Hidden moth

Chapter 109: Observe the Body, Observe Myself, and Observe Others

It was in this coffee shop that Meng Ya met Peng Xian and told him the bizarre report of "apples turning into oranges", which happened to be recorded by He Kao's left-behind mobile phone.

Meng Ya subconsciously sat in the same position today. As long as she turned her head, she could see the door. She felt as if Peng Xian would come in at any time and sit opposite her like last time.

However, it was impossible for Peng Xian to come again. Whenever someone walked into this cafe, Meng Ya would look up, with disappointment in her eyes.

But when He Kao walked in, Meng Ya had a hunch that this was the man who had asked her out! She stood up involuntarily, holding onto the table with her hands. She opened her mouth to say hello but was afraid she had made a mistake.

Instead, He Kao nodded and greeted, "Meng Ya... sit here!"

This was the first time the two met, and there was a very subtle detail. He Kao did not sit opposite Meng Ya, which was originally Peng Xian's seat, but came to the booth next to her and motioned Meng Ya to move over.

He Kao sat back to back with Peng Xian, the same seat where he had left his phone. As if traveling through time and space, Meng Ya seemed to have moved from Peng Xian's seat to He Kao's.

"Who are you? Do you really know any news about Peng Xian?" Meng Ya couldn't wait to speak before she even sat down.

He Kao said calmly, "I know you're anxious, but please don't be anxious yet. Before I talk about Peng Xian, I also need to clarify your identity. There are some things I must confirm with you."

Meng Ya: "What do you want to confirm?"

He Kao scanned the code and ordered two glasses of lemonade. The waiter quickly brought them over, said hello to him, and before leaving, he glanced at Meng Ya with interest, obviously there was some misunderstanding.

The waitress tonight is He Kao's junior sister Xiao Miao, not a junior sister from Shu Men, but a classmate who was one year younger than He Kao when he was in graduate school.

He Kao had once worked in this cafe, and later Xiao Miao also worked there to support her studies. But Miao probably wouldn't be here much longer; she had already finished her thesis and would be defending it soon.

He Kao pushed the glass of lemonade over and looked up at Meng Ya carefully.

The girl looked a little haggard, without any makeup, and had a simple ponytail. The hair on her forehead was a little messy, and there were faint bloodshot in her eyes. It was obvious that she had not had a good rest and was worried about something.

She was wearing a light blue coat, and the dark green sweater underneath looked very elastic. She was not tall and not fat, but her body proportions were a little exaggerated, which made her waist look thinner in comparison.

She looks younger than her actual age and has a little baby fat on her face.

This should be the type that Xiaopang likes! Xiaopang’s favorite two-dimensional girl, if transformed into a three-dimensional image, the real image would be similar to her... For some reason, He Kao suddenly had such an idea.

Meng Ya felt a little uneasy under He Kao's scrutinizing gaze and lowered her head. Suddenly, she heard He Kao ask, "To control the mind with intention, a disturbed mind is hard to calm. What's the next sentence?"

Meng Ya's eyes lit up, and he quickly raised his head and said, "Control your mind with your body, and harmony of qi will bring peace to your mind."

He Kao continued expressionlessly, "From behind the curtain, I hear something, but it's as if I saw it. What's the next sentence?"

Meng Ya immediately replied, "The empty room gives birth to a white body." Then, cautiously, with excitement and anticipation in his voice, he asked, "Are you the sorcerer of the Guan Shen sect? Why did you come to see me specifically?"

He Kao didn't answer. Instead of just one sentence, he continued on his own for a long time, his tone as if he was reciting something. Finally, he asked, "Can you tell me what this paragraph is about?"

Meng Ya's chest was heaving violently. He tried his best to suppress his excitement and said, "It's the technique of the Body Contemplation Technique. Peng Xian taught me the technique!"

No wonder she was so excited. She instinctively thought that this was a sorcerer from the Guanshen Sect, here to investigate and confirm her studies with Peng Xian. Those words just now were the best signal for contact.

They all match up, so we are one!

He Kao still asked expressionlessly, "How did you meet Peng Xian? How did you inherit the magic? What did Peng Xian tell you? What did he ask you to do afterwards? Please tell me the truth, otherwise I can't help you."

Meng Ya couldn't help but ask again: "Do you know where Peng Xian went? How is he now?"

He Kao: "A lot of things have happened in the Shu Sect recently, all of them are very important, and they are all related to Peng Xian in some way. But I can only tell you after I confirm your situation first."

Peng Xian once solemnly warned Meng Ya that sorcerers must act in secret and must never reveal their identities and relevant information to people outside the sect.

