The Genius Game - Chapter 9

There was some fried rice in the pan, which had already gone bad. Fortunately, the pan was covered, so it hadn’t attracted any bugs.

She threw away the fried rice, washed the pan clean, found some dumplings in the refrigerator, and boiled them to eat.

After finishing her meal, she washed the pan and tidied up the house a bit.

Then, she found some paper and a pen, wrote down her name and contact information, and explained that she was staying here temporarily. She noted that the owner could contact her upon their return, and she would pay for her stay.

Although she wasn’t sure if the owner would ever come back, writing the note gave her some peace of mind.

However, she felt she couldn’t just leave the note out in the open, as it might reveal her presence.

She couldn’t be sure if there were other people nearby, or whether they were friendly or hostile.

So, she went into the master bedroom and tucked the note inside the pillowcase.

Most people wouldn’t think to check inside a pillowcase, so it seemed like a safe enough spot.

Jian Tanxi was feeling tired and decided to rest.

The house had two bedrooms, one that seemed to belong to a couple and another that was clearly a child’s room.

She thought it would be more appropriate to stay in the child’s room, so she went in.

The room was filled with cloth dolls, stuffed animals, stickers, and similar items.

The wardrobe was full of little girls’ clothes, suggesting that a six- or seven-year-old girl had once lived here.

Since Jian Tanxi couldn’t wear a child’s clothes, she went to the master bedroom and picked out an outfit that belonged to the woman of the house.

After all, she had left her contact information and could pay for everything later.

She chose a short-sleeved top and long pants, which would be more practical for moving around.

She felt that she could be pulled into the second game at any moment and didn’t want to wear something as impractical as a dress.

If the next game required running or jumping, a dress would be too inconvenient.

After picking out her clothes, she took a shower, changed into the new outfit, and washed her own clothes.

Then, she remembered the extra rewards she had earned in the game but hadn’t checked yet. She took out the gray pouch and emptied its contents.

Inside were four pills, one red and three blue.

Jian Tanxi’s rewards were one Resurrection Pill and three Healing Pills.

So, the red pill must be the Resurrection Pill, and the blue ones were the Healing Pills.

These pills could be quite useful in dangerous situations.

She put the pills back into the gray pouch and stored it safely.

Then, she lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

When she woke up, it was already dark outside.

Everything was pitch black. The lights weren’t working, and she had forgotten to look for candles.

However, not many people kept candles stored these days, and this household might not have had any either.

Jian Tanxi felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness closing in on her.

Aside from the loneliness, she was also a little scared.

She really wished she had some light.

But when she pulled back the curtains, she saw that the stars were dim, and the moon was just a small crescent, offering little illumination.

Jian Tanxi sang a song to herself to boost her courage.

But after singing, she felt even lonelier.

Suddenly, she noticed tiny points of light glowing in the grass downstairs, with a yellowish-green hue.

“Fireflies!”

She watched the fireflies with delight, feeling a sense of happiness.

It had been years since she had last seen fireflies. Ever since moving to the big city, they seemed to have disappeared.

She wanted to go downstairs to see the fireflies, but then she remembered there was no light source now. She could only feel her way down in the dark, which was too dangerous. Not only was it easy to trip and fall, but if she encountered someone with ill intentions who might ambush her, it would be even worse.

So, she suppressed her excitement and quietly watched the fireflies.

She silently said, “Fireflies, only you are keeping me company now.”

She used to pay little attention to the outside world, focusing only on her own affairs.

But suddenly, with all the familiar and unfamiliar people gone, she felt very uncomfortable.

The world is better when it’s lively, after all.

Suddenly, she remembered she wasn’t alone.

She still had a hundred thousand people.

She took out the ecosphere from her personal space, and it emitted a bright light, illuminating her room.

It was also nighttime inside the ecosphere, but there was electricity, so many streetlights were glowing. The buildings were lit with countless household lights, making Jian Tanxi feel a sense of familiarity.

Since the ecosphere had been shrunk, those lights looked as small as the glow of fireflies.

She remembered the clown had said that the ecosphere could be enlarged or shrunk at will, and the people inside wouldn’t feel anything.

Jian Tanxi decided to give it a try.

She silently said, “Enlarge.”

The ecosphere slowly grew until it was about to take up half the room. Jian Tanxi said, “Stop.”

The ecosphere stopped expanding.

Jian Tanxi observed the people inside.

It was the first time she had observed the world from this perspective, and she found it quite interesting.

She suddenly thought: Is this how aliens feel when they look at Earth? What are they thinking?

Jian Tanxi didn’t understand. She found those paper people, or rather, the Hog people, strange.

Because they neither seemed to want to coexist peacefully with Earthlings nor engage in conflict.

Earthlings were more like their experimental subjects, just like lab mice.

A thought struck Jian Tanxi.

Lab mice…

If that’s the case, were the aliens making them play games to study Earthlings as well?

What was the purpose of the study? To write a thesis?

The idea of aliens writing theses filled Jian Tanxi with a sense of humor.

Jian Tanxi observed for a while longer and suddenly wanted to see if there were any familiar faces among the hundred thousand people.

