Chapter Six: The Scene in the Mirror

  The house was quiet, with only the occasional crackling sound from the small fire and the chewing sound from the tall man's mouth. In this cold and silent night that was frighteningly still, there was an indescribable eerie feeling.

  He leaned in closer to me, and that cold feeling grew stronger. I couldn't help but shrink back a bit. Erliang gave me a strange look, just as there was a sudden "crack" from the fire pit, followed by the flames dying down. It seemed like the wood in the fire pit had run out. I saw the tall one slowly turn around, wipe his mouth with his hand, get up to add some more wood to the fire, and then walk over to me, gently push me once, and say: "Get up."

  At the moment when the tall guy turned around, I had already closed my eyes and continued to pretend to sleep. After he pushed me a few times, I pretended to have just woken up and said, "So soon?" At the same time, I didn't forget to take a glance at Er Liang, only to find that he had long rolled back to his original position and continued to pretend to sleep.

  The tall one said, "Move the fire pit to a different location, I'll sleep in that spot." This was the best way to keep warm while spending the night outdoors in cold weather, so I didn't say it was a bother. I took out the burning wood from the fire pit and rebuilt it elsewhere. The tall one flattened the ashes on the ground, then spread my blanket over them and lay down with his quilt, tossing me that red down jacket and saying, "It's cold, wear more."

  Er Lang estimated that he was very afraid of tall people in his heart, so at this time, he also pretended to be awakened by our noise and poked his head out of the sleeping bag, saying that he couldn't sleep anymore and wanted to keep watch with me. I originally thought about letting him keep watch first and then go back to sleep, but he refused to agree, and didn't dare say it out loud, only showing a pleading face. I could only sigh and accompany him to keep watch by the fire pit, chatting quietly. Anyway, as long as everyone was awake, nothing should happen. Plus, the sky was really too cold, so I didn't refuse that down jacket, but still didn't dare wear it, just simply draped it over my shoulders.

  It's supposed to be a chat, but there are actually very few topics. Although the two of us have a common story, this story is not completely identical, and since we already know the truth now, it's even more impossible to get into it again. I wasn't fully awake in the first place, and now that we've run out of things to say, I feel like our spirits are also getting a bit lax from keeping watch together. As we chatted, I couldn't help but lean against the wall and doze off, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep again in a daze.

  I was awakened by the cold, and as soon as I opened my eyes, I found that the fire heap beside me was about to go out. The tall one was still sleeping on the ground, but Erliang had disappeared, and the down jacket that was originally covering me was also gone without a trace.

  I was startled and quickly scrambled to my feet, rushing towards the door. Outside, it had started snowing heavily at some point, and it looked like it wouldn't stop anytime soon. I turned around and shook awake the tall one, telling him that Er Liang was nowhere to be found. He quickly got up as well, first checking our luggage, and except for the red down jacket, everything else was still there.

  The tall one said: "Pack up our things, let's go find him."

  Among the three of us, there was a strange relationship. We were familiar yet not familiar, but having experienced the same unbelievable event and coming to this village for the same purpose, we encountered some inexplicable events in this legendary village filled with bizarre occurrences. Although each of us had our own thoughts, we had to move forward together. So when Er Lang went missing, Gao's first reaction was the same as mine - we had to find him.

  My luggage and that of the tall one have mysteriously disappeared, so these things left by Erlang are now even more precious and cannot be lost again. Taking advantage of the tall one's packing, I loudly called out Erlang's name several times. No matter if he thought he was Mao Rui or Erlang, as long as he could understand that it was me calling him, it would be fine. However, after calling out several times, there was no response, indicating that he was not relieving himself nearby.

  The tall one, with great strength, put the backpack on his shoulder, then added firewood to the fire again, held the knife in his hand, and said to me, "Let's go." Just as I was about to step out of the door, the tall one suddenly grabbed me and asked, "Have you ever been outside before?"

  I was stunned for a moment and said: "No, I just stood at the door for a while."

