Warning: reference to suicide

The 'human mirror' who could discern both strengths and weaknesses.

Ren Tingman roared at them, and the waves of her anger blew into their faces, causing Guan Ling to take a step back.

Behind him was the shattered glass, and that step nearly sent Guan Ling falling off the 34th floor again. Fortunately, Cao Qian reacted quickly, grabbing him just as he was about to fall and pulling him back.

They weren’t worried about him dying from the fall but feared that he might accidentally trigger the normal ending, making their return pointless.

"Ugh, it smells so bad!" Guan Ling shook his head. "You were such a beautiful woman, why is your breath so awful?"

"She’s a scavenger, not like a pet cat or dog that brushes its teeth regularly. How good do you think it’s going to smell?"

As Xing Ye spoke, he raised his hand and swiftly sketched, drawing three swords.

Randy’s sword was the easiest to draw—simple, bold, and powerful, drawn in just a few strokes with great effectiveness.

Each person took a sword. Cao Qian was the first to strike, chopping off half of Ren Tingman’s head. Guan Ling followed closely, slicing off the lizard-woman’s two front claws. Xing Ye leaped high and plunged his sword into the lizard-woman’s chest.

The lizard-woman let out two screams, then collapsed and lay still. After about a minute, she gradually disappeared.

Guan Ling patted his chest and said, "Strange, even though we’re still in the collective imagination, it doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as before."

"Your tolerance has improved," Cao Qian said. "Lin Lin told me this happens when you get used to despair."

Xing Ye noticed Cao Qian’s bulging pocket and thought that this player, Lin Lin, was quite peculiar. Neither her initial skill nor her personality seemed straightforward; there wasn’t a shred of optimism in her.

Guan Ling looked at the spot where Ren Tingman’s body had disappeared and said, "That lizard-woman wasn’t that hard to deal with, mainly because the boss has leveled up."

Earlier, when their QR codes and initial skills didn’t work, they were quite passive. Only the two QR codes found in the game world were useful, and "“Tranquillity" didn’t even work on Xing Ye. Now that they had discovered a new method of attack and their power had increased, the lizard-woman was much easier to defeat.

"What do we do next?" Cao Qian asked.

"Search the CEO’s office carefully," Xing Ye instructed. "There must be a reason why Xiao Hei jumped from the CEO’s office. This time, we can’t miss any key information."

Guan Ling and Cao Qian began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, while Xing Ye, feeling a bit tired, sat down in a chair and took out the small mirror.

This time, Lu Mingze was present. He happily waved at Xing Ye and greeted him, "Don’t worry, I’m fine. I just tried sensing the area, and there’s no mirror here suitable for me to transfer into. The reason I thought there was before was actually a trick—it was probably the door to my resting place in the cemetery calling me."

Hearing this, Xing Ye felt a bit down. "Don’t talk like that. You don’t have a resting place."

Lu Mingze was a bit cheered by this. Even if the whole world thought he was already dead and beyond saving, there was still someone who knew he was alive.

As the small mirror recalled the kiss Xing Ye had given it earlier, it was just about to ask when Guan Ling suddenly called out, "Found it! There’s a notebook here with a newspaper clipping pasted in it. It says, 'Intern at X University jumped off the building and committed suicide : Is this a distortion  of human nature or the collapse of morality?' Who writes these articles? What a terrible headline."

Guan Ling handed the press extract to Xing Ye. The latter carefully read every word, noting that the date on it was June 2nd, the same as the time on the CEO’s digital calendar: June 2nd, 1:00 am.

In other words, Xiao Hei had jumped to his death at 1:00 am on June 2nd, yet the news article had been published that morning at 9:00 am. But the article was already pasted into the CEO’s notebook at 1:00 am on June 2nd.

"The timeline here is a bit messed up," Xing Ye remarked.

"Isn’t this the spiritual world? A messed-up timeline is normal here, right?" Guan Ling asked.

Xing Ye looked at Cao Qian.

Feeling the class monitor's gaze, Cao Qian immediately said, "This isn't normal. Since we're in a spiritual world, everything should be based on Xiao Hei's experiences before his death. No matter how chaotic things get, there shouldn't be a report about him after his death."

"Exactly," Xing Ye confirmed, holding the clipping. "And as Guan Ling mentioned, if this report was written like this, there's no way it would make the headlines. The writing is terrible, with a cliché and overused title. The content of the article is also extremely sloppy. The description of the suicide process is careless, and the method of breaking into the CEO's office wih a saw doesn't make sense at all. Was the security guard dead or something? No company's security would be that weak."

Guan Ling ran to check the door and shook his head, saying, "With my years of experience, it would take at least four hours to break this door with a regular saw. If it were an electric saw, wouldn’t the noise be a bit too much?"

"And what about the glass cutter?" Cao Qian examined the damaged glass by the window. "This is thick, bulletproof, wind-resistant glass. Cutting it this neatly with a standard glass cutter would be extremely difficult. Don’t you think this cut looks way too professional? It’s like it was done in one smooth motion, a perfect straight line as if measured with a ruler."

Seeing both Guan Ling and Xing Ye looking at her, Cao Qian explained, "I work in a renovation company, so I know a bit about these things."

