"I don't wish for this speculation to come true, but I must know what the truth is."
Ye Tiancheng's expression was grim as he spoke, enunciating each word, "In your opinion, are there any signs of disguise on her?"
Long Miaomiao and the little fox were both stunned into silence.
The little fox, somewhat confused by Ye Tiancheng's sudden line of questioning, hesitantly asked, "Big Brother, why do you suddenly think this way?"
After all, they had rescued Hou Mingzhu quite some time ago. Ye Tiancheng hadn't sensed anything amiss before; had something made him suddenly notice something abnormal?
If Hou Mingzhu was a fake, then the Ye Qingcheng they had rescued, what was she truly...
The little fox couldn't help but glance at Ye Qingcheng, who was clinging to Long Miaomiao's side as if completely unaware of what was happening.
Although Ye Qingcheng had been inexplicably clingy towards Long Miaomiao lately, in the little fox's perception, he felt Ye Qingcheng shouldn't have been impersonated.
Ye Tiancheng wasn't avoiding Ye Qingcheng now, so Ye Qingcheng should be real?
While conversing with Ye Tiancheng and the others, the little fox's mind raced, trying to deduce any unusual clues.
He believed that Ye Tiancheng wouldn't speak without reason. Ye Tiancheng was undoubtedly the person who least wished for this speculation to be true, so he must have discovered something to say this.
Upon hearing the little fox's question, Ye Tiancheng rubbed his temples, clearly troubled.
He replied, "I also don't wish to speculate like this. It's just that I've discovered some inexplicable points and sensed suspicious aspects. Therefore, for everyone's safety, I must verify this. I don't want to mistake any unidentified individuals for Mingzhu."
"There were too many troublesome matters before, and I haven't been in close contact with Mingzhu recently. If I hadn't suddenly sensed something abnormal, I might not have discovered these issues."
After Ye Tiancheng posed his question, Long Miaomiao began to recall all her impressions of Hou Mingzhu when she met her. Simultaneously, she extended a wisp of her spiritual sense to follow the departing Hou Mingzhu.
However, no matter how Long Miaomiao observed, she couldn't find any signs of disguise on Hou Mingzhu.
Yet, Long Miaomiao wouldn't dismiss Ye Tiancheng's speculation based on this. Having witnessed too much, she was even less inclined to believe that Ye Tiancheng would bring up such a matter without cause. Ye Tiancheng must have sensed something to speak this way.
Therefore, Long Miaomiao shook her head at Ye Tiancheng, telling him, "I haven't found anything amiss for now, but I will continue to observe and inform you immediately if I detect anything unusual."
Ye Tiancheng himself couldn't verify it. After all, when conversing with the current Hou Mingzhu, she spoke clearly about past events, recalling details accurately.
Even when discussing more private matters that only Ye Tiancheng and Hou Mingzhu should have known, the current Hou Mingzhu could recount them.
Ye Tiancheng couldn't reach a conclusion.
This matter ultimately had to be handed over to Long Miaomiao.
Ye Tiancheng was unwilling to think the worst, but he also didn't believe that such an intuition would arise without reason. For people like them, intuition was a crucial element, capable of saving their lives at critical moments.
He then fixed his gaze on Ye Qingcheng.
Ye Qingcheng had been listening to the entire conversation. Although Ye Qingcheng was young and might not fully grasp or comprehend many things, she possessed basic understanding and should be able to comprehend what they were discussing.
So, what did Ye Qingcheng think?
Because Ye Qingcheng seemed less close to Hou Mingzhu than before, even showing a hint of aversion, Ye Tiancheng had a feeling that Ye Qingcheng might know something but was unable to express it due to her young age.
Ye Tiancheng crouched down slightly, preparing to say something to his daughter, when he saw his adorable daughter gently tug his sleeve, her expression timid and uneasy.
She softly asked Ye Tiancheng, "Mommy, is she really fake?"
This indicated she had truly understood what they were talking about.
Ye Tiancheng hesitated. He hadn't fully grasped the situation himself and couldn't be entirely certain, so he didn't make any definitive statements. He simply replied to Ye Qingcheng, "Daddy doesn't know either. We need to verify it to understand what's happening."
Hearing this, Ye Qingcheng bit her lower lip, as if finally making up her mind. She suddenly looked up and earnestly at her father, "I, I know..."
Ye Tiancheng's heart skipped a beat. He quickly gripped his daughter's shoulders with both hands, urgently questioning, "Qingcheng? What do you know?"
Ye Qingcheng was slightly startled by Ye Tiancheng's reaction. However, he was still her trusted father, and in her eyes, this father seemed more real than the mother she had seen. Thus, Ye Qingcheng managed to calm herself down relatively quickly.
With her large dark eyes looking at Ye Tiancheng timidly, she replied, "Mommy... came out of the mirror."
"Out of the mirror...?" Ye Tiancheng's hands loosened.
