Rebellious Game C19.1

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Chp19. part1

Zhou Rui arrived just in time; there were only a few electric fans left, and he managed to snag one. Shopping done, he trotted back to the shop, put on his uniform, and transformed back into the “chosen” worker, ready to begin another “wonderful” day on the job.

The weather was truly scorching.

Walking outside, one could feel waves of heat rolling through the air; it felt like being in a sauna.

Because of this, there was a huge demand for iced drinks.

Yun Xin, Zhu Lin, and Zhou Rui were running around in circles, yet the queue outside remained long, showing no signs of shortening.

Iced drinks, smoothies, ice cubes… anything with “ice” in the name was exceptionally popular.

Zhu Lin was questioning her life choices. “Did I choose the wrong career path? Why am I this busy?”

Just then, the next customer asked in a rush, “Do you sell ice cubes? Can you just sell me some ice?”

“Huh?” Zhu Lin was stunned by the question. She paused before saying, “I’m sorry, we don’t sell ice cubes separately.”

“Then I’ll have three cups of mung bean smoothie, with extra ice!!”

The customer emphasized specifically.

Zhu Lin understood and added an extra large portion of ice to the customer’s order.

“Thanks!” After taking the smoothies, the customer didn’t even open them to drink, but instead pressed them against their face like ice packs, and then hurriedly ran out.

“What’s going on?” Zhu Lin wondered.

But she didn’t have time to think about it. Customers flooded into the shop like a tide, every one of them clamoring to buy iced drinks.

Three hours later, things finally quieted down.

Zhu Lin, her hands nearly falling off from making drinks, slumped over the table, sighing from the bottom of her heart, “I shouldn’t have been greedy for free drinks and taken this job.”

Three more female customers walked in.

“One iced milk tea, one iced sour plum juice, one iced watermelon juice.”

“Alright, please wait a moment.” Zhou Rui stuck to his post, working diligently.

Zhu Lin asked in a low voice, “It’s work hours right now, don’t you guys have to work?”

One of the female customers laughed, “We do, but the power’s out in our area, and they’re rushing to fix it.”

“The air conditioning isn’t working, the desktop computers keep shutting down automatically, what else is there to do at the office? Might as well come out, buy a drink, and enjoy the AC to cool off.” Another added jokingly, “Besides, even if we were willing to stay, our boss wouldn’t want us to. What if someone gets heatstroke? That would count as a work-related injury.”

Zhu Lin’s expression grew even more resentful.

It was the same hot day; some people were out buying drinks on company time, while she was so busy she wished she could just collapse. The contrast…

“It’s not just our area; the residential complex next door lost power too,” the first female customer said. “I heard that an elderly person was napping with the AC on and the power cut out halfway through. They didn’t wake up from the heat; they passed out from it. Their family had to call an ambulance in a panic.”

“That’s not the only case, there are others,” her companion chimed in. “There are a lot of elderly people in that complex, and some are in poor health and need ventilators. When the power went out, the ventilators stopped working too.”

“I heard that the family also called for an ambulance, and when it arrived at the complex, two families were fighting over who should get on first—they almost couldn’t make it.”

After hearing this, Zhou Rui’s first reaction was, “Doesn’t that mean the refrigerators aren’t working either? Will the food stored inside go bad?”

“If it goes bad, there’s nothing we can do.”

The woman sighed, “If the power supply bureau cuts the power, what are the residents supposed to do?”

“They guaranteed before that if everyone conserved electricity, we could definitely get through this. But then they just cut the power whenever they felt like it, and when asked, they just say there’s a problem and they’re rushing to fix it.”

“Your drinks are ready.”

The female customer took a cup in each hand and left the shop with a smile.

Zhu Lin’s worldview was shaken. “Is the situation really that bad?”

Yun Xin shook her phone. “Latest news: the peak temperature outside is 45 degrees, and children in the power-outage areas are already fainting.”

Zhou Rui remained silent. After a long while, he muttered, “This is going to drive people crazy.”

Zhou Rui thought he already knew how severe the current situation was. Unexpectedly, upon returning to his rented apartment, he realized he had still underestimated it.

He brought the electric fan home, plugged it in, and it immediately started whirring. But why… why was it blowing out hot air??

The room was already stuffy, and with the electric fan blowing directly at him, it felt like it was just blowing all the heat his way. Moreover, the chest tightness and shortness of breath caused by the high temperature did not subside at all from having the fan on.

The room was already stuffy, and with the electric fan blowing directly at him, it felt like it was just blowing all the hot air over. Moreover, the chest tightness and shortness of breath caused by the high heat didn’t subside at all just because the fan was on.

Zhou Rui had been lying in bed, forcing himself to fall asleep, but forty minutes had passed, and he was still wide awake.

“This is crazy, I’m going crazy.”

There was no help for it, so Zhou Rui had to turn the air conditioning back on.

The cool air blew straight onto him, and the heat and irritability were immediately dispelled. But only a few minutes later, “pop”—the power tripped.

Zhou Rui, “……”

Thankfully, it wasn’t a regional power outage.

Zhou Rui flipped the power back on, turned on the electric fan instead, and finally managed to get a good night’s sleep.

Early the next morning, he rushed out to catch the morning rush hour for work. Before he could leave, he was stopped by the landlady. “Got a notice, the Power Bureau says they’re raising electricity rates starting next month, to this much per kilowatt-hour.”

The landlady made a gesture.

A vein throbbed on Zhou Rui’s forehead. The power cut out constantly, the breaker tripped if he used a few too many appliances, and now they were raising the electricity rates… Absolute robbery!

The tenant didn’t say a word, which didn’t stop the landlady from continuing, “You know, whatever the Power Bureau charges me, I charge you. Running late for work, aren’t you? Hurry up, don’t want to get your pay docked.”

After she finished speaking, she left, leaving Zhou Rui standing there, gnashing his teeth in frustration.

During the lunch break, the three of them took turns resting.

Zhu Lin went out to eat, and when she returned, she chatted with Yun Xin about some gossip, “I heard a supermarket nearby had a power outage for several hours yesterday. When the power came back on, the refrigerated food wasn’t fresh anymore. The supermarket planned to throw it all away, and a lot of people were swarming there to snatch it up.”

“In the middle of summer, with a power outage, can that stuff even be eaten?” Yun Xin asked, skeptical.

“It should be fine, I guess,” Zhu Lin said, though she wasn’t actually sure. “I just saw a lot of people grabbing it.”

Zhou Rui couldn’t sit still. “It’s my turn to take a break.”

As he spoke, he took off running.

“Hey, don’t go—” Yun Xin saw a pale gray mist suddenly appear on Zhou Rui’s body and tried to stop him, but before she could, he had already vanished.

This couldn’t even be called not listening to advice.

He hadn’t even heard what she said at all.

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