Chương 207: When she pushed open the door

"Huh? Really?!" Su Yuqing's eyes lit up instantly, and she asked eagerly, "What method? Tell us quickly!"

Luo Bingli, who was standing to the side, also cast a curious glance at her.

Ji Ying did not answer immediately, but instead turned his gaze to the relatively empty area in the center of the room, a strange light flashing in his dark red eyes.

"Just watch."

She spoke softly, then slowly raised her right hand, her slender, fair fingers gently gesturing in the air.

With this movement, a deep shadow that seemed to devour all light silently separated from the shadow beneath her feet, extending and converging upwards like a pool of flowing ink, outlining a slender human figure that the two of them were all too familiar with.

"Wow—" Su Yuqing and Luo Bingli exclaimed softly at the same time.

However, this is only the beginning.

Under their astonished gazes, the dark humanoid silhouette began to undergo even more unbelievable changes. It was no longer a flat silhouette, but rather, like a precision model being injected with air, it rapidly became three-dimensional and full.

The style of the hairstyle, the folds of the clothing, the lines of the body—every detail belonging to a living human being is perfectly sculpted in an instant by the flowing shadows.

Finally, the dark shadow that had enveloped "him" receded rapidly like a tide, revealing skin and hair color that were indistinguishable from Lin Che's own, as well as that familiar school uniform.

In just a few seconds, a living "person" who looked exactly like the real Lin Che appeared in front of the two girls.

"This—this is—A-Che?!" Su Yuqing subconsciously rubbed her eyes, her beautiful face filled with shock, seriously doubting whether she was hallucinating due to overwork.

Luo Bingli, standing to the side, also covered her mouth in shock, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Seeing the two girls' utterly shocked expressions, Ji Ying smiled slightly. She reached out and gently patted the shoulder of "Lin Che" beside her, and began to patiently explain: "This is—an ability that I unexpectedly awakened at the last moment during my battle with Jing Jue."

"Corresponding to the Mirror Lord's authority over the mirror," I call it—"the authority over shadows," which, simply put, means the ability to create and manipulate the shadows of any living being I have ever seen.

"These shadows will be completely under my control, and they can easily mimic my movements."

As Ji Ying spoke, she raised her hand, clenched her fingers together, and then slowly opened them again. The "Lin Che" beside her, who had a calm expression, made the exact same gesture.

Its fluid and natural posture makes it impossible to associate it with a doll or an illusion.

"Furthermore, I can expend some extra virtual energy to change the appearance of those shadows, as well as the clothes they wear."

As she finished speaking, Lin Che's school uniform instantly transformed into a comfortable set of casual home clothes, and her originally neat hairstyle became slightly more casual.

"Wow, so amazing—" Su Yuqing murmured subconsciously.

She subconsciously took a step forward, and with a hint of curiosity, reached out her finger and carefully poked the cheek of "Lin Che".

The sensation transmitted through the fingertips is warm and elastic, indistinguishable from that of a real person.

"Really—exactly the same!" Su Yuqing's eyes lit up instantly, as if she had discovered a novel toy. She began to boldly pinch and rub "Lin Che's" face, clicking her tongue in amazement.

Unlike Su Yuqing, Luo Bingli did not step forward. She simply stood quietly in place, but her eyes were fixed on the figure of "Lin Che" without blinking. A complex light flashed in her eyes, containing a deep longing.

"However, this ability also has many limitations." Ji Ying shook his head helplessly as he watched Su Yuqing having so much fun, and then continued to explain.

"Apart from my own shadow, the other shadows that were created do not seem to have any special abilities at the moment, and manipulating these shadows also requires a considerable amount of my energy."

"As it is now, it's easy to make the shadows imitate my movements, but if I want them to do complex movements that are different from mine, or to control several shadows at the same time, it will become very difficult."

"I see." Su Yuqing nodded thoughtfully, but she obviously didn't take these "restrictions" to heart. Instead, she immediately made new demands on Ji Ying with great interest.

"Then—Xiaoying, can you create shadows of me and Xiaoli too? Hurry up and try it! I want to see what it feels like to have a shadow exactly like myself!"

Seeing her eager expression, Ji Ying nodded helplessly.

Two more shadows separated from her feet, and the same scene repeated itself.

Soon, two shadow clones, identical to Su Yuqing and Luo Bingli themselves, appeared in front of them, wearing the same style of cute pajamas, their faces expressionless, like two exquisitely crafted dolls.

"Wow! It really looks exactly like me!" Su Yuqing immediately abandoned the "Lin Che" shadow that she was still "torturing" and curiously poked her own shadow's cheek, then tugged at the shadow's arm, her surprise even more pronounced.

