Don't Let Your Reflection Admit to Being You

[Two passengers detected in seat 8A.]

[Verifying valid passenger identity.]

The instant the announcement rang out.

The ticket in Zhou Min's hand rapidly faded.

[Name: --]

But the information on the ticket held by the "Zhou Min" standing in the aisle grew increasingly complete.

[Name: Zhou Min]

[Seat: 8A]

[Destination: Homecoming Station]

Two Zhou Mins.

Two nearly identical tickets.

Everyone in the carriage turned pale.

Zhou Min gripped the armrest of her seat even harder.

"Cheng Ye, what should I do? My name's almost gone!"

Cheng Ye didn't answer immediately.

He stared at the two tickets, his mind racing.

The biggest problem now wasn't that they couldn't tell which one was real.

Everyone knew the one in the seat was the real Zhou Min.

The question was-

Would the train recognize her?

From beginning to end, the Lightless Train had only cared about "valid passenger identity."

Once the reflection had fully copied her identity.

Whether the person was real or fake.

Might not matter at all.

Cheng Ye said gravely, "Don't leave 8A yet. The only things you have left to prove your identity are your original seat and the ticket in your hand."

Zhou Min's voice trembled.

"Then what?"

Cheng Ye fell silent.

Then...

He didn't know.

The rules had only told them not to let a reflection stay on the train.

They hadn't said.

What to do once a reflection had already boarded.

The livestream chat was in an uproar too.

"Cheng Ye's stuck too!"

"This isn't something analyzing the rules can solve anymore, is it?"

"Isn't Ning Hongzhuang a mirror creepy? She must know!"

"Right! Ask Ning Hongzhuang!"

In the carriage.

Zhou Min had clearly thought of that too.

She turned sharply to Ning Hongzhuang.

This peak A-rank mirror creepy had clearly shown extensive knowledge of mirror-type creepies since boarding at Reflection Station.

"M-Miss Ning."

Zhou Min swallowed.

"You must know how to deal with this kind of thing, right? Could you please save me?"

Ning Hongzhuang sat in her seat.

Her head lowered as she wiped the silver hand mirror.

When she heard Zhou Min.

She didn't so much as lift an eyelid.

Zhou Min's face grew even paler.

"Please, I'm willing to pay a price. I'll do anything I can."

This time.

Ning Hongzhuang finally looked up.

Her silver-gray eyes settled on Zhou Min.

There was no pity.

Nor any malice.

Only utter indifference.

"What does your life or death have to do with me?"

Zhou Min's body stiffened.

The entire carriage fell silent in an instant.

Even the livestream comments paused for a moment.

Ning Hongzhuang lowered her head again.

And continued wiping the mirror.

As if the one who had just begged her to save her life wasn't a living person.

But merely an insect that had flown past her ear.

Cheng Ye's gaze darkened slightly.

He didn't look at her again.

He understood now.

This peak A-rank creepy had never been there to help them.

She was willing to sit here.

Solely because-

Shen Niannian was here.

Meanwhile.

Shen Niannian had no time to concern herself with any of this.

She had already activated Identity Archive on both Zhou Mins at once.

[Target: Zhou Min]

[Race: Human]

[Identity: Original passenger of the Lightless Train]

[Identity completeness: 43%]

[Current status: Identity being taken]

Then she looked at the reflection.

[Target: Zhou Min's reflection]

[Race: Mirror reflection]

[Danger level: B-rank]

[Identity: Fake passenger]

[Identity completeness: 57%]

[Current status: Awaiting the original's tacit acceptance]

Shen Niannian's gaze sharpened.

Awaiting tacit acceptance?

It had already copied 57%.

Why did it still need Zhou Min's "tacit acceptance"?

The next second.

New information appeared.

[Environment-related information: A reflection cannot independently possess a complete "self." It can only gradually take over an identity through the original's acknowledgment and tacit acceptance. Before verification ends, the original still has one chance to reaffirm their own identity.]

Found it!

"Zhou Min, reaffirm your identity right now. State your name, seat, and destination clearly, then explicitly deny that thing is you."

Cheng Ye turned sharply to Shen Niannian.

He didn't ask why.

"Do as she says!"

Zhou Min had no other option now.

She immediately tightened her grip on her ticket.

"My name is Zhou Min. I'm the original passenger of seat 8A in carriage four of the Lightless Train, and my destination is Homecoming Station. The thing standing in the aisle is just my reflection. I don't acknowledge its claim to my name, seat, or passenger identity!"

As soon as she finished.

The reflection in the aisle changed expression for the first time.

