Wan Jie Hospice Care Company

Chapter 15 It's not that I don't want to, but that I can't.

"..."

It's very quiet.

Xiang Yu had been bending over the door for a long time, but still couldn't hear anything.

Could it be that it's still early and the family hasn't gotten up yet?

Just as he decided to ignore the family's secret and prepare to leave, a soft, rustling sound appeared.

"Crunch, crunch."

The sound was strange; it didn't sound like walking or talking, but rather like someone slowly grinding something.

Xiang Yu held his breath and listened for a long time. Then, the sound suddenly stopped, and silence returned behind the door, as if everything just now was an illusion.

He slowly removed his ear from the door panel, quietly retreated downstairs, and then pretended to climb back up the stairs, acting as another resident going upstairs, thus avoiding suspicion of eavesdropping.

Then, he took some plaster from the wall, crushed it into powder by hand, and sprinkled it on the door of his neighbor's house, creating a thin layer of white plaster.

He sprinkled some more plaster on his neighbor's door lock, then blew on it, leaving only a tiny white mark.

After doing all this, he raised his hand and knocked on An Ling's door.

The door opened almost immediately, and An Ling poked half her face out, her eyes bright.

"Hey? Brother Xiang, the dishes have been ready for a while now, we've been waiting for you to come back."

Xiang Yu turned around and gave a meaningful glance at the tightly closed door next door before stepping into the house.

"Can you hear what the neighbors are doing when you're at home?" Xiang Yu suddenly asked.

"Hmm...no, the soundproofing here is pretty good. Unless it's a really loud noise, you can't hear anything."

"Um."

Xiang Yu seemed lost in thought.

An Ling leaned over, breaking the tense atmosphere: "Shall we eat first?"

Xiang Yu glanced at the table, where a plate of authentic scrambled eggs with tomatoes sat, steam still rising gently – a perfect example of home cooking.

However, Xiang Yu glanced at the dishes on the table and shook his head.

"not enough."

"Not enough..." An Ling was taken aback, then immediately understood, "It's okay, I know Brother Xiang eats a lot, so I made extra rice."

Or not.

Rice has such a low energy density that if it weren't for the lack of enriched uranium, people would be tempted to eat raw isotopes right now.

Seeing him deep in thought, An Ling finally realized, belatedly, that given his gluttonous appetite yesterday, this little bit of food probably wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth gap.

She bit her lower lip, then suddenly lifted her bottom and darted out. A short while later, she returned from the bedroom carrying a small blue tin box, which she carefully placed on the table, a blush rising on her face.

She placed the small tin box on the table and said somewhat shyly, "My dad bought this when he was working away from home. He brought it back for me on his own..."

When Xiang Yu saw the exquisite little blue tin box, his eyes widened in amazement.

Holy crap, isn't this a sewing kit?

Oh my god, this thing is filled with cookies!

Sewing kit, also known as Royal Danish Cookies.

From the time Xiangyu began to remember, she thought that everyone in the country used this thing as a sewing box... No, maybe after eating what's inside, Anling will also use this thing as a sewing box.

He stared at the box, which exuded an ancient charm, for a long time before finally glancing at the expiration date.

"...It expires on December 31st." Xiang Yu paused for a moment. "This has been sitting at home for quite a while now."

"Hehe... I haven't been able to bear eating it, and it's about to expire." An Ling scratched her head a little awkwardly.

"It's alright, I won't stand on ceremony."

After saying that, Xiang Yu began to devour An Ling's food and cookies like a locust swarm.

It has to be said that Anling's cooking skills are very good, but the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes was almost tasteless after being eaten in just two bites.

After sweeping across the land and conquering all directions, Xiang Yu asked again:

Do you have money right now?

Anling: "A little bit."

……

After buying and eating thirty-seven fried dough sticks, Xiang Yu finally felt the limit of this skill.

It must be said that Ryoko, despite being a mortal, was no less powerful than a god.

