Chapter 305: Chapter 264: Missing
Staring into the mirror, Yang Xiao’s mind drifted into a haze, his thoughts began to uncontrollably flash through disjointed scenes—a void in which there were dozens, even hundreds of mirrors of different sizes and shapes, all positioned and oriented in completely different ways.
But in just a fraction of a second, Yang Xiao’s mental energy was drained. He staggered unnaturally, nearly falling to the ground.
The scenes in his mind gradually faded, while at that moment, the large mirror on the bedroom wall emitted a strange glow, signaling it was time to leave.
"Li Qingxuan, let’s go," Yang Xiao said, struggling to move. At this moment, his steps were floating, as if he were stepping on cotton.
Li Qingxuan turned around, saw that Yang Xiao was not in good shape, and hurried over to help him, exclaiming in surprise, "Teacher Yang, are you injured?"
Yang Xiao waved his hand, merely urging, "Go, let’s hurry!"
Li Qingxuan helped Yang Xiao into the mirror first, and then followed. They were not sure if there were any survivors left in the apartment, but regardless, they had no time to care.
Their bodies passed effortlessly through the mirror surface, and the moment they stepped inside, Yang Xiao missed his footing and uncontrollably fell downwards.
Accompanied by a strange sensation of vertigo, it seemed as if time and space had lost all meaning at that moment. Soon, he knew nothing anymore.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Yang Xiao groggily woke up, his eyelids heavy. It took him several attempts to pry them open a little. He tried hard to keep them from shutting again since if he did, he would fall back into a deep sleep.
As time slowly passed, the situation gradually improved. His eyes lazily moved, focusing from a blur to clarity. As his vision cleared, so did Yang Xiao’s mind, which had been mushy, now began to function again.
He was in a rather old dormitory room that still bore the decoration style from decades ago. Yang Xiao lay on his side on the floor. With a slight turn of his head, he could see a black backpack hanging on the chair back, its zipper still open, stuffed with food and bottles of mineral water, along with the Underworld Robe draped along the edge of the table.
Yang Xiao’s memories gradually sharpened. He slowly sat up, feeling sore and achy—not as if he’d just slept on a hard cement floor for a night, but more like someone had beaten him up while he was unconscious.
Sitting up, Yang Xiao looked at the Underworld Robe and remembered how the Robe never seemed to help when he needed it to ward off the evil ghosts that came knocking in his nightmares. Annoyed, he complained, "Useless thing."
The next second, the Underworld Robe moved on its own without any wind, its drooping sleeves fluttering left and right, which scared Yang Xiao so much that he sprang up from the floor instantly, his face turning pale as he quickly waved his hands in apology, "Just a joke, just a joke, you’re a great entity, don’t stoop to my level, I was wrong."
The Underworld Robe stopped moving.
Yang Xiao: "..."
Once certain that the Underworld Robe was indeed fine, Yang Xiao dared to approach it. As expected, there was one less square-holed paper money on the garment, and corresponding to it on the side of the Robe, a small copper mirror with a copper-colored casing appeared out of nowhere, embroidered onto it.
The exquisite embroidery goes without saying; most importantly, the mirror part of the copper mirror was not blank but filled in with a grey silk thread. Staring too long at the mirror surface made Yang Xiao shudder, as if there was another self inside staring back at him.
It was too weird, but Yang Xiao also knew this was definitely a good thing, or else the evil cultivators wouldn’t have paid such a high price for it.
Walking over, he drew back the curtains. The day outside was already bright. As Yang Xiao pondered how to return and write the mission report, suddenly, there was a knock on his door.
Yang Xiao’s eyes instantly became alert. He had not heard any footsteps approaching, so he reached into his backpack, pulled out a gun, and it was only with the weapon in his hand that he slowly moved toward the door. Treading lightly and without any greeting, he grabbed the doorknob and yanked the door open.
"Captain! Don’t shoot!"
"It’s you!"
Xi Menxiu and Zhuge Zhijie outside the door were startled and immediately raised their hands, showing full cooperation.
Seeing it was his own people, Yang Xiao quickly glanced left and right down the hallway, saw no place for an ambush, and no sign of anything unusual; only then did he let them in. "What’s going on, why were you two lurking outside my door?"
Having just had the muzzle of a gun pointed at them, Xi Menxiu now sipped water with trembling hands and a mournful face, "Captain, we were just worried about you, it’s already daylight and there was no sign of movement from your room, and you weren’t responding to our messages."
"I just came out from Nightmare World," Yang Xiao explained.
Zhuge Zhijie’s face showed admiration upon hearing this, "You truly deserve to be our captain, going in on the first night and coming out unscathed."
"How did it go, did you get the Resentful Eye?" Compared to Zhuge Zhijie, Xi Menxiu was more anxious to know if Yang Xiao had obtained anything.
Yang Xiao sighed and shook his head, "This time I encountered a few very tricky individuals, I was lucky just to save my life."
"That’s okay, you’re still safe, and that’s what matters," Xi Menxiu turned and instructed Zhuge Zhijie, "Quickly send a report to the director. Remember the captain’s orders, don’t use our office’s internal lines, use the secret line you set up."
"I don’t need you to teach me," Zhuge Zhijie cast a disdainful glance at Xi Menxiu and turned to head back to their dormitory to send the message.
The reason Yang Xiao didn’t tell them the truth wasn’t because he didn’t trust them, but for self-preservation. After all, if he mentioned that he got the Resentful Eye, the report would have to be filed once he got back to the office, and at that point, it was risky that the secret of his Underworld Robe might be revealed, and at that moment, Yang Xiao wasn’t yet powerful enough to protect himself.
The Mr. Yan Zhen who had come to the office before had made a very pertinent comment: "A man is not guilty for carrying jade; his guilt lies in that others know he has it." Yang Xiao didn’t want to reveal his sharp edges too soon.
Yang Xiao also felt troubled; he didn’t know why every Resentful Eye he got seemed to be inextricably linked with evil cultivators. Could it be that he was naturally a prime seedling for evil cultivators?
Soon, Xi Menxiu received a reply from the office, indicating that a team had already been put together and would set out to retrieve them, expecting to arrive by the earliest evening.
After receiving the news, the three of them could finally feel somewhat at ease. In the meantime, Yang Xiao wasn’t idle; he drew portraits of those who might have survived the mission: Li Qingxuan, Mo Daidai, Tong Han, Fu Changxue, and Cheng Ya.
Especially Li Qingxuan and Tong Han, these two had a heated argument at the end of the mission, both questioning each other’s identity. Even though Li Qingxuan had helped him, his suspicion could not be dismissed, as his appearance was too coincidental.
In the afternoon, Yang Xiao and the others received unexpected news: Secretary Meng, who was responsible for their liaison with Qingfeng Patrol Office, had gone missing.
His phone was not answering, and he was disregarding messages, but all his personal items in the office were still in place. Now everyone from Qingfeng Patrol Office was searching for him, and the technical surveillance department had already been involved.
