Chapter 229 Obsession as a Lamp, Illuminating the Past

Shen Yuepo raised her hand and gently touched Tongtong's forehead with her fingertips.

She closed her eyes, emptied her mind, and let her spiritual energy flow into her fingertips, connecting with Tongtong's soul.

Following the clues of blood ties and obsessions, we sense the location on the other side.

"Where shall the soul return, guided by its blood relatives?"

"Persistence is a lamp, illuminating the past."

As the incantation ended, in Shen Yuepo's perception, the longing for her mother deep within Tongtong's soul transformed into a hazy ribbon of light, drifting out of the apartment and extending in a specific direction of the city.

It is an old-style residential area.

At the end of that band of light, a wisp of soul light, imbued with sorrow and despair, was coiled.

Shen Yuepo opened her eyes and looked down at Tongtong, who was staring at her expectantly.

She had intended to take Tongtong into the Reincarnation Ring, but looking into his completely trusting eyes, Shen Yuepo abandoned the idea.

She didn't want the child to experience any more fears similar to being locked up.

She walked to the entrance and took down a seemingly ordinary black long-handled umbrella.

A glint of light flashed at her fingertips, quickly outlining several concealed auras inside the umbrella.

Although today looks like a sunny day.

"Tongtong," she said gently as she opened the umbrella, "When I walk with this umbrella, you should stay under it and follow me, okay? It's a bit sunny outside, so it'll be more comfortable if you stay under it."

Although Tongtong didn't understand why she needed an umbrella on a sunny day, she trusted Shen Yuepo completely.

He immediately slid off the sofa and ran to the umbrella. "Okay, Tongtong, be a good girl and hide under the umbrella!"

"Good girl."

Shen Yuepo held the umbrella in one hand, while the other hand hung naturally at her side. With a slight movement of her fingertips, a wisp of spiritual energy guided Tongtong, allowing him to stay steadily in the shadows under the umbrella and not get lost.

As the morning light intensifies, the city begins to bustle.

A person, an umbrella, and a tiny, unseen spirit walk through the increasingly bustling streets toward the old neighborhood.

Passersby occasionally cast surprised glances at the young woman holding an umbrella under the clear sky, but quickly looked away.

Shen Yuepo brought Tongtong to that old residential area.

Standing in front of the security door, Shen Yuepo could clearly sense that there was indeed the presence of Tongtong's mother inside.

But it was a wave of life force tinged with sadness, despair, and even a hint of death.

She first bent down and gently instructed Tongtong under the umbrella, "Tongtong, Mommy is inside. But, I need to talk to Mommy for a few minutes first. Be a good girl and wait at the door for a while, don't make a sound, okay? Wait for me to call you."

Hearing that her mother was just a door away, Tongtong stared at the door with bright eyes, behaving very obediently. "Okay! Tongtong will be good and won't make a sound!"

After calming Tongtong down, Chen Yuepo raised her hand and gently knocked on the door.

"Knock, knock knock..."

The knocking echoed in the quiet hallway.

After a long time, so long that Tongtong started fidgeting with her little feet, extremely slow footsteps finally came from inside the door.

“Clatter.”

The door was pulled open a crack, and the face of a young woman, pale and swollen, with bloodshot eyes, and so haggard she was almost unrecognizable, peeked out.

She was still wearing her wrinkled pajamas, her hair was messy, and she looked like a walking corpse.

Seeing a cold and aloof stranger standing outside the door, she was clearly stunned and asked in a hoarse voice, "Who...who are you looking for?"

"Mother!"

As soon as Tongtong saw her mother, she immediately forgot about waiting and happily peeked her little head out from under the umbrella.

He waved his little hands vigorously, trying to get his mother's attention, "Mommy! Tongtong is here! Tongtong found you!"

However, the woman's gaze swept straight past where Tongtong was, and she stared blankly at Shen Yuepo.

She did not respond to her son's calls, even though he was right next to her.

Tongtong's waving little hand slowly stopped.

The smile on his face gradually disappeared, replaced by confusion and helplessness.

He stubbornly moved forward, almost touching the hem of his mother's pajamas, tilted his little face up, and shouted even louder:

"Mommy! Mommy, look at me! It's me, Tongtong!"

The woman remained unresponsive; in fact, she swayed slightly from not having eaten for so long, and her eyes held only a desolate stillness.

Tongtong finally realized that his mother really couldn't see or hear him.

He suddenly took a step back and hid under the umbrella beside Shen Yuepo.

Her little hands gripped Shen Yuepo's clothes tightly, and large tears, condensed from yin energy, rolled down her upturned face. Her voice was filled with fear and helplessness.

"Sister, why can't Mom see me? Why can't she hear me?"

He stared intently at his mother's haggard face, his voice trembling violently, "...Does Mom not recognize Tongtong anymore? Does she not want Tongtong anymore?"

He took a small step forward, almost touching the woman's legs, tilted his small face up, and shouted with all his might:

"Mommy! Look at Tongtong! Mommy!"

He couldn't understand the isolation caused by death, and could only interpret it in his own way: if his mother ignored him, it meant she didn't want him anymore.

The woman remained oblivious, but grew increasingly uneasy at Shen Yuepo's silence, her hand resting on the door as if she wanted to close it.

Shen Yuepo looked at Tongtong, and her heart was clenched tightly.

She quickly said to the woman inside, who was about to close the door, "Excuse me for disturbing you. I'm a community volunteer, just checking in to see if you're alright. You look like you need help."

The woman slowly shook her head, her lips moved slightly but no sound came out, and she subconsciously closed the door.

Her condition was clearly on the verge of collapse, and she refused to communicate with the outside world.

Shen Yuepo did not force her way in. After seeing the woman close the door, she quickly bent down:

“Tongtong, listen to your sister,” her voice was soft yet firm, “Mom doesn’t want Tongtong.”

"Then why..." Tongtong sobbed, her eyes filled with tears.

"Because Tongtong is currently in a very special state."

Shen Yuepo carefully chose her words, using a way that a child could understand, "It's like...like Tongtong playing hide-and-seek, hiding in a place that her mother couldn't find or hear with her normal eyes and ears."

Tongtong's crying subsided a little, and she looked at her in confusion: "Hide and seek? Tongtong didn't hide, Tongtong misses her mother..."

“Sister knows that Tongtong didn’t hide it on purpose.” Shen Yuepo gently stroked the top of his head. “It’s because something bad happened, and Tongtong accidentally went to that special place.”

"Mom is very, very sad because she can't find Tongtong. She's so sad that she's locked herself away. That's why she can't see or hear Tongtong now."

Shen Yuepo pointed to the closed door: "Mom is inside, her heart is full of Tongtong, full of sadness at not being able to find Tongtong. It's not that she's ignoring Tongtong, she's just too sad, too sad, so sad that she's gotten sick."