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

"What do you mean? What are you trying to say?" Yu Bo sat behind his desk, his fingers interlaced.

"I think, is it possible that it could be Zhang Zhengkai..." Xiao Yao hesitated for a moment before suggesting.

“Zhang Zhengkai doesn’t have a hall,” Yu Bo reminded Xiao Yao.

"Are you going to ignore such an obvious fact?" Xiao Yao was getting anxious. "Regardless of whether it's Zhang Zhengkai or not, this matter is clearly related to Shen Jie."

"I have received the clues you provided," Yu Bo replied expressionlessly. "We will consider them carefully."

"You better not be using diplomatic language!" Xiao Yao said angrily. "And those four people already lying in the hospital, if I were you—"

Yu Bo wearily reached up and touched his forehead: "We already sent people to investigate."

"It's been investigated, so what's the conclusion?" Xiao Yao asked.

Yu Bo hesitated for a moment, wanting to speak but stopping himself, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

Xiao Yao glared at him.

“They seem to be trapped in their own world,” Yu Bo finally said. “The reason for this phenomenon is still unclear. Without figuring it out, there’s no way to rescue them safely… I will definitely report the intelligence and analysis you provided truthfully. I assure you, this is not just diplomatic rhetoric.”

"That's good," Xiao Yao said.

“But there’s something I’m really wondering about right now,” Yu Bo said, staring intently at Xiao Yao, his gaze making Xiao Yao feel a little uneasy.

"What?" Xiao Yao was taken aback.

"Why do all these shadowy events—almost all of them, the majority of them—revolve around Xiao Shen, around you?" Yu Bo asked, enunciating each word clearly.

"What do you mean by that?" Xiao Yao shouted.

"Yes, Uncle, what do you mean by that?"

"It doesn't mean anything, it just came to mind suddenly and unintentionally," Yu Bo said, waving his hand.

"What you're saying about being trapped in your own world, isn't that a bit like when I was trapped in Teacher Yao's school's parent-child education center?" Yu Luying suddenly remembered something.

“I have never been to Mr. Yao’s spiritual world,” Yu Bo said, spreading his hands. “You should ask yourself that question, as well as Xiao Xiao and Xiao Shen.”

“If that’s the case,” Xiao Yao asked Yu Bo, “how can we prevent ourselves from falling into this kind of narcolepsy-like autistic state? And if we’re trapped in our own world, how can we get out of it?”

“I can’t answer the first question for now, but in theory, people with such strong mental fortresses as you are unlikely to fall for it. Well, at least you have much stronger resistance than the average person.” Yu Bo thought for a moment and replied, “As for the second question… if I were to make my own understanding or conjecture, the reason why people often can’t step out of their own world is not because they can’t, but because they don’t want to.”

“Uncle,” Yu Luying complained, “What time is it? You’re still spouting riddles in a cryptic way.”

“My dear niece, I’ve said too much, I’ve gone too far.” Yu Bo told Yu Luying, “You just need to know that the organization is studying and following up on this matter. We’ve made some progress, but not quite. Just know that.”

Xiao Yao & Yu Luying: "..."

The two teenagers looked at each other in bewilderment.

“But since you mentioned your experience of being trapped in Mr. Yao’s hall…” Yu Bo further suggested, “why not ask him himself?”

“One last thing,” Xiao Yao stood up, “before I leave, I would like to ask the priest one last question. If it is inconvenient for you to answer, you don’t have to.”

“Ask,” Yu Bo said.

Yu Luying sat up and looked up at Xiao Yao.

"You...we really planted a miniature remote-controlled bomb inside Zhao Xiaomei's body?"

After finishing their conversation with Yu Bo, Xiao Yao and Yu Luying declined the priest's invitation to stay for dinner and instead took Yu Luying back to school to pick up Shen Jie.

"Damn it," Yu Luying suddenly stopped and said, "We were so busy chatting that we didn't even take a shower."

Just as the girl was debating whether to go back to take a shower, Zhao Xiaomei happened to walk out of the school's side gate.

He still had that same old-fashioned hairstyle and outfit, carrying a backpack, walking slowly, his eyes fixed on the tips of his shoes, as if he were looking for money that had fallen on the ground.

"Little Plum," Xiao Yao greeted her casually.

Yu Luying glanced at him.

Zhao Xiaomei was slightly startled: "Ah! Oh, it's you guys," she patted her chest gently: "Xiao Yao, Yu Luying, hello, what a coincidence."

"What a coincidence," Xiao Yao said, feigning a lighthearted tone. "Why are you leaving so late? Were you waiting for me?"

