The Keeper of Myths - Chapter 9

The office of the Action Department was filled with the pungent smell of snail noodles. Song Xiaoming, still shaken, was slurping noodles in big mouthfuls while sobbing uncontrollably. Si Nan, unable to bear it, stuffed two wads of tissue into his own nostrils, then pulled out two more sheets and handed them to Song Xiaoming, lest his snot drip into the takeout box.

“Thank goodness the Department Head came quickly, otherwise I would have been… washed…” Song Xiaoming mumbled through his tears, “Scared me to death.”

Xuanwu couldn’t listen anymore. Just then, he saw Pei Xueting walk in, and seized the moral high ground to point at her, “How could you PUA Xiao Song?”

She had calculated that the Mirror Demon feared the Celestial Master and wouldn’t act rashly, so she deliberately sent Song Xiaoming to monitor Xia Jiang. Song Xiaoming, the big fool, had been thrown out as bait by her, yet he was still grateful to her.

“Didn’t I bring him snail noodles as an apology?” Pei Xueting said carelessly, then dragged someone in by a rope.

The cord was woven with talisman paper, and when it glowed, it meant what was tied up wasn’t human. At the other end of the rope was a little girl, wearing a blindfold, petite in stature. Even without those signature gray eyes, Si Nan recognized her at a glance-it was Xia Tong.

Or rather, Xia Tong as incarnated by the Mirror Demon.

“If you’ve caught her, send her to the Execution Department. Why bring her back here?” Xuanwu nudged the pale-faced Song Xiaoming aside, clearing a spot on the sofa.

“To satisfy my curiosity. Move aside, everyone, I’m about to conduct an interrogation.”

All the blackout curtains in the office were drawn, plunging the room into darkness. The Merpeople in the aquarium pressed against the glass, peering out with glowing green eyes. Bai Yin sat in the corner of the office, clutching her own head, unable to resist glancing over.

“Hey,” Pei Xueting settled the Mirror Demon on the sofa and poked her face, “What’s your name?”

The Mirror Demon seemed not very bright, tilting her head and thinking for a long time before saying, “Zhao Xue.”

—

Zhao Xue was a mercury mirror, brought by a missionary to a distant eastern ancient kingdom, and presented as a prize at a banquet to the most talented person. The unremarkable young man spoke with elegant fluency, stunning everyone present.

Among the many prizes, the mercury mirror was quite inconspicuous. The young man cut and polished it, setting it into a filigreed silver handle, intending to use it to please his noble fiancée. His family had fallen on hard times; apart from his erudition, he had nothing, desperately clinging to the childhood engagement with his fiancée.

His future father-in-law politely declined his visit, gently but firmly breaking off the engagement.

The young man drowned his sorrows in wine. Under the moonlight, he inadvertently glanced back, staring into the mirror at himself.

But the reflection was not a drunkard, but a madman on a high tower, hair disheveled, loudly reciting the essay that had astonished everyone at the banquet that year. When the performance ended, the madman leapt to his death.

The young man awoke with a start.

But Zhao Xue awakened from that moment.

In the young man’s eyes, she saw the unwillingness born of being belittled and the yearning for power.

So she took on the young man’s appearance and entered the world for him, mingling in the circles of fame and fortune, toasting and composing poetry, winning the favor of noble ladies; at night, she stepped out of the bronze mirror, plunging a blade into the heart of those who had humiliated him at poetry gatherings; she borrowed the eyes of the examiners to memorize the imperial exam questions, then transcribed them for him.

With the influence of his new father-in-law and the stolen exam questions from Zhao Xue, the young man rose swiftly through the ranks.

The more power he gained, the more he feared Zhao Xue, yet he couldn’t bear to smash her, so he imprisoned her in a box engraved with scriptures.

Long after, the box was opened again.

The young man was dead. He had tried to stir up trouble in the court, but was ultimately outmatched, ending his life in prison with a cup of poison.

All his glory and wealth turned to dust beneath his feet.

Zhao Xue, as one of his possessions, was confiscated by the court, and over the decades, ended up in the hands of common folk.

Her second owner was a courtesan.

The courtesan was skilled at the pipa and at flirting. She had saved up a box full of jewelry and trinkets, hoping to elope with her beloved. Zhao Xue had been bought by that playboy; the courtesan polished her until she gleamed, admiring herself in the mirror every day.

On the day the playboy redeemed her, she saw a completely different self in the mercury mirror.

She was old and wrinkled, lying on a dingy bed, with no one by her side, the bedding crawling with mosquitoes and fleas. She was like a withered peony, her former beauty gone.

