Reflection in the Water

Mo Fei froze on the spot. For a few seconds, he even wondered if he was dreaming, but he quickly realized that this was no dream. It was reality. The thing he had feared most had happened after all—Murphys was real, and it had already begun manifesting in the real world.

"Murphys?" he asked tentatively.

"Who else could it be, stupid mortal?" The mocking tone immediately irritated Mo Fei.

Mo Fei reacted quickly, instantly recalling a few things. The violent emotions from before, that desire to kill—they were exactly like when he fought story campaigns in the game.

"So it was you whispering in my ear all along? You were the one who pushed me to do those things? This was all your doing!"

"Heh heh, don't put it that way. I merely gave you a little push. Those were things you wanted to do anyway. So, how did it feel to hold another person's life in your hands? Wasn't it exhilarating? Addictive? By the way, you should have stabbed him."

Mo Fei snorted. "I'm not crazy."

A mocking expression appeared on Black Dragon's face. "Really? Then what are you doing right now?"

Mo Fei had no answer. Talking to a hallucination in the water was indeed the sort of thing only a madman would do.

He stared at the Black Dragon in the mirror, at those crimson eyes radiating scorching red light. "So what exactly are you?"

Black Dragon opened its mouth. "What do you think?"

Just as Mo Fei was about to speak, the restroom door behind him suddenly slammed open. A drunken man stumbled in with a bottle in hand. He seemed to be an employee of one of the companies on this floor. Apparently not noticing Mo Fei, he went straight to a nearby urinal and relieved himself.

When Mo Fei turned back again, the Black Dragon in the reflection was gone.

He had no intention of sticking around to inspect the place, so he turned and left.

His thoughts were a mess. He desperately needed to get back to his dorm and calm down.

The lights in the hallway were somewhat glaring. Outside lay the pitch-black night, while reflections flickered across the glass as though something were following him.

"You're just going to leave like that?" Black Dragon's voice rang out again.

Mo Fei glanced over from the corner of his eye. The image of the Black Dragon had appeared in the reflection on the glass, moving as he moved, as though that damned dragon were following him outside the window. But Mo Fei knew it was only his hallucination. Black Dragon did not exist—at least, not physically.

He did not answer.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

Mo Fei ignored it. He had not yet figured out how to deal with this thing. He was not even sure whether that voice was real or merely a hallucination. As a materialist, he had no desire to converse with his own hallucinations. Yet at the same time, he felt that this was something incredibly strange—and incredibly dangerous.

"How does it feel to be pestered?"

I'm not listening, I'm not listening, turtle's chanting scriptures.

"Heh heh, don't think you can pretend not to see me. I'm right here. I know you can hear my voice."

"La la la la la."

The voice lingered beside his ears, driving Mo Fei to distraction.

"Shut up!" he finally shouted, deliberately lowering his voice so no one would see him talking to himself.

The voice vanished, and so did the image in the glass. But just as he breathed a sigh of relief, a huge Black Dragon face suddenly lunged out from a mirror around the corner—"Bang!"

Mo Fei jumped in fright, while Black Dragon wore a smug expression. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're getting impatient already? How boring."

"What the hell do you want?" Mo Fei demanded angrily.

"I want to help you." As Black Dragon spoke, it picked at its claws, its absentminded expression making it look utterly punchable.

Help my ass, Mo Fei thought. If he had not calmed down at the last second, he would probably be in a police station by now. And the best possible outcome would likely have been life imprisonment. So that was it—

Mo Fei suddenly understood. This was Black Dragon's goal: to get him thrown into prison. Mo Fei had heard about the kind of environment prisons were. Under the threat of violence, he would have no choice but to rely on it. During that process, Murphys would surely gradually invade his consciousness, take control of his body, and eventually replace him completely.

The thought made him shudder, and anger surged within him.

"Get lost! You damned worm! I know what you're trying to do. You want to control me, don't you? Take over my body and steal everything from me? Dream on..."

Black Dragon suddenly pounced at him. A massive dragon claw shot out from the glass and clamped around Mo Fei's throat. The pitch-black claw looked unbelievably real. Mo Fei could even see the fluorescent lights glinting off its scales. The claw slowly tightened, and the tremendous force left him utterly unable to resist, choking the breath from him.

Those crimson eyes stared at him through the reflection in the glass, filled with hatred.

"That's what I should be saying to you, human. You shameless thief, you vile piece of trash. You controlled my body, toyed with my fate, stole my life. Now you know what it feels like to be controlled, don't you? Good. You'll get used to this feeling..."

Mo Fei felt himself slowly suffocating. His vision gradually darkened, until a voice suddenly sounded behind him. "Hey, Mo Fei."

Mo Fei abruptly awoke from the nightmare-like hallucination. He found himself standing in the middle of the hallway. There was no dragon claw, and no one was strangling him. Through the window, he could see the city at night, its neon lights dazzling in a riot of colors. Apart from that, there was only his own reflection.

Mo Fei was still shaken. This thing was too sinister—it could actually interfere with reality. He touched his neck, where the sensation of suffocation seemed to linger.

He turned around with some relief and found Che Xiaoyan hurrying after him. She was also a streamer from the Monster District, though she streamed succubi...

Che Xiaoyan looked puzzled and followed Mo Fei's gaze toward the window beside them, but she could not see anything unusual.

"I heard you had a conflict with the young boss just now. Is that true?"

Mo Fei shook his head. "Nothing like that. Don't listen to people spouting nonsense."

But Che Xiaoyan would not let it go. Hugging Mo Fei's arm, she gave it a vigorous shake. "Brother Dragon, don't fool me. We all signed our contracts at the same time, and they're about to expire. Everyone's watching to see which way the wind blows. You're the top streamer in our Monster District. If the company's going to negotiate compensation, they'll definitely start with you. Give me a hint—how did the talks go?"

Under normal circumstances, Mo Fei might really have revealed a little, but right now he only wanted to get home as soon as possible.

Mo Fei shook his head. "It's still too early to say. But there should be an answer tomorrow."

With that, he sighed, turned around, and walked away with a heavy heart.