The mirror in the workshop underground was so fragile that it shattered before Han Fei could take a close look. To see those children, he would have to find a similar mirror in the Deep World.
"There is some connection between the Murder Club in the real world and the Black Rain Area in the Deep World. Those psychopathic killers call it a bridge, and the mirror is key to building that bridge."
Han Fei and the blind old man left the warehouse, an old and a young holding a black umbrella as they moved toward the dance studio in the back alley.
"Didn’t you say you were interested in gardening before? Why the sudden desire to learn dancing?" the old man asked, touching the large lock of the dance studio and struggling for quite some time before he could open it.
"I said I liked gardening because the Florist was there. If I had dared to say ’no’, she probably would have stuffed me right into a flower pot," Han Fei now was still somewhat afraid of the Florist, that old person with a voice and physique that greatly contrasted, emanating a very strange aura, elusive to any observer.
"You better find your true passion soon. Life is only so long. Don’t wait until time slips away before you regret it," the blind old man said as he and Han Fei entered the dance studio. "The Florist hasn’t returned since you left, so you don’t have to worry about running into her. Just focus on practicing your dance. Dancing can help release the negative emotions inside a person."
"The Florist won’t be back soon?" Han Fei let out a sigh of relief, his voice less tense now. "Old man, actually aside from learning dance, I also want to ask you about some things."
"I knew you were up to no good. Speak, what is it?"
"I found a mirror in an underground factory. Just by standing in front of it, the mirror could reflect one’s appearance at the time of their death and could also show the wronged souls that died at one’s own hand," Han Fei secretly glanced at the old man, and seeing no unusual reaction, continued. "It seems that mirror is related to the club in this area, so I wanted to ask if the mirrors in our dance studio have a similar effect?"
"There is, but I have also forgotten which one exactly it is," said the old man, pointing to his eye socket. "I can’t see, so you’ll have to find it yourself."
"How do I find it? Look into each mirror one by one? I remember something needs to be recited to trigger the mirror."
"No need," the old man shook his head. "Ordinary mirrors all house the dead souls, but only that mirror hides a filthy version of oneself. If you look carefully, you will see something different."
Setting down the old recorder on the ground, the old man stepped onto the stage. "I’ll teach you a simple method. Dancing in the darkness can help you see clearly by yourself."
"I don’t quite understand what you mean, but I feel like you’re tricking me into learning dance from you," Han Fei sat under the stage, watching each of the old man’s movements seriously. Gradually, his soul seemed to be drawn out, and he became completely immersed in the old man’s dance.
Each movement seemed to hide a memory, as if the old man had choreographed his entire life into this dance.
Previously he had danced alone in darkness, but now he had an audience under his stage.
"Life blossoms like a flower, then fades at its most beautiful moment, returning to the soil..."
Countless souls emerged in the mirror, drawing closer in the night, laughing and crying along with that dance.
Han Fei didn’t even realize when the dance had ended. It took him a while to come back to his senses. By then, the old man had already collapsed on the stage, his chest stained with fresh blood.
Jumping onto the stage, Han Fei moved close to the old man.
"Don’t worry, it’s not fatal," the blind old man coughed violently, his mouth and neck all covered in blood. "It’s just that I’m too old to dance anymore."
"You better rest well. Any regrets, just tell me, and I’ll fulfill them for you," Han Fei had always dealt with ghosts and monsters in the Deep World, always speaking of regrets and last wishes. He spoke before realizing that the old man was not a ghost.
"Indeed, I do have quite a few regrets," The old man didn’t seem to think anything was wrong with what Han Fei said, he struggled to sit up. "Your dancing skills are very poor, but your learning ability is extremely strong. You can remember all the movements after watching once. I want to teach you all the dances I know. When I’m gone, you could occasionally perform for the Florist."
"Are you two married?"
"How could I dare to be her family after what I did to her?" the blind old man slowly moved to the edge of the stage. "The dance I just performed is called—me. Practice it a few times, and you should be able to find the most special mirror here."
"Okay," Han Fei stepped onto the stage, recalling each movement of the old man, but as soon as he started moving, the old man spoke to interrupt him.
