"With so many mouths to feed, isn't making porridge too much trouble?"
Bai Youwei ate as she spoke, "Making porridge takes a lot of time, and it doesn't fill you up. It's also easy to burn if you're not careful. Why bother making porridge if it's not for someone with a weak stomach? … It hasn't been long since the incident in the city, there should be plenty of food. Why make porridge of all things? Look, they even put dried shrimp and mushrooms in it—"
Bai Youwei scooped up a spoonful of porridge and shook it in front of Shen Mo.
Then she stuffed it back into her mouth and said vaguely, "Courtesy demands reciprocity. We can't take advantage of them for nothing. Take some food upstairs."
The corner of Shen Mo's mouth curled up in a smile. "Just deliver food? Don't tell me you don't want me to go upstairs and scout the situation?"
Bai Youwei's expression remained unchanged, her eating not pausing in the slightest. "Don't you want to?"
Shen Mo let out a barely audible laugh and admitted generously, "I do."
His personality was vastly different from Bai Youwei's, but somehow, their thoughts always seemed to align.
Shen Mo thought for a moment and said, "Let Teacher Cheng go. They're both teachers, it'll be easier to talk."
"Take Tan Xiao with you," Bai Youwei said. "Don't let the old man get bullied."
Shen Mo: "What, protecting the weak?"
Bai Youwei was stunned for a moment, as if thinking of something. After a few seconds of silence, she said softly, "He's a good person."
Shen Mo gave her a deep look, got up and went out. Standing at the door, he said, "Teacher Cheng, could you come here for a moment…"
…
Bai Youwei and Shen Mo were analyzing the teachers and students upstairs in the dormitory, unaware that the people upstairs were also studying them.
"A tall guy, a delinquent youth, an old man, and a disabled person…"
The students sat in a circle, looking at each other.
Such a combination was strange no matter how you looked at it.
"Don't worry too much, everyone." The female teacher sat among them, her tone gentle. "They took in the elderly and cared for the disabled, so they definitely aren't bad people. We won't bother them, and they won't bother us. Let's just take care of ourselves."
A girl with pigtails mumbled, "But that cripple is so fierce…"
Before she could finish her sentence, the teacher glared at her sternly.
The girl knew she had said the wrong thing and felt a little aggrieved. She said in an even smaller voice, "It wasn't me who said it, she said it herself."
"She can call herself crippled, but we can't." The female teacher looked at the students in front of her and reminded them again, "When you're away from home, never be sharp-tongued. It does no good to yourself or others. Got it?"
"Got it, Teacher Tu."
The students all agreed, the girl with pigtails nodding along uncomfortably.
Another student asked, "Teacher Tu, when are we going into the fog?"
Teacher Tu was silent for a moment, then turned her head to the side—
Over there, a male student with a pale face was lying on the dormitory bed, his chest wrapped in thick white gauze. His eyelids were half-closed as he listened quietly to everyone's discussion.
Tu Dan sighed silently in her heart and looked away. "…Let's wait until Zhang Tianyang's injury is better, then we'll go in. We can't all go in at once. Half of us will stay behind. If more than half of the food is gone and we haven't come out of the fog, those who stay behind will take the food and head south along the Yangtze River… to find another shelter."
"Teacher Tu…"
"Teacher Tu, please don't go…"
Several girls' eyes were moist as they clung to the teacher's clothes reluctantly. The boys' eyes were red too.
Looking at the young faces, Tu Dan felt a mix of emotions. She held their hands and said word by word, "We must go into the fog. This is a clue that everyone exchanged with their lives. I ask you, what is the first rule of the game?"
The students choked up: "Refuse the game and become a doll!"
"Yes… Refusing, escaping, will only increase its malice, it won't help at all." Tu Dan looked at them, "We must go into the fog."