Chapter 67: Lan Zhu Is Alive

However, its strength currently existed only in theory. Relying on a Mirror Ghost to resolve a world undergoing a supernatural revival was still a long way off.

First, its ability could only be deployed in a specialized terrain like Mirror Alley. In most public spaces, there were either no mirrors or they were too far away for the bloody hands to easily reach a person or a Fierce Ghost.

Out in the wasteland, when facing a Fierce Ghost like the Artist, how could he possibly get it inside? Was he supposed to lug a massive mirror around, inch it toward the Artist, and then let the bloody hands drag the ghost in?

What a joke. Gao Tian would be hacked into minced meat long before that.

Were there size requirements for the entrance when dragging a ghost into a mirror? Could a tiny mirror pull in a behemoth like the Ghost Mother?

Wouldn't the ghost fight back? Was the strength of the bloody hands enough to pin down most ghosts?

Gao Tian figured that the Mirror Ghost had to be paired with a highly potent Supernatural Item to work—something capable of forcefully immobilizing a Fierce Ghost, allowing him to place a mirror next to it so the bloody hands could slowly drag it inside.

On its own, the Mirror Ghost's rule was extremely difficult to use.

Regardless, this thing did offer a possibility for the future. Even if it wasn't incredibly useful right now, he absolutely had to copy its ability.

He had to think of a way to lure the Mirror Ghost out first, without getting dragged into the Mirror World himself in the process.

If he died in that cursed place, he wouldn't be able to escape even after the Ghost Card resurrected him.

Deep in thought, Gao Tian walked toward the other end of Mirror Alley.

The winding path of Mirror Alley stretched onward, seemingly endless.

As the faint light from the Study faded behind him, visibility grew worse. In the darkness, only countless reflections of 'Gao Tian' accompanied him, walking in the exact same posture.

Gao Tian remained on high alert, watching for the blood-red hands to suddenly shoot out from a mirror and attack him.

He arrived at a particularly narrow turn where a person could only squeeze through sideways. Above, below, left, and right—four mirrors reflected his image all at once.

If he didn't pass through here, he couldn't keep moving forward.

Gao Tian tightened his grip on the Terror Blade.

'Is it coming?'

Just as he squeezed through, blood-red hands abruptly shot out from the mirrors above and to his left simultaneously. They grabbed his shoulder and the back of his head, attempting to drag him whole into the glass.

It was faster than Gao Tian had anticipated; he had originally planned to feint and bait it out.

The sheer force clamping down on Gao Tian's arm felt like it would crush his bones.

"Get the hell off me!"

Having anticipated the attack, Gao Tian drew his blade and viciously slashed at the crimson arm.

It felt like hacking into solid metal. The limb didn't budge, while the web of Gao Tian's hand nearly went numb from the recoil.

The disparity in their strength was too great. At the same time, a third bloody hand reached out from the mirror on the lower right and locked onto his ankle. With all three directions exerting force together, they forcefully shoved him toward the glass.

'This thing has three hands?'

He admitted he had underestimated the Mirror Ghost. That terrifying, monstrous strength yanked him toward the mirror above. Gao Tian's face was mere inches from the glass; if he entered the Mirror World, he would undoubtedly die.

There was no other way.

If he didn't use that now, he would become the second casualty here after Lan Zhu.

Without hesitation, Gao Tian activated the Terror Blade in his hand.

The sacrifice target—himself.

With a loud bang, Gao Tian—who had been seized by the three bloody hands and halfway stuffed into the mirror—suddenly turned into a mist of blood and vanished into thin air. Losing their target, the three bloody hands grabbed at nothing, feeling only a handful of fleshy residue.

By committing suicide, Gao Tian had actually managed to evade the Mirror Ghost's attack.

The owner of the bloody hands was clearly bewildered by this scene. It had never encountered a situation like this before. How did the human in its grasp suddenly explode?

The three bloody hands retracted into the mirror. A terrifying face, stripped of its skin and reduced to a bloody pulp, slowly surfaced from the glass like a swimmer breaking the water.

