Yusheng leaned closer to the mirror, observing the faint "second reflection" within it.
The overlapping image felt like the reflection seen on a glass window at night, where the outside scenery and the reflection mixed together.
The dark cave and the snowstorm outside seemed to truly exist somewhere beyond the surface of the mirror, yet they remained difficult to discern, like shadows piled on shadows.
Ailin quickly climbed onto Yusheng's shoulder, curiously gazing at the mirror on the wall.
After a while, she murmured, "Could it be that the snow is blowing over from the other side of the mirror?"
"You can see it too?" Yusheng was surprised and looked at Ailin.
"Of course! What’s so surprising about that?" Ailin said, puzzled.
"I’m not blind."
Beside them, Huli nodded impatiently before Yusheng could speak.
"Master, I can see it too."
"Uh," Yusheng scratched his head, "I guess I've just been dealing with Little Red Riding Hood and Li Lin lately. I feel like what I see isn’t always visible to others, just a bit on edge."
While speaking, he took a moment to weigh his options in his mind, then carefully reached out to touch the surface of the mirror.
He remembered the last time he touched it, the mirror reflected a strange ruin, a shattered doll, and a massive monster made of shadows perishing together in the center of that ruin—what would happen this time? What change would the mirror bring?
Ailin tightened her grip in his hair, anxiously watching his movements.
"Hey, be careful! What if something goes wrong…"
"It hurts, it hurts! Let go of me first!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, okay! I’m just a bit nervous…" Ailin loosened her grip.
As Yusheng's fingertip touched the mirror, it felt very cold, like touching ice.
But apart from this chilling sensation, there was no change in the image inside the mirror.
"It seems like… nothing's happening?" With a bit more bravado, Ailin touched the mirror's surface.
"Just feels a bit icy."
Yusheng nodded and withdrew his finger, frowning at the mirror.
Just then, he noticed that the overlapping images within it began to gradually fade.
A few breaths later, the scene of the snow-swirled cave entrance vanished without a trace, leaving only the normal sights of the room.
Yusheng hesitated briefly before touching the mirror again, finding that the previously ice-cold temperature was gone.
It had returned to its normal warmth.
"Master," Huli had been watching for a while, and finally couldn’t hold back.
"Was this mirror always like this?"
"It’s always been off," Yusheng spoke with a serious tone, "Occasionally, it’d show scenery from who-knows-where. But it has never shown things like today… Snow appeared in the room, and an unknown iron lump fell to the floor."
While speaking, he glanced at the strange metallic device he had picked up from beneath the table.
The snow in the corner had melted, leaving traces of water on the floor, while the dark iron lump remained in his hand.
The strange images in the mirror had disappeared, yet these objects that seemed to have "come out" of the mirror did not vanish like an illusion; they stayed firmly in the real world.
Just as Ailin often remarked: How eerie.
"I-I am going to sleep in your room tonight!" Ailin hugged Yusheng’s head tightly, her small body tense.
"I’d rather sleep on a chair or a table! I absolutely refuse to sleep in this room!"
"Even without you saying that, I wasn’t planning on letting anyone stay in this room," Yusheng said, pushing Ailin's hands off his head.
"This place feels wrong. From now on, if I’m not here, don’t open any doors lightly."
Both Ailin and Huli nodded vigorously.
"Besides, even if you don’t sleep in here, you can sleep with Huli," Yusheng added as he lifted Ailin off his shoulder, gazing sternly at her.
"Why must you insist on staying in my room?"
"When the tail monster sleeps, it’ll whip people with its tail!" Ailin flailed in the air.
"If you kick me, at least I might land softly, but a swipe from her tail could knock me into the wall—haven’t you seen that?"
Then she was off on a long rant about not having her own room, being overlooked for being small, having no bed, and being tossed around at night—Ailin, the doll, didn’t need to breathe, and her nonstop chatter made Yusheng feel like his head was buzzing.
For a moment, he seriously considered stuffing this chatterbox into Huli’s tail—but thinking about how noisy she would be convinced him to hold that thought.
