“Charging?” Shen Mo couldn’t help but laugh.

Being able to drag these people into the game clearly came from an extremely advanced technological force. One could even say it was alien advanced civilization. But such technological civilization’s produced reward actually still needed charging?

Quite down-to-earth indeed.

“Mine is a one-time-use item.” While driving, Shen Mo exchanged intelligence with her. “A starting gun. After firing, with the gun holder as the center, people within a 10-meter radius will run at full speed. The effect is influenced by distance, environmental factors, and individual willpower strength. The gun holder is not affected by the gunshot.”

He picked up that toy gun and lightly tossed it to the back seat. “This thing is useless to me. You keep it. At a critical moment it can save your life.”

Bai Youwei caught the gun, thoughtful. “Could it be because the player level is too low, insufficient to obtain that tier of reward, so the effect was forcibly weakened?”

She speculated: “Maybe it’s for game balance, otherwise it would be too useless…”

Under normal circumstances, who would need this kind of thing? Fire a shot and make the opponent run wildly without reason, get close and release a lightning bolt to shock people? These items were obviously prepared for the game.

“Do you think there are many more games like this in other places?” Shen Mo asked.

Bai Youwei: “Isn’t it obvious?”

Shen Mo gripped the steering wheel and said nothing.

But Bai Youwei recalled his abnormal behavior in the game, frowning as she asked: “Do you know something?”

Shen Mo raised an eyebrow, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

Bai Youwei said: “In the game just now, that yellow-haired guy didn’t need to be saved at all, but you insisted on risking danger to pull him out from the rabbit swarm, and afterward kept observing his body changes. You care about him very much?… No, you don’t know him. You’re a senior officer at the National Security Bureau. You couldn’t possibly know this kind of street thug.”

Thinking of Shen Mo’s profession, Bai Youwei suddenly understood: “You came to investigate?”

Her face suddenly darkened, becoming cold: “You didn’t come to pick me up. You just happened to be investigating nearby.”

The girl’s face-changing speed made Shen Mo find it somewhat amusing.

Having just experienced life and death, yet she was fussing over such trivial matters. Hard to say whether she was childish or had nerves of steel, or perhaps both.

“I came to pick you up,” he answered. “I was executing a mission nearby. After receiving your mother’s call, I specially came to pick you up.”

Bai Youwei’s expression didn’t soften because of this. Her tone was indifferent: “We’re neither relatives nor friends. Why would you go out of your way to pick me up? You just happened to be nearby—a convenient favor. I’m self-aware. You don’t need to say nice things to humor me. You’re not my family’s nanny.”

She was very clever. Shen Mo actually had nothing to say.

Both fell silent.

After the SUV traveled forward for a while, Bai Youwei was the first to break the silence.

“Did you succeed in your mission?”

Shen Mo watched the road ahead and calmly shook his head: “No.”

“What kind of mission?” Bai Youwei asked.

Shen Mo: “Finding someone.”

Bai Youwei thought for a moment and tentatively asked: “A scientist?”

Shen Mo smiled: “More or less. An old professor.”

Bai Youwei: “Then you…”

“Didn’t find him. The laboratory was empty—no people, no dolls either.” Shen Mo added, “We searched nearby. All the team members turned into dolls. I don’t know why only I came out unharmed. After that, I received your mother’s call.”

Shen Mo curved his thin lips and asked: “Satisfied now?”

Bai Youwei pursed her lips and sneered coldly: “Nearly lost your life, yet still had the leisure to pick up someone else’s daughter.”

“It was on the way,” Shen Mo said with a light smile.

Bai Youwei: “Hmph.”

After the “hmph,” she felt it was boring. Shen Mo picked her up because of his promise to her mother. She shouldn’t have expected more, and had no right to complain about him.

She was a person everyone disliked. If others treated her even slightly well, she should be grateful, shouldn’t she?

With this thought, her face returned to indifference, without anger or expression.