Chapter 62.1: Horror Skewers (17)

Xie Chi was silent for a few seconds. "So in the rules of the game, the area of hide and seek is the entire area where the glass maze is located. This area also includes the mirror world where the strong ghost is located, right?"

According to the rules of the game, the mirror world was also included within the scope of hide and seek. The area of hide and seek referred to the entire area of the glass maze. The mirrors were also in the area of the glass maze. The mirror world was just extra volume in the glass mirror maze.

Two ghosts played hide and seek with him. He was in the real world. One ghost was in the real world and the other was in the mirror. This didn't go against the rules of the game.

His doubts about the range of hide and seek further proved that the ghost was in the mirror. Otherwise, the app would directly tell him that the range was in the 'glass maze', not the 'entire area of the glass maze'. This wasn't the first time he encountered a word game with the app. The app was based on the principle of being concise and never repeating things. It didn't deceive or mislead actors but it could play word games. Of course, the word games were still based on the premise of giving information.

It was just like the first instance. The app said that he couldn't attack the pregnant female boss but the boss wasn't pregnant. Therefore, the restriction didn't exist.

This time, it was specifically mentioned that the range of hide and seek was the entire area where the glass maze was located. This meant there must be other places besides the glass maze.

It was like how 'there is only one ghost brought by the doll'. It didn't say the ghost was brought by the doll. It deliberately said there was only one ghost brought by the doll. This actually implied that there might be other ghosts. If there was really only one ghost, the app would directly tell him there was only one ghost in the short movie. Why emphasize there was only one ghost brought by the doll? Didn't it mean that there was another ghost brought by something else?

For this type of word game, the more set the actor, the easier it was to be fooled. If they thought about it a bit, the word game would fail in its purpose of hiding information and would actually expose some key information. This was inevitable. After all, the contradiction was eternal and the hidden back was exposed. The more that something was deliberately concealed, the easier it was to be exposed.

Xie Xinglan suddenly said, "The strong ghost is in the mirror and the strong ghost is the mirror image of the weak one."

Xie Chi also figured this out. This could explain why they had been here for so long and hadn't found the existence of the strong ghost. The strong ghost was the mirror image of the weak ghost.

It didn't matter if it was pushing forward or pushing backwards, there was only one possibility. They were playing hide and seek with two ghosts. One in the real world and one in the mirror world. The strong ghost in the mirror world was the mirror image of the weak ghost in the real world.

The strong ghost was hidden in the countless mirror images of the weak ghost. This was its safest hiding place. After coming in, they never would've thought that one of the countless mirror images of the weak ghost didn't belong to the weak ghost.

In addition to the above hints, there were actually other subtle hints. For example, the name of the boss in the live broadcast room was 'Sister Sadako's sister Sayaka.' There were two names in this ID, among which 'Sadako' was a well-known ghost. This was implicitly implying that they were playing hide and seek with two ghosts.

In addition, the name of the boss contained the word 'sister'. In life, the similarity between sisters would be relatively high. This might imply that the strong ghost and the weak ghost looked alike, implying that the strong ghost was the mirror image of the weak ghost.

Thoughts were flashing through Xie Chi's mind when Xie Xinglan declared coldly, "Then I will smash all the glass."

Since the strong ghost was in the mirror world, he just needed to smash all the glass. The strong ghost would lose its body and naturally couldn't be a threat to them. His hand had already formed a first and he was about to smash the glass. Then a terrible thought flashed in Xie Chi's mind and he immediately called out, "No!"

Xie Xinglan stopped his hand and his eyes flashed with doubt.

Xie Chi's heart jumped. "Brother, the clue is 'a clever person might become the victim of their own ingenuity'. Have you ever thought about the ending of breaking the glass?"

Xie Xinglan's expression sank. "The mirror world and the real world are connected?"

"No." Xie Chi shook his head. "The mirror world is equivalent to a parallel world. The strong ghost lives in that world and there is no intersection with this world. In the parallel world, in the same time and space, there is only one self. This is order. So even if the glass is broken, it won't come to the real world. Of course, it won't die. It will still live in that world. The mirror is simply a medium through which we can spy on it and it can spy on us. It is like covering your ears with your hands. We can't hear sound anymore but the sound still objectively exists. We can't kill by destroying the medium."