Then, as if she had thought of something interesting, she tentatively reached out and grabbed the hem of her shadow's pajamas, gently lifting it up— After confirming that the action could be performed successfully and that the details of the underwear, which were also perfectly replicated, could be clearly seen, Su Yuqing's cheeks flushed red.

She frantically covered her shadow with her clothes, then whirled around, hands on her hips, and warned the bewildered shadow in an extremely serious tone: "Hey! Little Shadow! I'm warning you first, you're not allowed to do anything strange to my shadow! Absolutely not! Otherwise—I will absolutely not let you off!"

"----ha?"

"What's strange?"

Ji Ying didn't react for a moment. She tilted her head in confusion and subconsciously looked at Luo Bingli beside her, hoping to get an answer from her.

As a result, she only saw Luo Bingli blushing and lowering her head, looking as if she didn't want to look at her at all, her ears even turning pink.

After a brief moment of thought, Ji Ying finally understood the extremely unhealthy deeper meaning behind Su Yuqing's "warning," and her cheeks instantly became burning hot.

"Su Yiyu—Sunny—!"

With a shy and angry shout, Ji Ying suddenly jumped out of bed, rushed to Su Yuqing, and gently tapped her smooth forehead.

"What the hell are you thinking about?!" she snapped, exasperated.

"Do you think everyone's as unhealthy-minded as you?! How could I possibly do something like that?!"

"Hehehe~ It's okay if you do whatever you want to my shadow." Su Yuqing covered her forehead, playfully stuck out her tongue, and instead of showing any remorse, she whispered in Ji Ying's ear in a suggestive tone.

"But I'd prefer you do these things to me personally, you know. It doesn't seem like it's impossible for me and my shadow to do it together—"

"Again?!"

Another chop to the head.

Su Yuqing covered her head again, but there was no remorse on her face; she still wore a sly smile.

Upon learning that Jiying possessed this ability, she finally felt completely relieved, a relieved smile appearing on her face: "This way, I don't have to worry about being discovered by my parents or the school!"

""

"Speaking of which, Xiaoying, why didn't you use this ability sooner? I was so worried before, racking my brains to come up with reasons for you!"

Ji Ying replied somewhat helplessly, "I had the same idea. However, since you've already invited Zi Xuan to stay at our house, providing another reasonable excuse for not being able to go home, there's no need for me to go through with it."

"Furthermore, simultaneously playing the roles of both 'Ji Ying' and 'Lin Che' is beyond my current mental capacity."

"If I'm manipulating Lin Che to perform any complex movements, and I remain motionless like a puppet with its strings cut, wouldn't that make me more easily exposed?"

"Hmm—that makes sense, but there's nothing we can do about it." Su Yuqing thought about it and felt that Jiying's explanation made a lot of sense, so she accepted it.

Just then, Luo Bingli suddenly spoke up, asking softly with concern, "By the way, Xiaoying, are you still in that state where your way of thinking is affected? I feel like you've recovered quite a bit?"

Ji Ying was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. She carefully sensed her current state of mind, then nodded gently and replied, "Hmm—I can still feel the influence, but it's definitely much better than when I first discovered last night that I couldn't undo the transformation."

"Perhaps this is a sign that I'm about to return to my previous normal state."

Luo Bingli pondered for a moment, then continued, "So—Xiaoying, how did you—play the role of 'Silent Shadow, the Apostle of the Void Realm' in front of Jingjue?"

"After negotiating with him for so long, how come he didn't notice the huge contrast between your outward appearance and your inner self?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Ying paused slightly, a somewhat complicated expression appearing on her face. She gently shook her head and then replied, "To be honest, I'm not quite sure myself."

"I don't know why, but when I'm in that heavily armored knight state, I seem to completely avoid the influence of this feminine mindset. At that time, I am—completely myself, without any extraneous thoughts."

"To be honest, if that state hadn't consumed so much of my spiritual energy, I would have wanted to maintain that form indefinitely until my body fully returned to normal."

"No way! I don't want to sleep hugging a cold, hard tin can!"

Upon hearing this, Su Yuqing immediately voiced her dissatisfaction and protested.

Immediately, as if to prove her point, she pounced on him with incredible speed, hugging Ji Ying tightly from behind before he could react, and rubbing her cheek against his back.

"Hey?! What are you doing now?!"

The sudden soft touch and warm breath startled Ji Ying, and she instinctively tried to struggle.

Immediately, when she realized how Su Yuqing had described her imposing heavily armored knight form, her face darkened slightly.

