Chapter 88: Strange Things, Strange Matters

Yu Sheng leaned close to the mirror, scrutinizing even more carefully that faint "second reflection" within it; the image superimposed inside the glass gave him the sensation of windowpane reflections at night, where the scenery outside and the shadow on the glass blended together, making that dim cave and the scene of heavy snow swirling beyond its entrance seem as though they truly existed somewhere opposite the mirror, yet remained difficult to see clearly, layer upon layer of shadows.

Following Yu Sheng's body, Ailin scrambled up in a few quick movements to perch on his shoulder, hugging the back of his head as she curiously gazed at the mirror on the wall, muttering after a long while: "Could it be that the snow is being 'blown' over from the other side of the mirror?"

"You can see it too?" Yu Sheng glanced at Ailin with some surprise.

"Of course, what's so surprising about that?" Ailin felt somewhat baffled, "I'm not blind."

Hu Li, standing nearby, nodded proactively before Yu Sheng could even speak: "Benefactor, I can see it too."

"Uh," Yu Sheng scratched his hair, "it's mainly because lately, dealing with Little Red Riding Hood and Li Lin and the others, I always feel like the things I can see aren't necessarily visible to others; I'm just being a bit neurotic."

While speaking, he quickly weighed the situation in his mind for two or three seconds, then cautiously extended his hand to attempt touching the surface of the mirror.

He still remembered that the last time he touched this mirror, it had reflected a strange ruin, where a shattered puppet and a massive monster composed of shadows had perished together in the center of those ruins—so what about this time? What changes would the mirror produce now?

Ailin instantly gripped Yu Sheng's hair tightly, watching his actions with tension: "Hey, be careful, what if something goes wrong..."

"Ouch, ouch, ouch... let go first!"

"Oh, oh right, I got a bit nervous and did it subconsciously..."

The little puppet belatedly loosened her fingers, just as Yu Sheng's fingertip made contact with the mirror surface.

It was extremely cold, as if touching ice directly, but aside from this abnormally chilly sensation, the scene within the mirror underwent no change whatsoever.

"Seems... nothing happened?" Ailin also summoned her courage, reaching out to touch the mirror surface before her, "It's just a bit cold to the hand."

Yu Sheng hummed in acknowledgment, withdrawing his finger while frowning tightly at the mirror, and just then, he noticed that the superimposed image within the mirror began to gradually fade; after merely a few breaths, the scene of the cave entrance with swirling snowflakes vanished without a trace.

Only the normal scenery of the room remained.

Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment, then reached out to touch the mirror surface again, discovering that the ice-like low temperature was also gone; it had now returned to normal temperature.

"Benefactor," Hu Li, having watched for a long time from the side, finally could not hold back and spoke up, "was this mirror always like this in the past?"

"It's always been off, occasionally reflecting landscapes from who-knows-where," Yu Sheng said casually, his tone carrying gravity, "but before, it only displayed some unusual images; it never been like today... snow even appeared in the room, and an unknown lump of iron fell onto the floor from somewhere."

While speaking, he glanced again at the strange metal device he had just picked up from under the table.

The snow in the corner of the room had already melted, leaving water stains on the floor, while this blackish lump of iron remained in his hand; the strange image in the mirror had disappeared, but these things that seemed to have "come out" of the mirror... did not fade away like illusions, but remained in the real world.

Just as Ailin often said: This is truly bizarre.

"I, I'm sleeping in your room tonight too!" Ailin hugged Yu Sheng's head tightly, her small body obviously somewhat tense, "Sleeping on a chair or a table is fine! Anyway, I absolutely will not stay in this room!"

"You don't need to say it; I wasn't planning to let anyone live in this room anyway," Yu Sheng said while prying Ailin's hands off his head, "This house is too weird; from now on, if I'm not present, none of you should open the door casually."

Ailin and Hu Li immediately nodded repeatedly.

"Besides, even if you're not sleeping in this room, you could go sleep in the same room as Hu Li," Yu Sheng continued, lifting Ailin down from his shoulder and looking at this fellow with a serious expression, "Why insist on clinging to my room?"

"When Tail Monster sleeps, she uses her tail to whip people!" The little puppet immediately thrashed vigorously in mid-air, "If you kick me, at worst I just fall to the ground, but when she flicks her tail, I get plastered against the wall—didn't you see that?"

Then followed another uninterrupted string of chatter, complaining about not even having her own room, being disregarded because she was small, lacking her own bed, and being chased around at night—puppets don't need to breathe, so once she started chattering, she wouldn't stop, making one's head spin.

Yu Sheng even thought about just stuffing this fellow into Hu Li's tail—but considering that this puppet would definitely cause an earth-shattering uproar afterward, he merely thought about it without acting.

