Chapter 18: Coquettish

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Sitting in the middle, they guessed that the man wearing glasses seemed to be the leader.

But this leader must be having a hard time as well because his shirt had a lot of wrinkles and his hair was greasy. It seemed like he hadn’t been groomed for a few days.

Shen Mo asked, “What do you mean by exchange information?”

The other party gently pushed down his glasses and said slowly, “You can interpret it as information sharing. Everyone must share valuable information without reservation so that we can all discuss countermeasures together. If everyone keeps information to themselves while expecting others to come up with ideas, that would never solve the problem, would it?”

This was true. It was far less safe and effective to work alone than to cooperate with multiple people. From ancient times to the present, humans had solved countless problems through group cooperation, which was one of the greatest pearls of wisdom of mankind.

However, once there were more people working together, it was inevitable that there would be problems of freeloading and people being used as a cat’s paw.

Bai Youwei hugged her fluffy rabbit and said softly, “But we don’t know what kind of information is valuable…”

When she suddenly spoke in such a coquettish voice, Shen Mo was startled and a layer of goosebumps rose on the two hands supporting the wheelchair.

She raised her head dramatically and looked at him pitifully. “Brother, do you know?” she asked.

Shen Mo remained silent.

He felt choked.

Perhaps Bai Youwei’s appearance was too deceptive, but the man wearing glasses fell for it, and he gently explained, “Don’t worry. Since you came from over there, you probably encountered those dolls on the road. Anything related to the dolls is fine. Let’s talk about it. The more detailed the better. Even if it’s something you can’t figure out, other people might get inspiration from it.”

Bai Youwei pursed her lips and appeared as if she was thinking hard.

“Well… on the way here, we met a bald man driving a pickup truck. He drove over from the road with dolls and nothing happened, so my brother and I followed him… but the people who came later all became dolls. So, I think… is there a limit on the number of people? If the number of people is small, maybe it would be safe to pass?”

After she finished speaking, she looked at the man with glasses nervously. “Is this… valuable information?”

The man with glasses’ expression grew softer. “Yes. Your findings are consistent with our recent observations. Come and sit down.”

Bai Youwei showed a relieved expression on her face and smiled gratefully at the man in glasses.

Shen Mo saw that she was deep in character, so he had to passively play a taciturn brother and he pushed the wheelchair over without a word.

People spontaneously made way to allow Bai Youwei and Shen Mo to sit with them. This also indirectly showed that the man wearing glasses was the leader of this group of people.

Shen Mo pulled out a chair and sat next to the wheelchair.

Bai Youwei raised her innocent face and asked, “If nothing will happen with a small number of people, isn’t it safer to act alone?”

“There are various restrictions. The number of people is only the most intuitive one. There must be hidden conditions. After all, the first group of people suddenly became dolls when they were alone, so this isn’t easy to determine for the time being.”

The man with glasses changed the topic and looked at the others. “Let’s continue with the question just now. The person who went out to explore the road today has not come back. What do you all think should be done now? Do you all still want to wait?”

Everyone looked at each other and no one spoke for a while.

The gaze of the man wearing glasses swept around and he said in a deep voice, “If we leave straight away, there will definitely be a risk, but the water and electricity in the service area will be cut off at any time. We can’t stay here for much longer.”

“Or…” Someone said hesitantly, “We can send a few more people out to explore the way?”

This proposal was immediately rejected. “Who will go? The few we have sent have not come back, so maybe they are already dead on the road! Who would dare to go? Will you go?”

“… But we can’t just wait to die here.”

“Maybe there is no danger on the road. Maybe they ran away first!”

“Impossible. Their luggage is still in the service area…”