But it was almost impossible to find them.

So, she decided to ask directly.

She placed her hand on the ecosphere and asked, “Is there a couple among you, a man named Jian Guifan and a woman named Song Lan? If so, please speak up, and everyone else remain silent for now.”

Jian Guifan and Song Lan were the names of Jian Tanxi’s parents.

However, with a hundred thousand people inside, it was unlikely they would all remain silent.

The people heard the voice from the “universe” again. Some were panicked, while others were discussing something.

The noise was overwhelming. With tens of thousands of people talking at once, Jian Tanxi couldn’t make out what they were saying and had no idea if her parents were among them.

Jian Tanxi gave up on communicating with them.

But using simple probability theory, the chance of her parents being inside was very low, close to zero.

Earth has billions of people, and her ecosphere only contained a hundred thousand, which is just 1/80,000 of the total population.

Jian Tanxi set a goal for herself: she needed to win more games so she might obtain more ecospheres.

She still didn’t know how to release the people inside, but she felt more at ease keeping the Earthlings under her control.

She tried saying, “Shrink.”

The ecosphere began to shrink until it was the size of a pearl. Jian Tanxi said, “Stop.”

She observed it for a while longer. When the ecosphere was this small, she could barely make out anything inside.

So, she enlarged the ecosphere back to a suitable size and stored it in her personal space.

She attempted to place items like pillows and desk lamps into her personal space but couldn’t.

It seemed the clown was right, this personal space could only store the ecosphere and special items.

She completely gave up on the idea of using the ecosphere to store supplies.

The next day, she decided to search for nearby supermarkets to gather some supplies, mainly food and clothing.

After washing up, she went out and wandered aimlessly around the neighborhood.

There was no way to check routes now, and she couldn’t use a phone map. She had no idea what was nearby and could only rely on luck.

Fortunately, the neighborhood was in a bustling area, and a large shopping mall was just a short walk away.

Jian Tanxi entered the mall and felt it was both vast and empty.

There shouldn’t be anyone inside, but the shops were lined up neatly, fully stocked with all kinds of goods.

Jian Tanxi felt as if she owned the entire mall, a strangely wonderful sensation.

She pretended to be the daughter of a billionaire, treating the mall as her family’s property and herself as the inspector.

After indulging in this fantasy for a while, she began gathering the things she needed.

She still wasn’t used to taking things without paying, so she took out a pen and paper to record what she took and from which store.

She didn’t need too much food: just some biscuits, cereal, dried fruit, and other items that could last a long time.

She also grabbed some of her favorite snacks, like potato chips and jelly.

Next, she picked up a few packs of tissues and wet wipes.

Then, she went to a sports equipment store and collected a helmet, wrist guards, a first-aid kit, and similar items.

The store also had a trampoline. Jian Tanxi set her things down and bounced on it for quite a while.

It had been years since she’d last played on a trampoline, and it was quite fun.

However, since her physical strength had been enhanced, she bounced exceptionally high. Combined with the trampoline’s elasticity, her head nearly hit the ceiling.

After a while, she decided to stop.

Picking up her things, she continued forward and came across a large inflatable castle.

It was originally meant for children to play in, but now it stood alone, unused.

Jian Tanxi went inside and played for a while, thoroughly enjoying herself.

Kids these days were so fortunate, with so many amazing things to play with.

She remembered her own childhood, where just having a slide to play on could make her happy for half a day.

But these inflatable castles now were far more elaborate, with multiple features: slides several meters long, trampolines as large as rooms, inflatable chairs to sit on, and giant inflatable figures to climb.

In addition, there were ball pits, kinetic sand areas, building block zones, balance beams, and many other activities.

Jian Tanxi tried everything, spending an hour there.

Afterward, she took her gathered supplies and returned home.

Feeling that she had nothing else to do, she decided to exercise, thinking it would help her in future games.

Although her physical abilities had already been enhanced, she believed that training would allow her to perform even better.

If she encountered someone like Huo Zimu again, she could handle it herself without needing to rely on others.

Of course, reaching that level would require a lot more practice.

She started by running for an hour, then went to the residential gym to work out.

The gym had plenty of equipment, some of which could be used without electricity, so she trained diligently, spending about 20 minutes on each machine.

She had been to the gym before, so she was familiar with the equipment and knew how to use it.

When she got tired, she would either rest directly on the gym floor or go home to relax.

On days she didn’t feel like exercising, she would read.

There was a large bookstore in the mall with tens of thousands of books, enough to keep her occupied for a long time.

Her days continued like this for a while, following a steady routine: exercise in the morning, reading in the afternoon, and meditation in the evening.

Meditation helped her relax, clear her mind, and stay focused, preventing her from overthinking.

This was something her yoga instructor had taught her in the past.

Now, everything she had learned was proving useful.

She deeply felt that nothing she had ever studied was in vain, sooner or later, that knowledge would come in handy.

As her days became more fulfilling, she no longer felt lonely.

One day, while she was at the supermarket picking up supplies, someone suddenly appeared before her.