Xiao Qi woke up groggily in bed and saw a shadow across from him.
At that time, he didn't feel anything; his mind was blank, and he wasn't afraid.
He fumbled for the light switch on the bedside table. The moment the light came on, a dazzling white light flashed before his eyes, emanating from the figure opposite him. Then, he saw a person who looked exactly like him, sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at him with the same terrified eyes.
It was a floor-length mirror, taller than a person, standing right in front of his bed.
Generally speaking, when you see a mirror, you recognize the person in it—that's yourself. But Xiao Qi is different. Ever since he and the landlady went to rescue Mo Yu, and experienced an endless run through the mirror maze from birth to old age and from old age to death, witnessing the terrifying scenes of himself aging, decaying, and finally reduced to nothing but weathered, deep white bones, he developed a strange fear of mirrors.
This fear was deeply ingrained in his bones.
Even though so many years have passed, he still trembles whenever he sees a mirror, no matter what he sees in it.
At that moment, when he saw the person in the mirror, he felt that it was not himself, but someone from another world, or at least someone from another time and space.
He seemed to see himself about to die and hear the death knell tolling from hell.
The light shone on the curtains, and he saw the Black and White Impermanence and the Death-Bringing Imp pacing outside the window, holding chains.
His scalp tingled, and his hair stood on end. He grabbed his hair tightly, closed his eyes, and screamed, "Go away! Go away! Go away now--!"
" Xiao Qi, what's wrong? Xiao Qi, did you have a nightmare?" Startled awake Mo Yu sat up in bed, gently hugging Xiao Qi's shoulders and comforting her, "It's okay, it's okay, Xiao Qi, everything will be alright, everything will be alright!"
"Who? Who put it here?! Who?!" Xiao Qi screamed hysterically.
"What are you saying?" Mo Yu didn't know what he was saying.
Xiao Qi jerked his hand away from Mo Yu's and pointed ahead, shouting, "Mirror! Mirror... who... who put the mirror there? Who put the mirror there! Was it you? Was it you!"
"Mirror? Where did this mirror come from?" Mo Yu looked at the bedside in the direction Xiao Qi was pointing. There was nothing there, only a plain white wall.
This is a new house they bought last year. The bar business is doing quite well, which has allowed them to save a lot of money. Despite the consistently high housing prices in Wuzhong, they still gritted their teeth and made the down payment. When decorating, taking into account Xiao Qi's persistent problem, they didn't install any mirrors in the entire house, except for the bathroom, or even any reflective glass.
Mo Yu grabbed Xiao Qi's shoulder and shook him hard, saying, "Wake up! You're hallucinating again! It's all in the past. This is our home, our safe haven! There are no mirrors here, we didn't even put any in, don't you remember?"
Xiao Qi looked at her blankly, his expression softening slightly, but when he turned back, he trembled again. He saw the mirror again, but the person in it was slowly withering away.
Two Ghost lurked in the darkness. One held a hook, hooking away at his life—his hair was falling out, his skin was cracking, his blood was flowing... until his flesh and blood had completely disappeared, leaving only bare bones. The other picked up a chain, bound him, and dragged him into the darkness without saying a word.
The skeleton struggled desperately, but to no avail; only the clanging of iron chains could be heard.
Xiao Qi didn't feel any physical pain, but another indescribable agony gnawed at his body, like a million ants were biting at him; like a hook was ensnaring his heart; like a fire was burning in his brain...
He clutched his chest with one hand and rubbed his head with the other, yelling and spewing out a string of incomprehensible words.
The mirror suddenly brightened, as if the Sun had shone on the world there, and the skeletons that had been mostly dragged into darkness reappeared in sight. The light, like the magic of an angel, re-coalesced flesh and blood on the skeletons until they returned to their complete human form.
But Xiao Qi discovered that the person in the mirror was no longer him.
The man was wearing golden armor and a cloak as white as clouds.
His face, however, was very blurry and indistinct. He snapped his fingers, and with a crack, a bolt of lightning flashed, and a crack appeared in the mirror.
Xiao Qi saw the person float out of the crack. Yes, he didn't walk out, he floated out, and then, he quietly hovered in front of her, quietly watching her, like a god examining a dead person.
Xiao Qi wanted to ask who he was, but the thought only flashed through his mind; fear prevented him from speaking. Strangely, however, his thought traveled outward. He could see his own thoughts, fluctuating in the air like radio waves.
Then, just as if the sender had received a response, the other party also sent out the same radio waves. And he was able to understand the meaning of these radio waves.
The person in golden armor and rosy clouds was saying:
Was that you calling me just now?
Xiao Qi to say, "No, I didn't call you." But he still couldn't speak, and another thought arose in his mind:
"Yes, it is I who am calling upon you, my God!"
"Very good, I sense your fear. Ordinary person, everything you have in this world belongs to me. As long as you sincerely believe in me, I can help you overcome your inner fear and give you everything you desire."