Xie Xinglan's expression was ugly.

"The strong ghost can pretend to be the weak ghost and move through the mirror to kill people in the real world. This is its special ability as a ghost but it is inevitably restricted by the rules? Have you ever wondered why it doesn't just run out of the mirror to kill us? Isn't this more convenient?"

Xie Chi smiled. "It is because it can't do so."

"Everything has order. It might move through mirrors but the mirror surface is likely to be part of its body. It can't come out of the mirror as a whole because this will destroy the order and cause it to break away from the world it belongs to. If only part of its body moves between the two worlds' time and space, it will still belong to the mirror world and this doesn't violate the order. It can't completely come to this world."

"The mirror is its invincible medium and also the medium that restricts its activities. This is a contradiction."

"My guess is that it killed Fatty by stretching out part of its body to drag him inside. However, if it stretches to the limit and can't reach Fatty then it would fail to kill him."

"As for why you can't smash the glass—"

Xie Chi asked, "Brother, how many glass faces are there in the glass maze?"

Xie Xinglan didn't think about it. "1,477 faces."

Xie Chi smiled. "If you smash them, how many faces will there be?"

Xie Xinglan's heart was cold and his expression sank.

It was 1,477 faces now. If it was smashed, it was... countless. No matter how small the glass fragments, it was a medium for the strong ghost. Even if the glass fragment was so small it could only be seen with a microscope, it didn't change its nature as a mirror.

If the mirror was the strong ghost's medium, it currently had only 1,477 mediums. According to Xie Chi, he just needed to find a way to hide from the strong ghost's limbs so it didn't reach him. Once the glass was broken, he was doomed to death because all the glass fragments were a medium for the strong ghost.

The more mediums there were, the smaller his area to survive. This was also a contradiction.

Xie Chi stated, "We have nothing to cover up the mirror and change the nature of it as a medium. Thus, we can't avoid it. We can't destroy the mirror, or a clever person might become the victim of their own ingenuity. This is the clue."

Xie Chi now seemed to understand what the clue 'a clever person might become the victim of their own ingenuity' was implying. All the decisions made using a set thinking pattern might be wrong. They might seem smart at first but they were actually stupid. He just needed to pause for a while and think carefully. Make a detour and things will become bright.

Xie Chi looked at the weak ghost kneeling in the mirror and couldn't understand the meaning of the look on her face.

"Brother, we heard the screams. Fatty should've been killed by the strong ghost and his corpse was dragged into the mirror. The question now is why the weak ghost is kneeling silently after Fatty died. Her hair is covering her face so I can't see her expression. I can't intuitively understand her emotions but her actions always make me feel... regret. Yes, that's the word. Regret. Deep down, a mistake was made that caused a great sense of powerlessness."

Xie Xinglan frowned. "I also think there is a problem. If the weak ghost and the strong ghost are purely competitors, then the strong ghost has robbed the weak ghost's prey. The weak ghost should be angry instead of kneeling silently."

Xie Chi stated, "Her kneeling makes me think that she didn't want Fatty to die."

Xie Xinglan continued, "Putting this question aside, I always have had a doubt. Xiao Chi, you called the ghost on its knees the weak ghost. I don't think it is appropriate. You can change the name."

"To what?"

Xie Xinglan spat out a world. "A human."

Xie Chi was shocked.

Xie Xinglan explained, "From my perspective, she doesn't show any abilities of a ghost. She can't teleport, penetrate through walls, see through walls or enter the ground. She is deceived by her own vision. Fatty was obviously so close but she easily missed him. She even makes footsteps when chasing people. As you said, she has the human emotion of regret. She is almost the same as a human."

"Xiao Chi, she should be familiar with the map. However, as I said earlier, I can guarantee that my running speed is double hers. She has the chasing speed of a normal woman. She is a completely normal woman."

Xie Chi understood what he meant. "You mean, she is indeed the ghost brought by the doll because we have seen the doll become her. Yet apart from the fact that she is the doll, she shows no abilities of a ghost, right?"

"Yes." Xie Xinglan answered truthfully. "She is too weak and isn't like a ghost at all."

Xie Chi suddenly had a rough idea in his mind. "Brother, she... is like a person with a 'ghost' identity."

Proofreader: Purichan