《Today, I Have Yet to Become a Doll》 CH 2 Chapter 2 ¨C A Bizarre Situation What¡¯s going on?! Bai Youwei tightly grasped the green grass under her body. Her fingers dug into the soil, the moist and cold texture felt real. This was not an illusion, nor a dream! They really had arrived at this unknown place from the highway in an instant! The voice had mentioned something about a game¡­ Could that be the reason why people transformed into dolls? If they were unable to leave this place, would they transform into a doll too? Tendrils of fear began to creep into her heart. Her calm heart began to beat faster and harder. Bai Youwei held her numb legs, as cold sweat began to bead upon her skin. Shen Mo was standing nearby, vigilantly assessing his surroundings. His expression was unpleasant. The warm sunlight illuminated the ground and there were white clouds spread out in the sky. The breeze blew gently, bringing with it the light fragrance of the grass. Although it was the perfect weather for a picnic, no one dared to move recklessly. ¡°Where is this¡­?¡± The long-haired lady raised her frightened face and said, ¡°Weren¡¯t we in the car just now? Hubby, I want to go home. Let¡¯s go home and not go anywhere anymore¡­¡± The lady¡¯s husband pushed her away, and said with distaste, ¡°Where¡¯s that bald man? Didn¡¯t he say it¡¯s fine?!¡± ¡°Yeah. We only followed because he said we could!¡± ¡°F*ck! I knew that he had no goodwill! Otherwise, why would he have dared to be the first one to pass? I think he purposely led us there!¡± ¡°Damn it, this motherf*cker¡­¡± Everyone was cursing and scolding as if they had forgotten just how thankful they had been towards the bald man mere moments before. Bai Youwei quietly counted the number of people. There were a total of 17 people including her. Indeed, the bald man was not here. Why? Everyone had walked the same path. Why hadn¡¯t he come here? Or was there some other factor that triggered the game? It was really weird¡­ Under such strange circumstances, why was it, that apart from fear, she could feel a sense of excitement in her heart? What was she looking forward to? ¡°Everybody listen to me¡­¡± A middle-aged man wearing a suit spoke up, ¡°Things have already happened, complaining won¡¯t change anything. Only if we all unite and work together, will we have a chance at leaving this place. I took a brief look just now. This seems to be a sports ground, and there¡¯s a track in front. Is anyone willing to follow me to take a look there?¡± He had been driving a Mercedes-Benz just now. He was dressed like a successful businessman too. Thus, his speech was very convincing. Many agreed to his suggestion. A young girl wearing glasses asked shyly, ¡°Will it be dangerous?¡± Another yellow-haired youngster criticized her, ¡°So what if it¡¯s dangerous? Are we supposed to wait here with you until death comes for us?!¡± The girl looked at her boyfriend, feeling aggrieved. The boy was quick-witted. He immediately came to her defense and said, ¡°Brother, chill. She¡¯s just worried that we will encounter a mishap since no one knows where this place is¡­¡± The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s not impossible that what she¡¯s worried about might occur. Although it¡¯s not dangerous now, this place is after all, still unknown to us. How about this, the women and the elderly can stay behind, all the men should follow me up ahead to explore.¡± After pondering for a few moments, Shen Mo turned his head and said to Bai Youwei, ¡°Wait here for me, I¡¯ll go in front and check it out.¡± ¡°No!¡± Bai Youwei grabbed his arms hard. She said it loud and clear in a firm tone, attracting others to look at their direction. The yellow-haired youngster from just now shot her a disapproving glance. ¡°Little sister, this is a matter of life and death, don¡¯t be so unruly. If we don¡¯t understand what the situation is now, how do you expect us to find our way back?¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why are you separating men and women when our lives are at stake?!¡± Suddenly, Bai Youwei seemed like a different person. In a sharp tone, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t even know any of you. If something were to happen to him, who would bother with a cripple like me? In all likelihood, all of you would probably run away faster than a rabbit!¡± Bai Youwei pulled Shen Mo close and stared straight into his eyes. ¡°Shen Mo, you promised to send me to Yangzhou safely! Are you going to abandon me so soon?!¡± A few women also hesitated and looked at their own partners. With the men all gone, all those left behind would be these helpless women and elderly, what if something happens? Even though Bai Youwei would definitely be the worst off, they wouldn¡¯t be much better than her. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯ll go with you. I¡¯m afraid of staying here¡­¡± The long-haired lady also changed her mind. ¡°I think it will be better if everyone goes together?¡± Someone tried to be the peacemaker and suggested, ¡°I think there¡¯s nothing to explore here. There¡¯s nothing here except the meadows, the track, and the forest which is a little bit further up ahead.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me we have to go through the forest?¡± ¡°I have no idea. Let¡¯s go to the place with the banner first, I have a weird feeling about that banner¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go and check it out, there might be some clues there.¡± While talking, everyone walked towards the banner with ¡°The Tortoise And The Hare¡± written on it. Shen Mo bent down to carry Bai Youwei in his arms and followed the group in front. Bai Youwei hugged his neck, her eyes were red. Her voice returned to her initial soft tone, but her stubbornness remained unchanged. ¡°Do you regret it now? Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m burdensome? ¡­Even if you were to regret it now, it¡¯s too late! Shen Mo, don¡¯t even think about getting rid of me!¡± As if trying to prove that she meant what she said, Bai Youwei hugged his neck tighter with an unyielding expression. Shen Mo was hurt by the force of her grip. To his surprise, the strength of her hands was not weak. He instantly recalled that perhaps her sense of insecurity was due to her parents being absent from a young age. Thinking so, he calmed down, and said gently, ¡°I won¡¯t leave you on your own.¡± Bai Youwei was not quite convinced. Shen Mo also had his own doubts. It was obvious that Bai Youwei¡¯s physical and mental condition was not very good, why didn¡¯t Aunt Wang bring her back to take care of her? ¡°Look, someone seems to be under the banner!¡± Upon hearing this, everyone looked in that direction. Shen Mo¡¯s train of thought was also interrupted by the voice. As they got closer, the figure below the banner gradually became more visible. That figure was dressed like a gentleman. It was wearing a white-collar shirt, a black tuxedo blazer, and a rabbit fursuit head. The long rabbit ears were particularly conspicuous, while its pair of red eyes were staring at them unblinkingly. T/N: I¡¯ve uploaded Bai Youwei, Shen Mo and Gentleman Rabbit¡¯s picture in the character list. Be sure to check it out! uwu CH 3 Chapter 3 ¨C Where¡¯s The Finishing Line Maybe it was because this situation was too bizarre, everyone slowed down their speed and looked vigilantly at Gentleman Rabbit. ¡°Hello, everyone, I¡¯m the supervisor of this particular game. Welcome to The Dolls¡¯ Game.¡± Although there was still quite some distance, the voice of Gentleman Rabbit could be heard clearly in the air. It was a gentle female voice. However, at that moment, even the gentlest voice would not be able to calm the fear in everyone¡¯s hearts. ¡°Who are you? Are you the one who brought us here?!¡± Someone boldly questioned. Gentleman Rabbit, who was holding a huge top hat, said with a calm and gentle voice, ¡°All participants, please stand at the starting point. The competition will start right after the starting pistol is fired. You can enter the next round of the competition after crossing the correct finishing line. There are three rounds in this competition¡­¡± ¡°Hey! I¡¯m asking you a question, can¡¯t you hear?!¡± The robust man, who was extremely anxious, strode forward to Gentleman Rabbit and reached out to strangle it. ¡°Quit trying to act mysterious by wearing a fursuit head! Tell me now! How can I get out of this awful place?!¡± Although Gentleman Rabbit was tall, it had thin limbs and a gentle female voice, which made people feel that it was harmless. And it was because of this that the robust man had the courage to strangle its throat. Even with its thin neck in the tight grasp of the robust man, its voice still managed to be projected without any difficulty. ¡°This game has three rounds. The competition will start when the starting pistol is shot, those who dash past the correct finishing line¡­¡± ¡°Enough!¡± The robust man roared, ¡°I¡¯m not here to play games! Quickly tell me how to get out of here! Otherwise, I¡¯m gonna strangle you to death!¡± Boom! Blue flames burst out! At the same time, it let out a low sound! The body of the robust man began trembling violently in an instant. As if struck by lightning, his whole body was burnt black, and shattered into pieces like a piece of charcoal when he fell to the ground. Gentleman Rabbit tilted its head and lightly brushed away the black ashes on its shoulder. The fur on its neck was clearly exposed, making people finally understand that it wasn¡¯t wearing a fursuit head! It truly had a rabbit head! ¡°Ah¡­monster, monster!¡± The long-haired lady collapsed to the ground, her legs trembling. Her husband grabbed her arms, and they tried to run away together. However, they turned around just to realize that hundreds of hares had suddenly appeared across the originally wide and flat meadows! Every hare was as huge as a wolfhound! Their entire body was as white as snow. They had bloody red eyes, their sharp teeth between their lips were rubbing continuously, making an intimidating teeth grinding sound. The scene before her eyes was too horrifying, Bai Youwei could not help but hide in Shen Mo¡¯s arms. She did not forget to look up at Shen Mo. She noticed that although his expression was unpleasant, he was still calm, unlike others who were frightened to the point of bewilderment. Gentleman Rabbit stood calmly in front of them and said, ¡°All participants, please get to the designated starting point as soon as possible.¡± Bai Youwei looked at the starting line following its instructions. Those huge hares were moving there too. They were crawling to the track one by one, crowding behind the starting line. ¡­The tortoise and the hare. The hares were here, so, are they the tortoises? ¡°Excuse me¡­¡± Bai Youwei gritted her teeth and asked after raising her hand, ¡°In my case, do I have to participate in the competition too?¡±¡± Gentleman Rabbit tilted its head, and laid its eyes on Bai Youwei. After pausing for a moment, it apologized gently and politely, ¡°I see. This is my oversight.¡± Its hand, which was wearing a white glove, subsequently reached into the huge top hat, and a pair of walking sticks was taken out by it! Bai Youwei¡¯s heart suddenly skipped a beat! It looked exactly the same as her own walking stick! ¡­No, these were her walking sticks! the foldable walking sticks she put in her luggage! Gentleman Rabbit could easily take objects from the outside world. Did that mean that if they wanted to leave this place, they would have to follow its instructions? But even if it gave her a walking stick, there was no way she could race against that drove of hares that were bigger than dogs. At that moment, Shen Mo, who was quiet all this while, asked, ¡°Where¡¯s the finishing line?¡± Gentleman Rabbit raised its hand and pointed at the other end of the track. T/N: Sorry for the late update. Your clumsy translator, Chan fell and fractured her finger two weeks ago¡­£¨©¤.©¤ ||£©and it¡¯s also because of procrastination. I¡¯m fine now and I will try my best to update more regularly (? ?_?)? PS: I¡¯ve prepared something for the next chapter hehe XD CH 4 Chapter 4 ¨C The Correct Finishing Line Here¡¯s a rough illustration of the scene described: (T/N: Tada! Credits to the author for drawing that!) The finishing line was directly on the other side of the starting line, with a translucent signboard marking its position. Since it was translucent, no one noticed it just now. The finishing line signboard was parallel to the length of the track. It was unclear what material it was made from, and how it could suspend in midair. Just then, Gentleman Rabbit pointed at the signboard, and two extremely bolded words emerged¡ªfinishing line. Below the ¡°finishing line¡±, there were two arrows, one pointing to lane No.1 at the left, and the other pointing to lane No.2 at the right. There are usually six or eight lanes in a running track of a sports arena, but there were only two lanes here. ¡°The length of the racecourse is 200 meters in total. You may enter the next round of the competition after passing through the correct finishing line. The game ends after three rounds,¡± Gentleman Rabbit briefed them on the rules. ¡°Are those hares going to race with us?¡± Shen Mo took a glance at the hares that were not far away. ¡°Of course.¡± Gentleman Rabbit still maintained its gentle tone. ¡°Hares are one of the important parts of ¡®The Tortoise And The Hare¡¯ race, participants should avoid being caught up by hares.¡± Bai Youwei pursed her lips and asked cautiously, ¡°What will happen if they catch up to us?¡± Gentleman Rabbit kept quiet. Although it did not give a reply, for some reason, Bai Youwei felt that it seemed to be smiling¡­ The woman hiding behind her husband asked tremblingly, ¡°Do¡­do they bite?¡± Bite? The others began to criticize her in their minds, Look at those teeth, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that they eat people, let alone bite! ¡°Alright everybody, that¡¯s it for the explanation of the rules. Please follow me to the starting line, the competition will begin soon.¡± Everyone looked at each other in dismay, their eyes glued to each other, everyone was hesitant to make a move. The corpse that was burnt to a crisp was still there on the ground, faintly emitting an odd charred smell. As the sun shone, the translucent finishing line signboard at a distance reflected a brilliant light, as if it was waving and calling out to everyone. They ultimately could not resist the fear in their hearts and followed Gentleman Rabbit ahead with heavy footsteps. Shen Mo lowered his head to look at Bai Youwei. ¡°Running while carrying you on my back should be faster than carrying you in my arms. If you are scared of those hares, I can carry you in my arms.¡± Those hares were obviously aggressive. If they attacked from the rear, the places vulnerable to attack would be the back and the leg areas. ¡°It¡¯s better to give me a piggyback.¡± Bai Youwei also calmed down. ¡°Running doesn¡¯t only require speed, but also balance, at the same time you need to be agile to evade the hares. It will be troublesome if you carry me in your arms.¡± Both of them stopped to adjust their posture, with Bai Youwei lying on Shen Mo¡¯s back. They soon fell behind from the rest of the group. ¡°Are you afraid?¡± Shen Mo asked her. ¡°Yes.¡± Bai Youwei replied in a muffled voice. It would be impossible for anyone to be unafraid when encountering such a thing. She asked Shen Mo in a soft voice, ¡°What about you? Are you afraid? If those hares ran very fast¡­¡± If they ran very fast, he would undoubtedly be encumbered carrying her. While carrying Bai Youwei, Shen Mo walked forward steadily. ¡°Do you still remember what that rabbit head said just now? It said that there¡¯s a total of three rounds in the competition. If the hares had great speed, one round is enough to end the game, there would be no need to set up three rounds.¡± Bai Youwei was surprised. She hadn¡¯t expected Shen Mo to analyze it to such detail. She looked at the starting line ahead of her. Those gigantic hares looked ferocious, but if you observed carefully, you would notice that the limbs of every hare were quite uncoordinated¡ªlimping, twitching, scratching the ground and kicking, and some were even biting their flesh, in a state of madness. If they did run, their speed might not be that fast. Bai Youwei thought for a while and said to Shen Mo in a low voice, ¡°It kept emphasizing on passing the correct finishing line, so, if you want to win the competition, you don¡¯t have to be the first. Instead, you must first run faster than the hare, then only find the correct finishing line.¡± Upon hearing this, Shen Mo asked, ¡°Which side is the correct finishing line on?¡± Bai Youwei remained silent. Since the competition had three rounds, the finishing line would definitely be different each time. It might be at the left or at the right. There must be a hint for the answer in this 200 meters race. Even if there were no hints, making a wild guess still meant they had a 50% chance of getting to the correct finishing line. The only problem now was that they had no idea what consequences they would face if they ran to the wrong finishing line. CH 5 Chapter 5 ¨C Little White Bunny, Oh So White Everyone soon arrived at the starting line of the track. Although there were only two lanes, they were each very wide, and it did not seem crowded even when 16 people stood side by side in a line. Behind them were the huge ghastly hares. The hares were pushing and shoving each other, baring their teeth, huffing and puffing, and exhaling stenchy warm air from their noses. The thin soft whiskers at both sides of their noses were almost brushing the ankle of the person in front, seemingly to be able to bite a piece of meat if they got any closer. The long-haired lady was so frightened that she had gone weak at her knees. She tightly grasped the lower hem of her husband¡¯s clothes with one hand, tears were uncontrollably rolling down her cheeks. Her husband berated her in a low voice, ¡°Let go of me! How can I run if you are pulling me?!¡± The yellow-haired youngster coldly watched them squabble and squatted down to retie his shoelaces. The girl wearing glasses took off her high-heeled sandals. After thinking for a while, she picked her sandals back up and held them tightly in her hand. The middle-aged man, who was wearing a suit, took off his jacket and anxiously stared at the finishing line in front. ¡­16 people, and every single one of them was silently making preparations. Bai Youwei laid on Shen Mo¡¯s back, feeling disturbed. She asked him softly, ¡°Do you run fast?¡± Shen Mo replied, ¡°Not bad.¡± Bai Youwei thought for a moment and continued questioning, ¡°Am I heavy?¡± Shen Mo pushed her a little higher while saying in a flat tone, ¡°Not bad.