Zhang Shuwan lives in Room 7b, Building 13, in an ordinary residential area in Haiyang District, Chunshan City.
No friends, no relatives, freelance.
The neighbors were just nodding acquaintances, and the last conversation they had was seven months ago. According to neighbor Aunt Qian, they were talking about whether the price of pork in the vegetable market had increased.
On the way, Chen Xiling gave them Zhang Shuwan's cell phone number.
Lu Yingjiu went to get a drink, but was prompted that her phone was turned off.
Arriving at the residential complex, Lu Yingjiu and Jingxian took the elevator to the seventh floor, where they were stopped by the cold security net. Lu Yingjiu pressed the doorbell and knocked, but no one answered.
Just as Chen Ling had expected, she had gone to an unknown place.
Just as Lu Yingjiu was about to leave, there was a "squeak" sound next to him.
The neighbor opened the door carefully.
There was an old-fashioned anti-theft chain hanging on his waist, which had not been removed. There was a small gap in the waist, through which a few wisps of gray hair appeared, and a pair of eyes were revealed through the dry skin.
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
If the lighting was a little dimmer, it would be like a horror movie.
A hoarse voice came: "Who are you looking for?"
It sounds like this Aunt Qian, she should be the neighbor Aunt Qian.
"We're looking for the owner of the house here." Lu Ying asked, "Do you know her?"
"Are you looking for Xiao Zhang?" Aunt Qian asked cautiously, "Are you her friends? Relatives?"
Lu Yingjiu made up an excuse: "She is a friend of a friend. We haven't heard from her for a long time, and we happened to be in Chunshan City, so her friend asked us to come and take a look at the situation."
Aunt Qian looked at them again.
She looked at Lu Yingjiu with tenderness, even a bit of appreciation - Lu Yingjiu was familiar with this kind of look.
Based on past experience, the next second, he will 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 eyes shifted to Jing Xian...
She suddenly became alert.
He looked Jing Xian up and down, his eyes fluctuating between admiration and suspicion.
Lu Yingjiu immediately knew what she was worried about.
He secretly poked Jingxian, and Jingxian immediately revealed his business license to express goodwill.
Then Lu Yingjiu explained: "We are not bad people, we really just came to take a look."
"Oh." Aunt Qian was skeptical, "I don't know where she went."
Lu Yingjiu asked: "Do you know what she does for a living?"
"I don't know." Aunt Qian shook her head, a gossipy look on her face, "But she is so rich, she drives a nice car, it doesn't matter if she works or not. Maybe she has several houses, so she doesn't live here anymore, maybe she got married."
"Car..." Lu Yingjiu thought for a moment, "Where does she usually park her car?"
"I don't know, maybe downstairs." Aunt Qian replied.
She looked at Lu Yingjiu with a gleam in her eyes: "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: “…”
As expected!! These are the same questions again!
Before he could answer, Jing Xian had already put his arm around his shoulders and said, "He's married."
Aunt Qian was disappointed and said, "What a pity! Otherwise, I would have many people to introduce to you."
Lu Yingjiu originally wanted to force his way into Zhang Shuwan's house.
But Aunt Qian kept staring at them, as if she didn't care about them until they left. Lu Yingjiu had no choice but to go downstairs first, thinking of looking for Zhang Shuwan's car.
After going downstairs and walking along the road in the community, Jing Xian kept his arm around his shoulders.
It’s obvious at first glance that Cuxian is online.
Lu Yingjiu said helplessly: "What are you doing? The auntie was just imagining to introduce me to someone."
"No." Jing Xian said, "Even imagining is not okay." After that, he took advantage of the fact that there was no one around and kissed Lu Yingjiu.
Lu Yingjiu finally managed to cover up the Ghost King's jealousy and walked around Building 13.
There are fewer cars parked on weekdays, and most of them are ordinary cars, not the "nice cars" that the aunt is talking about.
Soon, in a southeast corner, Lu Yingjiu saw a BMW covered in dust.
