A Blind Spot in Plain Sight

The five young people were simply enthusiastically promoting the beauty of their Chongyun Village, and there was no way they could ask about what happened last night or any other "strange events".

Zhou Rui couldn't very well say that they weren't tourists and had come to Chongyun Village on an investigative mission. If he did, the young men would probably become even more wary and wouldn't say anything more.

After finishing lunch and leaving the "Youlong Restaurant," Ye Chong, as soon as he got into the car, held up a tablet and said to Zhou Rui, "The information gathering team hasn't found anything unusual in Chongyun Village. Do you want to go and confirm it yourself?"

Zhou Rui thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, it's normal for fog to rise in the mountains, and it's not surprising to hear the calls of wild animals. The people in Chongyun Village do like to exaggerate things. Like those two thieves who were so frightened by a flock of birds that they called the police themselves. We spent half a day investigating, even collecting a bunch of bird droppings for analysis, but we found nothing. In the end, those two said at the police station that they might have been mistaken..."

The car immediately erupted in laughter, as everyone recalled the embarrassing incident when Zhou Rui and Li Shiping went to Chongyun Village to collect bird droppings.

Li Shiping, who was driving, looked through the rearview mirror at Mi Qiao, Zhou Rui, Ye Chong, Dr. Fang and others chatting and laughing, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

After returning from the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, he received a new mission and rejoined Dr. Fang to form an investigation team to come to Wushu Mountain. He thought it would just be another ordinary field mission.

But this mission took an unusually long time.

Before they knew it, the members of their team had not only become familiar with each other, but their mindset had also changed significantly.

When he went to the Qinling Uninhabited Zone with Dr. Fang and Zhou Rui to carry out field missions, he always thought Zhou Rui was a somewhat timid but steady and refined researcher. However, after getting to know him better, he found him to be a real character, and his favorite animal was actually ants, and he had all sorts of science fiction movie ideas in his head.

When they first met, Ye Chong seemed like a rather introverted or even gloomy young man, but in reality, he was quite the brooding, secretly passionate guy.

His first impression of Ms. Chen was that she was dignified and composed, but it wasn't long before Zhou Rui led her to reveal her true nature—she was just as lively and unconventional as he had imagined.

Even Gao Shu, who, like him, is mainly responsible for security, has an interesting side beneath his serious and earnest exterior.

He himself has also undergone many changes.

Normally, when carrying out field missions, he would maintain a high level of concentration and vigilance. However, the problem is that this mission is going on for too long, and most of the time they are in safe cities. The field investigations are mostly in mountainous areas or scenic spots not far from the city, so it is neither necessary nor easy to maintain a high level of vigilance for a long time.

So naturally, he became more and more relaxed, to the point that recently he has had a feeling that he has relaxed too much.

Especially in the last month, the first thought that often flashes through my mind when I wake up is:

What should we eat today?

Although Li Shiping always criticized and opposed Zhou Rui's behavior of frequently searching for food reviews and finding good restaurants within an hour's drive, and then encouraging them to go eat together.

But in reality, he truly enjoys every time he eats various delicious foods.

Just like this "Youlong Restaurant", the various dishes and specialty rabbit meat are not only Zhou Rui's favorite, but Li Shiping also likes them very much. He even has the same idea as Zhou Rui: after making enough money and leaving "Shenxing Technology", he also wants to live in Tongshi Town.

However, unlike Zhou Rui, he didn't want to eat at "Youlong Restaurant" anytime. Instead, he planned to work at "Youlong Restaurant" to learn the secrets of its cuisine and then cook and eat it himself. So when he heard Zhou Rui say that he was going to secretly pack up the restaurant's dishes to analyze their ingredients and study the composition of the seasonings, he was outwardly looking at the wood carvings on the wall, but inwardly he was giving them a big thumbs up.

This morning, while eating the egg pancakes Ye Chong made, he couldn't help but think that the pancakes weren't cooked properly and that too much water had been added. He thought that adding some scallions would have made them even better. Then he started imagining what kind of dishes "Youlong Restaurant" would offer for breakfast: rabbit soup? Rabbit buns? Rabbit pies?

Previously, when carrying out missions, his considerations regarding food were always nutrition and efficiency. As long as it provided enough calories, he wouldn't care about the taste of the food itself. Even outside of missions, his considerations for food remained the same: convenience, speed, and satiety.

