Chapter 52: The Unmanned Shopping Mall

"This is... what?" Behind him, Zhang Yunfan had just caught up and also saw this scene.

He couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

If this were a normal place, he wouldn't care about a few cartoon mannequins, but this place right now was different...

Ding Mo shook his head, signaling not to scare himself, then scanned the Shopping Mall, took out the photo of the little girl, and said:

"Shall we start searching from the first floor?"

In a nearby Residential Complex, a young girl wearing a duck-billed cap stepped with light, nimble paces, climbed over the gate, and walked into this area.

In a large warehouse, a man and woman leaning against each other scanned their surroundings.

At the same time,

Outside this city, in a tent outside the quarantine facility.

"Officer Lu Tianxu, according to the positioning system, they are already very close to the target." The communications officer turned back and said.

Amidst the report, Lu Tianxu, who was in his seat, opened his eyes.

"Then," he gave the order:

"Begin."

"Understood!" The communications officer immediately dialed a frequency:

"Hello? Transport Team, this is the temporary command post. The escort team has arrived at the designated area. How is it on your end?"

"Static..." A burst of noise came from the other side first; the signal didn't seem particularly good.

"Reporting to command post, this is Transport Team. HCSD-1531 is about to arrive. The abnormal fluctuations are still within the controllable range."

"Transport Team is ready to begin operations at any time!"

"Ding-ding-dong-dong-ding~"

"Clearance sale! Clearance sale! Don't pay three or four thousand, don't even pay one or two thousand, just 998, and you can take home luxury genuine leather!"

In the first-floor plaza of the Shopping Mall,

Amidst the faint music playing in his ears, Ding Mo grabbed a tape recorder from a leather shoe stall and examined it for a while.

The repetitive promotional voice of the "clearance sale" originated from this.

However, holding the incessantly blaring recorder in his hand, Ding Mo glanced at the empty stall and the various leather shoes neatly arranged on it,

but he still put it down without choosing to turn it off.

Beside Ding Mo, Zhang Yunfan looked toward the "children's mannequins" in the center of the plaza from time to time, his dark arm gripping the baton in his hand at all times.

"Hey, hey, hey, there's no need to be this nervous, right?" Ding Mo said with some helplessness.

This guy, he was practically looking back every three steps; was he being a bit too neurotic?

Zhang Yunfan, however, was relentless: "You don't know, my last Task was facing something similar."

"... You mean mannequins?"

"It's 'Fake Person'!"

Mentioning this, as if recalling something, a trace of terror appeared on Zhang Yunfan's face:

"They are 'things' that attempt to disguise themselves as us!"

Upon hearing this, Ding Mo couldn't help but recall his own last Task, that "Substitute Actor."

Did that guy count as a "Fake Person"?

But he quickly cast these thoughts aside and focused on what was in front of him.

If they kept dragging things out like this, how long would it take them to find her?

Zhang Yunfan clearly understood this logic as well and reluctantly reduced the frequency of checking the "children's mannequins."

The two searched as they walked past one shop after another, including barbecue restaurants, hot pot restaurants, cosmetics stores, and so on.

But without exception, in front of the dazzling array of merchandise were unmanned counters and spotless floors and walls.

And... passing by a snack supermarket, Ding Mo's gaze lingered on the "Lucky Cat" that was running automatically and waving at the two of them.

In the smiling eyes and beckoning paw of the bronze-gold Lucky Cat, a sense of eeriness couldn't help but rise in Ding Mo's heart.

He stopped in his tracks.

This city, there wasn't a single person, so where did the electricity come from? Who was maintaining the facilities?

This question was probably impossible to figure out. At this moment, Zhang Yunfan patted him on the shoulder:

"Let's go, we've only reached the second floor."

The Shopping Mall had ten floors, after all.

"No." Ding Mo shook his head instead, pointing at the snack supermarket:

"If a little child were hiding in the Shopping Mall, where do you think she would hide?"

"... You mean?" Upon hearing this, Zhang Yunfan glanced at the snack shop:

"She might be hiding in here?"

Indeed, this snack shop occupied a slightly larger space; looking at it from the outside, it was inevitable that there would be corners left unobserved or not fully checked.

And children liked snacks; this was also a line of reasoning.

Ding Mo glanced at the target photo in his hand and flipped it over. The name was written on the back:

Xiao Yu.

Although he didn't know what kind of girl this was or why she was worth such a great deal of trouble to handle, he would tentatively treat her as a normal person.