¡± Why is it all ¡®not bad¡¯? Bai Youwei felt uneasy, and was about to continue asking when she heard Gentleman Rabbit said, ¡°Ready¡ª¡± Gentleman Rabbit took out a starting pistol from the huge top hat and held it high. Everyone tensed up in an instant! A figure suddenly dashed out the starting line! Boom! The blue lightning was like a huge knife, flying out of Gentleman Rabbit¡¯s palm! Bai Youwei could clearly see that the target that it hit seemed like it was being struck by real lightning! The shape of it immediately distorted on contact, then it was burnt to a crisp, before finally turning into ashes. Silence filled the air. No one uttered a single word. He turned into ashes just like this¡­ Gentleman Rabbit kept back its hand. Its voice was gentle and indifferent. ¡°Making a false start is a foul play, participants please listen attentively for the sound of the starting pistol.¡± Bai Youwei¡¯s limbs were icy cold. She quietly lied on Shen Mo¡¯s back, the last hope she had in her heart had disappeared. She said softly, ¡°Shen Mo, later you should run after they run, don¡¯t worry about me getting bitten by the hares.¡± If she got bitten by the hare, at most she would just lose some of her flesh, but if they made a false start, they would lose their lives instantly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Shen Mo slightly bent down to be in a ready position. ¡°Both of us won¡¯t die.¡± ¡°Ready!¡ª¡± Gentleman Rabbit once again raised the starting pistol. Bang! The moment the starting pistol rang, everyone dashed past the starting line in unison. The man aside was one-step slow when they started to run, and was immediately pounced on by the hares, letting out a shrill scream! ¡°Hubby!¡± The long-haired lady teared up, her pace slowed down, not knowing whether to continue running or go back to save him. Someone shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t care about him! Quickly run!¡± However, it was still too late. Those hares were like zombies that smelled human flesh, pouncing on and tearing at anyone who slowed down. The lady screamed again and again, but no one dared to look back. Everyone ran forward desperately! Run faster, run faster! Faster!!! Shen Mo was carrying Bai Youwei on his back while running in the middle of the group. Running in front of the group was a man with a slim figure, he ran extremely fast, leaving others a great distance behind. The 200-meters distance was neither long nor short, they soon approached the finishing line. At that moment, the translucent finishing line signboard had a sudden change! The two words of ¡°finishing line¡± disappeared, and it was replaced with a new sentence. [Little white bunny, oh so white] T/N: ¡°Little white bunny, oh so white¡± is the title of a Chinese nursery rhyme. This is the lyrics: Little white bunny, oh so white Two little ears, standing upright Loves eating carrots and veges Bouncing around, it¡¯s so cute! Here¡¯s how the song sounds like. (You can watch it if you¡¯re interested! It¡¯s just a nursery rhyme so don¡¯t expect much.) Hehe now, based on the lyrics, try guessing which is the correct lane! (The answer is quite obvious XD) CH 6 Chapter 6 ¨C A Way That Will Guarantee Our Win ¡°Little white bunny, oh so white¡±? What did that mean? At the same time, while the brain was thinking, they did not stop running. The first person ran like crazy and dashed past the finishing line on the left without thinking twice. The second person ran to the bottom of the signboard, hesitantly looked at the first person, and then turned to look at the hares behind that were gradually approaching. He did not dare to waste any time and went to the left too. A third person stopped and hesitated for two seconds, then ran towards the finishing line on the right. One after another, people continuously arrived at the finishing line. With no time to think, some went to the left, and some went to the right. ¡°It¡¯s the one on the right.¡± Bai Youwei said while lying on Shen Mo¡¯s back, ¡°Little white rabbit, oh so white, two little ears, standing upright! ¡®Two¡¯ is also ¡®2¡¯, the answer is track No.2, on the right-hand side!¡± Shen Mo sped up and dashed past the finishing line on the right! The last few people also arrived one after another. At this moment, the people on the left suddenly seemed to come to their senses and all of them soon felt a slight inkling of doubt that they might be wrong. With horror, they tried to backtrack but to their dismay, they noticed that there was an invisible barrier between the two lanes. They could not pass through or go over it! At the same time, the hares that were chasing them pounced towards lane No.1! They were like billowing white waves, bringing a salty and pungent, cold wind with them! Humans were shrieking, cursing, and desperately fighting in a life and death battle with the hares! After that, they ran out of utter despair! The track was a circle with barriers on both sides. To dodge those demented hares, those who had crossed the wrong finishing line had to continue moving forward along the track! The girl wearing glasses sat on the ground crying, she could not bear to see any more casualties. In a hoarse voice, She shouted to those people, ¡°Faster¡­run faster¡­¡± But it was too late, much too late¡­ Sprinting a distance of 200 meters was already about the limit for an average human, and if they continued to run, it was inevitable that their speed would fall. However, the speed of the hares would not slow down, in fact they managed to catch up to the people very quickly and¡ªwith a pounce! They tore right into the running humans, and a cacophony of bloodcurdling screams echoed around the sports ground. The people who fell to the ground struggled and writhed uncontrollably, before transforming into skinless humans, all their flesh exposed out in the open. Then, as though thorns were growing from inside out of their bodies, white fur began to emerge from their flesh. The white fur continued to grow more and more, getting thicker and thicker! All the people ultimately became gigantic demented hares, their eyeballs dyed red with blood. On a day of warmth and sunshine at the sports ground, everyone watching felt as though they had fallen into a pool of icy water, and chills traveled up their bodies. They had just witnessed all their companions on the opposite side being forcefully turned into hares! From a distance, they could still see the rabbit-headed person waving at them, its voice clearly entering their ears. ¡°Participants please return to the starting line. The second round of the competition is about to begin.¡± Second round¡­ Everyone¡¯s complexion was deathly pale. They did not have the option of opposing him, neither did they dare to resist nor had the time to try and calm their terrified minds. Everybody walked woodenly like lifeless dolls, each and every step bringing them back to the starting line. Yes, that¡¯s right. At that very moment, they were like dolls, completely at the mercy of the rabbit-headed person, their freedom and liberty lost. Bai Youwei lay on Shen Mo¡¯s back, her heavy heart kept on sinking, deeper and deeper. When they had just arrived, there had been 17 of them, but now, after only one round of the competition, there were only 9 of them left¡­ Could she and Shen Mo really survive three rounds of the competition? ¡°Walk slower.¡± Bai Youwei whispered to Shen Mo, ¡°Walk slower, and rest a little.¡± ¡°I still have the stamina for this.¡± Shen Mo whispered, ¡°It¡¯s just that the puzzle is a bit troublesome.¡± The difficulty was just a part of it, the most terrible thing was the time allocated to find an answer. Those people who ran for their lives in panic just now probably did not even have the time to read the question, so how could they be rational and clear-headed enough to make the right choice? The time between seeing the puzzle and crossing the finishing line was at most two or three seconds! Any longer and they would have been caught up by the hares behind! Therefore, at the critical moment, what was being tested wasn¡¯t necessarily your knowledge but your instantaneous response! Bai Youwei murmured, ¡°The track in the sports ground is a 400-meter circle. If we choose the wrong finishing line and cannot backtrack, we would have to run another 400 meters to pass the correct finishing line. After calculating, it¡¯s equivalent to running 600 meters with the fastest speed. It¡¯s impossible to do it unless you¡¯re a professional athlete.¡± Moreover, Shen Mo was still carrying her. Once they missed the 200 meters finishing line, Shen Mo and her would undoubtedly end up as hares¡­ Shen Mo said, ¡°I wonder what¡¯s the question for the next round.¡± Bai Youwei slowly shook her head. ¡°Actually, it doesn¡¯t matter what the question is, what matters is the sequence. There¡¯s actually a way that can guarantee we win the competition.¡± Shen Mo¡¯s pace paused for a bit. ¡°A way that will guarantee we win the competition?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± Bai Youwei quietly observed the expression of others, and whispered, ¡°And it¡¯s very likely¡­that someone has already thought of that way.¡± ¡­ T/N: So the answer is 2. Did you guess the correct answer? XD CH 7 Chapter 7 ¨C Which Side To Choose The remaining 9 people returned to the starting line. Bai Youwei softly warned Shen Mo by his ears, ¡°Later when you run, take note of the yellow-haired youngster and that middle-aged man wearing a suit, and make sure to stay away from them.¡± Shen Mo shot a quick glance from the corner of his eye at the two of them. The yellow-haired youngster was of average height, clad in a tight T-shirt and jeans. With bulging biceps on both his arms, he seemed like a frequent visitor of the gymnasium. The middle-aged man who was wearing a suit had his arms on his waist and his suit jacket draped over his right arm, heaved, trying to catch his breath. His face was flushed, and covered in sweat. After all, he was quite old, so he had yet to recover from the 200-meter sprint. ¡°The middle-aged man has low stamina but he definitely won¡¯t resign to his fate.¡± Bai Youwei softly continued, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that he might play tricks later.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± Shen Mo pushed her up slightly. ¡°Hold on tight later, if you fall off, I won¡¯t go back to pick you up.¡± Bai Youwei tightly clung to him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let go even if I die.¡± ¡°Ready¡ª¡± Gentleman Rabbit raised the starting pistol. Everyone looked straight at the finishing point in front, holding their breath. Bang! The starting pistol was fired. All of them dashed from the starting line in unison. The hares followed closely after them, pursuing them relentlessly! Shen Mo was in seventh place as he ran with Bai Youwei on his back. The middle-aged man was last while the yellow-haired youngster was leading all of them in the front. Bai Youwei was constantly on guard against her surroundings. Seeing the middle-aged man gradually approaching, she freed one of her hands and subtly put it in the pocket at her waist. ¡°Hold on tight!¡± Shen Mo warned her unhappily, ¡°I¡¯m speeding up!¡± He suddenly picked up speed and overtook two people at once, increasing their distance from the middle-aged man, and steadily maintained their placement as fourth of the group. Bai Youwei heaved a sigh of relief. She took back her hand from the pocket and hugged Shen Mo¡¯s neck. A loud shout sounded behind her! She turned her head around subconsciously to look and saw the middle-aged man throwing out his suit jacket with all his might! The young boy next to him stumbled as the jacket covered his head and face. The boy¡¯s hands flailed about and in his panic, he dragged the girl with glasses, who was running together with him, down. Just like the domino effect, the three of them all fell behind from the rest of the team! Bai Youwei turned her head back and stopped looking, her heart felt cold. She heard screams and wails. She could almost imagine how the hares were brutally attacking those two people and how the middle-aged man was seizing this opportunity to escape. At such a crucial moment, what would he not do in order to survive? By now, they had been steadily getting closer to the finishing line. On the finishing line signboard, the two words of ¡°finishing line¡± changed once again, displaying the question for this round. [The gall bladder of a tortoise is at its lobe.] Everyone was dumbstruck! The previous puzzle was a childish nursery rhyme, but it was a serious biology question this time! The yellow-haired youngster who was rushing at the front abruptly came to a halt. He froze below the finishing line signboard, not knowing which side to choose! There were left and right lobes in the liver, so was the gall bladder of a tortoise at its left or right lobe? Unless there was a veterinarian among these people, who would know the answer?! The second person arriving at the finishing line also stopped. He stood with the yellow-haired youngster, thinking with a ghastly pale face. Left, or right? Lane No.1, or lane No.2? ¡°Do you know the answer?¡± Shen Mo slowed down and asked Bai Youwei on his back. Bai Youwei kept quiet. Her pair of black eyes stared unblinkingly at the two people in front of her, her lips gradually pursing tighter and tighter. At this moment, the yellow-haired youngster suddenly made a move! He pushed the second person with great force to the finishing line at the left! The hares that were in both lanes seemed to have sensed that someone had answered the question wrongly! They all squeezed into the left lane like crazy, just like the traffic flow suddenly changed lanes on the highway! Upon seeing this, the yellow-haired youngster ran to the right side without any hesitation! The answer was the right lobe! CH 8 Chapter 8 ¨C Who The Weak Ones Are The people behind immediately understood the yellow-haired youngster¡¯s actions and quickened their pace, dashing towards the finishing line on the right! Meanwhile, for the person who had been pushed into the other lane, that lane was already flooded by a horde of hares. Thus, there was now one more demented hare in the horde of hares. Even though they knew such an act was equal to murder, no one condemned nor blamed anyone for it, the survivors just sat on the ground gasping for breath. Tears and sweat were flowing down their cheeks, each of them was in such a sorry state as if they had just climbed out of water. A little way away, Gentleman Rabbit was waving towards everyone once again. ¡°Participants please return to the starting line to start the third round of the competition.¡± The third round. The last round. As long as they could survive the last round, this damn game would be over! Everyone struggled to summon the last reserves of their energy to stand up and slowly walked towards the starting line. Shen Mo carried Bai Youwei on his back again, and walked behind the rest of the team. Bai Youwei could feel the damp sweat on his body. With the lesson learnt from the first round, everyone was putting in all their effort during the second round and most of the people passed the finishing line. Only two people had died. Now there were only seven left. However, this did not mean that the third round would have fewer casualties. After two consecutive narrow escapes from death, everyone¡¯s stamina was on the brink of depletion. This also meant that during the third round, the speed of these people would be significantly slower. Especially that middle-aged man, even by just walking, one could see how his legs were trembling. He could not run anymore. Bai Youwei had also noticed that the girl with glasses who had just been dragged down wasn¡¯t dead, but she was injured. Her entire arm was dyed red with blood, the high-heels in her hand were equally bloody. Her thin and long legs looked eerily bloodchilling with stains of red splattered across them. The middle-aged man probably felt guilty, so he subconsciously avoided her. The atmosphere on the way back to the starting line was more depressing and lifeless than before. No one uttered a single word. It was probably because they felt despair or perhaps they were each preoccupied with planning their strategy for the next round of the game. Shen Mo and Bai Youwei were still lagging behind the rest of the group. He asked her, ¡°So this is what you meant by the guaranteed way to win the competition?¡± ¡°¡­Mhm.¡± Bai Youwei lightly nodded. ¡°The hares can¡¯t enter the correct finishing line. So, as long as one person enters the wrong one, we can determine the correct finishing line from the reactions of the hares.¡± Shen Mo laughed scornfully. ¡°Are they trying to force us to kill each other?¡± Bai Youwei kept quiet. That was indeed true¡­ On the surface it seemed that this game is all about stamina but in fact, whoever dared to sacrifice their opponents would have higher chances of survival. Just like that middle-aged man, as well as that yellow-haired youngster¡­ ¡°You have quite the eye for people.¡± Shen Mo had gained a new understanding of Bai Youwei. He asked curiously, ¡°Why did you think the two of them would act that way?¡± ¡°It was nothing, just my gut feeling.¡± Bai Youwei replied. ¡°Feeling?¡± Shen Mo could not help but laugh. ¡°Was it possibly a woman¡¯s intuition?¡± Bai Youwei curled her lips. ¡°Sorry to burst your bubble, it was a cripple¡¯s intuition. As part of the weak ones, we are very sensitive towards the malice shown by the stronger side.¡± Upon hearing this, Shen Mo thoughtfully said, ¡°Sounds interesting.¡± ¡°It¡¯s actually just picking on the weak.¡± Bai Youwei explained indifferently, ¡°When humans get along with people weaker than them, they will naturally show aggression once malicious intent enters their hearts. Husbands who abuse their wives, parents who abuse their child, caregivers who bully the elderly, they are normal people in life. But why is it that they just could not hold their temper when facing their wife, children or elderly? It¡¯s because of the great disparity in strength that the strong can magnify the malice in their heart and wilfully possess, humiliate, and even take away the life of the weak¡­¡± As she was talking, she could not help but pause and faintly mutter, ¡°Though, it¡¯s not like you would understand.¡± Although they were not familiar, she had heard her mother mention that Uncle Shen¡¯s son was working in national security and he was the youngest and most promising officer there. People like him would probably never understand the feeling of being in a vulnerable position. ¡°I¡¯m experiencing it now,¡± Shen Mo replied. By now, they had already returned to the starting line, and once again they watched as Gentleman Rabbit lifted his starting pistol in the air. ¡°Look.¡± Shen Mo bent down his body, getting into a ready position. ¡°In front of them, we are all the weak ones.¡± ¡°Ready!