197: Chapter 197 Don't stare at yourself in the mirror

Nanluo Lane antique shop.

The warning tape originally stuck to the rolling shutter door had begun to curl at the edges.

Gu Changan pushed the door open, and a pungent smell of rust permeated the air.

That smell wasn't actual rust, but an olfactory illusion caused by the accumulation of massive amounts of negative energy.

Old Wei instinctively reached for the service pistol at his waist, even though he knew it would have limited effect against the Mirror Spirit.

"Don't move around, stand three meters behind me."

Gu Changan's voice sounded cold and rigid in the empty shop.

The ancient bronze mirror, which had been temporarily sealed three days ago, now stood silently in the center of the display cabinet.

The thick verdigris that had originally covered the mirror's surface had vanished.

In its place was a layer of deep, ink-like blackness, resembling an abyss that light could not penetrate.

Inside the mirror, countless tiny black shadows were swimming about, dense and swarming, like some kind of evil tide.

The Mirror Spirit had been accumulating energy for three days and was now looking for an outlet to erupt.

Two young members of the Yin and Yang Coordination Team took a deep breath; the needles of the compasses in their hands were spinning wildly.

"Director Gu, the magnetic field readings are off the charts; this thing is breathing."

Gu Changan didn't speak; he pulled a specially crafted airtight box from his coat.

Inside the box lay a pale golden talismanic paper.

This was a Spirit-Sealing Talisman gifted by Bai Hezi of the Tianyuan Sect during the last cross-realm negotiation to show sincerity.

It had been hand-drawn by a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, its spiritual power condensed and unyielding.

Gu Changan stepped forward and immediately activated his [Yin and Yang Eyes].

The world before his eyes shattered instantly.

Countless "Gu Changans" suddenly rushed out from the black mirror surface.

Each reflection had a different expression.

Some were laughing wildly, some were roaring in anger, and others were weeping bitterly.

This was the Mirror Spirit's defense mechanism; it was attempting to assault Gu Changan's true self using thousands of fake personalities.

It wanted to make Gu Changan doubt: which one was truly him?

"Who are you?"

"Are you really Gu Changan?"

"You are nothing but a machine for the state; you have no emotions; you are the reflection in the mirror!"

Layer upon layer of voices exploded in his mind.

The moment an ordinary person heard these voices, their consciousness would shatter like glass.

Gu Changan's expression remained devoid of any fluctuation.

He looked at the face in the mirror that was identical to his own, his eyes as calm as an ancient well.

[Willpower Anchoring] was fully engaged.

The mental defense line in his mind was as stable as a mountain, regardless of how those mental noises washed over it.

"I know who I am."

Gu Changan spoke word by word; his voice was not loud, but it struck the mirror surface like a heavy hammer.

"Therefore, I do not need to prove it to you."

99% of the mental interference was crushed in an instant by the crushing weight of the national will.

The Mirror Spirit seemed to realize that this man was unshakable; it shrieked and suddenly shifted its direction of attack.

It sensed the targets behind Gu Changan whose wills were relatively weak.

Old Wei's eyes suddenly glazed over.

He saw a blood-covered man in the deep mirror, waving at him.

It was his old partner who had died many years ago.

"Old Wei, save me... Why didn't you fire your gun that day?"

The partner's voice was hoarse and desperate.

Old Wei's feet moved forward involuntarily.

The two members of the Coordination Team also fell into the illusion, their faces turning pale, and the compasses in their hands dropped to the ground.

"Don't look! Guard your spiritual core!"

Gu Changan shouted sharply.

This roar was like a thunderclap on flat ground, directly shattering the sticky malice in the air.

Old Wei bit the tip of his tongue hard; the fishy, sweet taste of blood brought him back to his senses instantly.

He turned his head away, gasping for breath.

"Damn it, nearly lost my life here."

Seeing that the temptation had failed, the black shadows inside the mirror began to roll violently.

It intended to go completely berserk, dragging everyone within a hundred meters into mental suicide.

"No chance."

Seizing the moment when the Mirror Spirit was distracted by shifting its energy, Gu Changan moved like lightning, slamming his right hand onto the mirror surface.