Otherwise, Ding Mo didn't know where to start either.

"Let's go." Biting the bullet and ignoring the Lucky Cat on the entrance counter that looked more eerie the longer he stared at it,

the two walked inside cautiously.

Before entering, Zhang Yunfan looked again at the "children's mannequins" on the first floor in the center of the plaza, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming they were still in their original spots.

He followed Ding Mo inside...

Ding-dong!

"Welcome to the Greedy Shop Snack Store!"

In the already very quiet shop, a mechanical female voice suddenly rang out, causing Zhang Yunfan's blood pressure to skyrocket instantly!

"Fuck!" he cursed fiercely.

Ding Mo was also slightly startled and looked toward the counter—the sound had come from there.

"Let's hurry, we'll search once and then leave."

"Mm." Zhang Yunfan nodded.

The two began to search inside the shop.

But what they didn't know was that after they left the entrance, the bronze-gold Lucky Cat facing outward,

had somehow turned around, its smiling cat face looking at the two men's backs,

and its beckoning claw had stopped waving.

... On one shelf, which was loaded with small transparent jellies, it is worth mentioning that these jelly packages were printed with large eyes, as if they were peeking at the figure in front of the shelf.

The figure was Ding Mo, and there was disappointment on his face at this moment.

This place was not very large; in just a few minutes, the two had almost turned the place upside down.

Yet they hadn't even found a shadow of a person.

Sighing, Ding Mo looked around once more, unwilling to give up, and picked up a jelly from the shelf.

This was a jelly that was milky white all over.

Looking at the eyes printed on the packaging as if they were real, Ding Mo carefully looked at another line of small text—Production Date: July 32nd, 2025.

"July thirty... second?!" Ding Mo was stunned.

He rubbed his eyes and took a closer look.

It was still July 32nd!

Today was August 1st; if the production date had been July 31st, Ding Mo wouldn't have found it strange in this city.

But what was the situation with July 32nd? Was that yesterday or today?

This date simply didn't exist!

Isn't there a single normal shop here... Ding Mo hurriedly dropped the small milky white jelly and walked toward Zhang Yunfan's direction.

Since he couldn't find anyone, it was time to leave; delay might lead to complications.

And after he walked away, on the shelf filled with jellies,

the jelly he had thrown back, the eye on its packaging,

suddenly began to rotate!

It rolled its eye, flipped its "body," and a large area of milky white "jelly" was suddenly revealed on the packaging!

As for the "pupil," after a rotation, it arrived at the transparent part of the semi-circular packaging, peeking at the direction in which Ding Mo had left.

This "milky white jelly" that Ding Mo had just picked up did not contain jelly at all! It was an eyeball!

Ding Mo, who was leaving, did not notice this at all.

"..."

"Zhang Yunfan?" Ding Mo walked over, only to find Zhang Yunfan squatting in a corner, with his back to him, head buried and motionless, not knowing what he was doing.

Seeing this, Ding Mo paused his steps, his face showing caution.

This situation reminded him of the time in the last Task when a "Substitute Actor" disguised himself as someone else to blend into the performance.

Thinking of this, Ding Mo dared not approach, only calling out from afar:

"Zhang Yunfan? Zhang Yunfan?"

There was no response. While feeling that something was wrong, Ding Mo raised his volume again:

"Zhang Yunfan!!"

Swish!

Zhang Yunfan turned his head abruptly, his eyes staring straight at Ding Mo.

Thump, thump, thump!

He stood up suddenly, rushed toward Ding Mo, and said:

"You, you look at this!"

Ding Mo had been startled and was just about to use Time Stop to give him a beating once he got close.

He didn't expect Zhang Yunfan to hand over a note?

Ding Mo sized him up for a moment, confirmed that Zhang Yunfan had just been engrossed in the note and there was nothing wrong, and only then breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked toward the note:

【Advice for those who come later:

1. Before buying snacks, confirm that the snacks are inanimate objects.

2. Do not buy snacks with a production date that does not exist, even if most of them are free.

3. You must buy snacks after entering the shop, and you must pay according to the price!

4. If you do not have money to buy snacks after entering the shop, you should not leave through the front door.

5. There is nothing to pay attention to at the counter; do not mind that side.

End

If possible, please leave this city as soon as possible, whoever sees this note; the wind direction has changed, there is nothing here that you want!】

I repeat, there is nothing here that you want!

】