¡ª¡± Gentleman Rabbit shouted the command. T/N: Oops, I¡¯m a little late. Sorry¡­ CH 9 Chapter 9 ¨C The Final Round The third round of the race¡ª Bang! The pistol went off, and everyone rushed out of the starting line in unison! Despite sparing no effort, after running a mere ten meters, everyone¡¯s pace had begun to visibly slow down! Shen Mo unexpectedly dashed to the front, running at the forefront while carrying Bai Youwei. At first, Bai Youwei was surprised, but after some thought, she quickly understood that Shen Mo had deliberately kept his stamina in the first two rounds. Although doing that was risky, it gave them a better chance of survival in the third round. Panic-filled screams and curses sounded from behind. Bai Youwei tilted her head to look and noticed the middle-aged man looked deadly pale, and he was sweating profusely, his eyes were red as if filled with blood! He had unbuckled his belt at some point and swung it, lashing out like crazy at the people running ahead of him! The unlucky people who were hit either stumbled or fell down instantly! Even those hares that were chasing them got hit. They seemed to have some intelligence left and all of them avoided the middle-aged man, instead targeting those injured people by pouncing and ripping into them. Another two people died. Fortunately, Shen Mo was leading the group and he was quite far from the middle-aged man. Otherwise, the consequences of taking lashes under such harsh circumstances would be unthinkable. ¡°You guys wait for me! Wait for me! ¡­¡± The middle-aged man tried to catch up from behind with all his might. The belt in his hand was constantly being waved about by him, but now there was no one left near him to be his scapegoat, only more and more hares! The fact that he could persevere until now must have been due to his sudden burst of potential. Honestly, Bai You Wei originally expected him to die when he first started the race. ¡°You guys wait for me¡­ I don¡¯t want to die, I know the answer!¡± The middle-aged man was at his limit. He ran as fast as he could while yelling at the top of his lungs, ¡°I¡¯ll tell the answer to anyone who comes to my rescue! Wait for me ahhhh¡­¡± It did not matter if this sentence was his last struggle before death, but someone was actually convinced and slowed down! The yellow-haired youngster took off his T-shirt and threw it behind as hard as he could, and it landed exactly on a hare, covering its head! No one knew if it was the sweat or blood on that shirt but the hares had a brief moment of madness, and actually attacked the hare that was covered by the shirt! Hence, the middle-aged man had once again escaped from death! At the moment, the finishing line signboard had already displayed the new puzzle. [The uterus of a rabbit] ¡°Left side!¡± To prove that he¡¯s worthy of rescuing, the middle-aged man eagerly shouted, ¡°Rabbits give birth to one litter a month! The answer is 1! Pick lane No.1 on the left!!!¡± The answer was there, but no one was that gullible. The yellow-haired youngster first looked at the girl with glasses. Having learnt her lesson from the previous round, the girl with glasses kept running at the outer side of the track, maintaining a distance from everyone. The yellow-haired youngster then looked at Shen Mo as an intense murderous intent emerged from his eyes. To test the answer, Shen Mo who was carrying a cripple was undoubtedly the best choice at the moment. Bai Youwei had been wary of him. When she saw him approaching, she unceremoniously took out the folding fruit knife in her pocket and opened it with a flick! The yellow-haired youngster could not help but be puzzled for a moment. However, his expression quickly returned to normal. He actually showed no fear towards the knife in Bai Youwei¡¯s hand. There was nothing fearsome about a pitiful cripple. Shen Mo said, ¡°Pass me the knife.¡± Bai Youwei passed it to him and said, ¡°I coincidentally know this question. Rabbits have duplex uterus, the answer is lane No.2, right side!¡± Her voice was neither loud nor soft, the remaining few could all hear her, but no one dared to believe her. Who knew if she was just lying to try and mislead the yellow-haired youngster?! ¡°Hang on, it¡¯ll hurt a little,¡± Shen Mo suddenly said. ¡°What?¡± Bai Youwei did not understand. As she was puzzled, her body suddenly rose to the sky! She was ¡°shoulder thrown¡± into the finishing line on the right by Shen Mo! Bang! Bai Youwei felt her bones were about to break! However, she had no time to bother about the pain. She hurriedly climbed up to search for Shen Mo, only to see the droves of hares arriving in front of her, sweeping across Shen Mo and the yellow-haired youngster like a white nightmare! CH 10 Chapter 10 ¨C The Giant Lightning Bolt Bai Youwei¡¯s heart almost stopped beating! At this critical moment, if Shen Mo died, she would not survive too! The girl with glasses, who was running at the outer side of the track, reached the finishing line panting. The middle-aged man also stumbled towards there. His body was covered in bruises but he managed to stay alive. Whereas Shen Mo and the yellow-haired youngster were still stuck in that piece of white. The droves of hares were isolated from the finishing line, surrounding those two people layer by layer, clawing, biting, roaring, and attacking like rabid dogs! Bai Youwei watched as closely as she could, trying to see clearly the situation in the horde of hares. Her pupils constricted. She was afraid that the next moment what she would see would be a monster with hare fur! A red body was thrown over here! It was the yellow-haired youngster covered with cuts and bruises. He was bitten on the throat, his blood flowing onto the ground! Right after that, Shen Mo broke through the encirclement, and jumped vigorously over the finishing line! The moment he passed the finishing line, the horde of hares outside immediately stopped and became sluggish and stiff, just like bloodthirsty zombies who suddenly lost their target. The hares were retreating. They headed to the meadows outside the track in knots. The middle-aged man kneeled down, his whole body was limp, without even a shred of strength. His lips quivered as he uttered, ¡°I¡­I survived¡­¡± They survived¡­ Finally¡­ They survived. The last four people. However, Shen Mo did not care about this. He walked towards the yellow-haired youngster to check and found that the mutation had already stopped. Although there were some places that grew out white hare fur, he did not turn into a hare, still maintaining a human appearance. Shen Mo then checked his breathing. He¡¯s not breathing anymore. Did the mutation stop because of his death, or because of him reaching the correct finishing line? Shen Mo thought while frowning. Bai Youwei felt Shen Mo was abnormal. How could he still have the time to care about others when he had just escaped from death? She asked suspiciously, ¡°What are you doing?¡± Shen Mo shot her a glance and was about to say something when a scream suddenly sounded nearby! Bai Youwei and Shen Mo turned their heads around almost simultaneously! They saw the girl with glasses, who was panting while holding her knees, came behind the middle-aged man at some point. With all her might, she knocked the man out of the finishing line! That scream was from the middle-aged man! The scattered rabbits were restless and swarmed back once again! They were extremely quick! The middle-aged man was in terror. He wanted to crawl back to the finishing line but his limbs were limp. He ended up moving too slowly. He was torn, devoured and drowned by the hares! ¡­Then, he disappeared. Again, there was one more demented hare in the horde of hares. Bai Youwei was at a loss for words. She did not expect this kind of situation. The girl with glasses knelt on the ground and broke down weeping while covering her face, ¡°He deserved to die! He deserved to die! ¡­He got so many people killed, got Ah Xiao killed, and he deliberately told everyone wrong answers! He deserved to die ahhh! ¡­¡± The hares had already hopped away. Not a single one remained. All of them had disappeared in the vast surrounding forest, and silence returned . The rabbit-headed person slowly walked over from a distance and said in its gentle, almost spooky tone, ¡°Attacking a participant is foul play.¡± Bai Youwei had an ominous feeling in her heart. Just as expected, at the next second, the blue blaze reappeared. That was a giant bolt of lightning! It flew out of the rabbit-headed person¡¯s palm and directly struck the girl with glasses! Incalculable electric current and unimaginable heat made the body of the girl with glasses burn to a crisp in an instant! Patter¡ª She fell to the ground and crumbled into pieces. Silence filled the air. Bai Youwei felt cold all over. The girl who was still weeping bitterly a second ago had been burnt to a crisp right in front of her! She looked at the ashes on the ground and felt chilled to the bone. Everything that had happened was just too horrible¡­ CH 11 Chapter 11 ¨C One-tenth of Me ¡°That man attacked others too, why wasn¡¯t he punished?¡± Shen Mo asked. Gentleman Rabbit explained generously, ¡°Supervisors have to make sure that the game runs smoothly and the final points tally proceeds without a hitch.¡± Thus, after the end of the game, players that have passed the round cannot be attacked since it would affect the game¡¯s final point tally. For the same reason, attacking players before the beginning of the game was also not allowed because if the number of players decreased, the game would probably not be able to go on. Only when the game was underway, could people do whatever they wanted. ¡°Congratulations to both of you for clearing this game.¡± Gentleman Rabbit stood courteously in front of them, holding its top hat out towards them. ¡°The tortoise finally won the race over the hare, so naturally a reward is in order. You will receive a tortoise victory badge. And you can also choose any other objects in the field as a reward.¡± Like a magic trick, it began to draw out several items from inside its top hat. There was a small and exquisite starting pistol, the colorful banner flags from the starting line, and the red silk ribbon that had been used as the finishing line. Shen Mo asked, ¡°What¡¯s the purpose of these things?¡± Upon hearing this, Gentleman Rabbit smiled faintly. It had been expressionless all this while, and thus many people had been under the impression that it was wearing a fursuit head. But now, it smiled! It¡¯s mouth curled into a creepy curve, as if it had just caught sight of an interesting toy, and was feeling delighted. ¡°The use of the reward will only be known after you obtain it.¡± Gentleman Rabbit looked at them smilingly, unwilling to disclose more. ¡°So, what will your choices be?¡± Shen Mo chose the starting pistol. Although it was not a real gun, it could at least intimidate others. Besides, he had a hunch that there was something unusual about this gun because during the competition, every time he heard the gunfire, he would be filled with an uncontrollable desire to run. As for the other objects, Shen Mo temporarily could not guess their function. ¡°Then, what about you?¡± Gentleman Rabbit tilted its head to scrutinize Bai Youwei¡¯s expression. ¡°You¡¯re very special. You didn¡¯t run at all, not even a single step, yet you won the game. I really want to know, which reward will you choose?¡± Bai Youwei bit her lips and slowly raised her hand, pointing in one direction. Gentleman Rabbit looked at her in doubt and then lowered its head to look at itself. Puzzled, it asked, ¡°The reward you want to choose, is me? But, choosing the supervisor as the reward doesn¡¯t seem to be in accordance with the rules¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such rule!¡± Bai Youwei immediately interrupted! When she heard the words similar to ¡°violation¡±, the image of the girl who had been suddenly burnt to a crisp by a random lightning bolt popped up in her mind. She tensed up and shouted, ¡°The fact is, since you did not declare this rule that means you cannot convict me of violating the rules! Arbitrarily judging someone else for violating the rules without clarifying those rules beforehand is the biggest violation!¡± Gentleman Rabbit silently stared at her. Bai Youwei bit her lips firmly, stubbornly holding her ground against him. She knew she was taking a huge gamble, but she was still unwilling to resign to such fate! Having been taken for a fool by a doll and participating in this gruesome competition where so many had died, yet all she got was just a few toys. She was really pissed! Hence, she wanted to take a chance! She stared at Gentleman Rabbit and enunciated each word, ¡°In your own words, you said that we can choose other objects in the field as our reward! You are also in the field!¡± The silence lasted for a long time. So very long¡­ ¡°Fine.¡± Gentleman Rabbit gave in. Bai Youwei was startled and a little surprised. It¡¯s this easy¡­ ¡°According to the rules, the supervisor is not part of the reward, but what you said does make sense. It¡¯s my oversight for not explaining the rules clearly.¡± Gentleman Rabbit was courteous and spoke softly. ¡°I¡¯m willing to give you one-tenth of myself as a reward¡­¡± One-tenth of him? What does that mean? Bai Youwei furrowed her eyebrows. Gentleman Rabbit once again reached its hand into the huge top hat. It took out a rabbit doll. ¡°The rewards of the game have been settled, so¡­farewell.¡± Gentleman Rabbit smiled at her, ¡°I¡¯ll remember you.¡± Upon hearing this, Bai Youwei widened her eyes. Before she could even ask anything, a dazzling layer of white misty light flashed across her eyes once again! She could not resist closing her eyes. Once she opened them again, she was already back inside the car. And, in her hand, was a furry rabbit doll. T/N: There won¡¯t be any updates next week since I¡¯ll be having my exams soon. TT-TT CH 12 Chapter 12 ¨C Communication Collapse Bai Youwei¡¯s complexion was slightly pale. She immediately looked at Shen Mo who was in front of her. He was holding a small toy gun! They were still on the highway with their car parked at a random spot. Their surroundings were quiet with only the sound of the wind. They both exchanged glances. It was clear to them that everything that happened just now was not a dream! Without uttering a single word, Shen Mo got down from the car to check on the situation in the other cars. Aside from the two of them, the people who participated in the ¡°The Tortoise And The Hare¡± game had all transformed into dolls. They could not talk and were not breathing, rubbery flesh connecting the ball joint, soulless glass eyeballs¡­ These people had lost all signs of life. Bai Youwei mumbled, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­ If you lose the game, you will become a doll; If you clear the game, you will be rewarded¡­¡± So that¡¯s the case¡­ That¡¯s the reason why the world came to this state. It was as if the dense fog had cleared up at once, yet fear of the unknown pervaded her like tides shrouding everything in endless darkness. She trembled with hidden thrill and excitement subtly concealed within¡­ Bai Youwei held the rabbit doll quietly in a confused state of mind. Shen Mo returned to the car with a sullen face. ¡°Let¡¯s leave this place first.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡­ The highway was straight and flat as if there was no end to it. There was only one car speeding along the empty highway. Bai Youwei sat in the car, staring at the receding landscape outside the window in a trance. This is ridiculous¡­ Game, doll, reward¡­ These realizations were absurd to her. If a game exists in all the places with dolls, then wouldn¡¯t the entire city become an instance dungeon? Wouldn¡¯t the world become a game map? What about Yangzhou? Is Yangzhou really safe? Thinking of this, Bai Youwei grabbed the bag beside her and took out her phone only to realize that the signal bar was empty. The call would not go through and the network could not be connected. ¡°Turn on the radio.¡± Bai Youwei realized something. Shen Mo seemed to notice too. He raised his hand to turn on the car radio. Crackling sounds came from the radio. Bai Youwei stared at the radio unblinkingly. Shen Mo kept his eyes on the road. He had one hand on the steering wheel while the other was constantly tapping the channel button, stopping for two seconds after each tap. Continuous white noise reverberated in the car. After repeating this for more than ten times, he stopped and switched off the radio.¡°There¡¯s no signal.¡± The communication systems were down. Phones, network, radio stations¡­had all lost their purpose. When did this happen? Was it when the game started? No one knows. Bai Youwei¡¯s face seemed paler than before. She couldn¡¯t care less what this world would become, but she did care about herself. If the apocalypse actually happened, how should she continue to survive? She clutched tightly onto her rabbit doll and thought to herself, ¡°It¡¯s more enjoyable to have a bloodbath akin to Resident Evil than this kind of annoying game!¡± Shen Mo glanced at her from the rearview mirror and asked, ¡°Do you have any clue about the rabbit doll in your hands?¡± The seemingly childish and ridiculous plush toy was the ¡°one-tenth of me¡± reward for clearing the game. Bai Youwei moved her lips, a little hesitant. Of course she had a clue. In fact, the first time she touched this rabbit, information about it emerged in her mind. It felt strange yet indescribably natural. However, is Shen Mo trustworthy? Bai Youwei pondered for a moment before replying, ¡°This rabbit can release electricity within a 2-meter radius. The maximum electricity output is one-tenth.¡± While talking, she slightly lowered the corner of her lips and continued, ¡°No voltage or current values are specified, so it¡¯s unclear how great the effect this one-tenth is. Besides, it needs to be charged before use.¡± I¡¯m finally back!!! I just realised someone commented on the chapters two months ago! I¡¯m so happy! Comment more please, it motivates me (or join the server and chase me for chapters). Thank you so much everyone. Sorry that I disappeared for two months. I promise I will post more chapters this few days. I PROMISE! Updates regarding my exams for anyone who¡¯s interested: I didn¡¯t fail but I didn¡¯t do well either. TT BTW I changed ¡°the rabbit-headed person¡± to ¡°Gentleman Rabbit¡± for the front chapters. CH 13 Chapter 13 ¨C Person Whom Others Detest ¡°Charge?¡± Shen Mo could not resist laughing. It was obviously made by an extremely advanced technological power that could even drag them into the game. It was not even exaggerating to say that they were aliens from some sort of high civilization. Yet the reward of a civilization with such great technology actually needs to be recharged? That¡¯s really down-to-earth. ¡°Mine is a one-time item.¡± Shen Mo exchanged information with her while driving. ¡°Starting pistol, with the person holding the pistol as the center, everyone within a 10 meter radius will run at full speed. The effect is influenced by the distance, whether far or near, the environment and the strength of an individual¡¯s willpower. The person holding the pistol will not be affected by the gunshot.