Free Web NovelChapter 498: Chapter 498: Double Happiness
Nina Summers nodded and replied, "Don’t worry, cousin. I remember everything!"
Melody Summers had reminded Nina several times recently not to get caught in the rain or let her wound get wet. Nina took the warning to heart; she hadn’t even dared to open a window for ventilation these past few days.
There was a reason for Melody’s repeated warnings. This rain was different from ordinary rain; it carried a new type of insect egg.
These eggs could hatch in standing water. The resulting larvae resembled large maggots, while the adults looked like small bees. Unlike bees, however, they were covered in a layer of corrosive mucus.
Most distinctively, they were vibrantly colored. Their bodies were composed of red, green, and yellow, just like a traffic light.
In her past life, experts had named this new species the "Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp."
The Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp generally didn’t attack humans, but its eggs could enter the body through broken skin and infest a wound. Once the wound healed, the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp’s eggs were trapped inside the skin.
The Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp eggs remaining in the body would hatch into larvae. These larvae could secrete a fluid that dissolved the surrounding human tissue, turning flesh and blood into nutrients to sustain them.
Once the larvae grew to three to five centimeters long inside the host, they would release a neurotoxin that attacked the body’s organs, including the brain.
In her past life, quite a few people infested by the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp had their brains controlled by its neurotoxin, causing them to voluntarily jump into rivers and drown.
Experts theorized that the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp larvae longed to return to the water to live and reproduce, so they controlled the host’s brain to make them jump into a river.
At this thought, Melody couldn’t help but give her family another warning at the dinner table.
The Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp hadn’t been discovered yet, so Melody could only tell her family that the rain was contaminated and they should do their best to avoid skin contact.
Her family listened to Melody’s words and all promised to remember, saying they would always wear raincoats when they went out.
Halfway through their meal, Roman Rhodes arrived, bringing some unexpected good news for the Summers family—
Winnie Summers had been selected to join the Reconstruction Department!
"The Reconstruction Department? Is that a new department?" Her grandmother curiously took the document from Roman Rhodes’s hand, looking it over and over, an irrepressible smile spreading across her face.
She didn’t understand what it meant, but she knew it had to be a good thing, or Roman Rhodes wouldn’t have made a special trip to announce it.
Melody also hurried to her grandmother’s side and saw that the document in her hands was the selection list for the Reconstruction Department.
Just as Melody remembered from her past life, Roman Rhodes’s name appeared in the first row of the list, along with two other top leaders, as a general director of the reconstruction effort.
And right below, in the second row, was Winnie Summers’s name.
Melody was both shocked and delighted. This was completely unexpected!
She had thought Winnie might get into the Reconstruction Department, but she never expected her to become a director!
Grace Sutton’s face flushed with excitement. "Wonderful! This is just wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Our Winnie is going to be an official! The ancestors must be smiling down on us!"
Roman Rhodes smiled and nodded. "This list will be officially announced tomorrow," he said to Winnie. "I’ll have to start calling you Director Summers."
In contrast to her family’s excitement, Winnie seemed a bit lost. She stared blankly at her name on the list and said apprehensively, "Can I... can I really do this...?"
Winnie felt that she had just been a private contractor in the mountains. Three years ago, an accident had led her to a government job where she was just an inconspicuous cog in the machine. She was afraid she wasn’t up to the task.
Roman Rhodes noticed her unease and reassured her, "You’ve been meticulous in your work for the past three years. Everyone has seen what you’re capable of. You can definitely do this. You have to believe in yourself."
When the Reconstruction Department was first formed, the Rhodes family had planned to quietly pull some strings for Winnie. But before they could even intervene, she was already on the selection list.
She had been recommended for the position by her peers.
Since joining the emergency management office at The Metropolis Residences, Winnie had been extremely diligent and responsible. She had handled numerous emergencies and resolved multiple crises, becoming the backbone of the team. She truly deserved this position.
There was something else Roman Rhodes didn’t mention. Because of Frank York’s earlier rumor-mongering, a video of Winnie handling a troublemaker in glasses at the temporary shelter had been seen by the higher-ups. They were very impressed with her performance.
During the snow disaster, unrest had broken out in many places due to supply shortages. In many residential communities, the residents and the emergency management offices found themselves at odds—
The residents suspected the staff of lining their own pockets and hoarding supplies, so they periodically organized protests. The emergency office employees, afraid of escalation, would panic and use forceful measures to suppress them. This led to numerous bloody conflicts and spread widespread fear.
Faced with a similar situation, Winnie had decisively quelled an uprising while keeping the damage to a minimum, which was an exceptionally rare achievement.
Someone like Winnie, who could maintain stability in an emergency, was precisely the kind of talent the leadership was looking for. Thus, she was given an exceptional promotion to become one of the directors of a sub-department within the Reconstruction Department.
Miss Lowell wiped the tears of joy from her eyes and said with gratification, "Yes, Winnie has been down-to-earth and steady since she was a little girl. She’ll definitely do a great job!"
She had watched Winnie grow up. She had seen her go from a country girl who wanted to drop out of school to the woman she was today. It was like watching a favorite student finally reap the rewards of her tireless efforts.
As the saying goes, good things come in pairs. Besides Winnie, Colin Summers’s name was also on the list. Even though he was just an ordinary member of the department, the family was still overjoyed.
The Summers family gathered around, delightedly poring over the selection list. Only Nina stood off to the side, quietly observing Roman Rhodes and Winnie.
With his back to the rest of the family, Roman Rhodes looked at Winnie, his eyes crinkling with a smile. "We’ll be in the same department from now on," he said softly. "I look forward to working with you."
Winnie lowered her head without a word. From Nina’s angle, she couldn’t see Winnie’s expression clearly, but it looked like the corners of her mouth were curved into a smile.
Nina had always been sensitive and perceptive. Seeing this, her earlier suspicions were all but confirmed.
Just then, Grace Sutton laughed and said, "Oh, this is such wonderful news! I’m going to make a couple more special dishes and open a bottle of wine. We need to celebrate properly!"
Grace Sutton then turned to Roman Rhodes and said politely, "Officer Rhodes, you must stay for dinner. Since Colin and Winnie will be working in the Reconstruction Department, we’ll have to ask you to look after them!"
Before Roman Rhodes could reply, Winnie suddenly cut in, "Officer Rhodes is a busy man. We shouldn’t keep him."
As soon as she said it, she felt awkward and didn’t dare look up at Roman.
Hearing this, Roman felt a pang of resignation, but his expression didn’t change. He simply smiled and said, "That’s right, I do have other things to attend to, so I can’t stay."
