The phrase "When it rains, it pours," defined Hao Xuan perfectly right now.
He stood in his Mind Palace looking at his severs, scowling all the way through. His mind racing to come up with various explanations for this new complication.
The first thing he did was walk over to the white ant that was next to the podium in the center of the Mind Palace.
It was rolled up into a small ball resting right next to the mysterious black egg.
"Did you do something to me?" he asked cautiously.
He was of course talking to the Queen. It was powerful enough to hide in plain sight even when Hao Xuan severed the white ant.
The process of severing entailed the complete submission of his sever's soul to Hao Xuan's, and during it he could 'feel' almost every detail about it, no matter how inconsequential it may seem.
None of the severs had been able to hide any malicious intents from Hao Xuan, let alone another soul completely.
Hell, he still wasn't sure if the soul he so easily severed back then was the white ant's or that of the Queen. Maybe it was both…or neither.
He waited a few seconds but there was no response whatsoever. His brow knitted tighter than ever before.
"Do not force my hand. I allowed you to stay here because you needed help but if it turns out you had anything to do with this, I will find a way to fuck you over even it costs me my own life, remember that!" he spoke in a low voice in all seriousness. And he meant every word of it.
Rather than living with the uncertainty of having such a creature living in his own Mind Palace, Hao Xuan was more than willing to 'duke it out' even if it meant certain death for him.
That was probably his most undesirable trait ever since he was young. Even his maternal grandfather would often sigh at this behavior.
When he was three or four years old, Hao Xuan thought one of his cousins had stolen an old toy of his. He asked to see it before breaking it right in front of him. A few days later the same toy was found under Hao Xuan's bed by the maid when she was cleaning, exactly where he had left it.
Rather than letting his cousin have it, he broke it so neither could of them could.
Even though he wasn't AS petty as before, but if Hao Xuan ever found out he was being taken advantage of, even if that weren't actually the case, he would do anything and everything in his power no matter how cruel, to make that person pay.
The Queen who was busy with her integration and had no time to worry about anything else could clearly feel this vindictive side of him. She, of course, had other things to worry about than obstructing Hao Xuan for no reason.
Right now, she had no physical body. She had to cast away her old form to escape from the hive in one piece and for the time being, Hao Xuan's Mind Palace was the safest place for her.
She was a coalescing amalgamation of thoughts, emotions, and millenniums-old instincts powered by an existence that remained solely in the spiritual state.
Even if she wanted to, there was not much she could in her current state.
Yet she knew by instinct that if she did not answer, it could spell trouble for her.
So using her own soul as a conduit, she reached out to Hao Xuan once again.
A high pitched noise reverberated throughout the Mind Palace. Series of images repeatedly flashed before Hao Xuan's eyes like an old silent film.
It looked like pre-recorded footage of the Mind Palace, only it was taken from 'outside' the Mind Palace somehow.
Hao Xuan didn't even know how such a thing was possible. The Mind Palace, as its name suggested, existed only in his mind. It was a construct not present in the physical world so how was it possible to get such a view?
Perhaps it was a unique ability of the Queen or maybe that was just how she interpreted reality.
Hao Xuan put such thoughts at the back of his mind and focused on the images. There was no way to tell when this 'footage' was taken just by looking at it but somehow Hao Xuan knew it was just a few hours old.
It showed Bo and the Scorpion King in their usual spots.
There were hundreds of various runes shining with a soft light all over the Mind Palace. Hao Xuan looked around but could see none of them with the naked eye.
Suddenly, they all shone intensely all at once and when the light dissipated, Bo was gone. This happened every time someone was taken in or out of the Mind Palace.
But when Bo was sent back for the last time, the brightness of these runes had diminished considerably.
The images stopped along with the high-pitched noise that only Hao Xuan was able to hear.