¡± He picked up the toy gun and threw it to the back seat. ¡°This thing is of no use to me. Take it, it can save your life during crucial moments.¡± Bai Youwei caught the gun and said thoughtfully, ¡°Could it be that the effect was forcibly weakened because the level of the players was too low and doesn¡¯t deserve that level of reward?¡± She made a guess, ¡°It was probably for the sake of maintaining the balance of the game, otherwise this is just too useless¡­¡± During normal circumstances, who would need this kind of thing? Firing the gun to make others run wildly without any reason, then strike them with a thunderbolt when they are close? These items were obviously made for the games. ¡°Do you think there are more games like this in other places?¡± Shen Mo asked. Bai Youwei replied, ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± Shen Mo kept quiet while gripping the steering wheel. Bai Youwei suddenly recalled his odd behavior in the game. She frowned and asked, ¡°Do you know something?¡± Shen Mo raised his eyebrow and glanced at her through the rearview mirror. Bai Youwei continued, ¡°Just now in the game, there was no need to save that yellow-haired youngster, yet you were determined to risk your life and save him from the hares. After that, you kept observing the changes of his body, do you care a lot about him? ¡­No, you don¡¯t know him. You are the senior officer of national security, there¡¯s no way you would know this kind of street thug.¡± Upon thinking of that fact, Bai Youwei had a sudden realization. ¡°You came here to investigate?¡± Her expression swiftly darkened. She suddenly said coldly, ¡°You didn¡¯t come to pick me up. You were just stopping by here during the investigation.¡± Her speedy change of attitude made Shen Mo somewhat amused. She had just experienced a life-and-death situation yet she was still fussing over these trivial matters. He did not know whether to call her childish or unhinged or both. ¡°I came to pick you up.¡± He answered, ¡°I was carrying out a mission nearby when I received your mother¡¯s phone call. I specially came here to pick you up.¡± Bai Youwei¡¯s complexion did not improve because of this. She spoke with an indifferent tone, ¡°We¡¯re unrelated. There¡¯s no need for you to purposely come to pick me up. I was coincidentally nearby so it was just a favor done at no cost. I understand my situation. You don¡¯t have to coax me with nice words. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re my babysitter.¡± She¡¯s intelligent. Shen Mo had nothing to say in response. Silence fell over the car. After the SUV moved for some distance, Bai Youwei broke the silence first. ¡°You came to carry out a mission. Did u succeed?¡± Shen Mo gazed at the road condition ahead and shook his head indifferently. ¡°No.¡± ¡°What was the mission?¡± Bai Youwei questioned. Shen Mo replied. ¡°To find a person.¡± Bai Youwei asked tentatively after thinking for a bit, ¡°A scientist?¡± Shen Mo smiled. ¡°Close. An old professor.¡± Bai Youwei said, ¡°Then you¡­¡± ¡°We couldn¡¯t find him. The laboratory was empty. There were neither human nor dolls.¡± Shen Mo added on, ¡°We searched nearby, all my teammates had transformed into dolls, I don¡¯t know why I was the only one unscathed. Then, I received your mother¡¯s phone call.¡± Shen Mo lifted his thin lips and asked, ¡°Satisfied?¡± Bai Youwei curled her lips and sneered coldly, ¡°You almost lost your life yet you still have the time to fetch someone else¡¯s daughter.¡± ¡°It¡¯s on the way.¡± Shen Mo smiled faintly. ¡°Hmph.¡± After saying so, she felt disinterested. Shen Mo picked her up because he promised her mother, so she should not have expected more in the first place, nor had she the right to blame him. She was a person whom others detest. Shouldn¡¯t she be extremely grateful when others treat her with a little kindness? Thinking of this, her face then became calm, without anger nor expression. CH 14 Chapter 14 ¨C Won¡¯t Leave You On Your Own After moving some distance away from the section of the highway where the game occurred, the SUV slowly decelerated. Shen Mo stopped the car. ¡°Why did you stop?¡± Bai Youwei asked. A bottle of mineral water was handed to her. She hesitated for a moment before taking it. ¡°I¡¯m very thirsty after running a few rounds in the game.¡± Shen Mo opened another bottle and tipped his head back to drink it. His Adam¡¯s apple connected to his lower jaw slowly moved up and down. It was a solid masculine curve. Bai Youwei watched him for a while. Then, she also raised her chin and drank water in small sips, like a lamb drinking water by a stream. Once they were free from danger, the demands of all the body¡¯s senses came into play. Not only did she feel thirsty, but she began to get tired and her muscles felt sore. ¡°This game isn¡¯t merely a simulation of reality, the exhaustion felt by the body is very real.¡± Shen Mo crushed the empty mineral water bottle flat, releasing a creaking sound. ¡°Let¡¯s not rush to set out. We should find a rest area and inquire about the situation, as well as make a call to Yangzhou if possible.¡± Pausing for a moment, he continued, ¡°We can also charge your rabbit en route.¡± Whether or not it actually unleashes lightning, they will have to charge it first to observe the effects. Bai Youwei nodded. Having to find a place to rest and recuperate was inevitable. Based on their state now, if they were required to play ¡°The Tortoise And The Hare¡± again, perhaps they would be unable to clear the game. Shen Mo started the car once more, preparing to hit the roads. At that instant, Bai Youwei asked, ¡°If something happened in Yangzhou too, what will you do?¡± Shen Mo was slightly stunned, and his action in twisting the key halted. Bai Youwei stared at the cold side profile of his face and said calmly, ¡°You only promised my mother to send me back to Yangzhou. You are not obliged to care if I survive or die there. Besides, you¡¯re on a mission. You probably have to return to report on the mission. Therefore we will part ways after reaching Yangzhou, am I right?¡± Her eyes darkened as she spoke. ¡°It¡¯s the end of the world, who cares if others live or die? It¡¯s a duty, a good deed for you to come and pick me up. But if you are not going to bother with me after sending me there, it would be better to just let me off and fend for myself right now. I won¡¯t blame you.¡± The atmosphere was stiff. Regardless, Bai Youwei did not care since she had always been a person who was not well-liked by others. Shen Mo put down the car key and turned around. Bai Youwei¡¯s clear, dark eyes stared straight at him, not avoiding him in the least, her pursed lips showing her stubbornness. ¡°Come here for a bit.¡± Shen Mo beckoned her with his index finger. She frowned while leaning closer to him. ¡°What?¡± Shen Mo reached out and pinched her lower jaw. Her small face still filled with baby fat instantly contorted. Her lips were pouted, her stubborn expression became childish. ¡°¡­¡± Bai Youwei furrowed her eyebrows tighter, cursing in her heart. ¡°Listen properly, I will only say this once.¡± Shen Mo pinched her face and said in an impatient yet gentle tone, ¡°I won¡¯t leave you on your own, understood?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She turned her face, unable to break free from his grasp. Shen Mo pinched her again, as if kneading a doll. ¡°I¡¯m asking you, do you understand me?¡± Bai Youwei moved her lips. ¡°Untertood¡­¡± Shen Mo was finally satisfied. He released his grip and turned back forward to twist the car key. The engine rumbled in a low tone. He then took a glance at the backseat through the rearview mirror, spying Bai Youwei who was covering her face while glaring at him with indignation. The corners of Shen Mo¡¯s lips curved upward as he drove on the road. At last, he¡¯d managed to grasp Bai Youwei¡¯s temper. She¡¯s the type that¡¯s susceptible to force but not persuasion. If you treat her nicely, she will think you are pitying, sympathizing with her, and then pick a quarrel with you. So you might as well be a little fierce which saves yourself the trouble. ¡°I¡¯m at least a few years older than you, you should have some faith in me,¡± Shen Mo held the steering wheel and said with a faint smile. The girl¡¯s expression in the rearview mirror became more twisted in disgust. She stared out the window with a chilly expression, ignoring him. As if she loathed him. TL Note: AHHHHH I forgot to post this chapter yesterday QAQ CH 15 Chapter 15 ¨C Rest Area Half an hour later, Shen Mo and Bai Youwei arrived at the rest area. A number of people were gathered around the rest area, about twenty or so. There were men, women and children, all in the restaurant. Whereas the original staff of the rest area were nowhere to be seen. As Shen Mo pushed the wheelchair in, the gaze of those people all fell upon the doorway. When they noticed that the ones entering were merely a man and a disabled girl, they all simultaneously looked disappointed. Since the world had undergone abnormal changes, humans had been waiting for salvation. Whether it¡¯s from the rescue army organized by the government or the salvation force under the religious faction, or anything at all, even if it¡¯s just a glimpse of hope, it¡¯s better than the current feeling of lost and hopeless despair. Shen Mo casted a glance on everyone in the restaurant and reckoned that the situation in the rest area was not favorable either. Then, he pushed Bai Youwei to the supermarket at the side. The shelves in the supermarket were basically cleared off. They found an electrical outlet and charged the rabbit. Although the charging setting was on the lower end, the charging method was quite high tech. They just needed to let the rabbit doll sit against the outlet to charge it. No power plugs or contacts1 were needed. It¡¯s just that they had no idea how long it would take to fully charge it. This toy was not like the common electronic products that are able to display its percentage, it all depends on the user¡¯s perception. Bai Youwei tried perceiving any changes for a while but she could not tell anything. ¡°Describe it,¡± Shen Mo said. Bai Youwei asked him, ¡°Do you have a swimming pool in your house?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It feels like taking a thin hose to fill the pool with water, guess how long will it take to fill it up?¡± Shen Mo was speechless. Well, that¡¯s a vivid description. Since charging was going to take a long time, Bai Youwei, who was impatient to wait, took the rabbit and said she wanted to go to the toilet. She resented this physical need that¡¯s out of her control. The foldable walking sticks have to be hung at the side of the wheelchair. Whereas the toilet paper and wet tissues were kept in the pocket on the other side. If she couldn¡¯t find a seat toilet, she also had to prepare a stool. Shen Mo pushed Bai Youwei to the toilet. He exclaimed in an atypical manner, ¡°For the first time in my life I¡¯m entering the ladies¡¯ room.¡± Bai Youwei said in a frigid tone, ¡°It¡¯s just entering the ladies¡¯ room. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m asking you to take off a woman¡¯s pants.¡± After finishing her sentence, she was reminded of the past. Not only going to the toilet, but also things such as scrubbing, bathing and massaging were all done with the help of the nurse¡¯s aide and the housekeeper. Yet now she had to rely on a man whom she wasn¡¯t even familiar with. She felt disgusted. She loathed Shen Mo but loathed herself even more. ¡°But taking off a woman¡¯s pants should be very familiar for you right?¡± Her mood worsened and she became more and more malicious. Shen Mo shot her a brief glimpse. Taking a woman¡¯s pants off, this was his first time. However, if he were to argue about this, it would be too childish. He clearly knew that Bai Youwei¡¯s emotions were erratic. Once you touched her weak spot, she would become aggressive and sharp like a hedgehog. It must have been hard for her to put on a fierce front with such a soft and cuddly look. She¡¯s just like an agitated kitten. Shen Mo felt amused. He pushed the wheelchair to a somewhat clean cubicle and asked Bai Youwei, ¡°Take it off while sitting down or standing up?¡± Bai Youwei pulled a long face and bit her lower lips. After that, she awkwardly took out a packet of something from her side pocket and shoved it into Shen Mo¡¯s hand with great force. ¡°Put this on,¡± She commanded in a chilly tone like an arrogant queen. Shen Mo opened the packaging. There was a disposable toilet seat cotton cover in it. She must have always prepared this when going out. He bent down and padded the toilet seat. When he turned around again, he realized Bai Youwei had already stood up on her own with the help of the walking sticks. She looked exhausted with tiny, shiny beads of sweat on the tip of her nose. ¡°You really don¡¯t need my help?¡± Shen Mo sized her up. Bai Youwei replied with a glare. ¡°Go and guard the door, don¡¯t let anyone in!¡± Shen Mo asked, ¡°Women are not allowed in either?¡± Instantly, she was like a cat that had been stepped on its tail. Her voice was cold and sharp. ¡°Yes! Women are not allowed in either! Anyone that enters will affect my physiological excretion! Do you think I¡¯m troublesome?! Even if you do, it¡¯s too late! Suck it up! If you hadn¡¯t insisted on taking me away, I wouldn¡¯t have had to go to the bathroom in this disgusting place!¡± She walked into the cubicle with her walking sticks and slammed the door close. How rude and unreasonable. T/N: I finally got this chapter out! I¡¯m posting Chapter 16 in a bit too! CH 16 Chapter 16 ¨C A Couple Shen Mo touched his nose, feeling that he was too gentle. ¡­Next time, he should try being fiercer. He left the wheelchair at the entrance of the cubicle before turning around and left. While waiting for her outside the ladies¡¯ room, he heard thumping and banging from time to time inside. It sounded like the walking sticks were hitting something, or maybe she¡¯d bumped into something? What ordinary people can easily do on a daily basis is like a battle to her. That tiny spark of anger in his heart gradually dissipated. Why bicker with her? She¡¯s just a child. Her health hasn¡¯t been good since young and she lacks a sense of security. It didn¡¯t matter since she lived an extravagant life before this, but now she had to survive in this kind of world. So it¡¯s normal for her to lose her temper. She¡¯s all bark and no bite anyway. Shen Mo stood by the entrance, listening attentively to the movements inside. Bang, splash, rustle. Bai Youwei lifted her clothing and accompanied by the sounds of her walking sticks rubbing and scraping against the floor, she slammed open the cubicle door with a bang! Bai Youwei walked out with her walking sticks. Her palm-sized face in a grimace. ¡°Quickly bring me to wash my hands! It stinks in here!¡± Shen Mo smiled amusedly. He approached to help her into the wheelchair and pushed her over to the washbowl. The automatic faucet was not fully functional, Bai Youwei tried a few times but no water came out. She almost cursed out loud, only then did the faucet cough out a few streams of water like an old woman over her eighties. After washing her hands twice with disgust, her sullen expression finally eased a little. ¡°The facilities in the rest area are lacking. Just try to put up with it for now, it will be better once we reach Yangzhou,¡± Shen Mo said. Bai Youwei lowered the corner of her lips in silence as she thought to herself, It¡¯s not necessarily better in Yangzhou. Shen Mo moved to the back of the wheelchair to push her. At this moment, she reached out to grasp the corner of his clothes. She had just washed her hands and had yet to dry it. A layer of limpid water was covering her fair skin, soft and weak, and tips of her fingers were a cherry pink. Shen Mo¡¯s gaze swept across his hands that were holding the handles of the wheelchair. It had distinct joints and rough texture, each crease exudes masculinity. Both were hands but they were so different. The difference in gender was embodied in every single detail. Bai Youwei frowned, ¡°Are we still going to the supermarket? There¡¯s no signal in this rest area, the food and water had also been cleared off by others. It doesn¡¯t feel comfortable. We might as well leave, otherwise, it would be dark soon.¡± It was already dusk and she did not want to travel at night. After thinking for a while, Shen Mo nodded. ¡°Then let¡¯s not go to the supermarket. If we leave now, we should be able to reach Yangzhou before it turns dark.¡± Once they reached Yangzhou, with an internet signal and a place to stay, everything would be easier to settle. Both of them returned to the parking lot. To their surprise, they saw a man and a woman standing by the side of the SUV at a distance, waving at them. When they were closer, they realized the man and the woman were about 40 years old, looking like a couple. Their appearance was the honest and kind type. ¡°Are you guys going to Yangzhou?¡± The woman warned kindly, ¡°We also wanted to go to Yangzhou but the road in front was congested, which is why everyone is staying here. It¡¯s not safe for you guys to leave now.¡± ¡°Is it very congested?¡± Shen Mo asked. The man continued, ¡°It is for at least a hundred meters. The cars were full of dolls, no one dared to go there.¡± ¡°What about walking around from the side if the car can¡¯t get through?¡± Bai Youwei spoke up and questioned, ¡°Has anyone tried walking to Yangzhou?¡± The man and woman looked at each other with blank expressions. They had obviously not thought of this method. ¡°But there are so many things in the car¡­¡± The woman said hesitantly, ¡°Food, everyday items and the clothes¡­are all in the car.¡± The man also added, ¡°If something happened to Yangzhou too, you can¡¯t escape without a car.¡± Cars are sometimes more than just a means of transportation. They can also function as a safe haven. Unless there is a major crisis, people won¡¯t abandon their vehicles on a whim. However, in Bai Youwei¡¯s opinion, it¡¯s better to spend more than ten hours walking to Yangzhou than to be stuck in the rest area. Besides, sooner or later the car would have to be discarded. Because if the world continues to be in chaos, petrol will soon become a scarce commodity. CH 17 Chapter 17 ¨C Exchange Of Information The middle-aged couple only thought of Bai Youwei as a spoiled young lady. They did not care about her words and only said to Shen Mo, ¡°We¡¯re going to have a meeting at the restaurant later, do you want to join too?¡± Shen Mo lowered his eyes and shot a glance at Bai Youwei. He casually asked, ¡°What meeting?¡± ¡°Just getting together to discuss solutions.¡± They explained amiably, ¡°There¡¯s strength in numbers, so it¡¯s better for us to work out a solution together than to worry helplessly alone. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to come, we don¡¯t want to force you.