Zhang Shuwan lived in an ordinary neighborhood in the Haiming District of Chunshan City, at 13-7B.
She had no friends, no relatives, and was a freelancer.
She was merely an acquaintance with her neighbors. The last conversation was seven months ago – according to her neighbor, Aunt Qian, they were discussing whether the price of pork in the market had risen.
On the way, Chen Xiaoling gave them Zhang Shuwan’s mobile number.
Lu Yingjiu dialed it, but the phone was turned off.
When they arrived at the neighborhood, Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian took the elevator to the seventh floor. The cold security door of 7B blocked their way. Lu Yingjiu rang the doorbell and knocked on the door, but no one answered.
Just as Chen Xiaoling said, no one know where she had gone.
Just as Lu Yingjiu was about to leave, there was a “creak” sound next to him.
The neighbor’s door was carefully opened.
The old-fashioned security chain was hanging on the door, not taken off, the door was only a little open, revealing a few strands of gray hair, dry skin, and one eye.
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
If the light was a little darker, it would be almost like a horror movie.
A hoarse voice came, “Who are you looking for?”
It sounded like a woman, probably the neighbor Aunt Qian.
“We’re looking for the homeowner who lives here,” Lu Yingjiu said. “Do you know her?”
“You’re looking for Little Zhang?” Aunt Qian asked cautiously, “Are you her friend? Relative?”
Lu Yingjiu made up an excuse, “We’re friends of her friend. She hasn’t been in touch for a long time, and we just happened to come to Chunshan City, so our friend asked us to come and check on her.”
Aunt Qian looked at them again.
When she looked at Lu Yingjiu, she was gentle, even a little appreciative – Lu Yingjiu was familiar with this kind of gaze.
Based on past experience, in the next second, he would often be asked “Where do you work? How old are you? Do you have a girlfriend, do you want me to introduce you to one?”
However, when Aunt Qian’s gentle and gossipy gaze turned to Jing Xian…
She suddenly became alert.
Aunt Qian looked Jing Xian up and down, her gaze fluctuating between admiration and suspicion.
Lu Yingjiu immediately knew what she was wary of.
He secretly nudged Jing Xian, who promptly put on his professional fake smile to express goodwill.
Then Lu Yingjiu explained, “We’re not bad people, we really just came to take a look.”
“Oh.” Aunt Qian was half-believing, “I don’t know where she went either.”
Lu Yingjiu asked, “Do you know what she does for a living?”
“I don’t know.” Aunt Qian shook her head, a gossiping look on her face, “But she’s so rich, she drives a nice car, it doesn’t matter if she works or not. Maybe she has several houses and doesn’t live here, maybe she got married.”
“The car…” Lu Yingjiu thought for a moment, “Where does she usually park?”
“I don’t know, maybe downstairs.” Aunt Qian answered.
She looked at Lu Yingjiu, her eyes sparkling, “Young man, where do you work? How old are you? Do you have a girlfriend, do you want me to introduce you to one?”
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
Just as expected!! These questions again!
Before he could answer, Jing Xian had already put his arm around his shoulder and laughed, “He’s already married.”
Aunt Qian was very disappointed, sighing, “Ah, what a pity, otherwise I have a lot of people to introduce to you.”
Lu Yingjiu originally wanted to forcibly enter Zhang Shuwan’s house.
But Aunt Qian kept staring at them, clearly indicating that if they didn’t leave, she wouldn’t close the door. Lu Yingjiu had no choice but to go downstairs with Jing Xian, planning to find Zhang Shuwan’s car.
After going downstairs and walking through the neighborhood, Jing Xian kept his arm around him.
It was clear that Jing Xian was jealous.
Lu Yingjiu helplessly said, “What are you making a fuss about? That old lady was just fantasizing about introducing me to someone.”
“No.” Jing Xian said, “Not even in her imagination.” After saying that, he took advantage of the fact that no one was around and kissed Lu Yingjiu.
Lu Yingjiu finally managed to put the lid on the ghost king’s jealousy and took a walk around Building 13.
There were few cars parked on weekdays, most of them were ordinary cars, not like the “nice car” Aunt Qian mentioned.
