Zhao Liren balanced the grocery bags in his arms, a half-hummed tune dying on his lips. The apartment was quiet...too quiet. Only the faint hum of the refrigerator and the low hiss of rain outside filled the silence. Then, from the living room, a muffled sob broke the air.
He froze.
"Li An?" his voice echoed softly, uncertain.
He stepped inside, setting the bags on the counter. The scent of wet earth and citrus drifted from the open window. Then another sound...a choked breath, the sharp edge of anger. Zhao's heartbeat stumbled as he crossed the hallway.
In the living room, the scene hit him like a blow.
Li An... his little brother in everything but blood... stood trembling near the couch, tears streaming down his pale face. His mask had slipped to the floor, revealing the raw vulnerability of a boy too beautiful for his own safety. His hands pushed weakly at Shen Lian's chest, his voice breaking between sobs.
"Please… stop it… I said no!"
Zhao's world went red.
He didn't think. He just moved.
"What the hell are you doing to him?!" Zhao roared, crossing the room and yanking Shen Lian backward by his collar.
The detective's body jerked with the force, but his expression stayed cold, controlled...a wolf restraining the instinct to bite. His dark eyes flicked toward Zhao, pupils narrow, jaw tight.
"Let go," Shen Lian said, voice low, dangerous.
"The hell I will!" Zhao shoved him again, placing himself between Shen Lian and Li An. "He's crying, you bastard!"
Li An gasped, stumbling to his knees. His trembling fingers gripped the hem of Zhao's sleeve. "Zhao- no, wait-"
But Zhao wasn't listening. His pulse thundered in his ears, rage blinding reason. He'd seen too much in life to mistake fear. And the tears in Li An's eyes cut deeper than any wound.
"You touch him again," Zhao hissed, "I swear to God, I'll-"
"Enough!" Shen Lian snapped.
The single word cracked through the room like thunder. His patience, thin as glass, shattered. The air itself seemed to tighten around his presence. His face...scarred, harsh, breathtaking in its fury...was a storm contained in human form.
"I wasn't hurting him," he bit out, each syllable edged with steel. "I was trying to make him listen."
Zhao laughed, hollow. "You've got a twisted way of showing concern, detective."
Shen Lian's jaw clenched. "He saw something. Again."
The word again silenced Zhao for half a heartbeat. He turned to Li An, who flinched, eyes wide, breath unsteady. His lips moved soundlessly before he spoke.
"It-It happened again… the mirror."
Zhao knelt beside him, his tone softening instantly. "Hey, hey… breathe, alright? Tell me what happened."
Li An's voice trembled. "I-in the bathroom...there was writing on the mirror again. I was scared and felt someone near me... detective shen was there with me... and-and he saw it too. He saw it. he can see something even i can't see... i-im scared zhao"
Zhao turned slowly, eyes narrowing on Shen Lian. "You're saying you saw it? The words and what else.. what else did you see?"
Shen Lian's silence was answer enough. His usual calm had thinned to something taut, haunted. He rubbed a hand over his face, smearing the frustration from his features, but his eyes betrayed him...dark with something deeper than disbelief.
"I saw it," he said finally. "It's Not a reflection. Not imagination. it's something beyond our understandings.... The word… the same one."
"Qin," Li An whispered.
His own name...carved in invisible blood across the mirror's surface.
Zhao swallowed hard. His anger faltered, replaced by cold dread. He turned toward Shen Lian again, his tone lower now, almost pleading. "Why were you yelling, then? Why was he crying?"
Shen Lian exhaled slowly, looking away. "Because he thinks i did something and i'm behend this... your friend is an fucking idiot and a coward." rough voice
Li An lifted his head, tears glistening like broken glass. "You said… you said it follows me because of me."
Shen Lian's gaze cut back to him... sharp, heavy, filled with something that wasn't cruelty but fear. Real, human fear. "It does," he said quietly. "And if you keep pretending it doesn't exist, you'll drag everyone down with you."
Zhao's hand curled into a fist. "You think that helps him?"
"I'm not here to comfort him," Shen Lian growled. "I'm here to stop this, and don't forget you're the one who called me here."
