Li Chen seemed to be smiling at him from outside the picture.
The moment this thought crossed Yang Siguang’s mind, he shivered again.
Yang Siguang wasn’t sure if he was just being overly sensitive, but he even thought he saw the extra “Li Chen” in the still image blink at him.
It was just a faint and blurry shadow, yet the gaze from those light golden-brown eyes felt as if it were real…
It was a feeling he knew all too well.
Suddenly, Yang Siguang realized that, before Li Chen’s death, there were many moments when he felt like he was being watched.
And he had always assumed it was just his imagination.
So, what was going on now? Why were there two Li Chens in the image? Why did one of them feel so repulsive, so strange and eerie?
In a daze, Yang Siguang recalled Aunt Qiao’s warning.
The evil spirit the Li family had been offering to for so many years was the Old Mirror Immortal…
And mirrors… mirrors reflect images.
Many vague thoughts began to form in his mind, like a jigsaw puzzle that had been scattered. The more anxious Yang Siguang became, the harder it was to piece the image together into something clear.
In the next second, when Yang Siguang focused again on the image, he was horrified to find that the extra “Li Chen” in the photo seemed to be a little closer to him.
Had that eerie figure been this close earlier?
Close enough that it felt like the person was right there in the picture, only two or three meters away from him.
Yang Siguang felt a chill all over his body.
Instinctively, he closed the image to avoid the sticky, focused gaze. At that moment, he received another message from Xu Lu.
[You saw it, right?]
Xu Lu asked.
Yang Siguang’s breath caught.
Wait, how did Xu Lu know that he had opened the image?
Before Yang Siguang could respond, a series of messages flooded into his phone.
[You must think this is really strange too, right?]
[I think it’s terrifying. Let’s meet up, we need to talk about this face to face, don’t you think?]
No… I don’t want to meet you.
[Then it’s settled! (#^.^#) We’ll meet and talk.]
Although Yang Siguang had typed a refusal in the chat, he couldn’t bring himself to send it.
Instead, Xu Lu’s messages kept coming, one after another.
[I’m almost there, wait for me.]
[I’m at Binjiang Road.]
[I’m at the Yingbin Road intersection.]
[I’ve crossed the People’s Road overpass.]
[I’m at Garden West Street.]
…
Yang Siguang’s face turned pale as he pressed the power button on his phone.
The system’s sound played a soft ringtone, and with a slight tremor of the phone, the screen went completely dark.
The phone was off.
The sound of Yang Siguang’s rapid breathing echoed through the hospital room.
He never thought he would be so terrified of his own phone.
However, just as Yang Siguang mustered the courage to throw the phone further away…
The phone, which should have been completely turned off, suddenly lit up again.
A green chat box appeared on the screen.
[I’m downstairs from your hospital room.]
Before half a second had passed, the message refreshed again.
[I’m at the door.]
[Siguang, open the door.]
Instinctively, Yang Siguang forcefully threw the phone—
The metallic sound of the phone hitting the wall rang out, and this time, there was finally no more noise.
However, there came a series of sharp knocks on the door.
“Bang.”
“Bang.”
“Bang.”
…
Then, Yang Siguang heard a lifeless, low murmur.
“Yang Siguang, open the door.”
The voice sounded like Xu Lu’s… but it didn’t quite sound like the living Xu Lu. In between each syllable, there was a faint, hoarse sound.
Yang Siguang struggled to turn his head and look at the door.
At the bottom of the door, a shadow seemed to flicker. It looked like someone was really standing outside, knocking on the door with the same unchanging rhythm, and then speaking to him in a dead person’s voice.
*
At the peak of his panic, Yang Siguang suddenly became calm.
He glanced at his bedside table, where a vase was placed, with bright, fresh flowers inside. He immediately grabbed the flowers and threw them to the floor, then picked up the heavy ceramic vase.
With a blank expression, he slowly walked toward the door. With each knock, he pulled the door open.
“Get away—”
“Li Chen, you damn pervert, can you stop bothering me?!”
Yang Siguang let out a heart-wrenching curse, then raised the vase in his hand high toward the door.
However, what met his eyes was only an empty, silent corridor.
There was nothing outside the door.
