Alma Espejo Antigua

Capítulo 7

"It's just that country bumpkin father and daughter from yesterday." Xu San sat back down on the sofa, as if his whole body had been sucked in, and said with a worried expression, "I have a feeling they'll come looking for us."

Xu Haicheng then understood why Xu Sanfen had been so paranoid, and found it both funny and absurd. Perhaps the old folks were a bit strange, but Xu Sanfen was probably just scaring himself. Always decisive, he couldn't sit still after figuring out the cause and effect of Pan Xiaolu's amnesia.

Before he could even say he was leaving, Xu San suddenly grabbed his arm and said, "Captain Xu, why don't you put me in jail for a few days?"

Xu Haicheng was taken aback, but after a moment he understood that Xu San meant he wanted to be detained for a few days to avoid trouble. He couldn't help but smile and said, "Don't overthink it. Just stay put and behave yourself. Who would cause you any trouble?" Seeing Xu San's mournful face, he thought for a moment, grabbed a pen and paper from the table, and wrote down his phone number. "Here, contact me if anything happens."

Xu San's mournful face brightened slightly. He respectfully saw the two out, then quickly closed the door, peeking around through the crack. Xu Haicheng and Pan Xiaolu, seeing him bustling about like a little mouse, exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

"Captain Xu, why can't I remember what happened last night?" Pan Xiaolu asked as she walked.

Xu Haicheng, his steps unwavering, said, "If I'm not mistaken, you might have been hypnotized."

"Hypnosis!" Pan Xiaolu repeated in disbelief. Although hypnosis is often seen in movies and TV shows, it is not easy to achieve in reality. It requires certain conditions, such as the cooperation of the person being hypnotized and the person's concentration not being too strong.

"Let me take you to meet someone," Xu Haicheng said as he opened the car door and jumped in. Pan Xiaolu quickly got in as well.

The car headed straight for the Nanpu City Psychological Rehabilitation Center. Stepping into the courtyard where fallen leaves were scattered everywhere, Pan Xiaolu felt a little uneasy. Although she completely trusted Xu Haicheng, the thought of being hypnotized and having her brain out of her control made her feel uncomfortable.

Xu Haicheng, unaware of her hidden thoughts, led her straight into Hawke's office. He had already made an appointment by phone and explained their purpose. Hawke greeted them with a smile, as always. Seeing his gentle smile, Pan Xiaolu's anxiety lessened slightly.

"I'm not confident I can break someone's hypnosis," Hawke emphasized again.

Xu Haicheng nodded to indicate that he understood. During their previous phone call, Hawke had mentioned that hypnosis is a personalized matter. He even gave a real-life example: supposedly, for a performance, a hypnotist hypnotized someone into believing a vicious dog was chasing them. However, the hypnotist left without dispelling the hypnosis. The person then remained anxious, constantly believing they were being chased by a vicious dog, and even other psychologists couldn't dispel this illusion through hypnosis.

Part One, Section 14: Chapter Three, Part Three of the Formation of Calamity (2)

It was already dark, but Hawke still solemnly drew the curtains, turned off all the lights, and turned on a rotating lamp hanging above the sofa. The lamp was delicate and small, like the kind of rotating lamp that hangs above a crib to soothe a baby. Hawke gestured for Pan Xiaolu to lie down on the sofa and relax. Then he pulled the lamp down to within a foot of her, pressed the switch, and the lamp began to slowly rotate, its orange light leaving a faint trail.

"Relax," Hawke said gently, his voice possessing a magical quality that soothes the soul. Pan Xiaolu nodded involuntarily, staring at the rotating light. After a moment, her eyelids grew heavy, and she gradually drifted off to sleep. Under the light, her face appeared exceptionally serene.

"What were you doing around 4:20 yesterday?" Hawke pressed the start button on the digital voice recorder, coaxing Pan Xiaolu to speak.

"At the train station, I'm seeing my parents off to another city."

"Then what?"

"I turned and walked out of the train station when I suddenly heard a commotion. I turned around and saw..." The voice stopped abruptly, followed by two sharp, cold laughs. The laughter was very strange, sounding more like the voice of an old man.

Caught off guard, Xu Haicheng and Hawke were startled and exchanged bewildered glances. Looking at Pan Xiaolu, her serene expression vanished; her eyebrows arched, her mouth twisted, and her eyes darted around rapidly, her eyelids twitching—a truly ferocious look. After about half a minute, the ferocity faded, replaced by a blank expression, and her tone became stiff: "Then I took the subway home, arriving at 6:30." After saying this, her facial muscles gradually relaxed, returning to her previous serene demeanor.

Xu Haicheng looked at Hawke, who seemed lost in thought, and asked, "This..."

Hawke's eyes flashed with a complex light, a mixture of admiration and dejection, as he slowly said, "A master. That sneer was deliberately left behind." Seeing Xu Haicheng's lack of understanding, he explained, "It was left by the hypnotist. He probably knew someone would try to break his hypnosis, so he deliberately left two sneers to mock their overestimation of themselves. Those two sneers are like his signature."

Xu Haicheng finally understood and couldn't help but curse, "What a pervert!"

"He's far more capable than me; there's nothing I can do," Hawke said, gently waking Pan Xiaolu. She opened her eyes, exclaimed, "I really did fall asleep!" She tilted her head, thought for a moment, and frowned. "Why can't I remember anything from yesterday? What did I say?"

Xu Haicheng and Hawke exchanged a glance, unsure of what to say to her.

