"Hey, Lao Bei, I heard the pandemic is really serious. Aren't many companies suspending operations? Is your lousy company an exception?"
"No, we've stopped work too."
"Then how about coming out for a drink tonight?"
"No, no, I'm not drinking. My head still hurts. Have fun tonight."
Ning Bei, who had been thankful to steal a few days of leisure, never dreamed that the pandemic's impact would go far beyond that. The months-long lockdown kept him cooped up in his rented apartment without taking a single step outside, and even his three meals a day had to be delivered by the community aunt.
That still wasn't the worst of it. The company Ning Bei worked for specialized in tourism, and not long after the pandemic passed, it announced that it was closing for good. He instantly went from a corporate drone to an unemployed vagrant.
With his low educational qualifications, Ning Bei had no choice but to don a yellow robe and take up the job of knocking on doors one by one to deliver orders. However, as the pandemic's effects continued, the number of orders shrank drastically. Many delivery riders began staying idle at home, and Ning Bei was no exception. He returned to his rented apartment, counting his steadily dwindling bank balance in dejection.
A life without any glimpse of the future for such a long time left him looking rather dispirited. Now unkempt and covered in stubble, he no longer looked like a young man who wasn't even thirty years old.
That night, as he watched the Little Angel leave in despair after ultimately failing, her divine spark shattering and making it impossible for her to break through Rank 89 for the rest of her life, along with Dugu Yan being cruelly abandoned by Yu Tianheng, Ning