The words stung through the quiet. Rain pressed harder against the windows, shadows shifting like restless ghosts along the walls.
For a moment, nobody moved. Then Zhao rose to his feet, squaring his shoulders. "You've got one minute to explain before I throw you out."
Shen Lian didn't flinch. He stepped closer instead, his height casting a shadow over Zhao. "You think this is about him? About some prank or trauma?" His voice dropped lower, rougher. "You have no idea what you're standing in."
"Then tell me!"
"I've seen it," Shen Lian hissed. "Years ago. Different city. Same signs. Same word. And it didn't end well."
Li An's breath hitched. The words wrapped around his ribs like chains. "You've seen it?"
Shen Lian's eyes met his, and for the first time, something in them cracked open...a glimpse of the horror beneath the control. "Yes," he said. "And it never stops until it gets what it wants."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Then Li An's voice, soft, trembling: "What… does it want?"
Shen Lian looked away, his jaw flexing. "i don't know... but it sure does'nt want peace... i can't even sleep in peace." he mumbled the last words only for him hear.
The rain hadn't stopped.
It clung to the windows like fingerprints on glass, each drop chasing another down in slow, uneven paths. The apartment smelled of iron and rainwater and the faint citrus from the bag Zhao Liren had dropped earlier. A tangerine had rolled across the floor, split open ... its juice pooling beside a small crack in the tile.
No one moved.
Li An sat on the couch now, knees drawn close, hands trembling slightly where they rested against his chest. His hair stuck damply to his temple, his breaths coming in uneven bursts that made his shoulders quiver. Zhao Liren stood a few feet away, his fists still clenched, pulse still hammering in his throat like he'd sprinted miles.
And Shen Lian…
He stood near the window, rain sliding down his reflection, the light cutting across his face... across the scars that split his cheek and brow... making him look carved from shadow and steel. The man didn't fidget, didn't flinch. He just watched the storm, jaw tight enough that the muscle near his temple jumped.
Zhao's voice broke the silence first, rough and uncertain.
"You said you've seen it before," he said, tone edged with disbelief. "You expect me to believe that?"
Shen Lian didn't turn. "You called me here because you already believe something's wrong."
"That doesn't mean ghosts," Zhao shot back.
"Then tell me what else bleeds words on mirrors," Shen said simply.
The air went heavy. The sound of rain filled the silence between them.
Li An shifted slightly, his fingers tightening on the blanket draped around him. His lips parted, voice quiet, fragile.
"It said my name again," he whispered. "Not Li An… Qin Yuelin. It keeps using that name."
Shen Lian's gaze flicked toward him. "Because that's who it wants..."
Zhao's jaw clenched. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means," Shen said, finally turning, "that it doesn't care who you call him. It knows him for what he is. It's been following that name... not the person you made him into."
Li An's eyes widened slightly, and his throat tightened. "Following me…?"
"Yes." Shen's voice softened, though it was the kind of softness that came from exhaustion, not mercy. "And you keep pretending it's just fear. But fear doesn't leave marks you can both see."
Zhao stepped forward. "You think yelling's going to help? He's terrified."
Shen's patience thinned again, like ice over fire. "You think comfort stops a curse?" He leaned forward slightly, the low growl in his voice cutting through Zhao's anger. "I'm trying to make him face it before it grows worse."
Zhao's hand twitched toward him. "Watch your tone."
"Then control your temper," Shen shot back, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You're not the only one here trying to protect him."
Li An flinched. "Please- don't fight."
His words were barely audible, but enough to pull both of them back a step. Zhao exhaled, running a hand through his damp hair. "Alright… alright. Just... tell us what you know. From the beginning."
Shen hesitated... not because he didn't want to speak, but because he didn't want to remember. His voice, when it came, was quieter.
"Years ago," he said, "I was on a case. A missing woman. Her husband swore she'd been hearing voices, seeing messages written where no one else could see them. At first, I thought it was a breakdown. Then… then I saw it myself. In the mirror of their bathroom. Just one word... the same one."
"Qin," Zhao murmured.
Shen nodded. "After that, she vanished. No body. No trace. Only the word, reappearing every few days on different surfaces. Like it was calling something."
