Today, I Have Yet to Become a Doll

Chapter 19 – Exploration Team

Everyone was speaking over each other, almost escalating it into a fight.

Bai Youwei secretly observed the bespectacled man and saw his look of distaste and contempt.This person probably had no choice but to count on these vulgar and selfish humans to survive.

Bai Youwei tilted her face to the side to give Shen Mo a glance. It was as if she’s saying, I told you so, this group of people is unreliable.

Shen Mo smiled faintly, not making any comments.

The so-called meeting to discuss solutions gradually lost its meaning.  It was originally a discussion but then they started blaming each other. If it weren’t for the bespectacled man who stepped up to moderate the situation, perhaps they would really start to fight.

At this instant, the room plunged into darkness!

The timid ones screamed first.

After that someone scolded, “Why are you screaming?! It’s just that the circuit breaker tripped, don’t scare yourself!”

Few moments later, when their eyes had adapted to the darkness, everyone left the restaurant in a rush. The bespectacled man asked two people to go check the circuit breaker together.

Without electricity, everyone could only wait outside aimlessly.

Bai Youwei raised her head and looked at the moon and stars in the sky. The boundless sky enveloped the earth, silent and vast, it made the humans beneath the dim light of night look especially small.

The night seemed to hold mysterious powers. It always caused one’s heart to palpitate after staring into it for long.

The crowd was restless.

The bespectacled man, who just returned, informed everyone that there was no problem with the circuit breaker, instead, it was a power outage throughout the rest area. Perhaps after a while, there would be a water outage too.

The atmosphere instantly became gloomy and depressing.

Bai Youwei felt that these people were really hopeless. Other than the bespectacled man, all of them were like sheep mindlessly following the herd without any thoughts of their own. 

“I say…” an old man in the crowd spoke hesitantly, “how about we all find a way to leave?”

The person next to him replied, “Teacher Cheng1, have we not been thinking of ways to leave since the start? What you just said is meaningless.”

The old man called Teacher Cheng was about 60 years old. His hair at both temples were gray. His skinny body donned an old-fashioned linen shirt and his back was slightly hunched. He seemed extremely unremarkable.

After being satirized, his old face flushed as he stammered, “What I mean was…don’t drive, and j-just walk there. Isn’t the reason we are trapped here because the road is congested and the car can’t get through?”

The old man stretched out his hand and gestured. “We can set off in groups of two every 10 minutes. This way we can reduce the risks of turning into dolls to a greater extent…”

“Teacher Cheng, don’t try to be smart, how can we walk without taking the car? We have so many people, especially with our families tagging along. Moreover, we have lots of luggage. You want us to walk to Yangzhou with just two legs?

“Yeah, that only works in theory.”

Everyone continued complaining louder and louder, as if they wanted to take out their resentment regarding the power outage on the old man.

The bespectacled man maintained his silence in the crowd. He chose to ignore the old man’s gaze that was asking him for help. He probably thought the old man’s words were reasonable but why should he help shoulder others anger at a time like this?

The pressure of survival had been accumulated for too long. Someone needed to be the target for the group to vent it out. 

Bai Youwei did not want to get involved, so she wordlessly mouthed to Shen Mo, “Let’s go.”

Shen Mo stood still.

She pulled him again lightly but he took two steps forward and said to the grumbling crowd, “Everyone calm down…”

Bai Youwei immediately wanted to roll her eyes!

Everyone looked at him.

She and Shen Mo became the focus of attention at once. It felt like being stared at by a bunch of hungry ghosts, and it was extremely scary.

However, Shen Mo didn’t even move a single eyebrow.

He simply stated calmly, “There seems to be a car coming.”

Everyone kept silent.

Now that the chattering noise had stopped, all the sounds in the air became particularly distinct.

A faint roar approached from afar. At first it sounded like the wind, but when it got closer, the squeaking of the tires rolling over the road was clear and distinct.

Finally, a truck pulled into the rest area in the dark, it’s bright headlights shone directly on everyone.

Brake.

It stopped steadily.

A couple of robust youths jumped down from the car. One of them whistled and asked, “Hey, what’s going on? What are you guys doing standing outside here?”

Footnotes