He had actually considered that perhaps it was because of his past excessive suppression of his appetite that he had now developed an extraordinary "awakening" in his pursuit of the texture and taste of food.

But this seemingly hidden, unearthed "foodie nature" sometimes makes him feel conflicted. He wonders if the overly comfortable work environment has "ruined" his mindset, and if that taut string is untied, he'll probably never be able to tighten it again.

It wasn't Xia Libing who went to the airport to pick Xiang Kun, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen'er, but Xia Tianhuo.

Of course, it wasn't that Lao Xia, Little Apple, or Little Chubby Girl were unwilling to pick them up, but Little Apple was worried about leaving the injured Gold Glitter alone at home. After all, no matter how smart Egg Pie, it's still a cat and there are many things it can't do.

Little Apple wanted to stay home, Little Chubby Girl naturally didn't want to leave her older sister Little Apple alone, so although she really wanted to go pick up Uncle Baldy and the others, she decided to stay.

The two girls stayed behind, so Lao Xia naturally had to stay and look after them. Therefore, Xia Tianhuo, who was "idle" and "doing nothing," was sent to pick them up from the airport.

On the way back to Chongyun Village after Xiang Kun, Xia Tianhuo talked non-stop about his encounter with Chu Xiuwen on the village road the night before.

"The fog was so thick that even with the headlights on, you couldn't see anything at all. But do you know what was strange? Strangely, I could actually smell barbecue. For a moment, I even wondered if someone was having a huge barbecue in Chongyun Mountain, which would have caused so much smoke... Of course, that was impossible. Then there was thunder and lightning, and some terrifying screams. The car stalled, and there was no cell phone signal. Brother Chu and I were almost scared to death."

Tang Baona noticed that while Xia Tianhuo was talking non-stop about what happened last night, Yang Zhen'er's eyes were slightly narrowed, and she was gently pinching her chin with one hand, seemingly thinking about something, and was unusually quiet.

"Zhen'er, what are you thinking about? Are you imagining some fantasy drama again?" Tang Baona asked, gently nudging her.

"Hehe, no." Yang Zhen'er said, looking at Xiang Kun: "Chef Xiang, what do you think?"

"There's probably an ancient, primordial beast hiding in these mountains. It only moves around once every hundred years, and when it does, a thick fog blankets the area, accompanied by thunder and lightning..." Xiang Kun said in a serious tone.

But before he could say two words, Tang Baona interrupted him, "Stop, stop, stop! Why are you starting to make things up like Zhen'er!"

"Nana, you're accusing me! I didn't say anything, how did I end up making this up?" Yang Zhen'er protested.

"Come on, I know what you're going to say the moment you bend over. The look in your eyes just now, you've definitely already imagined a huge conspiracy or legend." Tang Baona rolled her eyes at her and said.

"Oh right, Little Apple's bird... what's its name again? Oh right, it's called Gold Glitter. It was injured last night too," Xia Tianhuo said, remembering something.

"Gold Glitter is injured?" Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er both exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, Wu Qi was injured last night, but Lao Xia has already treated it. He said the injury isn't serious and there's no need to worry. You have to trust Lao Xia Lao Xia; he's a doctor. He can treat people, let alone birds," Xia Tianhuo said.

"You idiot! Lao Xia is a psychologist, he treats people's mental health! What does a bird have to worry about?" Yang Zhen'er scolded playfully.

Upon returning to Chongyun Village, as soon as we got out of the car, Liu Shiling, who had heard the commotion and run downstairs, rushed over to greet us.

However, Yang Zhen'er intercepted the Little Chubby Girl was running towards Xiang Kun halfway. She let out a cry before picking her up and asking, "Did you miss me, Little Bell?"

The Little Chubby Girl paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously. "Yes!"

"Fairy Sister bought you lots of delicious food and clothes from Peng City, they're all in the suitcase!"

"Thank you, sir..."

"Fairy Sister!"

"Thank you, fairy sister..."

Xia Tianhuo, who followed behind, wanted to cover his face. "Yang the Third, could you be any more shameless?"

Tang Baona came over and asked, "Little Bell, I heard that Gold Glitter is injured? How did it get hurt?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shiling's little face showed some sadness. She said, "Gold Glitter went to play in the mountains and got hurt by a bad bird." Naturally, she wouldn't mention the "magical world," but since the pretty older sister asked her, she gave the story that Lao Xia and Little Apple had discussed together. She didn't mention the specifics of Gold Glitter's injuries, nor did she mention their battle with that "strange big bird" last night.