[62200 kilojoules have been ingested]

[Converting...]

[Current stored heat: 34100 kJ]

[Title Obtained: Heat Bomb]

[Title Effect: You can eat things that are difficult for ordinary people to swallow and gain special effects.]

Xiang Yu looked at his own name.

[Heat Bomb - Missed Opportunity]

The company really puts a lot of effort into some inexplicable things.

Since you're putting in so much effort, could you please lower the difficulty of the task a little?

Xiang Yu silently grumbled to himself, but still stood up, stretched lazily with cracking knuckles, and turned to An Ling: "What are your plans?"

"What does Brother Xiang want me to do?"

Xiang Yu paused for a moment, then rephrased the question: "Never mind me for now. Just... if I weren't here, and you were all alone, what would you want to do?"

"I won't go out for the next few days... I'll study at home!" Anling still felt that the world outside her home was too terrifying.

There's only a strange diary with my own handwriting at home; who knows what might be outside.

"Okay, you can stay home today, I'll stay here with you."

After saying that, Xiang Yu sat down on the sofa, and An Ling's diary appeared in his hands at some point.

There are definitely still secrets hidden in this diary. If we just wait for the words to appear day by day, we might miss a lot of crucial information.

So Xiangyu decided to focus on studying her diary these next few days, while also asking around about her neighbors and other related matters.

The discrepancy between the neighbor's description and the diary suggests either that the diary is wrong or that the neighbor is strange; Xiangyu leans towards the latter.

An Ling watched quietly from the side. The terrifying thing that kept her up at night was now being carelessly and beautifully played with by Xiang Yu, turning it over and over as if it were a walnut.

She felt a sudden sense of relief for no apparent reason.

It turns out that no matter how high and mighty or terrifying something is, it's nothing special once it falls into Brother Xiang's hands.

So she calmed down, went back to her bedroom, opened a few workbooks, and started doing exercises.

But she couldn't write a single word.

The pen tip hovered above the paper, hesitant to fall.

The sunlight outside the window was just like any other, and there were children playing outside. There were still many vendors at the morning market shouting their wares. The noise of the crowd made her feel a little dazed, and she even had the illusion that what happened yesterday was a dream.

But she still remembered what Xiang Yu said yesterday.

The world is about to end.

She bit the pen, her heart sinking. The world was about to end, and she was still sitting here writing these trivial things, stroke by stroke.

An Ling wanted to do something. She struggled restlessly for a long time, and finally, as if burned by something, she suddenly pushed open the door and rushed out. Facing the figure on the sofa, head down, reading a diary, she mustered all her courage and shouted:

"I...I want to do something. I don't want to face the end of the world and still be doing nothing!"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Yu slowly raised his head and glanced at her before lowering it again.

"Alright." He turned the pages of the book and said casually, "Then I'll give you a task."

"Okay!" An Ling's anxiety seemed to ease a lot. She straightened her back, like a soldier who had finally received his orders.

"Live well, you must live no matter what, because only if you live can this world live."

"..."

She mustered up tremendous courage to run up to Xiang Yu and stammer out her self-recommendation.

She didn't want to... didn't want to be like a vase, placed there and watching others fight for their lives against the world.

……

Xiang Yu was well aware of An Ling's thoughts.

But it wasn't that he didn't want to do it, it was that he couldn't.

If the system provided by the company could grant teammates abilities, he would have done so long ago. If An Ling could gain even a little more strength, the chances of success in this mission would be much higher.

It's a pity the company is stingy.

After repeatedly observing the material, format, and writing style of the diary, Xiang Yu was ultimately unable to extract anything useful from these superficial aspects.

So he had no choice but to go back to square one and start working on the content again.

content……

He scanned the rows one by one.

I breathed a sigh of relief...

[My home is quite safe...]

[Noon, evening...]

[Hidden for ages...]

【learn……】

The neighbor to the east...

[The windows of the West...]

【wrong……】

It can't be...