Chapter 3358 — Recognized

"All right! Yu Dake, keep a grip on Xiaoke and don't let her go wandering off. Let's hurry and figure out how to get out of here first!" Wei Zhao was anxious at heart; a few sharp words to Yu Xiaoke were enough and no more. What troubled him now was the attitude of the Paoli clan!

Clearly, the Paoli clan was anything but friendly toward them now, and Wei Zhao had no idea what they would do next after shutting the group up in here. Better to leave this place as quickly as possible!

"Yes, Mr. Lin, don't be angry. I'll keep a close eye on her and make sure she doesn't wander again!" Yu Dake was breaking out in cold sweat too. If not for Wei Zhao's skill and formidable strength, he would have lost his sister for good!

Wei Zhao nodded and walked toward a passage beside the one Yu Xiaoke had just taken. This time, however, there was no danger inside, much to Yu Xiaoke's astonishment! It seemed Wei Zhao truly was not walking at random, and the four deaths to one life warning really did exist here—it was no lie!

This time Yu Xiaoke fell silent, quietly led along by Yu Dake as they walked forward.

But truth be told, Yu Xiaoke still felt rather miserable inside! Reading ancient tomb mechanisms was her forte; she had seldom yielded to anyone in that field. The only one she had ever admired was the male thief she had met in the ancient tomb! Yet now Wei Zhao possessed that same ability!

And honestly, if she had not been looking at Wei Zhao through a biased lens, would there really be much difference between Wei Zhao and the male thief? Both were so capable, both gave such support to the orphanage. If the first person she had met had been Wei Zhao, then now—

The moment that thought surfaced, Yu Xiaoke startled herself! She had never imagined that Wei Zhao could rank so highly in her heart! Perhaps it was precisely because of Wei Zhao's excellence that her heart had grown more and more tangled, driving her to those rash actions earlier!

Because she did not want Wei Zhao to replace the male thief in her heart. The male thief was irreplaceable!

In a daze, Yu Xiaoke seemed to return to her days in the ancient tomb, recalling how the male thief had saved her from the very brink of death.

Hm? That wasn't right! Yu Xiaoke suddenly gave a start and came to an abrupt halt, a look of appalled disbelief flashing through her eyes!

Recalling the few words Wei Zhao had said earlier, just after they fell into the mechanism, Yu Xiaoke's heart gave a violent lurch—it nearly leaped right out of her mouth!

Yu Xiaoke stopped walking, and Yu Dake, dragged to a halt as well, was just about to ask what was wrong when he heard her blurt out: "Male thief, wait a moment—"

Wei Zhao was mulling over the Paoli clan's affairs. This journey, he could safely say, had been a complete failure. Even if he escaped this mechanism, it was still a failure—after all, his aim had been to strike a deal with the Paoli clan, and now that hope looked slim.

At that moment, Yu Xiaoke told him to wait, and Wei Zhao unconsciously frowned again and stopped in his tracks. "What is it now?"

"You—you—you—you—you—you—you really are the male thief?" Yu Xiaoke's eyes went wide with disbelief. She had never expected Wei Zhao to actually agree!

"I—" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback before he recalled that his earlier words had seemed to imply an admission of his identity. But he had genuinely been too furious to think, and he and the male thief were one and the same after all—facing Yu Xiaoke, in this same gloomy place, he had unconsciously treated himself and the male thief as a single person. Who would have thought Yu Xiaoke would spot the flaw? "You're overthinking it."

Yu Xiaoke frowned slightly. Could she really be overthinking it? At the cultivators' merchants' guild market, she had seen the male thief's true face—he did not look like Wei Zhao. But then why did Wei Zhao know about the ancient tomb?

And though Yu Xiaoke had been rather resistant to Wei Zhao before, now, listening closely, his voice really did sound very much like the male thief's! She had never given it much thought before, but today she truly felt that Wei Zhao and the male thief were one and the same.

Yet after turning it over and over in her mind, Yu Xiaoke still found Wei Zhao highly suspect, so she asked: "If you're not the male thief, why did you help me?"

"Because I like you, that's why I helped you." Though Wei Zhao did want to find a chance to come clean with Yu Xiaoke, he did not want it to be in a place like this. Whether they could even get out of here was still unknown, and he did not want to waste time.

"Like me?" Yu Xiaoke thought for a moment, then turned to look at her brother Yu Dake. "Brother, when you went to Wei Zhao's house, did you see whether he had any pets?"

"Pets?" Yu Dake was baffled by this exchange between Yu Xiaoke and Wei Zhao—how had Wei Zhao become the male thief? Now, at Yu Xiaoke's question, he was caught off guard. "I don't know about pets, but he does have a few spirit beasts—"

"Spirit beasts? What spirit beasts?" Yu Xiaoke's eyes lit up at this, and she pressed him eagerly.

"A Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast, a dog, and a little pig." The Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast was something Wei Zhao had obtained at the Hidden World Clans Summit. Yu Dake had gone to take a look on his way over later on, and had also seen General Mighty and the Heavenly Thunder Pig.

At Yu Dake's answer, Wei Zhao knew things had gone badly. When Yu Xiaoke had left the ancient tomb, she had sworn to track him down by those two distinguishing features. Now there was probably no denying it even if he wanted to!

"That little pig—does it go oink, oink, oink?" Yu Xiaoke shuddered and asked instinctively.

"That's right!" Yu Dake nodded. "I think it's called the Heavenly Thunder Pig or something!"

"Damn!" At that, Yu Xiaoke ran straight over, grabbed Wei Zhao, and spun him around. "You—you—you—were you having fun, playing me like that?"

Yu Xiaoke had been searching all along for a capable man who kept a dog and a pig, but how easy was such a person to find? And since she had been resistant to Wei Zhao, she had hardly ever visited his home, so naturally she had never known he had General Mighty and the Heavenly Thunder Pig.

Now that her brother Yu Dake had confirmed Wei Zhao's identity, Yu Xiaoke was shocked and delighted all at once—and thoroughly mortified into the bargain! She felt she had been toyed with by Wei Zhao!

"Xiaoke, you see—the one you like is the male thief, but you hate my real identity. I was afraid that if I told you, you wouldn't like me anymore." Wei Zhao gave a bitter smile. Now it was impossible not to admit it—the evidence of the dog and the pig was both there.

"How could that be? If you'd told me earlier, I—I wouldn't have hated you." Yu Xiaoke's face flushed a little, and she spoke sheepishly. (To be continued)