Yu Luying: "?"

"No, no..." Zhao Xiaomei said cautiously, "I'm just on duty today..."

"Mm," Xiao Yao said.

"You...you guys, just came out of the church?" After a few seconds of silence, Zhao Xiaomei asked again.

"You saw us?" Yu Luying asked, somewhat puzzled.

"No, no, I didn't see you just now, but I saw you go in and come out earlier..." Zhao Xiaomei tightened her backpack strap: "You two... are religious?"

“Hmm,” Xiao Yao said, “I can tell you’re usually pretty down. If you’re free on Sunday, you can come with us and relax.”

Yu Luying glanced at Xiao Yao again.

“Okay, okay,” Zhao Xiaomei blurted out subconsciously, then looked hesitant and cautiously asked again, “But I’m a Buddhist, is that alright?”

"What?" Xiao Yao and Yu Luying said.

“To be precise, my family are Buddhists,” Zhao Xiaomei said with a somewhat somber expression. “My parents were very devout lay Buddhists when they were alive.”

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Xiao Yao's mind: "Do you know any high-level mages?"

"A mage?" The sudden change of topic left Zhao Xiaomei and Yu Luying somewhat confused.

"Those like Master Yideng, Master Yixiu, Master Xuanzang, and Master Shihui."

Zhao Xiaomei still looked at Xiao Yao with confusion: "I know all these monks, but I don't recognize them."

Why are you asking her about Shi Hui? Yu Luying asked Xiao Yao secretly.

She knew the name "Shi Hui," but how could Shi Hui compare in fame to the previous three? Zhao Xiaomei must have subconsciously known Shi Hui, recognized him, but had forgotten now. Moreover, Zhang Zhengkai had mentioned to me that he had also received spiritual guidance from Master Shi Hui, Xiao Yao thought.

"So you mean...?" Yu Luying wondered.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll head back now," Zhao Xiaomei asked timidly.

“Okay,” Xiao Yao thought for a moment and then said, “Do you have anything to do later?”

"Nothing? Nothing at all," Zhao Xiaomei said.

“Well, why don’t you wait here for us? We’ll just go in for a bit and be right back,” Xiao Yao said. “Let’s grab a bite to eat together or something. I have something to ask you.”

"Ah, okay, okay..."

What are you doing? Now you flirt with girls so recklessly, saying whatever comes to mind, without even trying to hide it from me, huh? Yu Luying thought, weren't we going to visit Teacher Yao and the others?

Where's your emotional intelligence? Xiao Yao thought, there's no reason to make an appointment on the same day, the earliest you can make an appointment is tomorrow.

Okay, so now it's your turn to talk to me about emotional intelligence, right? Yu Luying thought.

"Otherwise what?" Xiao Yao thought. "What, you're not convinced?"

The two children entered the school and, as usual, circled around Shen Jie's classroom. When Shen Jie saw them, she packed her schoolbag and came out, walking silently ahead of them, just like before.

As Xiao Yao walked, he took out his phone and sent a text message to Kang Qianshui.

"Don't use your phone at school. How many times have I told you? Do you only feel happy when it's confiscated?" Yu Luying thought.

"It's already after school, look around, how many people are still on the road?" Xiao Yao thought.

"Huh? Where is she?" Xiao Yao and Yu Luying walked out of the school gate side by side again, but they didn't see Zhao Xiaomei anywhere.

"Did you go buy drinks?" Yu Luying peeked around from three sides.

"We weren't inside for long, were we? Did we go home?" Xiao Yao complained. "You promised to wait for us, why didn't you keep your promise?"

"Alright, that's enough," Yu Luying said. "Let's go home. Shen Jie is already far away."

Just then, Xiao Yao faintly heard a scream.

"Did you hear anything?" Xiao Yao asked Yu Luying.

"No, what is it?" Yu Luying asked blankly.

The two little ones started their journey home, with Xiao Yao looking around suspiciously as they walked.

He hadn't walked 200 meters when he heard another scream—this time it was closer and clearer.

"You heard—"

“I heard you,” Yu Luying said.

The girl looked around, searching for the source of the sound with the boy.

"Help! Help—"

“This way!” Xiao Yao said.

Chapter 376

2023-11-10

The person screaming and calling for help was indeed Zhao Xiaomei.

It neither entered the mirror nor entered the shadow time, but inexplicably transformed into the shape of its own mental fortress—similar to Shen Jie's attack not long ago, but on a larger scale.

This time, the number of attackers was large, at first glance there were as many as seven or eight people, of course, no one could say for sure whether these were "people" or something else.