Apocalypse Forecast

"Name?"

"Huai Shi."

"And your age?"

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen?"

The interviewer furrowed his brows and looked at the thin boy with the heavy instrument case on his back. The boy quickly put on a pleasing smile.

He was wearing a slightly old-fashioned suit, his face was pale as if he hadn't seen the sun in a long time, and his hair was slightly messy. But his pitch-black pupils were as bright as if they were illuminated by candles, which was a bit frightening.

"Gothic style? Rare to see these days... a lot of people are into it now..."

The interviewer muttered inexplicably, scrutinizing the boy. His tone became serious: "Huai, you have to understand that our club is on an elite path, not just anyone can come in."

"Elite, elite! I understand!"

Huai Shi straightened his small body and nodded vigorously, completely fawning: "Mr. Yang told me before I came here that you have strict requirements. Don't worry, I have plenty of experience!"

He even squeezed out a flattering smile.

Although the requirements were strict, the pay was good!

The economy was in a depression these days, and many people had lost their jobs. It was very difficult for a poor student like Huai Shi to find a part-time job playing the violin. He was almost broke. When the agent Mr. Yang said he had found a job with good pay, Huai Shi was overjoyed.

If this job slipped through his fingers, he would be cursed!

Before coming here, Mr. Yang said that this was a members-only club for the wealthy. Even the waiters who served dishes inside could earn thousands of yuan in tips. If he could play the violin here, how could he not make money?

The interviewer seemed surprised by his inexplicable sincerity, and nodded slightly: "Alright, according to your resume, you also play the cello. Could you perform for us? Just don't mess up."

"Don't worry about that!"

Huai Shi sat down confidently, opened the instrument case, held the cello, and took the bow. After a moment of thought, the unique low melody of the cello flowed out of the strings.

He might be afraid of other things, but when it came to playing the cello, he never hesitated. He had won so many awards since he was young that he might have even made it to international competitions if he could afford a famous teacher.

He had practiced this piece of music, Sea C, countless times. Even professional judges would not be able to find any faults. Once he started playing the cello, his mood instantly calmed down, and his performance was even better than usual. The deep sorrow between the lively notes was almost palpable.After just a few minutes, the interviewer waved his hand impatiently, "Alright, that's enough."

"Huh?"

Huai Shi looked up in surprise, not knowing where he had gone wrong, and quickly rummaged through his backpack, "I have a professional certificate, level eight in English, and if that's not enough, I'll take the professional level exam next month..."

"Okay, stop with all the fancy stuff."

The interviewer impatiently shook his head, "We don't value education here, as long as you can play the piano with some flair. What matters most is your skills..."

As he spoke, he bent down and took out a few things from his drawer, placing them on the table in a row and pointing, "Which one do you know how to use?"

"What?"

Huai Shi was dumbfounded, looking at the things on the table, completely confused, "These... are musical instruments?"

"Hey, do you understand anything at all? You said you had plenty of experience in the industry, didn't you?"

The interviewer impatiently pointed to the wire ball, iron nails, gas canister, and walnut clip on the table, introducing them, "Rich woman's happy ball, rich woman's happy nail, rich woman's happy fire, rich woman's happy clamp... which one do you know how to use?"

"..."

Huai Shi pondered for a long time, looked at the cello in his arms, and asked hopefully, "Rich woman's happy... cello?"

Boss, do you have any cheat codes?

Or, in your language, called 'Rich Woman's Happy Finger'?

"So you don't know anything, is that it?"

The interviewer was furious, pointing at him and scolding, "Do you know how busy I am? You don't know anything and you come to be a prostitute? I've turned down several appointments just to interview you, isn't that a waste of my time?"

"...I thought you were hiring musicians for a restaurant?"

It wasn't until now that Huai Shi, who was completely confused, realized that he had been fooled by a stupid intermediary... Wait, why did he say 'fooled again'?

"Wait a minute!"

He raised his hand seriously, "Sir, I sell art, not my body!"

Bang!

The door of the office slammed shut behind him.

Huai Shi, who had been kicked out of the office, sat on a chair in the corridor, feeling scared to death. He felt like he was just one step away from losing his half-life virginity, but when he looked at his bank balance, he couldn't help but want to take that step...

He had been selling art for so many years, was it really necessary to sell his body?

Anyway, it was the same with the lights off, and he would still enjoy it in the end... as long as the money was generous enough, it didn't seem unacceptable.

Just as he was pondering with his chin in his hand, the pile of 'Rich Woman's Happy Series Products' popped into his mind again, and he shuddered all over.At this moment, Huai Shi deeply realized that happiness in this world is conserved. In other words, if a rich woman is too happy, he might never be happy again for the rest of his life.

Forget it, forget it...

He refused the temptation of money with tears in his eyes and walked out of the club door in three steps and turned around to look at the golden stone lions at the door, unable to resist the urge to go back.

We are "pawread dot com", find us on google.

"Wait!"

Someone behind him suddenly shouted at him. It was a man in a suit, with a handsome and solemn face. His gaze was full of severity as he looked at Huai Shi. "Hey, you! Stop!"

"Me?"

Huai Shi was a little flustered and tilted his head back under his scrutiny.

"You're the new guy today, right? You didn't even greet the boss of the club and just left. Don't you know the rules?" The man walked in front of him, stood on the steps and looked down at him, nodding. "Your face is pretty good, but you better behave. In terms of beauty, you can't compare to me."

As he spoke, he coquettishly combed his few strands of golden long hair with his hand, making Huai Shi feel disgusted and annoyed. "Sorry, boss, I don't do prostitution!"

"Oh, now it's called a male escort, it's all the same."

