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The sound of falling concrete fragments echoed in the darkness for a long time, like the footsteps of death, before finally fading into the endless abyss. The beam of the flashlight appeared as weak as a bean in this vast space, its light piercing through the pervasive dust and barely illuminating the suffocating scene before them.

Li Haotian stood at the edge, the gravel beneath his boots making a cracking sound. He looked up, his pupils contracting sharply in that instant.

This is no secret laboratory of divine grace and trust; it is clearly a magnificent and eerie underground temple.

Right in the very center of this enormous void stood the ancient bronze mirror he had seen in archival photographs, the one that had driven countless people mad. But the oppressive feeling emanating from the real thing was far beyond what the yellowed photographs could convey. This mirror was five or six stories tall, cast entirely from ancient bronze, its surface covered with mottled verdigris and dark red rust, like scabs dried over millions of years.

The mirror is not isolated; countless complex mechanical pipes and unknown precision instruments entwine around its frame like parasites. Huge gears slowly turn in the void, emitting a sickening metallic grinding sound. A black, viscous liquid is pumped through pipes into the back of the mirror, then greedily swallowed by the bronze mirror. The cold technology of modern industry and the eerie aura of ancient superstition are twisted and fused here, exuding a nauseating sense of absurdity.

"This is... the source of everything?" Su Wan's voice trembled slightly as she clutched the file folder tightly in her arms, as if it were her only lifeline.

Li Haotian didn't answer. He gripped his gun tightly, the muzzle slightly lowered, ready to fire at any moment. He made a tactical hand signal to his team to spread out and maintain a perimeter, then led the way towards the altar.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of dust, each step kicking up choking fumes. The air was thick with the smell of rust and a strange, indescribable sweet odor, like rotting flowers mixed with formaldehyde. As they drew closer, the scene around the altar gradually became clearer.

It was a circular stone platform surrounding the bronze mirror. Scattered on the platform were more than a dozen corpses.

These corpses were all dressed in pristine white lab coats—they were researchers from the Divine Grace Trust. Their deaths were extremely gruesome; some lay beside gears, their bodies tangled in the mechanical structure, no longer recognizable as human; others knelt neatly before mirrors, their heads bowed, as if performing some kind of devout worship.

Li Haotian walked to the nearest corpse. It was a middle-aged man, his gold-rimmed glasses still hanging on his face, the lenses shattered. He gripped a scalpel tightly in his hand, the blade deeply embedded in his own heart, precise and ruthless, without the slightest hesitation.

"No external injuries... except for the suicide wounds." Li Haotian squatted down and reached out to check the body's temperature; it was already ice-cold. He touched a bit of the dark red stain next to the body, smelled it, and confirmed it was indeed dried human blood.

He then examined the second and third bodies.

Some took poison, some slit their wrists, and some smashed their skulls with heavy objects. Regardless of how they died, they all wore a strange yet satisfied smile. It was an expression of relief, as if through death they had finally obtained some long-awaited redemption.

"What happened here?" one of the team members gagged. "Did these lunatics all commit mass suicide?"

"It doesn't seem like a collective act, it's more like... a sacrifice," Li Haotian said coldly. He turned over one of the corpses and found a thick leather notebook in the corpse's arms.

The notebook's cover was badly worn. Li Haotian opened it, and the pages inside were densely covered with writing. The initial notes were relatively normal, all about academic terms like "quantum reflection" and "dimensional breakthrough." But as he turned the pages, the handwriting gradually became messy and frantic, the force of the pen pen penning through the paper, as if the writer was in a state of extreme madness.

In the last few dozen pages, the neat text disappeared, replaced by the same word, written over and over again with thick black ink, or even blood, until it tore through the paper fibers.

— "The Original".

— "The Original".

— "The Original".

These two words seemed to possess some kind of magic, sending chills down one's spine. Li Haotian slammed his notebook shut, feeling a tightness in his chest that was hard to release. This wasn't just suicide; it was more like an organized ritual. What exactly did the researchers of the Divine Grace Trust see in the mirror? What could possibly make them so uniformly abandon their lives to worship that so-called "Primordial"?

Just then, Xiao Hei, who had been following behind the group, suddenly stopped.

This black creature, usually ferocious enough to tear apart even abyssal monsters, was now stiff as a board. The mane on its neck bristled like steel needles, and a mournful roar, like that of an infant, emanated from its throat.

"Awooo!"

Little Black clenched its claws tightly around the ground, leaving deep sparks as it dug into the hard stone slab. It desperately retreated, curling its body into a ball, and even began to tremble violently uncontrollably. Its scarlet beastly eyes were now filled with unprecedented fear, an instinctive dread of its natural enemy, of some indescribable being.

It emitted a low hum towards the enormous bronze mirror, yet stubbornly refused to move even half a step closer.

"Xiao Hei?" Li Haotian frowned, turned around and called out, "What's wrong?"

Normally, Xiao Hei would rush forward at Li Haotian's summons, no matter how terrifying the monster. But today, no matter how Li Haotian called out, it ignored him. It just shook its head frantically, looking at Li Haotian with pleading eyes, as if saying: Go away, get out of here, that's something you absolutely cannot touch.

Animals' instincts are often more acute than human senses. Xiao Hei's reaction was like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing the nascent enthusiasm for exploration that had just risen in Li Haotian's heart.

"It seems we've found something we shouldn't have been looking for."

Su Wan walked forward, her face pale, glanced at the silent bronze mirror, and suppressed her fear as she said, "Captain Li, this mirror... it's breathing."

Li Haotian was taken aback and began to examine the giant mirror again.

Although no machinery was operating, Su Wan was right. That chilling sense of oppression emanated from the mirror's surface. The rough, verdigris-covered surface seemed to writhe at an extremely slow pace, like countless tiny insects crawling, forming a twisted life form.

Deep within the mirror, darkness was so thick it seemed impenetrable. It wasn't just ordinary reflection; it was an abyss, an abyss staring down upon all living beings.

Li Haotian felt the gun in his hand become incredibly heavy. Faced with something like this, firearms seemed like a joke. He took a deep breath, the icy air piercing his lungs, keeping him conscious to the very end.

"Everyone, stay alert. Don't stare at the mirror for more than three seconds." Li Haotian's deep, hoarse voice echoed across the deathly silent altar. "Whether it's a god or a demon, since it wants to eat people, we have to find a way to pull its teeth out."

He turned around, looked at the terrified team members behind him, and finally his gaze fell on the notebook filled with the word "Origin".

The Divine Grace Trust, after years of research here, ultimately met its self-destruction. They attempted to unravel the mirror's secrets, only to be consumed by them. And now, Li Haotian and his team stand on the same precipice.

The wind poured in through the hole overhead, causing the pipes around the bronze mirror to groan mournfully. The sound was as if countless wronged souls were whispering behind the mirror, extending a silent invitation to these creatures who had strayed into a forbidden zone.

"Thump."

A dull thud suddenly came from inside the mirror, like a heart beating heavily.

Immediately afterward, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble slightly. Li Haotian abruptly raised his head and saw a huge, pupil-less, deathly white eye slowly emerge on the originally black mirror, locking onto him through the ancient bronze mirror, across the boundary between life and death.