Chapter 16: Four “eggs”

Unit 1005 was one of the top five households with the highest daily water consumption that Liao Tianhua had investigated previously. Among those five users, Sister Li in 710 held the top spot, with a daily water usage reaching as high as one to two tons.

As a stingy person who would even go to the gym just to leech a free shower, Xia Mi simply couldn’t fathom how one person could use that much water.

Now, she finally had an answer.

She raised her hand and placed her watch near the wife from 1005, waiting quietly for a minute. The watch showed that her vital signs were normal; she hadn’t been parasitized.

Xia Mi found the photo on her phone of Zhang Xun carrying the silver-white case and showed it to the woman. “Is this the man you mentioned?” she asked.

The wife from 1005 studied it carefully. “I can’t see the face clearly, but the build and face shape are very similar. He was wearing sunglasses too, and the clothes are the same as the day he saw me. And that silver-white case, he took the bottle out of a case exactly like that. There was a tiny white egg floating inside the bottle.”

“Looking at the size of that case, it could hold about ten 200ml bottles,” Xia Mi noted. “Did you see if there was only that one bottle inside, or were there many?”

The woman answered earnestly, “When he took the bottle out, I caught a glimpse. There were four bottle-shaped slots inside. Three of them were already empty, and only one was left, which he gave to me.”

Four bottles. Based on common sense, that meant four eggs.

If all four eggs were like the one in Unit 1005, requiring massive amounts of running water to keep them contained, then all five of the highest water-consuming residents in Building 6 were suspects.

Sister Li from 710 was terrifyingly strong, and since she was the highest water consumer, she was under heavy suspicion.

But Zhang Xun had given money, and the wife from 1005 had received a lot of it.

If Sister Li had that much money, how could she have been bossed around by Xia Mi for the sake of a mere hundred membership cards?

If Sister Li was like the wife from 1005 and had received 150,000 yuan in the first month, she likely would have quit her job then and there. It was impossible that she would still be working at the hair salon now.

Xia Mi asked cautiously, “When exactly did you lose those memories? Is it possible you didn’t remember any of this for the past two months and only just recalled it now?”

“I lost consciousness the moment I saw the bottle crack,” the woman replied. “But I’ve been conscious throughout these two months. If I hadn’t remembered this, I would have turned off the taps long ago given how expensive the water bill is. I wouldn’t have waited until today.”

She had a point.

Xia Mi asked, “Can you remember anything else?”

The woman thought back carefully. “I don’t know if I’m just guessing, but on the day the man in black found me, I heard knocking in the hallway for a long time. It only stopped after I opened the door and agreed to help him.

“He came in the afternoon. Most people in this building are out working during the day and don’t stay home; many rooms are empty.

“It’s possible he wasn’t looking for me specifically. He might have been knocking on doors one by one, choosing whichever unit had someone inside.

“I can’t be in the light and don’t have a job, so I’m always home during the day. Unless they’re sick, no one else would be home.”

The day Zhang Xun came to Building 6 was the same day Xia Mi moved in. She had even seen him entering the building while she was cleaning her windows.

Xia Mi had been home the entire time that day and had even left her door open for ventilation, but she hadn’t seen Zhang Xun on the 7th floor, nor had she heard any knocking in the hallway.

Zhang Xun hadn’t gone to the 7th floor at all.

This made sense. He only had four eggs, so he only needed to choose four people. There was no need for him to visit every floor; he just had to pick four floors at random.

There was absolutely no way he had avoided the 7th floor just to dodge a completely ordinary person like Xia Mi.

This could only mean that Sister Li wasn’t raising an egg. That daily two tons of water was being used by Sister Li herself.

Xia Mi felt she wasn’t suited for analytical work. Shouldn’t such complex, brain-taxing matters be left to the Organization?

The Organization had more people and more power. A group brainstorming session would surely be better than her guessing blindly on her own.

As a front-line operative, her job was just to fight monsters. She would leave the thinking to the leaders.

She had to believe that her superiors’ perspective and breadth of vision far exceeded her own. She couldn’t afford to be headstrong.

Xia Mi’s fingers flew across her screen as she relayed the intelligence gathered from 1005 to Liao Tianhua, typing out a long string of text in one go.

