A Consecrated Mirror

"Driver, take this little road."

"Sure."

Under Liu Haoyu's directions, the driver turned off the broad highway and onto a country lane.

The lane was extremely narrow, only wide enough for one car to pass.

Fortunately, there were hardly any cars here at night, so there was no need to worry about oncoming traffic.

It was just that the night was far too quiet.

Quiet enough to be frightening.

Bright moonlight spilled across the ground, as if a layer of pale frost had been draped over the entire world.

The rideshare driver, Meng Hao, was taking a road like this for the first time in his life.

There were barely any cars on roads like this during the day, much less at night.

The emptiness was a little terrifying.

The dark woods surrounding them seemed to contain countless pairs of eyes, making Meng Hao's scalp tingle.

On top of that, the young man in his back seat had not said a single word since getting in.

That made the already dim car interior feel even more oppressive.

As they went deeper in, the car drove farther and farther into the wilderness.

Meng Hao began to feel that something was off.

He started worrying that he had run into some kind of kidnapper—the sort who abducted people to harvest and sell their organs.

And... now that he thought about it carefully...

That young man had not been carrying a fishing rod or anything like that when he got in, had he?

Could his guess have been right?

Meng Hao secretly swallowed.

Then he cracked open the window. The cool night breeze blew into the car, easing his tense nerves somewhat.

The man in the back was only giving directions and did not seem to have any desire to chat.

An eerie silence lingered inside the car, so stifling it felt hard to breathe.

The road ahead grew increasingly dark and terrifying, until even the moonlight was completely blocked out by the trees.

Meng Hao's heart had sunk to rock bottom. He swallowed again, filled with regret.

He never should have accepted this ride!

Those two hundred yuan were practically blood money!

But it was fine... it was fine...

The rearview mirror in his car was a silver mirror consecrated by a legendary ghost-exorcising master. Ordinary ghosts would definitely not dare approach his car.

To ease the terrifying, gloomy atmosphere, Meng Hao silently turned up the radio.

It was past three in the morning, and the station happened to be playing something called "Midnight DJ."

For some reason, the cheesy club music coming from it—"I'm the Midnight DJ, will you love me?"—only made Meng Hao feel more creeped out.

He tried changing the station, but no matter how he switched channels, the other stations seemed to have lost their signals and gave no response at all.

Even the original station was cutting in and out, accompanied by crackling static.

"If... I am... will you... love me?"

The crackling static made every hair on Meng Hao's body stand on end.

Then something even more terrifying happened.

He had no idea whether the old radio receiver was malfunctioning or whether he had encountered a ghost.

No matter how Meng Hao turned the volume knob, it did not react at all.

It just kept repeating that same line over and over.

"If I... D... will you... me..."

Again and again, it repeated, as if there were no next line to the lyrics.

Meng Hao was starting to panic. He tried to observe the man behind him through the rearview mirror.

But the moment he looked, his mind buzzed, and he nearly screamed.

Beside the young man sat a little girl who looked quite young.

Because of her veil, Meng Hao could not see her face at all.

When had she gotten into the car?!

Could it be...

Cold sweat covered Meng Hao's forehead. He hurriedly fixed his eyes forward, not daring to look back again.

The instant he saw the girl, the constantly stuttering radio let out a strange screech and went completely silent.

The radio had broken.

The car fell into a deathly silence.

No, no...

Maybe he simply had not noticed her? After all, it was the middle of the night. Missing something was normal, right?

With that thought, Meng Hao mustered his courage and looked at the rearview mirror again.

The young man had his eyes closed, his arms folded over his chest as he leaned against the seat, seemingly resting with his eyes shut.

As for the girl in the red wedding dress, she sat beside him with her hands resting on her knees and her body slightly upright.

She looked ladylike, but also somewhat uneasy.

If one ignored the red wedding dress, the two might even have looked like a couple.

Playing cosplay in a place like this in the middle of the night?

But the red wedding dress was far too creepy!

Its vivid, bloodlike color constantly stabbed at Meng Hao's nerve, which was already close to snapping.

To build up his courage, Meng Hao put his hand on the radio again. After fiddling with it for a while, it started working once more.

The DJ on the radio was partying like crazy.

But just then, an icy gaze fell upon Meng Hao.

Meng Hao felt that gaze as well, so he looked toward the rearview mirror again.

The instant their eyes met, Meng Hao felt as though he had fallen into an ice pit. His entire body shook uncontrollably.

And Meng Hao noticed the color of the girl's exposed hands.

They were so pale, as though they had never touched sunlight.

They even looked deathly white.

Those were not the hands of a living person, were they?

After that thought crossed his mind, Meng Hao could clearly feel his legs going weak.

His mind frantically began replaying the scene when Liu Haoyu had gotten into the car.

But no matter how hard he recalled it, he remembered it perfectly clearly.

When Liu Haoyu had gotten in, there had only been one young man standing by the roadside. There had been no one else at all!

Not to mention such a striking red wedding dress. If there really had been one, he would have noticed it immediately!

So the question was, when exactly had she gotten into the car?

"It's fine, it's fine, it's fine..."

As Meng Hao continued hypnotizing himself, the radio was reduced to endless crackling static.

He wanted to turn it off, but he could not, no matter what he did. At the same time, the gaze from behind him had never moved away.

That girl was staring at him fixedly.

She did not say anything, but her gaze seemed to be urging him to turn off the radio already.

Stop urging me, Grandma!

Meng Hao wailed inwardly. His trembling hand nearly ripped the radio out of the car and threw it away.

But he could not bear to.

"Driver, we're here."

Those four short words sounded like heavenly music to Meng Hao.

He had never heard anything so wonderful or heart-stirring in his life.

Even if it came from a man.

Savoring the thrill of surviving a disaster, he immediately stopped the car and forced out a smile.

"Alright, take care, little brother."

Through the rearview mirror, Meng Hao watched Liu Haoyu get out of the car, with the girl in the red wedding dress following behind him.

But... why was she floating out?!

Meng Hao's mind buzzed. He suddenly whipped his head around.

Only to discover that there was no one at all behind the young man!

"Holy shiiiiiit!!"

Meng Hao let out a shrill scream and instinctively floored the gas. The little car shot off like it had been launched.