I thought everything would be the same as before, but it seemed a bit different.

Although Uncle Wan still remembered me, his scent still smelled bad. Sister Siwei didn’t remember me, but her scent was still so clean.

I was more adept than the last time, and I volunteered to enter the well. But unlike last time, Uncle Wan proactively tied the rope around my waist and repeatedly urged me that nothing must happen to me.

Although his scent still smelled bad, his attitude toward me seemed different from last time.

And we walked out of that room just like before. Sister Siwei still praised me as a true “hero.”

I asked her countless times “Do you remember me?” but each time she only smiled and shook her head. So I could only tell her I wasn’t “Yingxiong” the hero, but “Yingxiong” with the fourth tone.

Although I was a bit sad, thinking that I could be with her for ten days, it didn’t feel so unacceptable. Although she didn’t remember me, I still remembered her.

When we came from that magical corridor to the street, Big Brother Guyu was already waiting for us here.

He obviously had no interest in the fact that Uncle Wan still remembered him. Like me, he first went to find Sister Siwei, but Sister Siwei didn’t remember anyone.

“Let me introduce everyone.” Uncle Wan said to the other aunties. “This is Guyu, Little Gu. From now on, he’s also part of our big family. We must love each other and create a future together.”

Big Brother Guyu didn’t object. He just stood beside Sister Siwei and roughly explained the situation to her.

He told Sister that this was our second time here, and that he had memories from the last time. It was really good to have an adult nearby—I couldn’t explain these things clearly.

After speaking, he looked at me. I also nodded along. “Big Brother Guyu, I remember you too.”

After hearing this, he patted my head reassuringly. “That’s great.”

He and Sister speculated that people with the “clear fragrance” might be the ones who retained their memories—like me, like him, like Uncle Wan.

In the following days, Big Brother Guyu really joined us. In order to find a stable foothold for more than ten people, Uncle Wan led us wandering continuously through the city. He seemed to have a new goal.

We found a very large-looking supermarket. The basement level of this supermarket had a warehouse. Uncle Wan led people to spend great effort smashing the door open. Inside were quite a few canned goods.

We had food now. Uncle Wan said this food would be enough for us to eat for several months.

But what no one expected was that he only gave food to me, Sister Siwei, and Big Brother Guyu, and didn’t distribute any to the others.

“Everyone, I now need to establish some rules for our family.” Uncle Wan closed the warehouse door, then said very seriously, “This isn’t the first time we’ve gathered here. This is now the second time, and several of us have retained our memories. So I feel that escaping from here isn’t something that can be accomplished in ten days. Instead, it will be a very long process.”

The several aunties looked at each other, not knowing what he was going to say.

“You might find it hard to understand, but we are indeed trapped here.” Uncle Wan said again. “From now on, I need you to recruit people.”

“Recruit people…?” one auntie asked puzzledly. “Recruit what people?”

“Although we are a ‘big family’ and we are all each other’s family members, we still need to establish some ‘family rules,’ otherwise it will be very difficult to manage in the future.” Uncle Wan pulled me from behind the crowd and brought me to his side. “I need you to recruit new ‘Participants’ into our ‘big family.’ Each person you recruit must be brought to this child. As long as this child thinks the other person has that ‘clear fragrance,’ then both the recruited person and their ‘upline’ can receive food.”

“Upline…?” Several aunties seemed to be trying to understand what Uncle Wan was saying.

“That’s right. Another point to note…” Uncle Wan picked up a rock and drew a pyramid-like shape on the wall. He pointed at the bottom of the pyramid. “The ‘downlines’ you recruit can also continue to recruit ‘downlines.’ As long as they can recruit ‘Clear Fragrance Bearers,’ all the ‘uplines’ can still receive food. If you’re strong enough, the entire team will become very wealthy.”

Several aunties nodded after hearing this, but Big Brother Guyu and Sister Siwei’s expressions were very grave, and the scents on their bodies didn’t smell good either.

“Additionally, for every three ordinary people or one ‘Clear Fragrance Bearer’ recruited, you can receive an extra ten pieces of ‘Jade’ from me. Whether you recruit them personally or your ‘downlines’ recruit them, the team leader will receive ‘Jade.'”

Uncle Wan threw away the stone in his hand and said earnestly to everyone, “Don’t blame me for being too harsh. As I said, everyone has already been here once before, but precisely because we weren’t united enough in the end, we all died here… If we can’t find a way to unite everyone, the outcome will be no different from last time.”

I smelled the scents on those aunties beginning to hesitate.

“Everyone go recruit some people today.” Uncle Wan said. “Tomorrow evening we’ll still be here. I’ll explain in detail our future development plan to everyone. Consider it the first ‘mobilization meeting.’ For our beautiful goal, each of you may need to put in tremendous effort. Do you have confidence?”

“Yes…” one auntie said quietly.

“Do! You! Have! Con! Fi! Dence?!” Uncle Wan suddenly shouted.

“Yes!” they said.

“We will definitely escape, right?!”

“Right!” they said.

Just as everyone was becoming excited, one auntie’s scent changed. She looked a bit older than Mother, but dressed more nicely than Mother.

She took a step forward and said to Uncle Wan, “Mr. Wan… something seems off… Even if one day we can gather all the people together… will we be able to leave then?”

After hearing her words, Uncle Wan’s scent suddenly became frightening, but he still maintained his smile and said, “Those who don’t believe are free to leave. What we need is ‘unity,’ not ‘internal strife.’ So I won’t force anyone here.”

“I…” The auntie lowered her head somewhat awkwardly. If she didn’t stay with this group of people and ran out onto the street by herself, who could know what kind of danger she would encounter?

“I won’t force you, but I need to make it clear in advance.” Uncle Wan raised his voice and said, “People who are alone here will only die. If you don’t believe it, you’re welcome to go try.”