¡± Shen Mo nodded and said politely, ¡°Okay, we will be there in a bit.¡± After getting an answer, the middle-aged couple said no more and left. ¡°Why are we staying? You¡¯re trying to gather information from them?¡± Bai Youwei lowered the corner of her lips, expressing her disgust. ¡°The supermarket is empty. They have definitely been hiding here indulging themselves with food and drinks for more than a day or two. They don¡¯t even dare to take any risk, what do you expect them to know?¡± Shen Mo pulled open the car door, bent over and carried Bai Youwei in. Then, he gave her bread and water. ¡°Since the highway is blocked, we will have to take a long detour to get to Yangzhou, and perhaps it will be dark already before we even get there. It¡¯s hard to see the road while driving at night, it would be difficult to avoid dolls in time if we meet them. So we might as well stay and see what they¡¯re going to say.¡± Upon hearing this, Bai Youwei frowned, not expressing her opinion. She did not have a good impression of the people in the rest area, but right now, it seemed that no matter what decision they made, it would not be safe. Bai Youwei nibbled on the bread and chewed it. She asked Shen Mo again, ¡°Do you think anyone among them has passed the game before?¡± Shen Mo had opened the car trunk and was searching for useful items. He raised his eyes and took a glance at her. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°I think there is.¡± Bai Youwei spoke, ¡°The two people just now look honest and well-behaved. They don¡¯t seem to enjoy taking on jobs, but they took the initiative to wait for us here. They looked like warm-hearted people at first glance but I think that someone sent them here.¡± Shen Mo¡¯s hand movement paused a while, feeling somewhat surprised. He was aware of this as well but he did not expect Bai Youwei to notice it too. ¡°You¡¯re quite observant.¡± He rummaged out a military poncho liner1 and placed it over Bai Youwei¡¯s legs. He continued calmly, ¡°There must be someone leading these people. In order to gain information, he must continuously meet new passers-by. As to why he doesn¡¯t appear in person, it¡¯s understandable as it¡¯s easier to gain trust by sending an honest-looking couple over.¡± Bai Youwei looked at him suspiciously. ¡°You know something is fishy but you still want to attend that meeting?¡± Shen Mo smiled, ¡°Something¡¯s fishy but that doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s malice. He needs information and so do we.¡± As could be seen from the game ¡°The Tortoise and The Hare¡±, not everyone would be turned into a doll. You could survive if you cleared the game. But why didn¡¯t anyone in the city know? There was not even the slightest bit of news about it. If you think about it again, after they cleared the game, they immediately noticed that there was no network signal, so did that mean that¡­others who won the game, had all gone to places with no signal, so they could not get the information out? If that was the case, then this world-class disaster might be even worse than they imagined. ¡­ Later, as the night fell, only the restaurant out of the whole rest area had the lights on. Shen Mo pushed Bai Youwei into the restaurant. The people inside sat in a circle. Upon hearing a sound, they all turned around to look. After they saw Shen Mo and Bai Youwei, they calmly withdrew their gazes. The cold white light shined down from the ceiling. It casted deep shadows on the faces of these people, accentuating their similarly lifeless expressions and made the scene before them look inexplicably eerie. ¡°Newcomers?¡± A bespectacled man looked up and said in a mild tone, ¡°To attend the meeting, you need to do an exchange of information first.¡± CH 18 Chapter 18 ¨C Act Coquettishly The bespectacled man sat in the middle. He seems to be the ¡°leader¡± whom they had guessed. But this leader must not have had a good time, for there were a lot of wrinkles in his shirt, his hair was also greasy. It seemed that he had not properly groomed himself for days. Shen Mo asked, ¡°What do you mean by exchange of information?¡± The leader lightly pushed his glasses and said unhurriedly, ¡°You can understand this as information sharing. Everyone has to give out valuable information without reservation. Only this way can everyone discuss strategies with each other. If everyone hides their information and expects others to come out with a plan, then that will never solve the problem, right?¡± This was not wrong. Fighting alone is not as safe and effective as working together as a group. Since time immemorial, humans have solved countless problems through teamwork. Thus, it could be considered as one of human¡¯s greatest wisdom. However, once there are too many people in the team, it¡¯s inevitable that some will be fishing in troubled waters. Bai Youwei hugged her rabbit doll while saying softly, ¡°But we don¡¯t know what type of information is valuable¡­¡± Hearing her suddenly speaking in such a coquettish voice, Shen Mo was instantly startled, goosebumps prickled across both his arms that were holding the wheelchair. Yet, she still insincerely raised her head and glanced at him with a pitiable look. ¡°Brother, do you know?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Shen Mo choked. Perhaps Bai Youwei¡¯s appearance was too deceptive, the bespectacled man felt soft-hearted and gently explained, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, since you are able to reach here, you¡¯ve probably encountered those dolls on the road, right? You can tell us everything related to dolls, the more detailed the better. Even if it¡¯s something you can¡¯t figure out, sharing it with everyone might shed light on it and help us gain some new information. Bai Youwei pursed her lips and acted like she was thinking hard. ¡°Hmm¡­On our way here, we met a bald uncle driving a pickup truck. He drove through the road section with dolls but nothing happened, so my brother and I followed him¡­but the people further back all transformed into dolls. So, I think¡­there¡¯s probably a limit to the number of people? If there are fewer people, perhaps we can safely pass through?¡± As she finished speaking, she looked at the bespectacled man unsettlingly. ¡°Does¡­this count as valuable information?¡± The bespectacled man¡¯s expression softened even more. ¡°It counts. Your discovery tallies with the results of our recent observations. Come and sit.¡± With a relieved expression on her face, Bai Youwei smiled gratefully at the bespectacled man. Seeing her acting so enthusiastically, Shen Mo could only passively play the role of a ¡°reticent¡± brother and push the wheelchair over without uttering a single word. Everyone spontaneously moved aside to free up some space for Bai Youwei and Shen Mo. This also indirectly displayed the status of the bespectacled man in the group. Shen Mo pulled a chair over and sat beside the wheelchair. Bai Youwei raised her naive little face and asked, ¡°If nothing will happen when there are fewer people, then isn¡¯t it safer to go alone?¡± ¡°There are all sorts of circumstances. The limit to the number of people is merely the most obvious one but there are surely some hidden conditions. After all, the first batch of people who turned into dolls all transformed suddenly when they were alone, so it¡¯s hard to make a certain conclusion for the time being. The bespectacled man halted the topic of the conversation and looked at the others. ¡°Let¡¯s continue the previous question first. Our companions who went out to explore the road today have yet to return. Everyone, what do you think we should do now? Should we continue waiting?¡± Everyone exchanged glances, no one uttered a word. The bespectacled man¡¯s gaze swept around and said in a solemn tone, ¡°It¡¯s definitely risky to go immediately but water and electricity in the rest area might be cut off at any time. We can¡¯t last long here. ¡°What about¡­¡± someone hesitantly began to speak, ¡°sending a few more people to go out to explore?¡± This suggestion was rejected instantly. ¡°Who will go? Those few people who have yet to come back had probably died on the road! Who would still dare to go? You?¡± ¡°¡­But we can¡¯t just wait for our death here.¡± ¡°Maybe there¡¯s no danger on the road and so they ran away first!¡± ¡°That¡¯s not possible right? Their luggage is still in the rest area¡­¡± CH 19 Chapter 19 ¨C Exploration Team Everyone was speaking over each other, almost escalating it into a fight. Bai Youwei secretly observed the bespectacled man and saw his look of distaste and contempt.This person probably had no choice but to count on these vulgar and selfish humans to survive. Bai Youwei tilted her face to the side to give Shen Mo a glance. It was as if she¡¯s saying, I told you so, this group of people is unreliable. Shen Mo smiled faintly, not making any comments. The so-called meeting to discuss solutions gradually lost its meaning. It was originally a discussion but then they started blaming each other. If it weren¡¯t for the bespectacled man who stepped up to moderate the situation, perhaps they would really start to fight. At this instant, the room plunged into darkness! The timid ones screamed first. After that someone scolded, ¡°Why are you screaming?! It¡¯s just that the circuit breaker tripped, don¡¯t scare yourself!¡± Few moments later, when their eyes had adapted to the darkness, everyone left the restaurant in a rush. The bespectacled man asked two people to go check the circuit breaker together. Without electricity, everyone could only wait outside aimlessly. Bai Youwei raised her head and looked at the moon and stars in the sky. The boundless sky enveloped the earth, silent and vast, it made the humans beneath the dim light of night look especially small. The night seemed to hold mysterious powers. It always caused one¡¯s heart to palpitate after staring into it for long. The crowd was restless. The bespectacled man, who just returned, informed everyone that there was no problem with the circuit breaker, instead, it was a power outage throughout the rest area. Perhaps after a while, there would be a water outage too. The atmosphere instantly became gloomy and depressing. Bai Youwei felt that these people were really hopeless. Other than the bespectacled man, all of them were like sheep mindlessly following the herd without any thoughts of their own. ¡°I say¡­¡± an old man in the crowd spoke hesitantly, ¡°how about we all find a way to leave?¡± The person next to him replied, ¡°Teacher Cheng1, have we not been thinking of ways to leave since the start? What you just said is meaningless.¡± The old man called Teacher Cheng was about 60 years old. His hair at both temples were gray. His skinny body donned an old-fashioned linen shirt and his back was slightly hunched. He seemed extremely unremarkable. After being satirized, his old face flushed as he stammered, ¡°What I mean was¡­don¡¯t drive, and j-just walk there. Isn¡¯t the reason we are trapped here because the road is congested and the car can¡¯t get through?¡± The old man stretched out his hand and gestured. ¡°We can set off in groups of two every 10 minutes. This way we can reduce the risks of turning into dolls to a greater extent¡­¡± ¡°Teacher Cheng, don¡¯t try to be smart, how can we walk without taking the car? We have so many people, especially with our families tagging along. Moreover, we have lots of luggage. You want us to walk to Yangzhou with just two legs? ¡°Yeah, that only works in theory.¡± Everyone continued complaining louder and louder, as if they wanted to take out their resentment regarding the power outage on the old man. The bespectacled man maintained his silence in the crowd. He chose to ignore the old man¡¯s gaze that was asking him for help. He probably thought the old man¡¯s words were reasonable but why should he help shoulder others anger at a time like this? The pressure of survival had been accumulated for too long. Someone needed to be the target for the group to vent it out. Bai Youwei did not want to get involved, so she wordlessly mouthed to Shen Mo, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Shen Mo stood still. She pulled him again lightly but he took two steps forward and said to the grumbling crowd, ¡°Everyone calm down¡­¡± Bai Youwei immediately wanted to roll her eyes! Everyone looked at him. She and Shen Mo became the focus of attention at once. It felt like being stared at by a bunch of hungry ghosts, and it was extremely scary. However, Shen Mo didn¡¯t even move a single eyebrow. He simply stated calmly, ¡°There seems to be a car coming.¡± Everyone kept silent. Now that the chattering noise had stopped, all the sounds in the air became particularly distinct. A faint roar approached from afar. At first it sounded like the wind, but when it got closer, the squeaking of the tires rolling over the road was clear and distinct. Finally, a truck pulled into the rest area in the dark, it¡¯s bright headlights shone directly on everyone. Brake. It stopped steadily. A couple of robust youths jumped down from the car. One of them whistled and asked, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on? What are you guys doing standing outside here?¡± CH 20 Chapter 20 ¨C Brother Xiao Being shone on by blinding headlights should be infuriating but no one was angry. Everyone was overjoyed and they all ran over and uttered, ¡°You guys are back?!¡± ¡°The people who went exploring returned!¡± ¡°Great! They are back!¡± The atmosphere instantly came alive and all previous hostility was swept away as if nothing had ever happened. The youth who whistled smiled while saying, ¡°What, why? Did you think we are all dead?!¡± ¡°Everyone was worried about you all! Eh? Why is your car different?¡± ¡°The car broke down half way. We found this on the way, otherwise we would¡¯ve been back already! What¡¯s wrong with you guys? Why are you all outside?¡± ¡°The power in the rest area is out!¡± ¡°Then light the candles. There are still plenty of torches left in the supermarket.¡± Everyone got busy at once. Their faces were brimming with joy as if they would always be full of energy if they had something to look forward to. It was as if the power and water outage were just trivial matters, and there was nothing to be afraid of. After a while, the restaurant in the rest area once again lit up. Everyone gathered at one spot, surrounding the youths who had just returned, eagerly waiting for them to share news from outside. The most eye-catching one among them was the person who whistled as soon as he got down from the car. Everyone called him ¡°Brother Xiao¡±. This ¡°Brother Xiao1¡± was wearing a graffiti T-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. His arms were tattooed with unreadable English, his messy short hair was dyed ¡°granny gray¡±. There was also a shiny stud on his right ear. Saying he¡¯s the most eye-catching one was not because his attire stood out. In fact, the other youths were all of the same kind: each person¡¯s tattoos were more garish than the next. The holes in their jeans were bigger than the other. Bai Youwei had a deep impression of this person just because his smile was TOO D A Z Z L I N G! When she and Shen Mo talked to each other, they would smile, other people would smile too while talking in the rest area, but everyone¡¯s smiles were subtle, restrained, and polite. After all, the situation now was the apocalypse! Who would smile like an idiot showing their top and bottom teeth?! Even if you encountered something exciting, you should still feel depressed thinking of your uncertain future, right? This ¡°Brother Xiao¡± was probably the ambassador of a toothpaste brand. With all smiles, he narrated his impressive feat during the exploration with great passion. ¡°¡­The moment I saw the dolls on the road, I thought to myself that this is bad! This is the last road! If we can¡¯t take this road as well, don¡¯t tell me we have to return empty-handed?! As the saying goes, when there¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a way! Before I knew it, realization suddenly flashed across my mind! I noticed that there¡¯s something wrong with these dolls!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Somebody in the background responded, just like the supporting actor in Xiangsheng2. ¡°Brother Xiao¡± stretched out two fingers and pointed at his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s these discerning eyes that had noticed the unusual spot!¡± He spoke as if he truly meant it. The youths who traveled together with him were all laughing. They ate melon seeds3 while looking at him as if they were looking at a performing monkey. ¡°Tan Xiao, that¡¯s enough, are you done showing off?¡± ¡°Brother Xiao¡± ignored them and asked everyone, ¡°Does anyone know why we have to avoid places with dolls?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a no-brainer. It¡¯s because we will turn into dolls!¡± Someone instantly replied. ¡°Brother Xiao¡± shook his head enigmatically, as if he would not continue until they answered correctly. Everyone jeered and booed. The bespectacled man also smiled. He said unhurriedly, ¡°Individual dolls that appeared occasionally are usually not a threat. But if a large amount of dolls appeared in a district all at once, we should be alert. The current explanation from the experts in the national research institute is that the magnetic field of that particular district is fluctuating abnormally and can have unknown effects on humans, which is why you should avoid dolls. Okay, Tan Xiao, say it quickly, stop keeping people on tenterhooks.¡± The leader¡¯s words still carried some weight after all. Tan Xiao raised his hand and slapped his thigh just like a storyteller striking the jingtangmu4. ¡°Fine! I will say it then!¡± Among the eager gazes of the crowd, Bai Youwei couldn¡¯t resist rolling her eyes. T/N: Here¡¯s a mass release before my hiatus. Yes, I¡¯ll be going on a hiatus for two weeks as I¡¯m having a test by then QAQ. So I won¡¯t be able to translate because I need to focus on my studies. Wish me luck and see ya~ Jingtangmu is a wooden block used by a magistrate to strike the table in calling for attention CH 21 Translated by Chan Proofread by EndlessSkyRain, Scala Note: This is originally a singles¡¯ day prank chapter but I¡¯ve replaced it with the real one. If you wanna take a look at the prank chapter, click here! Chapter 21 ¨C A Scene Of Elation ¡°Dolls that appear on a large scale usually have a fixed movement, for example, in a car, at a gathering, or standing still, but the dolls we meet on the road¡ª¡± Tan Xiao squinted his eyes and whispered ¡°hehe¡±, deliberately creating a bizarre atmosphere. ¡°The dolls we met¡­ did not have a unified movement, but were all disorderly lying on the ground¡­as if someone intentionally threw them on the road!¡± Everyone stared at each other with their eyes wide open. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Someone could not figure it out. ¡°Why are they throwing dolls away?