Xiao Qi heard the golden-armored deity's words. This time, it wasn't just radio waves; it was real speech, in a language Xiao Qi could understand.
"But I'm still scared, even if you're right next to me," Xiao Qi said.
"The root of your fear is death. You've seen your own death, especially the process of dying, which is why you're in so much pain. That mirror symbolizing death has always been buried in your heart. You're constantly watching it, and it's constantly watching you. You live with death. Therefore, you live in constant fear, every moment, even in your dreams, you can feel the gaze of death."
"Then what should I do?"
"Smash it!" The golden-armored deity turned around and waved his hand. The mirror behind him, which already had cracks, shattered into pieces in an instant.
"Break the boundaries of this space, and you will break free from the shackles of death that bind you. Step out, reach for the wider sky, transcend the boundaries of life and death, and gain eternal life. You will then have no more fear!"
Xiao Qi was completely bewildered. Although the golden-armored deity's words inexplicably gave him hope and confidence, he still didn't know what to do.
"What should I do? How can I break down the boundary between life and death?"
Look around you. What's in the farthest place your gaze can reach?
Xiao Qi looked around in his dialect. This was his bedroom. It was nighttime, and all he could see were white walls and closed doors and windows. But strangely, he seemed to have X-ray vision and could see the living room, kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. Everything was clearly displayed before his eyes, even clearer and more comprehensive than the VR viewing scene shown on the real estate website when he bought the house.
Xiao Qi raised his head and looked up. He thought that since he could see through things, he should also be able to see through the ceiling and see the scene in the house upstairs.
He remembered that a middle-aged couple lived upstairs; the man was a greasy, overweight man, while the woman was a charming woman in her late twenties. They had met in the elevator, and he remembered that the woman had given him a flirtatious wink. Mo Yu was right next to him at the time, and he quickly lowered his head, not daring to respond.
When he looked up, his X-ray vision didn't work; he only saw a hazy gray, like a thick fog on an autumn night, unable to see anything clearly. Instead, the ceiling began to ripple like water, slowly curving upwards, just like the distorted scene seen through a camera lens.
He looked down again, hoping to see through the floor and downstairs.
Downstairs lives a retired elderly man who is in poor health and walks with a shaky gait, yet he refuses to use a cane. Every day when Xiao Qi encounters him in the hallway, he always makes way for him, afraid of accidentally bumping into him.
It was the same; he couldn't see anything clearly, everything was hazy and gray, like the thick fog of an autumn night.
He wanted to show Mo Yu, who was beside him, whether she could also see through his living room. But when he turned his head, he found that Mo Yu was gone. Not only that, but the bed was gone too, and the room was gone as well.
In the blink of an eye, he was left all alone, standing forlornly in the wilderness.
All around were wildly growing weeds and endless darkness.
But he wasn't as afraid as before. He wasn't actually a coward; if it weren't for the terrifying experience he had with the mirror world, he could even be considered brave. All his fears stemmed from mirrors, and even now, standing in such a dark wilderness, even with man-eating beasts and Ghost roaming there, nothing would terrify him more than standing in front of a bright mirror.
He saw the golden-armored deity again, hovering in the air in front of him.
The golden armor shone brightly, and the robes on his body emitted a seven-colored glow.
The light was so intense that no one dared to look directly at it, so much so that Xiao Qi still couldn't see his face clearly.
He didn't dare look you in the eye, and you asked hesitantly, "Where is my home? Where is my love? Why am I here? I'm surrounded by darkness?"
Look closely, that's not darkness. That's the edge of the world. That's your edge.
"Boundaries? My boundaries?" A glimmer of light flashed through Xiao Qi's mind, but it was quickly swallowed up by new darkness. As if he had thought of something, he anxiously scratched his scalp.
"Break through it!"
He heard the golden-armored deity speaking to the Tushu.
With a sudden thought, a bright spot appeared in the darkness before him, like the light of a firefly, faint but full of hope. He walked towards that light.
A heavy curtain blocked his view, like a stage curtain hanging from the sky. He knew that behind this curtain was a different world, a much larger stage.
A voice told him, "Lift the curtain, and you will be able to transcend the boundary between life and death. Go in, and you will find eternal light."
He pulled back the curtain a crack with his hand, and bright, blinding light immediately flooded in like it was pouring into the charging soldiers.
His eyes stung, but he refused to close them.
He saw a colossal pyramid standing in infinite light, and above that pyramid, there was another pyramid, upside down, its tip facing the tip of the one below.
The source of the light is at the point where the two pyramids meet.
It was like there was a Sun there. No, ten thousand times brighter than the Sun!
The golden-armored deity beckoned to him amidst the light.
He went inside and prostrated himself on the ground in reverence.
Around him were millions of people just like him, devoutly blessing and thanking their God.
"Thank you, my God, for leading me to a new place."
"What should I call you, my God!"
God said, "I am Kronos, and I will lead you to create a new world!"