Chapter 702: Everyone Is So Amazing
Uncle Wan let out a cold laugh, turned around, and said to the crowd:
"Everyone, I'll say it again: I won't force anyone to stay or go. But sooner or later, you'll realize that there will never be another person as generous as me in this place. Right now, there's nothing I want more than to give everyone food as a reward for all your hard work today. But I really can't do that. Once the idea of 'getting something for nothing' takes root in our 'big family,' no one will be willing to contribute anymore. I truly hope you can understand—if everyone eats today and receives their own 'jade,' then what does tomorrow's contribution mean?"
His tone gradually softened, but a heavy aura emanated from him.
"Ah, Brother Wan, don't say that. We understand."
"I really feel for every single person who contributes to this family." Uncle Wan gave a bitter smile. "But it's not like you have no advantages. I've said it before—starting tomorrow, every new member must hand over ten pieces of 'jade.' And all the 'jade' they submit will eventually go into your pockets."
I never could have imagined that from that day on, the number of people in our supermarket would multiply exponentially.
And Uncle Wan kept revising the "rules" of our big family.
According to him, because the number of people was greater than he had expected, in order for everyone to get a fair share of the benefits, from now on, anyone who brought in new "family members" could only receive "jade," not "food." However, "food" could be exchanged for "jade."
Even though Uncle Wan didn't follow the rules set by that dragon-headed man, he still amassed a huge amount of "jade" in a short time.
On the third day, some people had already fully understood the rules and began actively guiding other new members.
Uncle Wan's strategy was working. Although each team got very little food, everyone could eat a little bit every day, enough to keep from starving.
But what intrigued me was that he gave me a can of food every day, and I would share it with Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei.
We did nothing, yet we still had food.
Brother Gu Yu went out early every day and came back late. I had no idea what he was doing.
On the fifth day, the number of people in our "family" reached two hundred.
Every day, Uncle Wan would rally everyone with a passionate meeting, and every time he would bring me in front of the crowd, making me smell their scents again and again.
Strangely enough, the scents on these people grew fainter by the day. It was as if they no longer had their own thoughts.
Because I kept smelling everyone's scents, my nose hurt a little. But it was still a good deal—I didn't have to do anything every day except sniff people.
On the seventh day, the first "fragrant one" besides us finally appeared.
It was that fat brother.
He had said from the beginning that he wanted to leave, but in the end, he never did.
That day, the scent of "thunderclap" clearly appeared on him, and I immediately told Uncle Wan.
Uncle Wan looked overjoyed. He immediately dragged him in front of everyone and loudly announced that our "big family" finally had a "fragrant one." He then made him demonstrate his "thunderclap" on the spot.
But the fat brother looked completely bewildered. He had no idea how to release this thing called "thunderclap."
Uncle Wan said it didn't matter and immediately gave his team double rations. He said, "The highest reward always goes to the first one who succeeds."
Even though everyone didn't get to see the "thunderclap," they knew someone had succeeded. They cheered and hugged each other, as if we had already escaped this place.
Then Uncle Wan asked the fat brother to share his experience. The fat brother said he hadn't done anything special that day—he had only joined a "man-chicken" game, and when he came back, he had become a "fragrant one."
What made me happy was that when Brother Gu Yu came back that evening, he also carried a fragrant scent on him—the same scent I had smelled when I first met him.
But his face was very grim. He walked around the bustling crowd and came over to Sister Siwei and me. At that moment, Uncle Wan also noticed something was off and quickly approached us.
"Well, well, what are our 'core members' doing here?" Uncle Wan asked.
"Brother Wan..."
Brother Gu Yu picked up a stone from the ground, clenched it in his hand a couple of times, then turned his palm over for everyone to see. The stone had disappeared.
"What is this, Xiao Gu?" Uncle Wan laughed. "Performing magic tricks for me late at night?"
"No." Brother Gu Yu shook his head. "Brother Wan, this isn't magic. It's 'fragrance.' I have awakened."
"Oh...?" Uncle Wan was taken aback, then broke into a smile. "That's great news, Xiao Gu. Next time we have to come back to this godforsaken place, you'll keep your memories."
"Yes, but I feel that the direction of this massive organization is wrong."
Brother Gu Yu loosened his grip, and the "air" in his hand fell to the ground with a crisp "thud."
"How is it wrong?" Uncle Wan asked seriously.
"Gathering these people here every day to shout slogans won't turn them into 'fragrant ones.'" Brother Gu Yu said coldly.
"H-How could that be?" Uncle Wan quickly pointed at the fat brother in the distance. "Today we welcomed our own 'fragrant one.'"
Brother Gu Yu followed his gaze and sighed. "I ran into him on the street. He got his 'fragrance' from participating in a 'game,' didn't he?"
"Well..."
"I've been exploring for the past seven days," Brother Gu Yu said. "But my ability alone is very limited. I can only vaguely sense that this kind of superpower called 'fragrance' isn't obtained by chance—it requires certain conditions."
"Conditions?"
"Exactly." Brother Gu Yu nodded. "I'm not sure if everyone's 'conditions' are the same, but after participating in many games myself, I gradually came to this conclusion."
"You mean..." Uncle Wan started pondering along with him. "If we want more people to obtain 'fragrance,' we need to let them go out and participate in games?"
"Yes." Brother Gu Yu agreed. "If you really want to build a superpower army, sticking to the status quo won't work. These people must be put in danger."
I remember that night Uncle Wan didn't sleep again. The next day, he rearranged the distribution of teams and ordered everyone to go out and participate in games.
He specifically instructed them not to join any game that started with the word "ground," but everyone had to join games that started with "man." Each "family member" had to team up with someone, and pairs would supervise each other. After winning a game, they had to bring back the "jade," and the next day Uncle Wan would distribute it uniformly. If anyone was caught embezzling "jade," the family would punish them collectively and cut off all their food supplies.
I have to say, Brother Gu Yu was really smart. Following his method, the number of people in the family who gained "fragrance" grew every day.
By the ninth day, there were already over twenty "fragrant ones." Some could even release their "superpowers."
That day, the one who gained "fragrance" was the auntie who had been in our room from the very beginning. Uncle Wan was very happy and asked her to share her successful experience.
After thanking Uncle Wan, she said excitedly to the crowd:
"I suspect that the reason I succeeded in obtaining 'fragrance' is, first of all, thanks to Brother Wan and everyone in our big family. And second, because I went to worship a 'divine dragon.'"