Volume 3: High School Arc - Mirror Game
It felt just like the time I first experienced that strange sensation on the bus.
For no reason at all, I died.
Up until now, I didn’t know what consequences would follow after my death, but I absolutely didn’t want to face that situation.
That… to someone like me who valued the mind, losing rationality was even more terrifying than death.
I couldn’t die!
I clenched my fists and thought to myself.
Shao He saw this scene as well, but she didn’t ask anything, and naturally, I didn’t say a word either.
When I returned home, dinner was naturally unnecessary.
On the way back, I brought some beef for Reina.
Most of it was wagyu beef.
Maybe this beef would help her recall a bit of her homeland.
Still, I didn’t hold out hope.
After all, she wasn’t a foodie like me, able to feel the taste of home through food—
That was a unique skill only people from Huaguo had.
Life continued on as usual, no different from any other day.
I didn’t eat dinner either.
I sat in the courtyard, watching Sha Ha run around randomly, and couldn’t help but think about what would happen tonight.
Normally speaking, there shouldn’t be any special situation tonight.
But just to be safe, I decided to bring Jiaoza with me.
At night, Jiaoza’s eyes were definitely sharper than mine.
As for Sha Ha, tonight I had Reina lock her up together with Wangcai.
These two had completely different personalities, but at least they didn’t fight.
I wasn’t sure whether Shao He noticed something.
When I went upstairs to the second floor, I clearly felt a gaze behind me.
But it wasn’t the usual kind of gaze.
Soon, night fell.
In autumn evenings, daylight gradually loses ground to darkness.
It was already dark when I returned home.
Now, the bright moon hung halfway in the sky.
Autumn winds blew from afar in waves.
I sat in a chair near the balcony, already dressed in my leather combat suit.
All my gear was equipped.
Jiaoza quietly perched on my shoulder.
This little guy, just three and a half months old, had already reached adulthood.
The interesting part about him was the two horn-like feathers on either side of the top of his head.
That was why he was called a white-faced scops owl.
The little guy stood less than twenty centimeters tall, blinking his large eyes as he looked at me.
From his black pupils, I could see the shadow that belonged to me alone.
“Evil spirit… huh?”
But so what if I was an evil spirit?
At least I was still alive, right?
Just being alive was enough to make me secretly laugh.
Sometimes, contentment was the source of happiness.
Although I still couldn’t figure out the exact difference between humans and animals,
From all kinds of details, it was clear that their sensitivity to the supernatural was completely different.
They even perceived supernatural beings in different ways to a certain extent.
At the very least, people like Xu Han, Jiang Yulong, and Shan Xuelin couldn’t see Evil Spirit Forms in their normal state.
But animals were the opposite.
Even when I retracted my Evil Spirit Form,
They could still see it.
I thought… this must be the difference between humans and animals.
As for how much of a difference, I wasn’t too sure yet.
After all, some people could, under special circumstances, see things similar to what animals could.
Put it this way—
In the eyes of humans, I appeared completely normal right now.
But in the eyes of animals, it was entirely different.
When they looked at me, even though I used a human body,
The shadow reflected in their pupils was still in Evil Spirit Form.
If I released my Evil Spirit Form, then in the eyes of animals and in the eyes of people like Xu Han or Jiang Yulong, it would appear the same.
At the very least, when the Evil Spirit Form was externalized, both animals and players could perceive its existence and clearly distinguish between the body and the Evil Spirit Form.
But in physical form, animals saw a supernatural entity, while humans saw a human.
I didn’t know whether this was due to being of the same species, or due to intelligence, or perhaps some other reason, but at least I understood.
Although I hadn’t fully figured it out, I could rest assured that my true form wouldn’t be easily noticed.
However, this led to another point of doubt.
Why… could Lu Haochen see the reflection of my Evil Spirit Form while I was in human form?
Some people could see it at specific times and under specific conditions—
I had already verified that in the villa.
But those were extremely harsh conditions.
I tested thirty people, each more than ten times.
Yet in the end, only two of them actually saw it.
And it was just for a brief moment.
Could it be… Lu Haochen saw it purely by coincidence?
But if he really saw it by coincidence, then why did he come back to warn me?
Wait a minute… if he truly understood what a supernatural entity was, would he still have come to warn me?
That doesn’t sound right.
But if Lu Haochen didn’t see me as a “supernatural entity,” then what exactly did he see?
The more I thought about it, the more chaotic it got.
Forget it… better to not think about it at all!
I stood up, tightened the clothes on my body, and casually took out a piece of beef jerky from my waist pouch, handing it to Jiaoza.
Jiaoza opened his mouth without hesitation and gobbled it down in a few bites.
“Let’s go, Jiaoza. I’m counting on you tonight.”
I opened the second-floor window, glanced left and right first, and confirmed there were no sounds.
Then I flipped myself over and jumped down from the second-floor balcony.
Jiaoza first floated in the air, then spread his wings and glided down.
After I landed, he steadily landed on my shoulder again.
This was my own home, so I already knew the easiest place to climb over the wall.
I headed straight in that direction, propped myself up against the top of the wall, and flipped over from inside the yard to the outside.
I looked left and right again, confirmed that no one saw me, and then stepped onto the main road.
I followed the road out of the neighborhood, raised my hand to hail a taxi, and headed straight to the Delicious Barbecue Restaurant.
When I got in, the driver immediately saw the white-faced scops owl on my shoulder.
Judging by his look, if I didn’t give him a reasonable explanation, he’d probably report me as soon as I got out.
I chatted with the driver a bit, then shifted the conversation to Jiaoza.
I showed him my wildlife veterinarian license and claimed that I was Jiaoza’s vet.
I also casually showed him my zoo’s credentials.
These two documents—naturally, I had prepared them in advance.
The vet license was fake, completely forged with a printer and a 3D printer—realistic enough to fool anyone.
But the zoo ID was real.
After all, as the zoo director, it wasn’t a problem for me to apply for the credentials ahead of time.
I also took the opportunity to promote my zoo.
The driver immediately nodded and said he’d definitely go visit once it opened later this year.