The seven-spot ladybird did not move in the beginning. It merely moved its legs and seemed to be familiarizing its new body.
It was the same for the big ant. Instead of moving around in a panic, it merely moved its legs.
A while later, the seven-spot ladybird moved first. It was crawling on the table without any sense of direction, whereby it was just moving around.
Then the big ant moved. It was walking around without any sequence too.
The big ant would occasionally stop to move its back. However, nothing happened. It then proceeded to move.
Ke Meng used his fingernail to touch the seven-spot ladybird's shell.
Under usual circumstances, the seven-spot ladybird would be shocked. It would either fake its death or would open its wings to fly.
However, the seven-spot ladybird did not shrink its six little legs to fake its death, nor did it open the wings on its back. Instead, it was behaving like an ant, meaning it changed from crawling to running quickly.
Ke Meng used his fingernail to try that for five times consecutively, but he failed to scare it to use its wings.
He thought to himself, 'The seven-spot ladybird is currently being controlled by the ant. The big ant has no wings, so it has no idea how to use its wings to fly. Therefore, instead of flying away, it ran away following an ant's logic when they are scared.'
Ke Meng stretched his arms and waved twice. He grabbed both of their shadows back to his palms.
He felt the skill was magical as he watched them crawling around in his palms while he did not feel any weight.
He pinched both shadows and opened the side bedroom's door. He saw the Strange Knowledge Cat that was staring blankly.
It squatted in the cat basin. It had been in this motionless pose for a long time now, and there were no changes to its pose.
Ke Meng stared at its eyes directly. Fifteen seconds later, he gained strange knowledge in his head as expected.
"These are two insect shadows that have left their bodies. Someone is grabbing them."
"What? That's it? Can't you give more details?" Ke Meng rolled his eyes at the big-faced cat. He knew that without having the cat to tell him.
He then moved the big-faced cat next to the dining table in the living room. He would be notified as soon as there was new information.
After putting the shadows back to the owners, the seven-spot ladybird could fly now while the ant was still running around.
Subsequently, Ke Meng exchanged both bugs' shadows again and stared at the big-faced cat's eyes for 15 seconds.
He had gained strange knowledge!
"These are two living insects that have a shadow living in them as a parasite. Currently, the insects' bodies are being controlled by the shadow's consciousness. However, as they're not in their own body, they have rather poor coordination. They'll need some time to adapt."
The new knowledge was finally useful this time. Ke Meng understood the meaning of the shadow exchange now.
"Does that mean that shadows can replace one's consciousness?" Ke Meng mumbled.
If a shadow could replace one's consciousness, what was the use of a brain?
The big-faced cat did not explain that.
Later on, Ke Meng began a new test. He placed both shadows on the ant.
He waved casually and tossed the seven-spot ladybird's shadow into the big ant's shadow.
At that moment, the big ant's shadow expanded and distorted for two seconds. It then went back to normal, where its shadow remained a big ant's shadow.
Ke Meng poked the big ant. It was still running away as an ant would do.
He looked at the big-faced cat, trying to gain new strange knowledge from it.
Ke Meng fell into a daze 15 seconds later.
He understood now.
"This is a living thing that has another species' shadow invaded in its body. Currently, the master took over the mobility while the secondary personality is sleeping. There might be something unpredictable happening in the future."
According to the big-faced cat's explanation, the seven-spot ladybird's consciousness had integrated with the big ant's shadow.
He stretched his hand and grabbed. The big ant's gray shadow appeared in his palm instead.
"Wait, where's the seven-spot ladybird's shadow?" Ke Meng mumbled.
Could it be that both shadows would be integrated into one after the two shadows shared a body?
If that was the case, Mrs. Chen was in a terrible situation.
Ke Meng looked at the motionless seven-spot ladybird on the table. He was sure that the seven-spot ladybird would not die having its shadow taken away.
However, Ke Meng had no idea how long a living thing would live without a shadow. Bugs were too small, so it was hard for one to observe.
'Laboratory rats are indeed more suitable for experiments,' Ke Meng thought to himself.
He looked at his palm again. He used his left hand to grab the shadow in his right palm. The shadow he captured still had the shape of an ant.
He would not capture his own shadow because the Shadow Catcher would not make that error as it captured shadows following his consciousness.
He had no idea what would happen if he really captured his own shadow. No matter what, he dared not think about it.
'Maybe I can never put it back, or I'll have to look for the opportunity to take it back?
'Oh yeah, Mrs. Chen's shadow could leave her body, and it could go back. That's a living example right there.'
Ke Meng came to a realization all of a sudden. He did not think of that earlier. Now that he thought about it, it would not mean death for him to grab his own shadow.
However, he did not have the desire to try that. No matter how curious he was, his instinct told him that it was best not to try it.
He would only try that if that was the last resort—only in case he had to grab his own shadow to escape a threat.
At that moment, Glutinous Ball finished the glutinous balls in the pot and barked in satisfaction.
"Can you do the dishes?" Ke Meng asked.
Glutinous Ball did not understand that initially, but it got the rough idea of doing the dishes through its senses.
"Do you want more glutinous balls? Go do the dishes if you know how to do it. I'll feed you glutinous balls again next time," Ke Meng ordered.
Glutinous Ball picked up the pot with its hair upon hearing that it would be fed glutinous balls again next time. It rolled to the kitchen.
It held the pot with its hair taking turns. It made sure not to drop the pot when it was rolling.
Soon, a cleaning noise came from the kitchen.
Ke Meng nodded in satisfaction. It was convenient to have a pet dog.
Subsequently, he placed the shadow back onto the big ant. He was grabbing and putting its shadow back over and over again with the attempt to capture the seven-spot ladybird's shadow.
He was familiar now that he had practiced more.
Ke Meng could sense that the Shadow Catcher would indeed grab the big ant whenever he was targeting the ant.
Meanwhile, the seven-spot ladybird's shadow could not be separated since it had been integrated with the big ant's shadow. There seemed to be gum stuck between the two, so he was forced to grab both together.
Suppose he was to grab with both hands at the same time instead of using one hand, whereby he would simultaneously grab the seven-spot ladybird's shadow in one hand and the big ant's in the other. In that case, he might be able to separate both even if there was a piece of gum stuck between them.
Ke Meng did that as he thought. He put the big ant's shadow back to its body. Subsequently, he moved both left and right hands. He waved at the ant's direction, visualizing that he would capture the ant's shadow with his right hand and the seven-spot ladybird's shadow with his left hand.
When he opened his right hand, an ant's shadow was running around in his palm.
As he opened his left hand, a tiny round shadow appeared on it. It was the seven-spot ladybird's shadow.
He had succeeded!