True Illusion Reflection

Xia Jie, is that really you?

Zhuo Yongkang's gaze narrowed slightly as he looked at Xia Jie's passport. "Why did you come to China?"

"To meet my online girlfriend in person!" Xia Jie said without hesitation. "Then we got into an argument."

"Even so, the young lady shouldn't be the one leaving!" the middle-aged woman said from the side.

"We didn't break up!" Xia Jie said, glaring with dead-fish eyes. "We just had a little relationship conflict!"

"How come I never knew Qiao Qiao had a boyfriend like you?" An unfamiliar voice sounded behind Xia Jie.

Xia Jie's body stiffened. He recognized the owner of that voice—after all, they had just spoken on the phone.

This was... Lu Zhe's voice!

He hurriedly turned around to look for Lu Zhe, but found nothing.

Where was he?

Where was that guy?

"What are you looking for?" Zhuo Yongkang asked curiously.

Xia Jie abruptly turned to stare at him and asked warily, "You—or rather, all of you—who exactly are you?"

Though according to his senses, the people before him were undoubtedly ordinary people.

But the moment Lu Zhe's voice appeared, Xia Jie immediately realized that he had definitely been deceived.

That should have been impossible.

Even if Cursed Technique users concealed their Cursed Energy, they were fundamentally different from ordinary people.

At close range, the cursed aura on them could never be completely hidden.

That was precisely why Xia Jie had concluded that these people were ordinary.

But now that Lu Zhe had appeared, it meant these people were very likely his subordinates. In that case, they could not possibly be ordinary people.

Yet in Xia Jie's senses, they were still nothing but ordinary people.

The contradiction between that perception and his instincts made everything feel increasingly wrong.

Could it be that all of them were under Lu Zhe's control?

Xia Jie focused his gaze on them, but found no trace of Cursed Energy fluctuations on their bodies.

"What's wrong with you?" Zhuo Yongkang asked with a frown.

"Yeah? What's wrong with you? Why aren't you making a move?" Lu Zhe's voice rang out at the same time.

"Cut the crap!" Xia Jie forced out through clenched teeth. "Qiao Qiao is still in my hands. If you've got the guts, attack me!"

"What did you say?!" Zhuo Yongkang's expression immediately turned stern, and his right hand went to the handcuffs at his waist.

The middle-aged woman beside him also cried out, "See? I told you there was something wrong with him! Officer, hurry up and arrest him!"

Another police officer shouted, "Put your hands up!"

Xia Jie snorted and did not even look at them. "Lu Zhe, you don't seriously think they can stop me, do you? If you don't show yourself, I'll take Qiao Qiao away!"

"Who are you yelling at? An accomplice?" Zhuo Yongkang approached with the handcuffs. "Come with us!"

Xia Jie's shadow suddenly expanded, covering everyone's shadows at the scene.

If he truly could not tell them apart, then he would control them all.

"What's happening?" Zhuo Yongkang and the others cried out in panic.

Zhuo Yongkang turned to Xia Jie and shouted, "Was this your doing?!"

A panicked look also appeared on Xia Jie's face. "Can't you see that I can't move either? It was that guy named Lu Zhe. He's a superpowered person!"

The other officer's gaze at Xia Jie suddenly became amused, and he said in a teasing tone, "At a time like this, you're still trying to pin it on me?"

Only then did Xia Jie realize that Lu Zhe's voice had actually been coming from his mouth all along.

As soon as he spoke, Zhuo Yongkang and the nosy middle-aged woman both turned into phantoms.

Without hesitation, Xia Jie threw a punch at him. Lu Zhe, now revealing himself, suddenly strained and broke free from the invisible restraints binding him.

Lu Zhe raised a hand and caught Xia Jie's fist. Then he lowered his body and instantly moved in front of Xia Jie, sending him flying with a strike.

Xia Jie kicked off the wall with both feet, adjusted his body in midair, and landed back on the ground.

"Not bad!" Lu Zhe said, a flash of approval appearing in his eyes as he watched Xia Jie steady himself.

That punch had looked like Lu Zhe had sent Xia Jie flying, but in truth, Xia Jie had deliberately taken the blow and used the momentum to widen the distance between them.

"Still want to fight?" Lu Zhe asked.

Looking at that extraordinarily handsome face, Xia Jie had only one thought left in his mind: There really are men this good-looking!

His face was sharply defined, with sword-like brows, starry eyes, a high nose bridge, and a tall, lean build.

There was not a single flaw to be found anywhere on him.

Even Xia Jie was starting to feel a little jealous, though he had long known the other man was ridiculously handsome.

"No more fighting!" Xia Jie waved his hand. "How would I dare fight you?"

After seeing Lu Zhe's true face, Xia Jie knew that this man was his uncle.

And from Lu Zhe's expression, Xia Jie also realized that the other man had recognized him as well.

He looked seventy or eighty percent like his father, and with the unique scar over his right eye—not to mention that Lu Zhe had confirmed his name—it would have been strange if he had not recognized him.

"So you still remember me, Xiao Jie?" A smile was just about to appear on Lu Zhe's face when he suddenly adopted a "dangerous" expression and asked, "Since you remember me, you should know I'm your uncle!"

"You even used a Japanese name to trick me!"

"I didn't know it was you at the time," Xia Jie replied quietly. "The possibility was small, but what if there were other... people named Lu Zhe?"

Xia Jie paused briefly in the middle. Someone as shrewd as Lu Zhe naturally understood the implication.

He was clearly saying that he did not remember having a Monster uncle!

"You brat!" Lu Zhe cursed with a smile, then fell silent for a while.

"That's right. Like Qiao Qiao, I'm also a Monster," Lu Zhe slowly said. "Your mother was a Monster too!"

Though he had already guessed this outcome, Xia Jie still found it hard to believe.

He really was... half-Monster?

But he did not have the slightest Monster trait!

Monsters could hide their transformed traits, but that required them to hide them deliberately so others could not see them.

Under normal circumstances, when they did not conceal themselves, they still retained physical traits inherited through their bloodline.

For example, when Xia Jie had met Qiao Qiao, she had still had beast ears.

But from childhood to adulthood, he had been a genuine human being. So-called transformed traits had never once appeared on him.

Could it be that he, as a half-Monster, simply had no Monster traits?

And... though he did not want to say it, could Monsters and humans really have children together?

Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed possible.

After all, Japanese humans and Cursed Spirits had even produced children. A child born between a Monster and a human like him should not be anything particularly unusual.

But something still felt strange.

A bizarre feeling coiled around Xia Jie's heart. He wanted to ask questions, yet did not know whether he should ask, or where to begin.

Lu Zhe saw through his thoughts. After thinking for a moment, he said solemnly, "I know what you want to ask. Fine! It's time to tell you some things about what happened back then!"