Eldritch Horror Theatre

Prompted by Fu Qian's threat, a voice actually spoke up from right in front of him.

At the same time, the reflection in the glass abruptly changed.

As if suddenly relaxing, it stopped mimicking Fu Qian's movements. Instead, it casually found a place to sit, a smile on its face.

"Hello, young man."

Despite wearing Fu Qian's face, its voice was deep, speaking in a slow, drawn-out cadence like someone reciting poetry.

"Hello."

Fu Qian offered a polite greeting.

"Please don't do anything rash. I mean no harm."

"That's not very convincing."

"Are you trying to tell me I was just seeing things earlier?"

"I'll admit to that much. That was indeed my doing."

The reflection in the Magic Mirror flashed a mysterious smile, outright admitting to causing the incident.

"But please believe me, it was for your own good."

"You can't take everything at face value. This place is far more dangerous than it looks—even more dangerous than what you just saw... So, it's best if you stay in the room."

"So I should be thanking you?"

Fu Qian offered a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"I know it's a hard sell, and I don't expect you to completely believe me—"

"That's fine. You have five minutes to try."

Fu Qian cut it off, tapping his fingers against the nearby table.

"Before I take action."

...

The figure in the mirror clearly hadn't expected to be thrown on the defensive. It fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"You are very unique... But even if you follow through on what you just said, it won't actually hurt me."

"No problem, that was only one part of the plan anyway. Friendly reminder: you have four and a half minutes left."

...

"Going by popular understanding, you can call me the Magic Mirror."

After that brief exchange, the reflection clearly realized the severity of the situation. It spoke much faster.

"You guessed right. I can appear in any mirror-like surface."

"And answer any question?"

Fu Qian looked entirely unsurprised.

"Indeed, I can."

"Don't tell me this kind of conversation counts?"

Fu Qian seemed to realize something, his face full of suspicion.

"Of course not. It requires special conditions."

The Magic Mirror quickly denied it.

"That would be a formal question. You have to start by saying, 'Magic Mirror, Magic Mirror, tell me' for it to work."

So that was how it worked!

Fu Qian pondered this for a moment.

"You can clearly talk to me directly, so isn't that a bit too rigid?"

"It can't be helped. Rules are rules."

The Magic Mirror seemed to have finally regained a bit of the initiative. It put on airs, slowing its speech back down.

"You can try it if you don't believe me. Then you'll know if I'm telling the truth or not."

"That's actually a pretty good suggestion."

Fu Qian nodded repeatedly, looking somewhat convinced.

"But before that, I still have a few questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"You just said I was unique. Do you mean because I can see things others can't?"

"So people who aren't unique aren't affected by you?"

...

"No, they simply can't see me."

The Magic Mirror answered very bluntly.

"I can still do whatever I want to them, and they won't even realize what they're up against."

"I see. Next question—what is your goal in seeking me out?"

"Even if your actions earlier held no ill intent, I find it very hard to believe you went out of your way just to help."

"After all, I have plenty of self-knowledge. For a terrible person like me, the odds of being helped up after a fall are much lower than average."

"That tone of yours, treating it as a badge of honor instead of something to be ashamed of... It's actually quite simple. I didn't intentionally seek you out to help you; the earlier incident purely happened because you saw me... Anyway, are you going to ask or not?"

"Don't be in such a rush, this is the last one. Besides me, who else here is unique?"

...

Faced with Fu Qian's final question, the Magic Mirror fell abruptly silent.

"Is it that hard to answer?"

"...That, I really cannot answer."

The Magic Mirror hesitated for a long time before finally speaking up.

"Alright, alright. I know even if you don't tell me. Violetta?"

"I apologize, but I cannot answer you."

"Is that the only sentence you know?"

"I apologize... If you want to know the answer, you can use the true questioning method."

"That 'Magic Mirror, Magic Mirror, tell me' one?"

Fu Qian let out a chuckle.

"I'm not asking."

...

"Why?"

The moment Fu Qian said that, the reflection's expression changed drastically as it stared straight at him.

"Violetta is your real target, isn't she? You showed up here because you don't want me sticking my nose in your business?"

Fu Qian didn't answer its question, instead continuing on his own.

"I don't understand what you're saying."

The reflection's expression had turned entirely icy.

"If I'm not mistaken, that so-called formal question is a trap. If I follow your suggestion and ask it, I'll run into some real trouble."

Fu Qian scoffed.

"Right now, I can basically confirm that you can't cause me any direct harm."

"After all, I'm just a normal person. If you could so much as swing a brick, getting rid of me would be incredibly easy."

"One of your abilities must be opening 'doors' like the one from earlier, letting me walk into danger on my own. But I shut it immediately."

"So you played along with my threat and casually revealed yourself, leading me step by step into your second trap."

"One thing you said might actually be true, and that is that rules are rules."

"This Q&A game must be the manifestation of some special rule, one that even you have to follow."

"Although I can't completely confirm it yet, I suspect that once I ask a question, I might indeed get an answer, but at the same time, I'd become restricted by that rule."

"For example, you might be able to turn around and ask me a question that I must answer, or issue a command that I cannot disobey. Am I right?"

"So you were just faking it earlier? You never intended to ask a formal question from the very beginning?"

The reflection's voice sounded as if it were gritting its teeth.

"Yeah. If I hadn't, why would you have cooperated so willingly?"

"Now, from your answers and reactions, I've already gotten what I wanted. Unless you want a face full of filth, I suggest you roll out of here on your own."

Fu Qian waved his hand dismissively.

"You insolent bastard..."

Answering him was a voice laced with endless resentment. At the same time, the reflection on the glass changed once more.

The face that belonged to Fu Qian suddenly tore apart piece by piece, revealing the pink flesh underneath.

Hideous fleshy tendrils sprouted from the meat, writhing in all directions. Beads of blood surfaced and roamed in swirling patterns, rising and falling like countless eyeballs.

This tearing spread downward, soon covering its entire body.

Fu Qian even spotted a mass of writhing flesh near its lower abdomen, shaped like an infant, tearing at and devouring everything around it.

When he focused his attention on it, he could almost hear eerie laughter.

"Is that it?"

Fu Qian looked it up and down carefully before finally putting on a look of astonishment.

"This is what you thought would scare me?"

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