Once the thought arose, it clung like a bone-eating maggot, impossible to shake off. Chen Xiyao tried desperately to cast aside those distracting thoughts, but trapped in the narrow, dim box with nothing else to do, the harder she tried to restrain herself, the more her thoughts scattered.
Just as people could not help but let their minds run wild in the dead of night, Chen Xiyao was gradually forced into a corner by the crushing weight of her own thoughts.
Having lost all sense of time, unsure whether Feng Xue would return, and overwhelmed by the extreme oppression of the confined space, Chen Xiyao's heartbeat began to sound unbearably loud. Her consciousness seemed to have detached from her body, yet remained imprisoned within the cardboard box's cage.
She wanted to lift the box immediately and run somewhere crowded, but the danger outside kept her suppressed. Different voices even began to emerge in her mind.
And they were exposing the questions Chen Xiyao had forcibly suppressed before—
"Is it really as dangerous outside as he said?"
"Will those people really torture her?"
"Maybe Feng Xue is actually the bad guy?"
"Maybe..."
"No, that's not right!" Chen Xiyao suddenly pinched her own thigh hard, using the pain to wrench herself free from all those wild thoughts.
She had no way to confirm whether Feng Xue was telling the truth, but she could be certain that man had secretly done a great deal for her.
In a world where people did not need to eat, obtaining food every day was a problem. Yet he stayed with her all day, so when did he go hunting?
Furthermore, over the past few days, the bloody smell on him had grown increasingly heavy. He might not have noticed it himself, but Chen Xiyao could clearly sense the change.
While she was sleeping, he must have secretly dealt with countless problems.
And today...
He had left all his equipment behind.
Chen Xiyao reached into the unknown dimension and touched the White Robe, Sleeve Blade, shoes, and other things Feng Xue had left behind...
She could clearly sense how much weaker his presence had become after removing his equipment and wearing only a canvas work uniform.
If she were captured, he would be unable to retrieve any of his equipment. Was that really necessary just to frighten her?
No, there was another possibility! The people hunting you are a hoax too! You are not in any danger at all!
A voice rang out in her mind, but Chen Xiyao quickly found a way to refute it—
"If everything is fake, then there is even less reason for him to leave! After all, I still have a chance to escape, and if I really did, I could easily discover the truth. By then, he would have effectively raised an enemy!"
"And there's the skirt! Leaving aside the toys and pistol, the spatial equipment should obviously be a rare item. Although I don't understand how he turns paper into strange objects, there should be some kind of rule behind it. He spent so long trying yesterday, so he should only have been attempting to create a Storage Item. Yet in the end, the only Storage Item still went to me. Even if it is a skirt, selling it or trading it would be better than casually giving it to me!"
The more Chen Xiyao thought about it, the more convinced she became that she was right. Although that Feng Xue was cold and aloof, he was definitely a good person!
But should she go outside and take a look?
Although Chen Xiyao had tried her utmost to remind herself that the outside was dangerous, the powerful loneliness drove her to suppress her urge to leave.
With this cardboard box, she should be fine as long as she was careful, right?
Or rather, this cardboard box had probably been prepared for stealth in the first place!
Once the thought arose, it spiraled out of control. Chen Xiyao braced both hands against the sides of the box and gently lifted it two centimeters, then moved slowly toward the Room Door in a crouch, taking tiny steps.
Before she reached the door, however, she suddenly heard a faint noise. After spending so long in silence, she immediately pricked up her ears.
"Is he back?" Chen Xiyao's heart instantly filled with delight, but she still forcibly restrained her urge to lift the box and greet him at the door. She leaned the box against the wall, then brought her eyes to the peephole and carefully observed the situation outside.
There was a hole in this wall, not particularly large. If the person who entered was a bad guy, she would immediately activate her skill and escape through it.
She had already tried the ability of Misty Field. Although she could not directly create a five-meter-high fog zone with a radius of fifty meters like Feng Xue, she could still turn the entire room into a misty environment.
"Bang!"
The Room Door was kicked open violently, and Chen Xiyao's heart gave a sudden lurch. Although she had not yet seen who had arrived, Feng Xue would definitely never make such a commotion when returning.
Sure enough, as the already-damaged door slammed into the wall, several uniformly dressed men slipped into the house and began searching everywhere.
Unlike the disposable thugs in novels, who would exchange information and reveal the plot to one another, they remained silent the entire time, checking the room quickly and efficiently.
Chen Xiyao's heart leaped into her throat. Even though she and Feng Xue had already confirmed the box's function, she still could not help worrying that they might see through it.
Crash, crash...
Loud noises came from the rooms one after another. Even without seeing it with her own eyes, Chen Xiyao could imagine the miserable sight of bedboards being overturned and stools kicked aside.
Although the bedroom had few decorations, she had at least carefully tidied it up. Even if she had to change locations every two or three days, hearing it destroyed so thoroughly still left her feeling bitter.
These people came and went in a hurry. After leaving the house in complete disarray, they disappeared from Chen Xiyao's view.
"They're looking for me... or rather, traces that I lived here?" Chen Xiyao had this thought. She felt nervous and afraid, yet inexplicably thrilled as well.
She looked at the open doorway, then suddenly began moving toward it in tiny steps.
"These people are so rough. They really aren't good people!" Watching roughly forty or fifty people constantly enter and leave the surrounding rooms, Chen Xiyao lowered the box to the ground beside the doorway and thought to herself. Although there was no evidence that they had come for her, judging by their conduct alone, she did not think anything good would happen if they discovered her.
"Should I follow them and take a look?" Seeing that the nearby residences had all been searched, Chen Xiyao looked at the crowd but ultimately chose to give up. Not to mention that they were all riding motorcycles, even on foot, it would be completely unrealistic for her to catch up while crouching and taking tiny steps.
"Honestly, why can't these minions talk a little more and let me figure out what's going on?"
Before you continue