Chapter 46: Reincarnation Wednesday

  Wu Zihan appeared again, and we were all shocked and delighted. I was more happy than surprised to see him, and suddenly felt a strong sense of security in my heart. The others, however, looked stunned, standing there for half a day without reacting. Jiuchong happily flew towards Wu Zihan, dancing around him as if greeting an old friend, which made me quite surprised.

  "You've found the main force, Zihuan." I said happily, but my heart was secretly uneasy. Suddenly, a strange thought popped up - everyone's personalities seemed to have changed. Wu Zihuan wouldn't suddenly become eloquent and smooth-tongued, would he? The scene flashed before my eyes, and I couldn't help but shiver with cold sweat.

  Wu Zihan indifferently swept us with a glance, his face expressionless, staring fixedly at the Heaven's Machinery old man who was divining, and I suddenly felt a sense of relief in my heart.

  "Y-y-you... are you Wu Zihan?" Fu Ma stuttered and asked.

  Yang Cangcang gave him a sideways glance and said with a hint of a smile: "Can't you stop asking useless questions, Zihan? Where did you go before?"

  Wu Zihan suddenly turned to me and asked: "Where's the dagger?"

  I was taken aback and awkwardly pulled it out from my waist: "This... uh..."

  "Kill them." A glint of cold light flashed across Wu Zihan's eyes, an expression I had only seen twice before. The last time was when he dealt with that half-alligator man, hardly giving the monster any chance to breathe.

  Karamay leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "Brother Junyang, this Wu Zihan seems suspicious, we need to be careful." Karamay gave Fu Ma a signal with his eyes.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, furrowed his brow and said: "He is absolutely not Wu Zihan. I can hear his heart's voice, although it's muddled but full of murderous intent."

  Xiao Lao hummed and hastily agreed: "Really, as soon as Wu Ziheng appears, will he directly say to kill us? The answer can be obtained by thinking with one's toes."

  "Second brother, if you believe your brothers, then quickly let Jiu Chong freeze him, otherwise we might all be in danger." Lao San said with a gloomy face.

  Wu Zihan burst out laughing, startling me. I had never seen him laugh before, and it was a cold smile. He said: "If you can't even make this decision, then there's no need for you to continue on the path ahead." He walked over to the stone slab of Tianji Old Man and sat down quietly, staring at him.

  I stood among them, at a loss for what to do, listening to the crowd's you-said-I-said, indecisive, my head became a mess, like an idiot staring blankly at several of them.

  The old man slowly opened his eyes, extremely exhausted, his energy seemed to have reached its limit. He forced himself to open his eyes, and the once black hair was now snow white, with wrinkles crawling all over his dry face, completely different from just a moment ago.

  He ignored the crowd and spoke to me in a hoarse voice, saying two sentences: "The heavenly mechanism is about to change, the mysterious mother opens up to the ancient world's calamity." Before I could ask him for details, he slowly closed his eyes, and his skin quickly withered and turned black. In less than a minute, the old man of the heavenly mechanism had returned to his original mummified state. I was shocked by this transformation and couldn't say a word.

  Karamay kept muttering those two Zen phrases, but Wu Ziheng couldn't understand what they meant. He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before standing up and bowing to Tianji Old Man. As he stood up, everyone else took defensive postures, eyeing him with hostility.

  "It's almost time to go." Wu Zihan said with a glance at me.

  "Do you know how to get out? We've been searching for half a day and can't find the mechanism." I said.

  "Kill them and we can get out," Wu Zihan said, sitting on a rock with his head in his hands. "They are mirror images created by the Mirror Array, although they look the same, but the mirror reflects people in reverse, their personalities will also change to be opposite of their true selves. Our real companions have already been sucked into the array, I'm afraid they're now in the main hall. If you don't hurry, they'll really be beyond saving. Whether we can get out or not depends on you, breaking the array is up to you."

  "Damn it, don't listen to his nonsense, you're the fake one, Junyang. Don't believe me? Let old man Xiao prove it to you." Xiao Lao pulled out a gun from his bag, the one given by Director Mu, and fired at Wu Zihang with a loud "bang". I shouted: "No——"

  Along with the gunshot, I saw that the bullet had passed through Wu Zihan's body and hit the stone slab. I was stunned, "You see, old man didn't deceive you, he is just an illusion, we are flesh and blood standing in front of you, where to go and what to do, you decide for yourself." Xiao Lao said nonchalantly. Wu Zihan had no explanation, expressionless, looking at us, waiting for my decision.

  I don't know when I became the key to whether or not we could get out. People's personalities are indeed changing in a direction opposite to what they originally were, just as Wu Ziheng said. But the Wu Ziheng in front of me is also not real, just an illusion. Who should I believe? My head was about to explode from the pain. I let out a loud shout and squatted down on the ground, holding my head with both hands. In a daze, it seemed like a voice in my heart was shouting: Believe your intuition!

  I took a deep breath, calmed my emotions, and recalled the previous scene. Karamay led us out of the Mirror Palace with ease, chatting with each other in a seemingly urgent manner, eager to leave the mirror array.

