C89 The Ancient Mirror

"My dad has always been watching over this tomb..." I said, taken aback. Reflecting on it, my adoptive father had always enjoyed taking me to Short Mountain to gather firewood and herbs since I was young. Often, he would leave me alone under a tree while he disappeared to some mysterious place.

"Your dad must have a reason for choosing to live in seclusion near the tomb's entrance. Maybe he hasn't given up on the quest for Immortality, or perhaps there's another motive..." Second Master Lei mused.

"Second Uncle Lei, now that I've pieced together what's happening, when do we set out?" I asked eagerly. The more I heard about these bizarre and astonishing past events, the more I realized how many secrets my adoptive father had kept from me. My curiosity about the tomb grew by the minute; I was itching to fly back and unravel all the enigmatic puzzles.

"We haven't set a departure date yet. We need to prepare thoroughly before we go, and most importantly, I need to recruit some experts," Second Master Lei explained. I remembered that out of the seven experts, including my adoptive father, only four had survived. And now, they had an extra burden in me.

"Changsheng, you must be exhausted from today. Head back to the hotel and rest up. Tomorrow, I'll take you to meet one of the survivors from seventeen years ago," Second Master Lei told me.

I nodded and exited the negotiation room. Xiaodao, who had been standing guard at the door, entered the room. As the door closed, I caught a glimpse of the two exchanging whispers through the crack.

By the time I got back to the hotel, it was already seven in the evening, and my stomach was growling with hunger. I knocked on Xiaodieh's door next door, hoping to invite her to grab a bite to eat.

After a long wait with no response, I was about to head downstairs when the door slowly creaked open...

"Xiaodieh...?" I called out as I pushed the door open, only to find the room engulfed in darkness. I flicked the light switch several times to no avail, then realized that the electricity could only be restored with a room card.

With Xiaodieh nowhere in sight, I turned to leave. But just then, I was struck by a chilling sensation that seemed to permeate the room.

Reflecting on Xiaodieh's unusual behavior earlier, I found myself instinctively returning to the room, my gaze drawn to the ancient mirror on the table. As my fingers grazed the surface of the bronze mirror, a chill coursed through me. It felt as if the chilling energy in the room emanated from this very mirror.

Xiaodieh was a young woman; it seemed unlikely she would use this bronze mirror for makeup. And if she had pilfered it from a tomb, surely she wouldn't dare display it so openly on the table.

My suspicions about Xiaodieh deepened. I picked up the ancient mirror for a closer inspection, but in that instant, I was horrified to see a figure reflected in the glass!

Startled, my hand shook, and the mirror clattered to the floor. Whirling around, my fear intensified as I saw someone standing in the pitch-dark corner of the room.

"Xiao... Xiaodieh! You... Why are you here? I thought you had gone out?" I asked, my voice quivering.

"No, I've been sleeping here the whole time. Why did you come in?" Xiaodieh responded, her voice echoing from the corner where she remained huddled.

"I... I just wanted to ask... if you'd like to... to get something to eat?" I stammered, as if overcome by the spirit of Deaf Zhang.

"I'm not hungry. You go ahead. I'm tired and want to sleep some more," Xiaodieh replied, her tone icy.

Feeling uneasy, I hurried out of the room. Once the door was closed behind me, I breathed a sigh of relief. The Xiaodieh I knew before was wary of me, but now, it was I who feared her.

With no appetite left, I made do with a bowl of instant noodles, eating without enjoyment. Exhausted from days of captivity and being buried alive, sleep overtook me before I could process the recent events.

The night passed in silence. Come morning, Xiaodao knocked on my door, informing me that Second Master Lei wished to see me. I quickly got dressed and joined him at Lei's Brand. As I approached the entrance, Second Master Lei was already waiting for me in his car.

Our destination was a small village at the border of Hebei and Liaoning. Second Master Lei explained that the man we were searching for was there—his name was Zhang Ziliang, known to many as the Ghost Doctor.