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

The knight raised his sword, its tip flashing a cold light in the dim light.

Without a shred of pity, it plunged straight down from above.

Just as the sword tip was about to touch the dark figure, the figure vanished into thin air and dissipated into a cloud of black mist.

Xiao Yao was taken aback.

Ran?

"Over there!" Shen Jie and Yu Luying shouted in unison.

Xiao Yao looked up and followed the direction the two girls were pointing, then spurred his horse to give chase.

The horse, Nuxing, had barely taken a few steps when it was blocked by two tripping posts at the corner of the narrow alley.

It's called a tripwire, but these days it's obviously used to stop vehicles from entering. I never expected it to actually trip my horse up today.

If the tripping stakes had spirits, they would surely be pleased with this.

Xiao Yao pulled on the reins and shouted, and the steed, unusually, lifted all four hooves off the ground, leaping high into the air and neighing.

Then Xiao Yao accidentally knocked over a bamboo pole that an old woman had hung out to dry, and the unfortunate quilt ended up wrapped around his helmet.

By the time he angrily ripped the blanket off and threw it on the ground with Yu Luying's help, the shadowy figure and Shen Jie had already run far away.

"Let's go." Xiao Yao leaped off his horse, magically retracted the old horse, grabbed Yu Luying's hand, and ran.

After running about 6 or 700 meters, the two turned into a relatively quiet side street, where they saw Shen Jie standing at the intersection, looking up at the high-hanging car crash mirror.

"Little Apple, lift me up," Xiao Yao immediately instructed, "Shen Jie, come and help too."

“Don’t pursue a cornered enemy,” Yu Luying objected, “My sister is injured.”

Xiao Yao was shocked to see a patch of bright red on Shen Jie's neck and a small tear in the sleeve of her school uniform from which blood was seeping out.

"Get him to the hospital quickly!" Xiao Yao's armor became transparent and gradually disappeared, revealing his original school uniform.

Xiao Yao and Yu Luying took Shen Jie to the hospital. Fortunately, it was all superficial wounds. The doctor gave her a tetanus shot and did some simple bandaging, and she was fine.

However, since these wounds were knife wounds, the doctor was tempted to call the police, and the three children had to persuade him to give up the idea.

Yu Bo arrived late, after things had been mostly settled.

He was wearing a black suit underneath a light-colored long trench coat, and he walked with a confident stride.

He's handsome, but...

The cold air just blew in today and the temperature dropped, why are you already wearing so many clothes?

A gray tabby cat peeked out of Shen Jie's schoolbag, rummaging through the opening, its round eyes wide open, turning its chubby head as it curiously surveyed the hospital's surroundings.

While Xiao Yao and Yu Luying were waiting for a taxi, the mischievous cat suddenly appeared again and started tugging at Shen Jie's leg.

Having narrowly escaped death, Shen Jie, still shaken, pretended to be calm as she teased her new cat.

"Dede dede dede... Mimi... Meow~~~" Shen Jie teased the tabby cat's chin with her right index finger: "Yu~~~~hohohoho..."

That blissful expression, that silly grin—Xiao Yao thought he looked just like Forrest Gump.

While Yu Bo was talking to Yu Luying, Xiao Yao was chatting with Shen Jie.

"Where did you find this cat? It looks so familiar to me," Xiao Yao said.

“It’s at school,” Shen Jie said matter-of-factly. “At noon, when we were on the rooftop, she even came over to ask me for food.”

Xiao Yao sighed, "Isn't that a stray cat from school? You brought it home on the second day of school?"

"So what?" Shen Jie looked at the cat with loving and doting eyes: "You said it was a stray cat, so I figured nobody wanted it."

“Using public vehicles for private purposes, huh?” Xiao Yao said. “Locking up shared bikes, huh?”

"What does 'shared bikes' mean?" Shen Jie looked up and asked Xiao Yao.

“Shared bikes are…” Xiao Yao said, “I don’t know either. I’ve heard Tianyun mention them a few times, but that’s the gist of it.”

“I don’t care,” Shen Jie continued petting the cat, “I just love it—it bravely jumped out to save me today, right, Mimi?”

Xiao Yao was a little reluctant to tell Shen Jie that her grandmother disliked small animals.

"Alright," Xiao Yao said, "What name do you want to give it?"

“I never thought about it,” Shen Jiehu stroked the cat’s belly, then looked up again, revealing clear and innocent eyes: “Daddy will come and get it.”

Upon hearing the word "Dad," Yu Bo and Yu Luying both turned to look at them.

Xiao Yao: "? What father? Don't talk nonsense."

"Hurry up, give the cat a name," Shen Jie urged.

“Then let’s call it Dog…” Xiao Yao originally wanted to say “Dog Meat”, but then he remembered that Yu Luying was right next to him, so he decided not to cause trouble for no reason and said, “Let’s call it Dog, just one word.”

“I don’t know if it’s a dog or not,” Shen Jie said, dissatisfied, “but you really are a dog.”

"Meow~" said the Chinese domestic cat.

