Shen Mo replied naturally, "Come in and try."
He then asked Tu Dan, "How about you? Did you get the mud?"
Tu Dan smiled wryly. "Yeah, we got it."
She said they got it, but she didn't look very happy. Even the students around her had complicated expressions.
But the two sides weren't that close, and since they didn't say anything, Shen Mo didn't need to ask.
After exchanging greetings, they went about their own business.
Shen Mo's group cleaned up a pile of leftovers and greasy plates.
Tu Dan's side was clearly prepared. They brought bundles of ropes and small flags of various colors. They explored the paths and marked the intersections with different colored flags based on their findings—
Red represented dead ends, green represented passable roads, and yellow represented unexplored paths.
The teenagers, around fifteen or sixteen years old, were full of energy, even more so than adults. They worked tirelessly, and soon, they had planted quite a few colorful flags in the surrounding area.
There was no progress on Shen Mo's side.
Bai Youwei tugged at him and whispered, "I want to take a shower."
Shen Mo didn't speak but looked at her silently. His eyes said it all: Are you sure you have to pick this time?
Bai Youwei understood.
"I have to wash up. Otherwise, I'll smell like barbecue, and it'll be unbearable."
She couldn't stand feeling uncomfortable.
Because whenever she felt uncomfortable, she would make everyone around her uncomfortable.
"We have to explore the paths anyway. If we come across a place to shower along the way, just wait for me. It won't take long," Bai Youwei said matter-of-factly.
A female student passing by couldn't help but click her tongue in astonishment.
They were in a life-or-death situation after entering the maze, yet they were not only in the mood for barbecue but now she wanted to find a place to shower?!
Were they here for a picnic?
Shen Mo, a mature and steady man, didn't want to argue with the delicate Bai Youwei. He casually agreed.
—The maze's walls were a jumbled mess. A bus was crushing a double bed, a bathroom was cut in half and stuck to a kitchen, a toilet bowl was embedded in the cement, and strange sights abounded. She was so obsessed with cleanliness; she might not even find a suitable place to shower, right?
The four of them packed up and prepared to explore.
To avoid interfering with Tu Dan's group, they chose to set off in the opposite direction.
Bai Youwei asked Shen Mo to turn on the step counter on his phone.
They walked and recorded as they went.
Whenever they encountered a fork in the road, she would stop and note down the number of steps. For example, "Go straight for 3 steps, turn left at the intersection marked 1; go straight for 9 steps, turn right at the intersection marked 2"… and so on. The more detailed the numbers, the more accurately they could recreate the map of the area on paper.
Bai Youwei also made a note of the shops that were not badly damaged, so they wouldn't have to search aimlessly when gathering supplies.
To be fair, when Bai Youwei wasn't being difficult, she was a very reliable partner.
But when she was being difficult…
"I want to take a shower." Bai Youwei stopped in front of an express hotel and refused to move.
Shen Mo looked ahead. "There are two more intersections, and then this passage will be finished."
"No, I'm not going anywhere until I shower." She slumped down in her wheelchair, her whole body listless. "I want to shower now."
Shen Mo: "…"
Cheng looked around and said, "There's a ladder over there. I'll go get it."
Tan Xiao also went to help carry the ladder.
By the way, only half of this chain hotel was squeezed into the wall. The part with the elevator and stairs was gone. So, to get to the hotel rooms on the second floor, they needed to find a way to climb up themselves…
In order to let Bai Youwei take a shower, the three men of all ages went through a lot of trouble.
They brought a ladder, but it wasn't enough. They went to look for boxes, tables, cabinets, sofas nearby… The ceiling of the hotel lobby was too high, so they piled up several layers before they could set up the ladder to the second floor.
Shen Mo carried Bai Youwei on his back and climbed to the second floor. "I'll wait for you at the door. Don't wash for too long. Call me every 3 minutes. If you're too lazy to talk, just keep humming so I know you're okay inside… Don't wash your hair. It's a waste of time to blow-dry it. It's best to just rinse and come out."
Bai Youwei: "So many demands. Why don't you wash me?"
Shen Mo: "…"