Смертельно опасные электронные письма

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Chapter Sixteen: The Mystery of "Falling Clothes"

In his duty log on August 20th, Qi Silong clearly wrote the code: "If I see her, I cannot live." Does that "she" definitely refer to the faceless female ghost? Since she is so cunning in killing, she should have killed me long ago. Why didn't she? Instead, she let me witness her beautiful side and even warned me, "You will see yourself in a movie. Be careful with your gun!" That was clearly a friendly hint, and it was related to my gun.

If the gun I accidentally fired was connected to both ghost film crews, then logically, my "shooting" of my older brother Qi Silong would be related to ghosts, confirming that the female ghost was connected to Qi Silong's disappearance. I continued my rational deduction, feeling that I might have just stepped into this mystery of humans and ghosts. If this female ghost could change form, then her beautiful face might be the last I saw, and perhaps I would die a violent death? However, it was completely unnecessary to have a double-faced scheme against a target like me.

The face in the archives was deathly pale and featureless; the pale-faced female ghost in the elevator mirror had no lower body, exactly like the ghost in the video footage from February 17th. However, the female ghost I saw outside the archives building, protecting the infant, had a lower body and a shapely figure; although they still had long hair, it wasn't quite the same. This time, the woman impersonating a film crew member from the Republican era had a beautiful face, but instead of long hair, she had short hair… Different occasions, different faces—what purpose does she intend to achieve behind her "insidious mask"?

As I pondered this, I suddenly realized a question I'd once posed: Perhaps her terrifying, faceless face in the archives wasn't meant to frighten me at all, but rather to deal with someone even more ferocious than a ghost—perhaps that person (or ghost) posed a threat to her and the nine ghost infants…and to me as well! That's why she was trying so hard to escape that demonic shadow! In that sense, the three-fingered female ghost outside the elevator and the three-fingered female ghost outside the archives aren't the same ghost. If the second ghost does exist, then the true purpose of the death game isn't simply the murder of Qi Silong! It's highly likely that what I perceived as reality might be partly an illusion!

Who is manipulating this mystery? Why am I involved? And what about my two cousins, the real one and the fake one? Were their deaths real? They keep appearing, and one of my cousins even made a ghostly phone call, warning me to quit. Have I really stumbled into the core secrets of the ghost world? Furthermore, what role do they play in this horror story?

Completely baffled, I turned my attention to the long-haired female ghost I was "connected" with. Qi Silong's diary described the ghost, yearning for his embrace, as pitiful yet kind, strikingly similar to the ghost I had encountered. She had beautiful red lips, and her body exuded a captivating fragrance of locust blossoms. Her name was "Luoyi"—why was her name so lingering, even somewhat strange! ...

I suddenly remembered the riddle in Qi Silong's duty diary! "Falling clothes"—isn't that a riddle too? The character "falling clothes" is composed of three pieces of clothing under the weeds! In other words, I've already seen two masks on this female ghost; she has a third face and outfit! And it must be under the grass outdoors! Under the grass… what place is that? A well!

I continued with my hypothetical line of thought. "Falling clothes" also implies falling, which suggests that she might reappear in the "well"! Right, I had completely overlooked the dry well mentioned in Qi Silong's diary.

My mind flashed back to Qi Silong's description of the dry well in his diary: a large courtyard overgrown with weeds, a dry well that was usually dry, but that night I saw water in it!

If even this cryptic riddle holds a secret, is Qi Silong's diary so straightforward? Perhaps not. There must be a vast, shadowy force controlling a crucial secret thread within this investigation into Qi Silong's death! ...

What secret allows me to repeatedly encounter ghosts and face deadly danger, yet ultimately emerge unscathed? Why did they choose me? Who am I? What is my connection to the Forbidden City? And my cousin Pang Zhen, Qi Silong—is there some secret between us that would pique the interest of ghosts so much…?

I slowly recalled what had happened. On my first day, Captain Ji showed me a DV video. I remember hearing two people's light footsteps in the background, with palace walls and trees in the frame. I could also faintly hear the chirping of insects... At the time, I used high-tech methods to separate the real sound effects and thought it was definitely not the chirping of insects! It was some kind of ancient bell and chime music, accompanied by a woman's crying.

