The Genius Game - Chapter 33

Jian Tanxi said, “I have an item, a boiling kettle. Just pour water in, and it’ll instantly heat to 100 degrees. But how to get 85-degree water is the tricky part.”

Du Jiaojiao chimed in, “That’s easy! Just find 15-degree water and mix it with the 100-degree water. Won’t that give you 85 degrees?”

Jian Tanxi: “…”

The others: “…”

Meng Yuening gave Du Jiaojiao a speechless look. “Did you actually get into university on your own?”

Du Jiaojiao: “Of course. The college entrance exam doesn’t test this kind of question. Even if I’m wrong, you don’t have to look at me like I’m an idiot, do you?”

Meng Yuening: “Is this really a game for geniuses? Is Du Jiaojiao some kind of planted connection from the paper-people side?”

Jian Tanxi covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, while the others struggled to hold back their amusement.

Du Jiaojiao felt somewhat indignant. “What? Looking down on me? Think you’re so great?”

Mechanical voice: “Detected Du Jiaojiao’s anger level at 3. All nannies lose 3 health points. Current health points for all nannies: 74.”

The others: “…”

Du Jiaojiao: “…”

Du Jiaojiao didn’t dare say another word, shrinking her head like a quail.

Shen Kexin said, “We don’t have a thermos kettle or a thermometer, so we can only estimate. Considering the air conditioning is on here, boiling water should cool to about 85 degrees in roughly five minutes. Jian Tanxi, boil the water first. We’ll brew the tea five minutes later and serve it to Miss Bao’er.”

Wang Juanhua asked, “What if she thinks the temperature is wrong?”

Qin Man: “She probably can’t tell, right? No normal person can accurately judge the exact temperature of water.”

Jian Tanxi also thought this made sense, so she took out the boiling kettle and poured in some mineral water.

Soon enough, the water was boiling.

After waiting about five minutes, they placed tea leaves in a cup and poured the water over them.

Once the green tea was brewed, they brought it to Ou Bao’er.

Ou Bao’er placed her hand over the cup and said, “What’s the current water temperature? Display it immediately.”

A number appeared on her hand: 83.

Ou Bao’er angrily exclaimed, “You’re trying to fool me! This is clearly 83-degree water!”

Jian Tanxi replied without changing her expression, “Miss, this really is 85 degrees.”

“You’re lying! Don’t think you can deceive me. You have special abilities, and so do I. My ability is real-time water temperature detection. If my hand shows 83 degrees, then it’s 83 degrees!”

“So, Miss’s hand can measure temperature. In that case, we can boil water again and have you check the temperature. Once it reaches 85 degrees, we’ll brew the tea immediately. That should work.”

“No! I can only check the tea’s temperature after it’s brewed, not the boiling water directly. Besides, I’m a young lady, how can I do manual work? You’re all so lazy! I’m going to tell the butler!”

Then, Ou Bao’er pressed a bell on the table.

Soon, the butler entered and asked, “What is it, Miss Bao’er?”

Ou Bao’er said huffily, “These nannies are useless, they can’t even brew tea properly. Grandpa Butler, you must punish them!”

Butler: “Very well, Miss.”

Wang Juanhua argued, “It’s not that we can’t brew tea properly. There’s no thermos kettle or thermometer in the room. How are we supposed to make tea at exactly 85 degrees? This is just asking for the impossible!”

A mechanical voice sounded: “Detected Wang Juanhua’s anger level at 6. All nannies’ health points reduced by 6. Current health points for all nannies: 68.”

Everyone: “…”

The butler said, “You failed to take good care of the young lady, yet you dare make excuses. I’m punishing you by making you wash the dishes, and you won’t be allowed to have dinner.”

Then, a group of bodyguards entered and escorted Jian Tanxi and the others away.

Jian Tanxi and the others were taken to the kitchen, where there were hundreds of unwashed dishes and bowls. No one knew where so many dishes had come from.

The butler said, “You lot, wash all these dishes today. No dinner, and you’ll sleep here tonight. I’ll let you out tomorrow morning.”

Du Jiaojiao asked, “How can we sleep in the kitchen?”

The butler replied, “Why not? The floor is spacious enough for many people.”

Du Jiaojiao exclaimed, “You!”

The butler said nothing more and left with the bodyguards, locking the kitchen door behind them.

Wang Juanhua tried to open the door and the windows, but none would budge.

It seemed they had no choice but to spend the night here.

Shen Kexin searched the entire kitchen and said disappointedly, “I’ve looked everywhere. There’s no food, only these dishes and dishwashing liquid.”

Du Jiaojiao whined, “What should we do… I’m already starting to feel hungry.”

Jian Tanxi was also hungry but could still endure it.

She suggested, “How about we start washing the dishes first? If we don’t complete this task, what if the butler punishes us in even more terrifying ways tomorrow?”

Meng Yuening agreed, “That’s right. Let’s divide the dishes among us, and each wash a portion.”

Du Jiaojiao protested, “I can’t wash them. I want to eat.”

Wang Juanhua added, “I haven’t cooked or washed dishes in years. I’m not good at it.”

Meng Yuening insisted, “We entered this game together, so we should share the dirty and tiring work.”

At that moment, Qin Man spoke up, “I suspect that washing dishes and going hungry will also reduce our health points. We can’t avoid the hunger, but I can take on the dishwashing. I have healing pills. If my health drops too low, I can take one and recover. The rest of you should conserve your strength and health points to handle the tasks in the coming days.”

