After signing the contract, Bai Jingjing turned around, black smoke billowed up like a cloak, and her figure disappeared into the conference room.
Ten minutes later, a spectacular sight appeared in the sky above Yunsun City.
Bai Jingjing hovered directly above the mirror, making a grand entrance to "exorcise demons and monsters."
Because the area around the mirror was sealed off, the distance should have made it impossible to see any of Bai Jingjing's movements. But strangely, everyone nearby who looked up could clearly see her every move, as if they were looking through an invisible telescope.
"Am I seeing things?"
"What is that? Good heavens!"
"There are people flying in the sky!"
The troops responsible for sealing off the scene were also surprised. Although most of them had some understanding of the "supernatural," they were now witnessing it firsthand, and it was inevitable that they would be shocked and excited.
Bai Jingjing knew that many eyes were watching her at that moment, but she was not intimidated at all. On the contrary, she enjoyed this performance of showing off in front of others.
She opened her arms, and countless plumes of black smoke billowed out from behind her, instantly obscuring half the sky.
That wasn't ordinary smoke; it seemed to writhe as if it were alive, and thousands upon thousands of white skeletons could be vaguely seen within the black smoke.
"Break."
She uttered a single word softly, yet it resounded like thunder through the heavens.
Black smoke seeped into the mirror.
The mirror began to tremble.
First, tiny ripples appeared, followed by a noticeable tremor. The clouds and scenery reflected in the mirror began to distort and shatter, like broken glass.
Soon, the mirror was torn open like cling film. There were no fragments at the crack, only endless darkness, from which countless figures fell—these were the victims who had been sucked in earlier!
That mirror that had baffled everyone was easily disposed of by Bai Jingjing.
The black smoke returned with an elegant flourish, and as the last plume of smoke retreated into the Bai Jingjing, the mirror suspended in the sky vanished completely. Only a light drizzle fell on the highway.
Those who survived the Mirror World looked around blankly, still cowering in fear, at a loss for what to do.
Is it over?
Inside the Investigation Bureau, everyone saw the mirror shatter through satellite surveillance.
Mu Xingrui's expression was extremely solemn. He was thinking about the impending explosion of public opinion and his promise to Bai Jingjing.
At the same time, he realized for the first time with such clarity that in this new era, some entities have already risen above the state apparatus. And what's most terrifying is that no one knows what this mysterious superhuman, Bai Jingjing, truly desires.
Bai Jingjing, the "hero" who "saved" Yunsun City, disappeared again after shattering the mirror.
"Wait, she's already gone?" a member of the Investigation Bureau said discontentedly. "There are still so many ghosts that came out of the mirror that we haven't dealt with!!"
Mu Xingrui gave this person a cold glance. Why didn't he complain when Bai Jingjing was around? He only dared to speak after everyone left?
"Alright, the source of the trouble has been dealt with. The Investigation Bureau can handle the rest on its own. There's no need to rely on Ms. Bai for everything."
After the giant mirror that had been floating in mid-air disappeared, everyone trapped in the Mirror World was released. The Investigation Bureau acted swiftly, matching each person and corpse with the replicas of the monsters in reality.
Zhang Suyuan, the only superhuman belonging to the Investigation Bureau, was also forced to take action.
Since Bai Jingjing broke that giant floating mirror, all the abnormal mirrors in Yunsun City seemed to have returned to normal. Zhang Suyuan's only role was to deal with the Mirror Ghost that had replaced humans.
With a gentle touch of his jet-black Ghost Hand, the Mirror Ghost would instantly shatter into dust and vanish without a trace.
The investigators who accompanied him looked at him with awe and admiration, as if they envied his extraordinary abilities.
However, only he himself knows how much torment he is going through.
His body became increasingly unlike that of a living person, reeking of corpse stench, and all physiological functions were reduced to an extreme. The blackness of the Ghost Hand had spread to half of his body.
Even though he hadn't used the Ghost Hand's power at all recently, Ghost Hand was still slowly eroding him.
Scholar at the Investigation Bureau also observed this phenomenon and concluded that Zhang Suyuan wouldn't last long even if they didn't use him.
