Chapter 39: Gazing into the Mirror at Midnight (Part 2)

Having known each other for so long, this was the first time Chen Jiu had come to Xu Xin’s rented apartment.

Xu Xin was wearing pajamas. She opened the bedroom window and stared outside waiting for Chen Jiu. Who would have expected that the next moment, someone would reach out and pat her shoulder.

Before Xu Xin could let out a sharp piercing shriek, Chen Jiu promptly covered her mouth, directly cutting off the sound at its source.

“Don’t shout, don’t shout.” Chen Jiu quickly said: “It’s me, Chen Jiu.”

Xu Xin was so frightened that tears were already swirling in her eyes. Upon hearing this, she felt her entire body go limp. She tremblingly opened the window wider and asked: “How… how did you get up here?”

“This is only the third floor. I climbed up easily.” Chen Jiu nimbly jumped in and lightly dusted off her hands.

Xu Xin looked out the window. Just now she had been staring intently at the pedestrians coming and going on the street below, planning to throw the keys down from the third floor. She thought it would be fine as long as Chen Jiu didn’t use the main entrance. She never expected that Chen Jiu wouldn’t take the usual path at all, directly avoiding her field of vision, and climbing up in a few swift moves along the air conditioning external unit railing.

The two looked at each other. Chen Jiu pointed at the bedroom door handle. Xu Xin nodded, walked over, and gently pushed it open.

The door was gently pushed open a crack. Two heads, one above and one below, observed through the door crack the roommate sitting in the living room with strange behavior.

The roommate was called Zhou Danni, a few years younger than Xu Xin. She had just started working for one year and liked to dress herself up beautifully every day. It was just unknown whether this was the reason she sat in front of the mirror at midnight with one extra step of combing her hair compared to others.

Xu Xin asked in a small voice: “Is she only like this today?”

“I… I don’t know.” Xu Xin covered her mouth and said: “I just happened to get up tonight. I didn’t pay attention the previous two days.”

Moonlight poured in from the window. Zhou Danni, with long hair draped over her shoulders, sat quietly in front of the mirror, expressionlessly gazing at herself in the mirror surface, slowly combing her hair. One stroke, two strokes…

Suddenly, she turned her head.

Even with her back to the light source, Xu Xin could clearly feel that her gaze accurately landed on the door crack, and through the door crack, made eye contact with them.

Xu Xin was instantly so frightened that cold sweat broke out all over her body. The scream was stuck in her throat. She desperately pinched her palm with her fingernails, suppressing this scream. Then she pretended to see nothing, and slowly closed the door.

Xu Xin leaned against the door panel, her entire body going limp. She nearly collapsed to the ground, but was caught by Chen Jiu and sat back down on the bed.

“Did… did she just discover us?” Xu Xin hugged Chen Jiu’s arm tightly, her mind already a complete mess: “She’s completely different from daytime. Is it sleepwalking or… or…”

Chen Jiu recalled the scene just now and said: “I’m still not certain. I need to take another look.”

Xu Xin made a mournful face, unwilling to let go of her arm for a long time.

“How about you come with me?” Chen Jiu asked.

Xu Xin: “No no no!”

Just as the two were tugging at each other, a rustling sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside the door. Immediately after, in a stretch of silence, that thing, whether human or ghost, knocked twice on the door.

Xu Xin hurriedly covered her mouth tightly, her face pale as she looked at Chen Jiu.

Chen Jiu made a shushing gesture, quietly approached the door, and listened to the movements outside.

It was quiet outside for a moment. The door handle was suddenly twisted twice. Chen Jiu steadily pressed against the door from behind, not letting her succeed.

At this point, Xu Xin’s pajamas were already completely soaked with sweat. She only just realized that she had forgotten to lock the door when she closed it just now.

Zhou Danni knocked twice on the door again, harder than before.

Chen Jiu still didn’t respond. She was very curious about what the next move would be when the other party couldn’t break through.

“You’re awake, right?” The girl’s voice came through the door, faint and cool, carrying a stiffness that didn’t seem like a living person.

“…” Xu Xin was so frightened that she shook the blanket, wrapping her entire self inside, shaking like a sieve.

Seeing that there was still no response, the girl laughed once. The sound of light footsteps came again, seemingly leaving.

Chen Jiu raised her eyebrows. Currently it seemed this thing didn’t have much lethality, and had a bit of consciousness, capable of normal communication with people.

Over there, Xu Xin trembled for a long time before daring to poke her head out a little from the blanket, asking in a small voice: “She’s gone?”

“Seems like there’s not much aggression.” Chen Jiu slowly locked the door, sat down by Xu Xin’s bed, and said: “If you’re really scared, come stay at my place for a few days?”

Xu Xin hugged her gratefully: “Wuwuwu, thank you Xiao Jiu.”

“This situation seems to be contagious. You should also try to avoid contact with her during the day.” Chen Jiu said: “Qiu City hasn’t been very peaceful recently.”

Xu Xin had been busy with work and hadn’t paid much attention to these rumors. Only today did she hear the general situation from Chen Jiu’s mouth. Her face, which had just recovered a bit, turned pale again: “Human to human transmission?!”

“I suspect so.” Chen Jiu said rigorously, then patted her hand: “Rest assured, after all, I’m also the boss of Wanshi Studio. How could I let you get hit.”