The courtesan nearly dropped the mirror in shock. Zhao Xue, wearing her identical face, stepped out and took her hand.
“Don’t be afraid, I will protect you,” Zhao Xue said.

The pampered young master lacked the courage to elope, and even less the resolve to abandon his comfortable life. He promised the courtesan endless affection, and brought her home under vague pretenses.

Life in the grand mansion was far from easy. Only after entering did the courtesan realize that she was not the only “darling” of the young master.

Those women, whether from respectable families or of humble origins, each had their own charms. Some excelled at playing the flute, some at singing, and some simply stood silently, becoming a beautiful sight in themselves. The courtesan felt exhausted, as if she had left the brothel, yet somehow not.

She had merely gone from pleasing a crowd to pleasing a single person.

So Zhao Xue slipped a mute drug into the serene songstress’s water, rendering her unable to sing ever again, her voice hoarse and unpleasant even when she spoke. Zhao Xue spied on the dignified and beautiful wife, exposing her affair and leading to her discovery; in the end, the wife was drowned in the pond. The one who loved playing the flute most fell and cut her face on a stone while walking at night, and it never healed.

That man did indeed dote on the courtesan for a while, but before long, he brought home someone new.

On a long winter day, as the courtesan was doing her hair, she discovered white strands at her temples and fine lines at the corners of her eyes.

Calmly, she played her final tune in the falling snow, as if she had returned to the stage at fourteen, when the hall erupted in applause. The sound of the pipa was like jade beads scattering on the ground, sobbing mournfully amid the layered wind and snow, sorrowful and plaintive.

When the song ended, the audience dispersed.

She removed the strings from her instrument and slowly strangled herself.

—

“Did the owner of the mirror see their own future in it?” Si Nan asked in a daze.

“Not their real future,” Pei Xueting interrupted him, gazing at Zhao Xue’s calm profile. “It’s the future they fear most.”

Those who seek fame die without dignity; those who rely on beauty for a living grow old and faded.

Zhao Xue nodded slightly, acknowledging Pei Xueting’s explanation.

“I’m curious-what did Xia Tong see?” Pei Xueting continued.

Zhao Xue let out a mocking laugh. “She’s blind. She can’t see anything. So I don’t know what it is she truly fears.”

“Then let me ask another question. Was it for her that you killed Cheng Hong, and now intend to kill Xia Jiang as well?”

This time, Zhao Xue was silent for a long while. In the end, she didn’t answer, only asked softly, “Before you kill me, can you let me see her?”

Pei Xueting pressed, “Don’t bargain with me.”

Zhao Xue sighed helplessly. “Fine.”

Pei Xueting stared at her for a long moment, then signaled Si Nan, “Take her to the hospital to see Xia Tong.”

Si Nan accepted the order and left. Pei Xueting stood by the window, watching the two of them go.

Tan Zhen, who had been silent in the corner, suddenly spoke. “Do you really believe what she said?”

“What?” Pei Xueting was momentarily confused about who was speaking, then replied, “Of course not.”

Tan Zhen assumed a listening posture.

“Her story is cleverly crafted, but it also reveals a fact: she really is imitating the Host. She’s just acting out the cowardly Host’s inner thoughts.” Pei Xueting lifted a slat of the blinds with a finger. “So how am I supposed to believe that the mirror image of a pure and kind little girl would kill her own parents?”

“No matter what Xia Tong’s inner fears are, Zhao Xue’s actions are definitely pushing her toward that bad ending. Just like all the previous Hosts.”

Tan Zhen mentally filtered out the words he didn’t understand, barely grasping her meaning. “Then why did you let Si Nan take her to see Xia Tong?”

Pei Xueting smiled slyly. “If you don’t bait the fish, how will you get it to bite? It’s rush hour now. It’ll take at least half an hour to get to the hospital from Phoenix Road by taxi, but only ten minutes by subway.”

—

Si Nan safely escorted Zhao Xue to the hospital room. Just before entering, he suddenly stopped her.

“I have one more question. Why did you try to kill me that time?”

Zhao Xue was still wearing her eye mask. At his words, she gave an apologetic smile. “I just wanted to take her away, but you were always guarding outside. If I got close, you’d notice. So… sorry! But I knew the Great Celestial Master was nearby, so you’d be fine.”

She suddenly showed a bit of that old, haughty air unique to ancient monsters, patting Si Nan’s shoulder. “You got in my way, and I almost took your life. Let’s call it even.”