¡± Normal people would want to avoid them at all cost so why would they purposely dispose of dolls focusing at one place? Besides, this is easy to mislead latecomers. ¡°Because they don¡¯t want to let people pass by that route,¡± the bespectacled man calmly spoke. Everyone was enlightened by that statement. ¡°Who will do this?!¡± ¡°Why not let people pass?! That¡¯s so vicious!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let me meet those guys, otherwise, I¡¯ll make them pay for it!¡± ¡°Brother Xiao, did you find the one who threw the dolls?¡± Tan Xiao extended his thumb and swiped it across, below his nose, then gave a roguish smile. ¡°Of course. Not only did we find them, but also taught them a lesson! Guess what? A group of people took over a food processing factory with enough food for years! They were afraid of others going for their resources which led them to purposely throw the dolls in their houses on the road to frighten passing cars! But your Brother Xiao, I, have Fiery Golden Eyes! Hey! Like a fierce tiger leaping down from a mountain, I swung my left fist! Then, I struck forward with my right leg, kicking him with the force of a dragon¡¯s tailwhip! I beat the hell out of those guys! You see all that stuff out there in the car? It was all taken back from the processing factory by your Brother Xiao, me with Brother Hui and the others!¡± ¡°Great job!!!¡± The crowd cheered and gave a round of applause! At the corner, Teacher Cheng let out an indistinct sigh, ¡°Those people wanted to survive too¡­¡± Someone heard it and accused him in a bad mood, ¡°Teacher Cheng, look at you. You are doing it again, aren¡¯t you? We almost can¡¯t leave because of those people! They want to survive, don¡¯t we too?¡± Teacher Cheng lowered his head. He did not defend himself. Yet, his mouth kept breathing out utter sighs as if he was lamenting the current situation similar to the law of survival of the fittest. This little divergence was soon being drowned out by the scene of rejoice. The bespectacled man assigned some people to move the things in the car down. There were smoked meat, sausages, braised duck and a mountain of vacuum-packed cooked food. The atmosphere became livelier, everyone was exceptionally excited. Shen Mo and Bai Youwei also receive a share of the food. It was unknown whether they felt sympathy for Bai Youwei¡¯s disability, but she got an extra braised pig trotter with soy sauce compared to others. After distributing the food, the bespectacled man told everyone to rest early, and that they would leave once the sun peeks out the horizon tomorrow. Everyone was extremely excited because they were finally going to leave the rest area where they had been trapped in for long. They rearranged the tables and chairs in the restaurant to form a wide bed with thick and wide European curtains as bed sheets, people of all ages lying side by side. Whereas Bai Youwei and Shen Mo slept on the floor in the supermarket next door. The shelf that was laid down would make a makeshift bed frame. It was then padded with a folded packing carton and a soft blanket. Although it was decent, it was more comfortable than sleeping in the car. ¡­ Moonlight silently flowed as the night immerse itself in tranquility. The branches and leaves outside were soughing, whereas the people indoors were tossing and turning. The rustling of clothes rubbing against each other was especially clear too. Bai Youwei quietly lay down, with her head slightly tilted, she could see the view in the restaurant. Some took out their phones to browse pictures of their family, some were softly discussing plans after leaving, whispers permeated the dark, making the night grow quieter¡­ Shen Mo sat at the other side of the shelf. His hand was holding a map that he had gotten from somewhere while he carefully looked at it by the moonlight. T/N: I¡¯m back for a bit because of the Singles Day Prank thing lol although I¡¯m late to the party. Anyway, guys, uni assignments are killing me and procrastination is holding me back. So, pray that I will survive them and give you more chapters, maybe, if i don¡¯t forget about translating. CH 22 Translated by Chan Edited by Shiny Chapter 22 ¨C The Moon Tonight The moon was especially bright tonight. Speaking of irony, the world of humans worsened day by day but nature¡¯s scenery was becoming more and more beautiful instead. There was no haze nor pollution. The blue skies carried fluffy white clouds every day and a bright moon and countless stars at night. Bai Youwei closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep. However, sleep was not forthcoming and she opened her eyes resignedly before trying once again. Everything that happened today kept playing out in her mind. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to sleep?¡± She whispered softly to Shen Mo who was beside her. ¡°I will sleep after you sleep.¡± Shen Mo responded calmly. He was still not sleepy yet. Besides, it was really awkward for them to lie side by side. After all, they had just met today. Bai Youwei responded, ¡°It will be too late when I fall asleep.¡± Shen Mo did not mind. ¡°When we were training, I only slept for 4 hours every day. It¡¯s plenty.¡± Bai Youwei thought about it and could only admit that this man has great stamina. In the game, he had run while carrying her for three rounds, but he had scarcely broken a sweat and barely panted for breath. She closed her eyes once more, but she was still not sleepy. After lying there for a while, she sat up with her arms propped up and said, ¡°I¡¯ll look at the map with you.¡± Shen Mo showed her half of the map. His right arm was nestled within a mass of warmth and softness. He paused for a bit. ¡°How do I read this?¡± Bai Youwei stretched out her head to ask. Her lower body was feeble. To sit, she needed to lean or lie on something, so it was very difficult for her to sit upright. Shen Mo¡¯s arms that had been slightly tensed relaxed quickly. He then taught her how to read the map with his fingers. Ever since mobile satellite maps were popularized, people rarely chose to read paper maps. They usually only bought a copy as a souvenir when they were traveling. ¡°This is the Hushaan Expressway. Now we are around this area¡­ From this point on, there are dolls on the second half of the road. So, we have to change our route to Hurong Expressway tomorrow, led by those people who went out to explore today. Then, we have to take a detour from Zhenjiang to Yangzhou¡­¡± Looking at the densely-packed routes and the mosquito-sized toponyms, Bai Youwei started to feel a little dizzy. After forcing herself to listen for a while, her awareness started drifting more and more. Unwittingly, her attention moved to the man¡¯s fingers. Shen Mo had a pair of extremely pretty hands. His fingers were long and slender and his joints were distinct. The lines were smooth and strong, from his sturdy forearm to the end of his fingertips. The slight protrusion of each meridian was surging with power, it was the type she envied the most. Her gaze travelled upward, following his hand. She saw his clavicles, his adam¡¯s apple¡­ The black bangs cast a dim shadow between his eyebrows, only the outline of the bridge of his nose was high and clear. His extremely low voice as he read out the unfamiliar toponyms could not help but remind Bai Youwei of the cello her father collected. Now the ¡°cello¡± looked at her and asked in a low voice, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡± She lay down, took the rabbit doll as a bolster and hugged it to sleep. Shen Mo was rendered speechless. After a moment of silence, he set the map aside and questioned, ¡°Is it cold?¡± Bai Youwei seemed to be deep asleep as there was no response. Shen Mo stared at her quietly for a moment before getting up and going out. After he left, Bai Youwei opened her eyes. Her eyes were calm like water. In the dead of the night, a man and a woman, alone together. This was not a big deal, but it could not stop people from letting their imagination run wild. Once they started overthinking, their hearts would feel unsettled. And once their hearts were unsettled, there was no stopping it. Bai Youwei also used to have a hero-saving-princess type of teenage dream, but that was before her legs had become paralysed. After she became disabled, how to live with dignity became her number one priority in life. It was much more important than love. Moreover this did not even count as love. It was merely a coincidence that she encountered a dangerous situation and she just happened to have a man around her who also simply happened to treat her well. It was said that men and women who had experienced a life-death situation together would be attracted to each other easily. She did not know if it was true or not, but it didn¡¯t matter. After all¡­ everything would be over once they reached Yangzhou. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to fall asleep as soon as possible. The sound of footsteps could be heard from the direction of the door. They were slow and messy. There was more than one person. Bai Youwei turned her head and looked over and saw three youths walking towards her languidly. It was those people who had gone out exploring. CH 23 Translated by Chan Edited by Shiny Chapter 23 ¨C Save Me She had anticipated what would happen to her after the collapse of order. However, she had not foreseen that it would be this quick. When they were walking towards her, her mind was full of thoughts as she started overthinking. She recalled her family physician who had always taken advantage of her every time he examined her body. Initially, she had not understood as she had been ignorant, but she had called her mother to report it once she realized it. However, the physician had claimed that he had been doing his job conscientiously and without the slightest neglect. He had also accused her for lying on purpose just to show off her authority as a pampered young lady. Her temper was indeed terrible. Which was why the physician¡¯s words sounded convincing. Her mother paid the physician a large amount of money when she dismissed him to comfort his ¡°wounded heart that was tortured by the pampered young lady¡±. As Bai Youwei thought of her past, she slowly squeezed the rabbit tightly¡­ She made up a decision in her mind. The three youths came up to her and surveyed her with a blatant look in their eyes. They were scruffy hooligans with bleary eyes. Not only that, she supposed that these people weren¡¯t particularly smart either. They must have managed to survive until now due to a mix of pure fearlessness and primitive brutality. They were once people who had been rejected and detested by society, but now, they were the leaders of a surviving team, receiving respect as they were followed by others. What else could make them more conceited than this? Bai Youwei sat up with the support of her arms and screamed in panic, ¡°What are you doing? Don¡¯t come here! Don¡¯t you come over¡­¡± The restaurant next door suddenly became silent. The soft noises of chatting all disappeared, as if everyone had simultaneously fallen asleep at this particular moment. Three hoodlums; one grabbed Bai Youwei¡¯s arm, one took off her dress and the remaining one stood to the side as he gleefully filmed the affair with his phone. ¡°Let go of me! No! ¡­Don¡¯t! Help¡­¡± She struggled with all her might and called for help in a weak voice. The creaking of the metal shelves beneath her and the mischievous laughter of the hoodlums sounded exceptionally clear and piercing in this silent night. No one helped her. Humans¡­ They were always generous when it did not jeopardize their interests; while at other times, they would be selfish and indifferent to the utmost. Perhaps it was due to the noises that were too loud so he could not pretend to be asleep, but the bespectacled man from the restaurant side came over with his jacket on. The hoodlums stopped their actions. However, the slim and tall one who was wearing a necklace stared at the bespectacled man with a provocative look. He lightly weighed the dagger in his hand, throwing it up and catching it back in his hand. The tip of the knife was pointed forward, filled with threatening implications. The bespectacled man looked at that dagger before glancing at Bai Youwei who had curled up into a ball. He frowned and averted his gaze as he said, ¡°Be quieter, her brother will return soon.¡± The slim, tall man smirked and glanced at his brothers next to him. The corner of his mouth was full of mockery, ¡°Did you hear that? President Zhang asked us to be quieter.¡± The other two, ¡°Yes! Be quieter!¡± They laughed uproariously as they finished speaking, filled with defiance. The bespectacled man¡¯s complexion turned more and more ugly. However, in the end, he didn¡¯t say anything further and turned around to return to the restaurant, unwilling to bother with this trouble anymore. ¡°Loser!¡± One of the hoodlums spat at his back, his eyes full of contempt. After challenging the authority of the leader, the hoodlums felt a great sense of achievement. However, they did not notice that Shen Mo had already returned and he was standing at the entrance of the supermarket, his face frigid. Bai Youwei clutched the rabbit doll and shook her head slightly at him. Shen Mo¡¯s brow furrowed, he knew what she was thinking. When they just entered the rest area, they had charged the rabbit doll for a while. Bai Youwei probably wanted to test the power of ¡°one-tenth of me¡±. But the voltage of this thing was not that easy to control. Bai Youwei was not sure whether it could precisely strike on people like the supervisor had done. She did not want Shen Mo to get close in case he might accidentally get caught in the fray. If the power was not enough, it wouldn¡¯t be too late to call him to save the day. CH 24 Translated by Chan Edited by Shiny Chapter 24 ¨C Brother Outside In short, these three people were lab rats that had sent themselves to her doorstep. Bai Youwei was going to use them to experiment. Even if they were accidentally struck to death, they deserved it. Shen Mo slightly tilted his body to the side and leaned against the door outside. He furrowed his eyebrows tightly, an intense irritation suppressed beneath his eyes. He had no objections with Bai Youwei experimenting with the people who offended her, nor was he in a position to comment about it. However¡­ However, she kept tearing up. Of course, he knew it was fake. In fact, she had been ¡°acting¡± since they had arrived at the rest area. The reason he was irritated was that¡­she kept crying but no one helped her. The supermarket and the restaurant were just half a wall away. There were almost 30 people on the other side of the wall but no one lent her a helping hand. The more she cried, the more it showed the selfishness of humans! This feeling¡­really made him feel displeased. ¡°Let go of her!¡± A sudden low bellow, with an old, hoarse trill, cut through the silent night. Shen Mo raised his eyebrows in surprise and turned his head to look. Bai Youwei was also taken aback. She clenched onto the rabbit doll tightly, suppressing the pent-up electricity back into it! The skinny old man stood solemnly in the aisle between the restaurant and the supermarket as he held onto a wooden stick that he picked from somewhere and condemned. ¡°How can you do such a thing?! Do you not have mothers? Or sisters? Or daughters? You, you¡­ You¡¯re flouting the law! You have no conscience! ¡­What are you doing?! Let go of me mmm mmm¡­¡± The old man was lifted up and a pig trotter was forcefully stuffed into his mouth! It was a braised pig trotter with soy sauce that Bai Youwei just received. Even the packaging had not been opened yet. They used too much force to stuff it in and made a bloody cut at the corner of the old man¡¯s mouth. The tall and slim hoodlum lightly patted on the old man¡¯s face. He jeered, ¡°Teacher Cheng, this is not the place for your lectures. Here you go, a big pig trotter for you. If your mouth is itchy then bite it!¡± He subsequently reached out and pushed Teacher Cheng. The old man stumbled backwards and fell down. His legs were trembling so much that he could not get up. ¡°Who else is still unconvinced?¡± The tall and slim hoodlum took a few steps forward and glanced lazily at the restaurant. ¡°Whichever hero still wishes to save the beauty, just come out quickly. This is a rare opportunity.¡± His comrade sneered, ¡°Don¡¯t try to poke your nose into our business, if it weren¡¯t for Brother Hui, you¡¯d still be starving tonight! All of you have no sense of gratitude¡­¡± ¡°Who are you talking about that has no sense of gratitude?¡± Another person slowly walked in from outside the supermarket. ¡°Tan Xiao?¡± The tall and slim one frowned. Tan Xiao had just returned from the toilet. With one hand in his pants¡¯ pocket and another ruffling his short gray hair, he smiled roguishly. ¡°Brother Hui, you and your two brothers are really capable of¡­bullying women and old men. How did I not notice you guys are this kind of people?¡± Brother Hui¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Buddy, don¡¯t spoil the fun.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t, don¡¯t ever call me your buddy.¡± Tan Xiao shook his hand hastily. ¡°I, Brother Xiao, make a living relying on my uprightness and frankness. I don¡¯t dare to befriend a buddy like you!¡± The hoodlums laughed instead of getting angry. ¡°We¡¯re giving you face (respect) by calling you Brother Xiao. Why? You don¡¯t want it today?¡± Tan Xiao pointed at his face and approached them. ¡°Here, my face is here. Take it, take it¡­¡± Bang! Tan Xiao suddenly attacked. He grabbed Brother Hui¡¯s head and headbutted him into confusion! ¡°F*ck!¡± The other two were instantly incensed and retaliated, ¡°Let¡¯s beat him to death!¡± The three of them fought with each other! There was nothing entertaining about the fighting style of the hoodlums. Beating the face, kicking the crotch and poking the eyes¡ªevery move was extremely brutal and rough! Whereas Tan Xiao had numerous insidious moves. He could fight neck to neck against them even with two of them against him! But after Brother Hui who had been headbutted by him recovered from his stupor, his situation deteriorated to a three on one fight! He was immediately pinned down to the ground! His hands were twisted behind his back and his face was trampled on by the soles of Brother Hui¡¯s shoes! ¡°You¡¯re tired of living, aren¡¯t you?¡± The slip-resistant grooves on the soles of the shoes left red marks on his face. Tan Xiao inhaled in pain and shouted, ¡°Brother outside! Come and help! What are you waiting for?!