He Jie hurriedly darted aside, stealing timid glances at her as he huddled in the corner, desperately making himself as inconspicuous as possible.
Xiao Ying paid him no attention at all.
She walked over to the mirror that had split in two, reached out, and scooped into it.
Her hand was clearly solid, with well-defined knuckles and red polish on her nails.
Yet that solid hand slipped into the mirror without any resistance, as though reaching into water.
Ripples spread across the mirror's surface.
Something seemed to be resisting and struggling, but it was utterly futile.
She scooped something out of the shattered mirror.
It was a mass of black mist.
It was about the size of two fists put together, pitch-black throughout, yet not entirely opaque...
Light twisted and distorted as it passed through it, casting eerie patterns of light and shadow on the wall.
It kept changing shape in her hand.
One moment, it was a single whole, its surface flowing with an oily sheen, like some viscous, semiliquid substance.
The next, it split into a mass of countless tiny things, all densely packed together.
Every one of them wriggled, tumbled, and struggled, making faint squeaking sounds.
Anyone with trypophobia would probably have passed out on the spot at the sight.
Holding that mass, Xiao Ying examined it with interest.
Restrained by her grip, it howled frantically in a shrill, thin voice.
Its body struggled desperately, splitting into more tiny individuals that tried to escape between her fingers, but it could not break free of her grasp no matter what it did.
Then she opened her mouth.
And stuffed the mass straight inside.
Her cheeks bulged as she chewed.
"Mmm, nice texture."
Xiao Ying nodded in satisfaction, looking as though she had just eaten an especially chewy gummy.