4
"Taotao, where are we going?" Zhou Ning asked puzzledly.
"Go to a safe place." Tao Sai kept pulling her forward.
As Tao Sai opened the door, a swarm of dark insects swarmed into the room. Quickly, she led Zhou Ning in a run in the opposite direction, all the way up the stairs.
The bugs were probably gnawing at the foundation of the house, and the whole building was beginning to crumble.
Soon, they ran to the rooftop, and the building was shaking more and more violently, and it seemed like it was about to collapse.
The roof of the building opposite was slightly lower, and the two buildings were not far apart. Tao Sai stood on the narrow fence platform, glanced at the height of the drop of dozens of meters below him, threw away all distractions, jumped, and hugged the fence of the opposite building with both hands.
She immediately turned around and said to Zhou Ning, who was still standing there, "Jump over here and I'll catch you!"
Countless insects chased onto the rooftop, and the swarm of insects attacked the edge of the fence.
Zhou Ning gritted his teeth, mustered up the courage and jumped towards her.
But Zhou Ning's leap didn't seem to be powerful enough, and she flew into the air and plummeted downwards. In a split second, Tao Sai grabbed the inside of the fence with his left hand, quickly bent down and stretched out his right hand to reach her, but his hand missed her frantic, struggling hand.
"Taotao!"
Zhou Ning screamed in terror and fell down in despair. The surging dark tide instantly swallowed her whole.
Tao Sai suddenly woke up from her dream, sat up and gasped for breath. It took her a while to realize that it was just a nightmare.
Soft natural light shines through the window, and outside the window is an ordinary morning in Nanzhou City.
"There's still time." Tao Sai muttered to himself, sitting up from the bed with a determined look.
"Taotao, good morning!" As soon as she opened the door, Zhou Ning came out of the bathroom after washing up and greeted her.
"Good morning." Tao Sai smiled.
Zhou Ning put his slightly haggard face in front of her and said, "Taotao, look at my dark circles. I didn't sleep all night."
Tao Sai asked with concern: "Are you worried about natural disasters?"
"No, I'm obsessed with stockpiling!" Zhou Ning said proudly.
Tao Sai: “…”
It was getting late, so I quickly finished washing up, went out and ate some bread while walking, scanned for shared bicycles outside the community, and then squeezed into the crowded subway during the morning rush hour.
This has been Tao Sai’s commuting life for the past year.
Actually, she didn't need to rush so much today. It didn't matter whether she would be fined for being late or not, but after repeating it day after day, she had already formed a fixed pattern of behavior.
Tao Sai's current job pays an average salary, but he's extremely busy. Due to the so-called irregular working hours, he's often forced by his boss to work overtime, and he doesn't get any overtime pay.
The boss is quite good at making promises.
"Just for this month or so, I'll hire a few more employees, so your work will be much easier. I'll give you a raise then. The difficulties are temporary, so let's get through them together."
Boss Yang Jianwen had said this several months ago, but until now, the company hadn't shown any interest in hiring, not even a single new candidate had come in for an interview. If it weren't for the difficulty finding jobs these days and the limitations of her university major, she would have slammed her resignation letter into that greasy face long ago.
But now I have to go anyway.
Tao Sai sat down directly at her workstation. Actually, there was nothing to pack, just a thermos and a USB drive. It didn't matter if she didn't take them. She came to the company for other things today.
It’s not time to go to work yet, and the colleagues who arrived at the office first are chatting idly.
After Fang Xinhui received some hot water from the tea room, she passed by Tao Sai's workstation and asked, "Xiao Tao, have you had fun these days?"
Tao Sai nodded: "Good morning, Sister Fang. I'm very happy."
When Tao Sai first joined the company, it was Sister Fang who mentored her and she has always taken good care of her.
The company's business tends to be mentally demanding, and coupled with Tao Sai's social anxiety, her interpersonal relationships in the company are actually average. Sister Fang is one of the few people who is willing to have lunch with her.
After Fang Xinhui put down her water cup at her workstation, she asked her colleagues for advice. She was planning to take her annual leave next month and travel with her husband. She had three destinations in mind: grasslands, inland lakes, and islands. China's vast landscapes, each with its own unique charm, captivated her, and she couldn't decide for the moment.
Tao Sai didn't participate in the discussion. She sat quietly in the corner. She took out her phone and saw Zhou Ning had sent her a message: "Is there WiFi in your hometown?"
She replied: "No, what's wrong?"
Since her grandfather passed away, no one has lived in her hometown for almost a year, so she disconnected from the Internet.
The internet at home was installed with the money she earned from her part-time job in her sophomore year, specifically for her grandfather to watch TV, but he didn't actually watch it for many years.
Zhou Ning: "Then I'll download some movies now."
Zhou Ning: "Think about it, is there any movie you've always wanted to watch but haven't had time to? Send me the name."