Actually, I was wrong. Looking back now, the woman's crying sounded a bit forced. To be more precise, it was a kind of whistling sound, like the sound of bells and chimes in the wind. Perhaps the sound of the MP3 music on Qi Silong's body was a leak, because he has loved classical music since he was a child!

Although the footage still shows palace walls and trees, who can guarantee that the DV recording wasn't manipulated? The sound coming from the well should also be the howling wind. Perhaps Qi Silong was in the well at the time. An intuitive suspicion piqued my interest in the mysterious well. Perhaps only that well can uncover many secrets! Qi Silong's disappearance must be related to that well. The name of the woman who "fell in her clothes" is very likely a hint Qi Silong gave to the investigators in his diary!

I was very interested and recalled Qi Silong's diary entry for February 17th word by word. This is what he wrote:

"I heard shouts again, muffled cries coming from the well. I recognized that old, dry well; it was said to have dried up decades ago. Could a woman have really fallen in? That dry well was full of rocks and debris; falling in would be almost certain death. The situation was extremely urgent, so I immediately rushed to the dark well opening and peered down… I was stunned. I saw water! Strange, where would water come from in a dry well in winter? But it was real. The well water was as calm as a mirror, turning into a plate-sized silver hue under the moonlight. I clung to the well opening, placed the DV camera on the well platform, and then mustered my courage to look down, but there was nothing there, not even my reflection…"

“The shouts came from the well in a muffled voice,” which may be a rewrite of the sobbing sound on Qi Silong’s videotape. He mentioned that the dry well had been dry for decades, but suddenly “the well water was as calm as a mirror, turning into a silvery plate in the moonlight.”

It's important to note that the well he mentioned resembled a "mirror," emitting a "silver" light, naturally evoking the image of water. But what if it wasn't water? ...While I believe in ghosts, must such a vivid natural phenomenon necessarily be haunted? Furthermore, he said there was "no reflection of me!" That certainly wasn't water; a mirror not reflecting moonlight is absolutely impossible, unless... it was a fake mirror, or there wasn't water beneath the silvery surface at all. If this is true, then Qi Silong "saw" something he shouldn't have seen that night, which is why he disappeared the next day.

Chapter Seventeen: A Fatal Coincidence

Since a mirror doesn't reflect the person looking into it, can we infer that the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" scroll I've seen in mirrors before wasn't formed by the reflection of an object? If we set up a mirror as a one-way kaleidoscope and put a fragment of the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" scroll inside, wouldn't we see a strange painting when looking in the mirror? ...If my reasoning is correct, then from the day my "cousin" disappeared at the Afang Hotel, to the first time I saw the eerie "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" scroll in the mirror, and to the subsequent fears of seeing that painting in the mirror, it was all a complete fabrication and deception. But what was the purpose of deceiving me?

Furthermore, did Qi Silong really see that still "face" in the well? He once described the female ghost in the well as follows:

"I saw a woman's deathly pale face! She was facing me, and she wasn't frightening at all; she was actually very beautiful. The pale moonlight shone on the bottom of the well, and the woman just looked up at me. Why didn't she speak? Was she too badly injured and had fainted?..."

What he saw was a still and beautiful face, silent and blank, yet still possessing all the necessary features. Later, when embracing "Luoyi" outside the well, she not only spoke but also said her face had been peeled off, preventing him from seeing her true appearance—a contradiction indeed. This can only mean that his diary was perhaps not written by him, or at least altered. Moreover, the person who made the alterations failed to notice this oversight.

Furthermore, there is no sign of a "well" in the ghost video filmed by Qi Silong. He said that when he put the DV on the well platform, there was no image of the well platform at all. I overlooked this at the time, but now that I think about it, there is indeed no impression of the location of the well or the well platform stone. I cannot help but doubt the authenticity of the video.

