CHAPTER 26: MIRROR OF FORGOTTEN FACES

The Mirror of Forgotten Faces did not reflect.

It consumed.

Luo Feng stood before the artifact—a swirling pool of mercury suspended vertically in a ruined temple—and felt his own features slip just looking at it. The Fox Spirit's fifth tail lashed nervously, its silver tip dimming as if drained by proximity.

Li Qing kept her sword drawn, not pointing at the mirror, but at the Fox Spirit. "Last chance to turn back."

Xiao Jiuying bared her teeth. "You'd love that, wouldn't you?"

[System Alert: Final Artifact Detected]

[Mission: Gaze Into the Mirror]

[Reward: True Memory (15%)]

[Warning: This Will Hurt]

Luo Feng stepped forward.

The mirror lunged.

[The First Face: The Man Who Wasn't]

The mercury wrapped around his head like a second skin, and suddenly—

He was older. Wearing robes stitched from stormclouds. Standing before a council of gods not as a supplicant, but as an equal.

The War God looked nervous. The Thunder God avoided his gaze. The Void Emperor—

"It's done," the Emperor said. "The timeline is stable."

Luo Feng (but not Luo Feng, not this version) raised a hand—

The vision ripped away as the Fox Spirit yanked him back by the collar. "No no no, you don't get to check out yet!"

Mercury dripped from his nostrils, burning like liquid shame.

[Memory Unlocked: 5%]

[Pain Level: Excruciating]

Li Qing's blade hovered at the Fox Spirit's throat. "He's not ready."

Xiao Jiuying's tails bristled. "He'll never be ready!"

[The Second Face: The Cut That Never Healed]

Luo Feng shoved them apart and dove back into the mirror.

This time, he saw her—the silver-haired woman from his fragments. Her hands cradled his face as she whispered:

"They'll make you forget me. But break the mirror when the time comes—"

A sword erupted through her chest.

Not Li Qing's blade.

His.

The memory screamed apart as the Void Emperor's voice cut through:

"Sacrifices must hurt, or they're not real."

[Memory Unlocked: 10%]

[Side Effect: Nosebleed Now Includes Silver Mercury]

The Fox Spirit was shouting, but Luo Feng couldn't hear her over the ringing in his skull.

There was one more face to see.

[The Third Face: The Reflection That Fought Back]

The final plunge tore something loose in his soul.

This wasn't memory.

This was now.

The mirror showed his current form—but the reflection moved on its own, pressing its palm against the mercury barrier between them.

"Took you long enough," Not-Luo-Feng smirked. "Here's the fun part—you're not the original. You're the patch they sewn over his corpse."

The reflection's chest split open, revealing a hollow cavity where a heart should be—and inside, a tiny silver nail.

"They left one in you too."

Then the real pain began.

[The Choice: Unnail or Die]

Luo Feng's physical body convulsed as the mercury invaded his veins, seeking that buried nail. The Fox Spirit's tails wrapped around him, trying to pull him free, but the mirror held fast.

Li Qing did the unthinkable—she stabbed the mirror.

The ice-coated blade shattered on contact, but the distraction was enough.

Luo Feng wrenched his hand up—and through the mirror's surface—

—closing his fingers around the nail in his reflection's chest.

"YES," hissed the reflection. "RIP IT OUT."

The Fox Spirit screamed: "DON'T!"

Too late.

[Check-In Complete (Catastrophic Success)]

The nail came free with a sound like reality tearing.

The mirror exploded.

Luo Feng woke on the ground, his chest aching where no wound existed, to find three horrors:

The Fox Spirit's sixth tail had manifested mid-crisis—and its fur was singed black at the tips.

Li Qing's sword hand was burned, the skin peeling where she'd touched the mirror's remnants.

The nail in his palm moved, squirming like a living thing.

[Reward: True Memory (15%)]

[New Truth: You Contain a God-Sealing Nail]

[Penalty: Mirror's Curse (You Forget New Memories 50% Faster)]

The Fox Spirit's new tail spoke in a voice like cracking glass:

"They're coming. The ones who made you."

Then it recited a latitude and longitude.

Li Qing looked ill. "Since when do your tails see the future?"

Xiao Jiuying stared at her sixth tail like it might bite her. "Since never."

END OF THE CHAPTER26