She didn’t need to worry about the rest; she would just focus on rescuing the public!

Xia Mi said to the wife from 1005, “The information you’ve provided is very important. Thank you for supporting our work. However, by acting out of greed and failing to report the anomaly in a timely manner, you may very well have committed a crime against national security. But I didn’t study law, so I don’t know for sure if you’ve broken it. Perhaps it’s just my speculation.”

“Then what should we do?” The husband from 1005 pulled his wife into an embrace, his expression half-defensive and half-pleading. “My wife is in poor health and can’t do heavy labor. She can’t go to prison!”

Xia Mi said, “I’m not a legal expert, so I’m not sure how this will be handled. However, I’ve already reported the situation to my superior. I believe the leadership will understand your circumstances.”

In her message, she had emphasized the plight of the couple in 1005 and mentioned that if it were her, she wouldn’t know what choice she would make when faced with the temptation of money.

Xia Mi: [I hope Captain Liao can issue instructions as soon as possible so I can reassure the public.]

Liao Tianhua did not disappoint Xia Mi’s expectations and replied quickly: [You’ve encountered the corruption before, so you know that ‘Zhuo’ has the power to make people lose their humanity. Perhaps her consciousness was influenced from the moment she saw the ‘Zhuo’. No one can prove she did this with full autonomy. If the perpetrator’s consciousness was compromised, how could we possibly hold her criminally liable?]

Xia Mi: [Captain Liao, you’re so handsome. You’re handsome even if you’re balding.]

Liao Tianhua: [I’m only twenty-five!]

Xia Mi was shocked: [But Captain Liao, you’re already at the section chief level! Shouldn’t you be a highly intelligent, middle-aged successful man in his forties with a receding hairline?]

Liao Tianhua: [I was raised with special training. I started participating in front-line operations at sixteen and became a full combat operative at eighteen. My promotion process was completely legal and compliant! Also, I only receive the equivalent pay of a section chief, but my position is a police rank under the sergeant system, understand?]

Talking about these things with a careerist like Xia Mi was useless. Liao Tianhua set aside his unnecessary emotions, rubbed his thick hair, and returned to the main topic: [We won’t pursue criminal charges against her, but we will confiscate any illegal gains.]

Seeing this message, Xia Mi glanced at the pale complexion of the wife from 1005 and sighed inwardly.

Then, Liao Tianhua sent another message: [However, if the clues she provides can help us save everyone in the building, we can still grant a certain amount of prize money.

If she truly possesses special abilities and assists you in completing a significant amount of work during this incident, she will also receive a bonus.

Take the Hairdresser Lin Xiaoli from 710, for example. I won’t use my authority to force my colleagues to buy memberships from her, but as long as everyone survives, her bonus will definitely not be less than the wages she would earn from a hundred people signing up.]

The black text practically shimmered with golden light.

Xia Mi once again bowed down to Captain Liao’s excellent rhetoric. This ability to paint a vision¹ was far superior to her own.

Xia Mi conveyed the leader’s instructions to the wife from 1005.

“No legal charges, and I can even get a bonus? Legal money, the kind where I don’t have to live in fear?” the couple asked in pleasant surprise.

Xia Mi nodded, emphasizing the key point of Captain Liao’s directive: “The prerequisite is that we all survive.”

The husband from 1005 gave Xia Mi a slightly reproachful look and slapped his leg. “If you had told me this earlier, why would I have ambushed you? I would have definitely taken the initiative to tie up the residents of the 10th floor and hand them over to you!”

Xia Mi replied, “What are you saying? Tying people up? How uncouth! That’s called organizing the masses to spontaneously cooperate with government operations.”

“It doesn’t matter what we say now, I’m useless at the moment!” The husband slapped his thigh in frustration. Without his Zhuo-corrupted parts, he couldn’t win a fight against anyone else.

His wife said gently, “You’re not useless. You’ve been protecting me all along. You’re as strong as can be.”

The couple embraced again.

Xia Mi: “…”

Her boyfriend had gone on countless blind dates² over the past two months. Could this affectionate couple please stop grating on her nerves?