Was it really such a coincidence that I found the yellow silk belonging to a palace maid from the Republican era, with her suicide note, reflected in an ancient mirror? Perfect coincidences are often deadly deceptions! The cloth was originally blank, yet words appeared after it passed through the mirror! Now I remember, the palace maid's diary wasn't written upside down, but upright, meaning it couldn't possibly have been written on silk and then reflected in the mirror. That ancient mirror likely had a kaleidoscope structure! After special treatment, a pre-written letter was placed inside, causing anyone looking in the mirror to instantly hallucinate! Out of fear of the supernatural, no one would doubt the mirror's special abilities.

It suddenly dawned on me that reading non-existent words on the yellow silk in the mirror was exactly the same as seeing the illusion of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in the mirror! No wonder the bronze mirror was so heavy; there must be a device inside that could create a "kaleidoscope" illusion! That mirror was something special!

I became excited. From the faceless ghost's "care" and "tracking" of me, to my shooting of Qi Silong, I now recalled his description of a well in his diary and discovered the possible "kaleidoscope" secret of the bronze mirror. I still don't understand the internal logic behind it all, and all of this makes me suspect that I am in a ghost world, where everything is related to inexplicable ghosts... In fact, in this series of events, I am completely bound by the "ghost" mindset. Is there no "human" factor involved?

I dismissed all my previous supernatural hallucinations one by one, leaving only the masterpiece "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in my mind. Could this series of mysterious events be nothing more than a modern version of "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," or simply a tragic and romantic encounter between a human and a ghost, like Qi Silong's, or perhaps just a simple encounter with a ghostly passion by a novice like myself who has never dealt with ghosts before? In three days, it will be the 80th anniversary celebration of the Palace Museum, and "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" will be displayed to millions of people across the country. This is an unprecedented and momentous event. Perhaps, beneath the dark walls of the Palace Museum, an unpredictable and shocking conspiracy is slowly unfolding, accompanied by ghostly shadows.

I began to plot how to break through this barrier. This was not only a matter of life and death, but could very well be related to the survival of the national treasure. I had to find clues about the mysterious and supernatural events before the celebration. So, as I walked back, I planned my next move.

First, we need to review the DV recording from August 20th again to find evidence of deliberate tampering with the footage. At the same time, we need to examine the discs in filing cabinet number 1644, which we obtained at great personal risk in the archives.

Secondly, I must open the disc that the faceless, black-clad female ghost gave me as soon as possible to find out what secrets it holds.

Third, we re-examined the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" scroll that had appeared in the mirror and took the bronze mirror to the technical department for authentication to find the hidden "kaleidoscope" device.

Fourth, it is possible that finding Qi Silong's body will also require verifying the biographical information of the small-eyed woman who "guards" the archives.

Fifth, find the missing bullet, or figure out why I "met Qi Silong" in the toilet.

The mystery swirled like clouds deep within the Forbidden City. A series of possible answers churned in my mind. Knowing that I was alone and outnumbered, I had to ask the captain and the others for help. If it really was related to that national treasure, I would rather sacrifice my life than let the conspirators succeed, even if it was a malevolent ghost.

Now, that well is the key to unlocking all the secrets! I must find it to prove the authenticity of the August 20th recording. Going there tonight, under the same moonlight and in the same atmosphere, will make the experience even more immersive. With that thought, I stood up and walked eastward along the wall of Chuxiu Palace, the direction Qi Silong had last patrolled.

Just as I was sorting out my thoughts and about to look for the well, unexpectedly, the police walkie-talkie clipped to my waist crackled to life, followed by a shrill, panicked female voice: "I've fallen into the well! Help me!"

My heart pounded. It was exactly as described in Qi Silong's diary. I might be experiencing the same bizarre events described in Qi Silong's diary, which also meant that I was not far from that dry well. Perhaps today was the day I would walk into the abyss, and there was no turning back now. I had to steel myself and fight to the very end!

Chapter Eighteen: Zombies That Wander at Night Without Pupils

I know this is my last chance to find out the truth about Qi Silong's death. I may never return. But before that, there is one thing I need to do: see the disc that the faceless ghost gave me. I also know that since the ghost's voice is calling me, I will not be able to return to the dormitory easily. But I must go back and then go to the Well of Death.

