Yue Shi raised his hand and waved. The reflection in the mirror, dressed in a hospital gown, made the exact same motion.
He took another step forward, and the person in the mirror did the same.
Aside from the difference in attire, every action and gesture seemed identical.
However, Yue Shi soon noticed something was wrong. He suddenly raised his hand and swung it toward his own face. Just as his palm was about to hit his skin, he pulled back his strength, making the strike so light it wouldn't have even killed a mosquito.
The reflection in the mirror also slapped itself immediately, but that slap landed with a solid thud against its face. Furthermore, the movement seemed a fraction of a second slower than Yue Shi's.
Seeing this, Yue Shi broke into a wicked smile. His five fingers instantly transformed into sharp talons, and he slowly reached toward the mirror.
This time, the person in the mirror performed the same action, but its hand could not transform like Yue Shi's. Realizing its cover was blown, the person in the mirror curved its eyes and revealed a grotesque smile. Even through the mask, its mouth could be seen stretching unnaturally wide, all the way to its ears.
Crack—!
Yue Shi’s sharp fingertips slammed directly into the glass. The broken mirror, already riddled with cracks, shattered completely.
With a clattering sound, the mirror shards scattered across the floor. Yue Shi stared at the space behind the mirror, only to find a perfectly ordinary wall.
He was certain the person in the mirror just now hadn't been him.
But since he couldn't find any trace of the entity after breaking the mirror, could it be some kind of supernatural creature associated with mirrors?
Yue Shi thought about it for a moment but didn't linger. He continued toward the second floor.
As he stepped onto the stairs, he could clearly feel a thick layer of dust underfoot. Faint, messy footprints were visible—varying in size, pattern, and depth—clearly left by different people at different times.
Reaching the landing, he looked up and saw the dim second floor.
Just as Yue Shi raised his leg to continue climbing, a footprint abruptly appeared three steps ahead of him.
It was as if an invisible person was walking down from the second floor and had just run right into him.
Yue Shi stopped immediately, standing still to observe for half a minute. No other abnormalities occurred, so he took another step up.
Simultaneously, the footprint retreated a step as if being forced back. Yue Shi and the entity remained three steps apart.
After staring at the strange footprint for a while, Yue Shi suddenly turned and looked behind him. He discovered that the entity's footprints were identical to the ones he had left while walking up!
"Damn! I've run into a ghost!" Yue Shi thought. Was the supernatural entity from the mirror out again, continuing to mimic him?
He waited a while longer before cautiously heading up. This time, however, the strange footprints did not reappear. It seemed the invisible thing had left.
"Did the Demon Feather Barrier prevent that entity from harming me, so it stopped bothering?" Yue Shi couldn't figure it out for the moment, so he simply became more cautious.
Upon reaching the second floor, a window stood directly ahead, offering a view of the outside.
The layout of the second floor was nearly identical to the first. Long corridors stretched to the left and right, with patient rooms lined up evenly. However, there seemed to be more rooms here than on the first floor, and there were windows at both ends of the hallway.
"Is anyone there?" Yue Shi called out politely.
His voice echoed through the silent corridor, making the space feel incredibly hollow.
"I have a friend who asked me to come here and find someone named Qiao..." Yue Shi spoke again, but other than the empty echoes, there was still no response.
However, Yue Shi had a nagging feeling that after reaching the second floor, someone was watching him from the shadows. That sensation of being peeked at was faint but persistent.
Just as he had on the first floor, he walked to each patient room and violently forced the doors open. He looked inside, only to find the rooms empty.
Strangely, while the rooms on the first floor at least had beds, washbasins, and toilets, the rooms on the second floor had nothing. They were like bare, unfinished shells without any interior work, and every single room on the second floor was the same.
At the far right end of the second-floor corridor was a public restroom. After a moment's thought, Yue Shi walked inside.
By now, the sky had darkened. There were no lights in the entire building, and the environment grew increasingly dim. Yue Shi could barely make out the layout of the restroom.
The stall doors were filthy, and there was some unknown grime on the floor.
Yue Shi pushed open the stall doors and checked each one. If humans were living here, there should have been obvious signs of the restroom being used.
In reality, whether it was the toilets in the first-floor rooms or this public restroom, they were all covered in a thick layer of dust. There wasn't even the faint smell of waste.
Drip...
The faint sound of a water droplet suddenly reached his ears. Yue Shi looked around with extreme alertness. He looked up and saw a large character for "Death" written on the ceiling.
The script was a dark red, looking like fresh blood that hadn't yet dried. From time to time, a drop would fall to the floor with a plop.
This "Death" character must have been written just now, and it was clearly targeted at Yue Shi. Yet, he hadn't noticed a single thing until that moment.
Thud—!
A heavy sound of a door slamming suddenly came from the corridor. Yue Shi immediately ran out of the restroom. He judged that the sound had come from the other end of the hallway, so he headed that way, his pace quickening until he was in a full sprint.
Arriving at the other end of the corridor, he looked at one of the patient room doors. He had forced open every room on the second floor just moments ago, but this particular door was now tightly shut.
Yue Shi tried to push it, but it wouldn't budge. It felt as if something was blocking the door from the other side.
Someone might be inside!
Yue Shi immediately activated Raven's Secret Whispers and asked, "Who's in there?"
The bewitching voice drifted out, but the room remained deathly silent.
He pressed his hand against the door handle and pushed with immense force. The already damaged door was soon forced open a crack. Peering through the gap, he saw that the curtains had been drawn, making the room exceptionally dark and impossible to see clearly.
Just as Yue Shi was about to increase his strength to tear the whole door down, a pair of cloudy eyes suddenly flashed past the gap.
Rate on N.U.
