Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Mirror World 5

The night was thick, Zhou Zhou walked alone in the dark wilderness, moving and stopping.

He had only heard one sound earlier, and after that there were no other sounds coming out. At first, he did indeed follow the direction of the sound source, but now he couldn’t find the origin of that sound anymore.

He looked around and around, but found no traces of anyone passing by. Zhou Zhou looked around with some perplexity, not knowing which way to go for a while.

The mountain was particularly quiet at night. He tried walking a short distance in various directions, and finally saw a faint glow.

Was there a player there? Zhou Zhou’s eyes brightened, and he immediately walked over.

As he got closer and closer to the light source, he found a lighting tool casually placed on the grass, and the light from the lighting tool shone directly at a life-size mirror placed on the open ground. The light he had seen was reflected from the mirror.

Zhou Zhou slowly approached, picked up the lighting tool from the ground. This must have been left by a player.

But where did the player go?

Holding the lighting tool, Zhou Zhou looked around, but didn’t see a single person.

And while he was looking around, the “him” in the mirror was staring straight at him.

The lighting tools inside and outside the mirror made the surrounding area bright. No matter from which angle he looked, the person in the mirror looked exactly the same as Zhou Zhou, except that the upturned curve of his mouth was extremely eerie.

Unable to find anyone, Zhou Zhou finally looked towards the mirror. He blinked at the mirror, and the person in the mirror also blinked.

Why was there a mirror here?

Although puzzled in his heart, Zhou Zhou’s first reaction was still to look at himself in the mirror.

After walking for a good while on the mountain, his hair was messed up. Zhou Zhou’s hair was originally slightly curly, but now it had been blown into a bird’s nest by the wind. He smoothed his hair with his hands, then stared at himself in the mirror for a good while. His appearance and clothes looked fine, no need to tidy up further.

Huh?

Zhou Zhou frowned. Why did he look a bit rigid in the mirror? Could it be… from being blown by the wind for too long?

He rubbed both sides of his cheeks with one hand, but it still looked the same as before, with no change at all.

Just as he was utterly perplexed, he noticed that the frowning “him” gradually relaxed his expression and turned into a smile. Zhou Zhou subconsciously touched the corners of his own mouth, but the “him” in the mirror just let his hands hang at his sides, without raising them.

His actions were out of sync with the him in the mirror. Apart from the movements and expressions, they looked exactly the same. Zhou Zhou finally realized something was wrong and stared intently at the person in the mirror.

Suddenly, Zhou Zhou took a few small steps backwards. The smile on the corners of the “him” in the mirror grew wider, as if mocking Zhou Zhou’s timidity.

Originally thinking that Zhou Zhou would scream and run away, but instead he walked back with the same gait, now less than ten centimeters away from the mirror.

Zhou Zhou looked at the him in the mirror with some curiosity. At first, the movements were still synchronized, but later this mirror seemed to have developed its own thoughts. The person who looked exactly the same as him stood there smiling, his eyes very lively, staring at him no matter how far or close he moved.

Zhou Zhou slowly extended his index finger towards the mirror surface.

When his finger touched the mirror, the surface rippled like water, with faint ripples spreading out from where he touched, and his fingertip clearly felt a cold, hard sensation.

Zhou Zhou stared intently at the mirror surface. After the ripples disappeared, nothing else happened. He was about to step back when a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed his finger!

Widening his eyes in surprise, Zhou Zhou saw the “him” in the mirror wearing an eerie smile, actually reaching out a hand from the mirror to grab his finger. Immediately, another hand came out, firmly grasping Zhou Zhou’s arm and trying to pull him into the mirror. The lighting tool that had previously been in the mirror person’s hands also disappeared. With both hands, he was forcefully trying to drag Zhou Zhou into the mirror.

Zhou Zhou immediately resisted, dropping the lighting tool with his other hand and grabbing the other’s arm, pulling outwards.

The two identical people seemed to be engaged in a tug-of-war, each trying to pull the other to their side.

