Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The commotion delayed us for nearly an hour. By the time everyone was regrouped and ready to set off, we realized Fang Qian was missing. A nearby security guard pointed toward the tunnel entrance. “Dr. Fang couldn’t wait and went down first. You can just go inside and find her.”

“This is reckless. What’s the rush?”

I grabbed the ultra-bright flashlight I’d bought online and headed down into the tunnel. After walking about ten meters from the entrance, I reached a stone door. It was currently pushed inward, and a faint handprint was visible on its surface.

“Fang Qian must have gone in. I’ll go check it out first; you three wait outside.”

I took the lead and walked inside. The three of them nodded obediently and stood by the stone door to wait for me. Once my figure had completely vanished into the darkness, a startled voice suddenly rang out from behind them.

“What are you all doing here?”

Jiang Haoyan spun around, his face a mask of shock.

“Dr. Fang? Didn’t you go in ages ago?”

Fang Qian shook her head. “There’s a side path right next to the entrance. It’s not very deep, and there’s a sculpture at the end. I went to look at that; I didn’t go inside the stone door.”

“Oh no! Is Qiao Moyu in danger alone then?”

Anxious, Jiang Haoyan tried to rush inside. But as he reached the stone door, he discovered it was actually closed.

The group was horrified. Meanwhile, having already ventured deep into the tomb chamber, I was completely unaware of what had happened.

I walked inward with my flashlight for about several dozen meters until a fork appeared in the road. My eyelid was twitching even more violently now. I had no choice but to crouch down and toss a few copper coins onto the ground.

It was the sixty-fourth hexagram: Heaven-Water Conflict Hexagram, two people competing for a path.

I was a bit stunned. I was all alone in this ancient tomb-who could possibly be competing with me for the path?

Suppressing the unease in my heart, I took the left fork. After a few steps, the space ahead suddenly opened up into a stone chamber of about seven or eight square meters. A circular pedestal stood in the center, with a small chest placed upon it.

I walked toward the pedestal, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a figure flash by in the northwest corner.

“Who’s there?”

I raised my flashlight and shone it toward the northwest corner. That light revealed something unusual.

I hadn’t expected to find a bronze mirror here.

Greatly surprised, I crouched in front of the mirror with my flashlight to study it carefully. The earliest bronze mirrors were unearthed at Gamatai in Guinan County, Qinghai; those mirrors were small and covered in patina.

But the bronze mirror before me was completely different. This mirror was as tall as a person, similar to a modern full-length mirror. Furthermore, the surface was incredibly smooth with a high tin content, allowing me to see my reflection almost perfectly.

Intricate patterns were carved around the edges of the mirror. At the very top was a pentagram, and at the bottom right of the pentagram, an exaggerated smiling face was drawn.

I reached out to touch the pentagram, suddenly feeling that something was off.

I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong, but there was a massive sense of dissonance.

As I stood there lost in thought, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the distance.

“Qiao Moyu! Qiao Moyu, where are you-”

It was Jiang Haoyan’s voice. I turned around and aimed my flashlight toward the direction of the sound.

“Jiang Haoyan, I’m over here!”

“Qiao Moyu-”

Jiang Haoyan strode toward me and pulled me into a tight embrace.

Leaning against his solid chest, I could hear his heart thumping wildly.

Sigh, he’s grown so tall for nothing. Who knows what he ran into on the way to get this scared? Poor kid.

I reached out and patted Jiang Haoyan’s back comfortingly, glancing toward the entrance of the stone chamber. I saw Lin Xin and Fang Qian walking in with their own flashlights.

It was during that glance, as my peripheral vision swept over the mirror, that I realized where that massive sense of wrongness had come from.

At this moment, my back was toward the mirror as Jiang Haoyan held me. I quickly turned my head to look-but in the mirror, I was still facing forward. It was just like before; when I had reached out to touch the pentagram, my reflection in the mirror had kept its hands at its sides, motionless.

My heart skipped a beat. I immediately broke free from Jiang Haoyan’s embrace and faced the mirror directly.

The ‘me’ in the mirror seemed to realize something as well. Her lips suddenly curled up, revealing a creepy, eerie smile.