gotten colder,” a team member hesitated. “Is it my imagination?”
“It’s not your imagination,” Ye Jiaoyue said. “According to the monitoring results, the temperature tonight is indeed lower than yesterday’s. But outside the rule zone, the entire city of Jincheng is still in a state of continuous high temperature, so the temperature fluctuations in Taoli Community should be related to the monster. As for whether this fluctuation is sustained, we still need to observe for a few more days.”
“Also, he seems to be more irritable than yesterday,” another team member added. “Like a walking powder keg.” This could be seen from the way the monster knocked on the door. The huge “thump-thump” sound echoed through the hallway, like a 360-degree surround-sound thunderclap, scaring an old lady next door so much she almost fainted.
Colder weather, a worse temper. Other than that, no more abnormalities were found for the time being.
As for how to earn Rule Coins, everyone’s suggestions were varied. But given that everyone was quite inexperienced in this area, most suggestions focused on finding the monster with the fattest wallet and taking him down directly. As for whether it would mutate, they would have to take it down first and see. What if it had more money after mutating, gushing out like a tide? Who could say for sure?
Ye Jiaoyue had done things like directly robbing for money in disregard of the rules in previous operations, but the consequences of robbing… were really too painful to look back on. She asked, “Are there any suggestions with a bit more intelligence?”
The online conference room fell silent. After a long time, someone replied that if they couldn’t rob openly, then trying to steal a hundred every day was not impossible.
Ye Jiaoyue sent a string of deafening question marks.
Zhuang Ningyu glanced at Yi Ke. “Aren’t you going to express an opinion?”
“That’s right, Brother Yi, this is your exclusive domain.” A chorus of flattery immediately came through the headsets. It was unclear whether the team members truly believed in Yi Ke, or were just grateful they could finally stop contributing their already scarce money-making wisdom. “Can you teach us?”
Yi Ke said, “You can just ask him for it.”
Ye Jiaoyue hesitated. “Just ask directly? Will he be willing to give it?”
“It is known that a total of four types of monsters have appeared in the community so far: the guest, the wet market vendor, the supermarket owner, and the bus driver. We have verified that the behavior of the latter three roughly conforms to basic logic,” Yi Ke said. “The only exception is the ‘guest’.”
Rude, barbaric, unhygienic, not allowing anyone in the room to make any noise, accepting services as a matter of course, using violence anytime, anywhere, blatantly occupying the master bedroom, and being very punctual about leaving early and returning late. Any of these behaviors would be extremely discordant on a “guest,” but they would be fine on a “master.”
Yi Ke continued, “If we place the monster in the position of the ‘master,’ then the whole thing becomes much more reasonable. Or to be more specific, he’s more like a violent man with severe personality defects. His work must be very hard, otherwise he wouldn’t come back covered in dirt every day. And the role we are playing should be the ‘master’s’ ‘legal partner,’ responsible not only for household chores but also for enduring domestic violence.”
Ye Jiaoyue immediately sent an email to headquarters, asking them to focus their investigation of Taoli Community on cases of this nature, to see if they could uncover the story behind the rules.
“Now that you put it that way, it does seem to be more logical,” Qian Yue said, his mind opened to a new line of thought. “Assuming he is the husband, then as wives with no economic income, we can certainly ask him for some living expenses.”
“It’s best not to be too greedy,” Ye Jiaoyue reminded. “Considering the current prices, I suggest you start with three hundred.”
The online meeting ended quickly. Yi Ke stretched his sore muscles from sitting, and glanced at the thermometer on the windowsill. Twenty degrees Celsius. It didn’t feel like the height of summer, but more like an autumn night in Jincheng.
“Is this your plan?” Zhuang Ningyu asked.
Yi Ke walked towards the bedroom, asking, “Is it unreasonable?”
“It’s reasonable.” Only after he came out of the bedroom did Zhuang Ningyu continue, “Regarding the roles of ‘master’ and ‘guest,’ I completely agree with your point of view. But this monster really doesn’t look like he would generously fork out fifty thousand in living expenses.”
Yi Ke shook out the blanket in his hand and squatted down to cover his knees. “What’s the hurry? It hasn’t been three days yet. Tomorrow, you follow Captain Ye’s plan first. Leave the rest to me.”
The blanket was made of a light, soft material. It was new, and didn’t look like something left behind by the owner of 1601. From this, it seemed the young master’s Bentley really hadn’t been driven for nothing; its carrying capacity was comparable to a medium-sized cargo van. He could pull out some token of affection from his luggage from time to time. Zhuang Ningyu was too lazy to ask more. He waved the man back to the bedroom, out of sight, out of mind.
