Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
After Gu Mian destroyed two instances deep into the night, fireworks lit up the sky over Hengdian.
Of course, this wasn't a celebration of the instances' destruction.
It wasn't clear if they were set off by players or the military.
Although the Spirit Car was broken, it could still be used as a camper. At this moment, Fatty was hunched near the car window, his eyes wide as he watched the fireworks in the distant sky, still holding a red envelope in his hand.
The weather today was bad; it had been gloomy during the day, and the night sky was pitch black, so the twinkling fireworks were exceptionally dazzling.
The fireworks only flickered for a while before the sky darkened again.
Only when the afterglow had completely dissipated did Fatty, still clutching the red envelope, withdraw his gaze. "Doctor," he asked, "what do you think the world will be like in the future?"
Gu Mian glanced at him. "Global evolution. Humans will be clearly graded based on different evolutionary levels, and their treatment will vary accordingly..."
Fatty's expression turned bewildered.
Gu Mian continued, "Human grades will be divided into, say, Battle Energy, Battle Practitioner, Battle Master..."
Fatty suddenly snapped to attention. "Wait? Where did you copy those class divisions from? Why do they sound so familiar?"
Gu Mian nodded. "Exactly. If we follow the standard Qidian formula, this will turn into a fantasy novel."
"Forget it, forget it." Fatty swallowed. "Doctor, you should just tell me a bedtime story... like how you got out of the mirror."
Gu Mian was the only player in the last instance who had escaped the World in the Mirror on his own.
Heaven knew how he managed it—of course, perhaps only the ghosts truly knew.
Gu Mian stroked his chin. "That, huh? It's a long story... but actually, not that long." Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel※fire.net
"I remember Zhao Lei's second personality, when it killed people, liked to separate them and take them out one by one. Of course, that's a common trope for ghosts in horror movies and supernatural novels."
Gu Mian had seen countless horror films growing up, but no matter how low-budget they were, he'd never seen a ghost capable of wiping out a group of people with a snap of its fingers.
If such a thing existed, it wouldn't be a horror film; it would be closer to science fiction.
"The ghost in the instance likes to separate people and kill them individually. This isn't without reason; it's to create a terrifying atmosphere. Plus, it doesn't want Zhao Lei to see its true identity, so it separates everyone."
"But if it wanted to kill people separately, it could have easily done that in the World in the Mirror. In there, it has the ability to avoid being seen by Zhao Lei. And Chu Changge, you said the ghost is severely restricted in the real world, right?"
Chu Changge nodded. "I got out early, so I'm not too clear about the World in the Mirror, but outside it, in the real world, the ghost is absolutely restricted."
"Right." Gu Mian nodded. "It's clearly heavily restricted in the real world, yet it insists on dragging people out to kill them. What's the logic in that?"
Fatty hesitated. "But Doctor, when you were in the World in the Mirror, you shouldn't have known that the ghost was weaker in the real world."
Gu Mian took out a mobile phone. It was a black phone, a special item he had obtained in the Terror Manor instance.
This device was called the Dimension-Breaking Phone. However, it was a mirror image. In an instance, it could be used to call NPCs; in the real world, it could call other players with the highest compatibility.
"Chu Changge called me," Gu Mian said, "using the original phone."
The World in the Mirror and the real world weren't exactly the same, but some aspects were highly overlapping.
Some items were specifically designed to allow players to transmit information.
For example, take the clocks in both worlds. The World in the Mirror could not affect the real world, but players in the real world could move the hands of their clock, and the clock in the World in the Mirror would be affected. This allowed messages to be passed using a code, provided both sides understood that code.
The two phones were similar; they looked identical, but their functions were diametrically opposed.
The mirror-image phone Gu Mian obtained could be taken out of an instance because it could be replicated at any time. Its function was to call NPCs while inside an instance, or to call other players when in the real world.
The original phone, however, could not be taken out of the instance. Its sole function was to communicate with other players within the same instance, and it could only call players who also had a phone.
Coincidentally, Gu Mian was the only living player in that particular instance who possessed such a phone.
Fatty was a bit puzzled. "When did you two talk?"
Chu Changge looked up. "Just as you were being dragged out screaming."
Fatty exclaimed, "...So that's why you were hiding in the bathroom back then! That's hardly a good hiding spot. Turns out you went to search the bodies."
"Alright, let's get back to the main topic," Gu Mian said, redirecting the conversation. "Since the ghost is weaker in the real world, why would it go to such lengths to drag people into the real world to kill them?"
"My guess is that staying in the World in the Mirror might be detrimental to it. That's why every time, it would hurriedly enter the World in the Mirror and then leave just as quickly."
At this point, Gu Mian suddenly shifted the topic. "The longest the ghost stayed in the World in the Mirror was when Mingliang was killed, wasn't it?"
Chu Changge nodded. "Yes, Mingliang seems to have died directly in the World in the Mirror."
"Where were we then? In Chu Changge's room. Everyone's attention was completely drawn to the suddenly slamming door and Mingliang's screams, with no capacity to notice anything else.
"Later, it occurred to me: the ghost doesn't dare stay in the World in the Mirror for too long. If it absolutely has to, it uses other things to divert people's attention, as if it's trying to prevent something from being discovered.
"What didn't it want to be discovered? It didn't want players to find the true way to escape Terror Manor.
"When Chu Changge called me, I already knew I was in the World in the Mirror, but I couldn't leave through any mirrors. So, when he mentioned that the ghost was weaker outside, I realized something—
"When the ghost is present in the World in the Mirror, players can leave it through any reflective surface."
"Oh," Fatty said, his voice taking on a knowing lilt. "So Chu Changge rescuing me was also something you two planned? Shutting the bathroom door, then luring the ghost into the World in the Mirror, all so the Doctor could get out?"
"No," Gu Mian shook his head. "Rescuing you was the primary objective. Me getting out was just incidental."
"And you bastards had already figured out which room the Doctor would come out of, hadn't you?" Fatty's face twitched.
"That's why Brother Chu so resolutely led me into that room with the large wardrobe, why he remained unfazed even knowing the door was locked, and why he stood so far off, watching like it was a show, when the ghost grabbed me! So, Brother Chu, you knew the Doctor was in the wardrobe all along! You two deliberately lured the ghost into that room!"
But then Fatty looked puzzled again. "But Doctor, in that case, the ghost should have come out after you, right? Did it not see you when it came out?"
Gu Mian replied matter-of-factly, "I endured quite a bit to hide, covering myself with several layers of clothes. Fortunately, I was covered up well enough that the ghost didn't discover my handsome face."
Fatty deadpanned, "Handsome face?"