Chapter 357
Chapter 357 Cunning Scheme
Ling Mo really had this idea.
He wanted to tell the whole world that Xinyan was his.
If he truly accomplished that step, the Summer Family would most likely have no way to refuse him, right? After all, once everyone knew Summer Xinyan belonged to him, the rumors would eventually turn into truth.
Like that time he was called a ‘kept man.’
Speaking of which, he had looked into who spread that rumor, but so far, there were no leads.
Cough, getting off track.
As for Xinyan, while he did have these thoughts, he wouldn’t use this to blackmail the Summer family; that would only make Xinyan resentful toward him, and his pride wouldn’t allow him to attain his goals in such a despicable manner.
He wanted to take Xinyan home openly and legitimately, have the Summer Family acknowledge him, and prevent anyone else from spreading rumors.
That was the goal he had been striving for all along.
However, that didn’t stop him from indulging in some wicked humor at times like this.
Xinyan seemed unable to handle such straightforward love declarations; perhaps it was a sign of her shyness?
He rather enjoyed teasing her like this.
Fortunately, he also knew when to get serious. After a brief quiet moment, he said with a smile, “Speaking of which, that question those fakes asked reminded me of a folk tale.”
Summer Xinyan instinctively asked, “What story?”
“It is said that in ancient times, when a fox was skilled enough, it would want to transform into human form and needed to borrow human energy to do so. At that point, they would place a green leaf on their heads and find a human to ask, ‘Do I look like a person?’ If the person answered yes, the fox would break through and become human.” As he spoke, Ling Mo found himself laughing, “This does seem reminiscent of our current situation.”
He had come across this tale during a boring moment, and now it popped back into his mind.
However, the people here probably weren’t in the mood to provide serious answers to such questions.
But after hearing his story, Summer Xinyan paused.
She remembered!
The fox!
That mountain village incident! One of the monsters was indeed a fox!
—Memories are strange; sometimes you struggle to recall something but with a trigger, even just a tiny clue, it all floods back to you.
Summer Xinyan was in that situation; she recalled—although she hadn’t paid much attention to the mountain village incident itself, she had followed news about the monsters, and among them was a report about a fox monster.
She remembered that the monster fox had stolen a human’s memory upon its birth, which just so happened to include this story. It piqued the fox’s interest, prompting it to frequently use its abilities to ask travelers this question.
That fox’s power was transformation, capable of altering any host into the form it desired—this host could even be a living person. So, it not only could confuse the genuine for imitation, but also could create a false sense of reality, of course, only if the host was completely controlled or willingly cooperating.
To put it simply, the fox didn’t have strong offensive power, but it could leverage its skills to execute strong strategies.
For instance, in its previous life, the fox’s owner used it to carry out a sneaky plan, having the fox transform into an enemy, then going to “deal” with that enemy’s girlfriend.
This became a source of amusement for many back then. Summer Xinyan had taken note of that fox because of this, including its origins—coming from the mountain village incident and being one of the first tamed monsters.
Moreover, besides the fox, she also remembered another monster from the mountain village, one based on a dog, with an ability of spatial distortion—similar to teleportation, it could scatter all within its range while making everyone believe they were still in their original spots. This phenomenon is known as spatial phantoms among spatial ability users, not just an illusion; it could even mimic the surroundings of the original space, though it wouldn’t last long.
That’s about all she could recall, but she was certain there were more than just these two monsters in the mountain village; otherwise, the Ability Bureau wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.
Still, these two were enough to be helpful.
At that moment, their surroundings began to transform, as if ignited paper was turning to ash, revealing the true terrain underneath.
Ling Mo instinctively shielded Summer Xinyan, saying, “Be careful.”
“Don’t worry too much, I think I know what’s happening,” Summer Xinyan replied, opening the intercom to share information about the fox and dog with others, also letting Ling Mo in on the situation.
However, before she could finish, a shrill voice erupted from the intercom: “Ahhhhh! We have a situation over here! There’s a monster… Ahhhhh!”
“What’s going on?!” Lin Nan’s voice quickly followed, “Zhang Heng?! What happened?!”
There was no response.
Lin Nan cursed softly, then said, “Everyone check your locators! Is anyone near Team Four?! Hurry and see what’s happening—stay safe!”
“We’re closest to Team Four,” a voice from another team chimed in, “We’re heading over now.”
Ling Mo paused, “Those are our people.”
Summer Xinyan checked the locator, “Not far from here. Let’s go see.”
“Okay!” Ling Mo nodded, but as he saw Summer Xinyan about to leave, he suddenly called out, “Wait.”
“What is it?”
“It’ll be too slow to walk over; I have a faster way.” Ling Mo smiled.
Summer Xinyan: “?”
Before she could ask, Ling Mo suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, “Hold on tight.”
Summer Xinyan furrowed her brows slightly, “You’re…”
But her sentence was cut off by the sound of boosters suddenly firing up on Ling Mo’s back.
Then, with a whoosh, Ling Mo took to the skies…
—And his battle armor even extended two straps to secure her armor in place, and judging by the design, he likely planned this in advance. Only in this face-to-face embrace could he firmly restrain her without letting her escape.
Summer Xinyan: “…”
She felt like Ling Mo was being deliberate.
It had to be intentional.
However, before she could find the right moment to complain about Ling Mo’s scheming actions, they found themselves facing Team Four’s situation—
A monster that looked about five meters tall… with six arms…
Even Ling Mo was taken aback: “…Is that a monster or a demon?”
Summer Xinyan: “…I don’t know.”
