Today, I Have Yet to Become a Doll

.
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.”

Footnotes

a piece of field gear originating in the United States military intended to provide warmth in mild temperatures