Reflection Station: Don't Trust Yourself in the Mirror

[You've been gone for so long.]

As soon as she said that.

Shen Niannian's previously relaxed expression grew noticeably more serious.

This was the first weird entity so far.

To explicitly mention her past "disappearance."

Bai Feiyue had only said she knew her.

Gu Changsheng and the doorman had both been tight-lipped, each more so than the other.

But Ning Hongzhuang clearly knew more.

Shen Niannian immediately asked, "You said I disappeared for a long time. Exactly how long? And who was I before?"

The livestream chat fell much quieter in an instant.

"Here we go!"

"Someone finally asked the real question!"

"This Ning Hongzhuang obviously knows about Shen Niannian's past!"

Cheng Ye said nothing either.

But his gaze had already settled on the two of them.

Ning Hongzhuang looked at Shen Niannian.

For the first time, her silver-gray eyes showed clear scrutiny.

"You really don't remember anything?"

"If I remembered, I wouldn't feel like I was opening a blind box every time I met one of you."

Shen Niannian answered with complete sincerity.

(￣ー￣)

Ning Hongzhuang fell silent for a few seconds.

She didn't answer directly who Shen Niannian was.

Instead, she asked, "What's the last thing you remember?"

The question made Shen Niannian pause slightly.

She couldn't very well say she had transmigrated here.

So she could only answer according to the circumstances of her current body.

"A lot of things before I was fourteen are blurry. The further back I go, the less I remember."

Ning Hongzhuang's gaze visibly changed.

But she still showed little emotion.

"Looks like you're not pretending."

The corner of Shen Niannian's mouth twitched.

"What would I gain from pretending?"

"It wouldn't be the first time you've pretended to have amnesia to escape punishment."

Shen Niannian: "..."

(⊙_⊙)

Livestream chat:

"???"

"She was already pretending to have amnesia as a kid?!"

"I think I'm starting to understand why these ghosts get headaches when they see her."

Ning Hongzhuang looked at her.

Her tone remained calm.

"Once, you turned all twelve of Mirror City's boundary-patrolling mirrors into funhouse mirrors, so half the weird entities in the city district saw pig heads when they looked in them that day. After I caught you, you clung to my leg and cried for half an hour, insisting you had amnesia and couldn't even remember your own name."

The carriage fell silent.

Even Cheng Ye couldn't help glancing at Shen Niannian.

Shen Niannian herself looked utterly incredulous.

"I was that obnoxious before?"

Ning Hongzhuang said calmly, "There were plenty of worse things. This one was only ordinary."

Shen Niannian:

"..."

(╥﹏╥)

She was done for.

She suddenly didn't really want to know about her past anymore.

If she kept digging.

Sooner or later, she'd unearth a whole collection of embarrassing history.

But jokes aside.

Ning Hongzhuang quickly turned serious again.

"I can only tell you part of it. You did appear in Mirror City before, and more than once. More than ten years ago, you suddenly vanished from all our sight, and there was never any news of you again."

"Did anyone look for me?"

"Many did."

"Who?"

Ning Hongzhuang glanced at her.

"I can't answer that question right now."

Shen Niannian frowned.

"Why?"

"Because once you learn certain names, it may not be a good thing for you."

She clearly wasn't brushing her off.

Shen Niannian didn't press her further.

She had already obtained information that was important enough.

Her connection to the Weird World hadn't started recently.

She had been active there more than ten years ago.

And-

Many weird entities had looked for her.

As for why.

She would have to keep investigating.

Just then.

The Reflection Station announcement suddenly sounded.

[Time remaining at stop: two minutes.]

Ning Hongzhuang turned to look outside the train.

Her previously calm expression turned cold for the first time.

"Forget about the past for now."

"Something has come to this stop."

Shen Niannian immediately followed her gaze.

The mirrors on the platform.

At some unknown point.

Had all begun reflecting carriage four.

But the problem was-

The scenes in the mirrors.

Were different from reality.

In reality.

All the players were sitting inside the carriage.

In the mirrors.

One "player" after another stood on the platform.

Identical faces.

Identical clothes.

Even their expressions were exactly the same.

In the mirror.

Shen Niannian also saw another version of herself.

Silver hair.

Red eyes.

White pajamas.

Slippers.

The "Shen Niannian" in the mirror stood on the platform.

Smiling at her.

(◕ᴗ◕✿)

Shen Niannian's scalp instantly tingled.

Because she wasn't smiling at all!

Cheng Ye saw it too.

"Everyone, stay away from the doors, and don't initiate any communication with your reflections."

As soon as he finished speaking.

The announcement sounded again.

[Reflection Station boarding reminders]

[1. Reflections belong to passengers, but reflections are not passengers.]