There was less than three or four centimeters of dust, and the glass was covered with bird droppings. When they approached, two stray cats lying under the car woke up instantly, poked their heads out cautiously, and looked at them.
Lu Yingjiu looked through the dirty glass and could barely see the small amulet hanging on the rearview mirror.
The amulet is painted with an animal with a tiger head and dog ears.
Listen carefully.
The Zhang family is the only one that has a pact with Di Ting. It is almost certain that this is the car that Zhang Shu pulled.
Lu Yingjiu folded two small paper figures.
The paper man squeezed in along the gap with great effort, and opened the door for Lu Yingjiu - after such a long time, the BMW had run out of battery and no alarm was sounded.
The car started moving and a stale smell hit us in the face.
Lu Yingjiu waited for a while for the car to be ventilated, then sat in the driver's seat, put on gloves and carefully searched for items in the car.
Two little paper figures also helped, jumping up and down, and opened the storage box on the co-pilot's side. Soon, they came back holding an orange cloth bag.
The cloth bag was small, with faint ripples of talisman paper on it.
Lu Yingjiu opened it and took out a... small round mirror
Like the small mirror that some girls would bring when they go out, the mirror surface was clean and reflected his face.
In addition to this mirror, Lu Yingjiu also found a mobile phone, which was still usable after being fully charged. However, it should be a backup phone, and there was no information in it.
Looking through various papers, there are many highway toll receipts, all dated half a year ago. It seems that Zhang Shuwan often drives to other places.
But she doesn't have a job, so why would she go to another place
Lu Yingjiu was a little confused.
But other than that, there's nothing special about the car.
He took the mirror, closed the door, and went upstairs again.
Aunt Qian was not there this time, which made it easier for them to commit the crime.
Lu Yingjiu took out a paper clip and pried open Zhang Shuwan's door.
Behind is a stale room, facing the living room. There are many shoes scattered on the shoe cabinet next to it, sneakers, sandals, high heels... all over the place. Their owners must be not good at cleaning up.
The flowers in the vase had long since withered and died, the wall paint had peeled off and shattered on the ground, the bodies of the small fish in the bathtub were almost rotten, and the water in the jar was extremely turbid.
As expected, she hasn't come back for a long time.
The house is a simple two-bedroom and one-living room.
When he pushed open the bedroom door, Lu Yingjiu had actually prepared for the worst.
For example, seeing a dead body.
But in fact, the bedroom was clean, without even a speck of dust, and a ray of sunlight shone in from the window.
Lu Yingjiu stepped in...
I saw countless faces of myself.
Densely packed mirrors of all sizes fill every corner of the house.
There were full-length dressing mirrors, half-person-high round mirrors, European-style ornate mirrors, and even funhouse mirrors from amusement parks… Traditional bronze mirrors and small makeup mirrors hung in the air by thin ropes, reflecting dazzling light.
All mirrors face the bed.
It was like a huge net, wrapping around the place where she slept, making it airtight.
From the perspective of Feng Shui, having a mirror facing the bed is unlucky, as it may affect your fortune.
Not to mention all those mirrors.
How terrifying it would be if you woke up in the middle of the night and saw countless copies of yourself in the mirror.
There was no dust in the house at all, so it must have been blocked by something.
Lu Yingjiu searched the room and took out a lamp from under the bed.
An octagonal palace lantern.
The frame is made of black lacquered wood and covered with gauze. The eight sides are painted with running Di Ting, and dark green tassels are hung on the lamp.
Generally speaking, tassels and patterns are mainly red and gold, and it is rare to see palace lanterns with black as the main body and dark green as the main color.
Lu Yingjiu held the top of the cup and gently touched the palace lantern.
The lamp surface rotated smoothly, and each sound seemed lifelike, as if it was about to jump out of its socket.
"What kind of lantern is this?" Jing Xian asked, "What secret of the family is this?"
"Not really." Lu Yingjiu stared at the lantern, "But this kind of lantern is definitely made by the Zhang family, and it's called 'Green Lantern'."
