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Chapter 1 - 1: 1 The Tortoise and the Hare

Those walking on the street, eating in restaurants, or half-dressed in changing rooms; the unfortunate ones’ movement paused in the moment of transition, their smiles frozen on their faces, as they all became motionless human-shaped dolls.

Without warning, without identifiable cause.

People were perplexed, terrified, driven to madness, and filled with despair.

They marched in protests challenging the suspected terror attacks of mysterious organizations, spread rumors of extraterrestrial invasions on the internet, and some even evacuated to the countryside… They did everything they could but still, the people around them kept turning into dolls one after another.

Gradually, people became numb.

Those who should go to school, went to school. Those who should work, went to work. Life continued as usual.

But there was a new segment on the daily news broadcast-

After reading the news, the television newscaster would announce in a standard tone: “If you notice someone around you has turned into a doll, please call the emergency hotline at 123, the relevant departments will handle this promptly…”

“Handling” meant sending the dolls off to research institutions.

If the scientists found something significant, that was good. If they didn’t, the relatives would be notified to claim the dolls, whether to bury or place them in their homes was up to them.

Bai Youwei watched the news for a while, then noticing the time, she took the remote and turned off the television. She then pressed a button on her wheelchair and headed towards the dining room.

She had a disability in both legs, her parents divorced in her early childhood and they both started new families. Perhaps due to guilt, they never held back on expenses for Bai Youwei. They let her live in the most luxurious villas and hired expensive caretakers, but they never seemed to have time to spend with their daughter.

But Bai Youwei didn’t mind it.

She was long accustomed to being alone.

The dining room clock ticked on, with the minute hand pointing to 12:10. Bai Youwei ate lunch precisely at noon every day, never late, but now, there was no food on the table.

With silence all around, the ticking of the clock emphasized the tranquility of the luxurious villa.

Bai Youwei waited for a bit, then noticed the smell of burnt food coming from the kitchen.

She adjusted her direction and rolled over in her wheelchair. The caretaker was standing with her back towards her, frozen beside the gas stove, with her hand still holding the pose of stirring food, but she didn’t move.

The caretaker had become a doll, just now.

Her face was the same, but the material had wholly changed, from fresh flesh and blood to plastic skin, glass eyes, synthetic hair….

The previous caretaker had fled back to her hometown, and this one had only been here for two days. Bai Youwei hadn’t even memorized her name yet. Now, the woman had become like this.

She gazed at the sight for a moment, then rolled her wheelchair over, turned off the stove, and as advised on the news, dialed the emergency hotline 123.

The line was busy.

Bai Youwei thought for a moment, then decided to call her mother. Since the caretaker was hired by her mother, she should be able to contact the caretaker’s family.

Once the call connected, she was surrounded by the sounds of conversations, laughter and music… all accentuating her solitude.

A real nuisance.

She explained the situation briefly and then hung up the phone.

The house was silent, as was outside. The scorching sun was baking the earth. The pond in the garden reflected the glittering light. A hibiscus drooped its purple petals under the intense sunshine. Everything seemed normal, but Bai Youwei knew that the world had already become abnormal.

…

At two in the afternoon, the sound of a car engine echoed outside the villa.

Through the window, Bai Youwei saw a tall man ringing the doorbell.

After a moment of thought, she went to the kitchen to get a folding fruit knife, and then wheeled towards the door.

Through the iron gate, she could see the man standing tall, with a stern look on his face, and a pair of deep and quiet eyes under his thick eyebrows.

He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t recall where she had seen him before.

“Are you Weiwei?” His voice hesitated slightly, bearing the unfamiliarity of their first meeting. “I’m Shen Mo, your mother heard about what happened here and asked me to pick you up.”

Bai Youwei was startled.

Shen Mo? No wonder he seemed familiar, he was Uncle Shen’s son. He looked a bit like his uncle.

To clarify, Uncle Shen is her mother’s good friend, as well as her business partner. In Bai Youwei’s opinion, “fall-back option” would be a more appropriate description of Uncle Shen’s role.

