Chapter 223: Chapter 218: Understanding the Water-Saving Duck
The vehicle drove to the riverside area of the city, where there were fewer cars.
A reinforced concrete bridge spanned the river, its sturdy pillars standing in the middle of the road, towering over the two women.
The car came to a stop by the roadside.
Ji Ma stepped out of the car and stretched her wings vigorously, the bones cracking.
The beautiful young woman from the car struggled to carry a folding chair. It had been a while since she had carried something, and her movements were slow. She opened the folding chair, and Ji Ma lay down on it, reaching out to take a can of cola.
The beautiful young woman’s phone vibrated again. She whispered to Ji Ma, “Master, my ex-boyfriend called again. I told him we broke up, but he—”
“Just stay quiet, handle it however you want.”
The beautiful young woman nodded and hurriedly jogged away, eager to return to Ji Ma’s side. It had been a long time since she had run that fast; after about fifty meters, she was out of breath while answering the call.
Ji Ma’s hearing was much sharper than that of ordinary people, and she could still hear the young woman’s voice.
“Hello! Liu Yulong! Didn’t I say we’ve broken up?”
“I was jogging just now, why are you calling me so much?”
“Break up! Break up! Break up!”
“You’re still cursing at me? I didn’t cheat; why are men so disgusting? You think I’m being kidnapped or something? You men are really self-confident.”
“What are you bringing up the green hat issue for again? Fine, I’ll take a picture to show you where I am.”
“Happy now, Young Master Liu? If you keep bothering me, I will really break up with you. Can’t you give me a month or two of rest?”
“If you call again, I’m done! Not even my mom can help.”
Ji Ma casually downed the ice-cold cola, letting out a burp.
The beautiful young woman ran back and smiled at Ji Ma, “Master, do you want me to get another bottle?”
“Your sunglasses.” Ji Ma returned the colorful sunglasses to her.
“Are my sunglasses not to your liking?”
“No, just wait a bit; you’ll want to see a good show, so don’t wear sunglasses.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a black sedan drove by in front of the two women. It was the car that had cut in front of Ji Ma earlier, causing her to wait an extra red light.
Ji Ma clapped her hands, and the black sedan suddenly accelerated, crashing straight into the sturdy bridge pillar.
The beautiful young woman gasped.
“Boom!”
The sound of the crash, metal deformation, and shattering all rang out together, drowning out her voice as shattered black pieces scattered everywhere.
Ji Ma enjoyed the crash, cheerfully crossing off this grudge. She even posted in the comment section on Bilibili, sharing the real names of those who had criticized her.
She cursed from behind, “I have already cursed this group of people; your bodies will surely endure great pain afterward. Leave the resentment to your past selves.”
“Alright.” Ji Ma stood up and said to the beautiful young woman beside her, “Call 120.”
“Okay.”
“Then you rush home and prepare all your luggage as quickly as possible. Make sure to keep yourself beautiful every day and bring more clothes.”
“Yes.”
“And then we’ll meet at People’s Square.”
The beautiful young woman’s fingers froze, “You don’t want me anymore?”
“I said I need someone to drive.” Ji Ma said, “Your car isn’t good; I’m getting a better one.”
Forty minutes later.
The beautiful young woman arrived at People’s Square as fast as possible, carrying several boxes of luggage. She saw the good car Ji Ma mentioned.
It was a very new tourist bus from a travel agency.
“What are you dumbfounded for? Hurry up and drive.”
“But this is a bus.”
“Isn’t a bus better than your little car?” Ji Ma said, “Look at how much space there is inside.”
“Okay… fine.”
…
…
Meng He returned to her home in the neighborhood, opened the door, took off her mask, changed her shoes, washed her hands and disinfected them, then went into the room to unlock her computer.
Out of habit, she went online and browsed the forum. She used to like Weibo, but now rarely used it; she logged onto Bilibili instead.
A video titled “Debunking, the Blue Pill Really Exists” appeared on her homepage. Driven by curiosity, she clicked on the video and watched some of its content.
The more she watched, the more fake it seemed.
The uploader sounded like they had some credibility.
It must be a marketing account or clickbait.
Meng He thought, exiting the video and opening the comments section to see if there were any high-rated comments worth reading.
High-rated comment:
“The thing is real; yesterday there was an uploader on Bilibili reviewing the blue pill, saying that if you take it, you can slap someone in the face. Then he ate a lot, and for some reason, many people got slapped in the face.”
High-rated second:
“Those who got slapped yesterday come here to gather; while I was pooping, I got slapped while eating my own poop—brothers, give a like to comfort the kid.”
High-rated third:
“……Yesterday the National Warning Center even told us to cut the internet.”
After reading, Meng He took out her phone and found the text message from the National Warning Center in her harassment interception.
“[Dragon Province Warning Center] All citizens, please cut off the internet immediately and do not go on any live streaming platform. Those who have facial injuries should walk to the nearest hospital for treatment immediately.”
Meng He’s mind went blank for a moment; this was beyond her comprehension.
After a brief daze, she quickly straightened up and furiously typed on the keyboard, searching frantically online.