¡± Shen Mo was at loss for words. CH 25 Translated by Chan Edited by Shiny Chapter 25 ¨C Brothers And Sisters From The Jianghu As the saying goes, an expert could distinguish another through their fighting stance. As soon as Shen Mo appeared at the door, his pine-like stance attracted everyone¡¯s attention. He wore a well-fitted, short plain black T-shirt, a pair of dark camouflage pants for special training, and a pair of black military boots. He stepped steadily and firmly on the ground, exuding an intimidating aura. Brother Hui¡¯s two comrades came forward to stop him, but Shen Mo showed no fear. He punched them and put them in a chokehold. Then, he dodged sideways and attacked with a downward elbow strike. The series of movements were efficient, neat and natural. The two hoodlums could only scream continuously! Forgetting that he was being trampled into a mess, Tan Xiao widened his eyes and mumbled, ¡°Oh my god, he¡¯s the real deal.¡± Then, his face was liberated as Shen Mo lifted up the one stepping on him and flung him out like a broken kite! He really flung that person out. Although Brother Hui was thin, he was at least 65-70kg. How much force did one need to toss him out? Tan Xiao hurriedly did a kip-up. He sprang up in a flash and stood in front of Bai Youwei, assuming a protective stance. ¡°Now you know how strong my brother is, right? Come again if you have the guts!¡± He shouted in a stern voice. If you ignored the footprint on his face, he looked somewhat intimidating. The three hoodlums helped each other up, one more wretched than the other. They knew that they had encountered a tough opponent. Brother Hui glared resentfully at Shen Mo and Tan Xiao before saying sarcastically, ¡°She¡¯s just a cripple and doesn¡¯t even qualify as a woman, but you are protecting her like she¡¯s a treasure? If you like it, I¡¯ll let you have it! Playing with this kind of woman is just for the sake of some freshness. Even if you really wanted to give it to me, I¡¯d think it¡¯s disgusting!¡± Bai Youwei¡¯s complexion became slightly pale and a malicious glint flashed across her eyes. ¡°I dare you to fucking say some more bullshit and see what happens!¡± Tan Xiao waved his fist threateningly. A glint of panic flashed across Brother Hui¡¯s eyes. He clenched his teeth, then turned around and left the supermarket with his comrades as they limped. Once they left, Tan Xiao approached Shen Mo to try to get closer with him, ¡°Brother! You¡¯re amazing! Why did you have to wait until the last minute when you can fight so well?!¡± He placed his hand on Shen Mo¡¯s shoulder and grinned mischievously. ¡°You think you can only show your power at the last minute, don¡¯t you? Don¡¯t worry, I understand!¡± Shen Mo coldly removed his hand and walked towards Bai Youwei. Then, he carried her in his arms and turned around and went out. ¡°Cool~¡± Tan Xiao whistled and hastily followed him. He also picked up Shen Mo¡¯s jacket that he had left at the door and yelled while chasing after them, ¡°Brother, how do I address you? I¡¯m Tan Xiao, Tan Xiao Feng Sheng1¡¯s Tan, Tan Xiao Feng Sheng¡¯s Xiao, what about you? ¡­¡± He chased them all the way to the SUV and handed the jacket to Shen Mo. ¡°This is yours, right? You left it outside by the door. Why are you still wearing a jacket on such a hot day? ¡­Oh, oh, you¡¯re afraid that your sister will be cold at night, so you went back to the car to get her a jacket to put on, right?¡± He was simply talking to himself as no one bothered to answer him. Shen Mo looked cold and aloof, whereas Bai Youwei¡¯s face was gloomy all along, there was no clue as to what she was thinking about. Tan Xiao touched his nose and felt that this pair of siblings were quite strange. Just as he was feeling dejected, Shen Mo took his jacket, and indifferently said, ¡°Thank you.¡± Tan Xiao was rejuvenated once more. He had always known how to take cues from others, so he instantly broke into a smile and replied, ¡°You¡¯re welcome! We are brothers and sisters from the jianghu, we will always rush to the rescue when another is in trouble! We rely on our brother when we¡¯re away from home. Today, I helped you, in the future you will help me too! It¡¯s just loyalty that we¡¯re staking! Just find me if you have any problems next time! I, Brother Xiao, will definitely not rebuff you!¡± The ramblings were endless. Bai Youwei, who was in the car, moved and her lips and muttered, ¡°Annoying.¡± Shen Mo looked up and glanced at her. Tan Xiao was unaware of it and spoke passionately to Shen Mo, ¡°¡­If you really want to thank me, I cannot refuse it. Can you teach me a few moves?¡± He stretched out his fist and leg to the air, practising the moves. ¡°The moves you did just now were really powerful! How did you do it? ¡­Hi-yah! Hah! ¡­Is my posture correct?¡± Shen Mo did not want to respond. T/N: Hello guys. I¡¯m really really sorry for being MIA for so long. I have been swamped with assignments and society work one after another and just could not find any time to translate anything (also because of my horrible time management). Orz.These are the chapters translated back in January but I did not have time to even check the edits my editor made until now. Please bear with me, I will be back with more updates once I¡¯m done with studies (which is at the end of April). Also, I¡¯m having my finals in two weeks so wish me luck. Thank you for all the readers who are still staying with me. I¡¯m sorry for my sporadic updates, I promise that I will be back with at least weekly updates in May. (This is a flag to make me feel bad if I break my promise lol) PS: Just checked back my TL note at chapter 21. Ehem, so, obviously I didn¡¯t survive my uni assignments. Well ??=¡­ Tbh, I had a two-week holiday during December¡­ I guess I procrastinated and now I¡¯m just in a horrible position OOF. Still, thank you to anyone who is still reading, I appreciate it CH 26 Unedited Chapter 26 ¨C Being clung to Shen Mo was being clung to by Tan Xiao. For the latter half of the night, Tan Xiao insisted on taking on the night watch. With a sense of righteousness, he said that he wanted to prevent that gang of people from coming back. Even if they didn¡¯t harm anyone, just secretly siphoning out the gasoline or puncturing the tires would be annoying enough. Shen Mo wanted to tell him that according to the injury of those few people, they would need to rest at least one night to take revenge. However, he really could not bear with Tan Xiao¡¯s talkative personality, so he just let him be. The next morning, everyone set off together. Tan Xiao stayed up all night, but surprisingly he was still in high spirits. He got Teacher Cheng out of another person¡¯s car and insisted the old man to sit on his motorcycle. His motorcycle was a mix of goth and punk style. In front of it was a tassel, whereas at the back was a skull painting. There were also metal rivets on both sides of the body of the motorcycle as decoration. Teacher Cheng awkwardly waved his hand. However, no matter how hard he tried to persuade Tan Xiao, he just would not let him go. Bai Youwei coldly stared at them from not far away. She knew that this silly boy was warm-hearted. Letting that old man ride the motorcycle was to protect him, but he should¡¯ve known that the old man would suffer from the vibration of that broken motorcycle of his. She inadvertently glanced to the side and caught a faint smile in the corner of Shen Mo¡¯s mouth. Bai Youwei frowned and spoke with an unpleasant tone, ¡°Why are you smiling?¡± Shen Mo held the steering wheel and shook his head indifferently. ¡°Nothing.¡± After a while, he continued, ¡°I¡¯m just thinking¡­whether there¡¯s more good people or bad people.¡± If you say there¡¯s more good, during Bai Youwei¡¯s mishap yesterday, the 30 people next door were pretending to be asleep. If there¡¯s more bad, the weak and skinny old man, and the hoodlum who was not well-educated could also step forward bravely. Bai Youwei answered mockingly, ¡°How old are you? Why are you still thinking of such a naive question?¡± Shen Mo smiled disapprovingly, and spoke in a calm tone, ¡°Perhaps soldiers are just more idealistic.¡± Bai Youwei frowned. She impatiently turned her face away and proceeded to look at the old and the young from afar: An old-fashioned old teacher, and a delusional jobless youth¡­ What a strange pair. Are there more good people or bad people in this world? No, neither are. There are more ordinary people, being good or bad is just one thought away. They are not purely good, nor entirely bad. ¡°Let the old man ride in our car.¡± Bai Youwei said. Shen Mo glanced at her and lightly nodded. ¡°Yeah, in case something happens.¡± He got out of the car and invited Teacher Cheng to travel together. It was clearly out of gratitude for Teacher Cheng¡¯s words of justice last night, yet Tan Xiao felt that it was because of ¡°brotherly loyalty¡±. Tan Xiao enthusiastically said to Shen Mo, ¡°Brother, you¡¯re really an affectionate and loyal person! Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep an eye on those people later. They won¡¯t have a chance to even play tricks on us on the road!¡± Shen Mo really had nothing to say to him. He nodded indifferently and took Teacher Cheng back to the car. Teacher Cheng was a refined old man who gave people a feeling of kindness and generosity, his speech exuded the nobility and modesty of a scholar. When he got in the car, he politely thanked Shen Mo and Bai Youwei and introduced himself, ¡°¡­I¡¯m Cheng Weicai, a teacher from Nanjing No.13 High School. The school has stopped classes, so I wanted to go to Yangzhou to see my old parents, who live in Middle Jiang Yang Road. I don¡¯t know where you are heading but if it¡¯s inconvenient, then just let me down nearby¡­¡± Shen Mo looked at the road ahead and responded indifferently, ¡°We are heading to South YangTze River Road.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Teacher Cheng¡¯s expression was full of delight, ¡°Jiang Yang Middle Road is not far from there, it¡¯s on the way! Really thank you so much!¡± Bai Youwei in the back seat sneered. She thought, This military officer is not only an idealist, but he also likes to be a good person and do good deeds. Furthermore, he wants to do them in a way that the other party wouldn¡¯t feel burdened about it. What a thoughtful person. They had no intention of going to South YangTze River Road at all. However, with how disorder the situation is now, it doesn¡¯t matter to her where their destination would be. ¡­¡­ CH 27 Unedited Chapter 27 ¨C Dolls Again One car after another left the rest area, and drove into the highway. The exploration team led by Tan Xiao and Brother Hui were driving at the front of the motorcade Tan Xiao rode his beloved motorcycle nimbly between cars. He was so energetic that he observed the situation of the road ahead while keeping an eye out for the hoodlums from yesterday. Perhaps his surveillance worked or it was because those people were scared after being beaten by Shen Mo, the journey was peaceful, and there were no problems along the way. The motorcade continued for around an hour. When they were about to enter Zhenjiang, clusters of figures could be seen on the road ahead. Brother Hui¡¯s car was at the front, so he was the first one to see it. ¡°¡­It seems like dolls.¡± ¡°It¡¯s those people from the food processing factory again, right? The same trick again and again, I think those people are just too free!¡± ¡°They probably hold a grudge since we snatched away their food. ¡°Don¡¯t bother about it, just drive straight through!¡± ¡°Is it fine though¡­¡± ¡°Tsk! This is the only road we can go, even if it¡¯s not fine, we still have to dash through it! What are you afraid of, we still have a group of sacrificial lambs behind us!¡± After a few simple conversations, the car sped up instead of decreased. The humanoid dolls on the road were knocked into pieces, and were then rolled with the wind, causing a mess. Shen Mo sensed the anomaly, so he decreased the car speed and waved at the motorcycle not far away. He asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± His voice drifted over along with the wind. Tan Xiao slowed down and kept riding parallel to the SUV. He shouted at Shen Mo, ¡±There are dolls again! It¡¯s probably done by those people in the food processing factory! That factory is just nearby!¡± Shen Mo frowned. As he saw the fallen dolls at the side of the road, he felt an indescribable sense of contradiction in his heart. The actions and expression of these dolls looked out of place. It was as if they were chased by something. Bai Youwei in the back seat also saw it. She wrinkled her eyebrows, maintaining silence. At this time, Tan Xiao suddenly burst out cursing¡ª ¡°F*ck!¡± The motorcycle suddenly sped up and rushed to a doll with a white cloth apron in front of it! ¡°I know this aunt! She scolded me when I snatched her sausages yesterday! How did she turn into a doll?!¡± Tan Xiao¡¯s expression changed greatly. He hurriedly looked at the other doll and suddenly turned around right after! He¡¯s speeding in the opposite direction on the road! ¡°The people in the food processing factory have all transformed into dolls! Don¡¯t drive any further! Everybody stop! Stop!!!¡ª¡± One after another car stopped, everyone¡¯s faces were filled with confusion and dismay. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°¡­They seem to say that dolls appeared in front.¡± ¡°What should we do? ¡­Should we drive back?¡± Back? Where else could they drive back to? They already had no way to go. After informing the last car, Tan Xiao stopped his motorcycle and turned back to look at the front of the motorcade. He thought, Perhaps we should start arranging for the cars to drive separately now, otherwise it¡¯s too easy for things to go wrong when everyone is gathering together. Fortunately, they noticed it in time this time. If they continued to rush forward, the consequences would be unimaginable. Just as he was feeling relief, the next second, a strange voice sounded in his ears¡ª ¡°Ding! Welcome to The Dolls¡¯ Game! The theme of this game is ¡°The Frog¡¯s Golden Ball¡±, and the rules are as stated below: If you refuse the game, you will become a doll! If you lose the game, you will become a doll! If you clear the game, you will be rewarded! ¡­¡± ¡°Dafuq?¡± Tan Xiao looked left and right in surprise, ¡°Where did that voice come from?¡± This familiar narration also sounded in Bai Youwei and Shen Mo¡¯s ears at the same time. A dazzling white mist shone, making others could not help but to close their eyes. Once they reopened their eyes again, the world became different too. This time, they were greeted by a dark cave, smelly mud and an incomparably damp and stuffy smell. ¡°F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck! ¡­¡± After a series of curses, Tan Xiao jumped out from the mud, and asked angrily, ¡°What the fuck is this trap?!¡± ¡°This is not a trap, this is a game.¡± The bespectacled man sat on the mud, his expression was full of frustration and despair. ¡°Don¡¯t you know? This is¡­The Dolls¡¯ Game.¡± CH 28 Unedited Chapter 28 ¨C Conical Space *The drawings are drawn by the author but cleaned and typeset by me. ¡°The Dolls¡¯ Game? What Dolls¡¯ Game?¡± Tan Xiao dragged his leg out of the mud and walked to the bespectacled man strenuously, ¡°Leader Zhang, what do you mean? What dolls? What game? Why can¡¯t I understand?¡± The bespectacled man powerless lowered his head. Sinking into depression, his lips opened and closed stiffly. ¡°Even without my explanation you¡¯ll soon understand¡­ I¡¯ve also only experienced it once. That time¡­out of 16 of us¡­only I survived in the end.¡± Tan Xiao looked at him in a daze, and scratched the back of his head, his expression was a little blank. Suddenly arriving at this kind of place was as if entering the nest of an unknown monster. Everyone was trembling, and some even started crying softly. Shen Mo carried Bai Youwei from the mud and looked around just to realise that there was no place for him to put her down. At first glance, it was full of wet mud, and there was not even a clean place available. Bai Youwei pointed at the huge river snail from not far away. Shen Mo then carried her there by stepping on mud pits. Perhaps they had been shrunk, or the river snails had mutated that the river snails here were as large as a double door refrigerator! However, it did not seem to be that hard to accept seeing such river snails after seeing hares as large as big dogs. Luckily, there were only snail shells left which were empty inside, otherwise it might turn into a horror movie. Bai Youwei sat on the rough protruding surface of the shell. Her long dress was thick and heavy after being soaked with muddy water, so she had to struggle to maintain her body balance. The environment they were in now was a huge mud pit, surrounded by wet and slippery stone walls. The higher up the narrower, and at the center of the top, there was only a small circular gap left, which went straight up like a well. Sunray leaked through the gap, brightening the middle of the cave, whereas the surroundings were dark. The further it was from the gap, the darker it got, and it was almost pitch-black at the corners. To put it simply, this was like a conical space full of mud. After finding a place for Bai Youwei, Shen Mo helped Teacher Cheng, who was not far away, up. They were sitting in the same car, so the place they landed was pretty close. The poor 60-year-old man, his face was deathly pale, and was covered in mud. His feet were soaked in muddy water, and his knees could not stop shivering. Shen Mo helped Teacher Cheng up on another snail shell, then he looked around again. Others had also climbed up on the shells to avoid soaking in the mud. For now, there was no supervisor. However, this place was very large and dark, and there were countless snail shells that could be used as cover. Perhaps the supervisor was hiding somewhere? The sound of cursing could be heard not far away. It was those three hoodlums grabbing the bespectacled man. The leader among them, Brother Hui grabbed the bespectacled man¡¯s collar and spoke with coercion and fear, ¡°Zhang Hua! How dare you lie to us! Why didn¡¯t you mention the game back in the rest area?!¡± He (Hui) used to politely call him Leader Zhang, but now he (Hui) simply called him by his first name. Tan Xiao grabbed Brother¡¯s Hui¡¯s arm and also meddled in the battlefield, ¡°How dare you touch him?! Is last night¡¯s beating not enough for you? ¡­Let go of him!? ¡­I¡¯m talking to you! You letting go or not?!¡± The few jostled and pulled in the mud pit. It was difficult to distinguish the winner, and soon they were out of breath. The bespectacled man, Zhang Hua, slumped against the mud, and stared at them like a dead person. ¡°So what if I mention it? Can you avoid it if I mention it?¡± ¡°Bastard!¡± Brother Hui cursed furiously and turned around to climb the stone wall. However, the stone wall above was wet and slippery, whereas the mud below was soft and sunken, there was no place for their hands and feet to work on/exert force on at all. Zhang Hua sat on the mud and looked at them with a smile, ¡°Stop wasting your time. If I were you, I¡¯d take a good look at the terrain, so that I won¡¯t be caught unprepared and have to wait for my death when the game starts later.