Two days of waiting felt incredibly long, especially when you had a goal in mind. Jiang Ling would constantly check her terminal, but the time displayed seemed frozen. She counted the seconds one by one. She had only experienced this twice. The first time was during the Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination). She hadn't slept all night, so naturally, the experience of this crucial exam, so important to many people, was terrible. She was still counting the time as she entered the exam room, and she had a very vivid memory. She counted a total of 58,422 seconds. Another time was after surgery for a hemorrhoid attack. She counted from the time anesthesia began until the pain completely overwhelmed her mind. That time was also very memorable, and she counted a total of 23,461 seconds.
But those two painful experiences combined hadn't lasted as long as this one. The excitement, the thrill, the uncertainty, the confusion, the helplessness—these two days of waiting were probably more agonizing than the process of escorting a condemned prisoner from his cell to the execution ground. And during that time, she had already counted over 154,000 seconds. She didn't feel tired at all. She remembered hearing about some silly world record that lasted seven days and six nights straight. If she had enough time, she might be able to break it, but she didn't want to continue like this. Before then, she would definitely have some mental issues. For example, right now, she kept seeing a time in her eyes. No, that wasn't a trick of the "system." Wherever she looked, a time would pop up, and it was always in seconds. After realizing what was happening, she suddenly felt a surge of regret. Why hadn't she noticed it sooner? Why hadn't she seen a doctor?
No, even if you go to the doctor right now, you will definitely be told: "There is no hope, just wait to die!"
"Puff~" Jiang Wenwen opened a can of "Green Claw" drink and took a few sips, then let out a long "burp". These two heavenly sounds finally pulled Jiang Ling back from the countdown hell.
"Jiang Ling! Where did you get this drink? It tastes really good!" She took a few more sips and continued to burp.
Jiang Ling, who had fallen asleep on her desk, woke up and found herself resting her head on the terminal. She had been pressing down on the poor machine all night, and the screen had been lit all night. The time displayed on it jumped again, but this time it didn't trigger any new movement, so the terminal could finally rest for a while.
She asked Jiang Wenwen, "What day is today?"
"The next day, tomorrow we can go to the market! Hiccup~"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ling rested her head on her arms again and looked at Jiang Wenwen drinking her drink with her face sideways. Some strands of her black hair fell on her nose, swaying with her breathing.
Jiang Wenwen noticed her boredom and said meaningfully, "Do you feel like time is passing too slowly? You can find something to do. It doesn't have to be a serious job, just some repetitive, mechanical chores."
"For example?" Jiang Ling murmured softly in his throat.
"For example, I can play games, or I can punch in for work every day like your mom, or count bullets?" She began to think about the box of brass cylinders under Jiang Ling's bed again.
"I've counted them. Including the ones I used, there are 605 of them, and one of them is a dud!"
"Dud? How do you know? Can you show it to me?" She was a little excited.
"The weight is different, and there's some rustling sound when you shake it. If I don't show it to you, there might still be a primer. If there is a primer, it might fire!" Jiang Ling's attitude was very firm. She had already determined that Jiang Wenwen was a dangerous person, and she didn't want her to become a terrorist.
"Ah!" Jiang Wenwen said dejectedly. But she quickly cheered up: "What's in your other boxes? Let me see!"
"No, Daddy, no!"
"Let me see! Just one look!"
Just when Jiang Wenwen was about to crawl under the bed, Jiang Ling grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and caught her like a chicken, then carried her out of the room while she was struggling in mid-air.
Jiang Ling now felt she should build a safer warehouse outside to store these dangerous items, or sell them quickly. With fewer targets, it would be easier to keep an eye on them. She sighed, her hands on her forehead as she felt the to-do list grow. If the list grew, she'd inevitably need to keep notes to remind herself. Using a terminal wasn't particularly convenient, after all, it broke easily.
"Am I under too much pressure?" Jiang Ling found herself constantly forcing herself to do things, even though it wasn't always that way. "What am I in such a hurry for? I don't remember needing to prove anything." She felt like her subconscious was playing tricks on her, like someone was constantly whipping her, saying, "Hurry up, hurry up, time is running out!" But when asked what they were supposed to do, that person would start to stammer.
She scratched her head again, feeling as if she'd missed something. There must be something urgent that needed to be done, which was why she felt so urgent, but she couldn't place what it was. She checked the time on the terminal again. It read 1:52:29 PM. Then, the time jumped again, showing 30 seconds.
She had indeed forgotten something, and a flash of inspiration struck her when she saw the number three. She still hadn't figured out how much one point was worth. The price at the ration shop was three points for a bag of compressed synthetic rations, but she had never really calculated how long a bag of synthetic rations would last.
This was indeed a problem, because there was no reference point for this kind of thing, and it was even difficult to ask others. She didn't know how she could ask a stranger, "How many days does a bag of rice last?" If it were her, she could easily eat a dozen bags at a time, or go a month without eating anything. People always say, "People have to eat," but they never mention how much they eat each day, because the amount they eat can be measured in money, and the value of money is determined by people.
"This is going to be very difficult. If we can't even establish a reference system, then the edifice of physics will begin to collapse! All materialistic theories will fall apart!" She finally understood what she was eager to verify. She wanted to know whether she was still a human being, whether she still belonged to the human race, and whether this civilization still existed.
These days she has been trying to determine the value of these weapons at home, but her subconscious mind is reminding her, how should she determine her own value?
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