"Uh, so you’re really not a Deceitful Servant?"

"You’re the Deceitful Servant, your whole family is Deceitful Servants, meow!"

"But you just admitted you’re the Golden-eyed White Tiger..."

"How was I supposed to know you were asking about this White Tiger?!"

"Then which one did you think I was talking about?"

"...I don’t want to talk to you anymore!"

On Lake Heart Island, Alice clawed hard at the ground, furious and embarrassed, as if trying to vent all her hatred.

Are you really a human? Not some monster? I’ve always thought a cat was your true form...

Xu Shu thought somewhat disinterestedly.

Finally, he glanced at Alice’s posture and said, "Stop scratching the ground, are you planning to poop here? After all, this is Liu Yuan’s grave. Even if you don’t acknowledge him as the Archbishop’s friend when he was alive, at least show some respect to the deceased."

Alice: "?"

...Ahhh, I’m so mad, meow!

She sat down human-like, with her two front legs crossed, remaining silent, fuming angrily.

Seeing this, Xu Shu stroked his chin: "Oh, so it seems I guessed wrong? Hmm... how could that be? This shouldn’t be..."

"What did you guess wrong?" Alice didn’t want to pay him any mind, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn’t help but ask.

Xu Shu said, "Actually, here’s the thing. Didn’t the Archbishop tell you not to come to Luling Platform? So I started investigating the reason, and it led me to find many interconnected things: the spirits of Jing Wang Mansion, the White Tiger of the Tiger Head Token, the grave under the Liu Family’s estate..."

He organized his words and shared the information and clues he had already confirmed, recently found out, and known in the past with Alice.

To Xu Shu, since Alice was the only "descendant" of Yu Mingluan, she definitely had an inseparable connection here. Naturally, she had the right and responsibility to understand the reasons behind it.

Ten minutes later.

Xu Shu sighed, "Alas, unfortunately, it seems I guessed wrong. You’re not a Deceitful Servant, and you’re certainly not the Golden-eyed White Tiger. I mean, the Golden-eyed White Tiger is a white tiger after all, and you, an orange cat, can’t possibly be linked to a white tiger."

After hearing Xu Shu’s explanation, Alice propped her chin up and rolled her eyes internally, "I understand what you said. But tell me this: is there a possibility that I’m actually a descendant of the Liu family? In other words, could Liu Yuan... be my biological father?"

"Hehe, do you really think I’m that foolish? I considered that possibility from the start but ruled it out," Xu Shu said. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Huh? Why is that? What’s wrong with my hypothesis? Or is there some key information you haven’t shared with me?" Alice was clueless, feeling momentarily dazzled by Xu Shu’s intelligent demeanor, inadvertently trusting him a bit.

Xu Shu smiled slightly, confident, "It’s simple, because your surname isn’t Liu, it’s Yu! You yourself told me your real name back then, have you forgotten? Your name is Yu something... oh, Yu Tiao?"

"...It’s Yu Sitao, meow!"

Annoyed, Alice jumped up and gave Xu Shu’s knee a firm whack.

Then she said, "I’ve told you, Old Yu wasn’t my biological father. My childhood memories are damaged, and he never talked to me about my original family. But given the current scenario, it seems quite possible that this person in front of us... is indeed my biological father, sigh."

Saying this, Alice let out a sigh, gathered some soil in her two front paws, and sincerely paid her respects at the grave, behaving like a filial daughter.

Watching her, Xu Shu asked doubtfully, "So you’re just going to recognize them as family on a whim? What if you’re wrong?"

"I won’t be wrong. Actually, I wanted to tell you at first, I just felt something special here, like something resonating with me. You know, for Transcendents like us of mid-sequence, these inner stirrings never come without reason. I suppose it’s this special bloodline connection," Alice said.

Xu Shu was quite surprised, "No way, even though he’s turned to ashes, there’s still a bloodline connection?"

"I told you it’s a Mysterious Domain!" Alice shot Xu Shu a glare, "Besides, think a bit more about the meaning of my name?"

"..." Xu Shu’s expression froze and he said seriously, "You know me, I’m not fond of beating around the bush, I’m a straight shooter. If you have something to say, say it straight."

Alice anticipated this, didn’t expose it, and lightly sighed, "Emerald-clad branches reaching high into the sky, countless strands of green silk fluttering down. Old Yu... must have named me after my blood family surname. Although he never disclosed the past to me, perhaps he hoped I wouldn’t forget my true identity."

As she spoke, she solemnly knelt and bowed thrice, then extended a sharp claw to streak more words onto the tombstone that originally held a single line.

She added the words "Forefather" to the left of "Old Friend of Luling," and below it "Filial Daughter Liu Mianmian," on the lower right corner "Old Calendar 2143 / New Calendar 19 Reestablished," and beneath it, imposing words like "Starry Church Blessing, Goddess Protection."

It seemed to resemble a Starry Church burial ceremonial process.

In these additional scripts, although at first glance they appeared somewhat unconventional and incompatible with old traditions, the neat and dense handwriting made the once lonely tombstone look much livelier, as though it had come to life.

Unfortunately, this semblance of life applied only to the tombstone, not to the tomb owner themselves.