After a moment of silence, Bai Youwei put her fruit knife back in her pocket and opened the door-

Shen Mo looked at the girl in front of him.

With pale skin and soft long hair, her light blue dress covered her from neck to feet. Just like her name indicates – Bai (white), You (young), Wei (tiny) – one can’t help but associate her with words like pale, young, delicate, weak, and so on.

She looked very well-behaved, not at all difficult to get along with, contrary to what her Aunt Wang had described.

“Pack your things. I’ll drive you to Yangzhou,” said Shen Mo concisely.

Bai Youwei shook her head, “I’m not going.”

Shen Mo was surprised and raised his eyebrows, “It’s unsafe in the city now. Those who could have already evacuated, if you stay here with nobody to take care of you, you’ll die.”

Bai Youwei lowered her head to look at the exquisite pattern on her dress, “I’m not going. No matter where I go, with my condition, I’ll die.”

Shen Mo had not expected such obstinance.

He wasn’t good at persuading people and even worse at cajoling children. Without a word, he walked into the house asking, “Which room is yours?”

Watching Shen Mo, Bai Youwei asked suspiciously, “What are you trying to do?”

Ignoring her, Shen Mo went into the house. After walking around, he found her bedroom with certainty and started to pack her clothes and necessities.

The girl followed him, her expression somewhat forlorn.

After packing the clothes, Shen Mo stood in the room, looking around and asked, “Where’s the medicine?”

Bai Youwei permanently resided in a wheelchair, and medicine was a necessity.

She stayed silent.

He didn’t bother asking again.

Soon, the room was all in disorder.

Sitting in her wheelchair, Bai Youwei watched him rummaging through her things, gripping her hands tightly. With a low voice, she said, “Do you… do you think you’re amazing and noble for saving a poor, helpless girl?… Have you ever thought about the consequences of taking me away forcefully?… Once we reach Yangzhou, how am I, a physically-disabled woman, going to survive? You know, I need help even to eat and go to the bathroom. I have to wear adult diapers for long journeys. You…,”

She took a deep breath, “You don’t understand anything! I’m not going with you!”

At the end of her words, her voice was hoarse, bearing suppressed sobbing.

Shen Mo looked at her, stayed silent for a moment, and then he lowered his voice, “You’re right. I don’t understand. But at least there’s one thing I understand – if you stay here, you’ll die faster. If you leave, there might be hope.”

Hope?

A chill ran through Bai Youwei’s heart.

Even her own parents no longer wished to see her. She was living life like a zombie, without the intention of continuing, even if the world remained normal.

She was a hopeless wreck!

Shen Mo approached Bai Youwei, his dark eyes heavy with intensity, speaking in a calm and steadfast voice, “Don’t worry, I will safely get you to Yangzhou.”

Bai Youwei bit her lip.

She had no choice.

Shen Mo pushed Bai Youwei out of the villa, towards an off-road vehicle parked by the road side.

He lifted her from her wheelchair. She was lighter than he could ever imagine, frail but not making his arms uncomfortable. The girl in his hold was soft and weak.

Her face against his chest, a faint fragrance intertwined with a scent of dairy-infused rose, along with a whiff of medicine. It formed a peculiar aroma, inducing a feeling he couldn’t quite describe.

Looking at her tense face, he softened a little, reassuring her again, “I’ll drive faster. We will get there in an hour and a half. There is someone at the other end to take care of you. Don’t worry.”

Apparently bearing a grudge against him for his coercion, Bai Youwei turned her face away, refusing to respond.

Shen Mo gave a faint smile, closed the car door, and sat in the driver’s seat to start the car—

But it didn’t take him long to realize he had miscalculated.

The situation was more serious than he had imagined. Dolls had appeared on almost every road. While the reason for people turning into dolls was unknown, it was common knowledge that areas with a high density of dolls were dangerous, and everyone tried to avoid such roads.

Shen Mo began detouring. After more than an hour, he finally arrived at the motorway entrance.

But even the motorway wasn’t peaceful.