She didn’t believe this was real.
Gradually, the entire situation came to light, and at that moment, Meng He realized she had missed a significant event due to just one day without going online.
Now, people were buzzing with discussions; she came across two mainstream viewpoints.
Many believed this was a marketing stunt by capitalists.
They analyzed that a few days ago, a female streamer got slapped in the face during a live broadcast and claimed that someone slapped her; no one believed her. But the day before yesterday, she came up with a bunch of blue pills, claiming they would slap haters, and then hired people to flood the comments, falsely claiming to have been slapped.
Clearly, this was yet another creative publicity stunt.
“You suddenly see so many videos talking about the blue pill; I don’t believe there are no (paid) commenters behind this.”
“I’m a paid commenter; where do I get my money?”
“Here come the commenters, here they come.”
The second viewpoint also had many supporters.
They mocked the first viewpoint as being like a closed-off Qing Dynasty. Humanity is facing an unprecedented and major change, and yet there are still people wanting to explain it with science.
They are either foolish or simple-minded.
Since even the live streaming platforms have shut down, something serious must be happening.
Meng He felt a bit dazed, unsure of whom to believe. Logically, the first viewpoint seemed accurate.
But how could big capital be so bold as to use the country’s name to enact such things?
They must have grown tired of living and want to die.
Unconsciously, Meng He sat in front of the computer for several hours. She decided to watch and wait, then went to bed to sleep.
A week later.
Meng He had nearly forgotten about this matter.
However, the Long City Public Security Bureau issued a police announcement on a blue background with white letters, stating they had caught a man selling blue pills, and that the blue pills were produced and sold by him.
He illegally profited over three hundred thousand.
This was equivalent to the authorities indirectly admitting it.
Immediately causing an uproar online.
Is a new era about to start?
Meng He had a huge question mark in her heart.
She felt anxious, like a sponge searching for various opinions online.
The discussions were rampant, with all kinds of theories. She felt like a sponge drifting in the sea.
She learned a lot. For example, the man selling the blue pills was a reclusive online writer living alone in a rented room. His QQ nickname was “Production Team’s Donkey,” and curious netizens even dug up his works, which were supposedly niche and rather perverse.
But Meng He still felt empty, filled only with anxiety.
Meng He even went to Zhihu to read a big influencer’s suggestions on extraterrestrial beings investing in real estate. Although it was a lengthy analysis of extraordinary events, the transition to investing in real estate was somewhat abrupt.
Yet Meng He felt it made sense; no matter how things changed in the future, property prices would rise—if they hadn’t risen, it was because you weren’t looking in the right place, which was your key to falling behind others.
If you didn’t buy property, your assets would shrink. But if you bought the right property, your assets would come flooding in.
Meng He read until her eyes were dry and felt tired. She went to bed.
In the next few days, she kept an eye on official news.
Unfortunately, after a while, the officials fell silent, as if nothing had happened.
One afternoon.
Meng He was leaving her university classroom.
A male classmate next to her was walking when he accidentally knocked his little toe against the door frame at an awkward angle, causing it to absorb all the impact.
Meng He involuntarily winced as she watched, feeling the pain.
“Ouch! That hurts!” The male classmate squinted in pain, bending down, and his phone fell to the ground.
The phone happened to land at Meng He’s feet. She bent down to pick it up and noticed the screen showed a pink app, which was the Bilibili application, a video site popular among young people in China.
“Are you okay?” Meng He asked.
The male classmate looked up, his face scrunched up and his eyes glistening with unshed tears. He said, “I’m not okay… Thank you; can you place the phone next to my foot? Let me catch my breath.”
“Sure.”
Meng He turned to leave, not thinking much of this small incident.
Following the crowd from the third floor of the teaching building down to the first, she heard another cry of pain.
“Ouch! That hurts!”
Meng He and a few others turned to see a girl bent over, her hand reaching for her foot, where her little toe was bright red from her sandal.
Meng He thought of something and asked, “Did you also hit your little toe?”
The girl nodded, unable to speak due to the pain.
At that moment, Meng He realized.
This was already the fifth time she had heard someone had hit their little toe or someone twisted their ankle, or accidentally bumped their head against some strange hard object.
These were ordinary mistakes that people made in daily life.
But ever since the day before yesterday, it seemed like someone would make such mistakes almost every day.
Meng He didn’t know what was happening, but her sixth sense as a woman told her that this situation was very odd.
In the heat of summer, she felt an inexplicable chill and tightly pulled her mask, quickly hurried back to her home.
Upon returning home, she still took off her mask, changed her shoes, washed her hands, and disinfected them. This time, she used more disinfectant, feeling as if she had gotten something bad on her.
After washing up, she habitually took out her phone and opened her QQ group, where many messages awaited her.
But as she glanced, she spotted a friend with a rabbit avatar, named Lei Jia, who was a friend from her running team.
“Are we forming a team today?” Meng He felt a bit better and opened the message, which read: “A new era is coming; do you want to join me and serve under the master?”
Meng He typed back a series of question marks: “????”
