Ou Xiaoxue's current attitude, whether it was a pretense or not, had achieved the desired effect for Ye Tiancheng and the little fox. After exchanging a glance and confirming their thoughts, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox averted their gazes once more.
Ye Tiancheng was the first to respond to Ou Xiaoxue, and since Ou Xiaoxue was now conversing with Ye Tiancheng, he was also the one to answer her.
Ye Tiancheng said to Ou Xiaoxue, "We're a bit tired after returning today, the evil spirits we dealt with were quite tricky. Fortunately, everything went smoothly in the end."
"There's no rush to ask questions. Let Ye Li ask you later, it'll be good practice for my brother's abilities, haha, you don't mind, do you?"
Ou Xiaoxue certainly had no objections and replied, "I don't mind at all, no problem. But I think Ye Li is already very capable. I'll cooperate with you and tell you everything I can remember."
Ye Tiancheng didn't want to seem too deliberate, so he just nodded and said, "Don't push yourself too hard, don't feel too much pressure. If you can't remember, we can try other methods."
Ou Xiaoxue felt that Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were truly kind people. She nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, I understand, I get it all."
Thus, the conversation between Ou Xiaoxue, Ye Tiancheng, and the little fox temporarily concluded.
Ye Tiancheng went to cook. His cooking skills had improved greatly during this time, and he could now make very good food.
However, this time, no one ordered a feast. Ye Tiancheng was also too lazy to make things complicated, so he set up a bonfire and planned to have a barbecue. He cut some meat, marinated it, and prepared some vegetables. Vegetables could also be grilled, especially corn on the cob, which was very fragrant when roasted.
Ye Tiancheng was busy by himself. Both Ou Xiaoxue and the little fox had thought about helping him, but Ye Tiancheng did not agree.
Ou Xiaoxue was not very skilled, and Ye Tiancheng feared she would cause trouble. Moreover, he didn't want to order a girl around. As for the little fox, Ye Tiancheng told him to go read books and continue improving his abilities.
Ou Xiaoxue felt like laughing when she heard Ye Tiancheng's instructions to the little fox. She thought that even if the little fox wasn't reading, he was still like her in the past, like a student being urged to study by their parents. However, Ou Xiaoxue went to school for classes, while the little fox was different; Ye Tiancheng wanted him to study metaphysics.
However, as she thought this, Ou Xiaoxue's expression turned somber after a while.
This was because Ou Xiaoxue thought of her parents. Both of her parents had already left her, and she was left alone in this world, an orphan for no reason.
Ye Tiancheng did not notice Ou Xiaoxue's emotional change. He was focused on his task. Barbecuing was not a particularly complicated job. As long as one could control the heat well, cook the food properly without burning it, and had basic cooking skills, it wouldn't be too difficult to make it taste good.
The meat was quickly marinated. Ye Tiancheng skewered it all and placed it over the bonfire. The sticks for skewering the meat were not hard to find, as there were plenty of trees around, allowing for easy material selection. For Ye Tiancheng, this was even simpler than cooking.
Ye Tiancheng did not forget about the vegetables either. However, vegetables were not as suitable for grilling. Except for corn on the cob, others needed to be grilled later. The priority was given to the meat.
The grilled meat was the most enticing. While it was being roasted, the fat from the meat dripped into the bonfire, making crackling sounds. The grilled meat also sizzled, and the aroma of the roasted meat was instantly released, wafting everywhere.
Fortunately, they were in an illusion created by the Nuwa Stone. There were no wild beasts here. Otherwise, if this aroma drifted out, it might have attracted some large predators.
Ou Xiaoxue was still feeling melancholic, reminiscing about her past with her parents. Suddenly, a wisp of roasted meat aroma silently wafted into her nostrils, instantly capturing her attention. Ou Xiaoxue followed the direction of the scent and saw Ye Tiancheng grilling meat by the bonfire.
So, Ou Xiaoxue walked towards Ye Tiancheng and exclaimed, "Wow! Brother Ye, your cooking skills are really amazing. The grilled meat smells so good, it's making me crave it."
Hearing Ou Xiaoxue say this, Ye Tiancheng smiled and replied, "You're too kind. My skills are just average. Barbecuing itself isn't that difficult, and it's easy to make it taste good."
"The ones I'm grilling now are almost ready. You can wait a moment longer, and you'll have something to eat soon. Xiaoxue, could you do me a favor and call the little fox out? It's almost time to eat."
Ou Xiaoxue readily agreed, "Okay, I'll go call Ye Li out for barbecue now."
