Chapter 48: Rage

Mirror Night, just before Dawn.

Two hours and fifty-five minutes left.

A terrifying, suffocatingly thick tide of powerful Spiritual Source filled the air.

“Really, it’s been so long…”

Nanania gazed at the two “Mirror Demons” before her.

Those faces, the ones she had yearned for day and night, the gentle figures in her memories who had patiently taught her about the Sequence… and yet—

Now, they had to meet as enemies.

Fortunately, she was no longer the helpless little bean she had been back then.

“Wu Xiaomi, I’m not sure how long I can hold them off. Hurry up.”

“…If only I could.”

Wu Xiaomi stood by the edge of the pool.

She took several deep breaths in a row, but still couldn’t muster the courage to dive in headfirst.

Until Nanania gave her a solid kick.

…I’ll settle this with you when I get back, you jerk!

Wu Xiaomi tumbled headlong into the pool.

She thought she’d be drenched, soaked from head to toe.

But what she landed on was soft, as if she’d fallen into a pile of cotton.

Standing up, she found herself surrounded by thick, dense white mist.

The Resonator shielded her, casting a faint glow over her skin and blocking the mist’s corrosion.

“Xiao Luobo, do you have any way to dispel the fog?”

With this kind of darkness, where you can’t even see your hand in front of your face, how was she supposed to find the Core?

“Hmm,” Xiao Luobo sat cross-legged and thought for a moment, “Want to hear my advice?”

“Of course.”

“Then, I suggest you come back and explore this area later~”

“…That’s such a lame joke. And what weird videos have you been watching lately?!”

“What can I do? Do you really think I’m an encyclopedia?”

Tch.

This was a real problem.

Let alone three hours, with the number of Mirror Demons here, she wouldn’t finish searching even in thirty hours.

Not to mention, there were Mirror Demons lurking in the mist, ready to stab her at any moment.

“But if I had to say, this place is probably a ‘Xuling Space.’”

“What’s with the fancy term now? Can you just unlock new settings without all the suspense?”

“Xuling Space is a small space that’s lost its Spiritual Source Master… There was likely a Spiritual Source Master living here once, someone like the Spirit of Abundance or the Great Sin Witch,” Xiao Luobo explained.

“So when I met you…”

“That was also a Xuling Space, but the Spirit of Abundance left cleanly. At least, she didn’t leave her body rotting here or anything.”

“Rotting here, you mean…”

“It could be that they died, or left part of their body behind.

After the body decomposes, the Spiritual Source that leaks out has nowhere to go, so it wanders around looking for a vessel. But how could ordinary people withstand the full force of a Spiritual Source Master’s power?”

“So, in order to find more vessels to contain all that leaking Spiritual Source, they have to keep dragging people in from outside?” Wu Xiaomi connected the dots. “But… Spiritual Source isn’t something evil, right?”

“It’s the same old example— water can both nourish and drown.

This Spiritual Source Master was too powerful in life. Even after death, the Spiritual Source still carries fragments of their will. When that will is infused into ordinary people, it overwhelms and distorts their minds, twisting them into the image of the Spiritual Source Master. That’s how Mirror Demons are born.

In the end, it’s because they were too weak, their consciousness too fragile.”

I see.

But if that’s the case… there’s one exception that’s hard to explain.

“What about the Butler? He clearly became a Mirror Demon, but wasn’t affected by the will carried by the Spiritual Source.”

“That’s probably the key to cracking this.

But from here on out, you’ll have to rely on your own little brain. I really can’t help anymore.”

Alright, fair enough.

You can’t always rely on others’ strength.

If you get used to trading with a Witch every time you get into a fight… things would get weird.

Wu Xiaomi closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, Spirit Hunting Instinct was fully activated. Her usually lazy gaze narrowed like a fox’s, sharp and clever.

“Deduction is nothing more than finding clues and connecting them with divergent thinking. Use every link to the fullest, and that’s the basic method of reasoning.

But when there aren’t enough clues, you have to shift the goal of reasoning from ‘getting results’ to ‘finding clues.’”

Xiao Luobo’s mouth formed an O.

The girl suddenly seemed so impressive…

“The incident happened twelve years ago, with a complicated environment outside. Even if there were clues, time has probably worn them away. But here, Mirror Demon activity isn’t frequent, so there might still be traces left.”

“Not frequent? What if the Mirror Demons spend 364 days a year partying in here?” Xiao Luobo asked, soulfully.

“…” Wu Xiaomi’s brain crashed.

Deduction failed, game over.

“Kidding! The Mirror Demons’ instinct is to seek more vessels for the Spiritual Source. When the main gate is closed, to avoid wasting energy, they stay in standby mode… so your reasoning is correct.”

“…If you mess with me again, I’ll bite you!”

