Revolving lantern, back to zero

There are no lights in the industrial area at night.

Lin Shen parked the car on the roadside two hundred meters from the warehouse, turned off the engine, and switched off all the lights. The moonlight was obscured by clouds, and the surroundings were as black as ink. Only the outline of the warehouse shone faintly in the darkness—the tin roof reflected the faint lights of the distant city, like a dusty mirror.

He did not get out of the car immediately.

Sitting in the dark car, he closed his eyes, took out six keys from his pocket, and placed them one by one on the passenger seat. Three bronze keys were placed side by side, and three serpentine keys were stacked beside them. He couldn't see them in the darkness, but his fingers could feel their outlines—cold, hard, and silent.

Six keys, three doors.

The door to cabinet number 317. The black door on Su Wan's wall. And another door, but he didn't know where it was.

Old Zhou said 317 is a door. Su Wan said she is a door. The unknown number said he himself is a door.

There were too many doors. He didn't know which one to go through.

The phone screen suddenly lit up. There was no vibration, no notification sound; it just lit up silently, like an eye opening in the darkness.

There were no incoming calls or text messages on the screen, only a single image—

The interior of the warehouse.

The shot was taken from a high window in the warehouse, looking down. The image shows oil stains on the concrete floor, rust marks on the metal frames, and a person. That person stands in the center of the warehouse, with their back to the camera, wearing dark clothing, their hands hanging at their sides, motionless.

Lin Shen stared at that figure from behind, his heart starting to race.

That person's build, posture, and the angle of his slightly tilted head—were exactly the same as his.

The camera started shaking, as if someone was running with a phone in their hand. The viewpoint rapidly descended from a high window, past the metal frame, and landed on the warehouse floor. When the image stabilized, the camera was focused on the back of the person's head.

The person slowly turned around.

His face is exactly the same as Lin Shen's.

But the eyes are empty. Not empty in the sense of "expressionless," but empty in the literal sense—there are no eyeballs in the eye sockets, only two black holes, like two bottomless wells.

In the picture, "Lin Shen" opened his mouth and said two words.

There was no sound, but Lin Shen read his lips.

"Come in."

The screen went black.

Lin Shen's hand holding the phone trembled slightly. Not from fear, but from a strange, inexplicable sense of familiarity—he had seen that eyeless version of himself before. In the flashback, in the final second of death, before darkness swallowed everything, he had seen that face.

He put his phone in his pocket and opened the car door.

A cold wind blew in, carrying the smell of rust and dust. He closed the car door, unlocking it—perhaps he would never come back to drive this car. He crossed the road, walked past the abandoned factory gate, stepped over broken glass and withered grass, and made his way to the warehouse.

The door was open.

It wasn't half-closed; it was wide open, like a mouth waiting to be filled.

Lin Shen went inside.

Moonlight streamed through the high window, just like the night he died for the first time. The oil stains on the concrete floor, the rust on the iron frame, the cobwebs in the corner—everything was exactly as he remembered. The only difference was that there was no human-shaped chalk outline on the floor. The body of his other self had already been removed, leaving only a patch of dark red blood that had seeped into the concrete.

A person was standing in the center of the warehouse.

It wasn't Lu Ming. It wasn't another version of myself. It was a woman.

Su Wan.

She was wearing that dark windbreaker, her hair was loose, and her face was so pale it was almost transparent. Her wrists were wrapped in new gauze, which wasn't bleeding, but she looked worse than during the day—her eyes were sunken, and her lips were cracked, like a lamp that was about to burn out.

"You shouldn't have come," Su Wan said. Her voice was hoarse, like someone who had been suffering from a cold for a long time.

"You sent me a voice message telling me not to come," Lin Shen said, "but you still came. You waited for me here."

Su Wan did not deny it.

"Where's Lu Ming?" Lin Shen asked. "Didn't he say he'd wait for me here at midnight?"

"He's not coming." Su Wan lowered her head. "Because if he comes, you won't be able to go back. That's why I told him not to come."

Lin Shen stared at her. "You can stop a 'ghost' from coming?"

Su Wan looked up into his eyes. There was something strange in those eyes—not fear, not guilt, but a kind of resolute determination. Like someone who had made all the preparations and was just one step away from taking the final one.

"Lin Shen, do you know why I was suspended?"

"Leaking case information."