Subsequently, he carried the endlessly chattering puppet, took Hu Li, and left this eerie room, turning back to lock the door carefully and pushing against it several times to confirm it was secure.

"Benefactor, should I guard this doorway tonight?" Hu Li, seeing Yu Sheng's utterly unreassured demeanor, whispered from the side, "If there's any movement inside, I'll call you."

Yu Sheng immediately pictured in his mind the image of a nine-tailed fox lying in the hallway guarding the door, then shook his head at once: "That won't be necessary; anyway, this room has been bizarre for more than just a day or two."

While speaking, as if suddenly remembering something, he casually placed Ailin on the ground and took out the new mobile phone he had just received from the Special Duty Bureau.

Ailin finally stopped her chatter, curiously watching Yu Sheng's actions: "What do you want to do?"

"For bizarre matters, seek bizarre experts; I'll post a question on that 'Border Communication'; maybe someone recognizes this thing," Yu Sheng said while studying the software's functions, "Something like this should have an option to upload photos... a function that those detectives and investigators who spend all day exploring various strange places would definitely need... ah, there it is, it really does."

Saying this, he held the phone in one hand and the strange metal device in the other, taking several photos of it from multiple angles, then posted them on the message wall of the public channel.

Next, he pondered for a moment, searched through several preset channel lists, found the two channels that seemed potentially relevant—"Antique and Curious Items Discussion Group" and "Abnormal Phenomena Discussion Group"—posted the photos there as well, and imitating information posted by others, added a brief comment below:

"Unknown item, metal material, no corrosive or living characteristics detected, found in a room; when discovered, it seemed to have snowed inside the room. Additionally, suspect it is related to a mirror capable of reflecting distant landscapes."

Yu Sheng had originally intended to write "found at home," but deleted it immediately after typing, because upon consideration, he felt that ordinary homes probably wouldn't yield such an item, nor would one discover accumulated snow in a sealed room—No. 66 Wutong Road was a special place, and its secrets should not be revealed too extensively.

Yu Sheng felt he still possessed quite a bit of common sense as a normal person.

"Will anyone reply?" At this moment, Ailin once again skillfully climbed onto Yu Sheng's shoulder and curiously craned her neck to glance at the content on the phone screen, "With just these few photos and such a pitifully scant description—I see that other people's posts usually have at least a few hundred words of explanation below them, some even include videos..."

"I don't have much more information to write up there either," Yu Sheng sighed, "If you talk about the surrounding environment, it's just one room; if you talk about any strange characteristics of the item itself, holding it in hand yields no sensation whatsoever."

"That's true too..."

The little puppet muttered.

Yu Sheng returned to the living room, keeping Ailin and Hu Li company while watching TV and waiting for replies on "Border Communication"; he waited like this until evening before suddenly receiving a notification message.

Upon opening it, he found a reply left in the "Antique and Curious Items Discussion Group" by a user named "Three Thousand Unworthy Disciples": "May I ask specifically what the environment surrounding the discovered item is like? Is it within an Other Realm? What type of Other Realm is it? Are there intelligent beings within the scope of the Other Realm, or traces left behind by intelligent beings?"

Looking at this series of questions, Yu Sheng felt somewhat bewildered, but since this was at least the only "peer" who had noticed his message so far, and also his first encounter with stranger interaction on this platform as a "Spirit Realm Detective," accompanied by a certain eager-to-try mindset, he still quickly began editing his response:

"Other Realm, a residential house, the environment is just an ordinary modern dwelling," Yu Sheng typed while looking around at his surroundings, "Quite peaceful, no monsters spawning. As for intelligent beings—"

He paused, looking with a somewhat strange expression at Ailin sitting on his lap and Hu Li, who was diligently combing her tail fur nearby.

"There are intelligent beings."

Ailin reached out to fiddle with Yu Sheng's phone, took one look, then lifted her head: "Do you really think anyone can answer your questions? The Special Duty Bureau didn't even know about the existence of No. 66 Wutong Road until a few days ago, and yet you're so seriously chatting about these things with strangers from who-knows-where?"

"I know that, but asking doesn't cost anything; what if someone does know," Yu Sheng understood perfectly well, "Moreover, speaking of which, perhaps no one knows what's going on with No. 66 Wutong Road—but this thing that suddenly fell into our home could possibly be from 'outside'; we cannot rule out the possibility that someone might recognize it."

Ailin thought for a moment, uttered an "Oh," and continued watching TV.

Yu Sheng's phone vibrated again very soon.

It was still a reply sent by "Three Thousand Unworthy Disciples": "I have never heard of such an Other Realm; your description is indeed somewhat bizarre... however, this item is quite interesting; it appears to be man-made, but the inscriptions in the corners are extremely strange; there might be experts in the 'Academy' who would be interested."

(End of Chapter)