So he took the incessantly babbling doll and left the strange room with Huli, carefully locking the door behind them and checking the lock several times.
"Master, should I guard the door tonight?" Huli suggested softly, noticing Yusheng’s nervous expression.
"If something happens inside, I’ll call for you."
Yusheng imagined the nine-tailed fox lying in the hallway like a guard and shook his head.
"No need, this room has been strange for a long time."
As he spoke, he suddenly remembered something and set Ailin down before pulling out the new phone he had just received from the Special Task Bureau.
Ailin stopped her chatter, curious about Yusheng’s actions.
"What are you going to do?"
"I’ll ask about this strange situation on the ‘Border Communication’ forum. Perhaps someone there knows something about it?" Yusheng replied, studying the app's features.
"It should have an option for uploading photos… Those who explore odd places must use this kind of function… Ah, found it, there’s really one."
He took several photos of the strange metal device from various angles and posted them on the public channel’s comment wall.
After some thought, he searched through a few preset channel lists and found two likely options, "Antiques Discussion Group" and "Anomalous Phenomena Discussion Group," then uploaded the photos there as well.
Following the style of other posts, he added a brief note:
"Unknown object, metallic material, no signs of corrosion or life traits found. Discovered in a room, appeared to have snow in it. Additionally, I suspect it may be related to a mirror that reflects distant sceneries."
Initially, Yusheng intended to write "found in my home," but he deleted that line.
He figured that most people wouldn’t find such an object in their home or discover snow in a closed room.
Wutong Road No.66 was a special place, and he didn’t want to reveal too many secrets.
Yusheng felt he had a fair bit of common sense as a regular person.
"Do you think anyone will respond?" Ailin climbed back onto Yusheng’s shoulder and peeked at the phone screen curiously.
"Just these few pictures and such a pitiful description—I’ve seen others write at least a few hundred words, some even included videos…"
"I don't have much more info to share," Yusheng sighed.
"If I talk about the environment, it’s just one room. If I mention the object itself, I don’t feel anything unusual holding it."
"True enough…"
Ailin mumbled.
Yusheng returned to the living room, spending time with Ailin and Huli, watching television while waiting for replies on "Border Communication."
He waited until evening when he suddenly received a message notification.
Upon opening it, he saw a reply from a user named "Disobedient Apprentice Three Thousand" in the "Antiques Discussion Group": "May I ask what the surrounding environment of the discovered object was like? Is it in a different realm? What type of realm is it? Are there intelligent beings in that realm or traces left by them?"
Looking at the series of questions, Yusheng felt a bit bewildered.
But this was the first response he received from someone taking notice of his post, and as a "spirit realm detective," it was his first interaction with a stranger on this platform.
With a mix of excitement and nervousness, he quickly replied:
"It's a different realm, a residential building, just an ordinary modern home," Yusheng typed, glancing around.
"Fairly peaceful, no monsters here. As for intelligent beings—"
He paused, glancing awkwardly at Ailin, who was sitting on his lap, and Huli, who was focused on grooming her tail nearby.
"There are intelligent beings."
Ailin reached over to pry at Yusheng's phone.
After looking at the screen, she looked up.
"Do you really think someone can answer your questions? The Special Task Bureau didn’t even know about Wutong Road No.66 a few days ago. Why take this seriously with strangers from who-knows-where?"
"I know, but asking doesn’t cost anything. Who knows?" Yusheng replied, fully aware.
"Besides, whether people know about Wutong Road No.66 or not, this strange thing that fell into our house might be from the 'outside.' It’s possible someone might recognize it."
Ailin pondered for a moment, then said, “Oh,” and continued watching television.
Yusheng’s phone vibrated again soon after.
It was another reply from "Disobedient Apprentice Three Thousand": "I’ve never heard of such a realm, your description is rather bizarre… But this object sounds intriguing. It seems artificial, yet the engravings in the corners are very strange. Perhaps someone in the 'Academy' would be interested."
(End of Chapter)