Seeing their strange expressions, Pan Xiaolu felt a pang of panic. She snatched the digital voice recorder from Hawke's hand, pressed play, and heard the two sharp, cold laughs. Her face turned deathly pale: "Did I make that?" Seeing Hawke and Xu Haicheng's tacit agreement, she felt a surge of heat rush to her brain, then quickly retreat to her limbs, leaving only emptiness in her mind. The people in front of her and the sounds around her vanished completely.

It took a while for his brain to regain some consciousness. He gritted his teeth and continued listening. Fortunately, there was nothing more terrifying than that cold laugh. But that stiff, monotone sentence, "Then I took the subway home and got home at 6:30," sounded very familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that it was exactly what he had said to Xu Haicheng earlier that day. With such a strange tone, no wonder Xu Haicheng had questioned him back then.

After listening to the recording, Pan Xiaolu's face darkened and became uncertain. Finally, she raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm going to catch him no matter what." The thought that her brain had been invaded by the old man in this way, and that he had left behind an indelible sneer that would follow her like a maggot to her bone for the rest of her life, made her feel as if a million caterpillars were wriggling in her heart.

Xu Haicheng and Hawke fully understood Pan Xiaolu's desire to get rid of her; if they had those two cold laughs branded into their minds, their reaction might have been even stronger. However, Hawke was well-versed in hypnosis, and Xu Haicheng had been involved with the witchcraft of the Mansi tribe for the past two years, so the two of them saw further and knew that things were not so simple. They didn't say anything explicitly, but simply exchanged worried glances.

Pan Xiaolu noticed this and, suppressing her anger, asked, "Is something wrong?"

After thinking for a moment, Hawke said solemnly, "This man is not simple; you must be careful."

Pan Xiaolu pursed her lips, clearly not taking his words to heart. This incident had become a disgrace to her, and she was determined to wash it away. She forgot that the old man could hypnotize her with a smile—an ability she could no longer resist.

Hawke knew she wasn't always listening, so he smiled, turned off the rotary switch, and turned on the headlight. The light dispelled the gloom that had somehow settled in the room. Xu Haicheng, who had been lost in thought, stared at Hawke and asked, "Is there any way?"

Hawke slowly shook his head, a faint sadness lingering between his brows for some reason, and said, "This ability is mostly innate."

The underworld seems serene, where wine songs float in the dark night.

Part 1, Section 15: Chapter 3, Part 3 of the Formation of Calamity (3)

Xu Haicheng sighed softly, about to say goodbye to Hawke. Suddenly, the landline on the table rang sharply, startling the three people in the room. Xu Haicheng swallowed the words he was about to say. He was close to Hawke, but he could hear hurried, hoarse voices coming from the receiver. Although he couldn't make out what they were saying, he could vaguely sense that something unexpected had happened.

Sure enough, Hawke raised an eyebrow, revealing a surprised expression, and then turned his gaze to Xu Haicheng, looking thoughtful. Xu Haicheng's heart skipped a beat, and he vaguely felt that this matter was probably related to him.

"I'm coming right now." Hawke said this and hung up the phone. After hesitating for a moment, he said to Xu Haicheng, "Captain Xu, Professor Ma Junnan seems to have suddenly recovered."

Professor Ma Junnan seems to have suddenly recovered.

Xu Haicheng's heart skipped a beat. A similar sentence he had heard yesterday afternoon flashed through his mind: Captain Xu, Lu Minghua has fully recovered.

He had seen Ma Junnan yesterday, and his condition was no less severe than Lu Minghua's, yet he had also suddenly recovered. It was all too strange; he wondered if there was some mysterious connection between the two. Before he could think about it further, he heard Hawke say, "Excuse me, I have to go see him. See you next time." He then walked towards the door, and Xu Haicheng followed, saying, "I'd like to see him too."

A hint of surprise flashed in Hawke's eyes, but he still nodded.

Xu Haicheng was about to tell Pan Xiaolu to wait for him in the car when he turned and met her curious eyes. Knowing she would most likely refuse, he said nothing more, waved to her, and walked towards the backyard. It was completely dark, and the wind had picked up. The streetlights were dim, and the dappled shadows of the trees created all sorts of grotesque shapes.

The three walked hurriedly, their footsteps crunching and screeching as they stepped on the fallen leaves. Pan Xiaolu, bringing up the rear, felt a chill run through her body. She remembered someone saying that there were two places in the world that were eerie even in the height of summer: graveyards and mental asylums. Now, experiencing it firsthand, she was certain it was true. Passing through the iron bars into the narrow passage, their footsteps startled the patients in the rooms along the way. Some made strange noises, while others pressed their faces against the doors, staring at the three with distorted expressions.

Pan Xiaolu initially glanced around curiously, but the more she looked, the colder she felt, so she stopped looking at them.

Ma Junnan's ward was still brightly lit, like a snowy landscape in the north. When Pan Xiaolu walked in, she was momentarily blinded. After a while, she recovered and squinted at the withered old man sitting beside the bed. The light was too bright, and the scene too clear, making it seem unreal. At that moment, she felt as if she were in a spaceship from a science fiction movie.

The two people sitting and standing in the ward looked up when they heard the noise. Pan Xiaolu gasped. The old man sitting on the edge of the bed was clearly a large ET, with bulging eyes and bones that looked like they might break through the skin if you weren't careful.

Standing there was a nurse in white. When she saw Hawke, her face lit up with joy. She leaned closer and whispered her report. Ma Junnan's gaze, however, was fixed on Xu Haicheng behind Hawke. A hint of surprise flashed deep in his eyes. But very quickly, if Xu Haicheng hadn't been staring at him, and if the lights hadn't been so bright, that surprise would have slipped away unnoticed.