"That bad bird is really bad!" Tang Baona said. She guessed that Gold Glitter must have been injured by a bird of prey in the forest. Although Gold Glitter was fattened up by Little Apple and was bigger than an average canary, it was still not that much bigger. It would still be at a disadvantage when it encountered a bird of prey like an owl.

Liu Shiling nodded repeatedly, subconsciously replying, "That's right!"

Hearing this deliberately imitative Tianjin accent with a slightly childish tone, Tang Baona's furrowed brows and heavy mood caused by Gold Glitter Shanshan's injury instantly dissipated, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Yang Zhen'er, holding the Little Chubby Girl, also gave her a big kiss on her chubby cheek and laughed, "Little Bell, you're so cute!"

The Little Chubby Girl looked at Xiang Kun behind Yang Zhen'er with a puzzled expression, clearly not understanding why her words had made her two older sisters so happy.

Before his bloodlust kicked in, Xiang Kun prepared a fairly lavish dinner—he had asked You Meng to help prepare the ingredients that morning and had them delivered.

After dinner, he went to the courtyard he had rented earlier to "seclude himself" for the same reason as before.

Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er both participated in the meeting with Zhang Qian in Peng City. They naturally believed that Xiang Kun was doing this according to Zhang Qian's needs, to make some functional expansions to the game, and that it was reasonable for him to "go into seclusion" as soon as he returned.

During this blood-drinking period, Xiang Kun needs Alice's assistance to observe the process of "Super-Linked Object" and "Emotion-Infused Object" establishing special connections, to see what specific changes occur in their extrasensory information, and whether they can summarize the patterns and establish a unified, reproducible model.

After dinner, Xia Tianhuo went fishing with Liu Caifu and Chu Xiuwen, while Tang Baona, Lao Xia, and others watched the rehearsal of "Bell Apple," the only crosstalk duo of "Chongyun Society," in the living room.

They played and laughed until after ten o'clock. Xia Libing took Little Apple and Little Chubby Girl to wash up and go to bed. Tang Baona finished tidying up the snack wrappers they had eaten and returned to her room to rest, but suddenly realized that Yang Zhen'er had disappeared.

She searched up and down the stairs but couldn't find her friend, so she picked up her phone and sent a WeChat: "Yang the Third, where did you go?"

Yang Zhen'er sent back photos of the night view of Chongyun Village. From the angle of the photos, Tang Baona immediately determined that her friend was on the roof of this building.

Tang Baona followed her up to the rooftop and saw Yang Zhen'er with her hands behind her back, looking like a wise and enlightened person, gazing at the starry sky.

However, upon reaching the edge of the shrine and seeing her long hair disheveled and swept across her face, instantly shattering her dignified image, Tang Baona couldn't help but laugh and say, "Zhen'er, are you observing the stars to ascend to heaven?"

"Flying yarn, pfft... ptooey!" Yang Zhen'er, who had just eaten her own hair, quickly spat it out, shook her head, tidied it up with her hands, tied it up, and then turned to Tang Baona and said, "Nana, I realize that my previous thinking was all wrong."

"What's your idea?" Tang Baona was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized, "Seriously? You came to the rooftop to come up with ideas for your fantasy novel?"

"Nana, you have to believe me, I'm really serious this time." Yang Zhen'er's expression was indeed very serious.

"Okay, then you can say it. But if you want to climb over the wall to peek at Xiang Kun is doing, you can go by yourself. I'm not going with you." Tang Baona said, then couldn't help but laugh again.

"No, I'm not going to Chef Xiang. Be serious, stop laughing! Let me finish!"

Yang Zhen'er looked at her friend seriously and said, "Nana, do you know the saying 'the darkest place is under the lamp'?"

"I know, but I doubt whether your understanding of 'the darkest place is under the lamp' is the same as the common understanding," Tang Baona said with a smile.

Yang Zhen'er sighed, "Nana, you're too nice and too oblivious. Haven't you noticed some people or things around you that aren't so ordinary after all?"

"You talk like you're so meticulous..." Tang Baona rolled her eyes at her and asked, "Get to the point already, or I'm going back to sleep."

"I realized something today! The truly special person has always been around us, but we've been too familiar with her to notice," Yang Zhen'er said slowly.

"Who?" Tang Baona said, realizing who Yang Zhen'er was referring to. "Lao Xia?"