The wife from 1005 sensitively noticed Xia Mi’s darkening expression. She gently pushed her husband away and said softly, “I think I might be able to help a little.”

Xia Mi asked, “Help with what?”

The wife struggled to haul a bucket out of the bathroom. Seeing this, the husband tried to grab the bucket, but she pushed him aside. “You can’t touch the water in here. Let me do it.”

She said to Xia Mi, “For the past two months, the tap has been on every day. The water kept flowing, and it really pained me to see it wasted. I placed a wooden board over this bucket and set the bottles on the board so that the water overflowing from the bottles would flow into this bucket.”

Xia Mi understood her actions perfectly; it was simple recycling.

But could this water really be used?

Xia Mi asked, “You didn’t use this water for cooking, did you?”

The wife replied, “Of course not. I wouldn’t dare cook with water that had bugs soaking in it. I usually use it to flush the toilet. I’ve used up most of it, but after the bottle cracked, this one bucket of water was left over. I was a bit afraid to use it, so I just kept it in the bathroom.

“I discovered something. People who come into contact with this water become particularly obedient to me.”

The husband from 1005 said with a look of naive admiration, “Wife, you’re amazing! How did you find out?”

The wife said, “Hubby, Xia Mi and I have something important to discuss. Go outside and keep watch for us. Don’t let anyone eavesdrop.”

“Okay!” The husband obediently went out the door.

Xia Mi: “…”

The wife said a bit sheepishly, “As you can see, it was only after my husband used the water from the bucket to wash his face that I realized what was happening.”

“Are you sure other people will also listen to you after touching the water?” Xia Mi silently lowered her visor and moved a bit further away from the bucket.

“I offered a glass of water to the drunkard in 1007, and he became obedient too.” The wife’s smile grew increasingly soft and harmless.

“Does this count as…” Xia Mi swallowed the word “poisoning.”

The wife smiled. “My husband often works until midnight to support the family, so I’m frequently home alone. That drunkard from 1007 often took advantage of my husband’s absence to knock on my door at night. I was always terrified.

“My husband is a bit impulsive. I was afraid he’d get into a fight and cause trouble, so I never dared to tell him. But I was truly scared.

“Since I gave that drunkard the water, he hasn’t been a problem anymore.”

“Beautifully done!” Xia Mi gave her a thumbs up. “Flexible thinking. You protected yourself and solved the trouble. You’re great!”

The wife said, “This is a ten-liter bucket. A little has been used, so there’s about eight liters left. There isn’t much, and I don’t know if it’s enough for everyone in the building to get a little on them.

“If they all have the water on them, they won’t be so violent, and you’ll save a lot of time and energy.”

The logic was sound, but Xia Mi was worried about two things.

First, was the wife from 1005 trustworthy? If she were still an ordinary person, Xia Mi could trust her, but she had been in close contact with the egg of the Zhuo for two months. Xia Mi couldn’t be certain if her mental state was normal. What if the wife intended to control everyone in the building to attack her?

Second, the people in the building were already undergoing Zhuo-corruption. Would contact with this water accelerate the feeding speed of the Zhuo and further endanger their lives?

If either of these scenarios came true, it would be fatal.

This time, Xia Mi did not send a message to Liao Tianhua.

A general in the field is not bound by the orders of the sovereign³. As a frontline operative, she needed to be flexible and mobile; she couldn’t bother her leader with every little thing.

Furthermore, in her heart, she trusted the wife from 1005.

If the wife had malicious intent, she could have easily tried to use the water to control Xia Mi first, then used her to spread the water to everyone else.

But whether in the game or in reality, the wife had never splashed water on her, not even when she was killed by Xia Mi in the game.

This indicated that when the corrupted crystal was removed from her eye, she truly did not remember the incident. It also showed that in her conscious state, she had never thought of using this water to attack people.

Xia Mi believed the 1005 wife was trustworthy, but she needed to use the game to verify the safety of this method.

It was currently nine in the morning. Time was running short, yet she was about to spend at least an hour playing a game.

It seemed like a waste of time.

However, if the game confirmed that the 1005 wife’s method was viable, she could mobilize the residents of the entire building in the fastest, least harmful way possible.

The time spent would be worth it.