Meng Yuening and Shen Kexin disagreed and wanted to help with the dishes, but Qin Man insisted, “It’s fine. Washing dishes is easy for me. Besides, if I do more now, I might get better rewards when the game ends. It’s not a loss for me.”

Jian Tanxi said, “In that case, I’ll wash the dishes with Sister Qin Man, and the rest of you can rest. Both of us have healing pills, so even if we’re on the verge of death, we can recover fully. Moreover, I think it’s not the best solution for all of us to lose health points together.

I have a healing ability, but I can only use it three more times this month. Healing pills and revival elixirs are also limited. If all six of us use them, we might run out eventually. It’s better to let a few of us maintain higher health points to deal with unexpected situations.”

Everyone agreed with this proposal.

So, the others sat down to rest, while Jian Tanxi and Qin Man washed the dishes.

Now that everyone’s physical condition had returned to that of ordinary people, they needed three meals a day; otherwise, they would feel hungry.

Without dinner, everyone was quite tired.

Jian Tanxi and Qin Man mustered their energy and quickly washed the dishes. For a while, no one spoke.

Meng Yuening, Shen Kexin, and the others lay on the floor, conserving their energy. Since it was summer, lying directly on the floor wasn’t much of a problem.

Du Jiaojiao couldn’t stay idle and peered out through the rear window.

Suddenly, she let out a gasp of surprise.

Jian Tanxi asked, “What’s wrong?”

Du Jiaojiao replied nervously, “You… look outside…”

Jian Tanxi stood up and leaned against the rear window to see what was happening.

Behind the kitchen lay a patch of wasteland, partly planted with vegetables but mostly left barren.

Several bodyguards were digging in the soil, seemingly burying something.

In the corner, Jian Tanxi spotted a deep pit containing several corpses dressed in maid uniforms.

The bodyguards were shoveling dirt over them.

A chill ran down Jian Tanxi’s spine.

She didn’t scream but quietly described the scene to the others.

Shen Kexin shuddered, “Are those corpses… players who failed to clear the game before?”

Jian Tanxi replied, “Most likely…”

Wang Juanhua exclaimed, “Oh my god, that’s terrifying… Could we end up like that too?”

Du Jiaojiao cried, “Ah, don’t scare me like that!”

Qin Man comforted everyone, “Stay calm. As long as we clear the game successfully, we’ll be fine.”

Du Jiaojiao worried, “But our health points are draining too quickly. They drop with the slightest mistake, and we might die in just two or three days.”

Qin Man spoke calmly, “We must avoid anything that reduces our health points, like getting angry. From now on, keep your composure no matter what happens and try not to get upset. Also, do your best to fulfill Miss Bao’er’s requests to avoid penalties.”

Everyone agreed.

After washing the dishes, a mechanical voice announced, “Jian Tanxi and Qin Man have lost 10 health points each due to excessive fatigue from washing too many dishes. All nannies who skipped dinner have lost 5 health points each. Current health points: Jian Tanxi and Qin Man, 53; others: 63.”

The loss of health points noticeably affected their physical condition. Jian Tanxi and Qin Man felt extremely tired, as if they were about to fall ill.

The two of them collapsed into bed, and the others quickly followed suit.

The next day, Jian Tanxi woke up early, feeling unwell. It wasn’t like having a cold or fever but more like the exhaustion from long-term physical strain.

She was young and hadn’t even started working yet, so overexertion was unlikely.

This condition was undoubtedly caused by her low health points.

Soon, the others woke up, feeling much the same as Jian Tanxi.

Jian Tanxi and Qin Man decided to save their healing pills for when their health points were nearly depleted.

Shen Kexin rummaged through the kitchen again and found a thermos flask. She exclaimed happily, “Great! With this, we can give Miss Bao’er water at any temperature she wants.”

Jian Tanxi wondered, “I wonder if we can take this thermos flask with us.”

Shen Kexin replied, “It probably won’t be that easy. But I have a solution.”

She pulled out a black hat.

It resembled the kind worn by magicians in a circus.

Shen Kexin explained, “This is my prop, the “Magic Hat”, you can hide any item inside it and take it with you. However, it can only be used once per game.”

She placed the thermos flask into the Magic Hat.

The moment it went in, the flask became invisible to the others.

Everyone marveled at the magic of the props.

Half an hour later, the butler opened the door and said to everyone, “You may leave now. After breakfast, go immediately to attend to Miss Bao’er. Be absolutely certain not to upset her today.”

Without saying much more, everyone quickly wolfed down their meal and then returned to Miss Bao’er’s room.

Ou Bao’er still insisted on drinking green tea at exactly 85 degrees Celsius. Shen Kexin used a temperature-controlled kettle to boil water. When the kettle reached 86 degrees, she poured it out to brew the tea.

After brewing, she handed the tea to Ou Bao’er, and it happened to be precisely 85 degrees.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

If they had used water directly at 85 degrees to brew the tea, by the time it was ready and handed to Ou Bao’er, the temperature might have dropped by a degree or two.

So, Shen Kexin took the risk of brewing with 86-degree water.

But no one could be sure exactly what temperature the tea would be when it reached Miss Bao’er’s hands.

Now that it was exactly 85 degrees, everyone was overjoyed to avoid punishment.

However, even with the tea, Ou Bao’er still didn’t do her homework.

She sipped her tea, nibbled on snacks, and flipped through picture books.