"But you answered me just now!"

Shen Niannian instantly grasped the key.

Answered.

So that was it.

Why hadn't the reflection directly asked, "Do you want to switch places"?

Because rule three had already explicitly forbidden that.

So it used Zhou Min's daughter.

To force her to speak first.

As long as Zhou Min acknowledged that "this reflection has something to do with me."

The identity copying would begin.

But the copying beginning-

Didn't mean the replacement was complete!

"Don't talk to it anymore."

Shen Niannian immediately warned her, "You've just reaffirmed your identity. Now don't answer any of its questions, and don't make any gesture that could be taken as acknowledging it."

Zhou Min immediately closed her mouth.

But the reflection was visibly anxious.

"Do you really not recognize me? I am you."

"Look at my face."

"If I'm not you, why do I have the same memories as you?"

Zhou Min's face grew paler and paler.

But she stubbornly refused to say a word.

[Identity verification in progress...]

[Original passenger's voluntary confirmation of identity detected.]

[Original identity weight restored.]

On Zhou Min's ticket, which had gone blank.

Her name reappeared.

[Zhou Min]

The ticket in the reflection's hand began to fade.

"No!"

It lunged at 8A.

Cheng Ye's right hand instantly reached for the black iron nail behind his waist.

But the next second.

The train announcement rang out.

[During identity verification, a fake passenger attempted to interfere with the original identity.]

[Violation.]

Crack!

The reflection's body froze in place.

Immediately afterward.

Its entire face cracked like a mirror.

One crack.

Ten cracks.

Hundreds!

Bang!

It shattered completely.

[Identity verification for 8A complete.]

[Valid passenger: Zhou Min.]

[Illegally copied identity has been cleared.]

Zhou Min slumped in her seat.

She was drenched in cold sweat.

"We survived..."

Cheng Ye finally loosened his grip on the black nail.

"The rules at Paper Figure Station and Reflection Station can be connected now."

Everyone immediately looked at him.

"For the paper figure to steal Sun Qiang's identity, Sun Qiang had to write down his information himself, then admit out loud, 'I wrote this.' For the reflection to steal Zhou Min's identity, it also had to first coax her into responding, then gradually make her tacitly accept an identity connection between them."

"In other words, the uncanny beings on this train can't directly steal a valid passenger's identity."

"They have to get the passengers themselves involved."

Shen Niannian nodded.

The black-badge ticket inspector was the same.

It couldn't force players to open their eyes.

It could only create the illusion that their tickets had been stolen.

And trick them into opening their eyes themselves.

The uncanny beings did the coaxing.

But the ones who actually opened a breach in the protection-

Were always the players themselves.

The livestream chat exploded.

"It all connects!"

"The whole point of this instance is to trick you into handing over your identity!"

"Sun Qiang wrote it himself, Liu Peng opened his eyes himself, and Zhou Min responded herself!"

"This A-rank instance is seriously devious!"

After Zhou Min recovered,

The first thing she did was look at Shen Niannian.

"Thank you."

Shen Niannian waved a hand.

"Don't thank me yet. We still don't know what's coming."

Just then,

Another player couldn't help glancing at Ning Hongzhuang.

There was obvious displeasure in his tone.

"She's a mirror uncanny, so she must have known how the reflections worked all along, right?"

Ning Hongzhuang stopped wiping her mirror.

The temperature in the carriage

Seemed to drop in an instant.

Her silver-gray eyes slowly lifted.

The player's expression changed instantly.

Because in the window beside him,

The reflection that should have been his own-

Suddenly turned its head 180 degrees.

And stared fixedly at him.

Ning Hongzhuang said coolly, "Human, I chose not to take what you just said as a challenge. That is the only stroke of luck I'll give you today."

The man went deathly pale.

He didn't dare say another word.

Shen Niannian finally realized it firsthand.

Ning Hongzhuang, like Bai Feiyue,

No matter how normally she behaved toward her,

Was still an uncanny being at the peak of A-rank.

And the other players could clearly feel it even more keenly.

When Zhou Min had knelt and begged for help earlier,

Ning Hongzhuang hadn't even bothered to look up.

Now, just because of a remark with a slightly unpleasant tone,

She might casually kill someone.

A being like that-

How could she possibly be a teammate?

Just as Shen Niannian was about to say something to ease the tension,

Ning Hongzhuang had already turned back to her.

Her tone instantly returned to normal.

"Why are you standing there? Sit down."

Shen Niannian: "..."

"Oh."

(｡ŏ_ŏ)

The other players: "..."

The difference in treatment...

Wasn't it a little too extreme?