Jing Xian: "... Qingdeng Society?"
He remembered clearly the place where Lu Yingjiu worked.
"Yes." Lu Yingjiu nodded. "The predecessor of the Qingdeng Society was indeed founded by the Zhang family. Of course, it was not called the Qingdeng Society at that time. It was just a group of young exorcists from the Zhang family who gathered together and used green lanterns as a secret signal to walk in the night."
At that time, the art of exorcism was far less advanced than it is today.
All kinds of demons and monsters were rampant and the people were suffering.
Learning to exorcise ghosts is expensive.
Whether it was the pens and ink for drawing talismans, or the jade and gemstones for exorcising ghosts, or the medicinal materials for healing, none of them were affordable for ordinary people. Therefore, the art of exorcising ghosts was monopolized by a few families, who charged high prices and made huge profits.
So, a group of young people stood up.
At that time, the Zhang family believed in the Way of Heaven, but they were not obsessed with it to the point of madness. The family was not large, but there were still young people with burning hearts.
They demanded pittance or did the job for free.
In a short time they became famous and countless people came to them for help.
Their behavior obviously undermined the interests of other ghost-exorcising families. They began to be maliciously suppressed and targeted. Being beaten for no reason was a small matter, and some were even killed directly.
This threat did not shake the young people's hearts.
They began to walk in secret, covering their faces and carrying green lanterns in the long night. If residents saw a dim green light approaching, they would go forward to ask for help and drive away the evil spirits.
Over time, they became famous.
As the Zhang family grew stronger, the first ghost-exorcising organization in history was born, called Qingdeng Pavilion.
After that, more and more exorcists joined Qingdeng Pavilion, even those from other families were no exception. The trend of exorcism at sky-high prices gradually disappeared, and Qingdeng Pavilion grew bigger and bigger, from the Zhang family being the Pavilion Master to the capable ones taking over.
A hundred years ago it was renamed "Qingdenghui".
To this day, it is the largest ghost-hunting organization.
This may be the best thing the Zhang family has ever done, bar none.
Jing Xian asked: "Is this the lantern they are carrying?"
"Hmm." Lu Yingjiu looked at the lanterns. "There are palace lanterns and ordinary paper lanterns. Such fine workmanship can only be made by the Zhang family." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "I wonder why Zhang Shuwan put it under the bed."
"Let's light it and try." Jing Xian said.
He snapped his fingers, and faint will-o'-the-wisp fire ignited at his fingertips.
There was still oil in the palace lantern, which he lit.
The green flames rose up, shining through the gauze cotton into the room. Lu Yingjiu looked up and saw that every mirror was a tiny, jumping spark.
He said: "Jingxian, go and close the curtains."
Jingxian did as he was told.
The curtains were very thick, probably specially made blackout curtains. When they were drawn, it was pitch black, with only the faint green flames dancing in the palace lanterns. Lu Yingjiu raised the palace lantern and turned around, and saw herself in the eyes of countless people with faint green flames, her face half dark and half dark.
When you turn off the lights, you will find that the mirrors are cleverly arranged and can reflect light from any angle...
Except for the corner at the head of the bed.
There was one spot where there was no reflection.
Lu Ying was drunk: "Pull open the curtains again."
The sunlight slanted in, illuminating the entire room.
Lu Yingjiu went to the bedside, and sure enough, there was a gap in the layers of mirrors. The gap was very inconspicuous, and it would not have been visible if they hadn't lit lanterns and drawn the curtains.
There's like... a little mirror missing.
This size and shape look familiar.
Lu Ying thought for a moment and took out the mirror he found in the car.
The round mirror is small and fits the gap perfectly.
Jing Xian took out glue from his four-dimensional backpack, handed it to Lu Yingjiu, and asked him to stick the mirror back to the wall.
In this way, after drawing the curtains, the light of the lanterns will fill every corner.
The green light is dim, burning silently.
The two of them stood in the house, holding lanterns, looking quite gloomy and eerie, as if they were performing some unknown ritual.
