Chapter 80
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The three of them sat in the corner and talked quietly.
The ghost marriage contract tattoo on Lou Yan’s back gradually calmed down and stopped burning. Seeing that the contract had returned to normal, Lou Yan also breathed a sigh of relief.
He was afraid of being fooled by this cr*p.
After a few words, Lou Yan understood why there were so few people inside the staircase.
Li Sanxin and Lin You arrived ten minutes earlier than Lou Yan. They were among the first group of people to come here through the maze. This place was indeed a safe place for prisoners to recover their mental strength, but after staying here for a while, they found something wrong.
Not everyone chose to stay in the staircase, and some wanted to push through to the second floor in one go. Li Sanxin and Lin You saw at least five people enter the second floor.
At first, those who entered found the second floor easy to pass and were not in danger, so many hesitant people also entered the second floor.
Initially, one or two or three people entered smoothly, but as time passed, the screams from those who entered the second floor became more and more terrifying. Moreover, the later people entered, the more intense and terrifying the screams became.
Li Sanxin quickly noticed this detail and concluded that the difficulty of the second floor would increase as time passed or the number of people who cleared it increased.
Those who could reach this point were smart people, and others also noticed the trend. Regardless of rest, they gritted their teeth and rushed into the second floor, wanting to pass it before it became more difficult.
Li Sanxin lowered his voice and said, “We came early. It hasn’t been an hour since we started from the amusement park. But we can’t waste any more time. Who knows what’s inside the second floor? Lin You and I have discussed it before you arrived. Once you’re here, we’ll enter the second floor.”
Lin You nodded.
Lou Yan glanced at the other people sitting on the staircase with blank faces and knew that these people had exhausted their mental strength, so they could only sit here and wait for time to pass.
They probably also knew that the later they entered the second floor, the more difficult it would be, but they had no choice. Without mental power, they couldn’t use their talents. If they faced any danger, they wouldn’t even know how they died.
Lou Yan sighed, stood up, dusted off his clothes, and said, “Let’s not waste any more time, let’s go.”
After walking half a floor further, they reached the entrance to the second floor.
The dark entrance exuded a cold atmosphere, making the three well-built men feel a slight chill.
The three of them glanced at each other and walked in.
As soon as they entered, they saw a long corridor, so long that they couldn’t see the end of it.
The corridor was dark, with mirrors on both sides. The mirrors reflected their figures, and because the mirrors were facing each other, it looked as if there were countless of them inside the mirrors.
As soon as Lou Yan entered, his “Crisis Perception” sounded, telling him that there was something wrong with the mirrors on both sides.
Lou Yan approached one of the mirrors and looked inside. Because of the dim light, the reflections in the mirror were like nesting dolls, which was extremely straining for the eyes to look at. After a while, Lou Yan felt his eyes getting dry.
Li Sanxin saw his movement and curiously asked, “Is there something wrong with the mirrors inside?”
“Yeah,” Lou Yan carefully surveyed the images inside the mirror, “my intuition tells me there is the greatest danger in there.”
Lin You heard this and also leaned against the mirror to carefully examine the reflections inside. As he looked, he frowned and said uncertainly, “It seems like there are a few black spots in the mirror, and these black spots are slowly enlarging.”
Lou Yan immediately walked over to him. “Where?”
Lin You pointed to the black spots. “Do you see them?”
Lou Yan looked closely and indeed saw several black spots.
These black spots were hidden deep in the mirror, giving them the feeling that they were far away. After a while, just as Lin You said, these black spots seemed to grow slightly—not really growing, but they seemed to be getting closer, making it appear as if they were growing.
“Wait a minute,” Li Sanxin also noticed something and quickly said, “There are these small black spots in every mirror.”
Several people checked several mirrors one by one, and indeed found it to be true.
These small black spots were hidden within the reflections of people and were very inconspicuous. If it weren’t for Lin You’s discovery and reminder, Lou Yan and Li Sanxin would probably have to wait a while before they could see these small black spots.
“Lin You, your eyesight is really good,” Li Sanxin praised without hesitation, “How did you notice these black spots?”
Lin You explained, “I used to be a sniper. Snipers observe angles to find out where the enemy would choose to hide and select the most suitable concealed positions that wouldn’t be discovered by the enemy.”
These experiences were ingrained in Lin You’s instincts, so he subconsciously searched for the most difficult-to-detect angles, which led him to see these black spots.
Li Sanxin suddenly realized.
Lou Yan frowned slightly, “If I’m not mistaken, these small black spots are mirror people.”
Li Sanxin and Lin You both asked, “Mirror people?”
“These are strange beings that live inside mirrors. They can move freely within the mirrors and, once they lock onto their prey, will slowly approach the mirror. When they are close enough to reach out their hands from the mirror, they will pull their chosen prey into the mirror. Once a person is pulled into the mirror, they will be assimilated into mirror people,” Lou Yan looked towards the deep end of the corridor, his brows furrowed, “This corridor is lined with mirrors on both sides. Just from the few mirrors we’ve checked, each one has two or three small black spots hidden within them. This means that there are countless mirror people hidden within the mirrors on both sides of this corridor. And this corridor is only a little over a meter wide. If mirror people approach the mirrors, they will pull us into the mirrors.”
