Chapter 1 The Ghost in the Mirror
Bai Anting, an ordinary young girl, stood at Deng Xiaolin’s doorstep.
She let out a sigh.
She remembered when she was a streamer, she had visited so many places but never encountered a ghost.
She didn’t know what was going on, but ever since she met a certain masked murderer, she felt her luck had turned for the worse.
Or perhaps her luck had all run out?
Bai Anting didn’t know, but she had been quite unlucky lately.
She had gone to Jiangquan City to meet an online friend and almost ended up in the underworld.
Fortunately, Miss White Impermanence had sent her back.
Otherwise, she really didn’t know what she would have done.
Now, another unknown online friend said Deng Xiaolin was in danger.
And in this situation, there was no way to call the police.
She was just an ordinary person, and everyone knew the level of her ghost exorcism abilities.
Could she exorcise ghosts?
No, she didn’t have that ability, you know?
That masked murderer was so strong. He was fine in Jiangliu City, but then he suddenly became unreachable.
And now she was asked to protect Deng Xiaolin?
Tell me, how am I supposed to exorcise ghosts?
Sigh, she had lost all shame.
Bai Anting sighed and stood at Deng Xiaolin’s doorstep. The screen of her mobile phone was still lit, displaying her message history with Deng Xiaolin.
“Xiaolin, I heard someone say your house might be haunted tonight.”
“Haunted? How could that be, hahaha…” Deng Xiaolin seemed very optimistic. “By the way, didn’t you say you wanted to come over and watch a horror movie with me? Perfect, let’s do it tonight.”
“Okay, wait for me.”
The last message was sent an hour ago.
She should have come relatively quickly.
Thinking this, Bai Anting gently knocked on the door of the folk custom shop. After waiting for a while, her phone rang.
The last message displayed was from the other party: “The door isn’t locked, just come in.”
Why didn’t she come down to open the door?
Bai Anting found it a bit strange, but after a moment of hesitation, she pushed open the slightly old wooden door.
The door hinges let out a piercing creak, as if they hadn’t been oiled in a long time.
The room was pitch black, with only moonlight filtering through the cracks in the curtains, casting mottled shadows on the floor.
Bai Anting fumbled for the switch on the wall and pressed it a few times, but the light did not turn on.
“Xiaolin? Are you there?”
She called out tentatively, her voice echoing in the empty folk custom shop for a long time, but there was no response.
She turned on the flashlight function of her mobile phone, and the beam illuminated the folk custom shop.
Because the shop was very old, the scent of sandalwood was mixed with the smell of decaying old wood.
“Gulu…”
Bai Anting swallowed nervously.
In fact, she always felt that the things in this folk custom shop were quite eerie, and coming here at night made it even more terrifying.
“Pat…”
Suddenly, there was a light sound from the second floor.
Bai Anting’s heart skipped a beat, and the beam of her flashlight trembled involuntarily.
What was that on the second floor?
The sound didn’t seem like footsteps of a person, more like something falling to the ground.
And this sound, to describe it accurately, was like a large chunk of ribs hitting the ground.
Deng Xiaolin’s room was upstairs. It should have been her making the sound, right?
She took a deep breath and walked towards the stairs.
The wooden stairs groaned under her weight, each step feeling like walking on cotton.
The flashlight beam swept across the wall. Bai Anting noticed some strange marks on the wallpaper, like water stains, or… scratch marks from fingers.
The room door at the end of the second-floor corridor was slightly ajar, with a faint light emanating from the door crack.
That was Deng Xiaolin’s room. Looking at the pale green light, was she watching a horror movie?
As Bai Anting approached, she smelled a faint fragrance, like incense, with a hint of decay.
As soon as her hand touched the doorknob, a bone-chilling coldness spread from her fingertips to her entire body.
Upon opening the door, Bai Anting found that there was no one in the room. The old television was playing a horror movie she didn’t recognize.
“Xiaolin, where are you?”
The flashlight beam scanned the room. The mirror on the dressing table was covered in a layer of mist. In a daze, Bai Anting saw two crooked words written on the mirror surface.
“Quick, leave.”
When Bai Anting’s flashlight beam swept across the mirror, she tried to get a clearer look, but the writing suddenly disappeared as if it had never existed.
She turned to leave but found that the door had closed at some point.
The flashlight beam began to flicker, and in the intermittent light, she saw the drawer of the dressing table slowly opening, revealing a corner of red fabric, like… a wedding dress.
Bai Anting felt her breathing becoming more difficult. The air was filled with a rusty,腥 smell.
That was… the smell of blood.
Her palms were covered in cold sweat. Her phone suddenly vibrated. It was a message from Deng Xiaolin: “Where are you? I don’t see you?”
Bai Anting replied with trembling fingers.
“I’m in your room…”
As soon as the message was sent, she heard the sound of a door opening downstairs.
Deng Xiaolin’s familiar voice rang out from downstairs.
“Tingting, I’m back!”
But Bai Anting clearly saw Deng Xiaolin’s reflection in the mirror on the dressing table.
She was standing behind her, wearing that red wedding dress, with a terrifying smile on her face.
In an instant, Bai Anting was covered in cold sweat.
The fear that emanated from her soul made her tremble uncontrollably.
The girl in red behind her was still walking towards her, while Deng Xiaolin’s voice from downstairs continued to sound.
“Oh, how can a movie be watched without cola and popcorn?”
At this moment, Bai Anting desperately wanted to shout for Deng Xiaolin to run.
But she couldn’t make a sound. She could only watch as the terrifying entity in the red wedding dress slowly approached her.
“Creak…”
The room door opened.
“Quick… run!”
Bai Anting put all her strength into it, emitting a sound similar to a low growl.
“Soul Exorcism Talisman!”
Deng Xiaolin was a novice ghost exorcist. Although she didn’t know what was happening in the bedroom, she instinctively threw out the talisman.
The power of the Soul Exorcism Talisman was far inferior to that of the Zhenlei Talisman, so this blow did not cause any substantial damage to the girl in red, a fierce ghost.
However, fortunately, after this talisman was used, the fierce ghost in red in the mirror disappeared for some reason, and Bai Anting regained control of her body.
Deng Xiaolin rushed to her side and supported the girl, preventing her from falling to the ground.
“What’s going on?”
Facing Deng Xiaolin’s question, Bai Anting took two deep breaths and said in a trembling voice.
“There’s a ghost… in the mirror.”