Everyone present was momentarily stunned. They seemed to understand Ye Qingcheng's meaning, yet couldn't fully grasp it.
This was because Ye Qingcheng hadn't explained it very clearly.
The little fox also crouched down, looking at Ye Qingcheng, and tried to soothe her gently, "Qingcheng, don't be afraid. Can you tell us carefully what happened? What do you mean by 'Mommy came out of the mirror'?"
Ye Qingcheng and the little fox had a decent relationship. After all, he had helped Ye Tiancheng look after his daughter. Whether it was the boy version of the little fox from before or the adult version now, their relationship was quite good. Ye Qingcheng liked and trusted the little fox, so she listened to him.
She mustered her courage and tried her best to describe the events in a way she could explain clearly.
Ye Qingcheng whispered, "Mommy looked in the mirror, and the mommy in the mirror came out, and Mommy disappeared."
This was a rather childlike description, but fortunately, it was somewhat understandable. Ye Tiancheng and the others vaguely grasped Ye Qingcheng's meaning.
The little fox pondered and asked Ye Qingcheng, "Qingcheng, do you mean that when your mommy was looking in the mirror, the mommy in the mirror came out of the mirror, but the mommy who was looking in the mirror disappeared? Is that right?"
He needed to reconfirm whether Ye Qingcheng's words meant exactly what they literally conveyed.
Ye Qingcheng thought for a few seconds after hearing this, then nodded, "Yes."
Ye Tiancheng's expression darkened, and he also asked Ye Qingcheng, "Do you know where Mommy looked in the mirror? What kind of mirror was it?"
Ye Qingcheng replied, "It was the mirror in the washroom where Mommy took me to brush my teeth and wash my face in the morning. It was the mirror in the washroom of the house where we lived with Uncle Fatty before."
At this, everyone finally understood.
Ye Qingcheng was such a young child, and although she didn't understand much, witnessing such an event firsthand, even if the mommy who later emerged from the mirror looked exactly the same, it was still a terrifying experience for a child and would naturally scare her.
Ye Tiancheng meticulously recalled all the previous events and pondered Hou Mingzhu's situation, his face extremely grim, "Mirrors again..."
The little fox was taken aback, "Right, mirrors."
In an instant, both Ye Tiancheng and the little fox looked towards Long Miaomiao.
Long Miaomiao was still contemplating what could possess such an ability to replace the real with a reflection, deceiving even those closest to the original person. When Ye Tiancheng and the little fox suddenly stared at her, she was utterly bewildered.
"Why are you looking at me? What's wrong?"
Long Miaomiao didn't understand the intricacies and asked directly when she didn't understand.
Seeing that Ye Tiancheng remained silent, the little fox took over and replied to Long Miaomiao, "When we trespassed into your water territory back then, there was a mirror hanging by the stairs in that guesthouse. But after we entered that space, the mirror by the stairs disappeared, and everything in the space was a reflection."
"Now, Qingcheng has mentioned mirrors again, so we thought of that time."
Long Miaomiao didn't understand what the little fox was saying at all, her expression becoming even more perplexed, "Mirrors? What mirrors?"
Seeing Long Miaomiao appear completely clueless, the little fox found it extremely strange.
He asked Long Miaomiao, "You don't know? When we were speculating back then, we thought that mirror might be a portal node to the space, intentionally placed there."
Long Miaomiao immediately shook her head, "Of course, I don't know. I've already told you, any place in that entire village, even within a large area outside the village, can easily enter my water territory. How could that so-called mirror be set up by me? Let alone reflections, I don't deal with such fancy stuff."
"Huh?" Hearing this, the little fox was a bit confused.
If it wasn't Long Miaomiao who did it, then who could it be? And how could the owner of that space, Long Miaomiao, be completely unaware of this matter?
Ye Tiancheng, however, fell into deep thought. After listening to Long Miaomiao and the little fox, he suddenly spoke, "It's not necessarily something Miaomiao did. Moreover, the space we entered, the very first space, might not be Miaomiao's space. It could be another space."
Long Miaomiao didn't understand, "That entire area is my territory. Where would another space come from?"
The little fox also nodded, looking somewhat confused, wanting to hear what Ye Tiancheng would say. It seemed Ye Tiancheng had already figured something out.
Seeing that neither of them quite understood, Ye Tiancheng explained, "Spaces can be layered. In the same location, multiple spaces can be superimposed. Perhaps, the owner of the space we entered first simply connected their space to a part of Miaomiao's space."
"Maybe when you, little fox, broke through those formations, we happened to be at that connection point and coincidentally entered Miaomiao's space, but we didn't realize it and thought it was the same space."
"The space we were in before, everything we saw was a reflection. Later, when we entered that forest, since it was our first time there, we couldn't distinguish whether what we saw was a reflection or not, could we?"
The little fox suddenly understood, his eyes widening in realization.
"It seems so. After we left that stone chamber, we saw the forest behind us, and I thought we hadn't left yet, so I continued to calculate the exit route without verifying anything else."