Chapter 340: Chapter 340

"No need, they can't discover us," Xiaoyao broke free from Hei Xue's hand and said calmly, walking toward the balcony again to observe the situation outside.

"How is that possible? They're right nearby. Any one of them looking this way could see us," Hei Xue said quietly, seemingly afraid that speaking too loudly would alert the other party.

"Just watch. Even if they look this way, they won't see us," Xiaoyao smiled slightly with a mysterious expression that left people puzzled.

"What? Can't see us? Unless they're blind... eh, are they really blind?" Hei Xue was in the middle of denying this when she noticed someone looking this way, but quickly looked elsewhere without discovering Xiaoyao standing on the balcony.

If this were just one person, perhaps that person had eye problems or wasn't paying attention. But when one after another acted the same way, it wasn't an individual's eye problem—there was something wrong with the situation itself.

"Of course they're not blind. On the contrary, their eyesight is better than ordinary people's, or how would they be selected for search work?" Xiaoyao shook his head.

"... I know that. Why is this happening?" Hei Xue said irritably. Her previous comment was just casually expressing her surprise—obviously everyone knew this, so why answer such a question so seriously?

"You know, so why ask?" Xiaoyao's response left Hei Xue feeling powerless again.

"Xiaoyao, are you playing with me..."

"What playing? I'm being serious," Xiaoyao said very earnestly. "At a time , how could I play with you..."

"Fine, let's not discuss that. Tell me—if they're not blind, why can't they see us?" Hei Xue asked again, deliberately making the question more detailed.

"This is very simple—because they can't see us," Xiaoyao answered seriously, though his words seemed like nonsense.

"..." Hei Xue went crazy. "Xiaoyao."

"Alright, I won't tease you anymore. I originally wanted to have some fun while we're here—we'll be waiting for a long time..." Xiaoyao smiled. Before Hei Xue could pounce and bite him, he got to business.

"Actually, this is a very ingenious architectural layout with very complex architectural elements, including a wonderful mysterious formation. We can see them from here, but when they look over, they see another place—it should be that building over there."

Xiaoyao pointed to a building nearby, not far away but still twenty to thirty meters distant. This was what amazed Hei Xue.

Even if there were illusions, at such a close distance, how could there be such a large discrepancy? This formation was too marvelous.

In fact, Hei Xue had a mistaken understanding. Xiaoyao had put the mysterious formation last, meaning this formation was a relatively secondary factor. More important were those architectural factors, which contained ingenious parallax designs that would cause people to experience incredible visual displacement, like a mirage.

However, for Hei Xue, regardless of which was more important, it was all the same because she didn't understand either very well. Even if explained clearly, she felt she only needed to know this was a marvelous design that achieved such results.

"They all can't see us, but could they accidentally stumble in here?" Hei Xue was more concerned about this question. Having this place that people couldn't see made them safe, but this safety was based on no one discovering it.

"This possibility exists, but it's almost zero—negligible," Xiaoyao answered.

Since Xiaoyao said the possibility was almost zero, then this possibility was very small, infinitely close to zero. Therefore, this possibility didn't need much worry. Hei Xue seemed to understand and didn't continue asking about this possibility.

"So what should we do now?"

"Wait. Wait until they think we've left here. When that time comes, they'll naturally leave, and we can go out," Xiaoyao answered. His method was very simple, requiring almost no effort—just waiting here for a period of time.

There were also some stored provisions here, so waiting a month or two would be completely without problems. And surely, those people couldn't surround this place for so long—they had other important things to do.

Of course, they would definitely leave some people to guard for a while, but without results, they would also leave. Moreover, even if they didn't leave, after enough time, Xiaoyao would also find flaws in their defense and could leave then.

Being in the spotlight versus after the spotlight passed—these two situations had vastly different circumstances.

Yes, this was waiting for the spotlight to pass. Once that happened, everything would be resolved. Waiting itself was a method, and the best solution.