As he spoke, Li Sanxin and Lin You both had serious expressions, understanding the severity of the situation. Without saying a word, the three of them instinctively ran towards the end of the corridor.
There was no turning back. The only way they could survive now was to get out of the corridor before the mirror people emerged.
The further they ran into the corridor, the larger the mirror people in the mirrors on both sides became. Li Sanxin glanced at the mirrors and saw that one mirror person had already grown to half a meter in height. The face of the mirror person seemed somewhat familiar to him. Besides its pale complexion, all-black eyes, and sinister expression, it was one of the passers-by who had entered the second floor earlier.
And this passerby had been completely transformed into an anomaly after being pulled into the mirror by the mirror people, with no trace of humanity left.
Li Sanxin’s heart skipped a beat. He reluctantly averted his gaze and, after running a short distance, saw another passerby who had entered the second floor earlier in the mirror ahead.
Lin You also saw the familiar face in the mirror, his brows furrowed deeply, his voice low, “This should be the reason why there were more and more screams. As more people enter, the mirror people’s speed of approaching the mirrors also increases.”
Otherwise, the two passersby who entered earlier wouldn’t have been pulled into the mirrors one after the other.
Because they had been alerted by “Crisis Perception” as soon as they entered, combined with Lin You’s timely discovery of the mirror people, the three of them didn’t hesitate and directly ran towards the end of the corridor. They didn’t cautiously tiptoe along the way but instead ran at full speed, faster than the passersby who had entered earlier, and quickly reached the deep end of the corridor.
However, even though they ran faster, they still couldn’t see the end of the corridor.
The mirrored figures on both sides had grown to almost half the size of a person, getting closer and closer to the mirror. These mirrored figures twisted their bodies like shadows, each face sinister and fierce, their black eyes without whites glaring greedily at them, closely following their movements within the mirrors.
They had been running in the corridor for at least ten minutes.
The faces of the mirrored figures were now clearly visible, with only one meter left between them and the mirrors, as if they could break through the glass at any moment.
The three people dared not approach the mirrors, cautiously running in the middle.
Being stared at by countless pairs of eerie eyes undoubtedly exerted immense pressure on their minds. Li Sanxin’s forehead sweated profusely, and the cold sweat on his back had soaked a large area of his clothes. Every time he glanced sideways into the mirrors, he could meet the malicious and hateful eyes staring back at him.
Li Sanxin didn’t want to meet the gaze of the mirrored figures, but he couldn’t help but pay attention to their movements. His spirit became particularly exhausted as a result, and a sense of despair that he would never leave the corridor crept into his heart.
Lin You had strong willpower, and his mental state was better than Li Sanxin’s, but inevitably, his physical strength began to decline.
Lin You’s physical fitness was at the top level attainable by humans, but he had been running continuously for such a long time at his fastest speed, which greatly depleted his energy. He kept silent, trying to keep up with Lou Yan and Li Sanxin, but Lou Yan keenly noticed that his pace was gradually slowing down.
Lou Yan glanced at Li Sanxin, whose eyes seemed vacant, and realized that continuing to run like this was not feasible.
Considering their speed, they must have run at least ten kilometers by now, but the corridor still seemed endless…
Lou Yan frowned, turned around, and said to Li Sanxin and Lin You, “Let me go ahead and see how much of the corridor is left.”
After saying that, he dashed forward at the fastest speed he could muster.
Li Sanxin and Lin You only felt a gust of wind passing by, and Lou Yan’s figure had already disappeared into the darkness.
Lin You’s spirits lifted, his eyes gleaming, “Comrade Lou Yan’s speed is so fast. It turns out that his speed just now wasn’t even his fastest!”
Li Sanxin was about to speak, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a hideous, pale face in the mirror to Lin You’s left, pressed against the mirror. He immediately pulled Lin You aside, “Be careful, the mirror people are about to come out.”
The two of them were on high alert and increased their speed again. The heavy sound of their breathing echoed in the corridor, and more and more mirror people were pressing their faces against the mirrors.
Another gust of wind came from ahead, and the two of them looked vigilantly, only to see Lou Yan running back with a serious expression. As soon as he saw them, before Li Sanxin and Lin You could ask anything, Lou Yan said, “There’s no end to this corridor.”
Li Sanxin was stunned, “No end?”
Lou Yan nodded, “I’m certain there’s no end here. The way out of the second floor definitely isn’t just running blindly forward.”
The three of them stopped in their tracks, pondering their strategy under the gaze of the mirror people. Clearly, none of them intended to continue running.
If this corridor had no end, then how could they leave?
Li Sanxin and Lin You had mentioned that it was easy for people who had just entered to pass through, which meant that the “door” to leave here shouldn’t be so hidden.
When the first person entered, the passage might have been in a very obvious position. But as the difficulty increased, that passage should have been hidden.
