"Exactly, although she sometimes habitually catches demons without distinction, once she goes down, she will habituate herself to clearing their names; she doesn't just catch them randomly," the soul spirit said with certainty.
"How do you know?" Mu Anxiao asked, looking at the soul spirit in surprise.
The soul spirit looked at Mu Anxiao and said, "Although you are a liar, you have helped us a lot. I am one of the soul spirits, and they all like to talk about you. Slowly, I also learned a little about you. It's just that I didn't think it was necessary to say anything before."
"That's true," Mu Anxiao said calmly, spitting out two words without surprise.
At the same time, Feng Qishi, remembering the change in Shi Yi after his return, asked, "If I'm not mistaken, you've always been half-believing her, haven't you?"
Shi Yi looked at Feng Qishi, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded: "Yes, I've always held a half-believing attitude towards her."
"Do you believe me now?" Mu Anxiao asked, tilting her head up to look at Shi Yi.
Shi Yi looked at Mu Anxiao's expectant expression and hesitated.
"If you don't believe me..." Mu Anxiao took a step back and impulsively said, "Then quickly get out of my sight. That way, I won't have to think about catching you."
"You really want to catch me," Shi Yi's eyes widened.
"Yes," Mu Anxiao took a step forward, tilting her head up to meet Shi Yi's gaze directly. "I do want to catch you, but I have other things to do right now and no time. We'll talk about it when I have time."
"You... don't.."
Before Feng Qishi could utter two words, Mu Anxiao shot him a look and shouted, "Shut up."
Feng Qishi was startled and quickly closed his mouth tightly.
The three rabbit spirits were also startled and exchanged glances without speaking.
Hong Yan looked at Mu Anxiao's retreating back, then at Shi Yi's disbelieving eyes, and lowered her head.
Seeing Shi Yi's words laced with implication and his half-believing attitude towards Mu Anxiao, the soul spirit instantly lost the desire to say anything.
"Let's go out," Mu Anxiao said, her eyes now devoid of emotion. "A reminder: if you see me here, you must pretend not to know me. If you dare to greet me, I will catch you without mercy."
"I understand," Shi Yi nodded and turned to leave the room.
Mu Anxiao let out a sigh of relief. After Shi Yi closed the door, she turned and said, "See? You all."
The three rabbit spirits nodded. The second rabbit spirit asked, "If we cooperate with you now, will it be less painful to go down?"
Mu Anxiao nodded. "You could say that."
"We agree," they said in unison.
Hong Yan smiled with relief.
Mu Anxiao turned to the soul spirit and said, "It's your turn to perform."
"Okay," the soul spirit nodded, took a few steps forward, and crouched down to begin casting the spell.
Feng Qishi walked to Mu Anxiao's side and asked, "Is it really okay to scare him like this?"
Mu Anxiao lowered her eyelids and said, "He already doesn't trust me. What else can I say? Should I explain?" She added, "In this world, the more explanations, the more trouble. Some things are better left unsaid."
"You have a point there," Hong Yan smiled.
Mu Anxiao looked at Hong Yan and smiled. "I'm not a selfish person. If you want to interact with him, I don't mind."
Hong Yan just smiled and said nothing.
Feng Qishi's mouth twisted. "I started to find that fellow annoying. Now that you've driven him away like this, why do I suddenly feel a bit sorry for him?"
"Sorry," Mu Anxiao repeated, turning to Feng Qishi and smiling. "Since you feel sorry for him, why don't you go find him and give him a big hug? What do you think?"
"I would never do something so disgusting," Feng Qishi grinned, expressing his disdain.
Mu Anxiao chuckled softly.
Shi Yi walked downstairs and came to the counter, asking, "Is there anything you need my help with?"
The proprietress looked at the sullen Shi Yi in surprise and asked, "What happened to you?"
"I finally fell for a girl, and she wants to harm me," Shi Yi sighed. "Tell me, am I miserable?"
"You mean Mu Anxiao?" The proprietress remembered Mu Anxiao's name.
"Who else could it be? Anyway," Shi Yi lowered his head. "It's going to be very difficult for me to find a life partner in this life."
"Indeed. You've been here with me for so long and haven't fancied any woman, not even your own kind. Now that you've finally fancied someone, she's a..." The proprietress smiled. "...prickly one."
"To be honest, I was initially attracted to her celestial body," Shi Yi said softly.
"Why?" the proprietress asked, confused.
"I have no long-term prospects with mortals. My own kind definitely has a connection with the rat realm, but she is different. Her celestial body cannot die, so she could be with me forever. But who knew," Shi Yi gave a bitter smile, "she is such a strong-willed woman."
"So, do you like her now, or her celestial body?" The proprietress couldn't understand Shi Yi.
Shi Yi thought for a moment and said, "I don't know. But... every time I say I like her, for some reason, I become very firm, very firm, so firm that after I say it, I start to doubt myself, do I really like her?"
"Does your heart flutter?" the proprietress asked, pointing to Shi Yi's chest.
Shi Yi touched his chest and said, "Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. It's a very strange feeling."
"Now that you say it, I can't understand it either. However," the proprietress said, "you haven't known her for very long. I think this kind of liking is probably fake. No matter what, she is different from other women."
"Perhaps it's... because she's special," Shi Yi said.
"Perhaps," the proprietress nodded uncertainly.
At the same time, a young man wearing a waiter's uniform, with a smile on his face, approached the counter holding a rag and said, "Proprietress, I'm done wiping."
"Done wiping?" the proprietress said, walking around the counter. "I'll go inspect."
"Certainly," the young man replied, glancing at Shi Yi. "Why do you look so glum?"
"That's none of your business," Shi Yi said, glaring at the young man and walking towards the small door leading to the back courtyard.
The young man pouted and turned back to look at the proprietress with a playful grin. "How is it, proprietress? Is it clean?"
The proprietress bent down and wiped the table surface with the tip of her index finger, then stood up and smiled. "Not bad, it's clean and has no smell."
Hearing the proprietress praise him, the young man smiled happily and said, "Proprietress, since that's the case, can you consider reducing my work period by half a month? I wipe it so cleanly every day, what do you think?"
Upon hearing this, the proprietress put on a stern face. "I knew it, you scamp. All your eagerness was for this."