I turned off my walkie-talkie and stopped answering calls on any channel, even those from the captain. I glanced at the moon's position, sketched out a rough route back, and then leaped down from Chuxiu Palace towards my dormitory in the southeast corner.

At midnight, the Forbidden City was shrouded in a heavy, oppressive atmosphere, as if an autumn rain was brewing. Lightning flashed like a plow breaking through the earth, dancing wildly in the sky. The gloomy haze below howled with a chilling shiver. Although there was no thunder yet, the damp air told me that this long-awaited autumn rain was about to arrive.

"Click...click!"

In the utter silence, a strange sound rose behind me. I quickened my pace, alert, but the sound remained, following me relentlessly. I listened intently; the sound was peculiar, like the footsteps of a barefoot woman in wooden clogs trudging through a dark corridor. I immediately recognized it as the sound of the ghost shoes I'd heard in the archives—the clatter of white embroidered shoes on the ground. The light, shimmering footsteps echoed through the empty Forbidden City's night paths. I could sense the ghost shoes were not far away; the sound was distinctive and rhythmic, undoubtedly following me…

I wanted to catch the ghost off guard, so I turned around abruptly, trying to see everything clearly, but in the empty night, there was nothing. I suddenly started running, quickly leaving the sound of the ghost shoes behind.

The journey to the dormitory went smoothly. As I was about to see my dormitory courtyard inside the Forbidden City, my tense heart immediately calmed down. I hurriedly took out my key and opened the gate. Afraid of disturbing other police officers who were alone, I quietly walked in.

"Back so late? Were you on duty?"

A colleague I didn't know greeted me. He was very handsome, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and wearing a police uniform with a large number 16 in the middle.

"Oh, I'm on the night shift today. You're still awake?" I replied casually, and walked inside.

"I'm not going to sleep."

Just as our shoulders crossed, he replied with a strange remark, and I suddenly noticed his eerie gaze—his eyes had no pupils! Only the dead have dilated pupils, or are they black holes? He was…

Just as I was astonished by the man, I habitually looked up at the front of the courtyard. Not far away, a small palace building that was always closed off and secluded suddenly lit up. No one ever lived on the second floor of that ancient building that was under renovation, so where did the light come from? I was startled! Suddenly, several women with fair and delicate faces appeared under the ancient window frame, peeking out of the window. I was very scared because there were only a few heads moving, but no shadows of bodies. When I looked for the handsome young man again, he had disappeared without a trace.

I dashed into the room, quickly opened the dormitory door, and stumbled inside. Just as I was about to touch the light, I bumped into a black object. I was startled, but from the dark outline, I could tell it was a person! It was the female ghost! She was in my room!

With lightning speed, I suddenly switched on my flashlight, illuminating the female ghost before me. Her long, black hair obscured her face, and although the thick hair seemed to conceal her figure perfectly, I could glimpse a red bloodstain on her pale neck. Her figure was exceptionally beautiful, her black dress draped naturally, and instead of the embroidered shoes I expected, she wore cloth shoes.

She violently shook her hair, which turned my flashlight beam blood red, and it went out instantly due to power loss.

When I came to my senses, a cold, soft body was in my arms. She hugged me and tackled me to the ground with such force that her 1.8-meter frame was instantly pinned down. She was nimble and silent as she fell with me, "pressing" on top of me. It was a feeling I had never experienced before—weightless, yet so heavy I could hardly breathe. I was a little dazed from the fall and tried to break free from the female ghost to get up. At the same time, I heard the familiar clicking sound of shoes coming from the dormitory corridor.

A gust of wind suddenly blew the window open, and a huge bolt of lightning cleaved the gloom into a blood-red blaze. The dormitory was instantly bathed in a stark white light. Several figures flashed past the window near the corridor, their hair disheveled but their features distinct. They were the same ghostly figures I had seen in the attic window earlier. Their stiff faces were painted with rosy eyebrows, their eyes were vacant, their faces were covered in blood, and they were all expressionless, just like the legendary zombies, as they gently passed by my window.

