Translator: 549690339
Bai Youwei slept late into the night and didn’t wake up until mid-morning the next day.
In the doll house, it was easy to become deeply relaxed and quickly recover energy, making it an ideal rest spot. So easy, in fact, she often slept heavily.
Because of its comfort, everyone spent the morning in the doll house, tidying up, doing laundry, moving pots of coriander and spring onions to the backyard for sunlight—
While preparing breakfast, Teacher Cheng casually looked around the kitchen and said solemnly to Shen Mo:
“Our food supplies are running low. We still have plenty of rice and flour, but are in short of vegetables and meats, and our eggs are nearly gone.”
Vegetables didn’t last long and were always in short supply, while our meat supply relied entirely on the pile of vacuum-sealed cooked food, now completely depleted.
Even instant noodles were reduced to a dozen or so packets.
“The city’s resources are distributed by the organization, we can’t gather supplies here,” Teacher Cheng sighed, “unless we join the organization, we can collect food from the resource point for free. It seems, if we don’t plan to join, we can’t stay here for long.”
Shen Mo casually replied, “Eat lightly this morning, we won’t stay here for too long.”
Bai Youwei gave him a glance.
Shen Mo’s situation was different than the rest; his father was in Shanghai.
Would Shen Mo really be willing to leave his family to find those unknown pieces of the puzzle?
“I’ll go out first.” Shen Mo got up and headed for the door, “Everyone should come out once they’re ready, to avoid suspicion.”
The main door was open, connected directly to their bedroom.
As he was about to leave, there was a knock on the door.
Since the door was open, the sound also echoed into the doll house.
Bai Youwei tilted her head in thought, then wheeled over, “It’s probably for me.”
“For you?” Shen Mo asked, a bit puzzled.
When he opened the door, two lanky youths stood outside. Seeing Shen Mo, a mix of wariness and curiosity flashed in their eyes, though they remained courteous:
“Does Bai Youwei live here?”
Shen Mo raised his brow and turned to look back at Bai Youwei.
“While you were away yesterday, I posted a notice at the exchange to trade items.” Bai Youwei explained, “Let them in.”
Shen Mo stepped aside, allowing the pair to enter.
The two youths glanced at each other, approached Bai Youwei and produced two puzzle pieces: “We want to exchange them for the Substitute Doll.”
Bai Youwei casually glanced at their puzzle pieces, then shook her head lightly, “You’re quite a few pieces short.”
“How many do you need?” One of them asked.
Bai Youwei counterposed, “How many do you have?”
“We…” After a moment the man grudgingly replied, “This is all we have. Only people who have entered the maze have puzzle pieces. Even having two is already a lot! Most don’t have any!”
“Too few~” Bai Youwei still shook her head, blandly explaining, “Even for a starting pistol or seeds, I won’t exchange them with such a paltry number of pieces, let alone the Substitute Doll.”
“How many do you want then!” The other one was getting anxious.
Bai Youwei held up a hand, her pale fingers fluttered, “At least five pieces.”
“And for the Substitute Doll?”
“Less than ten isn’t worth considering.”
Both youths exchanged looks, not speaking for a while.
Bai Youwei drawled, “You can go back and think it over, but I must remind you, this price will only go up, not down. After all, used puzzle pieces are worthless. I’m just curious and want to collect them for fun. Maybe by tomorrow, I’ll regret it, find it a bad deal and not want to trade anymore.”
Both of them frowned.
One of them finally said, “… Okay, we’ll go back and think it over.”