118 All an Illusion?

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To think it would be on the cat—I truly did not expect that. Since I had obtained the answer I sought, I naturally had no intention of entangling myself further with these two restless spirits and was fortunate to see them depart. I am not one who delights in killing; these two ghosts had done no harm, so I did not strike them down to erase their existence.

Having learned this, I began to calm myself and attune to the fluctuations of the ancient mirror shard. As fate would have it, a "meow" came from upstairs. I hurriedly sought out the source of the sound and made my way upward. However, it would be rather rude to disturb others so late at night, especially since we were essentially guests under someone else's roof. The cat’s call came from the room where Lin Xiayue’s parents resided.

It seemed that this cat was the pet of Lin Xiayue’s parents. If that was the case, I would ask Lin Xiayue herself in the morning. When the next day arrived, I was eager and went straight to find Miss Lin.

At my urgent knocking, Miss Lin rubbed her sleepy eyes and opened the door. I got straight to the point. “Miss Lin, does your family keep a cat?”

Lin Xiayue waved her hand in annoyance. “No!” She still looked half-asleep, her hair tousled, clad in pajamas.

“Really no cat at all?” I probed gently.

She pouted, a bit irritated. “How would I know if I have a cat or not?”

“Does anyone else in your family keep one? The servants, or your parents?”

Lin Xiayue hesitated. “Aunt Wang and the butler? Impossible.”

“If they wanted to keep a pet, they’d have to ask me first.”

“What about your parents?”

Suddenly, her expression changed, voice rising sharply. “I don’t know about them. I’m going back to sleep.”

With that, she slammed the door in my face before I could finish speaking.

How strange—does Lin Xiayue have such a strained relationship with her parents? But then again, I had been in her home for three days and had never seen her parents. Could it be that they were not eating or drinking? Since she refused to talk, I had no choice but to investigate myself.

Turning back to my dormitory, I found the two lazybones finally awake.

“Chen Hao, what do you think of Lin Xiayue?” I asked suddenly.

Chen Hao was stunned for a moment, then thought for a few seconds. “She’s pretty,” he admitted, blushing slightly.

Damn, Chen Hao misunderstood me completely.

“I mean, what kind of person do you think Lin Xiayue is?” I repeated carefully, not wanting him to get it wrong again.

Chen Hao’s face flushed even deeper. “I think Lin Xiayue… um… is pretty nice!”

“Hey, hey, have you forgotten Wen Lingyu?” I teased. “She’s gone and you’ve already changed your mind.”

This made Feng Qian laugh beside us.

“Nonsense, Wen Lingyu’s nice too,” Chen Hao murmured faintly.

“Oh, brother Hao, are you in the springtime of your life?” Feng Qian joked while grabbing Chen Hao’s neck. Chen Hao threw Feng Qian over his shoulder with a playful wrestling move. Since we were all on the bed, it was harmless.

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“You brat, go cool off somewhere,” Chen Hao pretended to be angry.

Watching these two clowns fooling around so merrily, I found it hard to bring up my suspicions about Lin Xiayue.

“Forget it, you two play,” I said.

“I’m going to find the girls.”

Just as I said this and was about to leave, I heard the two boys arguing.

“Jian definitely likes Xue Ning. Ning Ning is not only cute but has a good temper.”

“That’s not certain. Maybe Brother Zijian prefers the fiery and straightforward Sun Xiaoxiao.”

“Zijian is so skinny, can he handle a tomboy like Sun Xiaoxiao?”

“Come on, I’m telling you, it’s definitely Xue Ning!”

Listening to their bickering, I was speechless. I quickly left the boys’ room—if I stayed any longer, I might lose my temper and hit them.

I went to the girls’ dorm and knocked. Xue Ning asked me to wait a moment as they were tidying up. I had told them half an hour ago I’d come, yet they were still cleaning.

I really don’t understand the world of women.

Finally, they finished and opened the door.

Entering the girls’ dorm, it was indeed much cleaner than the boys’ room. There was a faint fragrance in the air. “Brother Zijian!” a pink figure rushed toward me.

“Sun Xiaoxiao, stop right there!” I shouted, finally halting her advance.

What was going on today? Everyone seemed out of sorts—why was Sun Xiaoxiao lunging at me?

Fortunately, Xue Ning came to the rescue and showed me her phone.

To my surprise, Chen Hao had created a WeChat group for the four of them. All their earlier conversation had been sent by voice message.

No wonder Sun Xiaoxiao was so eager to jump at me—she must think I liked her.

I quickly explained the situation to the two girls. Today was really not the day for group discussions. I promptly left and headed toward the Lin family mansion gate.

Just then, Aunt Wang, the Lin family maid, appeared. I stopped her.

“Aunt Wang, do you know anything about Lin Xiayue’s parents?”

She pulled her hand away and took a large step back. I realized my approach was abrupt and hurriedly apologized.

Aunt Wang eyed me warily. “Sir, may I ask why you are inquiring about Master and Madam?”

I quickly thought of an excuse. “Last night, I heard a strange noise, seemingly from their room. I wondered if something had happened.”

“Sir, I’m afraid you must have heard wrong,” Aunt Wang replied cautiously. “Master and Madam passed away many years ago. This mansion has only ever been occupied by Miss and me.”

With that, she bypassed me and left.

What was going on? Was Aunt Wang crazy to say such unrealistic things? There was obviously a butler besides her, and so many servants in the Lin household. What about the dozens of maids and the butler we saw on the first day?

Who was lying?

I felt a strange force seemingly affecting my vision. I hastily activated the ancient mirror’s visual enhancement ability, which restores everything to its truest form.

Upon re-examining the mansion, I was shocked.

It was nothing like the way I had seen it on the first day.

I had thought it was a distinctive mountain-shaped building, but now it appeared as an ordinary high-rise villa.

I scanned the Lin family estate again with the visual enhancement. Indeed, as Aunt Wang said, besides her and us, there was no one else here.

Then who was the butler I had seen before?

Could it have been a hallucination?

My mind filled with questions, I sought out Aunt Wang again, determined to get to the bottom of this.

She had grown impatient with my pestering. “Sir, I beg you, please stop asking about Master and Madam.”

“Miss lost her parents when she was young. You keep bringing it up and it hurts her deeply.”

Since Aunt Wang had said this much, I didn’t press further.

Returning to the girls’ room, I asked Xue Ning about the earlier incident.

Xue Ning looked puzzled. “Zijian, you came in, rambled on, then left. Xiaoxiao and I don’t know what you were talking about.”

From her words, it seemed I had been talking to myself all along.

This was truly bizarre.

Back in the boys’ room, Chen Hao and Feng Qian were united in saying I had been talking to myself and then left.

Could it be that my entire day’s experience was an illusion?

Why? Why didn’t anyone else feel this way?

I even asked Chen Hao if he had seen the butler. Both Chen Hao and Feng Qian were certain there was no such person. When I asked how we got to this room, they said they had followed me.

And those numerous maids and the butler we’d seen on the first day? They hadn’t seen them either.

Chen Hao said only one maid greeted them on the first day—that was Aunt Wang, whom I had just met.

I was lost in thought. Could it be that from the very beginning, everything I experienced was a hallucination?

Then who caused this illusion?

Why was I the only one affected?

With no clue, I decided to play along and shut off the mirror spirit in my left eye.

After disabling the visual enhancement, the butler’s figure appeared before me once more.