Wu Xiaomi squatted down angrily.

She started feeling around on the ground.

This was the lake closest to the village, the nearest large channel point.

Back then, the Witch couple tried to seal the passage, so it was likely they left some traces here.

“Found it!”

She actually found something.

There was a vermilion line running along the ground.

Following the line, every few steps there was a talisman-like pattern, pinning the red line down like a nail.

One end of the line connected to the main lake’s exit, and the other…

“Huh? It’s broken?!”

After searching forward for a while, she found a clear break in the line.

It wasn’t snapped by a Mirror Demon’s foot, but was obviously cut neatly with something, and even the talismans had been thoroughly wiped away.

“If this was a formation to seal the passage, then it’s clearly been maliciously sabotaged.”

“No, this isn’t a sealing formation.”

Wu Xiaomi realized: “This is… the rope the Witch couple used to mark their way?”

That’s it. This place was huge, and the mist was everywhere, like a labyrinth.

When people lose their vision, affected by things like “uneven shoulders,” “different leg lengths,” “hip joint tilt,” and “shoulder rotation,” they can’t keep their balance and can’t walk in a straight line.

Even if you know the direction, you can’t reach it.

So, to explore this place, you have to leave markers.

But these markers were deliberately cut.

—That’s why they ended up trapped here, unable to escape!

Wu Xiaomi could already imagine their despair: dawn approaching, but the trail home erased.

All they could do was wander the vast maze, harassed by Mirror Demons at every turn, until…

They were lost here, forever.

“So even those two Witches couldn’t find their way here.”

Then what should I do?

“Squeak, squeak…”

A faint scraping sound came from behind, like a small knife scratching the ground.

Mirror Demon?

No!

“Oh no! Oh no oh no oh no!” Xiao Luobo also realized what was happening. “Run! Get back!”

Someone was cutting the red line!

Wu Xiaomi rushed back along the rope at full speed.

But she was still a step too late.

Lying on the ground, she saw the cleanly severed red rope, and the swirling white mist ahead.

A wave of emptiness, confusion, and terror swept over her.

She’d fallen into the same trap.

—No, not quite!

I’m different!

That bastard hiding in the white mist thinks that without my sight, I’ll be a headless fly.

He thinks he can trap me here and do whatever he wants.

Just like his filthy deeds twelve years ago.

But…

I’m not the same!

[Sequence 79 – Spirit Hunting Instinct – Abandon vision enhancement, put everything into hearing!]

Nanalia once said it’s been generations since a Witch awakened Sequence 79.

That couple probably didn’t awaken it either.

That’s why, after losing their sight, they were lost in the mist.

“I can hear it!”

“Twang—”

The crossbow bolt sprang from her wrist, and a scream rang out not far away.

“Ah— how can you see me?!”

Ha, that voice— it really was an old friend.

Pervert Butler.

“So it was you who cut the red line, trapping them here and separating Teacher Nanalia from her parents for twelve years!”

Wu Xiaomi drew her blade and chased after him, leaping forward to slash the Butler’s back.

Blood sprayed.

“Do you know what they’ve been through all these years? She could only watch as other children went to Yuling Academy, enjoying their youth, while she had to become the Witch at such a young age, taking on the whole village’s safety…”

“She’s only ever seen other people’s childhoods in comics! She’s never had a birthday wish, always spent holidays alone. No matter how hard she works or how outstanding she is, no one gives her a word of praise! She doesn’t even know what she’s living for— just to survive? But no matter how hard she tries, it’s never enough…”

“When she opens Polopolo and sees those happy middle-class families traveling, those parents showing off their kids, those warm family photos during the holidays… do you know how much that hurts?!”

“It’s all your fault! All of it is your fault!”

Wu Xiaomi hacked at the Butler relentlessly.

The Butler was nearly scared out of his wits.

In his whole life, he’d only ever pinned others to hospital beds for torture—when had anyone ever chased him for three streets like this… Who’s the real Mirror Demon here?!

To him, Wu Xiaomi in this state was terrifying!

“Help! Stop her! Somebody stop her! Save me—!”

The Butler resorted to his old tricks, summoning his lackeys.

The massive Beast-face Tribe members thundered over, shaking the earth.

“Out of my way!”

One slash.

That Beast-face Tribe member didn’t even survive a single blow.

Drawing Sword Formation, golden flame covering the blade, she cleaved the Beast-face Tribe warrior in half.

Without even turning her head, Wu Xiaomi passed through the corpse and kept chasing the Butler.

—What the heck, did someone step on her tail? Why’s she so furious all of a sudden?

What is Nanalia to her, to make her go this far?!

The Butler was petrified.

“All of you, back! Back! Save me!”

He summoned Mirror Demons with all his might, but most were outside and couldn’t make it back in time.