Xing Ye said, "Let’s assume Xiao Hei really committed suicide and that this place is his spiritual world. This clipping could be something he imagined before his death, thinking his death would cause a huge stir the next day. That could explain the poor writing of the article. But what about the flaws in the suicide process? If he's already dead, then the acts of breaking the door and cutting the glass must have been carried out. If those events actually happened, why are they so illogical?"

"The answer is simple," Xing Ye continued. "We’ve been inside Xiao Hei's spiritual world all along, and even the suicide itself is something he imagined. These sloppy designs haven’t been executed yet; they only exist in his imagination!"

Cao Qian thought for a moment and said, "So the truth is that Xiao Hei isn't actually dead. He's either dreaming or lost in delusions, imagining his own death."

"Exactly," Xing Ye agreed. "We acted too hastily earlier, letting our emotions affect our judgment. I recall that Xiao Hei's medical record in the psychological counseling room was also dated June 2nd. He supposedly died, yet less than a day later, his medical record was already written up and placed in the archives to collect dust?"

"That's clearly impossible," Guan Ling said. "There's no way it could happen that quickly. So, if Xiao Hei isn't dead and we go through with the normal ending by jumping off the building, what happens then?"

Cao Qian replied, "He would probably really die. Xiao Hei is mentally unstable, and if this is his dream or fantasy, once we jump, in his imagination, he would have already died."

Xing Ye nodded. "There's a well-known psychological experiment where a person's eyes are blindfolded, and the back of a knife is pressed against their wrist to make them think their wrist has been cut open. Then, they play the sound of dripping water to mimic the sound of blood. In the end, the person actually dies."

(NT: reference to the nocebo effect, whereby a person experiences negative side effects or worsening of symptoms because they expect harmful or unpleasant outcomes, even when they have been given a harmless or inactive treatment)

"He essentially scared himself to death," Cao Qian said. "So if we just try to escape from here, we’ll end up causing someone’s death."

"Exactly," Xing Ye agreed. "And that someone is desperately seeking help. Think about it—if we truly wanted to die, would we so easily let others see the painful memories inside us?"

Cao Qian, who had the most experience with this, shook her head. "Even if someone entered my mind, the memories I didn’t want anyone to see would definitely be locked away. No one would find them without breaking through those barriers."

"But in the 20th floor room, Xiao Hei’s treatment process and later confessions were completely open. Anyone who entered the collective imagination could immediately sense how strongly Xiao Hei wanted to commit suicide. Would someone who truly wants to die go around shouting, 'I want to die'?" Xing Ye asked.

Guan Ling raised his hand and said, "No, they wouldn’t. I often say, 'If I gamble again, I’ll die,' but I’ve shouted that countless times and never died once. I just want people to pay attention to me and believe me."

Cao Qian and Xing Ye both glared at Guan Ling.

Realizing his previous behaviour had been a complete mess, Guan Ling quickly covered his mouth and crouched down, trying to reduce his presence as much as possible.

Xing Ye continued, "There are many types of suicide. Some people attempt it as a means to achieve certain goals, and those people make a big show of their suicide attempts. But someone who is suicidal due to depression and world-weariness wouldn’t want anyone to stop them. They would quietly go somewhere alone to die."

"So whether it was the psychological counseling process, his self-analysis, or the clippings, it was all Xiao Hei crying out for help. He hoped someone would notice his pain and pull him out of the abyss."

After saying this, Xing Ye paused for a moment and added, "We missed so much information earlier, it’s almost unlike me."

Back then, he had forced himself to remain calm, believing he was being meticulous, but in reality, his rationality had already collapsed, and he was on the verge of breaking down. He was desperate to leave this world, grasping at any clue he could find, mistaking the superficial ending for the true one.

If they hadn’t been pulled into the cemetery, giving them a chance to reset and regain their composure, this world would have likely ended in such a hasty conclusion.

Guan Ling and Cao Qian were still stunned by how sharp Xing Ye had become, yet he remained dissatisfied with himself. Meanwhile, Lu Mingze noticed the deep remorse in Xing Ye's expression.

Softly, Lu Mingze said, "Nobody is perfect. You’re too hard on yourself. Don’t keep yourself so tightly wound."

Xing Ye looked at him and said, "I just feel..."

"You feel like you lost, right?" Lu Mingze asked. "Since entering this game, you’ve managed to turn the tide every time, overcoming other players and even the game itself in adverse situations. But here, where you found two teammates from the beginning and the players you met all followed your lead, you were in a relatively favourable situation, yet you performed worse than you did in adversity, missing so many details. Doesn’t that make you feel like you’ve lost badly?"

Xing Ye laughed self-deprecatingly. "You've seen through me again."

In the mirror, Lu Mingze shook his head. "I don’t think you lost to the game; you lost to yourself. In this world, you didn’t have any opponents to match you, and the game amplified your negative emotions. You were defeated by your own arrogance, just as I was defeated by my own narcissism in the final stage. The game is truly remarkable. It updates players' data throughout the process and adapts its strategies to find ways to defeat them. It, too, is constantly evolving."

Hearing these words, Xing Ye was slightly taken aback.

At that moment, the little mirror truly seemed to embody the role the system had given him—the "human mirror" who could discern both strengths and weaknesses.

 

Translator : DarNan