Soon, in a corner to the southeast, Lu Yingjiu saw a BMW covered in dust.
The dust was at least three to four centimeters thick, and the glass was full of bird droppings. As they approached, two stray cats lying under the car woke up instantly, cautiously poking their heads out to look at them.
Through the dirty glass, Lu Yingjiu could barely see a small amulet hanging from the rearview mirror.
The amulet depicted a beast with a tiger’s head and dog’s ears.
Di Ting.
Only the Zhang family had a pact with Di Ting. It was almost certain that this was Zhang Shuwan’s car.
Lu Yingjiu folded two small paper figures.
The paper figures squeezed through the door gap with difficulty and opened the door for Lu Yingjiu – the BMW had long since run out of power and did not sound an alarm.
When the car door opened, a stale smell hit them.
Lu Yingjiu waited for a while for ventilation, then sat in the driver’s seat, put on gloves, and carefully searched the items in the car.
The two little paper figures also helped, bouncing up and down, opening the storage box on the passenger side. Soon, they came back holding a small orange cloth bag.
The cloth bag was small, with a faint fluctuation of talisman paper.
Lu Yingjiu opened it and took out a…small round mirror?
It looked like the small mirror some girls would carry when they go out, the mirror was clean and reflected his face.
In addition to this mirror, Lu Yingjiu also found an old mobile phone, which could still be used after being fully charged. However, it should be a spare phone, there was no information in it.
Looking through various papers, there were many receipts for highway tolls, all dated more than half a year ago. It seemed that Zhang Shu often drove to other places.
But she didn’t have a job, why did she always go out of town?
Lu Yingjiu was a bit puzzled.
But apart from that, there was nothing special about the car.
He took the mirror, closed the car door, and went back upstairs with Jing Xian.
This time Aunt Qian was not there, making it easier for them to “commit the crime”.
Lu Yingjiu took out a paperclip and picked the lock of Zhang Shuwan’s house.
Behind the door was stale air, directly opposite was the living room, and on the shoe cabinet next to it were many shoes, sneakers, sandals, high heels that were scattered everywhere… one here, one there, their owner should not be good at tidying up.
The flowers in the vase had long since withered, the wallpaper had fallen off and had fallen into pieces on the ground, and the small fish corpses in the aquarium were almost rotten, and the water in it was also extremely turbid.
She really hadn’t been back for a long time.
The room was a simple two-bedroom and one-living room layout.
When he pushed open the bedroom door, Lu Yingjiu was actually prepared for the worst.
Like seeing a corpse.
But in fact, the bedroom was clean and even dust-free, a ray of sunlight shot in from the window.
Lu Yingjiu stepped in…
And saw countless faces of himself.
Dense, large and small mirrors filled every corner of the room.
Full-length fitting mirrors, half-human round mirrors, European-style gorgeous mirrors, and even funhouse mirrors… old bronze mirrors and small makeup mirrors were hung in the air by thin ropes, reflecting dazzling light.
All the mirrors, the mirror surfaces, were facing the bed.
Like a huge net, it wrapped around her sleeping place, airtight.
From a feng shui perspective, it was not very auspicious to have a mirror directly facing the bed, which may affect one’s fortune.
Not to mention so many mirrors.
If one woke up in a daze in the middle of the night and saw countless selves in the mirror, it would be quite terrifying.
There was no dust in the room, it should have been blocked by something.
Lu Yingjiu searched around the room and pulled a lamp out from under the bed.
An octagonal palace lamp.
With a black lacquered wood frame, covered with gauze, each of the eight sides painted with a running Di Ting, and deep green tassels hanging from the lamp body.
Generally speaking, tassels and patterns were mainly red and gold, and it was rare to see a palace lamp with a black body and deep green color.
Lu Yingjiu held the top and touched the palace lamp lightly.
The lamp surface rotated smoothly, and the Di Ting seemed to come to life, as if it was about to jump out.
“What is this lantern?” Jing Xian asked, “What, is this a secret of the aristocratic family that is not passed down?”
