Volume 3: High School Arc - Mirror Game
What I was thinking now was how to completely break away from the Liu Family before adulthood and reach a level of self-sufficiency.
At the very least… having lived a second life, I couldn’t possibly hand over my finances to someone else.
Especially when I had such a convenient ability.
Being used to a carefree lifestyle, I really didn’t like the rules of the Liu Family.
Ever since Liu Shaoqing, the old man of the Liu Family returned from their trip, everyone in the courtyard had become somewhat tight-lipped.
It seemed that the old man of the Liu Family had always been a very strict person.
Even I didn’t dare to let Sha Ha out recently.
Half a year ago, Sha Ha accidentally ran outside the courtyard.
As mentioned before, the sunny side of this mountain held a large courtyard with seven or eight small yards inside.
Each small yard was a separate villa.
Sha Ha had run out of the small yard and into the large courtyard.
While taking a poop, she was seen by the passing old man of the Liu Family.
The old man of the Liu Family immediately flew into a rage.
Luckily, Liu Wanqian arrived in time, or else Sha Ha would really have been stewed.
At that time, I was still inside the room listening to music, and only found out later.
It was also fortunate that I wasn’t there, or there definitely would’ve been a conflict.
Since then, Sha Ha had been strictly forbidden from leaving the courtyard.
I also tried my best not to go out, to avoid running into Liu Shaoqing.
But… the day after tomorrow I will be free!
No—strictly speaking, I’ll be free tomorrow!
Tomorrow, I was heading to the provincial capital.
In the suburbs over there, a three-story standalone villa had already been prepared.
It was part of Liu Wanqian’s real estate project, so naturally, I didn’t have to spend much—just the cost price.
Thinking that I was about to have my own house, I could hardly wait to fly over and see what my villa looked like.
As my mood brightened, my waist also started twisting on its own…
“Jiaoza, what do you think the new house will look like?”
I pressed my face close to the little owl, the white-faced scops owl, watching its big orange eyes cutely glaring at me.
From those large orange-black pupils, I saw a twisted ghostly figure of myself, and it silently turned its head away.
“……”
I nearly forgot, in the eyes of some animals, I appeared in my Evil Spirit Form.
So… what it saw really was the image of ghostly chaos.
Uh… alright then.
This little one was called a white-faced scops owl, a two-month-old chick.
Other animals took a long time to get used to my strange presence when they came here.
But this little guy was different.
Like Sha Ha, it only took a few minutes to understand that I was harmless.
By the way, most other people couldn’t easily see my Evil Spirit Form in the eyes of animals.
Occasionally, someone might catch a glimpse by accident.
That was why rumors spread in the villa that I was “entangled” by something.
Naturally, this rumor reached the ears of the old man too.
So the old man took an especially disliking to me.
I didn’t understand how human inspiration could be so unreliable, but basically, humans couldn’t make contact with the supernatural by any means.
Only occasionally—very occasionally—one might see a blurry shadow reflected in an animal’s eyes.
Because of this, all the servants except Aunt Zhao and Aunt Liu began to keep a respectful distance from me.
Some even spread rumors that it was “Zhang Yiwei’s” soul lingering around me and refusing to leave, which was why those things were seen and why I had fainted.
Liu Wanqian didn’t believe in that stuff, but Gong Lianyu, though a strong woman in the workplace, became an airheaded housewife at home.
Faced with this, she really panicked and tried all sorts of things.
She got some talismans supposedly made by a powerful Taoist and a string of Buddhist prayer beads from a great virtuous monk.
Overall, those things were nearly useless to me.
Yes—nearly useless.
But Evil Spirit Forms did feel a slight dislike toward them.
Although these items couldn’t harm an Evil Spirit Form, they simply didn’t like them.
It was like picky eaters turning away from unappetizing food.
However, when the Evil Spirit Form was inside the body, these items were completely ineffective.
Only when the Evil Spirit Form left the body did those items cause a slight, annoying sensation.
And that was all.
In other words, neither the great virtuous monk nor the powerful Taoist could harm an Evil Spirit Form.
After all… with the wealth and connections of Gong Lianyu and Liu Wanqian, these items should’ve been genuine.
They weren’t the mass-produced kind but were obtained from real monks and Taoists.
But even these so-called exorcism talismans didn’t scare my Evil Spirit Form at all.
So I speculated that maybe there were a few uniquely gifted people in this world who could see Evil Spirit Forms and even harm such anomalies to some extent.
Eventually, their techniques or methods got passed down.