But He Kao's words just now had already removed this obstacle, and now it was Meng Ya's turn to gain his trust as much as possible.

Mengya took a sip of water and lowered her voice before she began to narrate. She spoke in great detail, trying to give as many details as possible, but to be honest, there wasn't much she could say.

It was at this moment that Meng Ya suddenly realized that he lacked understanding of Peng Xian, or rather, he did not understand him at all. Apart from following Peng Xian to learn magic and obeying Peng Xian's various arrangements, he had almost no other contact with him!

She described one experience in great detail, as it happened right here in the same place: her last meeting with Peng Xian. Peng Xian asked her if she knew what a hidden moth was, and then explained its origins and various mysteries.

Peng Xian also told her that she was arranged to be an operator at the alarm center in order to track down clues to Yin Mo's whereabouts... He Kao felt a little complicated when hearing these words.

But He Kao did not interrupt her and just listened quietly. He Kao's primary goal was to determine whether Meng Ya was a victim of deception or an accomplice of Peng Xian?

Therefore, he could not provide any information first, and only told the content of the body-viewing technique in order to gain Meng Ya's trust and make her willing to speak.

The best way to determine authenticity is to verify it with known circumstances, and the most important verification information is the recording that He Kao already has.

The reason for choosing this place to meet is itself a strong hint, and Meng Ya can't help but recall it.

If Meng Ya was vague, he would ask her in detail. In that case, he could judge from her answers whether she was hiding something or deliberately lying.

Meng Ya not only mentioned what happened that day, but also described it in great detail, trying to explain various issues as clearly as possible without any intention of concealing anything.

From that day on, she never saw Peng Xian again, and the only contact was via phone. Before Golden Week, Peng Xian said hello, saying he had something important to attend to, and then there was no news from him at all...

After she finished speaking, she looked at He Kao eagerly.

The street-side shop next to the cafe was a simple Western-style restaurant. Separated from He Kao and Meng Ya by a wall, Lin Qingshuang slammed the table and cursed bitterly, "Peng Xian deserves to die!"

The wild phoenix opposite was holding the edge of the table and used some magic to make it so that Lin Qingshuang's slamming of the table did not make any sound and did not attract anyone else's attention.

Wild Phoenix: "He certainly deserved death, but the fact that he was courting death is another matter. As for this incident alone, disguising himself as a practitioner of the Body-Viewing Sect and tricking a young girl into learning the art isn't necessarily a cause for death. From what I can tell, this was probably an advancement ritual he devised... It's truly despicable!"

He Kao made an appointment with Meng Ya to meet today, but he did not tell anyone else but informed Lin Qingshuang, because he had no experience in how to deal with such matters. What's more, Meng Ya practiced the art of observing the body and still considered himself a "prospective disciple" of the Guanshen Sect.

But He Kao did not expect that this matter would actually alarm the elders of the clan hall, and Lin Qingshuang also called his senior brother.

The position where Ye Fenghuang was sitting was very close to He Kao. If there was no wall blocking her way, she could almost put her hand on He Kao's shoulder.

Then Ye Fenghuang asked mysteriously, "Qingshuang, I think this girl is quite pretty. Do you think that boy He Kao will be tempted by her beauty and take her back to comfort her?"

Lin Qingshuang rolled her eyes at her: "According to your logic, that's not called lust."

Ye Fenghuang immediately changed her tone and said, "Right, right, right. Then do you think he will be filled with love and help the beautiful girl?"

Lin Qingshuang: "If he had any ill intentions, he wouldn't have done this today, let alone informed me. I'm just worried that this child is still too young and too kind-hearted, and will underestimate the dangers of the world and suffer."

Wild Phoenix smiled: "He's not a child anymore, he's already an adult. Just trust him, he will definitely be able to handle it... If it really doesn't work, I'm still here!"

Lin Qingshuang: "I told you just to let you know, so you can have some peace of mind if anything happens. I didn't expect you to come in person."

Wild Phoenix shrugged and said, "Surely there is such a thing. I'm also very curious."

On the other side of the wall, He Kao looked at Meng Ya, with a hint of compassion hidden deep in his eyes, and slowly said: "You have a story, and I have a story too.

My name is He Kao, originally named Zhou Youzhi. My father's name is Zhou Du, the Zhou Du that Peng Xian mentioned to you, the hidden moth from twenty years ago..."

He Kao recounted his own experiences, starting with Wu Yanjun visiting him inexplicably, and later Qian Guran asking him to meet with Senior Lin Qingshuang... Only then did he realize what had happened around him and what kind of danger he was in.

