The two receptionists extended their hands, smiles so perfect you couldn’t find a single flaw.
Little Frost stared at them warily.
She pulled her scooter’s handlebars back, making no move to shake hands.
“Thanks, sorry for the trouble.”
Her voice was polite, neither too close nor too distant.
The receptionist’s smile never changed.
It spoke again.
“Two big sisters bringing along two kids, that’s really tough. There’s a clinic inside, you can get treatment for injuries. It’s not expensive, just pay with stuff.”
“Let’s go in,” Peace said.
This was directed at everyone.
The two receptionists immediately stepped aside, making a ‘please’ gesture, their smiles still just as warm.
“This way, please.”
The group walked into the town entrance.
Little Frost pushed the scooter in the middle, with Mu Yingying at the rear.
Peace walked at the very front.
The moment she stepped in, White Night felt something was wrong.
There was no sound, no light, no movement at all, but she just knew the surroundings had changed.
The town inside looked just like what they had seen from the hilltop.
There were people walking on the streets, some carrying loads on shoulder poles, some sitting on doorsteps, and an old woman shelling beans under a big banyan tree with a cat crouching beside her.
But…
White Night turned to look at that cat.
The cat was also looking at her, its eyes not like a cat’s at all.
White Night looked away, her heart beating a little faster.
Peace walked ahead, neither fast nor slow.
Mu Yingying followed behind, wearing the same lazy smile as always, but White Night knew her hand never left the knife handle.
The shop signs by the street were the same as what they had seen from the mountain.
Steam seeped through the cracks in the windows of Lao Zhang Noodle House, along with the smell of stir-frying—actually pretty appetizing.
The door of Liu’s Grocery was open, with items neatly arranged on the shelves inside. Some people were choosing, some were paying.
At the entrance of Spark Store hung a list of items being bought today, densely written. White Night glanced at it and saw words like “fresh food,” “medicine,” “batteries,” and “cloth.”
Too normal.
So normal it was wrong.
White Night shrank a little deeper into the bike basket.
“Peace,” she said in a low voice, barely a whisper, “are they really all fake?”
“Yeah.”
“Those things…”
“They’re real,” Peace said lightly. “They collect them from outside. Use them to trick people into coming in.”
White Night didn’t ask anymore.
She quietly lowered her head and glanced at the compass on the front of the scooter.
The compass was a thing she carried. In the Apocalypse, when encountering strange things, the needle would move at least a bit, even if just a twitch.
But now…
The needle didn’t move at all.
If the needle didn’t move, it meant nothing was wrong on this street, absolutely no danger.
White Night stared at that needle for several seconds.
She would rather it move.
If it moved, it meant her thing could be sensed.
If it didn’t move, it meant those things were so well disguised they had fooled even her compass.
“Auntie Frost,” she said softly, “my compass isn’t reacting.”
Little Frost pushed the scooter, her eyes sweeping over the front, said nothing, just “Mm.”
Mu Yingying walked beside them, heard it, also glanced at the front, and lowered her voice, “Even the compass is fooled?”
White Night nodded.
Mu Yingying stopped talking, but her eyes scanned the streets on both sides.
The old man sitting on the doorstep by the roadside was carving a piece of wood, his knife moving unhurriedly, wood shavings falling onto his shoes. He didn’t even brush them off.
Inside Lao Zhang Noodle House, a woman in an apron leaned halfway out the window and shouted something across the street. Someone on the other side yelled back, and both sides laughed.
That laugh, White Night watched it for several seconds.
It really looked real.
That smile was very real—crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes, the mouth crooked when laughing, carrying a rare sense of relaxation in the Doomsday, like two old neighbors who had known each other for a long time.
“They’re too good at pretending,” Mu Yingying said, her voice very low. Not directed at anyone, just a sigh.
Little Frost didn’t reply.
She just gripped the scooter handles tighter.
White Night, huddled in the basket, looked at each of them one by one.
The man with the shoulder pole walked with one shoulder higher than the other, the pole creaking under the load. The movements, the steps—exactly like someone who really carried loads.
The older sister by the door fanning herself lazily, her eyes unfocused, as if daydreaming, or thinking about something.
At the alley entrance, two half-grown kids were squatting on the ground playing something, occasionally lifting their heads to say a word, then looking down again.
If Peace hadn’t said it, and if White Night hadn’t seen the compass completely still with her own eyes,
She would have thought this was just a gathering place for survivors in the Doomsday, an ordinary little town.
“Peace, with so many Weirdnesses, can you really handle them?” White Night called softly.
Peace, up ahead, turned back with a gentle smile.
“Mm, don’t worry. No need to be anxious. I’ve got everything covered.”
White Night thought about it and didn’t ask further.
The group walked a short distance down the main street. The receptionists still followed alongside, introducing what was on the left and what was on the right, their voices warm, every word perfectly delivered.
Mu Yingying turned around from the other end of the street, her knife still not sheathed.
She glanced at the courtyard, then at Peace.
“That’s all?”
“Mm.”
“Then when do we start?” Mu Yingying slid the knife back into her belt. “This whole town is fake. My hands are itching. How about we just do it now—”
“At night.”
Mu Yingying froze.
“At night?”
“Mm.”
“Not during the day?” She tilted her head. “You mean we don’t work for now? Just wander around in here?”
“Mm.”
Mu Yingying looked at Little Frost.
Little Frost also looked at Peace, her voice low. “It’s harder to act during the day?”
Peace didn’t explain, just nodded.
“Why?” Mu Yingying pressed. “Is the Sun affecting things? Or will they gather together at night, easier to take out in one go?”
Peace glanced at her.
“There are too many. Killing them all at once is very troublesome. We have to kill them slowly, or else we’ll scare these Weirdnesses away. These Fake Human Anomalies are not low in intelligence.”
“I see. Then I need to sharpen my knife. Time for a massacre.”
Mu Yingying felt an impatient eagerness.
Little Frost gently patted the bike basket.
“Let’s look for any real people trapped inside.”
Peace had already turned and walked further into the town, neither fast nor slow, her destination clear.
The group followed Peace, moving deeper along the main street.
White Night leaned in the basket, listening to the silence of the whole town.
The wind blew, the sign of Lao Zhang Noodle House swayed, steam still rose from the window cracks, the smell of stir-fry still lingered.
This scene, so full of the aura of daily life, only made White Night more alarmed.
If Peace weren’t here, they wouldn’t have seen through the Weirdness of this Spark City. They might have fallen into the trap here.
Fortunately, fortunately, now that Peace was here, it gave her a sense of security, no longer having to feel constantly anxious.
“White Night, why have you been staring at me?” White Peace asked, turning her head as if she had eyes in the back of her head.
Most of the time, her attention was mostly on White Night—it could be said that White Peace was the one constantly watching White Night.
“I was thinking that without you, Peace, we would have been in danger. It’s a good thing you’re here,” White Night replied honestly.
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