He ran, she chased, and he… was nearly chopped to pieces.

One slash after another, none too deep, but the lightning also helped stop the bleeding, so he didn’t lose much blood.

But the pain!

It felt like being branded with a hot iron!

“I’m catching up to you~”

The last slash didn’t cut the Butler in half.

Instead, it got stuck halfway through his shoulder.

“Take me to the Core, or… I’ll finish this cut and split you open.”

“I’ll take you right now! Don’t kill me—don’t kill me—” The Butler was sobbing.

So even this pervert was afraid of death.

He knelt at Wu Xiaomi’s feet, begging so hard he nearly puked.

As a fairly strong mage Sequence user, he hadn’t managed to cast a single spell in both of his run-ins with Wu Xiaomi.

Wu Xiaomi just stuck to him and hacked away.

The first time, it was because they were too close; this time… he hadn’t expected Wu Xiaomi to find him in the mist.

He thought cutting off her escape route would let him torment her at his leisure.

In the end, he was found in a flash and became the one tormented!

“No tricks. Lead the way!”

Her young, weary voice wasn’t scary at all, but the Butler feared her like a tiger.

He could only lead the way.

Soon, Wu Xiaomi’s foot bumped into something.

—Fluffy.

“This is it,” the Butler said.

“Splurt—”

One slash split the Butler in two, then she squatted down to examine the thing.

“A… White Wolf?”

It wasn’t very large, about the size of a husky.

And it was dead.

“White Wolf?” Xiao Luobo exclaimed. “Could it be… the Spirit of the Wilds?”

“You know about it?”

“The Spirit of the Wilds’ legacy was lost many years ago, almost forgotten… So that’s why, the Spiritual Source Master fell. No wonder.”

But how could such a powerful being die like this?

“Did you notice its belly is a bit big?”

Belly?

Now that she mentioned it, yes.

“Is it postmortem bloat from decomposition? No, that’s not it—the other parts aren’t swollen, and there’s no excess fat.”

Not giantism, not obesity.

That only left pregnancy.

Did it die in childbirth?

“How could a Spiritual Source Master die in childbirth? Check for other wounds.”

“There is one.”

There was a wound on its neck, deep enough to expose bone—a clear fatal injury.

Looking further, there was also a wound on the White Wolf’s left foreleg.

Small knife wounds, very fresh, just barely breaking the skin, but much of the fur was gone.

Wu Xiaomi didn’t even need to deduce— the Butler, who’d just been cut in half, had personally demonstrated how the wounds were made.

He plucked a tuft of fur from the wolf’s leg and stuffed it in his mouth.

His body quickly regenerated as he swallowed.

“Trying to revive again?”

Wu Xiaomi gave him a few more slashes, pried open his mouth, and kicked his head away like a soccer ball.

But by the White Wolf’s side, the white mist was denser than ever, making him immortal.

So that was his plan.

In this Core area, he could draw on the strongest power of the Mirror.

The corpse had to be burned immediately.

“Xiaomi, since the body hasn’t decomposed, and the white mist isn’t from decomposition, I have a bold guess…”

Wu Xiaomi thought of it too.

But it was hard to believe, after all, Mirror Night had existed for hundreds of years…

“Cut open the White Wolf’s belly, but don’t use too much force!”

Wu Xiaomi nodded and carefully did as told.

First peeling back the skin and peritoneum to reveal the uterus.

The bloody uterus looked like a huge red persimmon.

She pierced the amniotic sac and tore it open.

Inside were several wriggling little things.

Wriggling?

No way?! Mirror Night has lasted for centuries— these things… are still alive?

The white mist really was to protect them!

One by one, the still-blind wolf pups slowly woke as they touched the air.

They couldn’t see, only nuzzling about in confusion, making tiny squeaks like baby mice.

At the same time, the white mist began to churn.

The lingering mist no longer favored the Butler’s body, but found its true outlet, pouring into the little ones.

And… Wu Xiaomi.

“?!”

The white mist went berserk, ramming frantically against the Resonator’s shield.

Under this unprecedented assault, the Resonator quickly dimmed and broke into pieces.

It was completely useless now.

Wu Xiaomi covered her mouth and nose, but still couldn’t stop the stuff from seeping into her skin.

[Abandon yourself,] a voice seemed to whisper in her ear, [give your body to me, I want to raise them myself.]

Ha, how should I respond to that?

Is this the time to sigh that a mother’s love is always selfish?

Get lost!

In the white mist, her body grew weak. Wu Xiaomi half-knelt, her gaze growing unfocused, her mind muddled by the mist’s invasion…

But suddenly, the mist stopped.

[You are… Ah Fu?]

?

[You heartless wretch! You finally remembered me!]

??

[See? These are… our children…]

???

Things were getting strange.