But Xia Mi couldn’t hide inside Room 1005 to play. She had been inside for too long already, and with over sixty Zhuo-infected people gathered in the hallway, she feared some unforeseen change if she stayed out of sight for too long.

She decided to take the 1005 wife out into the hallway and play the game there.

As the two stepped out of the room, the Zhuo-infected people who had been loitering about immediately and spontaneously formed two lines. One row for the 10th floor and one for the 11th, perfectly neat.

Xia Mi was satisfied with their attitude. “I have some important business to handle,” she said. “Wait for me a little longer.”

Following her usual routine, Xia Mi sat on her small stool and opened Hani Apartments.

After the save file loaded, “Xiao Mi” received information regarding the eggs, just as Xia Mi had in reality.

In this game, the NPCs had names. For example, the Mother from 704 was “704 Mom,” and the 1005 wife’s name was “1005 Wife.” It was only after playing the game that Xia Mi had begun using these titles for them in her mind.

Once the information was obtained, the 1005 wife’s in-game name changed, becoming “Y-057’s Foster Mother.” “Xiao Mi” also received relevant intel on “Y-057.”

A passage of text appeared on that white sheet of paper dropped from the Rooftop,

[Y-057 is a special individual among the experimental subjects in the Building 6 nest who has had the longest contact with the “Foster Mother.” Due to being frequently watched by the “Foster Mother,” it has developed unnecessary emotions.

Y-057 loves the “Foster Mother’s” gaze but hates her imprisonment. Its feelings toward the “Foster Mother” are quite complex, a mix of love and hate. Out of this unfamiliar emotion, it has decided to place the “Foster Mother” second to last in the feeding order. The very last in the order is, naturally, the finished product of “Project Queen Bee.”

Y-057’s intelligence is not high. It treats anyone carrying the “Foster Mother’s” scent as the “Foster Mother” herself. However, it has never actually had direct physical contact with her. It only remembers tap water that smells of disinfectant. It treats any tap water tainted with its own aura as the “Foster Mother’s” scent.

Those tainted with this scent will subconsciously feel protected by it. Their survival instinct makes them willing to temporarily submit to the “Foster Mother” and stay close to her physical body to delay Y-057’s feeding time.

It is unconfirmed whether the finished product of “Project Queen Bee” will be affected by this scent. After all, in the eyes of experimental subjects like Y-057, her scent far overpowers that of the “Foster Mother.”]

After reading this text carefully, Xia Mi felt the game was incredibly considerate.

The game didn’t even require her to waste time playing through to an ending; it provided the explanation in advance.

From this, Xia Mi deduced that Liu Yunxia should be able to control the minds of most people within the Domain, excluding, of course, the foster parents of the other three “Zhuo.”

Even though some special residents remained uncontrolled, as long as the majority were obedient, the difficulty of excising the infected parts would decrease, and efficiency would skyrocket.

This plan was viable.

More than the plan itself, what caught Xia Mi’s attention was that this text had appeared on the white paper from the Rooftop.

The white paper was merely a symbol, representing the intelligence that Liao Tianhua and the team behind him could provide to Xia Mi.

The text appearing in the game symbolized that once Xia Mi learned the intel regarding Y-057, Liao Tianhua’s side would investigate it and relay the findings to her.

The correct sequence should have been: Xia Mi learns of the matter from the 1005 wife, tells Liao Tianhua, Liao Tianhua informs the Second Team, the Second Team focuses their search on Y-057 while investigating the pharmaceutical factory, they find this text, and then Liao Tianhua tells Xia Mi.

But the game skipped this entire process.

It turned out that as soon as Xia Mi heard the designation Y-057, she automatically acquired the information.

When “Xiao Mi” first arrived on the 10th floor, she hadn’t received this intel.

It was only because Xia Mi had obtained the key information in reality that the game updated its intelligence.

Similarly, “Xiao Mi” had died countless times on the Rooftop before, unable to find a weapon no matter what.

It was only after Xia Mi met Liao Tianhua in reality that “Xiao Mi” could obtain a weapon in the game, which further hinted at what Xia Mi should do next.

The game seemed to have prophetic abilities, but if Xia Mi didn’t trigger certain key pieces of information, the game couldn’t make its predictions.