A subtle feeling flashed through Si Nan’s heart, though he couldn’t say why. As he hesitated, Zhao Xue had already pushed open the door and gone in.
Every corner of the ward was equipped with high-definition cameras, with dedicated staff monitoring the feeds around the clock in shifts, and someone was stationed at the door as well. It was a seamless cage, trapping fledglings with no ability to fly.

Xia Tong sat by the window reading a book in Braille, clear sunlight filtering through the dense leaves and falling on her, making her look like a nun praying in holy light.

“You’re here?” Xia Tong closed her book, the hem of her dress fluttering slightly.

—

Five minutes later, Si Nan pushed open the ward door and was shocked.

The ward was empty, the window wide open, white curtains billowing in the wind.

The person in charge of this surveillance and protection operation was so frustrated he could have bashed his head against the wall. Furious, he went to grab the person watching the monitors, only to find that everything on the surveillance footage appeared normal. Two Xia Tongs sat quietly, one peeling an apple for the other, an inexplicable scene of tranquil domesticity.

Si Nan also felt like bashing his head against the wall. He called Pei Xueting. “Boss, um… Zhao Xue is gone.”

“Mm, got it,” Pei Xueting replied absentmindedly.

Si Nan grew even more anxious. “Boss, if you want to yell at me, just do it…”

“Go home and watch the house,” Pei Xueting said, chewing bubblegum.

Pei Xueting followed the two little girls at a measured distance. They supported each other as they boarded a bus, then transferred to the subway, then to another bus. She neither intervened nor called out, and never lost track of them, but her blatant tailing was enough to wear anyone down.

Their destination was a seaside scenic spot, desolate and empty, not a soul in sight. The attendant in the guard booth was dozing off, and the iron gate swung open with a push.

Dense shade covered the ground.

“What exactly do you want?” Zhao Xue looked back at her helplessly.

“You don’t know? But I know what you want to do.” Pei Xueting chuckled, lowering her sunglasses to look at Zhao Xue. “I didn’t quite believe it at first, but you really do want to take her away. Why? Is it that troublesome for you to find another Host?”

Zhao Xue sighed, half mocking, half helpless. “Celestial Master, you’re even less human than I am-so cold-hearted, and you judge others by your own standards…”

Pei Xueting neither confirmed nor denied it, dissecting her logic on her own. “You chose Cheng Hong as your target because she kept a closer watch on Xia Tong. By killing her, Xia Jiang would be too preoccupied to notice, giving you a chance to take Xia Tong away. But you didn’t expect us to protect Xia Tong.”

At the hospital, she had taken the opportunity to send Si Nan away, but Tan Zhen arrived too quickly, so she couldn’t take Xia Tong. The second time, she deliberately fell into Pei Xueting’s trap, which gave her a chance to get close to Xia Tong.

“If you wanted, you could hide in any mirror or mirror-like object, and we’d have a hard time catching you.” Pei Xueting pointed at Xia Tong, who was nestled at her side. “But you insist on taking her with you, even if it means being tangled up with me. I really don’t understand.”

“Is it so hard to understand?” Zhao Xue gave a sinister smile. “Then why did you let me see her? Stop pretending.”

Mirrors are born to imitate, so she and Xia Tong shared equal measures of malice, hatred, and… kindness. Pei Xueting had already seen through the fact that Xia Tong was her accomplice. As someone who had touched the dark side of the world, Xia Tong would inevitably face punishments Zhao Xue couldn’t imagine.

What was truly baffling was that this Mirror Demon, whose hands were stained with blood, had actually developed something like affection for a human child.

Pei Xueting naturally understood her thoughts and reassured her, “We’re more lenient with minors. You don’t need to worry so much-worry about yourself instead.”

Zhao Xue shook her head. “Let us go, Celestial Master. There are plenty of people and demons in this world more deserving of death than me and her. Wasn’t someone like Cheng Hong getting what she deserved? At least I spared Xia Jiang.”

Pei Xueting shook her head. “You’re too naive. You’re a demon who has killed people; your crimes will attract many others like you. I’ve seen countless cases like yours-you’ll end up getting her killed. Hand her over to me.”

Xia Tong, who had been hiding behind Zhao Xue, spoke up in a trembling voice. “Sister, I’ll go with you. Please don’t hurt her. She’s innocent.”

Zhao Xue held Xia Tong tightly behind her, gritting her teeth. “Absolutely not.”

Pei Xueting said with a hint of threat, “Do you know the saying, ‘Leniency to those who confess, severity to those who resist’?”