"Eh?" In Grace Bennett's eyes, a trace of doubt flashed directly—how could there be no one? Did he mishear? But that voice just now had been so clear.

The next moment, when he still couldn't find anyone no matter what, Grace Bennett just shook his head slightly, turned around quietly with a confused look, and reached for the youtiao.

As soon as he touched the food again, that clear thought immediately flashed into his mind.

This time, Grace Bennett's expression finally changed dramatically. His right hand tightened, and with a swish, he turned his head, looking back and to both sides once more.

But the empty room remained just as empty.

"Do you want to merge?"

Although there was not a single shadow of a person around, that thought arose again, making Grace Bennett's eyes suddenly narrow, and then he looked in shock at the youtiao he was gripping tightly.

It was because he suddenly realized that as the voice appeared, the youtiao he was holding gave him an extremely strange feeling—as if, if he chose to merge, the youtiao would simply vanish into thin air.

"The one speaking... is this youtiao?!"

In an instant, Grace Bennett was completely frozen there, a chill running down his spine, making his whole body bristle. Even his fair, clean face took on a faint bluish tinge.

What kind of joke was this—youtiao could talk?

Chapter 003: A Thief

"Pa!"

In extreme tension and shock, Grace Bennett suddenly let go, throwing the youtiao to the ground. He hurriedly retreated, and almost at the same time, all the strange sensations vanished the moment the youtiao left his hand.

And Grace Bennett, after stepping back a step or two, collapsed onto the bed with a thud.

But his gaze never left that youtiao.

With a pale face, he stared at the youtiao for quite a while, and only after nothing else happened did Grace Bennett suddenly take a deep breath, gradually calming down.

A talking youtiao—he would never have believed it before. For a moment, he even wondered if he was hallucinating.

After a moment of silence, Grace Bennett finally mustered his courage and reached for another youtiao on the nightstand.

As soon as his fingers touched the second youtiao, that bizarre thought once again clearly surfaced in his mind, instantly startling him so much that he jerked his right hand back, staring fixedly at the youtiao, frozen in place.

Really? Could youtiao actually talk?

No!

It wasn't the youtiao talking. If it was, then the person who fried these foods, and the hotel staff who brought them to him, why didn't they notice anything strange?

This could only mean that the problem was with himself.

Even though he was still extremely frightened, Grace Bennett gradually regained some ability to think. Once he logically reached this conclusion, Grace Bennett's expression changed again.

"Everything was fine yesterday, so why is this happening now? Did I drink too much yesterday and still haven't sobered up?" The thought flashed through his mind, and Grace Bennett was especially puzzled—could this all be a hallucination?

Afterward, he gradually came up with an idea. To determine whether this was a hallucination was actually simple—just follow that thought and try merging, and maybe he could tell for sure.

After all, the youtiao gave him the feeling that if he chose to merge, it would vanish into thin air. He really didn't believe such a thing could actually happen.

Suspicious and uncertain, Grace Bennett took a deep breath, grabbed a youtiao, and when the thought arose again, he directly chose to merge.

After a single thought, Grace Bennett suddenly felt his hand empty. But that wasn't the main point—what made his scalp tingle again was that the youtiao actually disappeared into thin air right before his eyes!!

This bizarre situation made his eyes go wide, his body going rigid. But almost at the same time, he suddenly realized that his mind had been connected to a strange place.

It was as if, in his mind, a space about one meter in diameter had suddenly appeared. This space was as clean and clear as ordinary air, but in one corner, the youtiao from just now was quietly floating.

As he grew more and more astonished, Grace Bennett suddenly noticed that his previously decent mental state was now giving way to fatigue and drowsiness. The feeling, if summed up in one word, was tired!

Not only was he mentally tired, but he also felt as if his body had lost a lot of strength.

"Why am I suddenly so tired?" Even though he was exhausted, Grace Bennett remained clear-headed, quickly thinking through all the changes.

He watched as, in the space that had suddenly appeared in his mind, a strange layer of light suddenly lit up, surging toward the youtiao.

In the blink of an eye, the youtiao was completely buried. The next moment, when everything calmed down, there was no trace of the youtiao left—only a small wisp of lively, translucent gas remained.