Or perhaps these talismans and prayer beads were just special items formed from human belief, having a slight effect on the supernatural.
As for what they really were, I couldn’t say yet.
After all, I’d only encountered these two types of items so far.
Ignoring the white-faced scops owl that wore a look of “I don’t know you,” I continued to turn back and twist to the music.
That day passed just like that.
At night, I took a shower, casually updated tens of thousands of words of my new novel, then shut down my computer and went to bed.
The next morning… I sat inside my custom “Don’t Touch Me” BMW 760Li.
Since this model was basically a custom version, it was rarely seen on the market.
People were organizing the animals in the room.
All the animals would travel together in a large truck.
But Sha Ha and Jiaoza would go with me.
Once inside the car, I hung the bird stand onto the customized iron ring inside, then let Sha Ha come in.
Aunt Zhao wasn’t coming with me.
The provincial capital was too far.
No matter how much I paid, Aunt Zhao didn’t want to leave this small city, especially with her beloved son here.
I understood that, so I didn’t force her.
Instead, I asked Aunt Liu to take care of Aunt Zhao.
I also asked Aunt Zhao to keep cleaning my room and continue working as a housekeeper here.
As long as she didn’t make mistakes, working in this house was basically a guaranteed job.
In this small city, the pay was good enough for a comfortable life.
“Dad, I’m off~”
“Hurry up and go. Don’t keep thinking about it. I’ll send all those bottles and jars to you later.”
Liu Wanqian waved his hand dismissively, his tone harsh.
But there was a hint of moisture flashing through his eyes.
No wonder Liu Yunyan often bickered with Liu Wanqian.
With a tsundere dad like this, and Liu Yunyan’s level of emotional intelligence, of course they clashed.
Gong Lianyu didn’t come.
She was a big boss, often needing to go abroad, and was rarely home.
Hmm… given that, I suspected Liu Wanqian might have a mistress somewhere.
Well… he’s a man, after all.
Everyone understands.
But I didn’t look into it.
If Gong Lianyu didn’t investigate, it wasn’t my place to say anything.
As long as he didn’t bring home a few illegitimate kids, I wouldn’t complain.
As for those bottles and jars worth about two hundred million…
Yeah, best to move them over.
When I got to high school, I could show off to my classmates.
But seeing that sly glint flash in Liu Wanqian’s eyes, I had a feeling…
That guy might swap them out for some lower-grade items.
“Ha, old fox.”
Sitting in the front passenger seat, a contemptuous smile curled at the corner of my lips.
Shao He, sitting beside me, gave me a surprised glance but said nothing, simply starting the car.
As the car slowly pulled away from the small yard, the large truck behind us also started and followed along.
At the same time, I felt a gaze watching me…
It wasn’t from Liu Wanqian—his gaze toward me wouldn’t carry any malice.
I lowered my head and used my Evil Spirit Form to look back.
What I saw… was the old house at the top of the mountain, where an old man was watching me.
In his gaze, there was a trace of familial affection, but even more of it was disgust.
So that was it…
The Evil Spirit Form could only perceive malicious intent.
And clearly, this old man of the Liu Family had malice toward me.
Even if it was merely disgust now, no one could tell when it might turn into pure hostility.
To that, all I could say was… goodbye.
Maybe it was because of the rumors about me…
After all, being haunted by a vengeful spirit wasn’t exactly a good thing.
I turned away, no longer looking at the increasingly distant and unfamiliar yet familiar Liu Family old house.
Turning my head to the road ahead, the unfamiliar streets slowly came into view.
Even though I knew the future wouldn’t be all bright, I still held hope in my heart as I looked toward the blue sky and white clouds in the distance…
“A new life… here I come.”
Shao He, sitting beside me, heard this and merely glanced at me blandly without saying a word.
Perhaps in her eyes, this was just the excitement of a kid taking their first long trip away from home.
But she could never imagine that for me, this was a true rebirth.
There wasn’t much to say along the way.
Sitting in the car wasn’t exactly relaxing either.
My feet rested on a small box made of golden-thread nanmu…
I didn’t dare to leave it in the back, fearing Sha Ha might mess with it, so it was safer to keep it at my feet.
Short rides were fine, but as time passed, drowsiness set in.
Even with the highway, it would still take seven or eight hours to reach the provincial capital.
It had already been past nine in the morning when we left the house.
In a flash… more than seven hours had passed.
Unfamiliar scenery zipped by outside.
I leaned back in my seat, listening to music.
To be honest, having hair that long wasn’t very comfortable.