“Not really.” Lu Yingjiu stared at the lantern, “But this kind of lamp is indeed invented by the Zhang family, named ‘Green Lantern’.”
Jing Xian: “…Green Lantern Association?”
He remembered clearly where Lu Yingjiu worked.
“Yes.” Lu Yingjiu nodded, “The predecessor of the Green Lantern Association was indeed founded by the Zhang family. Of course, it was not called the Green Lantern Association at that time, it was just a group of young exorcists from the Zhang family gathered together, each with a handheld green lantern as a secret signal, walking in the night.”
At that time, the art of exorcism was far from developed.
Various monsters and ghosts were rampant, and the people were suffering.
The cost of learning to exorcise ghosts was high.
Whether it’s the pen and ink and paper used for drawing talisman paper, or the various jade and gems used for exorcising ghosts, or the medicinal materials used for healing, they were not affordable for ordinary families. So the art of exorcism was monopolized in a few families, the price was high, and a lot of profits were made.
So, a group of young people stood up.
The Zhang family at that time believed in the Heavenly Way, but they were not obsessed with it to the point of madness. The family scale was not large, and there were still young people with burning hearts.
They only need a pitiful remuneration, or even do it for free.
For a while, they became famous, and countless people came to ask for their help.
And their behavior obviously damaged the interests of other exorcist families. They began to be maliciously suppressed and targeted. It was a small matter to be beaten up inexplicably, and some were directly killed.
This threat did not shake the hearts of young people.
They turned to act secretly, covering their faces and walking in the long night with green lanterns. If residents see a dim green light approaching, they could come forward to ask for help to drive away ferocious ghosts.
Over time, their reputation rose rapidly.
With the further strengthening of the Zhang family, the first exorcist organization in history was born, named “Green Lantern Pavilion”.
Later, more and more exorcists joined the Green Lantern Pavilion, even those with different surnames. The trend of high-priced exorcism gradually disappeared, and the Green Lantern Pavilion developed larger and larger, from the Zhang family as the association master, to the later capable ones.
A hundred years ago, it was renamed the “Green Lantern Association”.
Until today, it was still the largest exorcism organization.
This was probably the best thing the Zhang family had ever done, none of them.
Jing Xian asked, “Is this the lantern you mentioned?”
“Yes.” Lu Yingjiu looked at the lantern, “There are palace lantern styles, and there are ordinary paper lantern styles. Like this fine workmanship, generally only the Zhang family can do it.” He squinted slightly, “I’m wondering, why Zhang Shuwan put it under the bed.”
“Try lighting it.” Jing Xian said.
He snapped his fingers, and a ghostly fire ignited at his fingertips.
There was still oil in the palace lantern, which he lit.
The green flame rose, illuminating the room through the cotton gauze. Lu Yingjiu looked up and saw that each mirror was a small, jumping spark.
He said, “Jing Xian, you go and draw the curtains.”
Jing Xian did so.
The curtain was very heavy, it should be a specially customized blackout curtain. After pulling it up, it was pitch black, with only the dim green fire in the palace lantern jumping. Lu Yingjiu lifted the palace lantern and turned around, seeing countless selves with green fire in their eyes, half bright and half dark.
Only when the light were blocked did they realize that the mirrors were arranged very cleverly, reflecting light from any angle…
Except for the corner of the head of the bed.
There was no reflection there.
Lu Yingjiu said, “You pull the curtains again.”
The sunlight slanted in, and the room was bright.
Lu Yingjiu went to the head of the bed and indeed found a gap in the layers of mirrors. The gap was very inconspicuous. If they hadn’t lit the lantern and pulled the curtains, they wouldn’t have noticed.
It was like… a small mirror was missing.
This size and shape were very familiar.
Lu Yingjiu thought for a moment and took out the mirror he found in the car.
The round mirror surface was small and just fits the gap.
Jing Xian took out the glue from the four-dimensional backpack and gave it to Lu Yingjiu, letting him stick the mirror back on the wall.
In this way, after pulling the curtains again, the light of the lantern filled every corner.
The green light was dim and silently burning.
The two of them stood in the room, holding the lantern, with a bit of gloom and horror, as if they were performing some unknown ceremony.
