Shen Mo hesitated slightly. He would worry if he left Bai Youwei alone.

No matter how clever Bai Youwei might be, her ability to act in an emergency situation was nearly zero. Shen Fei was injured, yes, but there was definitely no problem with him carrying her to safety.

These two did seem to clash a bit, but in Shen Mo’s mind, a little “clashing” was nothing at all when it came to matters of safety — it could be completely ignored.

Just like how, whenever he had carried out missions before, his personal emotions always came last.

Bai Youwei could tell from his expression that he disagreed. Her little mouth immediately puckered, and her little face drooped.

Shen Mo said: “Push through it.”

Bai Youwei wrapped her arms around his neck and twisted side to side. “Don’t want to push through it~”

Shen Mo said: “Don’t be willful.”

Bai Youwei buried her face in his shoulder. “Whine, whine, whine, whine…”

Shen Mo: “…”

It seemed like all the others were looking over…

Everyone’s faces wore expressions that were difficult to put into words. The feeling wasn’t quite like watching a sweet little girl throwing a tantrum — it was more like watching a fierce, formidable lion throwing a tantrum. Intensely incongruous.

Shen Mo silently patted Bai Youwei on the back, helpless inside.

There was nothing to be done.

Since she didn’t want to push through it, he was the one who would have to push through it instead.

…

Throughout the night, neither Mary nor the cat made an appearance.

When the clock hands pointed to twelve again, day broke, and the clock tower let out its deep, resonant chiming sound —

The amusement park returned to silence.

Shen Fei had also woken up.

After regaining consciousness, he was somewhat excited and pulled Tan Xiao and Lu Ang aside to share the dream he’d had yesterday, insisting again and again that he had seen a water spirit!

“Her hair was like black water plants! Her skin was as white as crystal! You couldn’t make out her face clearly underwater, it was so mysterious… Hey, stop laughing! Maybe this is a major clue the game is giving us!”

Lu Ang laughed heartily: “Still half asleep, are you!”

Shen Fei said earnestly: “At first I thought it was a dream, a hallucination — but the feeling was way too real! I even touched her skirt!”

Lu Ang teased: “A water spirit wearing a skirt? I thought water spirits were like mermaids — no clothes at all.”

Tan Xiao joined in without mercy: “Your brain got flooded and scrambled! What water spirit! Wasn’t that just Youwei?! Bahahaha!”

Shen Fei was taken aback. He reflexively turned his head to look at Bai Youwei, protesting: “No, no — the water spirit I saw was wearing a white dress. She’s wearing blue…”

Halfway through his sentence he suddenly froze. Shen Fei’s expression stiffened.

Bai Youwei had been wearing… a white dress yesterday, hadn’t she? Could he actually have been wrong?

His face flushed red he didn’t know quite when. Shen Fei’s cheeks burned, utterly mortified.

Lu Ang draped an arm over his shoulder, laughing. “It’s normal — who didn’t have a dream lover when they were young, right? Heh heh…”

“No… I, I didn’t!” He was mortified and flustered, shaking his head repeatedly — then he caught Bai Youwei’s indifferent gaze from across the room, and felt a strange, inexplicable… twinge of loss.

Bai Youwei only cast one glance at Shen Fei before looking away.

She tugged at the arm of the man in front of her, her face full of displeasure. “A promise made at night can’t just be abandoned the moment you wake up. If a person says something, they should keep their word — is there any basic honesty left between people?”

Shen Mo found it amusing. “What are you talking about? I said I’d leave you and him in the clock tower — I never said I’d put you two together.”

“You’re both in the clock tower — how is that not together?!” Bai Youwei rolled her eyes dramatically. “The clock tower is so tall with so many flights of stairs — are you trying to make me fall every which way in a complete full-body three-hundred-and-sixty-degree tumble?!”

“You won’t fall.” Shen Mo pinched her cheek. “You’ll stay at the very top, and I’ll have Shen Fei stand guard at the bottom.”

—