Lou Yan lowered his gaze in thought, “If people could easily pass through before the difficulty increased, then I think we’ve missed the ‘door’ to leave here. They didn’t have our speed, yet they still managed to pass through with less time. The ‘door’ to leave is likely near where we entered.”
Li Sanxin rubbed his temples in frustration, recalling all the memories of when they entered. “But we didn’t see any ‘door’ to leave the corridor along the way.”
Lou Yan hadn’t seen any passage either.
The mirrors on both sides, the ground beneath their feet—they hadn’t overlooked any details along the way.
His gaze swept around, and suddenly he looked up at the dark ceiling. “The ceiling… we didn’t look at the ceiling.”
Li Sanxin was surprised. “Are you saying…”
He followed suit and looked up at the ceiling, unable to help but say, “Now that you mention it, it’s quite possible!”
The mirror people couldn’t contain themselves any longer. Pale hands stretched out from the mirrors, and with just one glance, countless hands were waving outside the mirrors. The hellish scene made one’s scalp tingle.
Lou Yan made a decisive decision, “There’s no time, let’s go back and pay attention to the ceiling!”
Saying that, Lou Yan grabbed Lin You’s shoulder and draped him over his own body, then, with Lin You in tow, sprinted back at top speed.
Li Sanxin hurriedly followed suit.
Lin You felt somewhat uncomfortable but was also grateful for Lou Yan’s kindness. He knew that at this moment, his speed would only be a burden. Lou Yan and Li Sanxin could bring him along at such a fast pace, showing them to be truly compassionate comrades.
Quietly in his heart, he thought: Comrade Lou Yan and Comrade Li Sanxin are really good comrades…
Their speed was fast, and the mirrored figures were equally impatient. Hands reached out from the mirrors; if Lou Yan and the others weren’t careful, they would be pulled into the mirrors.
Lou Yan swung his spinal whip as he ran, causing the hands that were hit by it to retract into the mirrors in pain. Occasionally, the whip grazed the mirror, leaving a black whip mark. However, there were still too many mirrored figures, and the narrow corridor offered no escape. Lin You’s hands had turned into wolf claws, swatting away the hands that reached out to them.
Without warning, two ghostly hands immediately grabbed Lou Yan and Lin You, who were running side by side.
Li Sanxin opened his mouth, and the sharp cry of the ghost baby resounded again, causing all the arms around them to retract. But after a moment, the arms swarmed again, frantically trying to capture their prey.
Lin You breathed heavily, his head throbbing. “I’m out of mental power… Sorry.”
Li Sanxin’s face also looked grim. “Yanzi, I have very little mental power left.”
Li Sanxin’s brain felt dizzy, and he felt a bit disoriented because he had been using the anomaly power too frequently. His eyes even had a layer of crimson. He bit his tongue hard, a metallic taste flooding his mouth, using the pain to snap himself awake. Li Sanxin reached out and grabbed the two mental recovery syringes hidden on his body, hesitating whether to use them here.
This was only the second floor.
Lou Yan knew they had reached their limit. In fact, Lou Yan also felt immense pressure.
His whip-swinging had become reflexive; the arms of the mirrored figures were about to reach out entirely from the mirrors, and they were running out of time.
Lou Yan’s gaze constantly swept the ceiling. Suddenly, the head of an elderly face mirrored figure lunged out from the mirror towards Lou Yan’s neck. Lou Yan swiftly dodged, whipping out at the figure, which cried out in pain and resentment before retreating into the mirror, glaring at him.
As Lou Yan looked around, he noticed mirrored figures had already emerged from the mirrors up to their upper bodies!
Lin You’s shoulders were being bitten and scratched by the mirrored figures, his flesh torn and bloodied. Mirrored figures kept attempting to pull Lin You into the mirror. Lou Yan and Li Sanxin were preoccupied, and in the blink of an eye, Lin You was grabbed by the mirrored figures and dragged towards the mirror, disappearing halfway in an instant!
Lou Yan couldn’t contain his fury. “Lin You!”
He immediately whipped at the ghostly hands on Lin You’s body.
There was more than a meter of distance between Li Sanxin and them, separated by the ghostly hands. Seeing this, he didn’t hesitate and immediately injected himself with a Mental Recovery Syringe.
Like pouring warm water over his head, Li Sanxin’s muddled brain cleared up instantly. The negative emotions caused by the strange power, such as irritability and anxiety, dissipated somewhat. Li Sanxin didn’t hesitate to use the power of the ghost baby. He walked quickly to Lin You and Lou Yan, anxiously asking, “Lin You, try your best to pull your arm out?”
Lin You shook his head, his expression unusually calm. He pointed to a nearby spot on the ceiling, “I saw the exit, a ventilation duct, right there.”
Li Sanxin and Lou Yan glanced back, but in the darkness, they couldn’t see the existence of a ventilation duct, even with their eyes.
But they believed what Lin You said. Now, the problem was, what should they do with Lin You?
Lin You knew what they were thinking. He whispered, “I’ve tried, but I can’t pull it out. Lou Yan, just use your whip to cut off my arm directly, or smash this mirror. If the mirror breaks and my arm breaks with it, the wound shouldn’t bleed too much, and I might still survive.”
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