Everyone in Mirror Alley was dead, and the Mirror Ghost's true body had finally revealed itself. It was merely curious—it was right on the verge of fishing another living human in, so how did its prey pop like a balloon and vanish?

With a hunched and twisted figure, it crouched over the bloody remains on the ground and sniffed, trying to track down where the living human had gone.

...

The playing card you have drawn this time is—

King of Spades

There are no point conflicts on your soul. Resurrection successful.

Have a pleasant resurrection.

...

Flesh and blood coalesced, and a human form returned. It all happened in an instant.

A neat little trick Gao Tian had learned on the bus was that he could sacrifice himself first and then strike, or strike first and then sacrifice.

After offering the sacrifice, he could hold onto the attack and unleash it once he returned from resurrection.

Gao Tian appeared out of thin air right behind the Mirror Ghost. The moment he gripped the blade, he delivered a vertical, devastating slash onto Old Man Red, who had just crawled out of the mirror.

A chaotic crash rang out in the distance. The razor-sharp blade aura pierced straight through the old man's body and shattered rows of mirrors stretching hundreds of meters behind it. In that same instant, the glass dissolved into countless silver flakes, illuminating half of Mirror Alley.

Old Man Red took heavy damage as well. After bearing the brunt of the terrifying attack, the two extra arms on its back—out of its original four crimson arms—were instantly blasted to powder. One of its thighs was severed, and its head lolled to the side; if it hadn't used its remaining hands to prop it up, the head would have fallen right off.

Realizing it had been tricked, Old Man Red glared at Gao Tian with venomous eyes tethered by bloody nerve endings. Without a moment's hesitation, it scrambled rapidly toward the nearest mirror, wriggling like a beached fish.

The first eye contact.

Old Man Red knew that as long as it slipped into the Mirror World, anyone on the outside would be helpless against it.

"Trying to run?

"I'll lay down my life to keep you here!"

He hadn't expected the ghost to flee so decisively. Gao Tian was getting anxious. The Mirror Ghost's ability did come with numerous restrictions, but its theoretical ceiling was far too high. Paired with a powerful combo, it could potentially put an end to the era of supernatural revival. There was absolutely no way he was going to let this Fierce Ghost get away.

He had used a Ghost Card again today. If he couldn't catch Old Man Red, it meant he had wasted a life for nothing.

In a rush of hot-headed recklessness, Gao Tian threw all caution to the wind and lunged forward. He seized one of the Mirror Ghost's mangled, shriveled legs and pinned the entity down with his entire body weight, forcing it to look him in the eye.

"I'm taking you down with me."

It had been so close to touching the glass and returning to the Mirror World, like a fish slipping back into the sea, when Gao Tian abruptly tackled it in a death grip. Even a cornered rabbit would bite, let alone a genuine murderous ghost. The two instantly devolved into a violent struggle.

The second eye contact.

In its desperation, Old Man Red threw a quick punch right into Gao Tian's chest.

Boom—

The sheer force of the blow left Gao Tian feeling like every bone in his body was violently vibrating. A rush of blood shot straight to his head, and his brain completely short-circuited for half a second.

'What kind of strength is this?'

And that was a punch thrown in a weakened state, after a portion of Old Man Red's body had been severed.

Gao Tian knew his chest cavity was utterly shattered and his internal organs were hemorrhaging severely. If he were an ordinary person, he would have been sent straight to the grave.

A strange gurgling sound emanated from his stomach. Empowered by the Blood Shroud, Gao Tian's fractured bones began to heal at a staggering rate.

Having recovered a fraction of his strength, he retaliated with a backhand punch against Old Man Red, viciously pinning its head down.

The third eye contact.

The two grappled and slammed heavily into a large mirror to the side.

The massive mirror collapsed directly onto Gao Tian's back, shattering all over the floor. Countless razor-sharp glass shards rained down, inflicting agonizing physical and mental pain. Driven entirely mad by desperation, his adrenaline surged, numbing him to the pain. Like a rabid dog, he locked his jaws onto Old Man Red and refused to let go.