"That's not true," Su Wan said. "I was suspended because while investigating the Black Rose case, I discovered something that shouldn't have been discovered."

She took something out of her pocket and handed it to Lin Shen.

a photo.

The photo shows two people standing side by side, with the city police station building in the background. The woman on the left is Su Wan—Su Wan three years ago, young, energetic, and with a sparkle in her eyes. The man on the right—

Lin Shen's fingers tightened.

The man on the right is Lu Ming. But not the Lu Ming who disappeared three years ago. The Lu Ming in the photo is wearing a police uniform, with a police rank insignia on his shoulder—a second-level police inspector, higher than his current rank.

"Lu Ming is a policeman?" Lin Shen looked up.

“Lu Ming has always been a policeman,” Su Wan said. “He’s not a suspect in the Black Rose case. He was an undercover agent sent to investigate the Black Rose case. Three years ago, he infiltrated the ‘Gardener’ organization to try to find the location where Shen Ruo was being held. But he failed. His consciousness was captured by ‘Gardener’ and trapped in the revolving network, becoming a ghost.”

Lin Shen felt his brain was working at high speed, with every part making a screeching friction sound.

"If Lu Ming isn't a suspect, then why is his name on the Black Rose case file? Why is his photo in cabinet 317? Why does he have a black rose tattoo on his wrist?"

"Because someone is manipulating everything," Su Wan said. "Someone—or rather, something—set up this scheme three years ago. It chose Lu Ming, it chose Shen Ruo, it chose you. It pointed all the evidence at Lu Ming, making everyone believe he was the murderer. It put Shen Ruo into a coma, making her the core of the network. It awakened you, leading you step by step into this warehouse."

"What is it?"

Su Wan looked at him, her lips moved, but no sound came out.

The temperature inside the warehouse suddenly dropped.

It wasn't a psychological effect, nor was it just the coolness of the wind; it was a real, measurable drop in temperature. Lin Shen saw his breath turn into white mist, like wisps of ghosts in the moonlight.

Darkness surged out from all four corners of the warehouse at the same time.

Exactly the same as what I saw in Su Wan's room during the day—the light was being absorbed by something, like ink dripping into clear water, quickly swallowing everything. The moonlight went out, and the tall window turned into a black square. The beam of the flashlight struggled in the darkness for a moment, then went out.

Lin Shen placed his hand on the gun handle, but he knew the gun was empty.

In the darkness, Su Wan's voice came from very close by: "He's here."

"Who?"

"Lu Ming".

A crack appeared in the darkness.

It wasn't light, it was sound. A very deep sound, like the lowest string of a cello being pulled, came up from the warehouse floor, through the concrete floor, through the soles of his shoes, through his bones, and straight to his brain.

Then came the sound of footsteps.

The sound came from deep within the warehouse, unhurried and deliberate, step by step.

The darkness began to recede, but not with the return of normal light; instead, it was replaced by another kind of light—a pale blue, cool-toned light, unlike anything from this world. Light seeped from every crevice of the warehouse: from the cracks in the concrete floor, from the welds on the iron frames, from the brick seams in the walls. The entire warehouse became a luminous container, like a giant, charging battery.

A person was standing in the center of the warehouse.

It wasn't Su Wan. Su Wan had already retreated to the corner, leaning against the metal frame, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her windbreaker, her face even paler than before.

The man was wearing a dark gray hoodie, the hood up, and his hair was rather long, covering half his forehead. He had a thin face with prominent cheekbones and deep-set eyes. His eyes were bright—not a normal brightness, but an unnatural, light bulb-like brightness, as if something was burning inside them.

Lu Ming.

But this Lu Ming was different from the one Su Wan had seen in her room during the day. That Lu Ming was a transparent, shadowless ghost who could only exist for fifteen minutes. This Lu Ming was real. His shadow was clearly visible on the ground, his footsteps echoed in the warehouse, and his breathing was heavy and rapid, like someone just pulled from the water.

"You've come." Lu Ming looked at Lin Shen, his voice low and hoarse.

"Didn't you say you'd wait for me here at midnight?" Lin Shen said. "It's past midnight now."

"I know," Lu Ming said. "I'm late. Someone was preventing me from coming out."

He glanced at Su Wan in the corner. Su Wan avoided his gaze.

"She told you not to come," Lin Shen said.

