A Joke? A Hope?

"Thank you."

Xiao Xiao nodded to the woman, then promptly stepped forward and grasped the hospital-room door handle. Click.

Xiao Xiao walked into the hospital room.

Uncle Jin and Auntie Yu followed him inside.

They kept a certain distance from Xiao Xiao.

But their eyes never left him for a moment.

Xiao Xiao surveyed the entire room.

It was his first time in a children's ward.

He had been healthy since childhood and had hardly ever been sick enough to need hospitalization.

The only time he could remember going to the hospital, he had just needed an IV drip.

It really was a children's ward. If not for the familiar smell of disinfectant, it could have been a charming child's bedroom.

The window was half open, a breeze blowing in and making the curtains billow and flutter.

Xiao Xiao went over to the window.

After a whole day, many smells that should have been obvious had become harder to pick up.

"Lord Xiao Xiao, there's a monster's scent."

The white snake shifted its supple body. Its soft, languid voice sounded all the more alluring.

"Thank you."

Xiao Xiao spoke softly.

Monsters were naturally better at recognizing the scent of other monsters.

The white snake's words confirmed his guess.

The girl's disappearance really was connected to a monster.

A monster that looked like a dog?

Xiao Xiao pondered.

But from what Uncle Jin had told him, the monster probably didn't mean the girl any harm.

Otherwise, why would it let her hug it?

So he likely didn't need to worry too much about the girl's safety.

Still, good children needed to go home at night.

It wouldn't do to get so caught up in playing that she lost track of time.

Xiao