Mirror Ending

Three months later, the chill of early winter had enveloped the entire forest farm. Lao Zhang sat in the office of the forest ranger station, the pine trees outside the window covered with a thin layer of frost, shining silver in the morning light.

That strange case has come to an end – at least on the surface. Chen Shusheng's body was cremated and sent back to Shanghai, where it was taken away by distant relatives. Xu Meifeng also disappeared after two weeks in the hospital, reportedly returning to her hometown in Shanghai. Interpol found the cave in the Alps, and the walls were indeed carved with the symbol "🜏", but no other valuable clues were found.

The file of the case was classified as an "accident", although all those involved in the investigation knew that it was far from a simple accident.

Every day, Lao Zhang still thinks of the Polaroid photo he found on the windowsill of the hospital, and the distorted face and symbols in Chen Shusheng's eyes in the photo. The photograph was later listed as a piece of evidence, but mysteriously disappeared on the way to the provincial hall.

"Lao Zhang, I have your package." Li Qiang, a young forest ranger, walked into the office with a brown paper package in his hand.

Lao Zhang raised his head and frowned slightly: "Who sent it?" "

"I don't know, the doorman said that the courier was placed at the door, and there is no sender information." Li Qiang put the package on the table, "Do you want me to help you open it?" "

Lao Zhang shook his head: "No, you go on patrol." "

After Li Qiang left, Lao Zhang carefully checked the package. There is no sender's address, no postmark, just his name and the address of the ranger station, which is affixed to the package in printed font.

He put on his gloves and carefully unwrapped the package. Inside was a plastic sealed bag, and through the transparent plastic, he saw a touch of white cloth.

Lao Zhang took a deep breath and opened the sealed bag. A faint smell of pine resin wafted out, mixed with something strange that he couldn't speak.

Inside the package was a faded wedding dress, once white satin, now tawny, as if eroded by time and weather. There was a visible blood stain on the hem of the wedding dress, which had turned dark brown.

Lao Zhang immediately recognized the wedding dress - it was sewn by Xu Meifeng in a Shanghai tailor shop, and she had mentioned in the hospital that the needle pricked her finger and blood dripped on the wedding dress.

There is a Polaroid photo pinned to the wedding dress, and Xu Meifeng in the photo is wearing this wedding dress, standing on the top of a mountain. Her expression was calm and distant, the hem of her wedding dress splattered with mud and blood, and behind her was a rock wall carved with countless "🜔" symbols - that was a mirror image of "🜏".

Lao Zhang's hand trembled slightly. This is not the cave they found in the Alps, this is another place, but the symbols on the rock walls are similar in style, only in opposite shapes.

He flipped through the photograph and wrote a line in red ink on the back: "The person in the mirror sees not himself, but the watcher." "

There is also a leather notebook on the bottom of the wrap, which looks old and has worn edges. Lao Zhang carefully opened the notebook and found that most of the pages were blank, only the last page had a line of scribbled handwriting: "God did not stop working on the seventh day, and he created the mirror." "

Underneath the handwriting is a simple pattern: two "🜏" symbols facing each other to form a complete circle.

Lao Zhang closed the notebook and felt an inexplicable chill. He walked to the window and looked at the mountains in the distance. Is that case really over? Or is it just the beginning?

He picked up the walkie-talkie and prepared to contact Chen Guoqiang to tell him about his new discovery. It was then that he noticed his reflection in the windowpane—a tiny symbol that seemed to flicker in the depths of his pupils.

Lao Zhang turned abruptly and looked at the mirror in his office. He looked no different in the mirror, but when he looked closer into his eyes, something did flicker in his pupils.

He picked up the magnifying glass on the table and aimed it in his eyes. Deep in the pupil, a tiny "🜔" symbol looms, as if imprinted on the retina.

Lao Zhang took a step back, and the magnifying glass in his hand fell to the ground, making a crisp cracking sound.

He picked up the photo again and carefully examined Xu Meifeng's eyes. In enough light, he saw - she also had the same symbol in her pupils, only in the opposite direction, "🜏".

Lao Zhang's eyes fell on the last line of the notebook: "God did not stop working on the seventh day, and he created the mirror." "

He suddenly understood something, and a terrifying perception gradually took shape. If the ritual of "Wilderness Preaching" could really open some kind of passage, if Chen Shusheng really completed what his father had left undone, then it was not just humans who were active now.

Outside the window, a crow landed on a pine branch and chirped piercingly. Lao Zhang looked out the window, and in a trance, he seemed to see a figure in a white dress standing on the top of the mountain in the distance.

He blinked, and the figure vanished. But he knew that something had been unleashed, staring at the world through every mirror, every reflection, every pair of eyes.

Lao Zhang picked up the phone and dialed Chen Guoqiang's number.

"Hey, Lao Zhang?" Chen Guoqiang's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Team Chen, we need to re-investigate that case." Lao Zhang's voice was unusually calm, "Also, have you had any strange dreams lately?" About mirrors or symbols? "

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, and then Chen Guoqiang whispered, "How do you know?" I've been dreaming lately that I've been standing in front of a huge mirror with strange symbols in my eyes..."

Lao Zhang took a deep breath: "Don't look in the mirror, don't look at any reflective surfaces. I'll go look for you right away. "

He hung up the phone and repacked the wedding dress, photos and notebook into a sealed bag. As he prepares to leave the office, the computer screen on his desk suddenly lights up, even though it is turned off.

There is only one line of words on the screen: "The person in the mirror does not see himself, but the watcher." "

Lao Zhang quickly closed the office door and walked briskly to the parking lot. He knew that the story was far from over, and perhaps never would be. Because every time someone looks in the mirror, that symbol is copied into a new eye, a new soul.

And somewhere unknown, Xu Meifeng, wearing that bloodstained wedding dress, stood on the top of the mountain, staring at another world, waiting for more "believers" to join this eternal ceremony.