The clicking footsteps stopped outside my dormitory door. The automatic lock on the wooden door suddenly opened, and the lights in the hallway suddenly went out. In the last second before they went out, I finally saw the shadow that had been haunting me—a headless white corpse! She was "wearing" a pair of red embroidered shoes!

The door closed again in the wind, and through the crack in the floorboards, I could vaguely see a pair of white embroidered shoes stepping in gently.

The female ghost pressing down on me remained motionless, her thick, cascading hair covering my head. Like a beetle sheltered by a mushroom cap, I held my breath and closed my eyes the instant the embroidered shoes entered the room, awaiting the terror that would strike. The female ghost exuded the intoxicating scent of locust blossoms. In the darkness, her beautiful red lips were pressed against mine, seeping a bone-chilling cold into my pores. I tried hard not to think about the vengeful spirit of the embroidered shoe-wearing female ghost, but instead imagined the alluring possession of the female ghost before me.

At that moment, I seemed to understand that the faceless female ghost in black had arrived at the dormitory beforehand to protect me. Perhaps she had some kind of magic, or perhaps her black hair concealed everything. In any case, the embroidered shoes did not notice me. When I opened my eyes again and looked up to find the embroidered shoes, the room was empty.

The ghostly figure, as light as a cicada's wing, vanished. I didn't feel any loss of weight, but I couldn't smell that rich fragrance. I groped my way to the door, sensing the fragrance drifting down the corridor, indicating that "my ghost" had left from there. But just as I returned to the window, I smelled the scent of locust blossoms again, as if she had left through the window again.

Just then, a flash of lightning illuminated the room as if it were daytime. Suddenly, a large, dark shadow appeared on the floor. I whirled around in horror, and there it was—the young man I'd encountered in the yard, the one who looked like a "dead man," walking past my window. I couldn't understand how he could walk outside a second-floor window, where there was no balcony. A sense of dread enveloped me again. I knew that if I didn't watch the DVD soon, I might never have another chance.

Boom! When the storm struck again, I had already turned on the tape recorder.

Chapter Nineteen: The Mystery of the Mysterious Video

The storm finally arrived, and a torrential downpour began outside the window. My fear couldn't escape the clamor of the haunted house. I quickly turned on the small TV left by Qi Silong in the dormitory and picked up the ghost-themed DVD. Before I even put it in, I was drawn to its thickness. It wasn't an ordinary DVD; it was almost twice as thick as a regular disc. The back was like a mirror, obscuring the contents and the reason for its thickness.

After a flash of lightning, a gale-force wind and torrential rain poured in through the blown-open window, and large amounts of rain fell directly onto my hands and the CD. At that very moment, accompanied by continuous lightning, my gaze fixed on the CD froze. The gleaming, mirror-like disc immediately changed, and I could no longer see my reflection. Instead, my gaze fell upon a complete miniature version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"!

I stared in disbelief, my mouth agape. This time, my astonishment wasn't at the demonic image, but at the disc itself. After a long pause, I suddenly shouted, "I understand! I've completely solved your mystery!"

It turned out that at the very moment the rainwater flooded the CD, I unexpectedly encountered the ancient painting. But when I deliberately turned the angle, the illusionary painting disappeared. When I adjusted the angle back, the painting reappeared. After repeating this several times, I suddenly realized a long-standing illusion that had misled me: the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" that I saw was actually a kind of exquisite "developing lens"!

A flood of memories suddenly brought back the day at the Afang Hotel, before my cousin Pang Zhen disappeared. We were sitting and drinking together, and she was looking in the mirror. She had a small mirror in her left hand, which she would pick up every now and then, making graceful movements as she applied her evening makeup. Suddenly, my gaze fell on the mirror in her hand, and there was an earthy yellow painting reflected in it…! I felt very tense at that moment. I looked around, but I didn't see that ancient painting in the hotel's decor. I was surprised that I had seen it in the small mirror. Her fingers were a little red; I suspected it was lipstick. I even wondered if my cousin would be so extravagant as to put lipstick on her fingers. I remember asking her a question then:

"Sister Zhen, what happened to your hand?" She replied, "Nothing..."

