Inside the Universe Mirror

At the Great Hall Central Area stood a gigantic, crystal-clear mirror that covered all the empty space within the hall.

The Universe Mirror—one mirror was one world.

Such a mirror contained a world within itself.

Like the Mustard Seed Bracelet, it was a mass-produced spiritual artifact, only more...

"I am a failure. I hardly ever notice whether the sun is shining or not, because I have no time.

"My parents couldn't offer me any support, and my education wasn't high enough. Alone in the city, I searched for a future.

"I looked for many jobs, but none would hire me. Perhaps no one liked someone who wasn't good at talking, disliked socializing, and had never shown enough ability.

"I went three whole days eating only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Luckily, I had paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement instead of going outside to endure the unusually frigid winter winds.

"Finally, I found a job working nights at a hospital, watching over the morgue.

"The hospital was even colder at night than I had imagined. The Wall Lamps in the corridors weren't lit, and everything was dim. I could only rely on the faint light leaking from the rooms to see where I stepped.

"The place smelled awful. Every so often, a dead person would be delivered stuffed inside a Body Bag, and we would work together to carry them into the morgue.

"It wasn't a very good job, but at least I could afford bread. I could also use my free time at night to study. After all, hardly anyone wanted to come to a morgue unless a body needed to be delivered or taken away for cremation. Of course, I still didn't have enough money to buy books, and I couldn't see any hope of saving up any.

"I had to thank my Former Colleague. If he hadn't suddenly quit, I might not even have gotten a job like this.

"I dreamed of being rotated onto the day shift. Sleeping whenever the sun came up and getting up after nightfall had left my body a little weak, and my head occasionally throbbed with pain.

"One day, the porters brought in a new corpse.

"I heard from others that it was my former colleague who had suddenly quit.

"I was a little curious about him. After everyone left, I pulled out the drawer and quietly opened the Body Bag.

"He was an Old Man, his face bluish-white and covered in wrinkles. Under the extremely dim light, he looked terrifying.

"He did not have much hair, and most of it had turned white. All his clothes had been removed, leaving not even a scrap of fabric on him.

"I saw a strange Mark on his chest, blue-black in color. I couldn't describe its exact appearance; the light had simply been too dim.

"I reached out and touched the Mark. There was nothing unusual about it.

"Looking at this former colleague, I wondered whether, if I went on like this, I would become like him when I grew old...

"I told him that tomorrow, I would accompany him to the crematorium and personally take his ashes to the nearest Free Cemetery, so the people responsible for such things wouldn't find it troublesome and casually toss them into some river or wasteland.

"It would cost me a morning's sleep, but Sunday was almost here. I could make it up then.

"After saying that, I fixed the Body Bag and pushed it back into the drawer.

"The room seemed even darker...

"After that day, I always dreamed of a Heavy Fog whenever I slept.

"I had a premonition that something would happen soon, that sooner or later, something I didn't know whether I could call human would come looking for me. But no one was willing to believe me. They thought that working in such an environment had made me mentally unstable and that I needed to see a Doctor..."

A Male Guest seated before the Bar Counter looked at the storyteller, who had suddenly stopped.

"And then?"

The Male Guest was in his thirties, dressed in a brown Tweed Jacket and pale yellow trousers. His hair was pressed flat, and a simple dark Fedora rested beside his hand.

He looked utterly ordinary, like most of the people in the tavern: black hair, light blue eyes, neither handsome nor ugly, with no distinctive features.

The storyteller in his eyes was a Young Man of eighteen or nineteen, tall and straight, with long limbs. He too had short black hair and light blue eyes, but his features were sharply defined and striking.

The Young Man stared at the empty glass before him and sighed.

"And then?

"Then I quit my job, went back to the countryside, and came here to brag to you."

As he spoke, a smile appeared on his face, carrying a hint of mischief.

The Male Guest was taken aback.

"Everything you just said was bragging?"

"Haha!" Laughter erupted around the Bar Counter.

As the laughter subsided slightly, a thin middle-aged man looked at the somewhat embarrassed guest and said, "Outsider, you actually believed Lumian's story? Every day, he tells a different one. Yesterday, he was still a poor bastard whose fiancée had broken off their engagement because of his poverty. Today, he's become a Corpse Watcher!"

"Yeah! Talking about thirty years east of the Serenzo River, thirty years west of the Serenzo River—he only knows how to spout nonsense!" another tavern regular chimed in.

They were all farmers from the large village of Kordu, dressed in black, gray, or brown Short Jackets.

The black-haired Young Man called Lumian braced both hands against the Bar Counter and slowly rose to his feet, saying with a smile, "You know, I didn't make up this story. My Elder Sister wrote all of it. She loves writing stories, and she's even a columnist for Novel Weekly."

After saying that, he turned sideways, spread his hands toward the outsider, and flashed a brilliant smile.

