Death, Mirror Person

The air in the room seemed to have frozen solid.

The atmosphere was deeply strange.

Zhuanghe said that he and Wu Zhou had seen a campfire, tents, and eight corpses.

My heart instantly clenched, because I thought of one possibility.

Their expedition team had consisted of eight people.

And Yin Wuyu had just pointed at Zhuanghe and Gu Song and said, "Dead. They're all dead."

He had also displayed extreme terror. In other words, Zhuanghe and Gu Song had most likely already died.

Then who were those eight corpses? The answer was almost obvious.

"What I saw was actually the corpses of all eight of us." Zhuanghe's voice had already taken on a sobbing tone.

He looked up at Gu Song. "Everyone's corpses were there, including mine, Wu Zhou's, yours, and Xie Xiaotang's. Every member of our team was lying dead on the ground."

It sounded absurd, but I believed he was not lying this time.

No wonder he had acted so strangely afterward. If I had encountered something like that, I would not have been able to stay calm either.

"You're lying! How could that be possible? Xiao Tang and I were both perfectly alive when we came back."

Zhuanghe sneered. "Believe it or not."

Zhuanghe said nothing more. I asked, "Other than Wu Zhou, who else knows about this? Did you mention it to anyone else?"

Zhuanghe pursed his lips. "Actually, Wu Zhou and I weren't the first ones to see them. It was A'wang, the team member who got separated first. Later, I told Xie Xiaotang and Liu Fei about it."

Gu Song frowned. "Why did you only tell Xiao Tang and not me? Why didn't you let everyone know?"

Zhuanghe said disdainfully, "You and she are married. Is telling her really any different from telling you? Besides, she's the professional one. You're just a university foreign-language professor. You only came along to make up the numbers. Did you really think we were hiking for fun? Did you really think we were out here to play? Would telling you have done any good? You said I should tell everyone, but haven't I already? You and Xie Xiaotang are a couple, Liu Fei and Chen Guangquan are a couple, then there's Wu Zhou and me, plus A'wang. Doesn't that mean everyone knows?"

Gu Song's eyes widened. He truly could not refute Zhuanghe's words, though he was probably somewhat angry with Xie Xiaotang for not telling him the truth.

"No, that only makes seven people. One is still missing!"

"That's right. Old Chai is the only one who doesn't know. He's timid and has a bad heart. I was afraid he'd be scared out of his wits."

"Where is Old Chai from?"

When I asked that, Gu Song said, "Old Chai is from Chongqing. He's a Tomb Raider. He claimed his ancestors were Mojin School Lieutenants, and that he inherited some of their skills. But he was right about one thing—Old Chai is very timid. He's afraid of ghosts."

I was stunned. A Tomb Raider who was afraid of ghosts? And he called himself a Mojin School Lieutenant? Where was his shame?

Zhuanghe said, "He used to be very brave. He was famous in the business as a ruthless man. But something happened to him later, and it scared him badly. After that, he never worked in this line again. I don't know what happened to him, but I heard it scared his heart into problems and nearly killed him. If I hadn't thought we might need his expertise this time and offered him a huge sum of money, he wouldn't have come along."

Zhuanghe sighed. "We used to be very close and had worked together several times. He even saved my life once. That's why I didn't tell him the truth. I was afraid something might happen to him."

"How is he now? Have you been in touch?"

"He's fine. Nothing seems unusual about him. To be honest, I envy him. He knows nothing and can just go on living as usual." Zhuanghe gave a bitter smile.

Gu Song said nothing more. He sat there, and I had no idea what he was thinking.

Xu Qiuyan asked, "Do you have any leads?"

I glanced at Gu Song. "I do. Do you remember something Gu Song mentioned before?"

Xu Qiuyan narrowed her eyes, as though recalling what Gu Song had said.

I did not keep her in suspense. "Gu Song told us that Xie Xiaotang had said A'wang was not the real A'wang, but a duplicate—a Mirror Person."

Xu Qiuyan nodded. "I remember now."

I said, "If those eight corpses really were theirs, then the dead ones were likely their originals, while the ones who came back alive were all Mirror People."

As I said this, I stared hard at Zhuanghe.

I thought Zhuanghe had not told us everything he knew. The reason Xie Xiaotang had said those things to Gu Song was probably because they had already discovered something.