The out-of-place mirror in the wilderness, the person in the mirror looking exactly like himself but acting eerily, for other players, this would be a mental torment. But for Zhou Zhou, it became a physical contest.

Not only did the mirror person look exactly the same as Zhou Zhou, but he was also equally strong. The two of them tugged at each other for a while, neither succeeding.

Previously in the Love Academy, Zhou Zhou had read all the books in the library by himself, so he had a little insight into tug-of-war as well. He lowered his center of gravity, extended his legs straight, and gradually pulled the other half out of the mirror.

With half his body almost out of the mirror, the face that had previously worn an eerie smile suddenly looked panicked. “He” used one hand to brace against the inside of the mirror frame, letting go of the hand that was pulling Zhou Zhou and instead forcefully pulling back his own hand while shouting loudly, “No no!”

Using Zhou Zhou’s face and Zhou Zhou’s voice, while the Zhou Zhou who was now grunting and straining in the tug-of-war had a very peculiar feeling, as if he was struggling against himself. Seeing the panicked expression on the other person’s face, he thought for a moment and released his hands, since the person on the other side seemed to strongly resist coming out.

Zhou Zhou’s release was abrupt and unexpected, and the “Zhou Zhou” on the other side, who was still forcefully pulling himself back, was caught completely off guard and unable to release his force in time. With his center of gravity destabilized, he fell backwards.

Zhou Zhou only saw “him” look at him with a shocked gaze, mixed with a hint of resentment and disbelief, before rolling on the grass and disappearing from the mirror.

At this point, the mirror only showed scenery, without the “Zhou Zhou”.

Zhou Zhou pursed his lips, feeling very guilty as he looked around. It seemed he had inadvertently done something wrong.

He took a step forward, approaching the mirror again. The mirror did not reflect his figure, only the empty grass swaying left and right in the wind. Zhou Zhou looked left and right inside the mirror, but couldn’t find the “himself” who had rolled away.

He touched the mirror surface again, but this time there were no ripples like water, it had become a real mirror, though it still didn’t reflect him.

Knocking gently on the surface like knocking on a door, Zhou Zhou called out, “Are you there? Are you okay?”

He pressed his ear against the mirror, hoping the person inside the mirror would respond, but heard nothing.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to let go. I just saw that you didn’t want to come out, so I released my hands. I should have told you in advance, I’m really sorry!” Zhou Zhou shouted at the mirror again.

But there was still no movement inside the mirror.

Zhou Zhou stared at the mirror in puzzlement. Could it be that the person was angry and didn’t want to talk to him?

After waiting for a long time without a response, Zhou Zhou sighed and bent down to pick up the lighting tool from the ground. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the other side of the hill.

He walked over there with the lighting tool and discovered that beneath the dense grass was a very steep slope, hidden from view.

He had come down from the upper slope. That direction was right on the other side, and the slope was concealed by the bushes. Without careful observation, one wouldn’t notice it at all.

Could it be…

Zhou Zhou slowly turned his head, gazing at the mirror reflecting the same surroundings.

Could it be that the person in the mirror fell down from here?

Zhou Zhou immediately approached the mirror again, anxiously observing the movements inside. Now that his own figure wasn’t reflected in the mirror, he could see everything inside clearly.

He finally noticed a small difference, at the location of the slope, the area concealed by weeds seemed to be missing a small portion.

He really did fall down!

“Are you okay? Did you fall down there?”

Zhou Zhou started shouting at the mirror again, but still received no response. He even pressed his head against the mirror, trying to see if he could enter the mirror, but failed.

If only he hadn’t struggled with the other person, and just let himself be pulled in directly, this wouldn’t have happened, Zhou Zhou thought regretfully.

He sat down beside the mirror with his knees hugged to his chest, occasionally glancing sideways to see if the person in the mirror had appeared, calling out a few times. He waited like this for several hours, as if the events with the mirror person were just his own fantasy.