Rather than keeping him in the lab doing fruitless research day after day, it's better to make the most of his abilities and maximize his potential.
After one night, the ghosts and monsters in Yunsun City were mostly cleared out, and the blockade was gradually lifted.
Many citizens didn't get a good night's sleep throughout the day, due to the city lockdown, strange news, and some even witnessing a mirror floating in the sky and black smoke shattering it.
Panic gripped the nation, and government departments were frantically fabricating plausible reasons. No matter how lame or flawed these reasons were, the state would absolutely not acknowledge the existence of anything extraordinary.
As for the concerns of other countries?
There's no need to worry too much. Supernatural events have occurred in several major countries, and they're all doing the same thing—concealing them from the public.
Of course, none of this has much to do with Bai Jingjing.
At this moment, she was standing in front of a mirror, gazing thoughtfully at her reflection.
After shattering the giant mirror floating in mid-air, she discovered that she seemed to have unintentionally gained the ability to manipulate mirror images.
This ability to manipulate mirror images counteracts and balances with another ability within her to control skeletons, resulting in a completely new state for her.
This state was wonderful; she even felt that her depression had disappeared, and her mind had reached a completely new state, as if she had discarded all the shackles, values, and bottom lines of the past...
Unleash your true self from the inside out.
"What exactly are you?" Bai Jingjing asked.
Although she didn't mind that she had unwittingly reached the pinnacle of her life and quite enjoyed this state of being above everyone else, she couldn't help but feel curious in her spare time.
She hadn't expected anyone to answer her question, but to her surprise, her reflection in the mirror spoke:
"Haven't you heard of 'spiritual energy revival' or 'transcendental revival'? This world is shifting from a materialistic, technological perspective to an idealistic, transcendental one. Times are changing, and you're one of the first pigs to take off with the wind. As long as you can fly high, higher than everyone else, why bother about what this wind actually is?"
Hearing this, Bai Jingjing remained silent for a while before saying, "You're right. Anyway, I have no way out, so I might as well keep moving forward."
Even if she wanted to give up everything and return to her peaceful life, the country would not let her go; it would only arrest her and study her.
"You've gained the power of the Magic Mirror, and there are some things that are perfect for you to do: create more anomalies..."
The wheels groaned as they rolled over the rugged mountain road.
Tian Guanglu gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning an unnatural bluish-white from the force. He rolled down the car window, letting the cold mountain wind rush in, diluting the lingering stench of death emanating from him.
The rearview mirror reflected Zhang San, with tight skin and almost no wrinkles, but his eyes were like specimens preserved in formalin, cloudy and lifeless.
Tian Guanglu grinned at himself in the mirror, revealing a stiff smile. His face hadn't changed in twenty years, as if it had been paused.
"The living dead..." he muttered to himself, his voice hoarse like sandpaper being rubbed.
The mountain path grew narrower and narrower, the trees on both sides twisted into eerie shapes, their branches reaching towards the sky like withered arms. The sunlight was filtered through the dense canopy, leaving only a few pale rays that cast mottled shadows on the ground. Tian Guanglu felt a familiar chill creep up his spine—it wasn't the cool mountain breeze, but rather the restlessness of the "thing" parasitizing his body.
The GPS on the dashboard had long lost signal, but he didn't need navigation. He could find this road with his eyes closed. Although he hadn't been back for many years, the dirt road he remembered was now paved with asphalt, but the cold and dilapidated feeling remained unchanged.
After turning the last bend, the view suddenly opened up, and at the end of a desolate field, the old house with blue bricks and black tiles stood quietly at the foot of the mountain.
Tian Guanglu stepped on the brakes, and the car stopped a hundred meters away from the old house. He took a deep breath, and the smell of decay immediately filled his nostrils.
Ever since that rainy night twenty years ago when he opened the Golden Container left by his father, this smell has followed him everywhere.
Tian Guanglu's father was a very mysterious person. When he was young, he only remembered that he and his mother often stayed at home while his father left early and returned late, and he didn't know what his father was doing.
But he and his mother never complained, because his father was very rich and would bring back a lot of money every time he came home.
