CHAPTER 9
"Qingqing, where did you go?" Sheng Qing was about to open the door when it was opened from the inside, and Meng Yunxi appeared in the doorway with an anxious look on her face. She hesitated and pulled her hand back, finally stepping aside to make room for Sheng Qing.
Sheng Qing's thoughts were still on the little girl, and he didn't notice Meng Yunxi's actions. He said "It's nothing" and walked straight past him into the study.
This little girl's behavior was so bizarre, it was as if she was openly announcing to everyone that she was strange and that they should come and investigate what secrets she had!
Perhaps this invitation was only extended to Sheng Qing?
He opened the accident investigation report again and carefully read through it word for word.
A little girl named Jiajia died in an accident. She was separated from her father on the beach during the ten-odd minutes he was away getting his phone. When her body was recovered, all that was left was her cold body.
The photo in the missing person notice on the report showed a little girl with a bright smile, which contrasted sharply with the face of the drowned person, whose features were blurred and whose eyebrows and eyes were not clearly visible.
Sheng Qing frowned slightly and continued reading.
When Sheng Qing saw the family situation survey form noting that the little girl's mother was pregnant, and then flipped back to confirm the time, place, and people involved in the accident, a possibility flashed through her mind.
Could it be that I'm overthinking it?
Sheng Qing felt nauseous for no reason. He put down the documents and ran to the bathroom. His stomach churned, and he vomited some acid.
Sheng Qing immediately turned on the tap to wash away the filth, her hand unconsciously stroking her flat stomach.
What am I doing?
Sheng Qing's lips twitched slightly. He was completely innocent and hadn't done anything wrong. He couldn't possibly be falsely accused of being pregnant, could he?
Hearing the commotion, Meng Yunxi rushed over, her eyes filled with doubt, then sparkling with delight: "Qingqing, you're not pregnant..."
"Shut up!" Sheng Qing immediately stopped her, covering Meng Yunxi's mouth with his hand and looking around warily, afraid that something unseen might have overheard.
"Impossible! Absolutely do not utter those two words!" Sheng Qing's eyes were terrifying. What kind of ridiculous plot had been added? Was this a warning to him about trying to go to the basement?
Since that's the case, I don't care what kind of dangerous place it is, I still have to go today.
Seeing Meng Yunxi nod, Sheng Qing finally let go.
"I remember you brought back a huge stack of documents before, all of them Jiajia's, uh, Duoduo's?" So much had happened in just a few days that Sheng Qing had lost track of time.
"The day before yesterday? No, there were other clients too. Do you want to see them?"
Can I watch it?
"Of course not, those are work documents, and we can't just disclose other people's privacy." Meng Yunxi refused outright.
"Alright." Sheng Qing looked disappointed. Quite the professional, huh? But it's okay, we can just wait until tonight. Meng Yunxi definitely won't refuse tonight.
"Or could you give me some general information?" Sheng Qing asked tentatively, "Are they all accident reports related to children?"
Meng Yunxi pursed her lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Sheng Qing realized he had guessed correctly and sensed something was wrong. All those years of reading novels hadn't been for nothing; he vaguely guessed the identity of the person behind it all.
However, Sheng Qing had no clue how to break the deadlock.
"Come with me somewhere?" Sheng Qing planned to explore the basement again, but then the little girl's strange behavior flashed through his mind, so he decided to ask Meng Yunxi to come along.
"Where to?" Meng Yunxi asked, already walking towards the door.
“Basement level.” Sheng Qing noticed that Meng Yunxi paused, as if she had no concept of the term “basement level”.
"What, you don't want to? That won't do." Adhering to the principle that the more you are told not to do something, the more you should do it, Sheng Qing didn't care whether Meng Yunxi was willing or not, quickly opened the door, and pushed her to the elevator.
The elevator arrived late, and the two entered, but the doors refused to close for a long time. Sheng Qing deliberately pressed the button for the basement several times, then pressed the call button, and a buzzing sound came from the speaker.
After a while, the elevator doors finally closed slowly, without any incident, until the indicator light for the basement level lit up.
The moment the door opened, a gust of cold wind rushed in, and Sheng Qing seemed to hear the laughter of children, but it quickly disappeared with the wind.
I tried stomping my foot, but no motion-activated light came on.
"Where is the light?" Sheng Qing muttered to himself, tentatively reaching out to feel the wall.
Hehe~
Sheng Qing was certain she heard laughter, felt something cold brush against her ankle, and the next second her hair stood on end.
"Meng Yunxi, are you still there?" Sheng Qing was not an atheist. In this strange world, it was not impossible for something else to come along.
There was no reply; the silence was eerily quiet.
"I should have brought a flashlight, or at least a candle," Sheng Qing began to regret, but her hands kept groping around. Finally, with a snap, she pressed the switch, and her vision was filled with light.
Before me was an enclosed space about the size of a basketball court, with various toy cars, Barbie dolls, and even slides and sand piles scattered on the ground—all things that children love to play with.
Are you ready to dance?
Hey yeah, hey yeah.
Let's go party!
..."
A light, cheerful melody rang out from loudspeakers in all directions.
Sheng Qing instantly snapped out of her daze and realized that Meng Yunxi was standing motionless in the corridor connecting the elevator and the basement, her eyes blank.
Could it be like in the white fog, that it's been haunted by something?
"Can you hear me?" Sheng Qing moved closer and tugged at his arm, but there was no response. She then waved her hand in front of his eyes.
Suddenly, Meng Yunxi grabbed Sheng Qing's wrist, stared straight at her, and said mechanically, "Go home."
