Chapter 41: Butler

The puddles on the ground began to ripple.

Before whatever it was could emerge, Wu Xiaomi and Lulutina started grabbing everything in sight like a whirlwind.

“Adorable Yang Baru… never mind, that joke’s way too old.”

Lulutina sang half a line before swallowing it back, but that didn’t stop her from expertly looting everything in sight.

She kicked open the display case glass— one item in her left hand, another in her right.

Equipped what she could, and stuffed the rest into her inventory.

“How do I look?”

Lulutina had put on a full set of leather armor, with a label on the display case reading “Elven Garb.”

Her ears grew long and pointed the moment she wore it, and a matching Elven Sword hung from her waist.

The Elven Sword gave off a milky-white glow that screamed, “I’m expensive.”

“Cool, right?”

“Kinda cool.”

Wu Xiaomi smashed open another display case and strapped on a set of multi-functional wrist guards.

The guards could launch grappling hooks, fire bolts— super practical.

“What’s this?”

Having emptied all the display cases at lightning speed, Wu Xiaomi looked at a still-sealed large crate.

“Overheard the guards talking yesterday. Apparently, the museum just received a new lightning artifact. The butler brought it in overnight.”

“That’s gotta be it… and since we’re here, no way we’re leaving it. Smash it!”

Lulutina’s Elven Sword was razor-sharp. One swing, and the wooden crate split like tofu.

Inside was a long blade glowing faintly blue.

It was a long-handled zhanmadao— a nearly two-meter handle, with a 1.3-meter blade.

The blade was slender and graceful, and combined with the long handle for leverage, it could slice a warhorse clean in half.

Wu Xiaomi grabbed the hilt and was surprised— it didn’t feel heavy at all.

“Zzzap—”

The moment her hand touched it, a current of lightning ran down the blade.

“Looks awesome, just… kinda big.”

“Zzzza- Boom—”

As if protesting Wu Xiaomi’s doubt, a bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky.

In the blinding flash, the zhanmadao split in two.

The entire blade cleaved into two halves— one became a sleek long sword, the other a scabbard made from the original hilt.

“Holy sh—”

Lulutina was practically drooling with envy.

“Wanna trade? You can have the Elven Sword.”

“Nope~”

Wu Xiaomi happily sheathed the sword and slung it across her back.

“It’s coming, move!”

A hand reached up from the water.

It was a human hand— pale, bony, completely devoid of color.

Next came the head.

One look at its face and you’d never want to see it again.

One eye was under its mouth. The other was on the back of its head. Its nose stuck straight into the air, and it had no ears.

It might have been human once, but the twisted arrangement of facial features created such a powerful uncanny valley effect it made your stomach churn.

“Picasso’s living in the mirror now?” Lulutina muttered.

“Take this— Art Student’s Wrath!”

She drew her sword and slashed!

The creature had fully emerged, its hand leaving wet prints on the floor, clearly right in front of them.

But the blade passed right through its body.

“Crap.”

Weren’t the Resonators supposed to let you hurt things from the mirror world?

Maybe Resonators only worked with sequence-based attacks?

But she didn’t have any— Siren’s Dance only worked last time because of the Holy Source Crystal.

“Lulutina, do you have any offensive sequence abilities?”

“Nope,” the girl replied without hesitation.

“…”

She sheathed her sword and bowed to the monster.

“Sorry for the disturbance.”

“Run!!!”

Decked out in top-tier gear— too bad the enemy was immune.

Activating Spirit-Hunting Instincts, she ran at full speed.

“Heh heh heh heh heh—”

From puddles in the street, shop windows, even the sewer grates, hands began reaching out.

Those twisted heads let out laughter— raspy, like throats had been slit and air was leaking through their windpipes.

And the moment their eyes landed on Wu Xiaomi—

Their faces contorted.

—That was probably a smile.

A crazed, euphoric smile.

Except with their features rearranged, all you could see were curling lips and squinted eyes.

“Where do we run to?” Lulutina swallowed hard. “Where can we run?”

Yeah… where could they?

Mirror Fiends— that’s what Wu Xiaomi decided to call them for now.

More and more of them filled the streets, while every house remained tightly shut.

Tonight, no one was going to open their doors.

“Maybe… There’s one place we could go. But I’m not sure.”

“Where?”

“Shirin City Psychiatric Hospital.”

……

They sprinted through the streets, following the signs.

Behind them, the Mirror Fiends that had crawled out of shop windows broke into a run, relentless in their pursuit.

They weren’t zombies— they were fast, just as fast as they’d been in life.

“Open up! Butler— weren’t you the one who wanted to enjoy tonight? Open the damn door!”

Though they were still far from the hospital, Lulutina already had her megaphone out, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Why the hell… Do you just carry… a megaphone with you?!”

“Last descent… I was working at a pizza place as a promo girl… forgot to return it,” Lulutina panted.

Shirin Psychiatric Hospital was in the western part of the city, close to the outskirts.

It was nearly abandoned, overgrown with weeds, and its gate was rusted through.

Lulutina banged on it hard.

“Open up! You filthy old perv! I brought back that girl you wanted to chop up! Now open the damn door!”

The Mirror Fiends chasing them were getting closer and closer.

What if he didn’t come?

Seriously, Wu Xiaomi had escaped already. Why would the guy even bother showing up here?

Bad gamble.

Creeeaaaak—

But then—

The door actually opened!

The two girls rushed inside.

“We made it.”

Wu Xiaomi and Lulutina gasped for breath.

“Guess you really are twisted enough— he actually opened the door even during Mirror Night— uh…”

Clack—

The gate slammed shut, and the bolt locked tight.

The butler turned around.

He smiled at Wu Xiaomi and Lulutina.

“I knew it. Sooner or later, you two would end up in my hands.”

His face began to twist.

He reached up and tugged out the stitches that had been holding his lips and cheeks together.

And once those threads were gone—

His skin snapped back into shape like elastic.

One eye slowly slid around to the back of his head.

His mouth sprang out from the split and settled in the center of his face.

The fake ears dropped to the floor.

His nose pointed straight at the sky.

“……”

The reason he dared open the door during Mirror Night—

It was because he was Mirror Night.