You're my wife, don't doubt it!

Ay, Iyaiyai

Where's my samural?

I've been searching for a man

……

“Let’s go to the middle,” Shen Jie said loudly. “Those people on the outer edge are sliding too fast and they might bump into you.”

As Shen Jie led Xiao Yao deeper into the sled, Xiao Yao explained to her in detail what had happened that day.

"What what what what?" Shen Jie became more and more confused: "Isn't the mirror supposed to lead to 30 years in the future? How could it be a... virtual world? You ran into Zhou Qi from your school at KTV? Why didn't you tell me anything?"

Before Xiao Yao could answer, his phone rang; it was Father Yu.

He had already arrived at Qian Gui and was annoyed that he couldn't find Xiao Yao, so he told him to hurry over.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to involve you..." Xiao Yao put down the phone, feeling anxious and wanting to explain to Shen Jie again, but he couldn't sort out his thoughts.

"Alright, stop talking," Shen Jie interrupted him. "It's a matter of life and death, isn't it?"

She lost interest in having fun and pulled Xiao Yao's hand back to the edge of the skating rink.

"Are you leaving so early?" Afei asked as the two were changing their shoes.

"We have something to take care of first. Could you please let everyone know?" Shen Jie took off the disposable thin socks provided by the skating rink and looked around for the trash cans.

"Got it, got it." Afei grinned maliciously, pulled something out of his pocket, and tossed it to Xiao Yao: "Be careful!"

Xiao Yao was taken aback, and subconsciously caught the small cardboard box: "What is this? Bubble gum?... PLAYBOY?"

Before he could figure out what this thing was, Shen Jie snatched it from his hand and, with a whoosh, the cardboard box shot straight at A Fei: "Die!"

"Ah!" Ah Fei, who had been hit right in the nose, let out a scream that was hard to tell whether it was genuine or just an act.

Shen Jie angrily put on her shoes and socks, then casually stuffed the disposable socks she had taken off into Xiao Yao's pocket: "Let's go!"

Not again? Xiao Yao glanced at his pocket, drew a question mark in the air with his right hand, and then was pulled away from "Shui Mu Nian Skating" by Shen Jie.

The girl led the boy away from the "small world" and walked quickly towards the karaoke bar.

Under the dazzling neon lights, the city's night begins.

Chapter 56 Divine Hiddenness

2022-12-29

Shen Jie walked lightly and quickly.

Xiao Yao hurried a few steps to catch up with her.

"By the way, what exactly is your relationship with Zhang Zhengkai?" Xiao Yao glanced at her casually.

The girl's slender waist rose and fell rhythmically with her steps.

"Aren't you supposed to be rushing to save lives? How can you be thinking about these things?" Shen Jie asked, somewhat puzzled.

"No, I was just asking." Xiao Yao waved his hand.

The girl was silent for a few seconds, then said in a light tone, "He's my... suitor, isn't he? You finally realized it? You were so close to him before."

Xiao Yao adopted a nonchalant tone, as if to say, "Oh, but isn't he a middle school student?"

“Yes,” Shen Jie said matter-of-factly.

"...Was it you who invited him to Zhou Xiaoying's birthday party?" Xiao Yao hesitated for a few seconds, but still couldn't help asking.

Shen Jie shook her head: "I came uninvited."

Xiao Yao felt slightly relieved: "You rejected me, not because of him, right?"

Shen Jie remained silent for a long time, then kicked a small pebble away.

“I found this in the private room at Qian Gui KTV last time,” Xiao Yao said, taking out Zhang Zhengkai’s GBA. “It was left behind by Zhang Zhengkai. Can you return it to him for me?”

Shen Jie frowned: "I get annoyed just looking at him. I can't even avoid him. You'll have to pay for it yourself."

Hearing her say that, Xiao Yao felt a little happier, but then he thought of his two good friends whose fates were uncertain, and his brows furrowed again.

He followed Shen Jie around a corner, and the dazzling neon sign of "Qian Gui" appeared at the end of the street.

Thinking of what "Shen Jie" had said in that "love hotel room," Xiao Yao pressed for more information:

"He really likes you, doesn't he?"

"Probably, why don't you just ask him directly?" Shen Jie stopped in her tracks, her expression somewhat displeased. "Don't you have anything else to say to me?"

"Since he likes you so much, have you never considered saying yes?" Despite the other party's clear expression of dislike, Xiao Yao did not give up.

“That’s strange,” Shen Jie said. “If someone really likes me, I have to say yes to them. How many people would I have to say yes to?”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Xiao Yao shrugged. “Let’s go, don’t just stand there.”

Shen Jie's expression suddenly changed from impatience to interest: "Wait, from what you're saying, you want me to agree to Zhang Zhengkai's request?"

"Absolutely not!" Xiao Yao exclaimed, startled. "What I meant was... Father Yu!"

The tall young man was sitting by the fountain, wearing a faded denim jacket over a white undershirt, khaki capri pants, and sneakers barefoot.

Hearing Xiao Yao's voice, he stood up and turned around with a displeased look: "Where have you been, you brat? Where did you take my Yingying? And who is this?"

