As the sky darkened, Shen Mo’s car reached the Hangzhou area.

They didn’t immediately enter the fog, but first found a place to stay. They would wait until tomorrow morning, explore the environment, and then make arrangements.

As usual, they prioritized hotels for lodging. These places didn’t lack beds, bedding, or pillows. They had large stocks of disposable toiletries, and each room came with independent bathrooms—very convenient to live in.

Shen Mo found a good place and carried Bai Youwei out of the car. The girl’s head naturally rested on his shoulder, her eyes closed.

She had been drowsy in the car, and now she didn’t want to move at all.

More accurately, she’d been languid ever since coming out of the game. The real world seemed unable to lift her spirits.

Shen Mo placed her on the bed, then went out and checked all the hotel rooms on the same floor.

Living diagonally across from their room were Tan Xiao and Cheng Weicai.

Tan Xiao ran out and waved to Shen Mo: “Brother Mo, come look quickly!”

Shen Mo asked, “What is it?”

“There seem to be people over there.” Tan Xiao pointed toward the room’s window.

Their room’s window faced a street, allowing them to see quite far. Teacher Cheng was holding up binoculars, bending his old back with effort as he looked.

“…No good, the binoculars’ magnification isn’t enough. I can’t see clearly if there are people in those buildings.” Teacher Cheng muttered.

Shen Mo walked to the window and looked in that direction. He could see several faint lights, like someone had lit candles or other lighting tools.

In the night, such light was very conspicuous.

He counted—there were four such light sources in total.

They were too far to see clearly, and it was getting late. Going to investigate rashly would be very unwise.

Shen Mo said, “Teacher Cheng, please keep watching. If any of them go out later, it probably means people are living there. We’ll go check tomorrow.”

Teacher Cheng nodded. “Alright, I’ll watch from here. You go do what you need to do.”

Shen Mo then took Tan Xiao downstairs to make a fire in the open space in front of the hotel lobby.

—First, find some bricks, or use tools to chip off a few pieces along the edge of a flower bed. Arrange the bricks in a four-sided enclosure with only one opening at the bottom. Place an iron pot on top, build a fire underneath, and you have a simple stove.

Everything else could be replaced with substitute resources, but without electricity and gas, boiling water and cooking could only use the most primitive methods.

There was also a small stove in the car, which was fine for cooking noodles or porridge, but too slow for boiling water.

Tan Xiao pulled out several packages of instant noodles from the trunk. With practiced movements, he tore open the packaging and began cooking noodles.

Their food was roughly divided into two categories: one was rice, flour, grain, and oil collected from supermarkets, and the other was sausages and roast chicken that Tan Xiao had obtained from a food processing plant earlier.

Overall, they lacked vegetables and fruits.

Going without for a few days occasionally didn’t matter, but if they couldn’t eat fresh fruits and vegetables long-term, their resistance would decline, making them prone to illness.

Shen Mo thought for a moment and said to Tan Xiao, “I’ll go look around nearby.”

Tan Xiao was scooping water into the pot. Hearing this, he said, “Brother Mo, come back early, or Weiwei will throw a tantrum when she doesn’t see you.”

Shen Mo’s footsteps paused, a smile playing at his lips. “Are you that afraid of her?”

Tan Xiao nodded honestly.

“Why are you afraid of her?” Shen Mo asked with amusement. “Has she cursed you or hit you?”

Tan Xiao recalled, then fell deeply into the greatest confusion of his life—

Bai Youwei had neither cursed him nor hit him. Why was he afraid of her?

“The water’s boiling.” Shen Mo reminded him, waved his hand, and turned to leave.

Near the hotel were shops, residential buildings, and landscaped parks… All the buildings were immersed in the night.

Shen Mo walked while observing. Finally, he turned into a residential complex.