After Ou Xiaoxue called the little fox out, Ye Tiancheng asked for their opinions, adjusted the seasoning, and then divided the roasted meat into two portions, giving one to the little fox and the other to Ou Xiaoxue.
Ye Tiancheng couldn't eat right away. This was the downside of being a chef; it was hard work. Unless he stole bites while cooking, he would be the last one to eat. He had to continue sitting by the bonfire and making more barbecue.
The little fox sat next to Ye Tiancheng and occasionally offered a skewer of barbecue to Ye Tiancheng's mouth, so he wouldn't have to go hungry while making food for them.
Ye Tiancheng cooperated, eating a skewer whenever the little fox offered one, and focusing on grilling when there were none.
As the little fox and Ou Xiaoxue sat by the bonfire eating barbecue, they began to chat.
The little fox asked about Ou Xiaoxue's past experiences. Ye Tiancheng had already prepared her, mentioning that he would ask her some questions, so Ou Xiaoxue was mentally ready. When the little fox brought up these matters, she began to chat with him.
The little fox primarily asked about her experiences in the two days after escaping the villa and before meeting Ye Tiancheng.
The little fox gave a reasonable and seemingly normal explanation, "It's quite important to ask about your experiences during those two days. I feel it's necessary to ask for details now, mainly to determine through your narration if we've missed any details or if there were any evil spirits we didn't detect that were scared and hid during these days."
"If there are any remaining threats, my elder brother and I will be worried. When you return, you might face retaliation from those escaped threats."
"Moreover, we need to understand if there's anything else going on. This will help us investigate the truth."
"After all, your experiences during those two days were not normal under normal circumstances. For anyone else, even with many evil spirits in the villa, with these spirits counteracting each other, even if they were controlled and didn't want to kill you immediately, and were held back, they wouldn't be able to control you for so long. You should have died long ago."
"But in such a situation, you survived in the villa for two days. I think there might be some more important clues."
The little fox's explanation was quite clear, so Ou Xiaoxue, at least on the surface, didn't suspect anything and began to recall seriously.
She said, "Let me think. I'll start from the beginning. My memory of that period is a bit chaotic, and I can't guarantee I can explain it very clearly. However, I'll tell you everything I can remember."
Her experiences during those two days, when described in detail, were not much different from ordinary encounters with evil spirits. Ou Xiaoxue was just more unfortunate, constantly being toyed with by the evil spirits, but she was lucky to survive and remained unharmed.
After listening carefully to Ou Xiaoxue's narration, the little fox pondered for a moment and then asked Ou Xiaoxue, "I see. There's one more thing I'd like to clarify with you."
"Since you personally experienced all of this, no one knows the situation better than you. I want to ask you, during those two days, each time you survived an encounter with an evil spirit, what was your feeling? I mean your personal psychological feeling. You can answer based on that."
"Based on your psychological feeling, do you think those evil spirits were deliberately toying with you like a cat playing with a mouse, treating you as a game without killing you, or were there other factors that allowed you to escape from their hands in the end?"
Ou Xiaoxue pondered for a moment, thinking but also curious. She asked the little fox, "Ye Li, why are you asking this kind of question? What do you want to know?"
"I mean, is this point important? Does it need to be explained in such detail?"
The little fox said very seriously and solemnly, "This question is indeed very important. First, it can help us find clues quickly. And there's a more important point."
"That is, in a crisis situation, intuition is often accurate. What you can feel is very likely to be the truth."
"Therefore, your feelings can help my elder brother and me judge the other party's true intentions and thoughts. This will determine how we deal with the mastermind when we finally find them. Otherwise, you will be in great danger. The consequences will be even more dangerous than the evil spirits in your villa not being completely cleared."
Hearing the little fox say this, Ou Xiaoxue shivered. However, in the next second, the emotion in her eyes turned sad again.
She couldn't understand why, as she had always been kind to others, such deep hatred would drive someone to do such things.
"I understand, Ye Li. I've thought about it. I can only say that when I was being persecuted by those evil spirits, I could only feel their malice and killing intent were very real."
"They genuinely wanted me dead. Perhaps they were toying with me, but they truly wanted me dead. I think the reason I repeatedly escaped from their hands... although I can't be sure why I survived, I can be certain that they definitely didn't hold back. It wasn't for reasons like a cat playing with a mouse, definitely not."
The little fox immediately frowned, lowered his head in thought, and after a long while, confirmed with Ou Xiaoxue again, "Are you really sure about this?"