While in Hollywood, I used Taoist magic to quell American terrorism.

Ivanka shuddered, let out a long sigh of relief, and her previously tense shoulders finally relaxed.

"Get in the car first," Cao Kun said calmly.

As Ivanka sat in the back seat of the Rolls-Royce, she took off her sunglasses, her blue eyes filled with lingering fear.

Ivanka scrutinized Cao Kun closely: "Cao, is it really you? You're not hallucinating, are you?"

Cao Kun whispered something in Ivanka's ear, and Ivanka's face turned bright red.

But at the same time, she relaxed: "Thank goodness, it really is you. I was so afraid I'd received a fake one."

The car drove through the bustling streets of Manhattan and stopped in front of a very modern apartment building.

Ivanka has a penthouse duplex here with a fantastic view overlooking Central Park.

The moment Cao Kun stepped into the room, his spiritual awareness instinctively spread out.

The interior design is very avant-garde, with a large amount of cool-toned stone and minimalist lines, exuding a rational and elite feel.

Cao Kun walked around the room.

The room includes a living room, an open kitchen, a bedroom on the second floor, and a study.

After walking through it once, he frowned slightly.

Even with the aura-observation technique, the room remained perfectly clean.

There was no surging yin energy, nor that nauseating sense of death.

Aside from the slightly stagnant air, this place seems like the perfect place to live.

But he didn't stop; he walked through it a second time, taking very slow steps.

Ivanka followed closely behind him, barely daring to breathe.

She could sense that Cao Kun's gaze would linger on each corner for a few seconds as he passed by.

It was as if it were confronting some kind of invisible air.

On the third time, Cao Kun stopped at a corner at the end of the second-floor corridor.

There is a minimalist entryway cabinet here, and above the cabinet hangs a mirror.

It was a huge antique mirror.

It stood out starkly against the surrounding cool-toned, minimalist furniture.

The frame is made of heavy, dark red driftwood, with extremely intricate and retro patterns carved on it.

The patterns looked like twining vines, or like countless small snakes entwined together.

The mirror surface was somewhat dark, as if covered by a thin layer of fog that couldn't be wiped away.

When Cao Kun and Ivanka's figures are reflected, the image always seems slightly distorted.

Cao Kun stood in front of the mirror, staring at it.

It appears to be just a beautifully crafted old object.

But in Cao Kun's perception, this mirror seemed to be more than that.

Cao Kun looked at himself in the mirror with a cold expression.

"Ivanka, when did you buy this mirror?" Cao Kun turned around and asked.

Ivanka paused for a moment, her gaze falling on the mirror.

She frowned and thought for a while before hesitatingly speaking:

"It should be...it should be last month? Or the month before last?"

I remember it was bought at Sotheby's auction house.

Cao Kun stared into her eyes: "Are you sure?"

Ivanka rubbed her temples, her expression turning somewhat pained: "Wait, something's not right."

I don't think I've ever attended an auction before...

That was... that was a business gift my father gave me for my business opening?

No, my father doesn't like these old-fashioned things.

Her voice trailed off, her eyes growing unfocused: "Strange, how come... how come I can't remember where it came from?"

"Where did you buy it?"

Cao Kun continued to press, his voice carrying a hint of soul-shaking magic.

Ivanka shuddered, as if struck by lightning.

She stared intently at the mirror, her face turning deathly pale: "I don't remember."

I have absolutely no recollection of how it got into my apartment.

In my memory, it seems... it seems it has always been here.

It's as if it suddenly jumped out.

The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably: "Damn, something's not right."

My memory... there's a blank space in my memory!

Cao Kun reached out and gently traced his fingertips across the deep red wooden frame.

It feels cool to the touch, and even has a sucking sensation.

"That makes sense."

Cao Kun sneered, "It can alter your perception, making you subconsciously ignore its existence."

Treat it as an integral part of the house, something that feels completely natural.

Ivanka took two steps back, covering her mouth in horror: "You mean, all those hallucinations I had were because of it?"

"It's 'eating' your reality."

Cao Kun turned around and shielded Ivanka behind him. "It works by distorting your perception."

It keeps you torn between illusion and reality.

Cao Kun already knew which horror movie Ivanka had encountered this time.

This is the core evil artifact in the horror film "Oculus"—the Russell Mirror.

This mirror possesses its own consciousness.

It doesn't kill people directly, but it distorts the perception of everyone around it.

It can make you see things that don't exist, and make you eat a light bulb as if it were an apple.

It forces you to kill your own loved ones with your own hands.

Its most terrifying aspect is that it can alter a person's memory.

Make the victim completely forget how it got into the house.

It is the ultimate form of mind control evil.

Even exorcists, once caught in its logical traps, will be doomed.

Cao Kun looked into the mirror.

Everything looks normal in the mirror.

The figures of Cao Kun and Ivanka were clearly imprinted on the mirror.

Kun looked at the two reflections in the mirror and was about to speak.

Sudden.

"No! Don't come any closer!"

Ivanka, standing behind him, let out a piercing scream.

She was pushed away as if by some terrifying force, her body staggering backward until she crashed into the wall of the corridor.

Cao Kun suddenly turned around.

Ivanka's face was deathly pale, her hands were tightly clutched to her chest, her eyes were wide open, and her pupils were filled with horror.

"You...you stay away!"

Ivanka's voice trembled, choked with desperate sobs, "No... no... please..."

Cao Kun stopped and did not go forward.

He glanced at the mirror beside him, and what he saw was still his cold, stern face.

But he knew that Ivanka had fallen under the illusion cast by the mirror.

In Ivanka's eyes, he may have become a rotting demon, wielding a long knife, ready to disembowel her.

Ivanka slid down the wall little by little, her teeth chattering as she watched "Cao Kun" approach step by step.

"This isn't real...this must be an illusion."

Ivanka was muttering to herself, as if trying to etch the words into her mind.

"Cao wouldn't hurt me... He just saved me, he wouldn't hurt me!"

She suddenly stopped backing away.

Even though that "devil" was already standing right in front of her...

He had already raised the blood-stained axe in his hand...

She gritted her teeth and stared intently ahead.

"I believe Cao... You're not him! Don't try to fool me!"

Ivanka roared at the empty space in front of her.

Cao Kun was stunned.

He hadn't anticipated that, in the face of extreme fear teetering on the brink of life and death...

The woman's first reaction was to place absolute trust in him.

This trust even suppressed the sensory erosion caused by the mirror.

Cao Kun's heart skipped a beat, and a tenderness, which he himself did not realize, appeared in his eyes as he looked at Ivanka.