  The tall one pointed to the ground with a knife, and I only now realized that on the thin layer of snow at the door, there were several footprints. One pair of footprints had toes pointing inward, which means it's possible someone walked into the house, or at least stood at the door for a while. The time shouldn't be too long, otherwise the heavy snow outside would have covered these footprints quickly. The other few footprints were more chaotic, some going in and some going out, but the pair that was pointing inward earlier followed those footprints walking outward.

  I looked at the tall man with a shocked face and said: "Has someone come to take Erlang away?"

  The first thing that came to my mind was the old man, but the tall one lowered his head and examined the footprints on the ground for a while, saying: "This is a woman's footprint." After he said this, I realized that this footprint seemed to be narrower and shorter than usual, and the marks left in the snow were also shallower.

  The tall one looked at me and said, "Let's talk while we walk. The snow is so heavy that our footprints will be gone in no time."

  As we walked out of the door, I asked, "Why are you sure it's a woman, and possibly a slender man?"

  The tall one didn't answer me directly, his eyes fixed on the footprints on the ground as he walked forward in big strides. After a while, he said, "Because I've seen this footprint before."

  I was taken aback and asked: "What? Where did you see it?"

  The tall one didn't turn around to look at me, he just raised his head and gazed into the distance, quickening his pace as he walked and said: "In the mirror. I saw the pair of shoes that made this footprint, it was a pair of embroidered shoes worn by a woman."

  My heart skipped a beat and I took a few steps forward, asking: "Did you see the mirror too? What else did you see?"

  "What did you see?"

  I opened my mouth, not knowing what to say. The scene I saw actually didn't have any meaning, it was just a headless corpse. At that time, under the shock, I couldn't see very clearly and didn't notice who this body shape resembled. The only impression I had was the down jacket on the body. Now the down jacket has been taken away by Erliang, and Erliang is missing.

  The tall one saw that I didn't respond and didn't continue to ask, saying: "Don't think too much about it, who knows if someone is playing tricks again, it's just a scam."

  I didn't argue, but thought to myself: Who says this is a scam? How could an image suddenly appear in the mirror for no reason? Moreover, the footprints in the mirror have already appeared before your eyes.

  But I didn't say that sentence after all, because the tall one continued to say: "I tell you, I saw in the mirror that I was dead and lying on the snowy ground. There was a person standing next to my body, but I couldn't see his face. And there was also a pair of red embroidered shoes, with no one wearing them, just an empty pair of shoes, behind which was a row of footprints."

  My head buzzed with a loud noise, listening to the tall man's description, it seemed that the meaning of the picture in the mirror was that he would be killed by someone in the end, and next to the murderer, there was an invisible woman wearing a pair of red embroidered shoes.

  I feel like my lips are dry and my tongue is parched, speaking is extremely difficult, I finally managed to utter a few words, "So what do you plan to do?"

  The tall man replied while walking: "I don't know why that letter asked me to come here, but whether there are ghosts or not, my life is mine own. If a ghost comes, I'll kill it!"

  His tone was extremely calm, but from this calmness I sensed a terrible determination. I knew there was one sentence he didn't say: if the murderer came, he would kill him without hesitation.

  The wind and snow grew stronger and stronger, gradually making it almost impossible to open one's eyes. The footprints on the ground also slowly became invisible, but Erlang still hadn't been found.

  I looked around with Gao, and all I saw was a vast expanse of white. If Erliang were wearing his red down jacket, he should be easy to spot, but all we could see was white. After a moment's silence, Gao said, "It started snowing again. If the snow stops and we still can't find him, it'll be dangerous. Wild animals will come out to forage."

  Before I came, I carefully searched for information. It's not like what those adventure teams said that there are no living creatures here. On the contrary, according to the villagers' words, there were once wild boars and even leopards and other large ferocious beasts' tracks here. If they come out to forage and encounter Er Lang, it would be a disaster.

  "What should we do now?"

  The tall one lifted his head and wiped the snow water from his face, saying: "I'll take you to a place and see if he's there."

  "Where is it?"

  "The place where I died is in the mirror."