Qingfeng Longying Xianfei Jue

The town of Qingyan was shrouded in thick fog late at night. The streetlights at the alley entrances emitted a weak, dim yellow light, forming hazy halos in the fog. Lin Shen dragged his weary body home along the familiar bluestone road. He had worked a full day at the town hospital, and his legs felt as heavy as lead.

As Lin Shen passed by the old, abandoned villa at the town's entrance, he glanced at it casually. A faint light, flickering like a will-o'-the-wisp, shone from a second-floor window. Lin Shen was startled. This villa had been abandoned for a long time; it was said that a bizarre murder had occurred there twenty years ago, and no one dared approach it afterward. Driven by his doctor's instincts, he worried that someone might be injured or trapped. After much hesitation, he still walked through the rusty iron gate toward the villa.

Pushing open the door, a stench of decay hit him. Lin Shen turned on his phone's flashlight, the beam flickering on the dusty walls, illuminating the mottled paint. He carefully ascended the stairs, each step creaking as if breaking the deathly silence. The door to the second-floor room was ajar, the eerie light seeping through the crack. Lin Shen took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The room reeked of medicine. In the center stood an old, ornately carved bed, upon which lay a pale-faced woman. Her eyes were closed, her forehead beaded with sweat, and she murmured in pain intermittently. Lin Shen strode to the bedside and touched the woman's forehead; it was burning hot. He immediately pulled a stethoscope from his pocket and began to examine her. Just then, the woman suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze filled with fear and despair. She gripped Lin Shen's wrist tightly and whispered, "Don't trust the mirror..." Before she could finish, she fainted.

Lin Shen was completely bewildered, not understanding what the woman meant by "mirror." He looked around and noticed a huge bronze mirror standing in the corner of the room. The mirror's surface was covered in a thick layer of dust, but Lin Shen's reflection was still clearly visible. Lin Shen approached the mirror, intending to wipe away the dust, but the moment his fingers touched the surface, the image in the mirror suddenly distorted. Lin Shen saw a dark shadow standing behind him, lunging at him with bared teeth and claws. Lin Shen turned around in terror, but there was nothing behind him. Thinking it was a hallucination, he rubbed his eyes and looked at the mirror again, but the shadow had vanished.

Lin Shen decided to take the woman to the hospital first. He struggled to carry her downstairs, but as he walked out of the villa, he found the fog outside growing thicker, blurring the road ahead. Relying on his memory, Lin Shen groped his way forward, but as he walked, he found himself back at the villa's entrance. A sense of foreboding washed over Lin Shen; he realized he was trapped in a vicious cycle he couldn't escape.

Just as Lin Shen was at a loss, his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from a colleague at the hospital, who said anxiously, "Lin Shen, where are you? It's not your shift today! You've been missing for three days!" Lin Shen was stunned. He clearly remembered being on duty at the hospital today. How could he have been missing for three days? Just as Lin Shen was about to ask, the phone signal suddenly dropped, and then it automatically shut down.

Left with no other choice, Lin Shen went back into the villa. He went to a room on the second floor and placed the woman on the bed. Then he noticed a silver bracelet on her wrist, engraved with the character "Su". Lin Shen recalled a murder case that occurred at the villa twenty years ago; the victim was a woman surnamed Su. Could this woman be connected to that case?

Lin Shen decided to search for clues within the villa. He went to the study on the first floor, where the bookshelves were filled with dusty books. While rummaging through the bookshelves, Lin Shen suddenly found a diary. The cover was yellowed, and the name "Su Wan" was written on it. Lin Shen eagerly opened the diary, which detailed Su Wan's life in the villa. It turned out that Su Wan was the owner of this villa. Twenty years ago, she suffered from a severe mental illness and frequently experienced hallucinations. In an attempt to treat her illness, she hired a doctor who claimed to be able to cure mental illness. However, this doctor subjected her to inhuman experiments, ultimately leading to her mental breakdown and death in the villa.

Lin Shen continued reading the diary and discovered that Su Wan mentioned a mirror several times, saying that an evil soul hid within it and could control people's minds. Lin Shen was shocked. Could this be what the woman meant by "don't trust mirrors"? Just then, Lin Shen heard a woman scream from upstairs. Without thinking, he immediately rushed to the second floor.

