Chapter 74: One Missing

Lan Zhu's appearance caused the strange figures chasing them out of the Study to inexplicably vanish.

They did not return for a long time.

Jiang Yang wasn't entirely sure how it worked.

He could only conclude that the stories created by the Ghost Log relied on human fear to manifest in reality. Since Lan Zhu had no concept of fear, she couldn't even see the five strange figures pursuing them. Her cognitive deviation had triggered a complete collapse of the log's narrative.

Of course, this wasn't the time to analyze the Study's mechanics. They had survived, and that was enough.

There was no time to thank Lan Zhu. With the crisis of the Study resolved, all three of them had escaped their respective rooms and regrouped in the corridor. Their next step was to find Gao Tian and Xia Ta, whose whereabouts remained unknown.

Lan Zhu's current state behind the Mirror was a bit strange. Fortunately, she didn't seem to be in any mortal danger. She actually looked like she was having a great time, so Jiang Yang didn't bother worrying about her.

"Have you seen Gao Tian and Xia Ta?"

Jiang Yang pressed his face against the glass to ask. Lan Zhu thought for a moment:

"I haven't seen Xia Ta. But Gao Tian? I was just chatting with him.

"We were teleported to a strange alley filled with Mirrors. An old man pulled me into a Mirror and invited me to play with him. Gao Tian kept slapping the glass from the outside, like he was trying to tell me something.

"But I didn't have time for him. Every window along the path in this world corresponds to a Mirror in reality. It's just too much fun. I went for a walk and happened to bump into you guys going crazy at thin air in the corridor."

Jiang Yang and Zhao Zhenjia exchanged a glance. Gao Tian was in Mirror Alley?

They still remembered Mirror Alley. It was right outside the eerie Study. They had seen it through the window.

But their attention had been entirely focused on the interior of the Study and Lin Nan'an's log at the time. It never crossed their minds that Gao Tian was right across from them, separated only by a pane of glass.

"Mirror Alley... Which room is Mirror Alley in?"

Jiang Yang rubbed his head, thinking out loud:

"Lin Nan'an's Study is in 414. Mirror Alley is right next door. It can't be 413, which means it has to be 415.

"Gao Tian was sent to 415. We'll go get him.

"Lan Zhu, I'm begging you, stay right here. We'll come back for you in a bit. Whatever you do, don't run off again."

Jiang Yang and Zhao Zhenjia sprinted back down the corridor, moving like lightning until they reached the door of 415.

Before going in, they made sure to check the entrance. There were no shoes placed heel-to-toe in front of the door.

They hadn't forgotten Yusheng's warning: a homeowner who arranged their shoes like that did not welcome outsiders. Barging in would mean death.

The Wind Attendant Buddha in Zhao Zhenjia's form raised a fist and delivered a heavy punch to the door.

The iron door merely shuddered and clanged; it didn't even come close to falling.

At the exact same time, on the other side of the world, Gao Tian suddenly felt every Mirror in Mirror Alley tremble slightly.

It was as if they had been struck by a massive impact.

Outside, Jiang Yang drew his Revolver, aimed at the door handle, and pulled the trigger. With a loud bang, the deadbolt shattered. Coupled with a kick from the Wind Attendant Buddha, the heavy door crashed to the ground, exposing the room within.

It was an incredibly cramped space without a living room, bedroom, or bathroom. All it held was about twenty square meters of bare gray concrete. It clearly wasn't meant for human habitation. It looked like leftover space the construction team had cordoned off in a corner to use as a makeshift storage room.

Seven or eight Mirrors were scattered haphazardly around the storage room, and a short, hunched skeleton lay slumped in the corner. At the moment, Gao Tian was spinning frantically between the Mirrors as if possessed. His expression was fraught with anxiety; he looked like a man trapped in a labyrinth, completely unable to find his way out.

In a storage room of less than twenty square meters, Gao Tian had somehow been pacing back and forth for over an hour. From his perspective, he was navigating the endless, layered corridors of Mirror Alley, where no matter how far he walked, there were only more Mirrors. There was no end in sight.

It seemed a solitary old man had once lived on this floor. For whatever reason, he had loved collecting Mirrors. After he died alone in this room, and the entire fourth floor was swallowed by supernatural forces, the old man transformed into a Mirror Ghost, capable of phasing in and out of the glass.

The boundless corridors of Mirror Alley were likely born from Old Man Red's dying delusions.

"Gao Tian, wake up!"

Knowing Gao Tian was bewitched, Zhao Zhenjia didn't waste any time. He grabbed the 1.8-meter-tall man like a little chick, hauled him right out, and delivered two vicious, back-to-back slaps across his face:

"Look around you! How much longer were you planning to wander around this hellhole?"

The first slap shattered the illusion of "Mirror Alley" in Gao Tian's mind, making the second one entirely redundant. Both sides of his face instantly swelled up like steamed buns. Combined with the slaps he had given himself earlier, Gao Tian was practically a professional punching bag today.