  I raised my head and said to them, "Sorry everyone, I believe in Wu Zihuan!" Before they could react, I immediately gave Jiuchong a signal. Jiuchong had been eager for a long time and immediately turned into gold, flying around the crowd in a circle before changing to fiery red, and suddenly their bodies were engulfed in raging flames.

  They rolled and wailed in front of me, Karamay glared at me with wide eyes, grabbed my legs, and scolded me for being ungrateful. Old Three and Yang Cangcang's faces twisted into a grotesque smile towards me. Fu Ma and Xiao Lao cursed and swore that even as ghosts they would not let me off. I listened to their curses echoing in the small cave, and my heart surged with waves of emotion. I closed my eyes, turned away, and comforted myself that all this was just an illusion.

  After a while, the sound suddenly stopped. I opened my eyes slightly and turned around to look, but there was nothing in front of me. Wu Zihan suddenly spoke up: "Don't look anymore, the mirror people have been extinguished. If we don't extinguish them, this path will be forever impassable."

  Suddenly, the Taiji Bagua diagram under the stone slab of Tianji Old Man emitted waves of white light. Wu Ziheng looked at me and said, "As soon as you sit down, you'll be gone." After finishing speaking, he jumped up directly and disappeared in front of me. I didn't even have time to think much, walking into the white light on the stone slab, a bright light appeared before my eyes, dazzling me so that I couldn't open my eyes.

  I don't know how long it took, but the white light in front of me faded a lot. I slowly opened my eyes and was stunned. Where is this? It seems like I'm lying somewhere, with wooden boards above my head. I quickly got up to take a look and was startled. Isn't this my dormitory? There's no one in the room, and I immediately became confused. Is this an illusion? I looked around for Wu Zihuan but didn't see any sign of him. Didn't he jump down with me together?

  Suddenly, the dormitory door opened and Lao San walked in with a wet face and slightly damp hair: "Damn it, Second Brother, you can really sleep. Hurry up and wash your face! Today is Ma Changlian's class, I've skipped several times already, and if I don't go to the final exam, I'll be dropped!"

  "Lao San, weren't you guys just in Mirror Array? What's going on, why did you come back to school?" I asked dazedly.

  "Mirrored array? Are you dreaming? Mirrored array, your sister! You haven't woken up yet? Can't you sleep a bit earlier in the future? If you don't get up soon, I won't wait for you!" Old Three said with a cry and a laugh.

  I'm filled with confusion, was everything before just a long dream? I bit my own finger, it hurts so much, this is real, what's going on?

  "Lao San, don't you need to go to the Adjustment Bureau today?" I asked absent-mindedly. Lao San was quickly getting dressed, picking out a clean pair of socks from a week's worth of unwashed ones.

  "What's the big deal? I wasn't planning on taking the civil service exam anyway! Second brother, hurry up, there are only ten minutes left, I'm going first, Fourth Brother has saved us seats." Third Brother said as he grabbed his book and rushed out of the room.

  I took a glance at my phone's calendar, June 4th, 2014, Wednesday. What did I do the day before I went to Xiyu? I have no recollection whatsoever. I remember arriving in Xiyu in July, and at that time, Principal Mu had specially negotiated with the school to exempt me from the final exams, planning for me to take them after summer break instead. Did I travel through time?

  My phone suddenly rang, startling me. The number displayed was my mom's. My heart skipped a beat and my hands trembled as I heard her familiar voice on the other end, "Oldest son, what are you up to?" I couldn't hold back tears and sobbed, "Mom...are you and dad okay?"

  My mom heard me crying and her tone was a bit urgent, "What's wrong with you, big son? Are you being bullied at school?"

  "No, mom... I miss you." I suppressed a strong urge to cry.

  No matter how big we grow, as long as we are in front of our parents, we will always be children. I used to rarely express my love for my parents and even thought it was embarrassing for a grown man to do so. It wasn't until after experiencing all these things that I realized some words would never have the chance to be spoken if not said now.

  My mom is getting anxious, "Eldest son, what's wrong with you today? You're being so obedient. Right, Dad and Mom are driving to see you today, we'll arrive tonight."

  As soon as I heard that, I got excited and immediately said: "That's great, come quickly, I'm waiting." After hanging up the phone, I took it out with a smile and went to class. Whether it was true or false, being able to see my parents is always a good thing, I really miss them.

  I sprinted towards the teaching building at a speed of 100 meters, and when I passed by the girls' dormitory, a girl wearing white clothes with messy hair stood at the door staring at me. When I looked again, she was gone. I didn't care too much and continued running towards the teaching building.

  "Second Brother——" Lao San waved at me from the school gate.

  I was puzzled: "Old Three? Aren't you going to class? Why did you go out?"

  "Ma Zhang told me to go to the second campus to get something, you can go quickly ——" Lao San stared at me intently, not noticing a speeding car coming towards him from in front.

  "Quick... dodge... open..." Before I could finish shouting, Lao San had already been knocked out of the way by more than 100 meters.

  I suddenly startled and opened my eyes. I was lying in bed, dazed. What's going on? I turned on my phone to take a look: June 4th, 2014, Wednesday...