Li An swallowed hard, his voice a shaky whisper. "Calling… me?"
Shen's gaze met his, unreadable. "Or something wearing your name."
Zhao moved closer to Li An, instinctively shielding him. "And you're saying it's the same thing now?"
"I don't say what I don't see," Shen said simply. "And I saw it."
He crossed his arms, leaning against the window, eyes distant. "It started like this. Small. A name, a reflection. Then… it grew. The reflection stopped copying movements. It watched instead. Waited."
Li An shivered violently, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. "That's… that's what happened last night. I saw it smile. My reflection smiled first."
Zhao froze.
Shen's expression hardened. "Then it's already begun."
"What the hell does that mean?" Zhao demanded.
Shen didn't answer immediately. He moved closer to the mirror hanging near the hallway... a simple rectangular one Li An had insisted on keeping despite its cracked edge. The detective's eyes scanned it, his reflection staring back, scarred and unreadable. For a heartbeat, everything was still. Then the light flickered. Just once.
Li An's breath hitched audibly. Zhao's instincts screamed at him to move closer, but Shen lifted a hand without looking back. "Don't," he said quietly. "It reacts to attention."
"What does?"
Shen's voice was barely above a whisper. "The thing that looks back."
The clock ticked. Rain rattled. The refrigerator hummed. But something else… something low and distorted buzzed faintly beneath those ordinary sounds, like static through broken speakers. Shen turned away sharply, rubbing his neck. "We need to block the mirrors. All of them."
Li An blinked. "Why?"
"Because reflections are gateways," Shen said, his tone rougher now. "And yours are already open."
Zhao frowned. "This isn't some horror movie."
"Then pray it isn't," Shen muttered.
He moved to the kitchen, opening a drawer, searching for something... tape, newspaper, anything. Zhao followed, not trusting him fully but too shaken to argue. "You said it happened before," Zhao said quietly. "That you've seen it. How did it end?"
Shen paused mid-reach. His shoulders tensed.
"It didn't."
The words landed heavy in the space between them.
Li An's soft sob broke the silence again, trembling, too human against the unnatural weight in the air. Zhao went to him immediately, kneeling beside him. "Hey, it's okay," he whispered, forcing a small smile. "We'll figure this out, alright? You're safe here."
Li An shook his head. "You don't get it, Zhao… it... it feels like I'm not supposed to be here. Like something wants me to remember something I shouldn't."
Shen looked over his shoulder, his eyes locking on Li An's trembling form. "You remember it every time you look in the mirror, don't you?"
Li An blinked, dazed. "What?"
Shen's voice softened to a low murmur. "That's why it's using your name. Because the part of you it wants isn't forgotten."
Li An's lips parted, confusion bleeding into fear. "You're not making sense-"
"Neither did she," Shen said, almost absently. "The woman from before. She said the same words."
Zhao stood, his voice firm. "Enough riddles. Tell us what this is."
Shen met his gaze, something fierce and tired in his eyes. "If I knew what it was, I would've destroyed it years ago."
The thunder outside rolled, and the lights flickered again... longer this time. A strange pressure pressed against the walls, subtle but alive, like the apartment itself was holding its breath. Li An's eyes darted toward the darkened hallway. The cracked mirror near the bathroom seemed to pulse faintly, the silvered surface warping for just a heartbeat.
"Zhao…" he whispered. "It's..."
The lights died.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Zhao cursed softly, fumbling for his phone's flashlight. "Stay close," he muttered, moving toward Li An. His fingers brushed cold skin. "Li An?"
"Here," came the whisper, shaking.
Then... a voice that wasn't his.
"…Here."
Zhao froze. The sound had come from the other side of the room... from the direction of the mirror.
For a moment, the only sound was breathing.
Then the power flicked back on, light spilling harsh and yellow across the room. The mirror was cracked further... a new line spidered down its center like a wound.
Shen Lian stared at it, chest rising and falling slowly. His voice came out rough, almost broken.
"I told you," he said. "I've been through it before…"
He paused, eyes dark, haunted.
"…and I still am."
END OF THE CHAPTER.