A mysterious realm descends, and I defy fate in comics.

Chapter 22 Eavesdropping

Jiang Xingni was seriously considering the possibility of throwing him off.

"What if I hadn't agreed?" Jiang Xing raised an eyebrow and looked down at Pei Zhaoye, who was being held and swayed in mid-air.

Is he really going to stay in his room and not leave? Jiang Xing looked at him suspiciously.

Pei Zhaoye also looked up at Jiang Xingni's eyes.

His brief period of obedience didn't last long, and then he said with particular delight, "Of course, I'll go out through your room door!"

Pei Zhaoye said this in an extremely cheerful tone.

To be honest, for a moment, Jiang Xingni really hoped that Pei Zhaoye was lying, but Jiang Xingni's intuition told him not to call the police; he genuinely thought so.

Jiang Xingni was really having a headache.

She didn't believe Pei Zhaoye hadn't noticed the expression on the middle-aged man's face as he looked at her.

Jiang Xingni, a living, breathing person who knew nothing about the world beneath the veil, was already suspicious enough to be involved in the protagonist group's mission.

And now, Pei Zhaoye actually wants to abduct her.

Jiang Xingni calmly thought that Pei Zhaoye was afraid that she wasn't suspected enough, and that Lin Hongguang would really suspect that she had cast some kind of spell on the main characters!

"What a hassle," she muttered, then narrowed her eyes and scanned the room. "What's your plan? — Don't tell me you don't have one."

The smile on Pei Zhaoye's face, whether genuine or not, finally disappeared.

His purple eyes stared at Jiang Xingni. He blinked and said in a deliberately lighthearted tone, "Because we overheard Mr. Lin talking to someone else."

Jiang Xing raised an eyebrow but did not interrupt him. Pei Zhaoye then calmly summarized what had happened.

Xiao Jiming and his group had already prepared to continue their investigation into the "Wordless Book" while they were in the car, but according to their initial plan, they did not intend to start so soon.

But while they were fighting the shadow puppets in Nanshan Village, outside the village, in the marketplace, hundreds of people were influenced by the wordless book and by the shadow puppets.

"How are those victims doing now?" Lin Hongguang asked, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window with his back to the main characters.

He Jingtong found a good spot and hid in the shadows of the ceiling. He quickly and carefully used the reflection in the glass to discern Lin Hongguang's lip shape and read his lips.

Although one can interpret what Lin Hongguang is saying by reading his lips, He Jingtong has no way of knowing what's on the other end of the phone.

"I'll install a listening device on his phone sooner or later," He Jingtong said in a low voice, unusually annoyed.

Pei Zhaoye smiled slightly, took out his tablet computer, pressed the communicator on his ear, and replied, "Really? Mr. Lin won't be too happy about that."

"And..." the boy drawled, his tone slightly arrogant. "Even if you don't pretend, I can still hack in."

"Tsk." He Jingtong scoffed. "Superpower."

He floated lightly down the path he had come from, and in a few seconds he jumped down from the ceiling and landed next to Pei Zhaoye.

Song Juexiao and Xiao Jiming stood around him, waiting to hear what would be said on the other end of the phone.

Before Pei Zhaoye could adjust for long, the voice from the other end of the phone came through the communicators they were wearing.

"Their time is running out. The influence of shadow puppetry is too great. I have already contacted the relevant departments to ban the video, but... you know, it has already spread without our notice."

"How many victims are there?" Lin Hongguang asked calmly.

"There are several hundred people in the mall, and in other places... the exact number is still undetermined, but there are probably several hundred more. The person who knows the most about this unusual phenomenon is Xiao..."

Before the other person could finish speaking, Lin Hongguang interrupted him: "But they are still a group of children."

The person on the other end of the phone wanted to say something, but could only utter a few monotonous syllables before Lin Hongguang interrupted him again: "They shouldn't be involved in Class B anomalies in the first place. I've always held this view."

"Besides, aren't there any adults among the superhumans?" Lin Hongguang's tone was full of accusation. "Does a whole group of students have to take responsibility?"

The person opposite him fell silent, then sighed after a long while, agreeing with Lin Hongguang's opinion.

*

Jiang Xingni listened to Pei Zhaoye's retelling as he strolled among the high-rise buildings.

Pei Zhaoye was so surprised that she paused for a moment while relaying her words. She looked down at Pei Zhaoye and laughed.

At this moment, Jiang Xingni was standing on a thin decorative wall at the edge of the building, still clutching Pei Zhaoye's hoodie hood in her hand, the wind from the high-rise building making Jiang Xingni's hair fly wildly.

However, Jiang Xingni took every step very steadily, without hesitation or making a single mistake.

"I thought you would be more..." Finally reaching the rooftop of another building, Pei Zhaoye straightened up—although Jiang Xingni was holding Pei Zhaoye's hat as they walked, Pei Zhaoye was not actually suspended in mid-air.

Jiang Xing raised an eyebrow silently, turned around, and wondered what kind of evaluation Pei Zhaoye would give.

"Be more stable." Pei Zhaoye carefully observed her expression and spoke cautiously. "Although He Jingtong does the same thing, he usually uses his special abilities to assist him."

Unfortunately, my half-baked superpower really can't do that.

But Jiang Xingni certainly couldn't say it directly.

It's unclear whether readers outside the comics will be able to see this scene, but as long as Jiang Xingni speaks out, he will still be talking to one of the main characters and discussing the limitations related to his special ability.

Jiang Xingni had not forgotten the comments he had seen on the forum before.

What if your special ability could have been further developed, but Jiang Xingni's words completely cut off its development path?

Jiang Xingni would never do something so self-destructive.

The little girl curled the corners of her mouth into a smile, then looked at Pei Zhaoye and said, "Obviously, I'm better than him."

Pei Zhaoye was surprised by Jiang Xingni's answer. He quickly took out his phone and recorded the conversation, then uploaded it to the cloud.

Jiang Xingni was too fast to react before Pei Zhaoye finished his combo attack.

Jiang Xingni was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure whether to ask, "When did you start recording?" or "Why did you back up this sentence to the cloud?"

Pei Zhaoye gave Jiang Xingni a smile: "Guess? This isn't exactly a lie, it's just that I didn't give a direct answer."

Jiang Xingni: ...

She didn't seem to care about the answer to that question, but instead continued, "So, what's the plan?"

When the conversation turned to business, Pei Zhaoye's smile quickly faded, and he briefly explained the division of labor they had finally agreed upon.

—Although Lin Hongguang's attitude was firm, he did not recommend that the main characters accept this mission.

But his words, when they reached the four of them, seemed to say: This mission needs you! Someone needs you!

So what are we waiting for? Without a word of objection, Pei Zhaoye was quickly taken by He Jingtong to Jiang Xingni's room to be recruited.