Bai Youwei sat listlessly beside Shen Mo, looking somewhat drained.

After coming ashore from the lake, she had changed into a set of dry clothes. But her hair was still wet and scattered down her back, reeking of the lake water’s fishy smell, making her feel deeply uncomfortable.

Fortunately, all the people in front of her were old acquaintances. Even though they saw she had changed clothes, they knew better than to ask where the clothes had come from.

Shen Mo glanced down at her, then offered an explanation on her behalf: “She’s a little tired. Since entering the game, we’ve gone more than twenty hours without rest.”

Those twenty hours were not the leisurely kind of everyday life — they were twenty hours of constant tension. Being exhausted and drowsy was completely understandable.

Bai Youwei’s brow furrowed slightly. She spoke slowly: “I think Yan Qingwen’s line of thinking… is correct. If it weren’t for that cloth doll, the daytime ambush should have succeeded. It’s just — Mary carries the cloth doll on her at all times, so separating them won’t be easy… I can’t think of any good solution for now. The music outside is too noisy…”

Yan Qingwen saw she was genuinely struggling to concentrate, and looked at the others.

Apart from Shen Mo — whose expression had been unreadable as always — and Tan Xiao, who was always full of energy, the faces of the remaining people all showed signs of exhaustion.

Yan Qingwen said: “Since none of us can think of a solution right now, why don’t we wait and discuss it again when it’s daytime? This spot is quite hidden — Mary and the cat shouldn’t be able to find us here. Let’s take the opportunity to rest. Maybe a new idea will come tomorrow.”

After a brief exchange of a few more words, everyone went off to find a spot to rest.

There were no beds, no pillows here — they could only find a wall to lean against, or a pole to lean on, and close their eyes for a short while.

Mary and the cat could appear at any time, so there was no way for them to let down their guard entirely and fall into a deep sleep.

Shen Mo wrapped his arm around Bai Youwei and adjusted his position to let her sleep more comfortably.

Somewhere along the way — neither could say exactly when — the two of them had grown accustomed to leaning against each other like this, naturally intimate in a way that had nothing to do with any kind of desire.

Shen Mo held her shoulder, his voice low: “If we still can’t come up with a plan tomorrow, you and Shen Fei stay here, and I’ll go with Yan Qingwen to deal with the cloth doll.”

Bai Youwei looked up at him with an expression that was hard to put into words. “You still want me to stay with him?”

“Somebody has to stay and look after you.” Shen Mo smiled faintly. “He’s injured, and he nearly drowned too — his condition tomorrow probably won’t be great, so it wouldn’t be suitable for him to act with us.”

He glanced at Shen Fei lying unconscious beside them and lowered his voice further:

“I do have a selfish reason too. Tan Xiao still has a puzzle piece — even if he runs into danger, he has the ability to protect himself. But Shen Fei doesn’t… I hope that when we leave this game, I can return him to his parents completely unharmed.”

“He gets returned completely unharmed — and what about me?” Bai Youwei poked him in the chest with a sulky expression. “Do you know how many times that brother of yours dropped me today? Four times! …No wait, five! I’ve lost count — he dropped me a ton of times!”

Shen Mo was taken aback and looked down at her: “He dropped you on purpose?”

“It wasn’t on purpose — does that make it okay to just drop me whenever?” Bai Youwei rolled up her sleeve and showed him her elbow. “Look at this — the skin is scraped off, and there’s also this…”

She lifted her bangs and showed him her forehead.

“Isn’t it swollen? It must be swollen, right? I can feel the bump! And my legs — look… my knees, my waist, it’s all bruised…”

Shen Mo pressed down on her hand before she could lift her skirt, his tone exasperated: “All right, that’s enough.”

Bai Youwei put her skirt down with an indignant huff. “The total number of times I’ve fallen in my entire life isn’t as many as today! I don’t care — tomorrow you have to make him keep his distance from me! I am not letting him look after me.”

*Keep his distance — that way it’s safer. And if something goes wrong and he dies, it won’t have anything to do with her.*

*Even if Shen Mo wouldn’t blame her, she still needed to nip in the bud any potential seedling that might interfere with the progress of their relationship!*

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