"Looks like she writes quite well.

"Sorry for misleading you."

The ordinary-looking man in the brown Tweed Jacket did not get angry. He stood as well and replied with a smile, "It's a very interesting story.

"What should I call you?"

"Isn't it common sense to introduce yourself before asking someone else?" Lumian said with a smile.

The outsider nodded.

"My name is Liane Kos.

"These two are my companions, Valentine and Liya."

He was referring to the man and woman seated beside him.

The man was twenty-seven or twenty-eight. His yellow hair had been lightly powdered, and his not particularly large eyes were a shade darker than lake blue. He wore a white vest, a blue fine-tweed coat, and black trousers, and he had clearly dressed up carefully before leaving home.

His expression was rather cold, and he rarely looked at the surrounding farmers and herdsmen.

The woman looked younger than the two men. Her long light-gray hair was arranged in an intricate bun, wrapped in a white veil that served as a hat.

Her eyes were the same color as her hair. She looked at Lumian with undisguised amusement, apparently finding what had just happened quite entertaining.

Under the tavern's gas Wall Lamps, this woman named Liya revealed a pert nose and beautifully curved lips. In a countryside village like Kordu, she could absolutely be called a beauty.

She wore a white, pleatless cashmere sheath dress, paired with an off-white little jacket and Masir boots. Two small silver bells were tied respectively to her veil and boots. When she had entered the tavern earlier, they had jingled all the way, drawing enormous attention and leaving quite a few men staring dumbly.

In their eyes, this was the sort of fashionable attire found only in major cities like the Provincial Capital Bigol or the capital Trier.

Lumian nodded at the three outsiders.

"My name is Lumian Li. You can just call me Lumian."

"Li?" Liya blurted out.

"What? Is there something wrong with my surname?" Lumian asked curiously.

Liane Kos explained for Liya, "Your surname is frightening. Just now, I almost couldn't control my voice."

Seeing the confusion on the farmers' and herdsmen's faces, he further explained, "Anyone who has dealt with sailors or maritime merchants knows that there is a saying across the Five Seas:

"Better to encounter those Pirate Generals, or even kings, than run into someone named Frank Li.

"That person's surname is Li too."

"Is he terrifying?" Lumian asked.

Liane shook his head.

"I don't know, but since such a legend exists, he must be formidable."

He ended the topic and said to Lumian, "Thank you for your story. It deserves a drink. What would you like?"

"A glass of Green Fairy." Lumian was not polite at all as he sat back down.

Liane Kos frowned slightly.

"Green Fairy... Absinthe?

"I think I need to remind you that absinthe is harmful to the human body. It can cause mental disorder and make you hallucinate."

"I didn't expect Trier's fashionable trends to have spread all the way here," Liya added with a smile.

Lumian gave an "Oh."

"So people from Trier like drinking Green Fairy too...

"For us, life is already hard enough. There's no need to care about a little more harm. This drink gives our minds greater relaxation."

"All right." Liane sat back down and looked toward the bartender. "One glass of Green Fairy, and add a glass of Spicy Heart for me."

Spicy Heart was a famous fruit liquor.

"Why not get me a glass of Green Fairy too? I was the one who told you the truth just now, and I can tell you everything about this kid exactly as it happened!" The thin middle-aged man who had first exposed Lumian's daily storytelling shouted in dissatisfaction. "Outsider, I can tell you still have doubts about whether that story was real!"

"Pierre, for a free drink, you'll do anything!" Lumian called back loudly.

Before Liane could decide, Lumian added, "Why can't I tell it myself? That way, I can drink another glass of Green Fairy."

"Because they don't know whether they should believe what you say." The middle-aged man called Pierre smiled smugly. "Your Elder Sister's favorite story to tell children is The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Anyone who always lies is bound to lose their credibility."

"All right." Lumian shrugged as he watched the bartender slide a pale green drink in front of him.

Liane looked at him and asked, "Is that okay?"

"No problem, as long as your wallet can cover the cost of all this liquor." Lumian did not care in the slightest.

"Then another glass of Green Fairy." Liane nodded.

Pierre immediately beamed.

"Generous outsider, this kid is the biggest prankster in the village. You must stay far away from him.

"Five years ago, his Elder Sister Orol brought him back to the village, and he has never left since. Think about it—before that, he was only thirteen. How could he possibly have worked as a Corpse Watcher in a hospital? Besides, the nearest hospital is in Darez at the foot of the mountain, a whole afternoon's walk from here."

"Brought back to the village?" Liya asked sharply.

She tilted her head slightly, making her bells jingle.

Pierre nodded.

"After that, he took Orol's surname, Li. Even the name Lumian was given to him by Orol."

"I've forgotten what I was originally called." Lumian took a sip of absinthe and said with a grin.

He did not seem remotely ashamed or self-conscious about having his past exposed like this.