Her mysterious smile revealed her nervousness. Now I understand. We each had a glass of red wine in it. She deliberately painted half of her glass red with lipstick to conceal a movement, hoping to make me feel the presence of the wine and dispel any suspicion that she was about to perform a magic trick, thus making me see the ghost image and feel fear. While I wasn't looking, she switched the wine; the glass actually only contained mineral water. Then, while we were both looking out the window, waiting for her lover to appear, she poured the water into a special gap in the mirror, creating the "magical image"! I, on the other hand, thought that the red-painted glass still contained red wine.

The miraculous magic trick then appeared. It was a specially made mirror, derived from a mysterious ceramic technique, and was popularly known as a "developing cup" (also called a "transparent cup"). Normally, the cup looked empty, but once water was poured in, an image would appear inside. In 1980, the Chinese government even presented such a cup to US President Reagan.

It utilizes the principle of optical refraction to create an uneven pattern on the bottom of the cup. When the bottom of the pattern is facing the light source, a clear and three-dimensional pattern appears. Modern technology can easily create a flat surface on the bottom of a traditional convex lens cup, making a mirror a "developing cup" a simple matter. In other words, each painting of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is pre-embedded in a mirror, hidden within a special structure, and only revealed when exposed to water.

And just like that, my cousin disappeared amidst my mysterious commotion, leaving behind a broken mirror. But this wasn't the same one she had before she vanished. From then on, the hallucination of the devil's drawing haunted me.

"The Ghost Mirror!" I finally understood the source of her terror: it was a premeditated conspiracy. My cousin's disappearance was actually planned in advance. But was such a meticulously planned "masterpiece" given to me, a mere inexperienced police officer? There must be more to it than meets the eye.

I paid special attention to the hallucination version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," which is not the version popularized in the art world, but is somewhat different, with some parts that I had never seen before.

I really have to thank the female ghost "Huaihuaxiang" who cared for me. Did she know about all these conspiracies? I wiped the water off the disc until the phantom disappeared, then inserted the disc into the VCR.

I felt very relaxed. Perhaps the ghosts and demons of the haunted house were searching for my traces, and the web of conspiracy was being laid at the moment when the atmosphere was at its weakest. But I was obsessed with smelling the only remaining fragrance of flowers in the air, imagining the wonderful feelings I had just experienced when I was possessed by the female ghost. As for the fear of the embroidered shoes, it had been replaced by the hazy love I had for the beautiful female ghost.

As the fifth lightning strike occurred, I excitedly pressed the switch on the recorder.

This is a very ordinary video, with frequently jumping shots showing a constant stream of tourists admiring the rare treasures and antiques in the Treasure Gallery and other areas of the Forbidden City. Some people are resting by the roadside, while others are strolling and looking around. The camera suddenly pans to the top of ancient buildings, then to trees, and sometimes even to tourists. It is clear that the cameraman was filming the footage unconsciously, and he was running around.

Suddenly, a male face appeared in the crowd. What surprised me was not his handsome appearance, but the number on his vest: 16! Wasn't this the person without pupils from before? My alert nerves were instantly activated by the image, and I stared intently down at it.

The screen showed a constant flow of people, and I kept a close eye on suspicious figures in the crowd. I spotted one again: a Palace Museum staff member pushing a cart. That face looked so familiar! Oh, I remember now, he's the "lobby manager" of the Afang Hotel restaurant, the waiter who pushed the coffin-shaped dining cart on the train! And... that group of beautiful women from earlier... I realized I'd missed a segment of the video, so I rewound the tape and re-captured the group of beautiful female tourists resting on a bench inside the Palace Museum.

I could clearly see their mysterious expressions. One of the women turned her head slightly, and I caught it. She was one of the women who had peeked out from the small building earlier. Without a doubt, the ghost girls with her were the other ones reclining on the bench. All the ghostly figures I saw were exposed in this video. The Forbidden City is full of ghosts! What are these ghosts up to, even in broad daylight?