[2. Before the train doors close, please confirm that your reflection remains on the platform.]

[3. If your reflection asks to exchange places with you, please do not answer.]

[4. Please do not point out differences between other passengers and their reflections.]

[5. After leaving Reflection Station, please reconfirm your ticket information.]

Five rules.

Cheng Ye quickly read through them.

His brow furrowed more and more tightly.

"The second rule is the most important. The reflections must stay on the platform until the doors close."

Shen Niannian nodded.

In other words.

They absolutely couldn't let the reflections board.

But immediately afterward.

The reflections on the platform moved.

The "Xu Jing" in the mirror was the first to come out.

Not from behind the mirror.

But as though passing through a sheet of water.

She stepped straight out of the mirror and onto the platform.

Then.

She walked toward the train, one step at a time.

The real Xu Jing's face went deathly pale in an instant.

"Why can it come out?"

The Xu Jing from the mirror walked up to the train door.

She gave Xu Jing an identical expression.

"You've been sitting for so long. You must be tired. I'll sit in your place for a while. Come down and rest."

Xu Jing kept her mouth firmly shut.

She didn't respond.

Rule three.

Don't answer a request to exchange places!

The reflection waited a few seconds.

When she saw Xu Jing wasn't falling for it.

The smile gradually disappeared from her face.

She finally stopped outside the train door.

And came no farther.

It worked!

But the next second.

Something went wrong with another player.

The middle-aged woman in 8A.

Her reflection did not ask to switch places.

Instead, it stood outside the train door.

It said softly:

"Your daughter is at Reflection Station."

The woman shuddered violently.

She was the player who had once been tempted by her daughter's voice in the Lightless Section.

The reflection continued, "Your daughter isn't dead. She's been waiting for you here all this time. If you don't believe me, turn around and look at the third mirror."

The woman's eyes instantly reddened.

Cheng Ye's expression changed.

"Don't look! Just because it didn't ask to switch places doesn't mean you can trust what it says."

The woman clenched her teeth.

But just then.

In the third mirror.

A teenage girl really did appear.

She was crying and pounding on the mirror.

"Mom!"

The middle-aged woman went completely rigid.

"Xiaoxiao..."

Shen Niannian's heart sank.

It's over.

She responded!

But strangely.

There was no death notification.

The reflection did not attack immediately, either.

Cheng Ye was also stunned for a moment.

Rule three clearly said-

[If your reflection asks to switch places with you, please do not respond.]

It had not asked to switch places just now.

It had only mentioned her daughter.

So responding did not seem to violate the rules.

The middle-aged woman saw that there was no punishment.

A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes.

"Is it really you?"

The girl in the mirror nodded frantically.

"Mom, come a little closer. I have something to tell you."

The woman instinctively left her seat.

Cheng Ye sprang to his feet.

"Get back! Rule one says you have to stay in your own seat at all times!"

The woman stopped in her tracks.

She finally came to her senses a little.

But at that very moment.

Her reflection suddenly smiled.

"It's all right."

"You don't have to get off."

"I'll come up to you."

The next second.

The reflection stepped into the carriage!

Everyone's expression changed at once.

Rule two!

[Before the train doors close, please confirm that your reflection is still on the platform.]

Cheng Ye immediately shouted, "Get back!"

It was no use.

The rule required players to confirm it.

But it said nothing about-

How to stop a reflection that had already boarded the train!

The middle-aged woman panicked completely.

"What do I do?!"

For a moment, Cheng Ye could not find an answer.

In those few seconds.

The countdown above the train door reached zero.

[00:00]

Creak-

The train doors closed.

The reflection remained inside the carriage.

At the same time.

The middle-aged woman in the mirror on the platform.

Disappeared.

The woman in reality suddenly stiffened.

She looked down.

The ticket in her hand began to change.

[Name: --]

[Seat: 8A]

[Destination: Homecoming Station]

Her name.

Was disappearing bit by bit!

And the reflection standing in the aisle.

Slowly acquired an identical ticket in its hand.

[Name: Zhou Min]

[Seat: 8A]

[Destination: Homecoming Station]

Cheng Ye's expression changed completely.

"It isn't trying to switch seats with you."

"It's trying to switch passenger identities with you!"

Zhou Min looked up in terror.

"Then what do I do?!"

No one knew.

The rules did not say.

Cheng Ye did not have an answer, either.

Even Shen Niannian's Identity Archive had only managed to display one line of information.

[Identity replacement detected in progress.]

The next second.

The train's announcement sounded.

[Two passengers detected in seat 8A.]

[Verifying valid identity.]

The two "Zhou Mins."

Looked at each other at the same time.

And one of them-

Would soon be designated an excess passenger by the train.