At Nuoding Academy, a small pink figure sat on a large, flat bluestone beside the little lake on the back mountain.
The lake was as still as a piece of black jade in the night, its surface reflecting the stars and moon.
Xiao Wu's waist-length hair spilled over her shoulders. Her feet dipped in the water and swayed gently as she leisurely combed her hair with a wooden comb, humming an unfamiliar tune.
Mirror Wang Xiaoming stood in the Mirror World beneath the lake, watching her through the thin surface of the water.
Weren't rabbits supposed to be highly alert animals?
After spending so long in the human world, it seemed even her reactions had grown sluggish.
She hadn't even noticed him watching her from below.
He withdrew his gaze and glanced toward the other parts of the academy dormitories, as well as the areas surrounding Nuoding Academy.
At that moment, every surface that could reflect light became his eyes.
He was looking for a figure carrying a sound system on his shoulder.
Tang Hao's presence wasn't nearby. Instead, it was in another room.
Mirror Xiaoming sent his Spiritual Power over. Dim yellow light shone through the room's window, and inside were a man with a buzz cut and a sloppy-looking burly man.
He didn't need to look to know that was Grand Wet's room.
Who would have thought Tang Hao wasn't secretly watching Xiao Wu, but had instead gone to talk to Gangzi in the middle of the night? Two old men, choosing not to sleep in the dead of night and instead having a secret rendezvous in a room when darkness was at its thickest, without even telling Tang Xiaosan... Tsk, tsk.
The corners of Mirror Xiaoming's mouth curved up.
Still, that saved him the trouble of keeping an eye out for Haozi.
He turned his gaze back to the lake, cleared his throat, and spoke toward the water.
"Hey, little rabbit by the lake..."
Xiao Wu's hand stopped in the middle of combing her hair.
She looked left and right, but there was no one around. The only sound was the night wind rustling the leaves.
She frowned, jumped down from the bluestone, and turned a circle on the grass in her bare feet. "Who is it? Who's playing ghosts and spirits?
"Get out here in front of Sister Xiao Wu, now! How dare you call Sister Xiao Wu a little rabbit!?
"If you don't come out, I'll beat you to a pulp when I find you!"
"Little rabbit, I'm not playing ghosts and spirits. Why don't you look down?"
Xiao Wu lowered her head. Her reflection appeared in the lake, with a face overlapping hers.
The face looked about her age, but its features held a gloom that didn't match its years. Its lips were slightly curved as it looked at her with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
Xiao Wu froze. Her first thought was that her eyes were playing tricks on her, but then the person in the lake blinked at her.
"Little rabbit, I'm right here. Why are you standing there in a daze? Did my handsome face stun you?"
Xiao Wu's pupils abruptly contracted.
She leaped back two steps, her loose hair slipping from her shoulders. Like a startled hare, she glared warily at the lake.
"Who are you calling a little rabbit?! If you've got the guts, come up here and face Sister Xiao Wu! Let's fight!!"
Seeing Xiao Wu baring her fangs and brandishing her claws, Mirror Xiaoming could only laugh. At the thought of her going to Wang Xiaoming's side and drawing hatred later, a wave of satisfaction washed over him.
"Aren't you a little rabbit? A hundred-thousand-year-old little rabbit. Is there a second one on this continent?"
Every word Mirror Xiaoming spoke struck Xiao Wu's ears with perfect clarity.
Xiao Wu's face went pale for an instant.
Her hand instinctively reached down to her feet. She picked up a fist-sized rock and hurled it at the face in the lake.
With a splash, the rock shattered the reflection, sending ripples spreading across the water.
But once the splashes and ripples subsided, the reflected face returned to normal, not a hair out of place.
Mirror Xiaoming said, "You can't hit me with a rock. You might as well save your strength."
Xiao Wu stared at the face for a second, then turned to run.
If Sister Xiao Wu couldn't afford to provoke him, couldn't she at least hide?
Mirror Xiaoming had expected that reaction. He said at once, "If you run away now, the fellow who's secretly got his eye on you will keep you penned up, you know."
Those words instantly nailed Xiao Wu's foot in midair.
She stiffly turned her head, as if he had struck a vulnerable spot.
Biting her lower lip, she stared at the lake and said, "...What did you say?"
"I said, someone set his sights on you long ago."
Mirror Wang Xiaoming spoke at an unhurried pace, letting the little rabbit hear every word clearly.
"Little rabbit, did you know there's a Titled Douluo near you?"
Her face grew even paler at that.
"H-how can you prove it? If it's really as you say, why am I still alive and well?"
"Heh, perhaps he just doesn't want to waste a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring? Words alone aren't proof, so it's certainly hard to believe, isn't it? I can't prove it."
Xiao Wu had just begun to breathe a sigh of relief when Mirror Wang Xiaoming spread his hands and continued, "But I can take you to see for yourself.
"If you think I'm lying, it won't be too late to run then."
Mirror Xiaoming coaxed her along patiently.
Xiao Wu's face scrunched up, full of indecision.
If what he said was true, then the peaceful days she'd spent here had all been an illusion. She'd been living under someone else's watch the whole time without realizing it.
If what he said was false... how did he know she was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast?
Someone who could see through her true nature at a glance couldn't possibly be an ordinary person.
"Who exactly are you?"
"Me? I'm just a kindhearted knight. Well, what will you choose? Will you run, or come with me and see the truth?"
Mirror Wang Xiaoming smiled.
"How do I get over there?"
"Just jump in."
Xiao Wu took a deep breath, walked forward two steps, closed her eyes, and jumped down into the lake.
Once she was granted permission to enter, she plunged downward. A slit of gray-white light opened in the water's surface and swallowed her whole.
Not a single hair on her head got wet. It was as though she had passed through an icy curtain, and in the next instant her feet touched solid ground.
The moment she landed, she opened her eyes warily.
But her mouth soon fell open in surprise. Her surroundings looked just like Nuoding Academy after Er Ming had trampled through it several times, and everything had an indescribably off-kilter feel.
Mirror Xiaoming stood a few steps in front of her.
Xiao Wu studied him warily, the sense that something was wrong growing stronger in her heart.
"This... where is this?"
"Why worry about all that? Follow me, and you'll understand that everything I said is true..."
Mirror Xiaoming turned and led Xiao Wu toward the building next door.
At that moment, the curtains were drawn in Yu Xiaogang's office, where Tang Hao was saying something to him.
They didn't notice that two figures had appeared on the smooth surface of a glass cup sitting on the cabinet behind them, watching them.
"That guy... is the Titled Douluo you said had his eye on me!?"
Although Xiao Wu didn't want to believe it, a single glance at the beggar-like fellow outside was enough to make her flesh creep.
Most importantly, he was telling that Grand Wet or whatever he was called to remember that Tang San was his son!
No wonder that guy had said he didn't want to waste a Soul Ring or something.
So that was what he meant!!!