It’s so good to have you back.

 

Xing Ye opened the mirror, his fingertips trembling slightly, fearing that this was still an illusion.

But as soon as he opened the mirror, the person inside immediately said, "Xing Ye, you haven't pushed the door open, right? Whatever you do, don't push it open. There's no superficial ending in this world; it's either a true ending or death—there's no third option!"

It wasn't until he heard these words that Xing Ye's heart slowly settled down.

If the mirror had been a system simulation, it wouldn't have said something like that. It would only try to persuade someone to go through that door.

Guan Ling said, "The little mirror is finally back. It's only been a few hours, but why does it feel like I haven't seen the mirror for so long?"

Cao Xi's wounds had already healed without Guan Ling's treatment. She pulled Guan Ling away, giving Xing Ye and the mirror a bit of private space.

Xing Ye touched the mirror, thinking that if Lu Mingze had a body, he could give him a hug. If he had been in women's clothes and lost his memory like in the last world, he could have left a lipstick mark on the mirror.

Unfortunately, now he could only restrain himself and poke the mirror surface.

Lu Mingze said, "Stop smiling foolishly. I'm telling you, this is not a real world at all—it's more like, how should I put it, a rest stop in a spiritual world."

Without any emotional reunion or reminiscing, he hurriedly started telling them about what had happened here.

Xing Ye had no choice but to call Cao Xi and Guan Ling over, and the three of them listened together as the mirror explained things they didn't know.

At the very beginning, Xing Ye and the mirror had indeed entered the building together. At that time, Lu Mingze was in Xing Ye's chest pocket. When he heard Xing Ye being bossed around by Ren Tingman, he knew he wouldn't be able to come out for a while. He wanted to try out his new abilities, perhaps help Xing Ye scout ahead, or find other players.

He thought, in a company, there should be plenty of mirrors—in the bathrooms, dressing rooms, and even on some female colleagues' desks. So he used the "True Magic Mirror" skill to run out, only to find he had lost his body.

"What do you mean, lost your body?" Xing Ye frowned.

"No more mirrors!" Lu Mingze explained. "I was directly ejected from that door and floated around in front of these doors like a wandering soul. And I felt my consciousness growing weaker and weaker."

Talking about this experience, Lu Mingze was somewhat scared. Fortunately, this was a spiritual world. If it had been the real world, his soul would have disappeared long ago.

However, if it were the real world, he probably wouldn't have been unable to find a mirror to inhabit.

Xing Ye felt a chill in his heart as he frowned, listening to the mirror continue.

Bounced out of the building, Lu Mingze floated around in this space. He found himself in a huge medieval castle, with no one inside. The outer walls were covered with ivy, blocking the sunlight from coming in.

In the grand hall on the first floor of the castle, there were so many doors. What made the hall even stranger was that its size seemed both limited and limitless at the same time, with countless doors continuously opening and closing.

About three hours later, which would have been around 9 PM in Xing Ye's world, a man suddenly fell from the ceiling, almost landing on Lu Mingze.

After Lu Mingze dodged out of the way, he saw four white walls suddenly appear around the man. Curious, Lu Mingze phased through the walls and saw the man talking to himself: "Jumping from the building really is the way to leave the spiritual world. I'm so clever. But jumping was terrifying, and I never want to experience it again."

He saw a note stuck to the door and laughed: "But I guess this counts as reaching the ending, right? Am I the first to win? Hahaha, I'm so great!"

With that, he pushed open the door and walked through.

No one knew what the man saw behind the door, but in Lu Mingze's eyes, the door led to a dark space filled with countless tentacles. As soon as the man entered, the tentacles wrapped tightly around him.

After the door closed, the four illusory walls disappeared. Lu Mingze kept staring at that door, wanting to see if the player had truly left the game. If he had won, wouldn't that mean Xing Ye had lost?

However, half an hour later, the door opened again, and something—indescribable—crawled out from the door. It looked like a mass of flesh, bleeding all over, struggling to crawl on the ground.

Lu Mingze floated in front of it, and this creature seemed to have a pair of eyes. It actually saw Lu Mingze.

"You..." it spoke! It spoke without a visible mouth, "What are you?"

The voice was exactly the same as the man's who had entered the door earlier!

"I'm a player," Lu Mingze answered simply.

"Player... hahaha!" The blob of flesh laughed, "Whatever you do, don't go through the doors! Behind every door are players!"

"What do you mean?" Lu Mingze asked urgently.

"Don't go in. There is no ending in this world. Going through the door is a dead end. I was lucky to even get out," the blob of flesh said with difficulty. "But now I've become like this... hahaha! I have no choice but to kill myself and return to the game world, start over from the beginner's level. That's better, that's better than staying behind that door."

With that, he used some kind of starting skill and died. After his death, his body disappeared, leaving Lu Mingze alone again.

Why couldn't he see me at first, but after coming out of the door, he could? Lu Mingze was very puzzled.

For a long while, no one else appeared, and he wandered around.

The first floor of the building had all those doors, and the second and third floors were filled with rooms and doors as well. Now, whenever Lu Mingze saw a door, he felt afraid and dared not enter. He saw European-style mirrors hanging in the corridors of the building and thought about entering a mirror to see what was happening in this world, but he couldn't get in.

This meant that the mirrors didn't truly exist, and the entire building was just an illusion.

This world was like a Russian matryoshka doll, layers upon layers.

Lu Mingze ran around recklessly, thinking that since the man had managed to get out, Xing Ye would surely come out too. He waited and waited, and then he saw two more people appear in the first-floor hall in different ways. Lu Mingze shouted for them not to go through the doors, but they couldn't hear him at all and went inside, never to return.

At the same time, Lu Mingze felt himself growing weaker and weaker, his body becoming almost completely transparent.

He thought that his consciousness could not exist without a mirror; once detached from a host object, he probably wouldn't survive for long. It was also fortunate that this world wasn't real, or he might have disappeared as soon as he left the mirror.

Later, Lu Mingze sat in front of the door waiting for a mirror, feeling as if his body was gradually evaporating like steam. Just then, Guan Ling fell down.

Next came a stranger, then Cao Xi, and a few others dropped down like dumplings into a pot.

Lu Mingze looked up and waited. It was a full minute after Cao Xi came down that Xing Ye finally fell from the ceiling.

The moment he landed, Lu Mingze felt there was a mirror in his pocket!

So he couldn't wait any longer and rushed into Xing Ye's arms, and soon after was taken out by Xing Ye.

“You’re too slow!” Lu Mingze said angrily. “That other man fell from the ceiling just like you. You were in the same mental world, right? He jumped down three hours earlier than you!”

“It’s my fault. I came back too late,” Xing Ye said, feeling a chill of fear. If he had returned just a little later, Lu Mingze would have disappeared, and what would he have done then?

“It’s good that you’re back,” Lu Mingze made a gesture in the mirror as if opening his arms. “It’s so good that you’re back.”

 

Translator : DarNan