As far as the eye could see, there were cars, about sixty or seventy of them, haphazardly stopped right in the middle of the road. Some of the cars were crashed, with no sign of the passengers’ survival.

At the end of the line, there were many people like them who had just reached the motorway. These people stood outside their vehicles, craning their necks to get a better view, hesitant about whether to move forward.

Shen Mo got out of the car to ask about the situation.

Bai Youwei was leaning against the car window, listening to people’s conversations:

“What should we do? Should we still go?”

“Go? There are dolls all over the front, how can we pass?”

“If we don’t go, do you want to wait here to die? The nearest city, only Yangzhou and Taizhou don’t have anyone turned into dolls!”

“What about other roads, are there dolls on other roads?”

“If this continues, we are all going to be trapped here and die…”

“Honey, what should we do?” A woman with long hair was sobbing, “It must be the end of the world… we’re all going to die…”

Her husband seemed to have no ideas as well, smoking anxiously, without uttering a word of comfort.

After listening for a while, Bai Youwei lost interest, closed the car window, and enjoyed her own tranquility.

Shen Mo got back into the car. Bai Youwei asked him, “Will we turn into dolls if we pass this road?”

Shen Mo pondered, “Let’s see the situation first. If it doesn’t work, we will find another road.”

Bai Youwei didn’t have much trust in him, and muttered under her breath, “There are dolls on other roads too.”

At that moment, there was commotion up ahead.

Everyone was surprised. Looking up, they saw a blue pickup truck slowly moving forward, apparently testing the waters. Several other cars saw this and followed cautiously, maintaining a safe distance.

It seemed some people were getting impatient.

After all, there was no safe place in the city. Almost every road was filled with dolls, and to leave the city would require risks.

The driver of the blue pickup truck was a bald strong man. He steered the car carefully past several vehicles filled with dolls. Seeing no abnormality, he unconsciously sped up.

Once he reached the open area that was safe, he leaned out of the car, waving to the people behind him: “This road is passable!”

The atmosphere was uplifted by his words and the cars behind started moving forward.

Some people laughed and made casual conversation with the bald man, “Buddy, we owe you big time this round!”

The others also relaxed, their faces lit up with smiles.

“Seems like there’s nothing to worry about.” Shen Mo started the car, following the convoy.

Bai Youwei responded indifferently with an “Oh.”

…

On the motorway, the cars advanced at a snail’s pace, each person was exceedingly careful and cautious.

Bai Youwei quietly leaned against the car window.

As the car moved ahead, she saw one human-like doll after another. They stood like window-display mannequins from a clothing store, their eyes hollow, their poses rigid…

Turning her head, she saw two dolls in a red car opposite them. The male doll was driving, and next to him sat a female doll. The woman’s stomach was noticeably bulging, obviously she was pregnant.

Bai Youwei couldn’t help thinking: Had the child in her belly also turned into a tiny doll? Was it also made of plastic skin, glass eyeballs, and fiber hair? What exactly had they experienced at the moment they turned into dolls? Was it possible that their bodies could not move, but their consciousness was still clear?

This thought sent shivers down her spine.

She withdrew her gaze and stopped looking.

“Ding! Welcome to the Doll Game! The theme for the game is ‘Tortoise and the Hare’. The rules are as follows:

First, those who refuse to participate in the game will turn into dolls.

Second, those who lose in the game will turn into dolls.

Third, those who successfully complete the game will be rewarded with a doll! …”

A strange voice resounded by her ear. Its tone was beautiful enough to be divine. For a moment, Bai Youwei was stunned.

“Hey, did you hear…” she was about to ask Shen Mo in front of her. But her vision blurred, and in the next instant, under the clear blue sky was a vast stretch of green grassland.

What was happening ?!

Bai Youwei was dumbfounded by the scene in front of her.

Just a second ago, she was sitting in Shen Mo’s car. The next moment, she was sitting on the green lawn.

And so were their fellow companions! Everyone, with a look of astonishment, was staring at the racetrack outside the lawn. On the track hung a banner with four exaggerated characters that were hard to miss—

Tortoise, Hare, Race, Run!