Chapter 67: The Child (Part 4)

Crack, crack, crack...
The blade trembled incessantly, and the bone claws radiating a bone-chilling frost hovered right above his pupils.
Truth was completely paralyzed. Zhou Ke hesitated for a moment, ultimately choosing not to activate [Guardian's Bounty].
Although it should be able to provide defense for ten seconds, there was little guarantee that Truth would recover within that timeframe.
Once the time expired, the predicament would still remain.
However, besides that, he had another item at his disposal.
"I choose you, go, Doorbell Ghost." With lightning speed, Zhou Ke freed one hand, grabbed the white cloth in his pocket, and punctured it through with his fingers.
A shadowy figure drifted into view, its cascading hair veering over its face. Without the slightest warning, the ghost materialized behind the skeletal wraith, its ten fingers—their nails caked in thick mud—firmly gripping the skeleton's skull.
A crisp snap echoed through the air as the skeletal wraith's ghastly white head was twisted one hundred and eighty degrees.
Having fulfilled its mission, the phantom of the Doorbell Ghost melted into the air just as it had arrived.
The skeletal wraith ceased its attacks on Zhou Ke. Its two bony claws cradled its nearly detached head as it slowly retreated back into the earth.
The bone arms protruding from various parts of the house dissipated, restoring the warm, cozy little home to its original state.
"A D-grade item gone just like that. There's a sort of extravagant feeling about spending tens of thousands in a single second."
Escaping the jaws of death, Zhou Ke sat up and looked at the white cloth in his hand, its spiritual energy now completely dissipated, feeling a sharp pang of heartache.
Wen Xiaoxiao hurried down the stairs and walked over to Zhou Ke's side without a word.
She wouldn't ask foolish questions like "Are you okay?", because it was blatantly obvious that Zhou Ke was far from okay.
"The injuries aren't severe, no fatal wounds, but it needs immediate hemostasis," she said after inspecting his wounds.
"Ah, no fatal wounds for now, but the next time might be a different story." Zhou Ke rested his arm on his arched knee and replied.
His gaze shifted toward the little girl who had followed Wen Xiaoxiao downstairs, looking completely innocent and clueless.
"Daddy, Mommy, are you playing magic tricks? That's so cool! Can you teach Youyou?"
The little girl named Youyou puckered her little lips, wearing an innocent expression that betrayed nothing unusual.
Yet, judging by the fact that she showed no fear upon seeing a bleeding man, nor was she affected in the least by the skeletal wraith, she was definitely not as simple as she appeared.
"I think the problem lies with her," Zhou Ke whispered near Wen Xiaoxiao's ear as she helped him up.

Wen Xiaoxiao understood the implications and nodded imperceptibly.
"The moment you finished questioning her parents, the wraith appeared," Zhou Ke continued, voicing his conjecture. "There are two possibilities: first, we are not allowed to inquire about things related to her parents; second, we are not allowed to deny that we are her parents."
"I'm more inclined to believe the latter, because ever since we met, she has consistently addressed us as Mom and Dad. I think this is a subtle hint."
Never expecting Zhou Ke to gather information with such high efficiency, Wen Xiaoxiao committed every word to memory.
After a brief moment of contemplation, she felt a slight sense of awkwardness: "You mean, we have to try our best to play the roles of her parents?"
There was no rejection in her tone; she was not a fool who couldn't tell the priorities apart.
"Let's follow her lead for now, or else the skeletal wraith will appear frequently, and we won't live long enough to find new clues."
Zhou Ke was helped onto the sofa, shards of glass from his hair scattering all over the floor. "We can try communicating with her to see if there are any other clues."
Wen Xiaoxiao nodded. This was her first time encountering a sapient-type [Door], and she lacked experience.
Rather than blindly acting on her own, it was better to honestly follow her teammate's instructions.
At the very least, Zhou Ke's performance inside the room had given her a profound sense of security.
"Sit tight, I'll go get the medical kit for you."
Just as Wen Xiaoxiao was about to leave, Zhou Ke grabbed her by the arm, cast a glance toward the little girl, and said, "Isn't this the perfect opportunity to communicate?"
Both of them cast wary glances toward the little girl.
Zhou Ke spoke first: "Youyou, Dad got hurt. Do you remember where the family medical kit is kept?"
His acting skills were remarkably seasoned; lying came as naturally to him as drinking water, without a shred of hesitation or awkwardness.
It even made Wen Xiaoxiao privately suspect whether this guy might have actually kidnapped a little girl before.
"Youyou?" The little girl tilted her head in confusion. "Daddy, don't you usually call me Xiao Youzi? Only Mommy calls me Youyou."
The moment those words fell, a familiar, terrifying burst of resentment flooded the house once again, as if the skeletal wraith might materialize at any second.
The corners of Zhou Ke's eyes twitched slightly as he muttered inwardly: "Where is that biological father of yours who gives out random nicknames? I'm going to peel him like a pomelo."
Seeing that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, Wen Xiaoxiao hurriedly chimed in to salvage the situation: "Dad just bumped his head, so his mind isn't entirely clear. It's completely normal for him to talk nonsense."
Perhaps finding this a reasonable explanation, the oppressive resentment slowly receded, and the house returned to a tranquil atmosphere.
"Oh, so that's how it is." Youyou broke into a joyful smile, her bright eyes rolling around mischievously. "As for the medical kit, Youyou doesn't remember very well either. Mommy's the one who organizes everything in the house."

"Though, I remember whenever Dad used to be all red and covered in blood, he would always head straight for the bathroom. The medical kit must be in the bathroom!"
Hearing this, the two of them looked in the direction Youyou was pointing. Right beside the staircase leading to the second floor, an ordinary-looking bathroom stood unobtrusively.
"Being covered in red blood... alright, we get it. Whoever goes into that bathroom is a goner," Zhou Ke muttered under his breath.
"I'll go check the kitchen," Wen Xiaoxiao said, turning around and walking into the kitchen right next to the bathroom.
At that moment, only Zhou Ke, the unfathomable Youyou, and a floor full of glass shards remained in the living room.
Zhou Ke watched as Youyou familiarly settled down beside the sofa, maintaining a certain distance as he asked:
"Little Youzi, Dad seems to have lost some of his memories. Can you tell Dad what I usually do around this time?"
Confirming that their deduction about roleplaying as parents was correct, he intended to use his head injury as an excuse to probe for some intelligence.
This would help them play their roles better and prevent them from giving themselves away through forms of address like they had just done.
"Umm..." Youyou tilted her neck upward, glanced at the circular clock on the wall, and replied vaguely, "I don't know. Daddy usually doesn't get off work and come home until nine o'clock at night."
"Off work at nine." Zhou Ke acquired a new piece of intelligence. At the same time, he noticed that the hour hand of the clock pointed to "2," while the minute hand pointed to "6."
Combining this with the bright sunshine outside the window, it should currently be around two-thirty in the afternoon.
"What about Mom? What does Mom do at home?" Zhou Ke probed further on Wen Xiaoxiao's behalf.
"Mommy would make Youyou stay in the room to study, and then she would just keep walking back and forth outside the room."
"Just walking back and forth, like that?"
Zhou Ke faltered slightly as he spoke. He noticed that Youyou's entire face was shifting.
Although subtle, it was undeniably and continuously changing.
The corners of her eyebrows, her lips, her nose, and her cheekbones were all shifting, and various features were fusing together, increasingly bearing the resemblance of both Zhou Ke and Wen Xiaoxiao.
As if she truly were their child.