But the blanket was very effective. Specifically, although it also rained that night, the familiar pain did not creep into his knees.
The next morning, the monster sat at the dining table as usual, wolfing down its food. The various cups and plates clinked and clanked. After he downed the last glass of soy milk, the monster stood up, roughly wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and picked up his briefcase, ready to leave.
“Please wait a moment,” Zhuang Ningyu called out to him.
The monster stopped, slowly turned around, and his two cloudy eyes met his. As a “husband,” his eyes showed no love, not even kindness.
Zhuang Ningyu stood by the dining table, clearing the cups and plates while casually asking, “What would you like to eat tonight?”
The monster thought for a moment, then said, “Beef noodles.”
“Okay.” Zhuang Ningyu nodded, then said, “But beef has gotten more expensive recently. I might not have enough money. Can you give me a little more?”
Hearing this, the monster’s expression became visibly impatient. He moved a few steps forward, his chest almost bumping into Zhuang Ningyu’s face. His left hand went straight into his pants pocket. Yi Ke stood at the other end of the living room, a laser gun held tightly in his hand. The small red dot moved with the monster’s arm until it finally disappeared—the threat was basically neutralized, because the other party did not pull out a weapon, but instead pulled out a few Rule Coins from his wallet and threw them forcefully onto the dining table.
Bang!
The monster left the room, slamming the heavy security door so hard it almost came off the wall. Zhuang Ningyu picked up the money from the table, one bill at a time. It was a total of two hundred and sixty-three. The days of having to ask for money were indeed not easy. After so much trouble, he could only buy a few pounds of beef.
Comrade Xiao Qian complained remotely, “He eats eight egg pancakes and two buckets of soy milk in one meal. How can he have the nerve to give so little money? Boss, can you still ask for money tomorrow?”
“I can, but I’ll probably get beaten for it. The cost-performance ratio isn’t high,” Zhuang Ningyu asked, “How are the few elderly people in your family?”
“They are currently cursing this stingy monster along with me,” Qian Yue said. “Their voices are like great bells, their vocabulary is varied, and their mental attack is at maximum.”
Ye Jiaoyue forwarded a document to Zhuang Ningyu. According to the investigation, no records of domestic violence cases had been found in Taoli Community for the time being. But no records didn’t mean it hadn’t happened. After all, a considerable number of victims, after suffering violence from their husbands, would most likely choose to swallow their anger.
In the afternoon conference room, the mood was gloomy. Ye Jiaoyue joked, “What’s wrong, everyone? You got the money, why so unhappy?”
“We got it, but he looked like he wanted to eat Captain Zhuang alive this morning. For just over two hundred yuan, he was fuming, and he even deliberately threw the money into the leftover food. This is too humiliating,” a team member said. “The monster’s contribution doesn’t match the community’s prices at all, but looking at his reaction, he’s clearly not willing to fork out more money in the short term. Hiss, the days of having to ask for money are not easy.”
“At least it proves that Xiao Yi’s line of thinking is correct,” Ye Jiaoyue said. “The monster is willing to give living expenses. He is indeed the ‘master’.”
A violent husband, a wife with no source of income. Zhuang Ningyu looked at the rules on the screen. “Combined with the first rule, a mother can take her child on the 155 bus to leave. Assuming that all of us are now playing the role of the ‘wife,’ then as long as we can find a ‘child,’ can we leave the rule zone?”
“But where can we find a child?” Qian Yue frowned. “The ones who left before were all biological mothers and children. Can we just grab any child?”
“We can have Tongtong return to the rule zone one more time to try,” Officer Song stood up. He was responsible for managing and coordinating all the volunteers in the community and was considered an unofficial member of this operation. “She has always wanted to join the Order Maintenance Department, and my wife and I are very supportive of her dream.”
Ye Jiaoyue reported this to her superiors and quickly got approval. Later in the evening, the mother and daughter returned to the rule zone, just in time to catch the newly departed community bus. This time, Ye Jiaoyue personally boarded the bus with Song Tongtong. The driver’s protests were unsuccessful, and in the end, he could only curse as he stepped on the gas. However, departing did not mean a successful escape. An hour later, the bus returned to the starting station from within the white fog.
This test result was actually expected. Zhuang Ningyu said, “If we are the ‘mother’ in the rules, then to leave the rule zone, we should find the ‘child’ in the rules, not just any child.”
“How are we supposed to find that?” Qian Yue felt the matter was a bit tricky. “There are no other children left in the community.”
“I said, the child in the rules, not a real child,” Zhuang Ningyu patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, they will appear sooner or later.”