The game world changed along with the things Xia Mi experienced.

Shield: [I’m sorry. I was arrogant. My special traits are nowhere near yours. My little secrets can’t even begin to make us even.]

Xia Mi said, “Why are you still keeping secrets at a time like this! Let’s worry about getting out of this building alive first!”

If the content of this paper was something Liao Tianhua had found, it meant they already knew about “Project Queen Bee.” What secrets did she have left to keep?

Xia Mi put away her laptop and pondered how to sprinkle a mere eight liters of water onto everyone.

The best way was atomization.

For example, the disinfectant spray guns that sold like crazy during the pandemic, pesticide bottles, or household watering misters.

Xia Mi didn’t have these things, but someone among the crowd might.

Xia Mi asked loudly, “Does anyone have a disinfectant spray gun, or a watering mister with high pressure and good atomization?”

The crowd looked at one another and shook their heads.

The people in this building were all struggling migrant workers. Who would spend money on something like that? A disinfectant spray gun cost dozens of yuan on Taobao; that was enough to buy five or six pounds of pork.

However, the 1005 wife spoke up. “Comrade Xia, I have one at my place.”

Xia Mi looked at her.

The wife’s face flushed. “Didn’t I come into some money? I’ve bought a ton of stuff through delivery these past two months. My health is weak and I catch colds easily, so I bought that kind of bottle for daily disinfection. I haven’t actually used it yet, though. I only touched it once when I was unboxing it.”

Xia Mi gripped the hand of 1005’s wife tightly and said, “Excuse me…”

The woman quickly introduced herself. “Liu Yunxia.”

Xia Mi continued, “Comrade Liu Yunxia, may I requisition your spray bottle? I’ll write you an IOU. I’ve already written IOUs for the bedsheets and the needle and thread I requisitioned earlier.”

“Even if you don’t write an IOU, we’re neighbors. It’s just a spray bottle, I wouldn’t charge you for that,” Liu Yunxia said generously.

Xia Mi soon acquired a powerful weapon: an electric sprayer with a two-liter capacity, a wide-range misting nozzle, and a three-hour battery life on a full charge.

Liu Yunxia hadn’t charged it since she bought it, but the device still had eighty-six percent power. Using it continuously for two hours wouldn’t be a problem.

Xia Mi filled the sprayer with water and immediately sprayed it onto Sister Li.

Hair had begun growing all over Sister Li’s body, making her look less and less human. Xia Mi had to control her emotions and cut that hair.

Sister Li had been on the verge of a total rampage, and the contact with the water only made her more violent.

She unfurled her hair, and the strands quickly filled the entire corridor, blocking everyone’s path of retreat.

The others were submerged in a sea of hair, leaving only Xia Mi and Liu Yunxia standing face-to-face with Sister Li, braving her fury.

“What… are… you… doing?” Sister Li asked, her voice eerie and dark.

Liu Yunxia stepped forward, took Sister Li’s hand, and said softly, “Deep breaths. Stay calm. Don’t be angry.”

But her methods had absolutely no effect on Sister Li.

Sister Li used her hair to strangle Liu Yunxia’s neck, saying viciously, “I feel… like you want to order me around. You want to dominate me, to control me.”

Xia Mi never expected that Sister Li would be immune to the water’s control; in fact, the water had provoked her.

She felt a pang of regret for acting directly without testing it in the game first. This was the consequence.

In the game, she could reload a save, but reality had no pause button.

Seeing Liu Yunxia’s face turn purple as she was about to be strangled to death, Xia Mi shouted, “She has money! She’s very rich! She can sign up for a Top-Tier Supreme VIP card at your shop. As your most distinguished client, shouldn’t you listen to her reasonable requests?”

“You?” Sister Li looked at Liu Yunxia.

Seeing the opening, Liu Yunxia hurriedly pulled out her phone and showed Sister Li her account balance, which held hundreds of thousands.

Sister Li’s expression softened when she saw the amount, though she still sounded skeptical. “A Supreme Card costs ten thousand. It’s very expensive.”

“She can afford it! I can testify to that! I’ll help her sign up!” Xia Mi added quickly.