He Kao told the truth, but there were a few things he didn't mention, such as the recording, the night he and Gao Xue'e were kidnapped, the meeting with Elder Jiang... and Huang Si and his own identity as Yin Mo.

He hadn't even told Lin Qingshuang about this, and certainly not Meng Ya. The experience he described had already been known to the higher-ups in the sect, but it was still thrilling enough.

He Kao also mentioned the orders issued by the Shumen Zongfa Hall, the announcements issued, the decisions made, and the subsequent series of investigation results, which of course clearly revealed Peng Xian's identity.

A group of disciples with ulterior motives gathered in Qiyuan, attempting to seize the Yin Moth's belongings, but ultimately lost contact. The sect's leaders deduced that they had failed in their attempt to assassinate the Yin Moth and were instead killed by it, including Peng Xian.

He Kao did not add any subjective judgment or speculation, but simply tried to present the known situation as truthfully as possible.

Peng Xian is not a sorcerer of the Guanshen Sect, but a sorcerer of the Xingshen Sect. He deceived Meng Ya from the very beginning, and it is hard to guess his purpose, but he asked Meng Ya to come to Qiyuan to be the operator of the alarm center. There is no need to say what his intention was.

Many of the things Peng Xian told Meng Ya about sorcerers, magic techniques, and schools of magic were not entirely true.

The magic formula that Peng Xian passed on to her did not contain any follow-up content, nor did it include any advancement ceremony to the second-level Zhike. Theoretically, it was almost impossible for her to continue practicing to a higher level.

The rules for the sect to guide disciples and communicate with fellow practitioners are not at all what Peng Xian said.

It seemed that Peng Xian had no intention of actually introducing her to the Shumen. Otherwise, according to the tradition of the Shumen, after she became a first-level diagnostician, she should have been introduced to a senior from the Guanshen Sect.

Although Meng Ya is naive, she is not stupid. It is hard for her to believe these facts, but she knows deep down in her heart that what He Kao said must be true!

For a moment, she didn't know what to do and actually burst into tears on the spot.

Meng Ya was crying so hard that her eyes were filled with tears. He Kao just sat opposite her and watched silently, but this startled Xiao Miao who was behind the cash register.

Xiao Miao took a pack of tissues and handed them to Meng Ya, then glared at He Kao: "What on earth have you done to offend others?"

He Kao said helplessly: "She's crying, not because of me."

Meng Ya also wiped her tears and said intermittently: "It's because of something else... It has nothing to do with him!"

"So you're here to comfort someone?" Xiao Miao's tone changed, and he looked around and said, "It's easy for people to misunderstand you like this... Well, you two can chat well, I won't disturb you."

Two tables of customers came to pay their bills and looked at He Kao curiously when they left. There were no other customers in the coffee shop, and Xiao Miao was hiding behind the cash register, swiping her phone.

At this time, another person pushed the door open and came in. Seeing He Kao, he was surprised and asked, "Xiao Kao, is this your friend... What's wrong? Do you need help?"

The person who came was Yang Lingxi, a new colleague, who seemed to have just come out of the office building after working overtime. The name "Xiao Kao" sounded a bit awkward coming from her mouth, because He Kao was older than her and they were just colleagues.

He Kao waved his hand and said, "A friend has some personal matters. Thank you, I don't need your help."

Xiao Miao also stood up and said, "Sorry, beautiful lady, it's already half past nine. We are closed."

Yang Lingxi was surprised: "Then why are they..."

Xiao Miao: "They just placed their order and haven't finished their drinks yet, but we've already collected the bill." As she spoke, she deftly turned off the other lights in the store, leaving only the light above He Kao's seat.

This was a way of getting rid of people, so Yang Lingxi had no choice but to leave the cafe. Xiao Miao then packed up her things and said, "He Kao, I'm leaving get off work first. Please close the door when you leave."

Xiao Miao actually left as well, and even hung a closing sign behind the glass door, leaving the entire dimly lit coffee shop to He Kao and Meng Ya.

After being interrupted, Meng Ya stopped crying. With red eyes, she asked in confusion, "Why are you asked to close the shop when the clerk has already left?"

He Kao: "I used to work in this store, I know everyone here, and I know how to close it... Let's not talk about that anymore. I want to ask you, what are your plans for the future?"

Hearing this, Meng Ya wanted to cry again, but she was still sober. With tears in her eyes, she finally asked the most crucial question: "How can I know that what you said is true?"

**
(End of this chapter)