"Mimi, what did you say?" Shen Jie reached out to tug at its whiskers. "You like this name?"

"Meow~" said the Chinese domestic cat.

“Okay, then you’ll be called Dog from now on,” Shen Jie said.

Yu Luying: "?"

Yu Bo then turned around and asked, "Are you two sure that neither of you entered the mirror or the shadow time at that time?"

Shen Jie carefully recalled and reviewed the entire incident, and then told it to Yu Bo, Xiao Yao, and Yu Luying.

“I noticed it too, it doesn’t look like a shadowy time at all,” Xiao Yao told Yu Bo. “Yu Luying and I were searching along the way home from school when we heard the sound, so we rushed over. You’re saying there’s a huge, invisible open-air mirror there? That’s impossible no matter how you look at it.”

"You mean that person is Zhang Zhengkai?" Yu Bo pondered.

“I’m not 100% sure,” Xiao Yao told Yu Bo, “but I’m pretty sure that the person I met today was the same person I saw on the day we won the World Cup—oh, the Asian Cup, wasn’t Shen Jie and I watching the game at the bar that day? I’m almost certain it was that dark figure peeping at us from behind the back door. My first thought that day was also Zhang Zhengkai, because the face that was peeping at the back door looked like him.”

“My first thought today was Zhang Zhengkai,” Shen Jie added. “But after he spoke to me and followed me later, I knew that he wasn’t—even if he was Zhang Zhengkai, he wasn’t the Zhang Zhengkai we usually know.”

“I’m not familiar with Zhang Zhengkai, so I won’t comment,” Yu Luying said.

“I was puzzled that day. If it was Zhang Zhengkai, how could he run so fast? How could he have such good physical fitness? How could I not catch up with him?” Xiao Yao continued, “Now I am almost certain that it was a shadow, a shadow made up of obsession and pure malice.”

“This is the assumption I’ve never dared to make,” Yu Bo said. “Think about it, what does it mean that a shadow can come into the real world, exist for so long, and even fight?”

“It’s not just him who can fight,” Shen Jie reminded Yu Bo. “In that place, all three of us can use the fortress’s abilities.”

“Your teacher Yao mentioned it to me before,” Yu Bo said. “He recalled that his shadow had briefly appeared in the prime material plane, but only for a short period of 7 or 8 minutes.”

The three boys fell into a collective silence.

“That alley, Brother Bo, do you remember it?” Xiao Yao seemed to suddenly remember something: “I once fought with Airplane Head and the others there and rescued Zhang Zhengkai. You came here later too—it should be that alley, right?”

“Of course I remember,” Yu Bo said in a deep voice, “The first time I met Xu Wuchen and his group—and Zhang Zhengkai—was there.”

“Zhang Zhengkai’s shadow,” Yu Luying guessed, “transformed that place, the space around him, into a superposition of reality and the shadow world…the intersection?”

"Hmm...a very interesting hypothesis," Yu Bo commented.

The four of them discussed for a while longer, but without any major progress, Yu Bo said he had to go back and report to Karl Schderin, instructing him to contact him anytime if needed, and then drove back by himself.

Hmm? Yu Luying doesn't seem to intend to go back with Yu Bo?

"Go home, what are you standing there for?" Yu Luying said coldly to Xiao Yao and Shen Jie. "Do you still need to stay in the hospital for observation?"

"Go back to which home?" Xiao Yao asked eagerly.

“Go back to your grandma’s house, which other house can you go back to?” Yu Luying said expressionlessly.

Chapter 355 Castrate him!

2023-10-20

On her way home, Shen Jie was very careful with her cat.

She held her schoolbag in both hands, cradling it against her chest, while the cat sat inside, its fluffy little paws pawing at the opening of the bag, meowing as it poked its chubby little head out, curiously looking around.

This is a Chinese domestic cat with a slightly grayish hue. Judging from its size, it should be an adult cat, yet it's as lively and active as a kitten that's never seen the world before. Its eyes have a golden tinge, shimmering with a warm light in the dim sunset. Its fur is soft and smooth, and feels wonderful to the touch.

The dog extended one of its little paws and politely, yet firmly, pushed Xiao Yao's hand away, reminding him to maintain social distancing.

"They can tell you're up to no good," Shen Jie chuckled, her relaxed demeanor making it impossible to believe she had just narrowly escaped death.

"What are you saying?" Xiao Yao said displeasedly, "I'm your father."

As he spoke, he patted the cat's head.

The "dog" put up a fierce fight and even hissed at Xiao Yao.

"Oh, oh, that kitten is so fierce! I'm going to go back and tell Grandma to kick you out," Xiao Yao threatened the "dog."

"You dare?" Shen Jie said with a smile.

The dog gently shook its two small ears, looking completely unconcerned. Its cat ears were small and delicate, with the tips slightly upturned, making it look very cute.

Xiao Yao wasn't really concerned about the kitten; he was more concerned about the mother cat.

He walked side by side with Shen Jie, stealing glances at her warm and happy expression.

This was the first time Xiao Yao had seen his cat mother show such an expression since she ran away from home for the second time.