“……”
Then, the phone that Yang Siguang had shattered into pieces earlier in the corner of the room flickered on.
Because the screen had been smashed, the originally green chat box now appeared murky and red.
The touchscreen function seemed to be severely malfunctioning, as if an invisible hand had gently tapped on the latest voice message Xu Lu had sent.
[Darling, I’m inside.]
Accompanied by that ambiguous, smiling whisper, a pair of cold, grayish-blue hands reached out from behind Yang Siguang, then tightly wedged between his fingers.
The vase crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces.
Yang Siguang felt his throat tighten, and the next second, an invisible force gripped him tightly, lifting him into the air. The hands pressing against his neck were intangible, but cold as ice, filled with lethal strength. It almost crushed his throat completely.
“Hah… hah…”
Yang Siguang gasped out a few whistling breaths.
But soon, he could no longer make even that sound.
In a matter of seconds, the pain from suffocation blurred his consciousness.
His face suddenly turned purple.
Driven by the instinct to survive, he desperately clawed at his neck, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t muster any strength.
His kicking legs also tried to reach the ground, but after several failed attempts, they grew weak and limp, slowly falling.
His vision distorted.
At the moment when his soul was about to leave his body, Yang Siguang saw something in front of him through a haze.
It was a dead gray, like a corpse, or an old, faded wax figure.
It grinned at Yang Siguang, its murky, evil gaze full of greed and desire.
[Siguang… it’s okay, this will all end soon, you’ll come with me.]
[We’ll be together forever.]
[Forever…]
In the brief moment of clarity before the light faded, Yang Siguang finally lost the strength to struggle.
Finally, he saw the true form of the evil spirit, and his vision became engulfed in a swirling black smoke. Coldness began seeping out from his bones, and his body felt as heavy as a waterlogged sack, while his soul felt unusually light, as if it could leave his body at any moment…
But those cold hands that had been locked around his neck from the beginning never loosened.
Whether in the physical world or in the realm of the soul, they did not release him.
Ah, this time, he probably was going to die.
Yang Siguang thought dizzily.
But then, he heard a strange, eerie wail. The spot on his chest where the paper doll had been placed began to burn, sending a searing heat that almost felt like it could scorch him.
“Si… Si… &*… %￥…”
Something.
Something was gradually appearing in the air.
Yang Siguang once again saw the terrifying figure.
A body twisted and deformed from a car accident, limbs already torn apart and a ruptured abdomen. The face of the dead, devoid of color and unable to show any expression.
Yang Siguang watched as the “Li Chen” crushed by the car, covered in blood, slowly crawled up behind the evil spirit.
The two “Li Chens” faced each other, almost like a mirror image, except one was flawless, while the other had already been distorted and shattered, its face terrifying beyond recognition.
They glared at each other, then began to tear at each other in a strange manner. The air was filled with a strong, foul odor, the unique smell of decaying blood.
The ghostly figures became increasingly fragmented as they fought, blood splattering everywhere.
The hand that had been clutching Yang Siguang’s neck had somehow loosened, and Yang Siguang fell to the ground with a heavy thud. But he felt little pain, only letting out a faint, muffled groan.
He watched as the evil spirit screamed, watched as “Li Chen” was torn apart by the evil spirit, only for another twisted shadow to emerge and tear the evil spirit apart.
The evil spirit let out an enraged roar, and faintly, Yang Siguang heard the sound of cracking bones coming from deep within the evil spirit’s body.
Eyeballs, severed hands, internal organs…
Everything seemed to fall like raindrops, hitting the ground with sharp, crackling sounds.
Yang Siguang’s vision was painted red.
He tried to focus, wanting to figure out who had the upper hand, but the black haze in his vision grew thicker and denser.
In the final moment before his consciousness faded, he saw Li Chen.
Li Chen, lying on the ground, his limbs broken, only able to slowly crawl with his shattered body.
The already dead person slowly, slowly crawled toward him, leaving a long trail of blood behind him.
“Si… Si… &*￥#… Don’t be afraid… ￥#… I… will watch over you…”
“Always… *&%… watch over you…”
The cold, dead hands gently touched Yang Siguang’s face. Awkwardly, they wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes.
Yang Siguang lost consciousness.
