Uncle Wan’s words moved the aunties. They walked out the door one after another, their scents smelling very determined.

“Brother Wan…” Seeing everyone had left, Big Brother Guyu slowly walked forward. “You said you used to organize teams frequently. Is this the kind of team you organized…?”

Sister Siwei also frowned and asked, “Brother Wan, what exactly did you do before?”

“You two aren’t stupid. You should be able to see it.” Uncle Wan smiled. “I used to be the ‘patriarch’ who organized families. My ‘family members’ were everywhere.”

“You did multi-level marketing.” Sister Siwei said in a low voice. “Are you planning to brainwash us?”

“No, no, no, no.” Uncle Wan kept shaking his head at Big Brother Guyu and Sister Siwei. “You really think too highly of me. Do you know about Jiang Taigong?”

“Jiang Taigong?”

“To brainwash someone, there must be prerequisites.” Uncle Wan held up two fingers. “First, the other party must have ‘pain points.’ Second, the other party can’t be too smart. You two at most have ‘pain points,’ but you’re too smart to be brainwashed by me. So this so-called ‘brainwashing’ has always been about willing fish taking the bait. How could we people who do multi-level marketing be that miraculous?”

Big Brother Guyu narrowed his eyes. “Since you know we two won’t be fooled, why did you tell those people your scheme right in front of us? What exactly do you want to do?”

“You’ve also discovered, haven’t you, that ‘Clear Fragrance Bearers’ not only have superpowers, they can even preserve their memories.” Uncle Wan said. “So the key to escaping this place is the ‘Clear Fragrance Bearers.’ When we’ve gathered enough ‘Clear Fragrance Bearers,’ never mind those tens of thousands of pieces of ‘Jade’—we might even be able to confront the administrators of this place. So the urgent priority is to recruit people. We need many, many people.”

“How could it be so easy…?” Sister Siwei said. “Do you think there are few smart people here?”

“This is where you don’t understand.” Uncle Wan shook his head. “This question happens to be in my area of expertise. I can tell you very responsibly that smart people in this world will always be in the minority. I can also tell you that among my former ‘family members,’ there was a very high proportion of college graduates. Do you think they were foolish or smart?”

Big Brother Guyu and Sister Siwei looked at each other, neither able to say anything.

“As I said… there aren’t many ‘smart people’ in this world. There are more people who ‘think they’re smart.'” Uncle Wan walked forward and patted Big Brother Guyu’s shoulder. “Outside, everyone’s ‘pain points’ are ‘making money’ and ‘getting ahead.’ As long as you can grasp these two ‘pain points,’ sometimes smart people will also become fools. And here, their ‘pain points’ are ‘escape’ and ‘survival.’ There’s essentially no difference.”

Sometimes the things adults say are very profound and hard for me to understand. But somehow, I could understand what Uncle Wan said today.

Seeing that Big Brother Guyu and Sister Siwei weren’t speaking, Uncle Wan said again, “The reason I’m laying everything out for you two is because I also need helpers.”

“But this is unreliable.” Big Brother Guyu said. “This place doesn’t even have laws, yet you want to establish ‘order’ yourself?”

“So what?” Uncle Wan asked.

“Will they believe you?”

After hearing this, Uncle Wan shook his head. “Little Gu, I’m not making them lose anything. I just want to recruit more strong people.”

After speaking, he pointed at me again. “Besides, we have this child here. Not only am I not making them lose anything, I’ll really give them some help. As for me… to them, I’m not a con artist in this dead city at all. I’m the light of this dead city. Understand?”

Big Brother Guyu and Sister Siwei’s expressions were grave, both pondering something.

“If you don’t believe me, you’re free to leave. But as I said, you’re smart people. You should know how to gather everyone together the fastest, right?”

Big Brother Guyu and Sister Siwei agreed to Uncle Wan, but the scents on the two of them were different.

Big Brother Guyu smelled like he had many thoughts. He didn’t sincerely want to stay. When he agreed to Uncle Wan, his scent still hesitated.

And what Sister Siwei emanated more of was worry.

From this day on, the atmosphere here seemed to truly change.

I never imagined this city had so many people.

When the aunties came back in the evening, each one brought seven or eight new family members.

These people heard that not only was food distributed here, they could even be bestowed with superpowers. All carrying scents of skepticism, they squeezed in. The supermarket was instantly packed with people.

Big Brother Guyu, Sister Siwei, and I sat in a corner, looking at the bustling crowd, momentarily not knowing what to do.

“Guyu… I think Brother Wan is right.” Sister Siwei said somewhat despondently. “Smart people really are in the minority in this world.”

“Yes.” Big Brother Guyu nodded. “Usually every person who’s been fooled thinks they haven’t been fooled.”

Uncle Wan first pacified everyone’s emotions, then repeated what he had said during the day to everyone again, but changed the rules a bit. It seemed even he hadn’t anticipated so many people would come.

He told everyone that those joining the family now were called “founding members,” so not only could each person enter for free, they could also continue to earn food and “Jade” in the future.

Because starting tomorrow, everyone who joined must pay ten pieces of “Jade.”

This was each person’s “entrance fee.” As long as they paid ten pieces of “Jade,” everyone would be family, and from then on, everyone must look after each other in all matters.

Uncle Wan had all the newcomers line up, then come to me one by one for me to smell. But after I finished smelling the scents of these dozens of people, I silently shook my head.

Not one person carried that clear fragrance. In fact, not just them—in this supermarket right now, apart from me, it seemed no one carried the clear fragrance.

Uncle Wan had those people wait in the distance, then pulled me into another room. Sister Siwei wasn’t reassured and immediately followed.

“Damn it… not a single one?” Uncle Wan asked me quietly.

I nodded.

“You little brat, you’re not lying to me, are you…?” His eyes became frightening again.

I hid behind Sister. Sister spoke up to help me, “Why would Yingxiong need to lie to you? There’s no point for him to do that.”

Fortunately Sister was here. She could always change Uncle Wan’s scent with just one sentence.

But this time the situation seemed more serious than before. His angry scent had just dissipated, but quickly emerged again.

“Then aren’t I fucking screwed?” Uncle Wan said. “Doesn’t that mean everything I just said was all bullshit? Right now there isn’t a single ‘Clear Fragrance Bearer’ in the room. Only this little brat himself is one! None of the people present can receive food. How do you want those people to believe me?!”

The more he spoke, the closer he pressed. Seeing this, Sister Siwei immediately stood in front of me and reached out to gently push him away.

“Brother Wan, you said that’s your area of expertise, so you should be the one to figure out a solution.”