¡± ¡°Who the f*ck are you saying will die?!¡± Another hoodlum who was difficult to deal with, came forward and tried to teach him a lesson. The light of the cave suddenly dimmed. It was dark everywhere. A young childish voice sounded right after¡ª ¡°Hm? There¡¯s a lot of players this time¡­¡± Everyone got a shock, and instantly held their breath. They heard a rustling sound from the darkness, as if something was slowly coming down along that vertical circular gap. CH 29 Chapter 29 Machine Translated and Edited by Jae The Frog¡¯s Ball The darkness lasted for only around five or six seconds, yet it felt as long as a lifetime. Bai Youwei narrowed her eyes and saw a sphere sliding down from the opening at the top of the cave ¨C its diameter was exactly the same as that of the gap, and so when it came down, the only light source was blocked. After the orb continued its descent, the light reemerged, and everyone saw a golden sphere suspended under the gap. The light of the sun enveloped it, releasing a dazzling glare. ¡°Hello everyone! I¡¯m the inspector of this game. Welcome to the doll game!¡± The Golden Ball spoke. It had a lively and childish tone, like that of a child of five or six years of age. It made a circle in midair, and floated in front of everyone, Its movements generating strong winds ¨C ¡°There are really a lot of players this time! Five, six, seven, eight, nine¡­ uh, so many?! Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty¡­ Thirty-three! There are a total of thirty-three players in this competition! Please play the game seriously and work hard to clear the level!¡± Everyone stared at the golden ball in fear, their nerves tense. Even Brother Hui¡¯s gangsters forgot to move. ¡°Why are you all looking at me like this? Hey! That woman, and you there, why are you crying? Games are fun! They make you happy!¡± The Golden Ball twisted, expressionless, but its tone was very rich. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to play games?¡± It grunted unhappily, ¡°If you refuse to play the game, you will become dolls. You should already have known that when you came in! It¡¯s impossible not to play!¡± ¡°How do we play? Tell us the rules.¡± Zhang Hua stood up, and flicked the sprinkles of mud off of his glasses, before putting them on again, his face was numb, ¡°Between sooner or later¡­ I hope that this would end sooner.¡± He seemed to have given up struggling, there was no desire to survive in his eyes. ¡°Soon.¡± The Golden Ball smiled, ¡°The game is only 20 seconds long, after all, it will end sooner!¡± Shen Mo frowned. This place is dark and muddy. It took a lot of effort to move about. If the game time is only 20 seconds long, it may not necessarily be a good thing for players. Bai Youwei also frowned slightly. She knows her own weakness. If the game is an action game and the time is limited, she may have to wait for death. She couldn¡¯t expect to be carried everywhere. With all the mud everywhere if Shen Mo was to carry her on his back would only cause both of their deaths! ¡°Now I will introduce the rules of the game, everyone should listen carefully! I¡¯ll only say it once, and if you can¡¯t remember the rules, you¡¯ll easily die~¡± The word ¡°die¡± at the end was stressed. This kind of child¡¯s milky voice was jarring to hear, but no one cared. At this moment, all they could feel was worry. They listened to the golden ball announce the rules hanging on to each and every word ¨C The sphere spun. Its golden texture shone in the light. ¡°Have you all seen it? This here is a golden ball. After a while, I will serve at a randomized position, at a randomized angle, and with a randomized force. Your mission is to find me (the golden ball) within 20 seconds.¡± The Golden Ball spoke proudly: ¡± As long as one person finds the ball, everyone clears the level! It¡¯s easy, right? Simple and fun! It¡¯s better than the other Supervisor¡¯s games, right?¡± ¡°How does ¡®finding it¡¯ count?¡± The chatter continued without a care in the world1, ¡°Does it count as finding if I see it with my eyes?¡± ¡°How does ¡®finding it¡¯ count?¡± The chatter continued without a care in the world1, ¡°Does it count as finding if I see it with my eyes?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t count.¡± The golden ball floated in the air and swayed left and right, simulating the motion of a human shaking their head. ¡°There are two criteria for finding the golden ball¡ª One, the hand must touch the ball; Two, the ball is at rest.¡± It floated up high once more and said understandingly: ¡°In order to ensure that everyone understands, let me demonstrate it first!¡± Previous Table of Contents Next Jae¡¯s Notes:) Hello Everyone! I¡¯m a newbie MTL-er who decided to pick up the dropped novels that I¡¯ve come to fall in love with, so much so that I would brave the murky waters of reading machine translations and even edit them. I decided to pick this up after I noticed that the previous TL from Fox, Chan, dropped it and the TL from Webnovel also dropped it around a year ago (painpainpain). They¡¯ve don¡¯t an amazing job so feel free to go check out their work by pressing the (previous) button. I¡¯m unsure of where they (TL from Fox) got the drawing of the game explainers so if you wish to have a detailed view of how this game is set up they also have a drawing which I will link here. Happy reading! 1 The term used here is ´óÀ®À®, which is translated to ¡®D¨¢ l¨¡ l¨¡¡¯ in pinyin. Loosely this is translated as ¡°behaving casually and without care¡¯ CH 30 Chapter 30 Machine Translated and Edited By Jae A Demonstration The golden ball flew east and west in the cave, bobbing up and down, like a child looking for the best place to hide. It¡¯s too childish. Even Bai Youwei felt a sense of playfulness. Although the last rabbit-headed man¡¯s game felt more like a wild goose chase, that Supervisor was at least calm and collected, and his words and deeds carried an air of procedure as if he was acting according to rules. Very no-nonsense and to the point. But what was happening with this Golden Ball? In a life-and-death situation, it¡¯s really unpleasant that such a setting. Shen Mo, who was beside her, spoke to her in a low voice: ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound difficult. As long as someone finds the ball, the game ends. But on the way just now, there were many dolls.¡± That is to say, those people all died in this game. Since it was a very simple game, why did so many people die? Bai Youwei curled her lips in disapproval, ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound as difficult as the race with the rabbit.¡± Didn¡¯t a lot of people die in the end too? Shen Mo was silent for a moment, then asked her, ¡°Can the rabbit be used?¡± Bai Youwei glanced at him after hearing his words but did not answer immediately. She rubbed the plush rabbit¡¯s ears gently in her hands, and every time she exerted force, muddy water would drip down from it. ¡°I don¡¯t dare to use it.¡± She whispered. Not to mention whether or not the electricity in the rabbit¡¯s body is enough, just looking at the environment full of mud and water, she dared not use it. Who could guarantee that a lightning strike wouldn¡¯t electrocute everyone? She didn¡¯t care whether others live or die, but, Shen Mo has to live. Seeing this, Shen Mo didn¡¯t say anything more, and only whispered to her: ¡°Get the starting pistol1.¡± Bai Youwei responded ¡°en¡± obediently. In fact, the starting pistol couldn¡¯t really be of help in this kind of place, but it¡¯s better than nothing. Shen Mo pinned Bai Youwei¡¯s folding fruit knife behind her waist. ¡°The military knife I had disappeared after entering the game.¡± He said lightly, ¡°It seems that if it is an obvious weapon, it will be blocked from being carried into the game.¡± ¡°The Supervisor needs to ensure the smooth progress of the game.¡± Bai Youwei smiled sarcastically. First, meticulously protect the player¡¯s personal safety, and then brutally plunder the player¡¯s life. It was just like the name of the game ¨C the doll game. All entrants are the puppets of the game, without rights, personality, and freedom. ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll choose this position!¡± The childish voice sounded again. After some difficulty in choosing, the Golden Ball finally chose a position. Everyone¡¯s hearts were raised. The golden ball was suspended above the head of a middle-aged fat man, about halfway between the top of the cave and the mud pit. ¡°You¡¯re all optimistic, the game will officially start after the demonstration. Remember, you only have 20 seconds to find the ball!¡± The Golden Ball raised his voice, ¡°I¡¯m about to serve!¡ª¡± Everyone¡¯s eyes were focused on the ball. Boom! The sphere flew out, leaving an afterimage! It smashed into the mud puddle with unimaginable speed and force! Splashing muddy water up to two or three meters high! Everyone¡¯s faces turned pale in an instant. But the ball didn¡¯t stop! It bounced high after the impact, and hit the solid stone wall, making a loud metallic sound! ¨C Bang Bang Bang Bang! ! ! A series of bounces! The splashes of water mixed with black mud rose and fell one after another, and the sounds of impact were deafening! Never following a predictable trajectory, it was hard to guard against, and the momentum that follows is like a boulder falling on a mountaineering road! ¡°Ahhhh!!!¡± A young woman screamed and rolled off the shell. The Golden Ball had almost smashed her head, before it crashed into another snail shell, and disappeared from her vision! The whole cave is full of banging and echoes! When everything stopped the scene in the cave was completely different. It was as miserable as a blender exploding. Jae¡¯s Notes Hello Everyone! Im currently trying to get 3 chapters out so that I can begin to stockpile and start to plan for regular updates. This is chapter 2/3 of this mass (?) update. Hope you all enjoy! Don¡¯t be afraid to point out any mistakes/ errors, this is a learning process for me! 1A starting pistol or starter pistol is a blank handgun that is fired to start track and field races, as well as competitive swimming races at some meets. This gun was won by Shen Mo in the first game. CH 31 The surrounding stone walls are full of sloppy mud, pouring down. There were countless holes in the mud pit at the feet of everyone. ¨C The golden ball was in one of the holes. No one spoke. No one moved either. The color gold often gave the feeling of extravagance, but it is also easy to overlook that it is, in fact, a hard metal. What would happen if you were hit by a piece of metal as big as a large washbasin and moving at high speeds? The ¡®light¡¯ hit would break the bones. The heavy hits could kill someone directly! The middle-aged fat man in the serving position stood frozen, his face as white as chalk, the muddy water around his legs sending out big bubbles after the shock. In a snap, the man regained consciousness and couldn¡¯t help shivering, and the smell of urine emanating. The cave was dull, humid, and silent. But no one cared enough to ridicule. Everyone just stared at the holes, in case the golden ball would bounce out again. ¡ª¡ªIt is clearly a very hard ball, but the way it bounced was just like a rubber ball! During the high-speed movements just now, the golden ball had almost collided with people several times, and the muddy water hurled from the impact had soaked everyone! It was simply unpredictable, now everyone was sitting or standing like clay sculptures, dumbfounded, pitiful, and ridiculous! Still looking for a ball? Even the legs were weak. Bai Youwei roughly counted, there are more than 30 holes in the line of sight alone, and there are still many unclear places, which means that the number of times the golden ball bounces is at least 60 times. She also finally understood why the game time was 20 seconds. One of the properties of mud is that it is soft. When a puddle of mud is smashed into a hole, the silt around the hole will sink into it due to gravity until the hole is refilled. So, if you want to find the golden ball that was hidden in a hole, you must act before the hole is filled. Bai Youwei barely had any time to think, and the 20 seconds passed by in a flash. At this point, most of the mud holes had collapsed into themselves and were mixed with the surrounding silt, leaving only a few faint dents. No one knew where the Golden Ball was. Everyone was shocked by the speed and strength that was just displayed, the mud and water which splashed high into the air, obscuring their vision, and no one knew where the golden ball finally landed. After 20 seconds, an area in the mud suddenly bulged, and the golden ball burst out of the mud! It shook up and down, spinning left and right, tossing the mud off of itself, returning it to its golden appearance. ¡°What are you doing¡ª¡± The complaining tone dragged on, in an unusually dissatisfied tone, before the Golden Ball asked, ¡°Why don¡¯t you come find me? I just said that there is only one demonstration! For a full 20 seconds, You actually didn¡¯t find a hole?!¡± Everyone looked at it with ugly expressions. Look for a ball? If you were not careful, your brain would be hit into a patty! Nobody even had anywhere to hide, how did anyone have time to find it?! The Golden Ball glanced at everyone angrily (although it had no eyes at all), and said angrily: ¡°Forget it, anyway, the demonstration is over, Let¡¯s start the game now! ¨C The name of the game is The Frog¡¯s Golden Ball, the inspector would serve the ball at any position, at any angle, and at any strength, and players can clear the level within 20 seconds by finding the ball. The criteria for finding the ball are: one, a hand must touch the ball, and two, the ball is at rest. Are you ready? Let¡¯s drive¡­¡± ¡°Please wait.¡± A soft voice came from the crowd. Everyone heard the news and found that it was Bai Youwei. She was sitting on a snail shell with her arms propped up, her messy long hair clumping into wet strands, and her wide skirt soaked in muddy water. She clinging to the snail shell, like a stranded mermaid, quiet and weak. It was just that her gloomy gaze and the sneer her lips were drawn into formed a strange sense of incongruity with her embarrassing state. Bai Youwei raised a hand and asked, ¡°The rules of the game, isn¡¯t there something missing?¡± CH 32 Where¡¯s the frog? The Golden Ball was puzzled and muttered to itself: ¡°What did I miss?¡­ Nothing, those are all the rules of the game.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the frog?¡± Bai Youwei looked at it with a sneer, ¡°The theme of the game is ¡®Frog¡¯s Golden Ball¡¯, where is the ¡®frog¡¯?¡± As soon as she finished speaking, panic appeared on the faces of the others, and they turned to look around, lest countless frogs were to suddenly appear out of nowhere. The golden ball fell silent for a moment before, it let out a sly laugh: ¡°Frog¡­you¡¯ll know in a while.¡± After that, it floated to the highest point of the cave, just below the circular opening, letting the sun¡¯s rays reflect on its surface and radiated even more golden light. ¡°The game is about to start, the player has one minute to get ready. Let the countdown begin, 59, 58, 57¡­¡± Everyone panicked! Almost immediately, someone panicked and cried, ¡°President Zhang! What should we do now?!¡± People habitually seek help from those in leading positions. However, Zhang Hua at this moment was no longer the gentle, polite, and thoughtful man with glasses that he used to be. He turned away indifferently. And walked between two snails, standing still, ignoring everyone. Brother Hui sneered sarcastically: ¡°Have you all seen it? Your President Zhang can¡¯t even protect himself, so why would he care about your life and death?! President Zhang is not your dad! You¡¯re all a bunch of idiots!¡± Bai Youwei pondered for a moment, then turned her head towards Tan Xiao and beckoned. Tan Xiao was stunned. Seeing Bai Youwei looking for him, he came over. Bai Youwei then spoke, ¡°Teacher Cheng is in poor health. Help him stand over there. The golden ball bounces on the snails and the walls. A place without snails is relatively safer.¡± Without a word, Tan Xiao immediately stepped forward to help Cheng Weicai. When the people heard it, they hurried to find a suitable place according to her description, only then did they discover that the place where President Zhang stood happened to fall under the ¡°relatively safe location¡± that Bai Youwei had mentioned, that is to say, Zhang Hua knew how to avoid the golden ball, but he didn¡¯t plan to tell them! Resentment shone on everyone¡¯s faces. ¡°How can there be such a selfish person? How will it benefit him if we were to all die?¡± a middle-aged aunt muttered in a low voice. Even with their condemnations and accusations within their hearts, there was no time to question him as the countdown was drawing to a close. Shen Mo placed Bai Youwei in a corner of the cave, with the stone wall behind her, a large field snail on the right, and mud on the left and in front of her. This is the perfect place to hide or escape. But Shen Mo didn¡¯t plan to stay here himself because this place was too remote to observe the trajectory of the golden ball. He was someone who preferred to be in a position where he could take the initiative instead of being a sitting duck. He took off his military boots, rolled up his trousers, and stood barefoot in the mud, his dark eyes staring silently at the ball in the distance, just waiting for it to find a starting position before taking action. ¡°7¡­6¡­5¡­4¡­3¡­2¡­¡± The golden ball moved. ¡°¡­1.¡± It stopped, the sphere wobbled, floated up towards a fixed position in the air, and filled the cave with it¡¯s nasal child-like voice¡ª ¡°Game, start!¡± Boom! The area shook once more! Bang! Rattle! Echo! The entire cave was shaking! There was a large muddy hill splashing in front of Bai Youwei¡¯s eyes so that she couldn¡¯t see where the others were at all, she could only hear them screaming and crying one after another! The sound was deafening! ¡°Shen Mo!!!¡± she shouted at the top of her voice. She was uneasy when she realized she couldn¡¯t see his figure. It¡¯s fine to call her hypocritical or selfish, but the truth of the matter was that it would be impossible fo there to survive without Shen Mo! He was her legs! He¡¯s her life! A man covered in mud scrambled about, pausing in shock for a moment when he saw Bai Youwei, before rushing over! He shouted vaguely: ¡°Get out of the way! That position is mine!¡± Bai Youwei¡¯s eyes widened. A round shadow covered with golden light suddenly appeared behind the man, and in the next instant, both the man and ball slammed against the stone wall! The Golden Ball bounced away, but the man remained¡­ He was crushed, his body fragmented. Slowly it slipped into the mud and disappeared under it. Only a touch of red and white tofu-like brain matter remained splattered on the stone wall.