Cheng Ruyi then asked, "Aunt Cui, have you found out any other information?"
"Of course!" Xu Cui took another sip of tea before speaking, "The nephew of the third aunt in the front alley works as a clerk in a grain shop in the West Market. He said that a few days ago, the government notified all the grain shops in the city, inviting them to the county government to discuss something. As a result, Rongfa Grain Shop was the only one in the whole county that did not send anyone. That's when the government realized that there was something wrong with them."
"Did you find out what they were discussing? And why was Rongfa Grain Shop investigated?" Ruyi continued to press.
Even Xu Cui was unaware of this, since the people she could gather information from were her neighbors, and the people living nearby were just ordinary people who naturally couldn't know anything about internal government affairs.
However, this is not hard to guess. The county town has been closed for more than a month, which probably exceeded the county government's expectations. They probably had almost run out of their own food, so they set their sights on the major grain shops in the town. They probably used the pretense of sharing weal and woe to get each grain shop to "donate" food to them.
If that's the case, it proves that there's no good news coming from the front lines. The war is at a stalemate, and even they don't know how long it will last, which is why they want to stockpile another large amount of food.
This is really troublesome; a sense of crisis suddenly welled up in my heart.
"However, I heard the old cripple across the street say that he had just secretly gone over to take a look. The grain shop no longer had any officials, and the door of the grain shop was smashed to pieces. Then someone actually sneaked in. He didn't dare to go in, but he peeked out from the door and saw that the grain was scattered all over the ground. The person who went in was using his clothes to wrap up the grain on the ground!"
"Soon after, a few more people slipped in. He said that if he weren't lame, he would have gone in to check it out too. Humph, do you think I don't know? That old cripple is just a coward. Even if he weren't lame, he definitely wouldn't dare to go in!"
Cheng Ruyi couldn't help but interrupt Xu Cui's rambling, "Someone went in? Didn't the authorities put up a seal?"
"It's pasted on the front door, but not on the back door."
After hearing this, Ruyi couldn't help but complain that the government was really unreliable. If they were going to seal it off, why didn't they seal it off completely? No, wait! It's possible that they will search the grain store again, which is why they didn't seal off the entrance and exit of the grain store.
So it seems there must be something important inside Rongfa Grain Shop that makes them want to visit it again and again.
Hmm... I feel like the water is too deep, a bit dangerous~~ So the little spark that just popped into my head about whether I should also venture into the grain shop was quickly suppressed and extinguished.
But unexpectedly, a familiar voice suddenly rang out at that moment:
"Ding! Main quest triggered. Please complete it as soon as possible!"
Startled by the sudden system notification, Ruyi hurriedly made an excuse and returned to her room.
After closing the door, she brought up the system interface and found that in addition to the "Check-in" and "Items" buttons at the top, there was a new button - "Task".
After clicking, there is indeed a very obvious envelope shining brightly in the middle of the interface, with the words "Main Quest" written on it. Below it are two buttons: one is "Details" and the other is "Claim".
Task Details:
Main Quest: Infiltrate Rongfa Grain Shop to Obtain Hidden Supplies (Incomplete)
Side Quest 1: ? ? ? (Incomplete)
Side Quest 2: ? ? ? (Incomplete)
Note: The main quest is mandatory; failure to complete it today will result in certain death.
What! ! !
Cheng Ruyi was shocked after reading it. Wasn't this a sign-in system? Why was there another task interface? And why would she die if she didn't do the tasks?
"System! What's going on? Why is there a mission all of a sudden? What does this mission mean? Aren't you going to explain it to me?"
Unfortunately, no matter how she asked, the system still didn't give any answer.
Cheng Ruyi tried her best to calm herself down as quickly as possible and think of a solution.
According to the literal meaning of the system task, it means that if she doesn't go to Rongfa Grain Shop to find the so-called supplies, she will definitely die later!
Two possibilities:
The first scenario is that the lockdown period is exceptionally long, and without those supplies, everyone would starve to death.
The second possibility is that something very important will happen during the search for supplies, and this will be related to her life. This can be seen from the two additional unknown side quests.
Thinking about it carefully, if it were the original owner's personality, she would definitely have gone to check the grain store. But she was different. To put it nicely, she was cautious; to put it bluntly, she was cowardly. So, just after she decided not to go to the grain store, the system immediately gave her this reminder.
She had originally planned to go and take a look around the grain store, but she might decide whether to go inside depending on the situation, and perhaps not today, but tomorrow.
But now, due to the system's time limit, she is forced to go immediately, since she doesn't know what will happen in the grain shop or how long it will take to find the supplies.
Ruyi sighed inwardly. In truth, she was a little scared. As an ordinary person who grew up in a relatively peaceful and stable environment and was timid and valued her life, she had never done anything adventurous since she was a child.
Sigh, since not going meant certain death, she really had no other choice. Fortunately, she had the invisibility talisman as a life-saving trump card, which added a little bit of security.
So, resignedly, Cheng Ruyi reached out and clicked the "Claim" button before going to the main room to tell everyone about it.
When the Cheng family heard Ruyi's suggestion, their first reaction was to oppose it. Absolutely not, it was too dangerous. The last incident had left a shadow in everyone's minds, and they subconsciously felt that the grain shop was unsafe.
"Everyone, calm down and listen to me first." Ruyi knew they would definitely not agree, so she had already thought of a way to deal with it: "Our family's food is almost gone. No matter how much we eat sparingly, we can only last for half a month at most. However, the lockdown seems to be far away. We can't just sit and wait to die."
"That won't work either. I'll ask the neighbors. With my reputation, surely someone will be willing to lend us some food to get us through this difficult time!" Cheng Yan insisted.
Ruyi thought for a moment and decided to change her approach: "Actually, it's not just about the food. I have a vague memory of my previous accidental coma and feel like I've forgotten something important. I want to go to the grain store this time because I think it might help me recover my memory."
"Don't worry, I'm just going to check from a distance first. If there's any danger, I'll come back immediately. And I'm not going alone; I'll go with Aunt Cui."
After repeatedly assuring everyone that he wouldn't act impulsively and would only go to take a look without going in, and after bringing Xu Cui along, the Cheng family finally reluctantly agreed.
Cheng Ruyi didn't want anyone to go with her, as the risk was too great. However, she knew that her family would not agree to her taking the risk alone. Apart from Xu Cui, there were only the elderly and the young in the family. Cheng Yunping wanted to go with her, but his small body was not as reliable as Xu Cui's. Moreover, his son was only a month old, so he couldn't be allowed to go.
After they each went back to their rooms to tidy up, they went out together.
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