Sister Siwei’s single sentence caused the scent emanating from Uncle Wan to shift back and forth repeatedly.

His expression matched the changes in his scent—first glaring at Sister Siwei for quite some time, then lowering his head to quickly ponder something.

“You’re right… Every one of us in this ‘family’ should have our own ability to stand on our own.”

As if remembering something, he walked out the door and addressed everyone:

“Everyone, I’ve just confirmed with this child that none of you are ‘Fragrance Bearers.'”

After those words, the crowd instantly fell silent. A few seconds passed, then erupted into noisy chaos again.

“What does that mean?!” a newly arrived young man asked.

“It means no one gets any reward today,” Uncle Wan said.

“With so many of us here, we can’t even exchange for food?!”

“Are you trying to trick us?”

“I think I smell pretty fragrant! Have that child sniff me again!”

Voices chattered from all directions. I knew this feeling—this was the feeling right before a fight was about to break out.

If all these people argued with Uncle Wan, he definitely wouldn’t be able to talk back, and might even get beaten.

Uncle Wan took a deep breath. Just as he was about to speak, I suddenly froze.

The scent came.

“Silence!!”

A massive voice suddenly exploded, and everyone fell mute. I was so frightened I covered my ears.

The one startled wasn’t just us, but also the owner of this voice—even Uncle Wan himself was startled.

But he quickly stabilized his scent and began addressing everyone: “Everyone, you should have noticed that my voice has changed. This is my ability, called ‘Voice Amplification.'”

He cleared his throat and stood directly before the crowd.

“Although my ability seems completely useless, I know that I’m just an ordinary guide, while you are the ‘future.'”

“So my ability might be quite chicken-ribs for this land, but as a ‘guide,’ everything is just right.”

Hearing Uncle Wan’s booming voice, no one dared to speak up now. They could only quiet down and listen to him.

“Some of you here know me, some don’t. My name is Wan Cai, but that doesn’t matter at all. You can call me A or B, you can even call me Doraemon or Astro Boy—none of that matters. But now I want to ask you, what’s most important?”

Everyone listened quietly. No one opened their mouth to answer.

I suddenly felt Uncle Wan seemed like a teacher. Our teacher would also ask questions suddenly during lectures, and that’s when the daydreaming children would get startled.

“What’s important is earning… what’s important is escaping!”

Uncle Wan continued loudly.

“But having said that, ‘escaping’ and ‘making money’ are essentially no different. Without someone to lead you, you can only fumble around here until you die. For example, if you’re walking down the street and pick up a hundred yuan, you wouldn’t immediately think about who lost the money—that’s what I mean. So my name is irrelevant. You only need to know that I’m a ‘guide,’ a ‘selfless person,’ someone preparing to lead everyone out of here.”

At this moment, everyone’s scents were complex—they were suspicious.

“But…” one man said, “do you know what this place is about? Why have we been gathered here?”

“I don’t know. The rules I know are the same as yours. First, we must ‘survive’ here, so I’ve prepared abundant food for everyone. Second, each of us might acquire ‘superpowers,’ so I’ve arranged for an examiner.”

Uncle Wan pointed his finger at me.

“That child’s ‘superpower’ is being able to distinguish whether others have ‘superpowers,’ which is why I had you walk before him one by one. But unfortunately, none of today’s people awakened, so no one can receive a reward.”

“But we came because we heard there was food here,” a chubby man said. “Aren’t you just lying to us? Playing us for fools?!”

I clearly sensed the angry scent emanating from this person, but when Uncle Wan heard him speak, he just smiled.

“Hello,” Uncle Wan dropped the ‘amplification’ and spoke in a normal voice. “Those behind this young man, please step to the sides.”

“Behind?”

People looked at where they were standing, then moved to both sides. Behind the questioning man, there was now no one—revealing a clear pathway.

“What do you mean?” the chubby man asked.

“Please leave,” Uncle Wan said.

“Leave…?” The chubby man immediately hesitated. “What do you mean? Weren’t you the one who called us here?”

“Let me reiterate to everyone—we’re not some team or organization, but a ‘family.’ Anyone who doesn’t trust me can leave right now.” Uncle Wan spoke in an extremely serious tone. “I won’t force anyone. I need everyone who stays here to be completely willing and to completely trust me. This young man doesn’t trust me, so he can leave now.”

The atmosphere was truly strange. Being addressed like this, the chubby man suddenly found himself unable to back down gracefully.

“You want me to leave…?” His face flushed bright red. “Then aren’t you just a fraud? Why did you call us here?”

Everyone around became cautious. Their scents alternated between leaning toward the chubby man and leaning toward Uncle Wan.

“I deceived you?” Uncle Wan laughed again. “How about this, young man—shout out loud right now what I’ve swindled from you. Is it money or ‘jade,’ food or property? All of us are standing here right now, we’ll listen directly to what you have to say.”

The chubby man hesitated again. When all the eyes on the scene focused on him, he would momentarily stop thinking.

“I… I…”

“Young man, not only am I providing food to everyone free of charge, I’ve also given you an important lesson, letting you know the rules of this place right away.” Uncle Wan spoke earnestly. “Have you ever seen anyone more selfless than me?”

Seeing the chubby man at a loss for words, Uncle Wan struck while the iron was hot: “All of you tell me together—have I swindled anything from any of you?”

A few seconds later, an auntie said, “No.”

“I can’t hear you,” Uncle Wan said.

“No!” several people shouted simultaneously.

“I can’t hear you!!” Uncle Wan shouted.

“No!!” countless people shouted.

Uncle Wan then turned back and looked at the chubby man again: “Please leave.”

The chubby man pondered for a long while, finally squeezing out a sentence: “I’m not leaving. I want to see exactly what you’re planning to do.”