Sheng Qing was caught off guard and startled. Seeing that Meng Yunxi did not forcibly pull him away, he carefully pried open Meng Yunxi's fingers and led him to stand in a conspicuous corner of the basement.
"Just wait for me, I'll be back in a bit." Without caring whether the other person could understand, Sheng Qing whispered and began to explore the huge basement, or rather, this playground for children.
Mirror?
There were two mirrors here. As Sheng Qing approached, the image on the left was exaggeratedly stretched and enlarged, while the image on the right was strangely shrunken and thinned, like a funhouse mirror that children love to play with.
Amused by her reflection in the mirror, Sheng Qing smiled and moved to leave.
What is that?
The braided hair in the mirror flashed by, and Sheng Qing quickly turned around. There was nothing behind her, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on her neck.
"Why did you come here?" Turning around, Meng Yunxi appeared silently in front of the funhouse mirror. Sheng Qing tried to pull him to his side for courage, but to his surprise, he couldn't budge him.
Meng Yunxi seemed very interested in the Hahaha Mirror, pressing her entire face tightly against the mirror in a strange posture.
"Meng Yunxi?" Sheng Qing wondered if something was going to go wrong. She pulled Meng Yunxi away from the mirror with all her might.
"Meng Yunxi!" Still no movement. Sheng Qingzhen was getting a little nervous. For no reason, she began to worry that Meng Yunxi would be sucked into the mirror, just like the neighbor who was swallowed by a giant monster in the white mist.
“Meng…”
"Mm," Meng Yunxi finally said.
Huh?
That calm tone sounded a bit strange, much like Meng Yunxi who could only wake up at night.
Sheng Qing was stunned, and asked hesitantly, "It's dark already?"
“It’s me.” Seemingly noticing Sheng Qing’s confusion, Meng Yunxi patiently explained, “I saw another version of myself in the mirror.” Then her gaze shifted downwards, landing on Sheng Qing’s hands, which were tightly gripping hers.
"I'm sorry, I thought..." Because of nervousness and surprise, Sheng Qing forgot to let go for a moment. "It's alright."
A flickering flame lit up before Meng Yunxi's eyes, and the basement of the mirror revealed a different scene.
"Flames can actually be summoned here?" With a thought, Sheng Qing noticed another cluster of flames appear.
The blurry image in the mirror gradually became clear.
Sheng Qing and Meng Yunxi were surrounded by a dense crowd of children, who were looking at the two dancing flames with great curiosity.
God's Milk!
Sheng Qing shuddered and quickly moved closer to Meng Yunxi, his body inevitably passing over a pair of siblings who looked like twins.
Seemingly sensing the disturbance, the brother and sister in the mirror turned their heads simultaneously and looked at Sheng Qing with expressionless faces.
It's okay, it's okay!
Sheng Qing tried to convince herself that it was just another world in the mirror and wouldn't hurt her.
Suddenly the lights went out, and from who-knows-where a gust of wind came, the two flickering flames began to sway and shake.
A second before the flame went out, Sheng Qing clearly saw the child in the mirror puffing out his cheeks and blowing on the flame, plunging the basement into darkness instantly.
"Hurry up!" Meng Yunxi's urgent voice rang out, and at the same time, Sheng Qing felt someone tug at his arm.
"Is it you?" Sheng Qing's voice trembled.
There was no reply. Almost simultaneously, another flame lit up, and Sheng Qing saw that Meng Yunxi was holding the hand of the older twin.
So who else could be pulling you along?
Sheng Qing looked miserable and didn't dare to turn around to confirm.
"Look into my eyes, don't be afraid." Meng Yunxi's gentle tone made Sheng Qing feel incredibly at ease, but why hadn't he let go of the twin sister yet?
Sheng Qing glanced quickly out of the corner of his eye and realized that it wasn't Meng Yunxi pulling the little girl; it was clearly the little girl who was holding her tightly.
Sheng Qing's heart sank.
"Come play with us~" came the little boy's innocent voice from behind.
Suddenly, more phantom images of children appeared beside them, crowding towards Sheng Qing and Meng Yunxi.
"Get out of the way! We saw it first!" the twins shouted in unison.
Sheng Qing glanced at the little girl next to Meng Yunxi. Her eyes were bulging and blood was flowing from her head. She looked like she had just fallen from a great height. Sheng Qing was so frightened that she almost fainted.
Upon hearing the reprimand, the indistinct child figures obediently retreated and suddenly disappeared.
"Sheng Qing!" The flickering flames grew even stronger. Meng Yunxi called out softly, then raised her chin and glanced at the exit of the basement.
In the blink of an eye, a golden light swept by, and the twin siblings suddenly cried out in pain and simultaneously released their grip.
"Run!" The words had barely left their lips when the two of them dashed toward the basement door, followed by a burst of laughter.
The moment she ran out the door, the basement was still brightly lit. Sheng Qing didn't have time to turn around and check if the twins had caught up; Meng Yunxi had already pressed the elevator up button and pulled her into the elevator.
As the elevator doors closed, Sheng Qing noticed that the twin siblings were still standing by the funhouse mirror, looking at the two of them with a mocking expression.
"Why didn't they catch up?" Sheng Qing asked, turning his head to look at Meng Yunxi.
"Something's not right," Meng Yunxi said, her tone puzzled. "Can I still control this body?"
The slowly opening elevator doors revealed the answer to the two: outside the 22nd floor was still that familiar, eerie basement, with the two funhouse mirrors still faithfully standing in place, while the twin siblings had vanished without a trace.
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