The pale golden Spirit-Sealing Talisman was stuck to the center of the mirror.

Boom!

A golden light, invisible to ordinary people, erupted inside the antique shop.

The surrounding shelves shook violently, and all the glass cups in the display cabinets shattered instantly.

That was the direct collision between the Nascent Soul Stage spiritual power and the negative energy of Earth.

A piercing screech echoed in the shop, like some dying beast wailing.

The cinnabar incantations on the Spirit-Sealing Talisman glowed scorching hot.

Those black shadows that had originally been scattered on the mirror surface seemed to have met their nemesis, frantically shrinking beneath the talisman.

At this moment.

Donghai City Central Hospital isolation ward.

The twenty-three victims who had been giggling at the walls and kowtowing frantically all convulsed at once.

The phantom shadows behind them let out shrill screams.

Those gray parasitic threads were forcibly snapped by a massive suction force.

The phantoms were sucked into the Void Realm like smoke, flying toward Nanluo Lane.

City No. 3 Middle School Art Department office.

Lin Xiu was staring blankly at a family portrait when she suddenly felt a sense of relief in her chest.

The cold, eerie aura that had originally shrouded her vanished.

In the city center, that sixteen-year-old boy suddenly woke up in class.

He looked at his hands wrapped in gauze, feeling the sharp stings coming from his fingertips.

This real sense of pain let him know that he had finally returned to the world of the living.

He sat blankly for three seconds, then slumped over his desk and wailed.

That crying was filled with lingering fear and the relief of surviving a disaster.

The classmates next to him were frightened, but they were also infected by this genuine emotion and began to cry along.

In the antique shop.

The bronze mirror had returned to dead silence.

The black mirror surface disappeared, turning back into the ordinary, rust-filled ancient mirror it had been.

Gu Changan took out a specially crafted supernatural-insulation box and carefully placed the bronze mirror inside.

He closed the lid and applied three reinforced electronic warning seals.

He quickly wrote a record on the label:

[Target: Mirror Spirit.]

[Reason for Activation: Human operation, supplemented by evil ancient texts.]

[Disposal Rank: Rank B containment, direct viewing prohibited.]

Writing the last line, his pen paused, and he added a sentence.

"If the research department needs to apply for study, reject it directly; no explanation given."

Old Wei wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and walked over.

"Director Gu, all twenty-three people in the city have recovered."

"What about Lin Xiu?"

Gu Changan handed the insulation box to the special agent nearby, his eyes deep.

"She is just a pawn that was used."

"Negligent endangerment of public safety; fine and mandatory psychological intervention."

"Her life is already pretty much ruined; there's no need to make her go to prison."

He walked to the door and looked back at the antique shop, which was now completely ruined.

"The focus is on that ancient text."

"Lin Xiu said that the 'book dealer' approached her voluntarily."

"This kind of teaching material that can precisely awaken ancient evil thoughts should not appear on the market."

Chen Xiaobei reported at the right moment through the earpiece.

"Director Gu, a portion of the fund flow has been locked."

"This money went through twenty-four money laundering procedures and finally flowed into a private overseas account."

"The common name for that account is 'Juanzang Pavilion'."

Gu Changan got into the SUV, his eyes icy.

"Juanzang Pavilion?"

"Selling bombs specifically to such desperate people; this group is the true root of the disaster."

"Chen Xiaobei, pull out all similar mental contamination cases nationwide."

"I want to see how many of these time bombs this book dealer has buried in Donghai City."

The SUV roared out of Nanluo Lane.

Gu Changan watched the neon lights passing by outside the window.

Every flicker of light and shadow reminded him of that musty-smelling ancient text.

That kind of thing was definitely not just something that accidentally appeared in the hands of an antique dealer.

It was more like a mass-produced crime manual.

Just as he was thinking, his phone received an urgent email from Judge Cui.

The email had no body, only an attachment.

It was a list of forbidden books recently lost by the Yin Division.

On the first page of the list, a sketch of that bronze mirror was prominently drawn.