What do you mean you also want to return to the world?

An hour later, Qi Fei looked at Lin Xiaoyue sitting on the sofa, gently stroking his chin, and said, "This is really strange."

Standing next to him, Shi Yan was startled when he heard this. Even Qi Fei thought it was strange, which meant that the incident was quite serious.

"Oh no, I mean you're the one who's weird." Qi Fei waved his hand, his tone tinged with regret. "I've been exorcising demons for so many years, and I've never encountered such an interesting event. But you've encountered it for the first time. Weird, really weird."

Shi Yan: "..."

Is that really the important point?!

"So what exactly happened?" Shi Yan lowered his voice, trying to keep Lin Xiaoyue from hearing, "Which one is the monster? The chastity belt or the vibrating toy?"

"What kind of strange way of addressing me is that?" Qi Fei glanced at Shi Yan. "I'm telling you, that's a bit insulting."

Shi Yan had no choice. He had already decided from the beginning that it was a human and a demon. The demon was naturally the one wearing the chastity belt, since it was something a normal person couldn't do.

But just as they were about to leave, the "chastity belt" grabbed their body, stopped their car, and revealed another fact.

The reason she wore that thing was because the other Lin Xiaoyue was really inhuman. Not only was she involved with other boys, but she even wore an electric toy to school!

This is absolutely outrageous!

She couldn't accept her body being played with like this, so she had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.

Moreover, the reason she knew Shi Yan's true identity was because after selling the mirror, he wrote everything down in a notebook and showed it to her, just to mock her and tell her that this monster's death was imminent.

After hearing her explanation, Shi Yan was completely dumbfounded.

Putting aside how outrageous it is to bring electric toys to school, the fact that she wrote down her entire conversation with Shi Yan and told him just to mock him is something no normal person would do.

Moreover, after the chastity belt took over the body, it immediately demanded the mirror back, stating that only that mirror could suppress the electric toy—again, the opposite of what the electric toy claimed.

With no other option, Shi Yan had to temporarily bring her to Qi Fei's place.

"Then what should I call them?" Shi Yan spread his hands helplessly. He didn't expect that the first problem he would face would be how to address them. "They all think that they are Lin Xiaoyue, and even the demonic aura they exude is almost the same. I really can't tell them apart."

"If we can't figure it out, we'll take our time. Let's decide on a name first," Qi Fei said. "Right now, Lin Xiaoyue's personality is rather conservative; she's not very outgoing, so we can call her Lizi."

"What about the other one?"

"Of course, it's the watch..."

"No, that's an even more insulting way to address me! You made these dumplings purely out of jealousy!"

"Hey, you're being too sensitive. As a reliable adult, how could I possibly have those kinds of thoughts?"

"Then you should go and talk to her."

"Hmm... but your concerns are valid. It's true that we shouldn't use names that are easily misunderstood." Qi Fei immediately changed his mind. "Then how about we call them Xiao Biao and Xiao Li?"

"Xiao Biao and Xiao Li?" Shi Yan glanced at Lin Xiaoyue subconsciously. "It feels like these names sound like they're good at playing cards."

"You think so too, right... My turn, draw a card!"

"Slap your head, my foot! What's wrong with you?!"

Shi Yan and Qi Fei's constant chatter finally made Lin Xiaoyue impatient. She coughed twice and asked, "Um, are you talking about me?"

"Of course."

"Or what?"

Qi Fei and Shi Yan immediately sat up straight, which made Tang Shi sigh.

"Um, Xiao Li... I mean, Lin Xiaoyue." Shi Yan originally wanted to pass this hot potato to Qi Fei, but seeing him pretending to be clueless and giving up, he realized that Qi Fei still wanted him to solve the problem. So he could only ask again, "Why do you think that mirror was used to suppress Xiao Biao... I mean, that monster?"

"Because it really wants to take this mirror away," Lin Xiaoyue said. "Then of course I'm going to keep it."

The more the enemy opposes, the more it proves that I'm doing the right thing, right?

Are there any other reasons?

Li Lin Xiaoyue hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, as long as this mirror is near me, I feel very safe. But once it's away, I feel very uneasy, as if..."

"What does it look like?"

"I feel like I'm being eaten by something," she whispered. "I don't know how to describe the feeling, it's like my body is slowly leaving me, no longer under my control."

