The cold wind swept through the narrow alleyway, sending a few scattered leaves tumbling down the deserted street. It was past midnight, but the city never truly slept. Li An stood at the entrance of the alley, the faint glow of a streetlamp casting long shadows across her face. She took a deep breath, her breath visible in the chill night air, before stepping into the darkness.
Her steps were measured, deliberate. She'd learned long ago not to rush, to never show fear, even when the fear was crawling up her spine like a living thing. As a detective, she'd dealt with her share of strange cases—disappearances, unsolved murders, whispers of the supernatural. But nothing had prepared her for this.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, the sudden sound jarring in the silence. Li An paused, her hand instinctively reaching for it, even before her mind registered the number. It was an unknown caller. She hesitated, then answered.
"Li An?" The voice on the other end was muffled, tense, and familiar. "It's Chen Wei. I need to meet you. Now. I've found something."
Li An's pulse quickened. Chen Wei was a colleague—more like an old friend, really—who worked as a forensic expert in the department. They'd crossed paths on more than one case, but she could tell from his tone that this wasn't business as usual. "What is it?" she asked, her voice low.
"It's Zhang Xian," Chen Wei said. "He's dead."
Li An felt a sudden chill run down her spine. Zhang Xian—an esteemed archaeologist and historian who had been doing research on obscure ancient texts. He was well-known in the academic world for his work on forgotten languages and esoteric rituals. But Li An knew something else about Zhang Xian: his fascination with the supernatural. Rumors had circulated about his obsession with an ancient mirror he had uncovered during an excavation. A mirror said to hold the key to something beyond human comprehension.
"What happened?" Li An asked, her voice steady but her mind racing.
"It doesn't make sense," Chen Wei continued. "I can't explain it. You need to see for yourself. Meet me at the lab in thirty minutes."
The call ended abruptly. Li An stood there for a moment, the weight of his words hanging in the air. She glanced at the alleyway around her—empty, silent—but something felt off. It was as if the shadows were watching her, waiting. Her instincts told her to walk away, to forget about it. But her curiosity, sharp as always, drove her forward.
At the Lab
When Li An arrived at the lab, Chen Wei was pacing near the entrance, his face drawn and pale. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. As soon as he saw her, he rushed toward her, his eyes wide with an intensity she hadn't seen before.
"Li An, you need to see this," he said, his voice tight with barely contained urgency. He led her into the lab, where the smell of chemicals and old books mingled in the air. The dim overhead lights cast harsh shadows across the room, but there was something more unsettling about the place tonight—something in the air, like a presence that shouldn't be there.
He pulled a sheet of paper from the table, sliding it toward her. Li An took it, scanning the words on the page. It was a letter, written in a hurried, almost frantic hand. The message was simple, but it sent a chill down her spine.
"I've seen it. The mirror—it's not what I thought. It shows things… things that shouldn't exist. It's no longer just a reflection. It's real. I can feel it in my mind, in my soul. It's coming for me. I'm not safe anymore. You must destroy it. If you don't… it will come for you, too. Zhang Xian."
Li An's eyes flickered over the letter again. It made no sense. Why would Zhang Xian—someone who had dedicated his life to uncovering the secrets of the past—write such a thing? And what mirror was he referring to?
Chen Wei stood silently beside her, his hands trembling. "I've been going through his research," he said softly, almost as if he didn't want to believe it. "Zhang Xian was obsessed with an ancient mirror he found during an excavation. A mirror that, according to the texts he uncovered, was connected to something far older than any of us imagined. He thought it was a doorway—a way to look into something beyond our reality."
Li An turned to him sharply. "What do you mean, beyond our reality?"
Chen Wei looked at her, his expression unreadable. "I don't know. But I do know this: whatever he found—whatever he uncovered—it drove him to madness. And I'm afraid that whatever it was, it's still out there. Waiting."
Li An clenched her fists, the weight of his words settling heavily on her chest. "What do you want me to do?"
Chen Wei handed her another sheet of paper, a map this time. It was covered in strange symbols and marks, some of them clearly ancient, others… not. "This is what Zhang Xian left behind. These are his final notes, and I think he was onto something—something dangerous. I need you to help me find it. Before it's too late."
Li An stared at the map, the symbols swimming before her eyes. Something was off. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach. The air in the room grew colder, and for a split second, she thought she saw something move in the corner of her vision. A shadow, perhaps. Or was it just her mind playing tricks?
But she couldn't shake the feeling that Zhang Xian had seen something—something that wasn't meant to be seen.
"I'll do it," she said, her voice calm despite the storm brewing inside her. "But we need to be careful. We don't know what we're dealing with here."