Chapter 20, 16 minutes and 44 seconds: The Kiss of Death

The cameraman continued running, seemingly arriving near a palace, and stopped by the grass in a secluded courtyard. He walked towards the broken bricks and tiles, a secluded area of the Forbidden City awaiting restoration. Soon he came to a corner where there was a wall. He gently knocked on the wall a few times, and there was a door in the wall. Suddenly the wall opened, revealing a deep cave.

As the camera zoomed in, suddenly, a frail figure threw herself into the cameraman's arms. It was a poignant encounter, or perhaps a preordained meeting. The image was blurry and black, indicating that the girl's chest was obscuring the view. Then, the woman's sobbing could be heard. Because the camera was covered and the recording system was blocked, it was difficult to hear what the woman was saying without dedicated separation equipment.

The cameraman remained silent; the only sound on screen was the woman speaking and weeping. He embraced her, and the two descended into the underground chamber. Soon, a brightly lit palace appeared on screen. The woman's face remained hidden, her sobs continuing unabated until they reached a dark room. The room contained an elaborately carved antique bed, its dim lighting creating an eerie atmosphere. Suddenly, the woman embraced the cameraman again, then removed her skirt, revealing her naked body. Due to the passionate nature of the filming, the camera, along with the clothing, was thrown onto the bed beside them. Fortunately, the image froze on the spot where the two were kissing, vaguely revealing the woman's beautiful but scarred abdomen. The image then shook violently, presumably during the kiss, followed by a loud bang. Blood stained the wall in front of the camera, indicating that either the cameraman or the naked woman had been shot and killed. The screen went black; the weeping ceased, and then darkness descended upon the scene.

The entire scene ends here, lasting sixteen minutes and forty-four seconds. That is to say, from the start of filming to entering the crypt, embracing and kissing his lover, and finally being shot, the entire process took less than twenty minutes. Such a swift death and meticulous filming suggest that the cameraman knew he was going to die, which is why he carried the pocket video camera. Furthermore, why did he set the recording of his death at sixteen minutes and forty-four seconds? That chilling number 1644? Did the deceased do this intentionally? But why didn't the murderer get the videotape? Why did the female ghost who gave me the disc get it? Of course, this can be explained, because the pocket camera was buried in a pile of clothes, or perhaps the murderer… overlooked where to put it.

But another question arises: what if the cameraman and the naked woman died for love? Who was she? And who was the poor cameraman who was murdered?

Outside the window, the storm continued to howl. I took out the disc, retreated to the corner, frowned, and reconsidered the strange video I had just seen. I had a premonition that the cameraman was Qi Silong, but the woman he was embracing remained a mystery. Was she a murderer or an innocent lover? Was she human or a ghost? Why was she in a cave in the Forbidden City? Clearly, it was an exquisite underground palace, like many of the Forbidden City's unsolved mysteries, unknown to outsiders. What was the sixteen-minute and forty-four-second video trying to tell me? ... I sighed helplessly; a simple video recording couldn't unravel its secrets.

The CD filled my heart with light again; that light was the joy in my heart conveyed to my senses. I believe that, apart from me, this dreadful dormitory is currently filled with hostility, and this hostility comes not only from those terrifying ghosts, but perhaps also from those behind-the-scenes conspirators.

I began searching the room for any suspicious changes, and then I looked for the bronze mirror, but it was gone. Along with Qi Silong's diary and the piece of yellow silk, there was no trace of it. How could this be? The door was locked when I left, and there was no sign of the window being opened.

I felt a sense of loss and depression. As I continued my search for clues that might offer some insight, I couldn't help but focus my attention on a corner by the bedside, where Qi Silong's belongings, including bedding, had been confiscated by the security department. Suddenly, among Qi's belongings, I found a pillow. Although it was neatly placed there, there was a small stain underneath it. We had shared a dormitory during our training at a police academy, and I knew he was very particular about cleanliness; his pillows were always spotless and wouldn't easily get stained. So why was this? There was only one possibility: it was the result of frequently touching it.

I quickly grabbed the pillow and searched the stained area. Soon, I felt something hard – a small piece of cardboard. I immediately pried open the pillow and took out the cardboard.