…Yes, it’s the ceremony.
The mirrors in the palace lanterns are no accident, they must exist for the formation. But how to activate them
For the next dozens of minutes, Lu Yingjiu kept searching the house, trying to find clues, but found nothing.
During the break, he sat on the sofa in the living room and muttered to himself, "Why does the mirror have to face the bed... She couldn't have known that this was unlucky and would affect her fortune."
He suspected that there were talismans on or under the bed, but he didn't find any.
Jing Xian: "Practice makes perfect. If you can't figure it out, why not just give it a try."
Lu Yingjiu was still thinking, and after a few seconds he asked, "... what?"
"Just go up and sleep for a night." Jing Xian said.
Lu Yingjiu: “?”
Jing Xian said seriously: "Maybe you will have some ideas after you put yourself in her shoes. She likes to light lanterns, so you also light lanterns; she likes that broken bed, so you also sleep on the broken bed; she wakes up every day facing a bunch of mirrors, so you also wake up facing a bunch of mirrors, then your brain circuits will be connected, right?"
Lu Yingjiu held his forehead with his hand: "...Okay, let's try it this way. It's not for connecting brain circuits, but some formations may only be effective when it's late at night and the gloom is heavy."
They searched the house again, then went out for dinner and waited for nightfall.
There is a snack street next to it, and Lu Yingjiu ordered some crayfish.
The red shrimp tails were sprinkled with oil, and the aroma was overflowing. Jing Xian peeled all the shrimp tails and put them in Lu Ying's wine bowl until Lu Ying couldn't eat any more.
After dinner, they returned to Zhang Shuwan's house.
Lu Yingjiu didn't want to touch anything on the bed, so she threw out the talisman paper, and a breeze blew away the dust on the bed. Jing Xian took out a thin towel from his magical backpack and put it on the bed under the pillow, spending the night there.
Lu Yingjiu didn't mind sleeping in someone else's bed.
He just never imagined that one day he would have to sleep in someone else's bed with Jing Xian.
The curtains were drawn and green lamps were lit. The green fire was reflected in every mirror, as if thousands of will-o'-the-wisp fires surrounded them.
The two of them lay in bed together.
The bed was not small, but it seemed a bit cramped 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, he would be scared to death.
The two men lay intimately on her bed, hugging each other, and lit her green lamp.
It's like a gay thriller, mixed with crime, suspense and supernatural elements, which will be a big hit in the market once it is released.
As he thought about this and smelled the familiar cold fragrance, he gradually fell asleep in Jing Xian's arms.
…
"Tick-tock..."
"Tick-tock..."
The second hand turned and the hour hand pointed to two o'clock in the middle of the night.
When he woke up again, Lu Yingjiu felt dizzy.
There is no one around.
…Where did Jing Xian go? he wondered.
Soon, years of trained alertness awakened him: something was wrong.
The hanging green lamp was still burning, and the bright flames fell into the mirror. Lu Yingjiu sat up and saw countless versions of himself.
What exactly is wrong
His eyes swept across the mirror, and everywhere he looked were his face, his body, and his back. When he looked into the mirror, it was like looking into the eyes of a hundred versions of himself; when he made a slight movement, the mirror images changed along with him, making him dizzy.
If someone else were here, they would probably be terrified.
But Lu Yingjiu was Lu Yingjiu after all, and her heartbeat did not speed up at all. She was only focused on exposing Zhang Shuwan's intention.
Finally, he looked at the mirror diagonally opposite.
It was a full-length dressing mirror, with a half-rotten wooden frame, about the width of a person. At its angle, it just captured his profile and his brown pupils.
However, in other mirrors, there was green fire in his pupils.
Only his eyes in this mirror were clean and had their original color.
Lu Yingjiu stood up and walked to the mirror. The green light made his shadow longer.
The young man in the mirror looked at him, and he still had delicate features, a handsome appearance and a gentle temperament.
After a few seconds, it was gone.