A tin can?! My dashing, imposing image has turned into a tin can in your mouth?!

Before Ji Ying could react, Su Yuqing excitedly made a new request: "By the way, Xiao Ying, could you—make that 'A Che's' shadow look like you now?"

Although Ji Ying was somewhat confused, she still subconsciously did as she was told.

Under her mental control, the "Lin Che" clone rapidly shrank, and its clothes changed accordingly.

Soon, a "Xiaoying" appeared in the room, dressed in a long black trench coat, which was different from Jiying's appearance in pajamas.

"Hehehe—then I won't be polite and will start eating!"

Su Yuqing let out a cheer, and then, catching Ji Ying completely off guard, she pounced and hugged her main body and the shadow clone that had just been created tightly in her arms, and then pushed them both down onto the soft bed.

"Ugh—!"

The sudden impact caused Ji Ying to let out a short cry of surprise.

She could clearly feel the warmth and softness of Su Yuqing's body, but that feeling seemed to come partly from her own body being pressed beneath her, and partly from the shadow being held by the other person as well?

I sensed it?! My shadow can actually share senses with my real body?! Why didn't this happen before?!

This astonishing discovery caused Ji Ying to pause even in his struggle for a moment.

Because she knew that this secret—absolutely could not be revealed to the little devil pressing down on her! Otherwise, who knew what even more outrageous things she might do to herself in the future!

"Being able to hug both of Xiaoying at the same time—I'm so happy!" Su Yuqing buried her cheek between the two "Xiaoying" and sighed contentedly, her voice filled with indescribable joy.

"This ability to create shadows is absolutely amazing! No matter where it is, it looks exactly like the real Shadow!"

"Quickly—let me go! Su Yuqing!" Ji Ying began to struggle fiercely again, while controlling her shadow clone to make the exact same struggling movements.

However, she soon discovered with her own dismay that even when she and her shadow fought together, their meager strength seemed utterly inadequate to push the excited little devil off her.

Seeing Ji Ying's pitiful and helpless appearance, Luo Bingli wanted to step forward to dissuade her, but Su Yuqing seemed to consider her friend's feelings.

After happily "playing" for a while, she sat up on the bed and made a little room to release the still struggling "Shadow Shadow".

Then, she winked at Luo Bingli and gave her a sly smile.

Luo Bingli's cheeks flushed red instantly. She hesitated for less than a second before her desire to get close to Xiaoying almost immediately overcame her inner reserve.

With a look of surprise and satisfaction, she quickly stepped forward and hugged the clone, whose touch was indistinguishable from the real Jiying, tightly into her arms.

Knowing full well that this wasn't the real her, Luo Bingli's actions were bolder and more forceful than ever before.

She buried her face deeply in the crook of "Shadow Shadow's" neck, almost greedily absorbing the comforting aura that she cherished so much, aura completely identical to her own.

All of this was clearly perceived by Jiying, who could share senses with his shadow.

She could clearly sense that Luo Bingli's embrace was stronger than ever before, and that undisguised dependence and affection made her heart, which was already pounding wildly due to embarrassment, beat even faster.

——Xiao Li————*———— And just then, a "click" sounded.

A soft sound of a doorknob turning suddenly rang out. Ye Zixuan, who had just changed her clothes and left the bathroom, her mind filled with complicated thoughts, pushed open the bedroom door.

She was wearing a simple long white nightgown, and her long, smooth black hair was casually draped over her shoulders. She looked less intellectual and capable than usual, and more gentle and graceful.

I'll be able to see Xiaoying soon. I wonder what they're doing in their room right now? Are they—reviewing today's battle with Jingjue?

However, the moment Ye Zixuan stepped into the room and saw the interior, her expression froze completely.

What came into her view was neither a serious tactical meeting nor a heartwarming girl's nighttime chat, but rather something that instantly shattered her mind—"Hell Drawing".

Luo Bingli's face was still flushed as she hugged her beloved Xiaoying tightly in her arms, like a cat that had found catnip.

Su Yuqing, with a smug and mischievous grin on her face, pinned Xiaoying—another girl in cute pajamas, with flushed cheeks and teary eyes—under her body.

Regardless of which little figure it was, her delicate face was filled with utter despair.

In addition, there was another "Su Yuqing" and "Luo Bingli" kneeling in the center of the room, their faces expressionless, looking exactly like exquisitely crafted dolls.

"————" Ye Zixuan stood blankly at the door, opening her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she couldn't utter a single word.

The three people in the room were also instantly stunned by the sudden "intruder".

The air seemed to freeze completely at that moment.