Chapter 15: The Person in the Mirror
In the midst of the storm, thunder roared.
Maria had just tumbled in through the window when she suddenly heard an urgent call.
"Hurry, leave this place!"
She paused, then fished out a small mirror from her bag. Her reflection stared back at her, but what was eerie was that the expression of the person in the mirror was completely different from her own...
The "mirror person" looked anxious and kept urging her to leave.
Maria had discovered the mirror person not long ago. At first, she was startled by the other's presence, but as their exchanges became more frequent, she gradually got used to it.
She didn't know why, but the mirror person gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Moreover, she always had the intuition that the other would not harm her.
Whenever she encountered any troubles, she would talk with the mirror person.
The mirror person would give her advice, of which she only took one: to feed Xu Yi every now and then.
"Is there a problem here? I haven't found Xu Yi yet," Maria said, confused.
"Hurry! If you don't leave now, it'll be too late!" the mirror person urged anxiously.
As soon as these words fell, large patches of white plaster fell off the walls, and a yellow-brown spread took over, with blood-red cursed characters emerging.
Maria was shocked. Since she could accept the "mirror person," she naturally understood that there was another side to this world.
A ghostly figure shrouded in bandages suddenly appeared at the door, its blood-red pupils staring fixedly at her. Maria's face went pale, and her body began to tremble slightly.
It wasn't just one ghost, disembodied figures surged from the end of the corridor, seemingly endless.
"Let's exchange! Otherwise, we'll both die here!" the mirror person said urgently.
Maria hesitated. This wasn't the first time the mirror person had suggested an exchange, and she had always been wary, never agreeing.
But she also knew something was very wrong, and doubted she could handle it with her own abilities.
"Hurry! What are you hesitating for?" demanded the mirror person.
The bandaged ghost figures drew closer, and Maria's body began to shake ever so slightly. After a few seconds of hesitation, she finally gritted her teeth and kissed her reflection in the mirror.
With the imprint of her lips, the contract was sealed!
The next second, the person in the mirror vanished, and Maria's pupils turned dull. Then she slowly closed her eyes, only to snap them open again.
Her gaze had changed, no longer that of a pitiable little rabbit; it was sharp as a knife.
Dense, bandaged ghost figures surrounded "Maria." Thick black fog rose from her body, preventing the spirits from getting close.
But "Maria" knew she couldn't hold out for long. So, she turned and dashed upstairs.
......
"There are a total of 108 bodies," Ailent finally finished counting the corpses and reported a number.
"Are you sure it's 108?" Xu Yi asked, not convinced.
"Of course!" Ailent slapped his chest in assurance. He was terrified he might count one less and miss a ghost that would then cling to him, so he had been particularly careful.
Xu Yi nodded, satisfied. According to the newspaper, the number of bodies missing from the cemetery was exactly 108. This number could have other meanings, but that was not important now.
"Burn these bodies, and we can break the haunting here!" Xu Yi picked up the kerosene he had bought earlier from the corner of the wall and handed it to Ailent.
There were many methods of exorcism, and the simplest and most crude was to destroy the vessel, which in this case was the bandaged corpses before them.
"Could this end up burning the house down?" Ailent took the gasoline with some hesitation.
Xu Yi moved a bundle of fireproof cloths from the corner of the wall to Ailent's feet, clearly well-prepared.
Ailent was at a loss for words as he looked at the fireproof cloth. Such cloth could only isolate small fires; if the flames grew too large, they were useless!
"The ghost realm has just formed and can be broken easily. If we wait too long..." Xu Yi did not finish his sentence.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get to work, Exorcist!" Ailent swiftly poured kerosene over the corpse.
Xu Yi nodded in satisfaction.
Being faint-hearted isn't all bad—at least one wouldn't trade their life for a bit of money.
Ailent really did come at the right time today; otherwise, if Xu Yi accidentally burned down the house, he would have no way to explain himself.
He certainly didn't want to carry the blame.
The lighter clicked twice and an orange flame rose. Holding the lighter, Xu Yi walked toward the pile of corpses.
The final blow had to be dealt by himself!
Not for a sense of ceremony, but because only then could he trigger the "Entries Devouring" after destroying the ghost.
The lights in the morgue flickered on and off—the ghost had already started to influence this place.
Xu Yi didn't hesitate; he threw the lighter at the pile of corpses, which immediately caught fire due to the kerosene, blazing fiercely.
The two stepped back, but their expressions suddenly changed. The red incantations on the corpses began to flicker and the burning flames were extinguished at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"The lighter!" Xu Yi extended his hand to Ailent with a serious look on his face.
Ailent hurriedly passed the spare lighter to Xu Yi.
The lighter, with its flame alight, was brought close to the corpses, but this time the situation was worse than before; the kerosene seemed ineffective, unable to ignite at all.
He tried several times in succession, but the result was the same.
It seemed that common methods couldn't burn these corpses! Xu Yi frowned deeply.
Just as he was at a loss, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came from upstairs, causing Xu Yi to pause.
Ghosts are ethereal and should not make footsteps sounds.
Could it be an illusion? Yet it seemed so real.
Ailent was already as jumpy as a spooked bird. Upon hearing the footsteps, he trembled and hid behind Xu Yi.
Xu Yi ignored him and headed upstairs on his own.
"Xu... Xu Yi, save me!"
No sooner had Xu Yi reached the top of the stairs than he saw an unbelievable figure, "Maria! What are you doing here?"
Maria leaned against the wall in the corridor, covered in blood, moaning in pain, "Martin wants to deal with you, I secretly followed him here to tell you the news..."
Xu Yi's Psychic Entry was nearing full value, and with his not insubstantial Spiritual Perception, he could determine that she was indeed human, not an illusion created by a spiteful ghost.
As Maria looked at Xu Yi, who was steadily approaching, she lowered her head slightly to conceal the malevolent glint in her eyes. She wasn't looking to kill Xu Yi—she just wanted to find a new scapegoat.
With each step Xu Yi took closer, Maria clenched the craft knife hidden in her sleeve.
Stopping three steps away from Maria, Xu Yi spoke in an eerie tone, "What's hidden in your sleeve? Is it a knife? Were you planning to stab me a few times?"
The Combat Techniques Entry endowed him with a wealth of combat experience. Despite her act of labored breathing, he noticed straight away that she wasn't injured.
As he drew nearer to her, the system also sent a prompt.
[Psychic Entry Experience +9, Current Progress: 95/100.]
As he witnessed the Entry's value rising, Xu Yi felt a surge of excitement.
Without a doubt, there was something off about Maria!
Beyond her poor disguise and the hint from the Entry experience, there was one more crucial point.
The ghostly figure that had been crouched behind Maria was gone, and of course, Xu Yi wasn't naïve enough to think that the spirit had a change of heart and left on its own.
Xu Yi had reason to believe that it was the ghost that had seized control of Maria's body!