My long speech had left my throat dry, and I subconsciously glanced around, searching for something to drink. My eyes landed on the floor beside the door where a crystal glass bottle sat, filled with clear, transparent water.

This place was truly astonishing; whatever you thought of simply materialized. I pushed myself up from the chair, walked to the door, picked up the glass bottle, tilted my head back, and drank deeply until I was thoroughly satisfied.

Xiao Shu still looked completely perplexed by the story, furrowing his brow as he took the conversation from me. "You mean I dreamt of Ah Li’s mother because you told her this method could save Ah Li?"

"Exactly." I wiped the beads of water from the corner of my mouth with my sleeve, instantly feeling refreshed and lighthearted, the recent gloom completely banished. I continued, "If we analyze this using cause and effect, taking the rescue of Ah Li years ago as the result, the cause was my action just now: getting Ah Li's mother to send you a dream. And the reason I knew this saving method is because you told me this already-occurred story a few days ago."

"I understand now. There’s an intersection point where time and space connect the past and the present. You utilized this juncture to relay future information to Ah Li’s mother, thus bringing about Ah Li’s rescue," Xiao Shu summarized.

I felt his summary was spot-on. I clapped him on the shoulder and casually remarked, "Perhaps there are even stranger things in the other rooms. Why don't we explore after we finish looking through this data?"

"Makes sense, but this bodysuit is proving to be a hassle," Xiao Shu commented.

"What's the hassle? We must get it, even if it means climbing mountains of knives or descending into seas of fire. When I saw Ah Li's mother just now, I had a strange premonition—that being tricked by Hou Dayong into Li Xiaohao's villa for a living sacrifice that afternoon was no accident. The fates of our group must be linked by some invisible thread. If the two of us hadn't come to the Reflection Villa together looking for information on the bodysuit, I wouldn't have been able to tell Ah Li's mother about the dream method. Years ago, you wouldn't have been able to save Ah Li. If you hadn't saved her, she and her mother would have remained complete strangers, and her mother wouldn't have told you about the passage leading to the Reflection Villa in that room. You wouldn't even know the Reflection Villa existed. It’s all like a circle, the end feeding the beginning, causing the other. If any link were missing, the current situation wouldn't exist. Because of this, even if the path ahead is a cauldron of boiling oil, we both have to jump in to pull Ah Li out." With that, I took another sip of water.

"You’re right. Ah Li needs saving, and Xing'er needs saving too. They are both children; losing either one is unacceptable," Xiao Shu emphasized, making sure I hadn't forgotten Xing'er's existence.

"What about the bodysuit?" I redirected the conversation back to the main topic.

"Any ordinary piece of clothing will transform into the bodysuit if a mermaid's tear is dripped onto it. I checked the books, and it turns out the mermaids reside in..."

"The Sea of Spirits." Before Xiao Shu could finish, the words 'Sea of Spirits' tumbled out of my mouth.

"How do you know they are in the Sea of Spirits?" Xiao Shu asked, puzzled.

That story is a long one. I took a sip of water and began to answer his question: "Because we met them in the Sea of Spirits before. Not only did we see them, but we interacted with them. At that time, it was just Wang Jue, Hou Dayong, and me. One of them bewitched both Wang Jue and me. Hou Dayong fought her and rescued us, forcing her to lead us to the secret chamber where the Blood Kin Compass was kept. Later, the mermaid injured Hou Dayong, and Wang Jue injured the mermaid. In exchange for telling us the method to enter the secret chamber, we sent her back to the Sea of Spirits. However, they are incredibly troublesome when angered. After that particular mermaid was released, she gathered a group of her kind to seek revenge on us. In the end, it was your brother, Ming Xiong Li Xiaohao, who stepped forward and smoothed things over with them."