Chapter 700: So Many Family Members
Uncle Wan’s words stirred the aunts’ hearts. One by one, they stepped outside, their scents reeking of determination.
“Brother Wan…” Seeing that everyone had left, Brother Gu Yu slowly walked forward. “You said you used to organize teams often—was this the kind of team you meant…?”
Sister Siwei furrowed her brow and asked, “Brother Wan, what exactly did you do before?”
“Neither of you are stupid. You should be able to tell by now,” Uncle Wan laughed. “I used to be the ‘head of the household’ who built families. My ‘family members’ are everywhere under the sky.”
“You were in pyramid schemes,” Sister Siwei said coldly. “Are you planning to brainwash us?”
“No, no, no, no.” Uncle Wan kept shaking his head at Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei. “You’re overestimating me. Have you heard of Jiang Ziya?”
“Jiang Ziya?”
“Brainwashing requires prerequisites.” Uncle Wan held up two fingers. “First, the target must have a ‘pain point.’ Second, the target can’t be too smart. You two might have ‘pain points’ at most, but you’re far too clever to be brainwashed by me. So-called ‘brainwashing’ has always been about the willing hooking themselves. We pyramid scheme folks aren’t that godlike, you know?”
Brother Gu Yu narrowed his eyes. “Since you know we won’t fall for it, why did you reveal your tricks to those people right in front of us? What are you trying to do?”
“You’ve noticed too, haven’t you? The ‘Scented Ones’ not only have superpowers, they can even retain their memories,” Uncle Wan said. “So the key to escaping this place is the ‘Scented Ones.’ Once we’ve gathered enough of them, forget about those tens of thousands of ‘Jades’—we might even be able to stand against the administrators here. So the first priority is to recruit people. We need a lot, a lot of people.”
“How could it be that easy…?” Sister Siwei said. “Do you think there are few smart people here?”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Uncle Wan shook his head. “This happens to be my area of expertise. I can tell you with full responsibility: smart people are always the minority in this world. And I can also tell you that among my past ‘family members,’ undergraduates made up a huge proportion. Do you think they were stupid or smart?”
Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei exchanged glances, both speechless.
“As I said… there aren’t many ‘smart people’ in this world. What there are plenty of are ‘people who think they’re smart.’” Uncle Wan stepped forward and patted Brother Gu Yu on the shoulder. “Out there, everyone’s ‘pain points’ are ‘making money’ and ‘getting ahead.’ As long as you can grab hold of those two pain points, even smart people can turn into fools. And here, their ‘pain points’ are ‘escape’ and ‘survival.’ Essentially, there’s no difference.”
Sometimes the things adults say are profound and hard for me to understand. But for some reason, I could grasp what Uncle Wan said today.
He said that as long as everyone goes out to find as many people as possible to become family members, they won’t only get food but also those little stones.
Seeing that Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei remained silent, Uncle Wan added, “The reason I’m telling you everything is that I need helpers too.”
“But this is unreliable,” Brother Gu Yu said. “This place doesn’t even have laws, and you want to establish ‘order’ on your own?”
“So what?” Uncle Wan asked.
“Will they believe you?”
After hearing this, Uncle Wan shook his head. “Xiao Gu, I’m not making them lose anything. I just want to recruit more strong people.”
Then he pointed at me. “Besides, we have this kid. Not only am I not making them lose anything, I’m actually giving them some real help. As for me… to them, I’m not a con man in this dead city. I’m the light of this dead city. Understand?”
Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei’s expressions were grim, both deep in thought.
“If you don’t trust me, feel free to leave. But I told you—you’re smart people. You should know the fastest way to gather everyone together, right?”
Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei agreed to Uncle Wan’s proposal, but their scents were different.
Brother Gu Yu’s scent was full of many conflicting thoughts. He didn’t truly want to stay. When he agreed with Uncle Wan, his scent still carried hesitation.
Sister Siwei, on the other hand, emanated mostly worry.
From that day on, the atmosphere here really seemed to change.
I never imagined this city had so many people.
When the aunts came back in the evening, each of them brought seven or eight new family members.
These people had heard that this place not only handed out food but could even grant superpowers. They came in with scents of skepticism mixed with hope, and the supermarket was instantly packed.
I sat in the corner with Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei, watching the bustling crowd, at a loss for what to do.
“Gu Yu… I think Brother Wan is right,” Sister Siwei said, somewhat dejectedly. “Smart people really are the minority in this world.”
“Yes,” Brother Gu Yu nodded. “Usually, everyone who gets scammed thinks they haven’t been scammed.”
First, Uncle Wan calmed everyone down. Then he repeated the same things he had said during the day to the whole group, but with a slight change in the rules. Even he seemed surprised that so many people had shown up.
He told them that those who joined the family now would be called “founding members.” So not only could they enter for free, but they would also continue to earn food and “Jades” in the future.
Starting tomorrow, everyone who joined would have to pay ten Jades.
That was everyone’s “entry fee.” As long as they paid the ten Jades, they were all family, and from then on, everyone had to look out for each other.
Uncle Wan had all the newcomers line up and come to me one by one so I could smell them. But after I finished sniffing all these dozens of people, I silently shook my head.
Not a single one carried that faint fragrance. In fact, not just them—in this whole supermarket, aside from me, no one seemed to have that scent.
Uncle Wan told those people to wait elsewhere, then pulled me into another room. Sister Siwei, worried, immediately followed.
“Damn it… not a single one?” Uncle Wan asked me in a low voice.
I nodded.
“You little brat better not be lying to me…” His eyes turned threatening again.
I hid behind Sister Siwei. She spoke up for me, saying, “What reason would Hero have to lie to you? Doing so would be completely meaningless.”
Thank goodness Sister Siwei was here. She could always change Uncle Wan’s scent with just a single sentence.
But this time, the situation seemed more serious than before. His angry scent had barely faded when it flared up again.
“Then I’m totally screwed, aren’t I?” Uncle Wan said. “Everything I just said turned into a load of crap! There isn’t a single ‘Scented One’ in this room except this little brat! No one here can get any food. How am I supposed to make those people trust me?!”
As he spoke, he kept advancing. Sister Siwei immediately stepped in front of me, gently pushing him away with her hand.
“Brother Wan, you said this is your area of expertise. So it’s up to you to figure out a solution.”