The dream space of Mama Yao was never very large, and there was a gray, hazy boundary not far away.
Qingmu watched as faint, shimmering lights appeared in the void at the edge of the dream, traces left by Mama Yao's own consciousness as she relentlessly searched her memories.
She's looking for her cat.
But for some reason, she was unable to access the relevant memories.
Qingmu found it very strange. When she was awake, Mama Yao could remember her cat, but when she dreamed, she couldn't access the cat's memory. This method of consciousness interference and memory blocking was extremely clever. It was like a file on a computer. You can see it when you open it normally, but when you want to copy it, you can't find it, no matter if you use administrator privileges or a background virus program.
After countless bright spots flashed across the blurred boundaries of the dream's space, Qingmu discovered an area that remained perpetually in darkness. The area wasn't large, like a black moon hanging in a gray sky. Because the dream space was small, the black moon seemed almost within reach.
Qingmu knew that was the encrypted hidden area.
When he tried to touch that area with his Mental Power, the world suddenly turned into darkness.
The low-lying area is gone, the crops are gone, the houses are gone, the old trees are gone, the ants moving house under the trees and the rats crawling all over the ground are gone, the dignified old lady is gone...
But the space didn't collapse; only the things inside disappeared. It was like a house where all the bricks, wood, concrete, and steel bars were removed, but the space itself remained, and Qingmu and Mama Yao were still inside.
Then, a dazzling white appeared in this space.
Qingmu saw the cat—its body was covered in soft white fur, like snow in Siberia winter, which stood out brightly in the dark void.
From Qingmu's perspective, the cat was far away, but he could still see every detail of it—snow-white and soft fur, sapphire-like clear green eyes, black pupils like black pearls set in sapphires, its posture sitting there noble and elegant, only its small pink lips and nose added a touch of cuteness.
Although the scene is gone, it doesn't mean the dream space has disappeared. On the contrary, the dream space is now incredibly vast. Because of the darkness, it's difficult to determine the boundaries of the space, just like when we look up at the sky in the dark, we can't judge its height. Sometimes it feels within reach, and sometimes it feels unfathomable.
Qingmu felt a surge of Mental Power, which expanded the entire space like the shockwave after an atomic bomb explosion.
This dream space was definitely not constructed by Mama Yao, because her Mental Power could not possibly be so vast. Yet, they are indeed in Mama Yao's dream, and the core of the entire space is her dream. And with her abilities, she could not withstand such a massive spatial mass.
Without hesitation, Qingmu gently raised his hand, using his Mental Power to protect Mama Yao. If he didn't, the immense spatial pressure would crush the core dreamscape Mama Yao had constructed, and her consciousness would also be injured.
Almost at the same time, the white cat also moved its paw slightly.
Just as Qingmu's Mental Power protected Mama Yao's consciousness, it came into contact with another Mental Power. The two forces collided in the same space without warning, like two stars in the universe suddenly colliding.
A massive shockwave erupted, threatening to engulf Mama Yao's consciousness. Qingmu had no choice but to raise his hands, using his own body to absorb the entire impact and prevent Mama Yao's consciousness from being harmed.
At the same time, he saw the cat suddenly arch its back, its fur stand on end, its eyes wide open in anger, assuming an aggressive posture.
Qingmu could sense a tremendous Mental Power emanating from the cat's consciousness, undisguised, like a fierce tiger enraged in defense of its territory.
The person and the cat faced off like that.
It was as if Mama Yao was standing inside an invisible sphere. There was a protective shield around the sphere, half of which was formed by the power of Qingmu, and the other half by the cat.
The white cat seemed to sense that Qingmu had no intention of harming it or Mama Yao, and slowly relaxed. The bristling white fur on its back gently lay down, becoming silky and soft again.
The surrounding space slowly shrank, and the white cat's body gradually shrank. Before long, the white cat became a normal-sized cat.
The depression was back, the little house behind it was back, the ants under the big tree were moving house, and the rats were scurrying around, disappearing in no time.
Mama Yao and her grandmother stood there, staring blankly at Qingmu and the white cat.
The white cat stared at the old woman for a while, then turned and walked towards the blurry boundary of the dream.
"Hey—wait a minute!" Qingmu shouted.
The white cat stopped and turned around, slightly opening its pink mouth to meow at Qingmu before disappearing into the darkness.
Qingmu watched helplessly as it left.
He could, of course, touch the black moon again to force the white cat out, but after thinking about it, he realized it wouldn't make any difference.
It wasn't a complete cat, but merely a thought protecting Mama Yao and the encrypted area in her mind. Strangely, the power of this thought was incredibly strong. One can only imagine how formidable this cat must have been in its lifetime, perhaps not much weaker than Boss Coal.
A single thought wouldn't tell him anything more. At most, Qingmu could eliminate the thought and then unlock the encrypted memories in Mama Yao's mind. That might reveal some secrets, but it could also hurt Mama Yao. What if it was just some private information about someone else's family? Wouldn't that be incredibly awkward?
Even though it was just a thought, Qingmu couldn't bring himself to kill such a beautiful and adorable cat. Besides, whether he could even kill it without harming Mama Yao was another question.
Qingmu had no choice but to obediently exit Mama Yao's dream. Of course, before exiting, he waited for a relatively peaceful and beautiful dream space. Even so, when Mama Yao woke up, she was already extremely weak, as if she had just undergone surgery.
"What's wrong with me? It feels like I was dreaming," said Mama Yao after waking up.
"It's alright, you're just too tired, you'll be fine after a rest." Qingmu said, pulling back the curtain and pouring a cup of hot water for Mama Yao. "Have some water."
Mama Yao said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, it's your first time here, I haven't been able to properly entertain you, and now you're the one taking care of me..."
Qingmu had originally wanted to ask Mama Yao about the cat and her elegant and noble grandmother, but seeing Mama Yao's complexion after waking up, he realized she had reached her mental limit. So he didn't ask any more questions and told Mama Yao to lie down and sleep for a while. Of course, with his help in hypnotizing her, Mama Yao fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.
After a while, Yao Jingjing and her Papa Yao returned, bringing back a lot of food, including chicken, duck, fish, meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as a large pot of soup.
When Mama Yao woke up, she saw the large earthenware jar and asked, "Why did you bring the jar along? It's so heavy!"
Papa Yao said, "This is a stewed soup; it won't taste as good without the earthenware pot. I specifically put down a ten-yuan deposit. Look at the color of the soup, look at the bones—it's so delicious!"
As he spoke, he lifted the lid, stirred the contents of the earthenware pot a few times with a spoon, and pieces of bone began to tumble in the milky white broth.