Before Xiao Yao could even respond to the barrage of questions, Shen Jie politely revealed a dimple on one side: "Father Yu, hello, I am Shen Jie."

“Shen Jie is my…good friend.” Xiao Yao emphasized the word “good.”

Seeing the girl smile and bow to him, Father Yu realized his rashness and impatience, and put on a kind expression: "Hello, Xiao Shen."

"The situation is urgent, so I'll keep it brief," Xiao Yao cleared his throat.

It's said to be a long story, but it's actually not short at all.

Standing by the fountain, Xiao Yao recounted to Father Yu his entire story, starting from how he first discovered his missing classmate at KTV, to how he mentioned it to Yu Luying, how Yu Luying insisted on searching for Zhou Qi in the mirror, and finally to his long and wondrous encounter in the mirror that morning. He only omitted the details of the conversations between "Yu Luying," "Shen Jie," and the "green-eyed boy" in the hotel room.

"What? You could hear me speaking in that world?" Shen Jie's curiosity was further piqued.

Father Yu frowned and said, "You should have waited for me to come back."

“That’s what I said too, but Yu Luying…”

“Alright, kid, you’re a man,” Father Yu patted Xiao Yao’s chest lightly. “Don’t instinctively shift the blame to women when something goes wrong.”

Xiao Yao opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

“I have two questions,” Father Yu said, tapping his temple as he pondered. “When did you first realize you could see through a mirror? Was it at that classmate’s birthday party you mentioned?”

Xiao Yao and Shen Jie exchanged a glance but remained silent.

Logically speaking, lying and concealing information can interfere with the judgment of others.

But he instinctively resisted, resisting letting the Yu family know about his special relationship with his daughter and Shen Jie.

Seeing his troubled expression, Father Yu smiled tolerantly and did not press further: "Second question, why did you bring Xiao Shen along again? Don't you have enough good friends who have been dragged into trouble by you?"

Father Yu also emphasized the word "good friend".

This was a question that Xiao Yao also found difficult to answer.

Sometimes, when you don't know how to answer a question, the best approach is to throw the question back at them: "Father Yu, do you believe what I'm saying? Have you heard of this world behind the mirror before?"

Father Yu lit a cigarette for himself: "Have you ever heard of disappearing into the shadows?"

"Disappeared without a trace?" Xiao Yao said.

“Zhang Zhengkai seemed to have mentioned a Japanese animated film to me, something like ‘Kamikaze’, but I wasn’t very interested and didn’t ask for details,” Shen Jie said.

"That's right, this term is used a lot in Japan. Simply put, it means a person has gone missing without any clues, neither alive nor dead. The Japanese call this kind of disappearance 'kamikaku,' meaning the hiding of the gods. In fact, many such cases are simply criminal cases. But there are exceptions."

“In some cases, the person involved is seen moving around in their original area; in some cases, the person involved occasionally contacts their family; and in some cases, the person involved returns after a long time. They usually claim to have had a bizarre experience, while others claim that they just stayed in one place for a while.”

"Many legends of this kind have been passed down through history, such as the Peach Blossom Spring in China, the story of Wang Zhi's Rotten Axe Handle, and the famous legend of Urashima Taro in Japan. Although some of them are indeed pranks or simply myths, some people believe that our world, in addition to the material world that we can see and touch, also has a spiritual world, that is, a world of thought."

Xiao Yao interrupted Father Yu's eloquent speech: "The spiritual world? The world of rational forms?"

Father Yu shook his head: "To call it the world of Forms is to exaggerate your own merits. The world of Forms in Plato's philosophy is the origin of all things, while what you have encountered is most likely just a distorted projection of someone's subjective perception of the world."

“Cognition? It’s a bit… complicated.” Xiao Yao said with difficulty, “And who is that person?”

“How would I know?” Father Yu replied simply.

“Mirrors can reflect our appearance,” Shen Jie said thoughtfully, “but I never imagined they could also reflect the appearance of our hearts? Usually, that’s just a metaphor.”

"Is Heaven above the clouds?" Father Yu looked up at the sky. "Is Hell beneath the mantle? Only the ancients would think that. In reality, whether it's Heaven or Hell, angels or demons, the spiritual world generally doesn't intersect with or have an entrance to the material world. If such a thing happens, it's either due to God's intervention or the result of some kind of witchcraft or ritual magic."

“Witchcraft, ritual magic.” Shen Jie, who grew up receiving a materialistic education, chewed over these unfamiliar terms.

“Ritual magic, planetary magic, and natural magic correspond to Plato’s three worlds,” Father Yu casually explained. “You just need to know that this is true. The Church prohibits magic to protect ordinary people, because the more you know, the more dangerous it becomes.”

"So," Xiao Yao said excitedly, "Father Yu, you really have some knowledge of this? You know how to rescue Yu Luying and the others?"

“Frankly,” Father Yu paced back and forth a few steps, “it might go a step further than ‘somewhat interested in’ it. Is it really just a coincidence that my own niece encountered something like this?”

"Is it fate, or are they playing a grand game?" Father Yu murmured.

"them?"

A gust of evening wind blew by, and Xiao Yao suddenly shivered.