The body is no longer under one's control...

Shi Yan glanced at his left hand subconsciously and saw that the crimson glove was still wriggling restlessly, trying to break free from the glove.

Is that the feeling he's experiencing? He wasn't sure.

"So can you give that mirror back to me?" Lin Xiaoyue asked Shi Yan and Qi Fei, "if you don't want to see me killed by it."

Since things had already gone this far, Yan couldn't really refuse. After all, he couldn't be sure if the other party was a monster or not. So, after Qi Fei agreed, he returned the mirror to Li Lin Xiaoyue.

After receiving it, Lin Xiaoyue immediately covered it to her chest, revealing a relieved expression, before continuing to ask questions.

"Will you help me get rid of this monster? If you do, I'll give you this mirror immediately."

"Of course, no problem." Qi Fei nodded slightly. "This is our job, but we need your cooperation. How about this, it's already quite late, why don't you stay here tonight? It will make it easier for us to observe you. What do you think?"

"Yes," Lin Xiaoyue said without hesitation. "Or rather, I couldn't ask for more."

"Very well. Then you can go and rest with this Miss Tang Shi. Her room is on the first floor."

"The first floor?" Shi Yan was taken aback. "Isn't that where I live?"

"Yes. She lives in the room next to yours." Qi Fei pointed at Shi Yan. "Miss Lin Xiaoyue, if you feel unwell at all, or if you think of any crucial information, just knock on his door. Don't be shy, it's his job."

Shi Yan: "..."

Li Lin Xiaoyue agreed and thanked Shi Yan in advance before leaving with Tang Shi.

After the two of them left, Qi Fei looked at Shi Yan again: "Do you have any ideas now? Who do you think is the demon?"

"Well... I don't think either of them is quite right," Shi Yan said. "From what I've seen so far, Xiao Li seems much more normal than Xiao Biao. She's not afraid to stay with us, and she even seems to crave it, but Xiao Biao doesn't have a similar reaction."

In Shi Yan's opinion, a normal person, when haunted by a ghost and seeing Lin Zhengying passing by, would definitely try every means to cling to Uncle Lin's leg. But Xiao Biao didn't react that way; she just felt that handing over the mirror would be the end of it. In comparison, Xiao Li's behavior was much more normal; it seemed that even if Qi Fei hadn't asked her to stay, she would have brought it up herself.

"So you think your cousin is a monster?"

Shi Yan was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "No, if I had to say, Xiao Li is more likely."

Why?

"Because she doesn't know me."

Yes, Shi Yan and Lin Xiaoyue's relationship wasn't exactly good, but they knew each other, while Xiao Li acted as if she didn't know him at all.

Furthermore, according to Shi Yan's limited memories, Lin Xiaoyue's personality used to be more like that of a younger cousin than a younger sister.

"I see, you knew her before," Qi Fei said. "But your intuition alone isn't enough. Go back to the school tomorrow and investigate further to see who she really resembles."

"Okay," Shi Yan agreed. "Is this all we need to investigate?"

"Of course not, that's just an add-on." Qi Fei shook his head. "The more important thing is that mirror; that's the source of all the problems. Don't you think Lin Xiaoyue splitting into two is similar to the separation of that whole set of antiques? Finding those lost antiques might be the answer."

……

After all that fuss, Shi Yan dragged his tired body to bed.

I originally thought it was just a minor incident that would be resolved by buying a new mirror, but after a whole day of trouble, not only was the problem not solved, it made me even more confused.

Exorcising demons is indeed not that simple.

We need to continue the investigation tomorrow, to see which of the Lin Xiaoyue figures is human and which is a demon.

Ah, if only we could tell the difference between humans and demons at a glance. In theory, it should be possible; last week at the archaeological bureau, Shi Yan spotted the demon (even though everyone had left). But that was when the demon existed independently, without possessing anyone. If it possesses a human, using human energy to mask its demonic aura, then seeing through it at a glance wouldn't be so easy.

If you really want to achieve that effect, there is only one way—strengthen your own demonic power, since only a demon can find other demons better.

Scarlet would probably be happy about this, but Shi Yan would definitely not.

The moment the name "Scarlet" was mentioned, her voice rang in Shi Yan's mind: "It's time to study! Let me out! Keep your promise!"