It reminded me of that old saying—when your hair reaches your waist, be careful not to get it dirty when pooping.
Long hair was often inconvenient, but I still didn’t really want to cut it.
Just as I closed my eyes, listening to music and drowsily thinking about all this, suddenly, a sharp, aged voice reached my ears.
It sounded like the screech of a damaged disc, shrill yet elderly.
“Open the door…”
Half-asleep, I frowned slightly, unsure whether I was dreaming or had really heard it.
A puzzled “Hm?” slipped out.
Then I opened my eyes and glanced at Shao He, who was driving.
She showed no expression and kept her eyes on the road.
When she saw me look at her, she gave me a questioning glance.
“What is it?”
“Did you just… no, never mind.”
I frowned in confusion but said nothing.
Instead, I turned my head to glance at the backseat—
And in that instant, I suddenly felt something was wrong!
On the backseat sat a white-faced scops owl and a husky.
Normally, even if they were quiet, they would still make some sounds.
But now, there was not a single noise!
A flash of insight shot through my mind.
I instinctively looked toward Sha Ha and Jiaoza.
At this moment… they were both unnaturally still.
But… their gazes were completely focused in the same direction!!!
From behind, a chill surged forward, making my scalp tingle.
Right now, I was sitting in the front passenger seat.
I turned my head toward the center of the car and looked toward the back seat.
Which meant… right behind me was the front passenger-side door!
In other words… there was something at the car door!!
I forced myself to suppress the fear rising within me.
Closing my eyes, I stayed motionless.
When I felt my racing heartbeat begin to calm, I took a deep breath and turned back to look at Shao He in the driver’s seat.
She showed no abnormalities—no chill, no signs of supernatural disturbance.
“Shao He… how far are we?”
I didn’t immediately turn to look at the door.
To be safe, I asked first.
Shao He didn’t even glance at me, just kept her eyes on the road and said, “A little over an hour left. Miss, is something wrong? Do you need to stop?”
“No!!!”
She had just finished speaking when I instinctively raised my voice.
The sudden volume made Shao He frown slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
Shao He turned to look at me.
In the reflection of her pupils, I could see lights flashing past—
Which meant we were currently in a tunnel!
“Keep driving…”
I took a deep breath, looked into her eyes, and seriously said those words.
Then I took another deep breath and slowly turned back to look straight ahead.
At that moment… black shapes were constantly corroding the tunnel walls around us.
As the car sped forward, I could see the ceiling of the tunnel slowly changing color.
My phone… hadn’t vibrated at all, which meant no mission had been triggered yet!
No prior notice.
The voice just now, the focus of Sha Ha and Jiaoza’s gaze, the creeping darkness outside the vehicle—all clearly indicated that I might once again be facing… a sudden mission!?
I thought of the academy incident.
Before the sudden mission activated, I had seen a series of visions.
And the condition that truly triggered the mission had been me “personally opening the classroom door.”
The first time, I hadn’t triggered it because I only opened the door halfway.
The second time, I fully opened it—and it activated.
In other words, sudden missions needed a trigger.
And the condition for triggering it might lie in those premonition-like visions.
As mentioned before, games don’t design guaranteed death traps.
Yet, sudden missions were always nearly impossible to survive.
They gave no time to read the rules.
It was highly likely that terrifying events would happen the moment the mission triggered.
So… for such dangerous scenarios, there had to be a solution.
Being able to spot signs in advance and choosing not to trigger them—this should be one of the solutions!
The words “open the door” that I just heard, the focus of Sha Ha and Jiaoza’s gaze, the creeping darkness that hadn’t yet swallowed the car, the cold air outside the door…
All of them clearly indicated… a sudden mission might be triggered at any moment!!
I took a deep breath.
I didn’t use my physical body to turn and look outside.
I was afraid that doing so might trigger the mission.
I didn’t know if the Evil Spirit Form would trigger it, but even if it did, at least in that state, I would have time to react.
I slowly lowered my head and closed my eyes.
Half of my Evil Spirit Form’s body slowly emerged from my own.
My vision gradually sharpened.
At this moment, I could clearly feel the malicious gaze outside the car door.
Following the point where that gaze landed, I slowly turned to look.
The car was going about 80 kilometers per hour.
The tunnel was dim, the outside scenery blurred as we sped along.
Outside the car window, an old woman’s face—wrinkled and aged, her eyes wide open, a smile on her lips—was pressed tightly against the glass.
That mouth… already toothless… stretched into a grin.
“Open the door…”