"What if they keep staying here?" Hei Xue asked. This wasn't her giving Xiaoyao a hard time, but she had considered this question. If it were her, she would stay here until finding Xiaoyao, whether he was here or received news from outside.

"They won't. They'll leave soon," Xiaoyao replied.

"That's not necessarily true. Fan Gao is a very patient person. Even if he has to dig three feet deep to find you, he won't easily believe you've already left," Hei Xue shook her head. Everyone understood their opponents very well.

"That's when he has no clues at all. If he discovers the secret passages in this stronghold, he'll think we already left through the secret passages," Xiaoyao replied calmly.

"Secret passages? There are secret passages here?" Hei Xue expressed ignorance and confusion about this.

"Of course there are secret passages here. This is a bandit stronghold. As bandits, they'll always face the possibility of being surrounded and attacked. It's normal for them to prepare escape routes. There aren't just secret passages here—there are multiple ones leading to different places," Xiaoyao answered Hei Xue's confusion, though this was what he thought Hei Xue was confused about.

Actually, what Hei Xue was confused about wasn't this. What she was confused about was:

"Since you know there are secret passages, why not leave through them instead of hiding here?" This was what Hei Xue was confused about. Right—since there were secret passages, why not just leave directly? Wouldn't that be a more thorough solution?

"First, I don't know whether you know about these secret passages. If you do, then if I go in, wouldn't I become a turtle in a jar?" Xiaoyao looked at the situation outside, speaking without much concern.

"That's true, but the possibility of knowing is very low. These are secrets known only by a few people. Even if our Demon Cult's information network reaches everywhere, it would be very difficult to know such things," Hei Xue said.

Some things couldn't be known even with a large information network. Some people could guard a secret to their deaths, and no one else would ever know. How could such secrets have channels for others to know?

Black Wind Stronghold's secret passages were known only by a few leaders, and each person kept their mouths sealed, never revealing this matter. Even their closest people didn't know, because these secret passages could not only be used to exit but also to enter. They couldn't possibly tell such secrets to others.

"That's just one reason. Most importantly, if I went to those secret passages, I might be discovered by those people," Xiaoyao pointed to the people searching outside.

"..." Hei Xue was stunned. How had she forgotten this? Now there were Fan Gao's people everywhere. Walking outside would naturally increase the chances of being discovered.

Calculating it this way, waiting here had the lowest risk and only required waiting. Anyway, they didn't have any urgent matters now—this was indeed the best choice. Fresh chapters posted on Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

After thinking this through, Hei Xue sat on the balcony with Xiaoyao, watching the moonlight outside. Tonight was a full moon night. However, she soon found herself staring at Xiaoyao in a daze.

"Xiaoyao, do you have any wine? With such beautiful moonlight, we should drink some wine to add to the mood," Hei Xue said, placing one hand on the table on the balcony, supporting her chin while looking at Xiaoyao.

"There is a little, but now isn't the time for drinking. Also, are you admiring the moon? I feel like you've been looking at me the whole time. How about it—am I very handsome?" Xiaoyao smiled without any unnatural feeling.

"Handsome. The more I look, the more I like you," Hei Xue nodded without denial, speaking so directly it made people somewhat uncomfortable. However, this applied to ordinary people—Xiaoyao obviously wasn't uncomfortable.

"I won't stop you from liking me. If you like looking, then look. I'm going to watch the moon for a while," Xiaoyao said indifferently, then continued looking at the moon, quietly lost in thought.

Hei Xue beside him also said nothing, quietly watching Xiaoyao...

At this moment, Hei Xue had a feeling of "silent private conversation at midnight, where silence speaks louder than words," and this environment seemed to perfectly match this situation—very quiet, very quiet.

This quietness formed a sharp contrast with the outside, where things were turning upside down as they searched for news of the two people—a situation both could guess even without knowing.

Both could imagine that at this moment, if Fan Gao received the news, his expression would definitely be very rich...

"What? No one found? How is that possible? They went in before our eyes. Didn't you immediately follow them in? Even if you didn't, there are so many of our people inside—how could they not see even a shadow of a person?”