"She did it to protect you," Lu Ming said. "But she didn't know that if you hadn't come tonight, you would never have been able to enter the revolving lantern again. Your abilities are fading—every time you stay in reality for too long without entering the revolving lantern, your consciousness frequency will slowly return to a normal level. The day you fully recover, you will never awaken again."

Lin Shen took a step forward. "You sent me here to help me awaken?"

"I'm here to tell you the truth," Lu Ming said. "Old Zhou is dead, you know that."

How did you know?

"I know everything." A flicker of pain crossed Lu Ming's eyes. "Because fragments of my consciousness are scattered throughout the entire network. Every second, I'm receiving information from all the parallel worlds. Old Zhou died in your world. But in another world, he's still alive. In the third world, he died three years ago. In the fourth world, he never existed."

"I want to hear the truth about this world," Lin Shen said. "Not a parallel world, not other possibilities. I want to know who the murderer in the Black Rose case is, why Shen Ruo is in a coma, and why I awakened the revolving lantern."

Lu Ming remained silent for a long time.

The blue light in the warehouse began to fluctuate, like ripples on the surface of water, spreading outward from Lu Ming's body. With each fluctuation, Lin Shen felt an invisible force pressing against his chest; it didn't hurt, but it was heavy, like the pressure of water in deep water.

"In this world," Lu Ming finally spoke, "there is no murderer in the Black Rose case."

Lin Shen frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Because the Black Rose case wasn't committed by one person," Lu Ming said. "It was a program. A program implanted into the consciousness of all those with abilities. Three years ago, when Shen Ruo first entered the deepest layer of the Lantern Network, she saw the 'Holy Spirit.' The 'Holy Spirit' implanted a seed in her consciousness—the seed of the Black Rose. From then on, everyone who came into contact with Shen Ruo's consciousness was infected. Lu Ming was infected. Old Zhou was infected. You were infected too."

What happens after infection?

"You will see the black rose," Lu Ming said. "In your dreams, in your recurring images, in the moment of your death. The black rose is not a tattoo, not a symbol, not the killer's mark. It is a coordinate. It is telling you—Shen Ruo is here. All the clues lead here."

Lin Shen's hand unconsciously reached for the back of his neck.

"You don't," Lu Ming said. "Your tattoo isn't on your skin. It's in your consciousness. You can't see it, but it's always been there. From the moment you first entered the revolving lantern, it was etched into the deepest recesses of your consciousness."

Lin Shen lowered his hand. "You said there was no killer in the Black Rose case. Then who killed the other me in the warehouse? Who stabbed Old Zhou?"

Lu Ming looked at him, and Lin Shen's face was reflected in his shining eyes.

"It's you," Lu Ming said.

The blue light in the warehouse suddenly dimmed, then brightened again, even brighter than before.

"It wasn't me." Lin Shen's voice was cold.

“It’s another you,” Lu Ming said, “but not the one you’ve ever seen. In all the parallel worlds, there’s a version of you who chose a different path. He didn’t become a policeman, didn’t enter the revolving lantern, and didn’t awaken. He lives in a world without the Black Rose case, without Shen Ruo, and without Lu Ming. But he sensed it—he sensed the existence of other worlds, other worlds of ‘him’ watching him. He wanted to sever that connection. He wanted to kill all the parallel world versions of himself, so that he would be the only one, the real one, no longer troubled by any illusions.”

Lu Ming took a step forward. Blue light exploded beneath his feet, as if he had crushed something.

"He is Lin Shen, the murderer in the Black Rose case. In all parallel worlds, the one who killed you was not someone else. It was yourself. Not the you of this world, but the you of another world. The you who refused to believe in the existence of parallel worlds, who refused to accept that 'you are not unique'."

Lin Shen felt his blood flowing backward.

It wasn't fear; it was something deeper than fear. It was a feeling of being torn apart—he had always thought he was tracking down a murderer, a flesh-and-blood murderer lurking in the shadows, someone he could handcuff. But now Lu Ming told him that the murderer was himself from another world. He couldn't handcuff himself from that other world. He could only stop him in one way—

Kill him.

Kill your counterpart in another world.

"You're trying to mislead me." Lin Shen's voice was steady, but his hands were trembling. "You want me to enter the revolving lantern, find myself in that world, and then kill him."