…Yes, it’s a ceremony.
The palace lantern and the mirror in the car were not accidental. The existence of these mirrors must be for the formation. But how to start it?
In the next tens of minutes, Lu Yingjiu kept searching in the room, trying to find clues, but found nothing.
During the rest, he sat on the living room sofa and murmured to himself, “Why does the mirror have to face the bed… She can’t possibly not know that this is not auspicious and will affect fortune.”
He suspected that there were talisman papers under the bed, but he didn’t find any.
Jing Xian said: “Practice is the only criterion for testing the truth. Since you can’t figure it out, you might as well try it directly.”
Lu Yingjiu was still thinking, and after a few seconds he asked: “…What to try?”
“Just go to sleep for a night.” Jing Xian said.
Lu Yingjiu: “?”
Jing Xian seriously said, “Maybe you will have an idea after you replace her. She likes to light lanterns, you also light the lantern; she likes that broken bed, you also sleep on the broken bed; she wakes up every day facing a bunch of mirrors, you also wake up facing a bunch of mirrors, isn’t the brain circuit connected?”
Lu Yingjiu held his forehead. “…Okay, let’s try it. But it’s not for any brain circuit connection, but some formations may only be effective when the yin energy is heavy at night.”
They searched the room again, then went out for dinner and waited for nightfall.
There was a snack street next to it, and Lu Yingjiu ordered crayfish to eat.
The red shrimp tail splashed with oil and was fragrant. Jing Xian put all the peeled shrimp tails in Lu Yingjiu’s bowl until Lu Yingjiu said he couldn’t eat anymore.
After dinner, they returned to Zhang Shuwan’s house.
Lu Yingjiu didn’t want to move anything on that bed, he threw out the talisman paper, and a breeze blew the dust on the bed. Jing Xian took out a thin towel from the magical small backpack and put it on the pillow and bed to spend the night temporarily.
Lu Yingjiu didn’t mind sleeping in someone else’s bed.
It’s just that he really didn’t imagine that one day he would sleep in someone else’s bed with Jing Xian.
Pulling down the curtains, lighting the green lantern, the green fire was reflected in each mirror, as if thousands of ghost fires were surrounding them.
The two lay on the bed together.
The bed was not small, but it seemed a bit narrow for two men to lie side by side. Lu Yingjiu almost slept in Jing Xian’s arms, thinking that if Zhang Shuwan suddenly came back, she would be scared to death–
Two men lying intimately on her bed, hugging and cuddling, and lighting her green lantern.
Like a thrilling gay film with elements of crime, suspense, and supernatural, it could shock the market when it was released.
He thought so, smelling the familiar cold fragrance, and gradually fell asleep in Jing Xian’s arms.
****
Tick tick tick…
Tick tick tick…
The second hand turned, pointing to two o’clock in the middle of the night.
When he woke up again, Lu Yingjiu’s head was groggy.
There was no one beside him.
…Where did Jing Xian go? He thought.
Soon, years of trained vigilance made him sober: something was wrong.
The hanging green lantern was still burning, with a faint firelight falling into the mirror. Lu Yingjiu sat up and saw countless selves.
What’s wrong?
His gaze swept across the mirrors, and his face, body, and back were everywhere. When he looked at the mirror, it was like looking at a hundred selves; when he moved slightly, those images changed with him, dizzying.
If it were someone else here, they would probably be horrified.
But Lu Yingjiu was Lu Yingjiu after all, his heartbeat didn’t speed up at all, he just wanted to figure out Zhang Shuwan’s intention.
In the end, he looked at the mirror diagonally opposite.
It was a full-length fitting mirror, the wooden frame was half rotten, and it was only one person wide. From its angle, it just showed his side face and showed his brown pupils.
However, in the other mirrors, there were green fires in his pupils.
Only in this mirror were his eyes clean and the original color.
Lu Yingjiu got up and walked to the mirror, and the green light stretched his shadow long.
The young man in the mirror looked at him, still with delicate features, handsome appearance, and gentle temperament.
A few seconds later, it smiled.