However, Xu Xin still didn’t feel comfortable troubling Chen Jiu. Chen Jiu then left her several talismans, telling her to paste them on the door. Ordinary evil spirits wouldn’t easily be able to break through.

Xu Xin held those few talisman papers dearly, her lips pursed: “Xiao Jiu, you’re so good to me.”

“Mm mm, who isn’t good to you?” Chen Jiu laughed. Xu Xin was too pure and kind, very easily moved. Setting aside age, experience, and social experience, the mental maturity she displayed in interpersonal interactions was basically no different from Su Xiaoyu. No wonder the two of them could play together.

Xu Xin was about to say something more when the footsteps outside circled back again.

Both of them went quiet at the same time.

The girl knocked on the door again, her tone flat as she asked: “Anyone there?”

Xu Xin gripped the talisman paper in her hand tightly. She wasn’t as scared as before. Chen Jiu saw that her emotions had stabilized, and asked: “You’ll be fine staying here alone, right?”

“Huh?” Xu Xin caught something in her tone, hurriedly grabbed her wrist, and said in a small voice: “I… I’m fine, it’s no problem. What are you going to do?”

“Nothing, I just want to see what happens if I beat the grass to startle the snake.” Chen Jiu gestured for her to be at ease.

Regarding Chen Jiu’s combat ability, Xu Xin really had no room for doubt. After thinking for a moment, she slowly let go of her hand, and said hesitantly: “Then… then be careful.”

Chen Jiu gave an affirmative sound, walked straight to the door panel, and with a click, directly opened the door wide, coming face to face with the expressionless Zhou Danni.

“Hi?” Chen Jiu greeted, her posture relaxed, seemingly casual, but actually secretly gathering strength.

That thing also seemed to not have expected someone to dare to directly open the door and face her. She was stunned for a few seconds, then her eyeballs suddenly started spinning wildly.

Xu Xin clearly saw that her left and right eyeballs were spinning rapidly in different directions. Having endured the whole night, she finally screamed at this moment:

“Ghost!”

Hearing this scream, Zhou Danni’s expression finally completely crumbled. Her facial features twisted without any order. One hand reached out, seemingly to clamp onto Chen Jiu’s neck. But Chen Jiu was faster. With one hand she lifted the other’s collar, then charged forward a few steps, slamming Zhou Danni’s entire body violently onto the ground. The floor let out a huge bang sound. All cups and decorative items on the desktop in the room shook violently.

Chen Jiu’s arm, like an iron pincer, viciously clamped the other’s neck. Zhou Danni was like a strange doll whose parts had been removed. Her neck tilted to one side, her eyes closed, and a mass of black fog suddenly flew out from her mouth, slipping into the shadows in a flash and disappearing.

But in the stretch of silence, she clearly heard that thing laugh provocatively.

Chen Jiu cursed irritably. Xu Xin recovered her senses, scrambling and crawling to stand up, turning on all the lights in the room. Standing in the brightness, she finally felt much safer.

“What’s her situation now?” Xu Xin squatted beside the unconscious Zhou Danni, worried that this fall might have caused some serious harm.

Chen Jiu also squatted down, felt Zhou Danni’s back, and took her pulse for a while, then said: “Nothing serious. That thing just now probably took at least half the impact for her… But from this perspective, that strange thing’s survival mode seems more like parasitism. It’s just unknown exactly through what method, and by what standard it finds its targets.”

Xu Xin let out a breath of relief, patting her chest: “It’s fine if she’s okay… Has that thing left?”

“Temporarily left.” Chen Jiu said, then she and Xu Xin, one on each side, helped Zhou Danni up and carried her back to her own bedroom.

After settling the person down, she clapped her hands, pulled out a business card and handed it to Xu Xin: “When she wakes up tomorrow, remember to sell her Wanshi Studio’s tranquility talisman.”

Xu Xin took it, caught between laughter and tears: “Definitely.”

Walking out of the room, Chen Jiu circled around the living room once more, then walked to the mirror that Zhou Danni had been gazing into. She waved her hand. It looked like just a very ordinary mirror, no different from other mirrors.

Xu Xin said with some lingering fear: “Xiao Jiu, don’t look into it. What if it infects you?”

“Oh?” Chen Jiu turned back, saying with great interest: “You mean, the transmission method is very likely through the mirror?”

Xu Xin mumbled: “Huh? I was just talking randomly.”

If the problem really lay with the mirror, would destroying it stop this symptom?

Chen Jiu thought this way, picked up this face sized makeup mirror, and said to Xu Xin: “I’ll take this back first. Your roommate won’t mind, right?”

“No problem no problem, just take it away. I originally bought this and gave it to her anyway. If she has an opinion, I’ll just buy her another one. It’s not much money.” Xu Xin waved her hands repeatedly. She wished she could send this unlucky mirror away. It was too frightening.

She never wanted to experience tonight’s events a second time!

Xu Xin fished out a black bag and handed it to Chen Jiu, but her eyes didn’t dare to look in the direction of the mirror even once.

Chen Jiu laughed, wrapped that mirror tightly, put it back in her own bag, and instructed: “Then I’m leaving. Remember to lock the door when you sleep, paste the talismans properly too, and call me anytime if there’s another situation.”

 

 

Translation Notes:

“Beat the grass to startle the snake” (打草惊蛇): A Chinese idiom meaning to inadvertently alert an enemy or target by taking action. Here Chen Jiu uses it deliberately to provoke a reaction.