Since Zhuanghe had told Xie Xiaotang about it, and Xie Xiaotang had then told Gu Song, Xie Xiaotang, Zhuanghe, and the others who knew must have analyzed the matter long ago.

Xie Xiaotang must have told Zhuanghe her own speculation too, yet Zhuanghe had not mentioned the Mirror People at all.

Had he forgotten, or was he deliberately concealing it?

"You're right. Xie Xiaotang suspected that we were all Mirror People, that someone had deliberately created us and then killed our originals."

"Do Mirror People still have souls after they die?" Gu Song asked me.

"Didn't you see one too?"

I knew what he was doubting. He was wondering whether the soul of Xie Xiaotang he had seen was real.

But I was deeply puzzled. I had interacted with Xie Xiaotang's soul. Even at this point, she still had not told us the truth. Why would she do that?

More and more doubts filled my mind.

"I know why they wanted to kill us!" Zhuanghe shouted.

Xu Qiuyan and I both turned to look at him.

He said, "Because we discovered this secret!" Then he looked at Gu Song again. "The reason they only killed Xie Xiaotang and not you was because she saved you. She never told you about finding the corpses before. Otherwise, you wouldn't have escaped death either. But now it's good. Now you know too. Hahaha, you'll die too!"

"Do you want me dead that badly?" Gu Song's face was full of anger.

Zhuanghe answered, "That's right. I want you dead."

Gu Song asked, "Why?"

Zhuanghe said nothing. He wrapped the blanket more tightly around himself, and his eyes began to cloud again.

I sighed. "He likes your wife. In his eyes, you're not worthy of her at all."

From the very beginning, I had sensed Zhuanghe's hostility toward Gu Song. I did not understand how Gu Song could have spent so long with Zhuanghe in Lop Nur without noticing it. Of course, I believed in the relationship between Xie Xiaotang and Gu Song. Zhuanghe's feelings were nothing more than one-sided love, but he truly did like Xie Xiaotang.

Gu Song froze, seemingly unable to accept it.

Zhuanghe sneered. "Even an outsider sees things more clearly than you do. Do you know why Xie Xiaotang always brought you along whenever she went out? She was using that method to reject me. She was using it to protect your marriage and your so-called love. I just don't understand. What exactly is so good about you?"

I had no interest in their melodramatic relationship. What concerned me was the strange incident that had happened to them.

"Did you bury those corpses?"

Zhuanghe nodded. "Yes. No matter what, we couldn't leave our own bodies exposed in the wilderness, could we? So Wu Zhou and I buried all of them. You have no idea how hard we had to fight down that fear. You'll never understand what it feels like to bury your own corpse with your own hands."

His reaction was normal. If it had been me, I would have been just like him.

Perhaps I might not even have handled it as well as he did.

Gu Song hesitated for a moment. "Did you bury my body too?"

Zhuanghe said flatly, "Do you think so little of me, Zhuanghe? No matter how much I dislike you, for Xie Xiaotang's sake, I would still treat you properly."

Gu Song lowered his head. It seemed Zhuanghe had been right. Because of Xie Xiaotang, Zhuanghe had probably always treated him well and had even taken special care of him within the expedition team.

For a romantic rival to do what Zhuanghe had done was quite rare. It was almost like loving the person connected to the one you loved.

But now Xie Xiaotang was gone, and Zhuanghe was plagued by misfortune. His heart was filled with resentment and anger, so how could he still treat Gu Song kindly?

"I've told you everything you wanted to know. I hope you really can help me."

Zhuanghe seemed to see a sliver of hope in us.

I said, "Don't worry. We'll do our best."

After leaving Zhuanghe's house, Xu Qiuyan asked me what we should do next.

I thought the most important thing was to find the Island Nation Onmyoji, Abe Ichinan. She should know what had happened, or perhaps the entire affair had been orchestrated by them. They were conducting some kind of experiment, trying to use Mirror People to replace the originals and see whether the Mirror People possessed the same knowledge, abilities, intelligence, and way of thinking as their originals.

But what method had they used to create the Mirror People? Rumor had it that the Twin Fish Jade Pendant could do such a thing, but it had always been in Old Shu's hands at Unit Nine. Could this matter have something to do with Old Shu?

But I quickly rejected that idea. After all, Old Shu was the head of Unit Nine. If there were something wrong with him, this would become a major problem. Besides, both Xie Yi and Buddha Lord trusted Old Shu deeply.