"When you can clearly notice something is wrong with your reflection in the mirror, it's already too late. Ghosts will pull you into the mirror, and they will take your place, living in this world in your stead..."
Upon seeing this post, Zhou Guangming's fingers turned icy cold. He continued scrolling down, but the content became increasingly chilling:
"The Mirror Ghost is spreading. At first, its influence is small, perhaps just a mirror in a rented apartment, then a building, then a block, a city... Are the people around you still the same people they were before?"
Zhou Guangming sat on the roadside, where there were no reflective objects, all night long. As dawn broke and he saw the dazzling sunlight, he finally breathed a sigh of relief after a night of anxiety.
However, he was now in a dilemma. What should he do next?
Should I call the police? Or should I just go home, wash up, have breakfast, and go to work as if nothing happened?
How about staying at a temple for a couple of days? Or maybe just quit your job and go back to your hometown?
In short, he dared not go back to the place he originally lived.
Faced with such a Supernatural event, he didn't know who to ask for help. After much deliberation, Zhou Guangming dialed the police. At least he couldn't keep this a secret and bear it all alone.
Surprisingly, the police did not accuse him of being "crazy" or "making a false report." They simply recorded his report in a cold manner and said they would send someone to investigate.
Zhou Guangming was fairly satisfied with the result.
He then picked up the phone, intending to tell his parents about what had happened the previous night, but he gave up just before dialing.
"They're both quite old, and their health isn't particularly good. It's best to only report good news and not bad, so they don't worry and lose their appetite and sleep."
With a sigh, Zhou Guangming decisively asked for leave from the company, then immediately looked for a place to move, without even going back to pack his luggage.
Based on the tropes of the horror movies he'd seen before, when encountering ghosts, there's always some brainless character who goes back for some trivial matter, putting themselves in danger again.
Zhou Guangming wouldn't make such a mistake. He'd only taken his phone and wallet with him when he escaped; he could leave other personal belongings behind. What if he encountered another ghost while packing his things back home?
It can be said that Zhou Guangming took the most correct and effective measures after encountering the Supernatural event.
First, call the police, then immediately stay away from the location of the Supernatural event and never set foot there again!
In the afternoon, Zhou Guangming rented a new house, bought new household items, and ordered new clothes online.
Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction.
The next day, Zhou Guangming went to work as usual. The new apartment needed to be redecorated, and coupled with his busy work schedule, this situation allowed him to temporarily put his fears aside.
But this also made him Neglect one thing—since he reported it to the police, they have never contacted him again to investigate his experience and the details of his ghost encounter that night.
There were mirrors in the newly rented apartment, but Zhou Guangming covered them with cloth. He deliberately avoided looking in the mirror, only glancing at them quickly when necessary to make sure everything was normal.
Another day passed, and Zhou Guangming gradually lowered his guard.
That evening, Zhou Guangming returned home after working late and found the apartment's layout somewhat strange. He couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong, but it just didn't feel like his home anymore.
He turned on the light and looked around. Everything was in its original place, yet it seemed to have been subtly and imperceptibly moved.
The bathroom door was closed, but a small puddle of water was seeping out from under it. Zhou Guangming's heart raced. He slowly approached and pressed his ear against the door—there was a sound inside, like the dripping of a faucet that wasn't turned off properly.
"I was just being too nervous." Zhou Guangming breathed a sigh of relief, then pushed open the door to clean up the leak.
Then he noticed that the cloth that should have been covering the mirror in the bathroom was gone.
He stood there in the mirror, but it wasn't a reflection of him. The person in the mirror was wearing durable, stain-resistant loungewear, while the real Zhou Guangming was wearing his work blue shirt!
Even more terrifying was the bizarre expression on the person's face in the mirror, one that Zhou Guangming could never replicate. The features were the same, but the expression was completely foreign; the eyes were dark and hollow, and the corners of the mouth were twisted into an inhuman arc.
"Hello," the person in the mirror said politely, their voice seeming to come from a distant place, or perhaps echoing directly in Zhou Guangming's mind. "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Zhou Guangming tried to escape, but his legs felt as heavy as lead. The person in the mirror reached out, his entire arm passing through the mirror, and grabbed Zhou Guangming's collar.
"No, no!" Zhou Guangming struggled, but the strength of that hand was astonishing, dragging him little by little toward the mirror.
Soon, his face touched the mirror surface. Instead of the expected hardness, it felt strangely sticky, as if he were passing through a layer of gel.
Fear overwhelmed him. He struggled desperately, grabbing the doorframe, but the force was too strong. His vision began to distort, and the world in the mirror unfolded before him—an inverted, gray version of his new apartment, with countless blurry figures vaguely visible wandering within it.
"Help... help me!" Zhou Guangming's last cry echoed in the bathroom, but no one heard it.
After his entire body was dragged into the mirror, the surface rippled like water a few times before returning to calm. A moment later, the "Zhou Guangming" in the mirror straightened his collar and calmly stepped out of the mirror.
He stood in the bathroom, stretching his limbs as if adjusting to his new body. Then he walked to the sink, smiled at himself in the mirror—a smile that was almost human, then gradually distorted into a bizarre, almost human-like expression.
"Perfect." He whispered, his voice exactly the same as Zhou Guangming's.
His ability to imitate humans is rapidly increasing.
After a night's rest, Zhou Guangming went to work feeling refreshed. No one paid him much attention; a typical office worker renting a room in the city might not even know his neighbors, let alone strangers.
Only his colleagues vaguely sensed that he was acting strangely, but they didn't interfere.
After all, they were just cold, impersonal colleagues.
Deep within the bathroom mirror of the apartment, the real Zhou Guangming pounded on an invisible barrier, screaming silently.
His face was pressed against the mirror, distorted and deformed, his eyes filled with fear.
"Someone, please save me?!"
"If this continues, even if I'm not killed by a demon, I'll probably die of thirst first."
As time went by, he became thirsty, tired, and hungry. The Mirror World was a reflection of reality, and the mirror in the bathroom only showed the area of the bathroom, so he couldn't leave the bathroom, couldn't open the door, and couldn't even turn on the faucet.