Lin Shen entered the room and saw the woman pointing in terror at the mirror. Following her finger, Lin Shen saw the dark figure reappear in the mirror. The figure grew clearer and clearer; it was the so-called doctor. A sinister smile appeared on the doctor's face. He stretched out his hands, reaching through the mirror, to grab the woman. Lin Shen rushed forward, trying to stop the figure, but found his body unable to touch it.

Just as the shadowy figure was about to seize the woman, Lin Shen suddenly remembered a detail mentioned in his diary: Su Wan had once drawn a special symbol on a mirror, said to be able to seal away evil spirits within it. Lin Shen searched around and finally found the blurry symbol in a corner of the mirror. He quickly dipped his finger in saliva and traced the symbol clearly again. Instantly, a dazzling light shone from the mirror, and the shadowy figure howled in agony as it vanished into the reflection.

After the light faded, the woman slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was no longer filled with fear, but with gratitude. She told Lin Shen that her name was Su Yao, and she was Su Wan's younger sister. For twenty years, she had been searching for the truth behind her sister's death. Recently, she had heard that there were clues about her sister at the villa, so she came here. Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered the villa, she was controlled by the evil spirit in the mirror and fell into a coma.

Lin Shen and Su Yao decided to leave the villa. As they stepped outside, the fog had gradually dissipated. The sky was beginning to lighten, a new day was about to begin. Lin Shen looked back at the villa, silently praying that Su Wan's soul could find peace and that the evil in the mirror would be forever sealed away. Through this adventure, Lin Shen understood that some secrets are best left buried by time, while some truths, once revealed, may bring not only relief but also deeper fear and helplessness. But he also knew that justice and truth are always worth pursuing, even at a price.

In the days that followed, Lin Shen returned to a normal life. However, every night, he would recall that foggy night, the shadowy figure in the mirror, and the complex look in Su Yao's eyes as she left. And the abandoned villa in Qingyan Town still stood quietly at the town's entrance, as if telling a story of a hidden past, waiting for the next intruder to uncover its deepest secrets...

By chance, while tidying up his old belongings, Lin Shen discovered a book about supernatural phenomena. The book described an ancient mirror curse, strikingly similar to what he had experienced in the villa. Once activated, the curse would turn the mirror into a conduit between the realms of the living and the dead, allowing the trapped evil spirits to return to the mortal world through the bodies of the living. Lin Shen felt a chill run down his spine; he realized that what he and Su Yao had experienced that night might only be the tip of the iceberg.

Several months later, while Lin Shen was on duty at the hospital, Su Yao suddenly called. Su Yao's voice was filled with fear; she told Lin Shen that since leaving the villa, she kept dreaming of her sister, Su Wan, begging her for help, and the dark figure in the mirror seemed to be constantly following her. Lin Shen decided to investigate the matter with Su Yao again.

They arrived at an ancient library, hoping to find a way to break the curse. In the library's basement, they found a tattered ancient book. The book stated that to completely seal the evil spirit in the mirror, they must find Su Wan's remains, cremate them, and recite a specific incantation before the mirror.

Following the instructions in the ancient text, Lin Shen and Su Yao returned to the villa. In the backyard, they found Su Wan's grave. As they unearthed Su Wan's remains, a sudden gust of wind arose, and dark clouds gathered, as if a powerful force was hindering them. Undeterred, Lin Shen and Su Yao cremated Su Wan's remains and returned to the villa with her ashes.

In the room on the second floor, Lin Shen and Su Yao scattered the ashes in front of the mirror and began chanting an incantation. As the incantation was chanted, a dark shadow reappeared in the mirror. The shadow roared madly, trying to break free of the mirror's confinement. Lin Shen and Su Yao increased the intensity of their chanting, and finally, in a burst of intense light, the shadow vanished completely.

Cracks appeared on the mirror before it shattered with a crash. As the mirror broke, the eerie atmosphere that had permeated the villa gradually dissipated. Lin Shen and Su Yao stepped out of the villa, sunlight bathing them, as if everything had returned to normal.

However, Lin Shen knew that many unknown mysteries awaited him to unravel. In some distant corner, perhaps there were other cursed mirrors, and evil souls trapped within them. But at this moment, he and Su Yao had successfully avenged Su Wan and saved their own souls. In the days to come, whatever they encountered, they would face it bravely, for they knew that light would ultimately triumph over darkness, and justice would never be absent. In the peaceful days that followed, Lin Shen often received letters from Su Yao, recounting her new life. Through these occasional connections, Lin Shen reminisced about their thrilling and mysterious experiences, silently cherishing this hard-won peace.