Scarlet had mustered up her strength for a long time before she broke through the limiter and shouted those words. Shi Yan initially wanted to ignore her, but after thinking about it, he decided to keep his promise and remove the limiter.

In that instant, the previously limp crimson suddenly stood upright, as if it were about to break through the sky.

"You're going too far! Locking me up for so long!" Crimson cursed. "I already told you this morning was an accident!"

"If you want to read, behave yourself." Shi Yan glanced at the wall subconsciously. Although he knew this was a mental conversation and no one would hear it, he still wanted to give Fei Hong a heads-up. "If the people next door notice anything, you can forget about reading in the future."

Are you threatening me?

"Yeah, what else?"

"Heh..." Crimson chuckled coldly twice, "I'm not going to stoop to your level."

Seeing that Fei Hong was relatively obedient, Shi Yan was too lazy to argue with her. He turned on his phone and placed it on the bedside table, letting Fei Hong look at it herself.

Crimson immediately crawled to the phone and began to kowtow wildly (tapping the screen), a rather comical action.

After doing all this, Shi Yan finally succumbed to sleepiness and fell into a deep sleep.

"Wait, why does this irrelevant page pop up after I've only read two pages? What's this 'sexy dealer' thing...? Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Scarlet turned her head and saw that Shi Yan was already asleep, so she shook her head twice in displeasure.

"He went to sleep before he even finished getting this done for me, what a nuisance... huh?"

Scarlet suddenly sensed something and immediately turned her head to look, only to see the tightly locked door open with a "click".

……

Lin Xiaoyue slowly moved into the room, her movements unusually strange—unlike a normal person, more like some kind of crawling reptile.

In this strange manner, she silently climbed onto Shi Yan's bed. Apart from her breathing gradually becoming heavier, she made no other sound.

"Huff, huff..."

Her gaze was fixed on Shi Yan's face, her mouth involuntarily opened, saliva dripping down her cheeks, and an undisguised greed surfaced in her eyes.

"So...delicious..."

She spoke softly, leaning forward again and bringing her lips closer to Shi Yan's.

Immediately afterwards, their lips met.

An indescribable feeling of comfort welled up inside her, causing her body to tremble as if an electric toy had been turned up to its maximum power, and she almost fainted.

More, she wants more.

She wanted to possess this body completely and utterly.

Lin Xiaoyue thought to herself.

Just then, she caught a glimpse of light from the bedside.

She subconsciously turned her head and saw Shi Yan's left hand resting on the lit phone screen, which displayed a picture of a sexy dealer.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't be surprising; it's normal for a guy to have all sorts of things on his phone.

But what's abnormal is that hand.

No, more accurately, it was his fingers.

His fingers were in a very strange position: his middle finger was raised high, while his index and ring fingers were intertwined at an odd angle in front of it. At first glance, it looked like someone with their arms crossed, staring at her with a half-smile...

In that very instant, heaven and earth turned upside down.

The Shi Yan in his arms, the lit-up phone, and the eerie fingers all disappeared.

Instead, she found herself in a completely unfamiliar apartment. She stood there blankly in the living room, not understanding what had happened.

Then came a crisp snap of fingers. She instinctively turned her head and saw a stunningly beautiful woman with short red hair standing with her arms crossed, staring at her with a half-smile.

Wait, this pose...

Lin Xiaoyue suddenly realized something, but it was too late. Crimson flames ignited on her body, and the intense pain almost tore her soul apart!

"Aaaaaah!!!"

She lay prostrate on the ground, screaming in agony.

"Who do you think you are, daring to try and take my room?" Crimson said disdainfully. "Do you think you're some stupid dragon?"

"Spare me, spare me..." she begged desperately, but couldn't muster even a thought of resistance, because the flames had burned away ninety percent of her life force in an instant. "I, I'll leave him right now..."

"Leave?" Crimson tilted her head. "That would be so boring."

She snapped her fingers again, and the flames disappeared.

Before Lin Xiaoyue, who had just survived the ordeal, could even feel relieved, a bare foot stepped on her face, burying half of her head into the floor.

"Although it's a piece of junk, it's not entirely useless."

Scarlet bowed her body little by little, and the smile on her face became even brighter.

"In that case, do something for me."