Caught

Chen Momo was attending online class as usual downstairs.

However, she would look at her mother by instinct, observing her expression.

Although she did not see anything odd, she could not help but look at her.

Her mother was playing on her phone while sitting, so she did not notice her daughter's stare.

As she stared more, Mrs. Chen noticed Momo's strange staring behavior.

"Is there something on my face for you to keep staring at me?" Mrs. Chen turned on her phone's front camera to take a good look at her face. She thought she had put on her face mask inside out. However, that did not happen.

"Nothing." Chen Momo stopped staring when she heard what her mother said.

Since then, she had been staring at her phone and stopped looking at her mother.

Mrs. Chen did not have the intention to ask further, so she continued playing on her phone.

Time passed by quietly, and it was 20:00 now.

Ke Meng suddenly texted Chen Momo, telling her that he was done with his preparations.

Chen Momo peeped at her mother secretly. She was careful, worried that she would be busted.

Her mother fell asleep with her head lying on the counter. Her eyes were shut, and her lashes were still. She was sleeping peacefully.

Chen Momo looked beneath her mother's feet by instinct—there was no shadow.

She shone at her mother with her phone's flashlight, but there was still no shadow.

Her shadow had run away!

Chen Momo suddenly stood up. She was like an ant on a hot pan, not knowing what to do.

Step, step, step…

The footsteps outside the store were getting closer and closer.

She turned her head to look—it was Ke Meng who walked into the store.

He looked at Mrs. Chen, who was fast asleep on the counter and beneath her feet. There was only the chair's shadow, but no human's shadow.

"Where did your mom go?" Ke Meng asked.

"I've no idea," Chen Momo shook her head nervously and looked around the entire convenient store's setting.

"Are you looking for me?" 

Suddenly, Mrs. Chen's doubtful voice sounded behind Ke Meng.

He turned around and saw a shadow on the floor. It looked like a woman's shadow.

He grabbed both hands at the human-shaped shadow through the air without hesitation.

Subsequently, both of his hands turned pitch-black. There was a dark shadow moving in his palms.

The human shadow was too big, while the size of his palms was limited. That was why his palms were very dark when he managed to capture the shadow.

Ke Meng waved his right hand at Mrs. Chen's face through the air. The shadow disappeared instantly, while Mrs. Chen regained her shadow.

The shadow on his left hand began moving now. Whoosh, it ran toward Ke Meng's body from his arm.

He grabbed his fist tight, and the shadow's foot was captured. It failed to move further.

Ke Meng waved and got the strange shadow in his palm. He locked it tight in his fist.

"Did it work?" Chen Momo asked.

Ke Meng nodded and said, "It worked." 

At the counter, Mrs. Chen opened her eyes slowly like she had just woken up.

"Rest here for a little bit, Mrs. Chen. There's something that I need to discuss with Momo," Ke Meng said.

Mrs. Chen had yet to find out about the situation and had no idea what had just happened at the moment. She only recalled walking around the store and seeing that Ke Meng was looking for her before she woke up in the next second.

'Was I dreaming earlier?'

"I'll go with him, mom." Momo's voice reached Mrs. Chen's ears.

"Alright, go." She did not stop her and watched as both of them left the store.

Ke Meng and Chen Momo walked to the dining table upstairs. Momo had been staring at his fist when they were walking upstairs.

Ke Meng had suppressed the shadow in his palm, and there was no shadow at all. Therefore, there was no black-color on the back and the border of his palm.

"Chen Momo, in reality, your shadow has been invaded too. It's just that you haven't noticed that." Ke Meng looked at Chen Momo's shadow. The dog had informed him of that.

"Ahh, me too?" She was surprised as she did not expect something was also going wrong with her shadow.

"That's right, I'm going to get it out," Ke Meng waved to place the shadow in his palm onto a black ant for now.

"Do you want me to get it out? I can do it any time now." Ke Meng's hands were available now, so he could use both hands to capture a target simultaneously.

Chen Momo did not hesitate at all. She could not help but look at her shadow realizing there was a monster in it. "Get it."

The shadow beneath her feet was still—there was nothing strange about it.

However, since Brother Meng had said that, it was only natural that she would choose to believe him.

"Take a seat first. I don't want you to pass out on the floor."

Ke Meng watched Chen Momo sit on the chair obediently. Subsequently, he waved both hands at her shadow.

In the next second, Chen Momo tilted her head, and her eyes lost focus.

Ke Meng waved his right hand, and Chen Momo's eyes regained their light.

"It's done?" Chen Momo asked.

To her, she had merely fallen into a daze and snapped back to her senses the next second.

"It's done," Ke Meng said.

"Wait here for a little bit." Ke Meng grabbed the first shadow he captured earlier in his fist and walked to the big-faced cat in the bedroom while holding both fists.

Chen Momo stayed in the living room. She was observing her shadow curiously.

Ke Meng did not gain any strange knowledge in the bedroom.

It seemed the two things in his hands were the so-called shadow species. Therefore, there was no new information from that.

Ke Meng returned to the living room and placed both shadows on two bugs.

"Hey, what are you going to do about them?" Chen Momo was a little scared facing the new thing. At the same time, she was rather curious. It was half and half for her.

"I want to ask where they come from, but bugs can't talk. This is annoying."

Ke Meng sat on the chair and looked at the two bugs. He was a little troubled.

Both bugs were ants. They began to change since they had the new shadows.

Firstly, the shadow's shape. The tiny ants had the shapes of humans under the sun. However, the shadows did not stretch too big as their bodies were limited by their sizes as ants.

That was right, Ke Meng saw the shapes of humans.

It would prove that the two strange things might be human shadows.

However, could ordinary people's shadows leave their own bodies?

Ke Meng had no idea how to control his own shadow to leave his body himself. Therefore, he was sure that these two shadows were unusual.

"Can't you get them to write?" Chen Momo moved the tiny chair she was sitting on. She retreated to stay further away from the two bugs. She was worried that the shadows would leave their bodies and seize the opportunity to sneak into her shadow.

"That's a great idea."

Ke Meng nodded lightly upon hearing Momo's plan.

If the shadows' thoughts remained, he could get them to write. That should not be a problem for them.

He saw both bugs standing still and merely moving their ant heads' antennae. They seemed to be communicating with the antennae.

"If you guys can hear me, write with the way ants would walk. Write your names and identities…"

Ke Meng tapped the table and said to the two ants in all seriousness.

Glutinous Ball that was aside remained still. It was sensing the development of the event with its hair.