Chapter 985: Chapter 693: Here It Comes_2
"He was also a captain. When I was very young, he held me in his arms, and I reached out to touch the gun holster at his waist. He seemed very nervous. Now that I think about it, that gun was likely his Resentful Eye. His strength was formidable, far greater than mine now."
"Your father had silver hair, a build similar to yours now—tall and lean. The handgun at his waist was also silver, a revolver with a relatively long barrel." Yang Xiao laid out the characteristics of the silver-haired captain in full detail.
In the next second, Qu Muzhi, who had been calm until now, instantly changed. He stopped mid-step, sharply turned his head, and stared at Yang Xiao with wide eyes hinting at shock. "How do you know that? Did you investigate me?!"
But Qu Muzhi quickly realized this was impossible, because some of the details were unique to his own memories. There was no way Yang Xiao could have uncovered them—unless Yang Xiao could somehow read his thoughts. Could this be one of Yang Xiao’s abilities?
Qu Muzhi’s reaction confirmed Yang Xiao’s theory. It seemed he was right—the silver-haired captain he encountered during the secret contest at Ru Lin Academy was indeed Qu Muzhi’s long-lost father. Yang Xiao didn’t hide anything and recounted how the silver-haired captain and his comrades had saved him, along with the details of that mission.
Standing still, Yang Xiao finished his story. The icy façade on Qu Muzhi’s face finally showed cracks. He didn’t collapse emotionally or burst into tears; Qu Muzhi’s response was unusually calm, but his slightly trembling shoulders betrayed his real feelings.
After a dozen seconds, Qu Muzhi’s tightly pressed lips slowly relaxed. His lips quivered slightly, and he uttered two words:
"Thank you."
"I should be thanking you instead. Without your father’s help, I wouldn’t be able to stand in front of you today."
Yang Xiao didn’t know how to console the man before him. He couldn’t help but marvel at the entwined fates of life. If Wu Zhengwu hadn’t stopped Qu Muzhi back then, bloodshed between the two would have been inevitable. If he had died, Qu Muzhi might never have learned how his father met his end.
Conversely, if Qu Muzhi’s father hadn’t assisted him, Yang Xiao himself would have perished in the secret contest.
Yang Xiao suddenly felt as though Qu Muzhi’s father had used him to convey the final Chapter of his story to his son.
It was a weighty legacy carried by their shared bloodline.
After returning to the Patrol Defense Office, Qu Muzhi went directly to rest in the room next to Yang Xiao’s. Yang Xiao didn’t disturb him. He understood that Qu Muzhi needed some alone time right now.
That night, Yang Xiao also drank some alcohol, though not excessively. His mind was sober. Lying on the couch, he couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning. Finally, he gave up on sleeping altogether, got up, donned the Drama Robe, and entered the Mirror World to accompany the Little Mirror Ghost.
He had only recently obtained the Ghost phone and hadn’t fully figured out its abilities. In particular, Tong Han’s words the previous night sent chills down his spine. He couldn’t be sure whether he was controlling the Ghost or if something else was manipulating everything, leading him to mistakenly believe he was in control.
Yang Xiao was quite adept at entering the Mirror World now. He quickly located that peculiar room, and as expected, its position had shifted again. This time, surprisingly, it had transformed into the investigation team’s office—the innermost captain’s room.
That room had once been Yang Xiao’s office, but he had since been promoted and moved to a larger and more spacious Deputy Director’s office. The old room had been taken over by Deputy Captain Beibei, who claimed it was more comfortable for "slacking off with the door closed."
As usual, the moment Yang Xiao touched the door, the secret chamber revealed itself. The wooden hue of the door was gradually stripped away, revealing the Bronze Door underneath. When the door was pushed open, everything inside remained exactly as it was before his last visit.
This time, the Little Mirror Ghost wasn’t out playing. It lay on the floor, but upon seeing Yang Xiao enter, it quickly scrambled up, darted forward, and stretched out its hand, asking for the Ghost Lantern.
