Dark Traces of Life

Designer Xu Zhixia, who lives alone on the top floor, has encountered unexplainable strange things frequently in the past half month: misplaced slippers, bedding slipped in the middle of the night, and the sound of breathing exactly like his own coming from the empty living room. At two fifty-nine in the morning, a dead eye squeezed through the crack of the door, watching her sleeping. Only then did she realize that there was a "trace peeper" hiding in her home who relied on mirrors, shadows, and gaps to survive. It imitates my routine, replicates my movements, hides in all reflective blind spots, and learns how to replace me day and night. The entrance mirror reflected a replica of the figure clinging to the back, the mobile phone automatically took a picture of the wet black hair on the pillow late at night, and the whole house surveillance captured the truth that subverted the perception—— Lying on the bed and sleeping peacefully is the mirror double, the real me, standing in the shadows all night long as a peeper. There are no evil spirits in the world, only things that steal glimpses of life. When the clock struck three in the morning and the mirror world opened up to reality, I realized with horror: From beginning to end, I was the alien being copied, kept in captivity, and waiting to be replaced. Every night from now on, another me will appear in the mirror, and it will take away my identity, memory, and life. The real identity has already died in this bedroom three years ago. I must tear apart the cruel curse of mirror replacement and take back my own life before it completely dissipates.