Boom—

Freeing one of its legs, Old Man Red delivered another brutal kick squarely into Gao Tian's chest.

That single kick left half of Gao Tian's body completely numb. His brain's equilibrium faltered, and the world began to violently spin around him. Ultimately, human willpower could not conquer physical limits. Gao Tian's limbs turned to jelly, and he was completely unable to stand as he watched Old Man Red inch its way out of his grasp.

Beneath the Blood Shroud, his broken body began to mend. However, Old Man Red had already casually strolled up to a mirror. It turned around one last time, shooting him a look of unparalleled fury and venomous hatred.

The fourth eye contact.

It melted straight into the surface of the mirror and vanished without a trace.

It was like sinking into a pool of stagnant water.

Gao Tian lay flat on the ground. Though the Blood Shroud was slowly mending his physical wounds, the agonizing sensation of pain still wrapped around his entire body.

'Did it really get away?'

'Just one more look.'

'What a damn shame.'

Fuck.

Once sensation returned to his body, Gao Tian slowly pulled himself up and fiercely slammed his fist into the freezing floor. The regret in his heart was beyond words.

Having suffered a loss like this, the Mirror Ghost likely wouldn't show its face again.

He had already lost the Inverted Cross in the Inner World; he never expected to let the Mirror Ghost slip away here, too.

He had even died once in the process, meaning he had walked away with absolutely nothing. A complete waste of a life.

Sitting up straight, Gao Tian viciously slapped himself across the face twice.

He hit himself so hard that half of his face rapidly swelled up, looking like a red steamed bun.

Wait.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn to something in the mirror right in front of him. Forgetting even the pain in his body, he swiftly leaned closer, trying to get a clear look at what was hidden inside the glass.

Although there were tens of thousands of mirrors in Mirror Alley, this particular one seemed slightly off...

Inside the mirror, alongside his own stupid, swollen face, he unexpectedly saw a familiar figure slowly coming into view.

Someone unexpected, yet perfectly logical.

Lan Zhu.

This woman had been dragged into the Mirror World, and she actually hadn't died?

Because of the glare at first, he couldn't see clearly. It was only when Gao Tian backed up a bit that he realized Lan Zhu had pulled off something absolutely insane—

She was standing inside the mirror, her hands still tightly gripping that Dog Leash. Only this time, the leash wasn't collared around the mummified corpse from Room 413, but rather a brand-new toy.

Old Man Red's neck was securely bound by Lan Zhu. Whatever kind of Supernatural Item this Dog Leash was, once it was secured around Old Man Red's neck, all of the ghost's monstrous strength evaporated. It struggled and trembled desperately like a helpless child, but it was completely incapable of escaping Lan Zhu's demonic grasp.

Wait a minute, this development was getting a bit wild. Gao Tian needed to process this.

The Mirror Ghost had tried to drag Lan Zhu into the mirror. Lan Zhu proactively entered the mirror. Lan Zhu caught the Mirror Ghost, and then collared it with a Dog Leash.

The tables had completely turned. It wasn't the Mirror Ghost catching Lan Zhu; it was Lan Zhu catching the Mirror Ghost.

Dragging the weakly struggling Old Man Red, she slowly walked up to the glass. She shouted something at Gao Tian on the outside, but the mirror's soundproofing was far too effective, and Gao Tian couldn't hear what the crazy woman was yelling at him.

But it didn't matter anymore.

Crazy woman? No, that was Lord Lan Zhu.

Because as Lan Zhu forcefully dragged it forward, Old Man Red's face was smashed flat against the glass, which in turn facilitated the final eye contact between Gao Tian and the Mirror Ghost.

The effect of the Shattered Face Ghost had been achieved.

He had obtained the ability of the Mirror Ghost.

"The world inside the mirror is so fun.

"I caught this random wild old man alive from who knows where. Take a look, Gao Tian, it's still kicking and screaming."

Lan Zhu was incredibly excited, her muffled voice filtering through the glass. Hoisting her spoils of war, she showed off the ghost to Gao Tian like an angler showing off a massive catch.