Bai Youwei heard those familiar footsteps, and the tightly wound string in her heart finally loosened.

She had been worried about him the whole time.

Although after careful consideration again and again, she always concluded that this organization had every reason to want to win Shen Mo over — still, the heart doesn’t follow logic, and she worried all the same.

Shen Mo opened the door and came in. Keenly perceptive, he sensed something was off and, seeing Bai Youwei come out of the bedroom, asked her, “Someone’s been in the apartment?”

“That’s not important…” Bai Youwei let out a drowsy yawn. “I’ve been waiting for you forever. I’m practically dying of sleepiness.”

“The research group detected a game approaching the city and called an emergency meeting…” Shen Mo paused, then came over and gripped the armrest of the wheelchair. “…Actually, let’s go inside first.”

The two of them went in one after the other, and Bai Youwei took out the golden key to unlock the doll house door —

Inside the doll house, Shen Mo picked Bai Youwei up and carried her upstairs to their room, and began speaking again:

“This organization has a complex makeup. There are people from the SCO research group, people from the special operations unit, prominent families who came here seeking refuge, and some scattered local paramilitary police…” As he walked, Shen Mo spoke. “But the organization is primarily anchored by the research group. The person in charge of the organization is called Chu Huaijin — he was the former captain of Special Operations Team Four. Second to him is Song Mingchuan, an SCO professor whom I’ve mentioned to you before.”

Bai Youwei was half-asleep in his arms, eyes closed. “Mm… why did they pull you into the meeting too…”

“Shen Fei arranged it.” Shen Mo walked into the bedroom and set her on the bed, hesitating slightly over how to introduce this cousin of his.

“He… has looked up to me since he was small. He wants me to join the organization, so he made a strong case to Professor Song on my behalf, said a lot of good things about me… I’m also quite interested in Professor Song’s recent research findings, so I attended their meeting.”

Bai Youwei lay on the bed and forced her eyes half-open, murmuring sleepily at him: “Then are you going to join?”

Shen Mo thought for a moment, and looked at her as he asked: “If I joined, would you?”

“Sure…” Bai Youwei yawned again, her voice small and soft. “Though they probably wouldn’t take someone with a leg that doesn’t work.”

Shen Mo smiled and gently stroked her hair. “I still want to go somewhere with a maze… After collecting all the puzzles, I want to see with my own eyes what actually happens.”

“Then let’s go…” Her voice grew more and more faint, as though she were fighting a losing battle with sleep. “Oh, and… have you seen my mother?”

Shen Mo was taken aback for a moment.

He thought of what his father had told him, and what Shen Fei had described with such indignation, and was quiet for a few seconds before telling Bai Youwei: “Aunt Wang is not currently in Shanghai.”

Bai Youwei: “Oh…”

Shen Mo didn’t want to cause Bai Youwei pain. He did his best to explain in measured words: “After Yangzhou fell into chaos, my father brought Aunt Wang to Shanghai. But because people say that the far north is outside the range of the doll game and is completely safe, Aunt Wang… set sail north with a man.”

There were many details he didn’t mention.

He didn’t mention how his father had looked after Wang Jingxian along the way, nor that as a family member of an organization member, she wouldn’t have been required to enter any games. To avoid being assigned to the games, Wang Jingxian had registered with the organization as his father’s companion.

But in Shanghai she had encountered another old acquaintance — a man who had once pursued her — and without a shred of sentiment, she left his father and boarded a ship north with that man.

That was why Shen Fei had spoken up for his uncle, and why — Shen Mo having been out of contact for so long — Shen Fei had come to despise Wang Jingxian all the more, and by extension, in his mind, Bai Youwei had become “the daughter of a scheming temptress.”

Bai Youwei was silent for a long time.

Shen Mo weighed his words for a moment and tried again: “Without a ship, the odds of finding Aunt Wang are very small…”

Bai Youwei: “……”

Shen Mo looked more closely.

She was already fast asleep.

*[A day off]*

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