Bai Youwei tilted her head back and smiled at him. “Better than nothing~ The biggest challenge of Hide and Seek is that there’s not a single decent weapon anywhere in the park. So whenever players faced that cat, all they could do was flee in a wretched panic, completely unable to fight back.”

Shen Mo picked up a falchion, gripped it, and nodded: “Not bad at all.”

“Of course it’s not bad — these are pieces from the Duke’s collection~ In the ancient world, these would all have been legendary blades with a name!” She scooped up a spoonful of yogurt and swallowed it, her eyes curving into crescents. “Eating cold, cool yogurt in the blazing heat is so satisfying~”

She scooped another large spoonful and held it out toward Shen Mo: “Do you want some?”

Shen Mo shook his head, hoisted the chest onto his back, and reminded her: “Wipe your mouth.”

He carried the chest out of the castle, reached back to push the wheelchair, and noticed the doll house door had already closed — while at the same time, scattered across the ground were a pile of drinks and snacks.

Shen Mo: “…”

“What’s that look for?” Bai Youwei was displeased. “You think I was the one craving snacks? You think I don’t know the amusement park doesn’t allow outside food? It was Teacher Cheng — he was worried our stamina wouldn’t hold out and insisted I take them!”

Shen Mo let out a silent sigh. “You’d better think of how you’re going to explain this to the others.”

When they’d arrived, he had been wearing a backpack with the essential food and water inside. Now with all these extra snacks added on top, it would certainly draw the others’ attention.

“Let’s pack them up first.” She pointed at a new canvas bag nearby. Same style as her old one — back when she’d been gathering supplies, she must have collected dozens of bags like this, swapping them out whenever one got dirty or worn.

Shen Mo bent down and helped her pack the snacks.

The two of them continued browsing through the castle for a while, and before long, the voices of Shen Fei and Tan Xiao drifted up from below.

“Ge! — Ge! Where are you?!”

“Why are you in such a rush? Shen Mo and Weiwei are together — nothing’s going to happen to them…”

“We finished exploring our section! How are they still not out?!”

“Obviously it takes longer when Weiwei’s mobility is limited, calm down…”

The voice cut off. Tan Xiao spotted the two walking toward him and nudged Shen Fei with his elbow: “See, there they are.”

Shen Fei jogged over to Shen Mo and said seriously: “Ge, I actually think we should explore together, because…”

He glanced sideways and caught sight of the yogurt at the corner of Bai Youwei’s mouth. He blinked, and his train of thought abruptly derailed: “What were you two just doing?”

Shen Mo paused slightly, followed his younger cousin’s gaze, and couldn’t help but frown.

“Weiwei, wipe off the yogurt,” he said.

“Yogurt — YOGURT?!” Shen Fei, for some inexplicable reason, grew agitated, his voice carrying a note of outrage. “How could there be yogurt here?! What were you two doing just now?!!”

“Is something wrong with your cousin?” Bai Youwei frowned and looked at Shen Mo. “He’s been strange ever since we entered the game. Has he lost his mind?”

“You—!” Shen Fei was indignant.

Shen Mo said flatly: “Probably hasn’t been in many games before — a bit nervous.”

Shen Fei was even more indignant. “Ge! How could you—”

Shen Mo reached into Bai Youwei’s bag and pulled out two meal containers, handing one to Tan Xiao and one to Shen Fei:

“Teacher Cheng’s homemade yogurt. Here.”

“Whoa! That’s my old brother for you — always dependable!” Tan Xiao, entirely carefree, opened his without hesitation, tilted his head back, and poured it straight down his throat.

“…” Shen Fei held the meal container in silence.

A standard semi-transparent sealed food container — apparently chilled, cool and refreshing to the touch.

Recalling the misunderstanding from moments ago, heat rushed to Shen Fei’s face. He mumbled awkwardly: “This… where did this come from? Why is it all cold?”

—