Unfortunately, my father later disappeared; he was never seen alive or dead.
Before his disappearance, his father brought back many Golden Containers and buried them in the backyard of the old house. He seemed to realize that something bad was about to happen to him and left his mother a large sum of money.
Perhaps due to the absence of a father and the doting of a mother during his upbringing, Tian Guanglu was an uneducated and wasteful young man.
He was tricked into becoming addicted to gambling and quickly squandered his family fortune.
It wasn't until his mother fell ill and he couldn't afford treatment that he finally came to his senses. But he had no skills whatsoever, and he vividly remembered the poverty and destitution he had endured at that time.
After searching through all the valuables in the house, he remembered the Golden Containers his father had left behind. The largest one was the size of a small safe. If he melted them down and sold them, the money would be enough to get him through the hardest times.
"Don't open them under any circumstances." His father's warning before his disappearance echoed in his ears, but hunger and despair made Tian Guanglu choose to ignore it.
He broke the container with a crowbar, and the moment the lid was lifted, a bone-chilling cold swept through the entire room. He saw a cloud of black mist pour out of the container and then enter his body. The intense pain caused him to faint. When he woke up, he found himself in a hospital. The doctor said he had been in a coma for three days, but they couldn't find anything wrong.
From that day on, everything changed.
He possessed the ability to win every bet, and not only could he win money, but also health, longevity, and youth. In short, anyone who lost a bet with him could have anything he wanted.
Using this ability, he quickly amassed wealth and cured his mother's illness.
However, he also discovered that something seemed to be parasitizing his body, causing it to stir restlessly from time to time, and that his body was faintly emitting a foul odor.
The more he used his ability to win every bet, the stronger the restlessness within him became. He could only prolong his life by gambling away other people's lifespan and health.
But to win someone else's lifespan and health, he had to use the ability to win every bet, and he seemed to be caught in a vicious cycle.
Over the past twenty years, he has appeared outwardly successful and aged, but only he knows the torment he has actually endured.
To avoid being noticed for his unusual behavior, he had always kept a low profile. Recently, several unusual events had occurred both domestically and internationally, and Tian Guanglu had also gained some understanding of them through his personal connections.
Perhaps times are about to change; he could vaguely sense the impending storm. However, he had no time to care about others; his own body was nearing its limit, and the "thing" inside him was stirring restlessly, on the verge of going out of control.
Since he disregarded his father's instructions and opened a Golden Container twenty years ago, he has never returned to the old house.
He returned to the old house this time to find a solution.
Tian Guanglu pushed open the car door. The mountain air was even colder than he had expected. He was wearing a heavy overcoat, but he still felt a chill to the bone. The weeds under his feet made an unnatural rustling sound, as if they were whispering to each other.
With each step closer to the old house, the surrounding scenery became more desolate; the trees withered, the land cracked, and even the chirping of insects and birds disappeared.
The old house's gate is covered with a rusty brass lock; it can be opened with a gentle pull without a key.
Pushing open the door, the hinges groaned shrilly. The room was dimly lit, with only a few beams of light streaming in through the broken window frames, illuminating the floating dust. The furniture was covered in a thick layer of dust, and the paintings on the walls had faded.
"Dad, I'm back," Tian Guanglu said softly, his voice echoing in the empty house.
He then went to the backyard, intending to dig out the relics and Golden Containers left by his father.
It would be great if there were any notes or diaries among the belongings.
If nothing useful can be found...
Tian Guanglu's gaze suddenly turned cold. Since he was going to die anyway, he would definitely open all those Golden Containers before he died!
As for whether it will affect others?
He doesn't care!
Just as he was about to get started, a sudden sense of crisis unexpectedly surged into his heart!
He could intuitively feel that something was watching him, as if he had encountered a natural enemy, and he couldn't help but tremble all over.
"Who?!" Tian Guanglu subconsciously looked around.
His eyes saw nothing, but his ears heard a sound, as if it were resounding deep within his eardrums:
"So this world has Local Ghost Tamers. You've been hiding it well..."
Then, to Tian Guanglu's astonishment, the space rippled, and a strange figure slowly emerged.