Seeing that he had snapped out of it, Zhao Zhenjia released Gao Tian's collar. Bearing his stinging face, Gao Tian quickly traded intel with the group. Once he learned that Lan Zhu had already been found, he only had one thing to say:

"Take me to her."

The group hurried back to the other end of the corridor. Lan Zhu was still exactly where they had left her behind the Mirror, spinning in bored circles. Thank God she hadn't wandered off.

"What happened to you guys in 415? How did she get pulled into the Mirror?

"Do you have a way to get her out?"

Jiang Yang asked tentatively, noticing that Gao Tian seemed to know something.

Gao Tian thought for a moment. These were reliable teammates, so he decided to reveal a fraction of his abilities:

"To some extent, I do control the entrances and exits to the Mirror World. But I'm bound by its rules.

"Entering the Mirror World is completely free right now; I can send someone in at any time. But getting out isn't that simple.

"You have to lock in a person or a ghost to pull out someone inside.

"The problem is, to save Lan Zhu, one of us three has to go in."

Hearing Gao Tian's explanation, Zhao Zhenjia suddenly asked:

"You just said that as long as we lock one in—whether human or ghost—we can swap out the person inside, right?"

Gao Tian nodded:

"Yes."

Suddenly, a flash of insight hit him, and he realized what Zhao Zhenjia was getting at:

"Are you saying you're going to put a Wind Attendant Buddha into the Mirror and swap Lan Zhu out?"

A Wind Attendant Buddha wasn't exactly a precious commodity; Zhao Zhenjia could whip one up in five minutes.

If they could trade a Wind Attendant Buddha for a living person inside the Mirror, it would be an incredible steal.

It meant that Gao Tian would be able to enter and exit the Mirrors freely in the future at practically zero cost.

Zhao Zhenjia nodded:

"That was my idea.

"But a Wind Attendant Buddha isn't a human, nor is it a ghost. It's a puppet created to mimic my existence. I don't know if it can fool the Mirror."

Gao Tian said, "Let's give it a try.

"If it fails, we haven't lost anything. But if it works, it's a massive win."

Right then and there, Zhao Zhenjia focused his energy, and a new "Zhao Zhenjia" formed out of swirling wind currents before the glass. Simultaneously, a pair of grotesque, blood-red hands surfaced from within the Mirror, gripping the fake "Zhao Zhenjia" by the shoulders and dragging it inward like a Fierce Ghost.

Despite Jiang Yang's extensive experience, witnessing a living person manipulate the rules of a Fierce Ghost was still an incredibly rare sight.

His gaze shifted to Gao Tian. He had no idea what kind of bizarre encounters this newcomer had experienced, but the kid's potential was truly limitless.

His rate of progression was simply too fast. If he were lucky enough to survive to the end, there was no telling how high his ceiling might be.

Of course, that was assuming he could survive his first five Green Text Missions—and survive the fourth floor today.

Just then, Zhao Zhenjia's astonished voice rang out:

"It... it actually worked?

"I was just testing it out. I didn't expect it to actually pull it in."

Watching the Wind Attendant Buddha get dragged into the Mirror World as if it were a real human, Gao Tian could hardly believe his eyes. His heart skipped a beat.

It was unimaginable. The Mirror Ghost had genuinely registered the Wind Attendant Buddha as a living person.

If this combo was proven to work...

The Wind Attendant Buddha and the Mirror Ghost. Two entities that seemingly had absolutely nothing to do with each other.

It meant that Gao Tian could now enter and exit the Mirror World with absolute freedom. As long as he carried a small vanity Mirror with him, he would never have to worry about getting trapped inside; he had Zhao Zhenjia to help him out, anyway.

The Mirror Ghost might not be able to imprison a Fierce Ghost yet, but it allowed Gao Tian to freely traverse through Mirrors. From now on, if Gao Tian wanted to escape, no Fierce Ghost could ever hope to keep him trapped.

This was by far the strongest combo he had mastered to date. Neither the Terror Blade and the Black Tie, nor even the Ghost Card and the Inverted Cross, could compare to this combo.

Of course, Gao Tian quickly snapped out of his excitement and calmed down.

This wasn't the time to get complacent. There was still plenty to do, and Xia Ta's whereabouts were still unknown.

He reached his hand straight into the Mirror and grabbed hold of Lan Zhu:

"The game of hide-and-seek is over. Come on out, Lord Lan Zhu."

Lan Zhu looked entirely reluctant—the world inside the Mirror had been far too fun—but she was forcefully dragged out by Gao Tian anyway.

Old Man Red was yanked out alongside Lan Zhu. Watching a living human exploit his own supernatural rules better than he did himself, one could only imagine how the ghost felt.

Now, four members of the five-person squad that had come upstairs were successfully reunited.

They were only missing Xia Ta.