"It’s not just about copying every move, that’s not what dance is. You need to integrate your own understanding," the blind old man couldn’t see Han Fei, but he spoke very earnestly to him.
Han Fei stopped, waved at the old man’s hollow eye sockets, and confirmed that he indeed was blind.
"If you want to find the most special mirror in this club, you need to face your true inner self." The old man looked up, his dark eye sockets fixated behind Han Fei: "He has always been behind you, lying on your back, gnawing at your blood, and strangling your soul."
"Can you not make it sound so scary?" Han Fei turned back several times, but there was only a mirror behind him.
"Do you want to reconcile with him, or do you want to kill him? Does he want to kill you, or does he long to obtain something from you? If one of you chooses the wrong option, despair will surely envelop you again." The elderly man’s eyeless sockets still stared behind Han Fei: "The florist once said that the owner of this garden has always been looking for Twin Flowers, and it is said that when the Twin Flowers bloom, the dark clouds will disperse."
"But isn’t it true that only one of the Twin Flowers can bloom?" Han Fei’s first movie role was Twin Flowers; it was when he was desperate that he first shed his identity as a comedic actor to attempt a thriller.
"Correct, one flower will absorb all the nutrition from the other and bloom alone." The old man touched his radio and pressed a button, and surprisingly, a strange melody came out of the battered device: "So I hope you can learn the dance I taught you, see clearly into your own heart, and make no mistaken choice."
A song Han Fei had never heard before started playing in the dance studio, and pondering the old man’s words, he began to dance again.
"I’ve replicated the old man’s movements almost exactly, but why does it feel so different from his?" Han Fei added his accumulated Skill Points to his dancing, elevating it to the highest level, and beyond that was Master-level, but breaking through Master-level required not only Skill Points but also insight.
"You are progressing very quickly indeed, but you can only be called a dance performer; you are far from being a dancer." The old man caressed the stage, staring blankly behind Han Fei: "The name of this new dance is—’I’, narrating a person’s life, from first opening their eyes to see the world to sensing death, it includes too many emotions that techniques alone cannot reveal."
Han Fei had completely memorized the movements, but he realized he seemed to be trapped by these actions; this dance was the old man’s past, not his own.
"How should I express my own experiences?"
The past was a void and the future’s memories were wrapped in despair and the night, with Han Fei standing between them.
"Maybe I really should have a good chat with Kuangxiao." After coming out from the Memory Shrine in Paradise, Han Fei had interacted with all the survivors, except he had not disturbed Kuangxiao.
He could easily face anyone else, but only in facing himself did he find it difficult and felt the urge to withdraw.
Repeating the dance over and over, those movements formed muscle memory, and slowly Han Fei closed his eyes, no longer fixated on finding the mirror, but instead sinking his consciousness deep into his sea of thoughts.
In Fu Sheng’s shrine, Han Fei personally unlocked all the restraints on Kuangxiao.
Down in the workshop of the Shouxi Mirror Factory, the Murder Club’s mirror awakened Kuangxiao in reality.
The distance between the two of them had reached a point where it could no longer be avoided.
Han Fei’s consciousness appeared at the entrance of Blood-colored Orphanage, seeing a figure inside the building, but no matter how he tried, he couldn’t push open the door of Blood-colored Orphanage.
"I keep thinking, what is the difference between us two?"
"You constantly laugh wildly, while I can’t even muster a sincere smile; you remember all the terrible pain from the past, I feel only emptiness; you have a Healing-type Personality, and were treated as an experimental subject by the brothers at Eternal Life Pharmaceutical, but I don’t even know what my own personality is."
"Everyone seems to treat you as a madman and a taboo, but I know without you enduring all the past pain, the one going mad would have been me, that’s indisputable."
"You once asked me if I was willing to become you?"
"I can become you, but can you tell me why a child with a Healing-type Personality, so young, would end up with the blood of thirty people on his hands?"
"What really happened on the night of Blood-colored Night?"
"I’ve encountered several other souls with Healing-type Personalities, and they would never do such a thing!"
Han Fei’s consciousness was violently thrown aside by a wave, and as the clock in Blood-colored Orphanage chimed, the figure in the classroom stopped walking.