Yang Xiao extended a hand and rubbed the Little Mirror Ghost’s head. It didn’t resist. Trust between them had begun to take form.
Under Yang Xiao’s watchful gaze, the Little Mirror Ghost played with the Ghost Lantern for a while. This time, it didn’t cause any mischief. Yang Xiao noticed it concentrating most of its attention on the wooden handle connecting to the lantern, its expression cold and peculiar, as if baffled by something.
As expected, these ghostly entities had a natural sensitivity toward Magic Artifacts. The Little Mirror Ghost had likely sensed something amiss with the Ghost Lantern, and the issue might lie precisely in that wooden handle—but it lacked the means to express it.
"Alright, that’s enough for today. Daddy’s tired. Go out and play by yourself." Yang Xiao retrieved the Ghost Lantern, opened the door, and ushered the reluctant Little Mirror Ghost out before walking to the single bed in the room and collapsing onto it.
The bed’s frame felt rigid, with only a thin blanket spread on top. Yang Xiao couldn’t fathom how the Sect Master managed to endure it. He lay flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and couldn’t help but picture the imprisoned Sect Master.
If Lu Youdao hadn’t confirmed the individual’s identity to him, Yang Xiao would never have guessed that the captive was actually the infamous Sect Master of the Yu Yuan Sect.
As he pondered, a wave of drowsiness hit him. Yang Xiao yawned, sat up, and prepared to leave—he had no intention of sleeping in such a creepy place.
But just as he was about to rise, an inexplicable sense of dread washed over him, as though something was about to happen. He scanned the room. Nothing had changed. The sudden fear felt unreal, like a hallucination.
Yang Xiao wasn’t one to dismiss such feelings. He stood up, decisively took out the Ghost Lantern, and circled the room—but still found nothing. Just as he was about to open the door and leave, his steps faltered. He thought he heard something.
The sound came from outside the door. At first, it was faint, but it quickly grew clearer. Yang Xiao recognized it: the ringing of a bell, approaching from afar.
This scene made Yang Xiao instantly alert. The bell’s sound lacked any of the usual charm or cheerfulness. On the contrary, it was steeped in an indescribable coldness and deathly silence, with intermittent pauses, as though being dragged along.
The bell’s ringing drew nearer and nearer. Judging by the sound, whatever was responsible had already reached the hallway outside the investigation team office—and it was still approaching.
"Ding-ling-ling—"
"Ding-ling-ling—"
Yang Xiao instinctively stepped back, further away from the secret chamber’s Bronze Door. His breathing grew rapid. He could hear it—the entity had entered the investigation team’s office.
From what he knew, the Little Mirror Ghost wouldn’t have done such a thing. This was something else. Something had entered his Mirror World.
"Ding-ling-ling—"
"Ding-ling-ling—"
The intermittent ringing sounded like a Death Sentence. In the next moment, Yang Xiao held his breath—his worst fear was realized. The bell stopped ringing, right outside his door.
Whatever it was had come for him!
Yang Xiao tried his best not to make a sound. He had no intention of opening the door. Whatever had silently infiltrated the Mirror World was no ordinary entity. But this secret chamber wasn’t simple either—the thing outside wouldn’t easily enter.
The silence outside the room became suffocating. But Yang Xiao knew the entity hadn’t left. Opening the door would mean instant death.
Time ticked by, second by second. The thing outside seemed lifeless—completely silent. Even stranger, the Little Mirror Ghost was nowhere to be found.
Just as Yang Xiao began worrying about the Little Mirror Ghost, sounds returned. This time, it was the patter of small footsteps, also approaching from afar.
Those footsteps were familiar to Yang Xiao—they belonged to the Little Mirror Ghost. The ghost was returning, likely about to run headlong into whatever was waiting outside the door.
But what happened next completely defied Yang Xiao’s expectations. The Little Mirror Ghost seemed entirely oblivious to the entity outside the door, heading straight for it. In the very next moment, the door was pushed open.