In broad daylight, Qian Yue was so scared by his words that he broke out in a cold sweat. Right, since there was a monster husband, there would be a monster child. Monster, child, these two words linked together… hiss. He licked his dry, cracked lips. Seriously, it was a bit scary.
…
The next morning, after breakfast, a team member, according to the plan, asked the monster for living expenses again. This behavior did indeed greatly anger the other party. He roared and raised his fist to strike. Fortunately, this “wife” had an enhanced physique that ranked first in the whole team, and also knew to lie down under the dining table and play dead in time, barely escaping. After the monster left, the team member complained bitterly in the group chat that he had never had such a humiliating and unlucky mission in his life.
Zhuang Ningyu asked the person beside him, “Where’s your fifty thousand?”
Yi Ke replied while typing a message, “Tomorrow is the third day.”
He didn’t cover his phone screen, and the chat interface clearly showed a girl’s avatar. The green text box scrolled rapidly. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like a couple in the heat of love. Zhuang Ningyu thought to himself, are my hard days finally coming to an end? He tilted his head slightly for another glance, but Yi Ke, as if sensing his movement, suddenly leaned over him softly.
Zhuang Ningyu was prepared and dodged with the speed of someone seeing a ghost. Yi Ke wasn’t discouraged. He changed his position and continued to lean on the sofa, sending messages, busy with who knows what. Zhuang Ningyu ignored him and took a few team members to do the routine patrol of the community.
On the empty ground in front of the Spring Breeze Supermarket, a dozen or so aunties were doing their square dancing. They ignored the chilly air and continued to exercise with great enthusiasm. The monster at the cash register was lying on the table, dozing off to the sound of the music. The scene actually had a bit of a strange harmony.
Zhuang Ningyu dialed Qian Yue’s number and asked him, “Where are you? Why aren’t you down yet?”
“Boss, I’m in 503,” Qian Yue reported. “Having a meeting with Xiao Yi. Didn’t he tell you?”
Zhuang Ningyu began to doubt his hearing. “With whom?”
The attendees of the 503 meeting were Yi Ke, Qian Yue, Zhong Mu, Officer Song Ran, plus Uncle Zhang and Auntie Zhang. Zhong Mu was the ponytail girl who was in charge of receiving the interns on the first day. Her evolution level was very high, and she had won the Order Maintenance Department’s outstanding team member award three times. Qian Yue keenly sensed that Zhuang Ningyu was unaware of this meeting, so he immediately straightened his position, his tone like that of an intelligence agent: “Then, boss, am I listening to you or to Xiao Yi now?”
“First, tell me what kind of meeting you’re having,” Zhuang Ningyu asked.
“It’s a secret,” Yi Ke’s voice came from the other end of the phone. “If you’re interested, you can come and listen in person.”
Qian Yue shrieked, “Give me back my phone! Boss! He snatched it! I haven’t betrayed the organization!”
Yi Ke laughed and continued to ask, “Coming? I can wait for you.”
Zhuang Ningyu really couldn’t stand the soft whispers coming from the receiver. What kind of midnight radio voice was this? Everyone was out here working; there was no reason for him to suffer this ambiguous torment alone. So he made a call to Ye Jiaoyue, trying to divert the disaster, but the captain didn’t care at all. Because although Yi Ke was an intern, Zhong Mu had high-level action authority. With her guiding the newcomer, it was in line with the regulations and completely fine.
And compared to worrying about Yi Ke and Zhong Mu, Ye Jiaoyue was clearly more worried about Zhuang Ningyu, because she felt the latter seemed a bit anxious recently. So she kindly asked, “Do you want me to help you make an appointment with Old Qiao for psychological counseling?”
Zhuang Ningyu never expected his mental state would be implicated by association. He deeply felt that complaining was also an art. But it wasn’t convenient for him to tell Ye Jiaoyue that although Yi Ke had excellent grades, his situation was special recently. He was currently blinded by lust and very likely to make wrong decisions, and drag Zhong Mu down with him. After much deliberation, he finally decided to continue to bear it all. So he handed over the patrol task to the team members and turned back to 503 himself.
Yi Ke said, “We just finished our meeting.”
Zhuang Ningyu dragged over a chair. “Report it again.”
“Boss, don’t worry, it’s definitely exciting!” Qian Yue rubbed his hands together. “Tomorrow we will definitely pull off something big!”
Auntie Zhang and Uncle Zhang were also all smiles. Zhong Mu gave Zhuang Ningyu a slight nod. Even Song Ran, who was supposed to be the most steady and reliable, was now in a state of extreme rosy-cheeked contentment.
Zhuang Ningyu’s mood was hard to describe. Did you guys just have a pyramid scheme meeting?!