This reminded Tao Sai that after the large-scale invasion of the insect swarm, no signal base station in the world would survive, and the network would be disconnected sooner or later. By then, their ship would drift in the sea day after day, and the long years would definitely be boring.
Tao Sai didn't think about this at the beginning, because time passes much faster in the game, the game character will not feel bored, nor will he produce more negative emotions due to boredom.
But the reality is completely different. Only when people get enough relaxation and rest can their bodies be healthy.
She almost overlooked this point. It was indeed good to have a teammate who could always help you fill in the gaps.
Tao Sai typed back, "Good idea. You download more and I'll do the same."
She then added: "Don't be picky, just download anything with a Douban score of five or higher, regardless of genre, both domestic and foreign. Also download some e-books and comics."
After a while, Zhou Ning sent more messages: "I spent a lot of money to buy a projector, we can watch it on the big screen!"
"I bought a small speaker so I can listen to music. I don't care. I want to get a membership and download vinyl quality!"
"Do you want a game console? Of course I do. It's a good opportunity to play all those little games from my childhood."
"Taotao, let me tell you, this boss is really nice. He gave me a free game controller and even sent me a disk link to his mini-games. Hahaha. Over 6,000 mini-games, more than enough for us to play!"
"I bought playing cards and mahjong. I wanted to buy a mahjong machine, but it was too expensive."
"I picked out several board games, including Werewolf and UNO!"
"Lego bricks, clang clang clang!"
"Should I just buy the sweater, or buy the yarn and knit it myself later?"
“…”
Tao Sai was sure that they would not be bored at all in the next few years.
At this moment, a figure appeared outside the glass door of the office area without anyone noticing. The electronic clock on the wall showed that it was exactly nine o'clock. Everyone immediately stopped discussing and sat back in their seats, starting a new day of office life.
The man outside the glass door glanced at the office area and walked straight into his own. He was the company's boss, Yang Jianwen. Yang Jianwen was of medium build, a bit overweight, and his loose clothes couldn't hide his bulging beer belly.
Tao Sai stood up from his workstation and said as he passed behind Fang Xinhui, "Sister Fang, I strongly recommend you go to the island. It's really fun, you must go."
Fang Xinhui turned around and asked her with a smile, "Really? Xiao Tao?"
"Yes," Tao Sai confirmed.
After saying that, he walked past her, took what she had just printed off the printer, and walked into the boss's office.
Yang Jianwen was on the phone. He looked up at Tao Sai coming in. He ignored her for a few minutes, then took the phone away and asked her, "What's going on? Tell me."
"Mr. Yang, I want to resign. Could you please sign it for me?" Tao Sai said briskly, handing over a very concise resignation letter.
In fact, she could just not come at this critical juncture, but she still had things she had to do.
"Resign? Sure. I'll hand over the work in a month. Once you finish the work at hand, you can leave next month." Yang Jianwen took the A4 paper, glanced at it briefly, and threw it casually on a corner of the desk.
"I want to leave now."
"Then you won't get any salary."
"Oh." Tao Sai responded indifferently.
"Oh?" Yang Jianwen couldn't help but look up at her.
"I don't want the money. Just consider it as a gift to you. Do it for charity."
Hearing this, Yang Jianwen finally lost his temper. He sneered, hung up the phone, scratched his hair, and twitched his lips. "You're pretending to be so noble with me. You think you're so capable, don't you? You're just a poor fresh graduate. I'm telling you, I'm going to issue an industry warning. Don't even think about finding a job in Nanzhou City! If I can't kill you, you're nothing but a piece of shit!"
Listening to him speak a lot of emotionally, Tao Sai's face remained unusually calm.
This made him even more unhappy, "Get out."
Tao Sai had no intention of leaving. She looked at the water cup on the desk and asked calmly, "Mr. Yang, is the water in your cup hot or cold?"
"What?" Yang Jianwen was stunned for two seconds, thinking he had misheard.
"I guess you didn't drink the water that your aunt poured for you yesterday, so I'll treat it as cold water," said Tao Sai.
"Don't you understand what I'm saying? Get out!" Yang Jianwen completely lost his patience, slammed the table, stood up and shouted with a red face.
"As a boss, why are you so excited? I'm not interested." Tao Sai gestured at the transparent glass wall of the office. Although it was soundproof, the situation inside could be seen clearly from the office area outside.
Yang Jianwen realized that he had indeed lost his composure in front of other employees. He deliberately smoothed out the wrinkles on his clothes and sat back in his swivel chair.
Tao Sai continued, "Mr. Yang, even though I'm a college graduate, I'm not very well-educated. Please understand."
Just as Yang Jianwen was confused, he heard the usually low-key and gentle girl across from him say to him in a clear voice: "You are an idiot, I will fuck your mother!"
She grabbed the glass of water from the desk and poured it all over his face.
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