Lu Ming shook his head. "I'm not trying to mislead you. I'm telling you the truth. Whether you kill him or not is your own choice. But if you don't kill him, he will kill you. He's already killed six—before you, he killed six Lin Shens from parallel worlds. You are the seventh. You are the last. If you die, all the Lin Shens from parallel worlds will die. Because you are the core. You are the anchor of all worlds."

"I am not the anchor point," Lin Shen said. "Shen Ruo is the anchor point."

Lu Ming smiled.

That smile sent a chill down Lin Shen's spine—not the kind of smile that hides a knife, but a smile that says, "You've finally gotten to the point."

"Shen Ruo is the anchor point," Lu Ming said, "but you are not the anchor point—you are the anchor. Shen Ruo is just the rope that holds you in place. Without you, the rope has no meaning. Without Shen Ruo, you would drift away and disappear forever into the ocean of a parallel world."

The blue light emanating from the warehouse began to recede, like a receding tide, converging from the walls towards the center. The light finally gathered at Lu Ming's feet, forming a circle of light less than two meters in diameter. He stood at the center of the circle, like an actor trapped under a spotlight.

"Time's up," Lu Ming said.

"When?"

"The time I can exist in physical form." Lu Ming's body began to become transparent, starting from his feet and spreading upwards. It was the same way he disappeared in Su Wan's room during the day, but this time it was slower and more painful. Cracks appeared on his face, like a dried-up riverbed, with blue light shining through the cracks.

"Lin Shen." His last few words were as soft as a sigh. "The third key is with you. You already know what it is. Open yourself. Find the you of that world. Before he kills you—kill him."

Lu Ming disappeared.

The blue light went out completely.

The warehouse was plunged into darkness again.

Then the moonlight slowly seeped in, and the high windows, iron frames, cement floor, oil stains, rust marks—everything returned to normal. Su Wan was still standing in the corner, her arms crossed over her chest, her face pale, but her eyes were bright.

"Is everything he said true?" Lin Shen asked.

Su Wan walked over and stopped in front of him. She reached out and gently touched the back of Lin Shen's neck. Her fingers were icy cold, like an ice pick.

"You don't have a tattoo on the back of your neck," Su Wan said, "but it's in your consciousness. I can feel it."

How could you sense it?

Su Wan didn't answer. She took something out of her pocket and put it into Lin Shen's hand.

A key.

It wasn't bronze, nor was it serpentine. It was a transparent key, like it was made of ice, refracting rainbow colors under the moonlight.

"The third key," Su Wan said, "is not on you, you are it. This key is the tool you use to unlock yourself."

Lin Shen looked down at the transparent key in his palm. It was very light, almost invisible. But its temperature was warm—exactly the same as his body temperature.

"How do I open myself up with it?" he asked.

Su Wan pointed to his temple.

"Press it here," Su Wan said. "Then close your eyes. It will take you into a carousel. Not passively, but actively. You can control yourself in the carousel—go to whichever world you want, stay at whichever point in time you want."

Lin Shen gripped the transparent key, his fingers tightening.

"If I go in, will I ever be able to come back?"

Su Wan did not answer. Her silence was the answer.

Lin Shen held the key to his temple and stopped.

My phone vibrated.

It wasn't an unknown number; it was Xiao Chen's number.

He answered the phone.

"Captain!" Xiao Chen's voice was excited, trembling with barely suppressed emotion. "I got in! That black door opened! When I pressed my hand on it, the door didn't respond. But I waited until midnight, and the door opened by itself! I'm in, and inside—"

His voice trailed off.

"Chen Xu? Chen Xu!"

A jarring static crackled from the other end of the line, followed by silence. Then came breathing—not Xiao Chen's breathing, but someone else's, heavy and slow, like that of some large animal.

A voice came from the other end of the phone, a deep, hoarse voice that didn't belong to Xiao Chen:

"Lin Shen. Your deputy captain is in my hands. If you want him to live, come in. You know how to get in. Use that key."

The phone was disconnected.

Lin Shen's hand holding the phone was trembling.

He glanced at Su Wan. Su Wan's face turned even paler, and her lips trembled.

"Who is that?" Lin Shen asked.

Su Wan closed her eyes, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible:

"Chen Yuan".

Lin Shen pressed the transparent key to his temple.

Close your eyes.

The world cracked open beneath his feet.