The boss nodded knowingly, waved his hand generously and said, "It's okay, since you called me boss, I'll take care of you from now on."

As he spoke, he took out a bottle from his bag and stuffed it into Huai Shi's arms. He patted his shoulder with great emphasis and said, "Even if you're a prostitute, you have to be professional. Go back and remove the oil from your face. Your skin care is too rough. It's a shame for this little face... Use it sparingly. This is a high-end product from Europe."

Without waiting for Huai Shi to say "thank you," he lifted his chin and walked away.

"..."

Huai Shi stood at the door in amazement, looking down at the cosmetics in his hand. He didn't know whether to throw this thing at the door and shout something like "Thirty years in the river, thirty years in the sea" or "Don't bully the poor young man."

For a long time, he looked at the delicate little bottle and reluctantly put it in his pocket with a toothache.

Forget it, since he's already here, it looks expensive, it's a waste to throw it away... He hasn't opened it yet, he'll let Lao Yang sell it later.

Poverty makes me humble.

Why am I still so poor even though I have a golden finger!

He took out the notebook from his backpack, flipped through it and sighed deeply, then put it back in his pocket.Thinking of Lao Yang, he couldn't help but grit his teeth with hatred, took out his phone and dialed the number, cursing, "Lao Yang, are you crazy? You introduced me to be a prostitution! Are you just trying to make money off of me?"

"Hey, it's not my fault. They require young people with rich work experience, good looks, and talent...I was just thinking about you since you're so poor. Don't be mad, let me treat you to dinner the day after tomorrow. Celebrate your sister-in-law's recent release from the hospital. Remember to bring some chives over...."

"Bring your ass, will you eat or not?"

Huai Shi hung up the phone angrily. This bastard was definitely doing it on purpose, just to get the intermediary fee from him after he accidentally got on the wrong boat.

But when he thought of Lao Yang's situation at home, he couldn't bring himself to hate him.

This guy was working himself to death to pay for his wife's cancer treatment. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be doing odd jobs like Huai Shi's part-time work, just for a few dozen bucks in commission... Besides, apart from the intermediary fee, he was actually quite fair and didn't try to cheat him out of any more money.

They were like brothers in a difficult situation.

Forget it...

Huai Shi sighed and heard thunder.

Over the gloomy sky, black clouds floated in from the distance. Under the dim sunlight, one could vaguely see coral reefs growing between the clouds, and shadows of schools of fish swimming...

The slightly blue ocean gently swayed, casting ripples of light on the earth.

It's going to rain.

It was said that this kind of coral clouds were rare seventy to eighty years ago, when they were still in the sea, not flying around the world in the sky.

Many scientists said it was due to the discovery of rare elements or air pollution, but not many people believed them.

At first, everyone was panicked, thinking that the end of the world was coming. But after waiting for decades, they didn't even see the classic post-apocalyptic species of zombies.

As time went by, everyone got used to it.

It was just something floating in the sky, and it rained a little more. The planes just changed their routes, and life went on as usual.

Money still had to be made, debts still had to be paid, and life still had to go on.

After a few chaotic days, everything returned to normal.

It seemed no different from before.

Thunder rumbled.

Huai Shi didn't bring an umbrella and didn't want to waste time. He turned and ran home, but in the midst of his sprint, he heard a loud noise coming from the distance.

This thunder was particularly clear, and even the earth trembled.He looked up in the direction of the sound and saw a plume of smoke and fire rising from the distant pier, as if something had exploded.

The pedestrians on the street looked at each other, their expressions confused. Some excitedly took out their phones to take pictures, while others approached to see what was going on.

If it were usual, Huai Shi might have gone to see what was happening, but now he felt like he was about to be crushed by the double burden of life and prostitution. He decided to ignore the commotion and turned left into a small alley, picking up his pace.

Bang!

At the end of the alley, a bottle was kicked against the wall, shattering into pieces. Someone stumbled out from the corner, drunk and unsteady. Without slowing down, he brushed past Huai Shi, slammed into the wall, and then fell to the ground.

Huai Shi was stunned. Who was this "true man"?

But before he could react, the "true man" stumbled back, saw Huai Shi, and then rushed towards him. Huai Shi couldn't dodge in time and was grabbed by the wrist. He felt a heavy box being shoved into his arms.

"What is this?"

He stood there, instinctively trying to pull his hand away, but he felt something wet and sticky on his hand. Blood was flowing out of the man's sleeve.

The pungent smell of blood filled the air, and Huai Shi felt a sudden dizziness and headache. He bent over and vomited uncontrollably.

When he looked up, he saw the man's twisted and distorted face, and then he saw a small goldfish in the pool of blood he had just vomited.

Even though the scene was so bizarre, Huai Shi couldn't help but notice the cute little fish. But as he watched, the fish quickly withered and melted into the blood.

As the goldfish died, the man seemed to lose all his strength and collapsed to the ground, no longer breathing. Only the thick red blood continued to seep out from under his windbreaker.

In the silence, only Huai Shi remained in the alley.And then there was the box that was shoved into his hand...

The box looked larger than an ordinary Rubik's cube, heavy in his hand, and when he shook it, it seemed to be filled with liquid.

It had a unique icy-cold texture, like a mix of iron and copper, and was carved with intricate totems that Huai Shi had never seen before. However, these totems were covered in sticky blood, making them difficult to see, but there seemed to be an inexplicable magical power emanating from them.

Huai Shi swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He felt thirsty.

Just holding the box in his hand made him want to open it, as if there was something inside that had an unparalleled allure to him, something he wanted to possess, to obtain...

He took a deep breath.

In this situation, what should he choose? Did he even need to think about it?

Without hesitation, Huai Shi took out his phone.

"Hello? 911?"