Shocking! A master of metaphysics has been mind-reading!

"Later, I was always tired during the day, and my parents were very worried. They eventually found out that I was always playing with my dolls in the middle of the night. They were very angry and said that the dolls had been disposed of and that I should stop thinking about them."

Mike paused slightly at this point, a hint of sadness creeping into his voice.

"It was very difficult to quit at first, but I gradually got used to it. I just never expected that when I went back to my parents' house to pack my things, I found it in the attic and brought it back. That would be the beginning of my nightmare."

"I regret it so much, I shouldn't have brought it back!"

"Your main problem is that a doll appears in your bed at 2 AM and watches you while you sleep, right?" Xia Wange asked seriously. "Besides that, have you experienced anything else?"

"That's all." Mike shook his head. "Master Xia, but isn't this already bad enough?"

Xia Wange scratched her head. Actually, she felt that this matter didn't need much handling. If she was mentally strong, she could overcome it completely. It was the lack of a clear direction that made it troublesome to deal with.

Upon arriving at the hotel where Mike was staying, Xia Wange did not go to the room he had arranged for her, but went directly to the site to check.

Mike pointed to the foot of his bed and said, "It's right here. I'm suffering from neurasthenia now, and I'm a very light sleeper. Every day around 2 a.m., I wake up on my own. As soon as I open my eyes, I see that doll's blue eyes staring straight at me. Although it hasn't hurt me, it's seriously affecting my sleep!"

As if triggered by the scene, Mike became increasingly distraught, his voice even choking with emotion. "I really can't take it anymore. No matter where I sleep, it appears right on time. Once it appears, I can't sleep at all. I lie awake until dawn, and only when it disappears can I finally sleep again. It's completely disrupting my life! I wish it would just disappear!"

"Even if I hide somewhere else—under the bed, in the closet, in the car, or in a bar—it will always appear where I can see it right away. It will follow me constantly even when I move! It even follows me when I fly to another country!"

"I have tried sleeping with other people, or inviting many people to wait for it to happen, but when it is time for others to arrive, they will be sleeping very soundly and cannot be woken up at all. Only I can see it, and only I am constantly suffering from this kind of mental attack."

Listening to Mike's distraught account, Xia Wange remained silent for a moment. She activated her third eye and glanced at the corner where Mike had described the doll's appearance. Indeed, as Master Li had said, there was no trace of a spirit, nor any fluctuation of energy.

Xia Wange still stuck to her initial guess: this was a very strong obsession at work, and to resolve it, the obsession needed to be broken. However, judging from Mike's condition, breaking the obsession would be extremely difficult. The doll also seemed to be completely unyielding. But she did have a method she could try.

Thinking this, Xia Wange asked Mike, "Where is the doll now?"

"My wife said it's in the closet in my country A." As he spoke, Mike showed Xia Wange a photo, which Xia Wange glanced at.

Yes, it's definitely the kind of doll style you often see in horror movies.

Xia Wange took out a talisman from her pocket and handed it to Mike, saying, "When it reappears at dawn, can you put this talisman inside its clothes?"

After saying that, Xia Wange added, "Don't stuff it inside your clothes, just stick it tightly to your body."

"Yes, yes!" Mike nodded quickly, seemingly exhausted from the ordeal. "I'll definitely do it tonight!"

Xia Wange nodded, gave a few more instructions, and then left with Lu Qiu.

Seeing that no one was around, Lu Qiu asked in a low voice, "Is just giving me a peace charm enough?"

Having spent a lot of time with Xia Wange, he could tell the purpose of regular talismans at a glance.

"It had almost no effect," Xia Wange said. "I estimate that this is the manifestation of Mike's deepest obsession from his childhood. When he encountered it again later, it was activated, which is why he acted this way. Mike thought he had grown up and gotten rid of his childhood obsession, but in fact, children's obsessions are the purest and deepest. Those thoughts did not disappear, but rather attached themselves to something else. When his parents forced him to wean off dolls, he must have been in great pain."

"At his age, it must have been as if he had experienced something of immense magnitude."

As Xia Wange spoke, she opened the door to the room. "It's like something you couldn't get when you were a child. It can become a lifelong obsession for you. Even when you're seventy or eighty years old, you'll still help your younger self buy that thing."

"Is this a tricky matter?" Lu Qiu asked in a deep voice after hearing Xia Wange's words.

Childhood trauma is indeed the most profound. Just like him, it is said that because of his constitution, he attracted many ghosts when he was a child. Although he has almost no memory of the period before the age of five, his childhood experiences have continued to affect him, making him allergic to ghosts.

He feels uneasy whenever there are ghosts or monsters around, even if he can't see them.

"It feels alright." Xia Wange stretched. "But we need to approach it from a different angle, but first, I need to confirm one thing."

After resting for a while, Xia Wange went shopping with Lu Qiu, eating and drinking along the way. After a good night's sleep, she met Mike, who had been waiting for her with dark circles under his eyes, at breakfast the next day.

As soon as Mike saw Xia Wange leave, he immediately rushed over, his voice tinged with excitement, "Master Xia! I did it! Yesterday, as soon as it appeared, I stuffed the talisman you gave me into her clothes! I did it! Does that mean it won't appear again tomorrow?! Does that mean I'm finally rid of it?! Can I finally live a normal life? Heaven knows how much money I lost and how much energy I wasted because of it!"

"Do you have photos of it after it went back?" Xia Wange asked instead of answering Mike's question.

"Yes, yes!" Mike pulled out the photo. "My wife took this, just a minute ago!"

Xia Wange looked at the photo carefully and spotted the talisman stuffed inside the doll's clothes.

"Have your wife take out the talisman, wrap it in a cloth, and then put it back in."

"What color fabric do you want?" Mike asked.

"Any color is fine, as long as it has some weight," Xia Wange instructed.

"Okay, okay, sorry to bother you, please continue with your meal." Mike said as if he had received a royal decree, and quickly left to prepare.