He didn’t know where Al was at the moment. Zhou Zhou was getting restless. Although his patience was good, he couldn’t just sit here forever, unable to wait for other players to come by or for the mirror person to return.

He didn’t like the feeling of being alone here, especially since it was so quiet, similar to the feeling in the Love Academy.

He preferred crowded, lively places. Even in the wilderness, he could handle it if there were people accompanying him. But here, there was nothing, the silence making it feel like the whole world had become just him alone again.

As dawn approached, Zhou Zhou finally decided to continue towards the mountaintop.

But before that, there was one more thing he had to do.

Zhou Zhou stored the lighting tool into his system. All items purchased from shops could be stored in his system, even if they belonged to other players. When he met those other players again, he would return them, since the few players who came in together were all acquainted. As long as he gave the lighting tool to any one of them, it would reach its owner.

Then Zhou Zhou stood in front of the mirror and said solemnly, “Don’t worry, I’ll take responsibility.”

Then he shouldered the mirror.

This rectangular mirror wasn’t fixed to the ground. It could be lifted up, and it wasn’t heavy, about the same as the full-length dressing mirrors typically placed in homes.

Zhou Zhou grasped the mirror on both sides and lifted it horizontally, then left this place and headed towards the mountaintop. Although the mirror wasn’t heavy, carrying it horizontally made it easy to bump into things, and the mirror looked thin, so he had to be careful. Otherwise, if he dropped and shattered the mirror, the person inside might not be able to get out.

While Zhou Zhou was engaged in the tug-of-war with the person in the mirror, Alvia had already reached the mountaintop and looked down over the entire mountain range. However, the weeds on the mountain were too dense, with some areas overgrown, and there were even a few patches of forest obstructing the view, making it impossible to see any other players, let alone Zhou Zhou.

Alvia’s gaze lowered slightly, no longer continuing to search from above, but quietly pondering instead.

The information he had was limited. First, everyone had been scattered, and upon waking up, there would be a fake double of their companion following them. Only by saying a specific phrase could they make the double disappear.

Second was the instance name, Mirror World. From the name, it could be deduced that either they were already in the Mirror World, or the exit needed to be found in the Mirror World. It was just unclear which situation they were currently in.

But the top priority was still to find Zhou Zhou first. With Zhou Zhou’s keen senses, he would surely realize that the person following him was an imposter. But if he didn’t say the specific phrase, would that fake be able to harm Zhou Zhou? After all, their goal was definitely to eliminate more players.

His spiritual power was unable to spread out. From the foot of the mountain to the top, everywhere he went would block his spiritual power.

Originally, he had thought that by looking down from the top of the mountain, he might be able to find Zhou Zhou. But he still found nothing, the entire mountain was eerily quiet. It seemed he could only search step by step from different positions now. Alvia began searching for traces of Zhou Zhou from the mountaintop, spiraling outwards and downwards, not rushing forward this time but carefully looking for any clues left by others.

There were signs that someone had been at the mountaintop, but the trail disappeared at the edge of the cliff, likely having been eliminated.

Approaching the middle of the mountain, he found more player traces from the degree of broken leaves and grass. Alvia followed the trail, which also disappeared at a certain point. At the same time, there were footprints of another person here who had lingered for a while before leaving.

Following these clues, Alvia discovered that person had gone towards the mountaintop. As daylight grew brighter, he finally found them.

And this person was none other than the Zhou Zhou he was looking for.

However, Zhou Zhou seemed to be carrying something in his hands, moving with great difficulty.

As he gradually approached, Alvia realized it was a mirror, Zhou Zhou was carefully carrying a mirror almost as tall as himself towards the mountaintop.

Zhou Zhou had also noticed Alvia behind him, and immediately recognized him as the real Al.

He had finally found Al!

Zhou Zhou was extremely happy. He disliked being alone, so seeing a familiar face appear made him truly delighted. This joy at seeing Al caused him to habitually do something.

“Al~” Zhou Zhou waved happily at him.

“Crash!”

The mirror shattered into two pieces.

Zhou Zhou: !!!