Only then did Sister Li release Liu Yunxia, using her long hair to gently pat the woman’s back.

Sister Li brushed aside the hair covering her face, revealing her features. “I am Hairdresser Number Three, Xiao Li. Distinguished guest, when you sign up for your card, please be sure to mention my name or my number.”

Liu Yunxia coughed violently, unable to speak.

Xia Mi took the opportunity to say, “The distinguished Sister Liu doesn’t like Hairdressers with hair that’s too long. She wants to switch. The Number Two Hairdresser in your shop is quite good; she likes the number ‘two’.”

“You… don’t… like… long… hair?” Sister Li pressed her face right up to Liu Yunxia’s, asking one word at a time.

Enduring the pressure, Liu Yunxia managed to say, “Your hair was strangling my neck. I like short-haired Hairdressers!”

Sister Li looked at her own hair, a dazed expression on her face.

Xia Mi seized the moment to raise her axe. “Sister Li, let me help you clean up your hair.”

Seeing that Sister Li was still struggling with herself and hadn’t objected, Xia Mi acted decisively. She swung the axe in a wide arc, severing a massive clump of hair.

Previously, Xia Mi had been reluctant to cut Sister Li’s hair because she needed it to help subdue other Zhuo-corrupted people. Now that she had the disinfectant sprayer, her dependence on the long hair had decreased significantly. She didn’t hesitate for a second.

“Aaaaaah!” Sister Li screamed as she looked at the hair on the floor. Her remaining hair lashed out like demonic claws.

“I’ll transfer the money to you right now!” Liu Yunxia said with the air of a wealthy tycoon.

Sister Li froze again.

Xia Mi realized that Liu Yunxia did have a certain degree of control over Sister Li, but Sister Li’s resistance was exceptionally strong, allowing her to fight back.

However, when Liu Yunxia mentioned the VIP card, Sister Li’s human side was tempted. Her resistance dropped, allowing Liu Yunxia’s words to take effect.

Xia Mi could use these windows of time to cut the hair.

And so, Xia Mi hacked away at a rapid pace. Sister Li wavered back and forth between the lure of money and her desire for freedom, unable to act. She could only watch as Xia Mi chopped her waterfall of long hair short.

Between the axe blows and the knife cuts, the hair was eventually reduced to shoulder length. Only then did Sister Li truly regain her senses.

She grabbed the ends of her hair, looking at the jagged, uneven mess. Tears of agony fell. “It’s so ugly.”

Xia Mi asked, “Do you have professional hairdressing scissors at home?”

Sister Li nodded.

Xia Mi comforted her, “Once we get to the seventh floor, you can go home and give yourself a style you like. There’s still enough length left to trim it properly.”

Sister Li accepted this through her tears.

Xia Mi then asked, “Sister Li, are you willing to listen to Liu Yunxia?”

Sister Li glanced at Liu Yunxia, then pulled Xia Mi aside to whisper, “I always feel like she’s trying to pua⁴ me. I don’t want to listen to her, but I want her to buy the card.”

Sister Li still maintained her resistance to Liu Yunxia’s control; she simply couldn’t resist the temptation of money.

Xia Mi took the chance to say, “She hasn’t bought the card yet, so of course you shouldn’t let her boss you around. You have to maintain your personal independence! Once she officially signs up, it won’t be too late to listen to her then.”

Sister Li nodded vigorously.

Xia Mi breathed a sigh of relief.

With Liu Yunxia’s help, she had successfully severed Sister Li’s corrupted parts and resolved the crisis. Since Sister Li remained resistant to Liu Yunxia’s control, if Liu Yunxia were ever influenced by the ‘Zhuo’ and tried to harm the residents of the building, Sister Li would act as a check against her.

A triangle was a stable shape. With the three of them together, keeping each other in check, their relationship was bound to be harmonious.

Xia Mi mobilized the neighbors to gather Sister Li’s hair and tie it into a bundle. She instructed the residents of the tenth and eleventh floors to stand by on the tenth floor.

Then, laden with weapons and followed by Sister Li and Liu Yunxia, she set off to conquer the other floors.

Her team was growing larger and larger.

Translator’s Notes