Looking at the soul that drifted out from the flower, Gu Zhiqi fell silent for a moment, then heard the spectral figure speak and ask a question. With Gu Zhiqi raising her eyebrows, she nodded under the figure’s watchful gaze.
"Can you really see me?" When the apparition saw Gu Zhiqi nodded, joy colored its tone, and it spoke again in disbelief to make sure.
So many days had passed with no one able to see her.
She had thought that from now on she would have to live inside that Purple Flower.
Unexpectedly, when she woke up, she came out from the flower and found herself not in the woods of Cloud Mist Mountain but in... a hotel?
Gu Zhiqi did not reply to her question but instead looked at the apparition with a languid interest and asked, "What’s your name?"
Upon hearing Gu Zhiqi’s question, the apparition’s joy retracted a bit, and a hint of wariness tinged its eyes, "Who... who are you, and why can you see me?"
Being able to come out from the flower did indeed bring her joy, but she was precautionary towards the person who could actually see her.
Is she the envoy of soul reaping?
"Name?" Gu Zhiqi repeated the question about the name, her voice casual and laid-back.
Though the sound of her voice carried no harmful intent, the apparition felt an inexplicable sense of oppression upon hearing it, as if an invisible pressure was bearing down on her, prompting her to shrink back unconsciously, the wariness in her eyes intensifying, "Who are you, really?"
Was it possible that if she disclosed her name, her soul would be taken away?
But that wasn’t right, there were still so many things left undone.
"You should know that if I can release you from the flower, I can also put you back inside," Gu Zhiqi said with an unchanging gaze and a listless expression as she looked at the apparition.
Upon hearing this, the apparition’s face changed immediately.
Gu Zhiqi continued unhurriedly, "So, you’d better answer my questions honestly."
The apparition trembled slightly upon hearing this, and after a silence of two or three seconds, she began to speak in a low voice, "I... my name is Meng Xiao."
Upon hearing this, Gu Zhiqi’s brows furrowed slightly, a deep thoughtfulness coloring her eyes.
Seeing Gu Zhiqi’s furrowed brows, Meng Xiao took an instinctive step back. She discovered that even the slightest change in the expression of the person before her could incite a dreadful feeling in her.
Only when she was slightly farther away from Gu Zhiqi did Meng Xiao carefully ask, "Am I dead already? Are you the envoy of soul reaping?"
Gu Zhiqi didn’t speak, and Meng Xiao took her silence for affirmation, her expression turning grim, sadness filling her eyes as she continued, "Before you take my soul away, could you please grant me one last wish?"
Finally coming back to her senses, Gu Zhiqi did not answer Meng Xiao’s question. Instead, she looked at Meng Xiao with significance and said, "There’s a mirror in the bathroom. Why don’t you go see what you look like first? After that, come back and tell me who you are."
She furrowed her brow lightly, confusion clouding her eyes, and muttered in a lost tone, "Could it be, I’ve remembered my own name wrong?"
Though she said this, she was already floating towards the bathroom.
A few seconds later, a scream came from the bathroom.
Gu Zhiqi seemed to have expected this and lightly raised an eyebrow, her expression largely unchanged.
Soon, Meng Xiao floated out of the bathroom, her long hair a tangled mess, her already pale face turning even paler.
Distraught, she floated up to Gu Zhiqi, trembling as she looked at Gu Zhiqi, "You, I, why... why isn’t the person in the mirror me?"
Gu Zhiqi was silent for two seconds, then spoke to Meng Xiao, "Could there be a possibility that the person in the mirror is the real you?"