12: Chapter 12 There's an extra person in the mirror

The voice in the corridor kept repeating.

"I'm back."

"I'm back."

"I'm back."

The voice came from the sixth floor, so faint it sounded like someone whispering against the wall.

Shen Qinghe did not respond.

Zhao Ye also remained silent.

The two stood on the first floor of Building 3, the half-broken corridor light overhead flickering on and off. Every time the light went out, the wet footprints deep in the stairwell seemed to extend a little further down.

Zhao Ye lowered his voice: "Go up?"

Shen Qinghe shook her head.

"Confirm Li Man first."

The target of their mission lived on the fourth floor.

If they were drawn away by the voice on the sixth floor, Li Man on the fourth floor might end up in danger instead.

Zhao Ye nodded, offering no objection.

He had just returned from the Black Rust Construction Site today; his body still ached, but his movements remained steady. Shen Qinghe was responsible for determining the direction, while he was responsible for keeping an eye out for anything that might rush out.

The two walked up the stairs.

The second floor was normal.

The third floor was normal.

When they reached the fourth floor, the damp smell in the corridor was significantly heavier.

The door to Li Man's apartment was ajar.

There was no light coming from the gap.

Shen Qinghe knocked three times.

"Li Man? I'm Officer Shen; I've contacted you before."

There was no response from inside.

She didn't go in immediately, instead checking the door lock first.

There were no signs of the lock being forced.

There was a bit of wet mud on the door handle, as if someone had come back barefoot and pushed the door open with muddy hands.

Zhao Ye stepped to the other side, avoiding the direct line of the door gap, and whispered: "Should I go in first?"

Shen Qinghe shook her head.

"I know her. I'll call out to her first; you guard the door."

She pushed the door open.

The living room was very dark.

The curtains were drawn, half a glass of unfinished water sat on the coffee table, and the TV screen was black, reflecting the figures of the two at the door.

Shen Qinghe only glanced at it for a second before looking away.

Reflective surfaces.

The mission briefing had stated not to stare directly at target mirror surfaces for too long.

The TV screen wasn't a mirror, but it could reflect light.

Zhao Ye quickly realized this as well, lowering the beam of his flashlight to avoid the TV, glass picture frames, and the surface of the coffee table.

A very faint sound of water came from the direction of the bedroom.

It sounded like someone walking barefoot across a wet floor.

Shen Qinghe approached the bedroom door and called out in a low voice: "Li Man?"

This time, there was a response from inside.

"I'm back."

It was the same sentence.

The voice sounded very much like Li Man.

But the tone was too flat.

There was no panic, no questioning, and none of the reaction one would expect from someone just woken up by the police.

Shen Qinghe stopped in her tracks.

Zhao Ye's hand was already pressed against the inside of his jacket. He had no weapons, only a roll of tape, a wooden-handled utility knife, and the hemostatic ointment he had just exchanged for.

The bedroom door was not closed.

Shen Qinghe shone her flashlight through the door gap.

There was no one on the bed.

The wardrobe was half-open.

The curtains were hanging down.

Against the wall in the bedroom stood an old full-length mirror.

The frame was made of dark red wood, with several patches of chipped paint along the edges and fine scratches on the mirror surface.

The bedroom in reality was empty.

But in the mirror, a woman was sitting by the bed.

Wearing white pajamas, long hair hanging over her face, her soles stained with wet mud.

Shen Qinghe did not look a second time.

She immediately averted her gaze.

"Anomaly source confirmed, bedroom mirror."

Zhao Ye did not look directly at the mirror surface, using only his peripheral vision to judge its position.

"Where is Li Man herself?"

Shen Qinghe looked under the bed, in the wardrobe, and behind the curtains.

She wasn't there.

Just then, the living room TV suddenly flickered.

It wasn't turning on.

It was just that a grayish-white shadow had appeared in the black screen.

Zhao Ye glanced over, his expression changing slightly.

In the TV screen, there were three people standing at the doorway.

Him, Shen Qinghe.

And a woman wearing white pajamas.

The woman was standing behind them, head bowed, mud dripping from her feet drop by drop.

In reality, there was no one behind them.

Zhao Ye immediately averted his gaze.

"Reflective surfaces can show it too."

Shen Qinghe's heart sank.

This thing wasn't simply trapped in the mirror.

It could use all reflective surfaces to observe them.

She took out the black tape and folded cloth she had prepared in advance from her bag.

This was a habit she had developed after the re-examination of the old building.

When facing an anomaly, ordinary equipment might not be useful.

But being unprepared was worse than being prepared and finding it useless.

She covered the living room TV, and had Zhao Ye turn the picture frames face down and put the glass cup on the coffee table into the cabinet.

The two didn't say any extra words.

The room was too quiet.

In the bedroom mirror, the woman kept repeating:

"I'm back."

"I'm back."

"I'm back."

Shen Qinghe walked to the bedroom door and finally saw Li Man.

Li Man was not on the bed, nor was she in the wardrobe.

She was in the bathroom.

The bathroom door was half-open, and the floor was covered in water. Li Man was wearing pajamas, eyes closed, standing barefoot in front of the sink with her right hand pressed against the mirror cabinet.

Her fingers were sinking into the mirror surface little by little.

It was as if someone behind the mirror had grabbed her and was pulling her inside.

Shen Qinghe didn't call her name.

She couldn't respond.

She couldn't let the thing in the mirror use sound to establish a connection.

She rushed over and grabbed Li Man's wrist, pulling her backward.

Li Man's body was terrifyingly cold.

The moment she was pulled away, her eyes remained closed, and she softly said: "I'm back."

In the bathroom mirror cabinet, another Li Man opened her eyes.

Those eyes looked at Shen Qinghe through the mirror surface.

The next second, the bedroom door closed on its own.

Bang.

The living room lights went out.

The only thing left in the entire room was that pale reflection in the bathroom mirror cabinet.

Zhao Ye slammed against the bedroom door from the outside.

It didn't budge.

He immediately turned around and asked in a low voice through the door: "Status?"

Shen Qinghe supported the unconscious Li Man, forcing herself not to look at the mirror cabinet.

"I have her. The mirror is the problem. The door is closed."

Zhao Ye didn't ask any further.

He knew that every extra word spoken now might give the anomaly another chance.

Shen Qinghe dragged Li Man away from the sink and covered the mirror cabinet with a towel.

The moment the towel fell, a very faint knocking sound came from the mirror.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

It was like someone was inside, politely knocking on the door.

Then, a woman's voice came from behind the mirror cabinet.

"Officer Shen."

"I'm still inside."

"Why won't you save me?"

Shen Qinghe did not answer.

She subconsciously pressed her right inner wrist.

There, the Mark of the Torch was slightly hot.

The mark did not provide forced support.

This meant that the Xinhuo Council believed she still had a chance to handle it herself.

Shen Qinghe looked down at the unconscious Li Man, then looked at the mirror cabinet covered by the towel.

She finally understood the first rule of this anomaly.

It mimics the victim.

It asks for help.

It wants them to respond.

And once they respond, that "Li Man" in the mirror might truly be able to turn from a shadow into reality.

Outside the door, Zhao Ye's voice was very low.

"Shen Qinghe, don't answer it."

Shen Qinghe closed her eyes.

"I know."

The knocking behind the bathroom mirror cabinet stopped for a moment.

The next second, a second Zhao Ye's voice came from the full-length mirror in the bedroom.

"Open the door."

"I'm coming in."