47 - The Truth in the Mirror

Translated by rabbitrisu

“Retreat!”

All the trainers began to retreat as soon as they saw the picture in the mirror, and Su Zimo, who didn’t know what happened, rushed back to the front of the mirror and was about to throw the tablecloth in his hand over the mirror as fast as he could.

“Wait a minute! Don’t cover the mirror!” The madman suddenly shouted, stopping Su Zimo’s movements.

A surprising scene occurred at that moment. When everyone thought the malicious spirits were about to rush out of the mirror, when the bloody claws really broke through, the madman and Liu Xu did stand in front of all the trainers, but the ghosts didn’t rush out!

Those terrifying claws were constantly attacking like Xiao Huo encountered before, but because the distance between the mirror and table was too far, the claws just looked terrible. They were constantly stretching out of the mirror to catch the air. It was a group of demons dancing at the same time, and it looked a little funny.

“They can’t come out.” Looking at the grim faces and the ghostly claws scratching around, the madman breathed a sigh of relief. “Their bodies seem inseparable from the mirror. Their attack is nothing but a bluff.”

“Is it us in the mirror?” The young girl Wan Ling held the oversized garden shears and looked up at the others with doubt.

“Us?” The madman froze and seemed like he thought of something. “The ghosts in the mirror seemed to be sitting there like we did at first, and they seemed to have similar movements. I wasn’t thinking much at that time, so I didn’t remember.”

“Something that the old man can’t remember – can the mirror remember it?” Su Zimo spoke to himself, then said, “In fact, when the candle was extinguished the first time, Du Xin, who was sitting next to Elder Fang Qin, said that the old man turned into a big fat man. I saw it when the candles went out, and the chef’s uniform is very fat. I think if we look at the mirror very carefully, we might find Mr. Fang Qin sitting in the same position as the villa’s chef.”

“That is to say, the mirror will tell us what role we should really play? That’s the real meaning of ‘note the mirror’?! Oh my god!” Dr. Jin frowned at the mirror in front of her eyes. “How can you tell who is who now?”

“Uwaa–“

While everyone was thinking about what to do, Su Zimo shook the tablecloth in his hand and used his full strength to cover the entirety of the decorative mirror. The ghostly howl that was originally sounding from the group of dancing demons immediately disappeared.

“Have your cell phone cameras ready.” Su Zimo felt that the mirror was quiet again and told the trainers standing on the other side of the table. “If the ghosts in the mirror return to their original positions, immediately try to take a picture with your phones. In order to prevent the camera lens from capturing the image of the malicious spirits, everyone needs to return to their seats and remember the identity in that seat.”

“What about you?” Everyone looked tightly at the tablecloth that Su Zimo was planning to uncover at any moment. “If you stand there, the mirror won’t be able to see you.”

“Doesn’t this game have an extra person from the beginning? Ten identities but eleven trainers. Maybe it’s my job to maneuver everything. After all, there may be damage to personnel in the middle of the task, or maybe it’s simply letting me play the role of Shou Xing.” ¹ Su Zimo’s words didn’t spill any secrets, completely hiding his identity as an ‘outsider.’

“Ready!”

“Start!”

Su Zimo took a deep breath and dragged the tablecloth cover away again. The ghost claws from the group of dancing demons had disappeared, and the trainers sitting at the table with their cell phones were concentrating and quickly pressed the shutter button a few times.

In less than 5 seconds, the malicious spirits began to struggle outwards again, and Su Zimo simply covered the mirror with the tablecloth again when they appeared.

“See it?”

Hearing Su Zimo’s inquiry, all the trainers nodded.

“I’m still a family doctor.” Dr. Jin raised her hand. “I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or if it was arranged at the beginning. Maybe I entered this world because I am a doctor?”

“Me, Qi Xiaomin, and Wan Ling are maids.” Bai Man breathed a sigh of relief. “There’s nothing wrong with the sexes now.”

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“It seems that I am indeed a chef.” Mr. Fang Qin also nodded. “He’s such a big hulking guy that he won’t fit in a chair.”

“As Mr. Su said, the cell phones doesn’t seem to capture the pictures of the malicious spirits. I should be the housekeeper.” The madman smiled helplessly. “Thinking about this, this nightmare game really knows some details about the trainers.”

“Mr. Madman is also a housekeeper in the real world?” Dr. Jin looked at the madman’s clothing and style like a homeless person with a strange expression. She doubted whether the veteran could find a job in the real world.

“Not everyone can afford me.” The madman took a bottle of water from the table and drank. “At least in the financial sector, I’m more watertight than this bastard housekeeper. It’s really uncomfortable for me as a fellow.”

“Indeed, it’s hard for a family to check the safety of their homes and keep track of the housekeeper’s work.” Elder Fang Qin also made a sound in agreement.

“I’m a bodyguard.” Liu Xu also said aloud. “Although the bodyguard has no uniform, I see the ghost in the mirror holding a tactical pen.”

Bai Man put the tactical pen from her hands into Liu Xu’s, and considered it as having passed over the identity.

“There’s a ghost wearing a chauffeur’s hat in the snake’s seat.” Bai Man looked at the snake that hadn’t awakened. He should have been the chauffeur.

“Then the two remaining gardeners are me and Du Xin.” Xiao Huo’s face seemed a little unhappy. “It doesn’t sound like a handsome character.”

“It’s really hard to believe that this is what ‘note the mirror’ meant.” Dr. Jin sighed. “As long as someone tries to walk in front of the mirror, they would see the ghosts and be scared away immediately. That, or they would be attacked by the claws sticking out of it, and the mirror would be misunderstood as a trap for the trainers.”

“Only like this, when there’s nowhere else to go, would we decide to look for clues in a ghost-filled mirror.” Bai Man was relieved now. “This way, everything should be considered ready.”

Under the management of the ‘housekeeper’ madman, the trainers replaced their uniforms with those of the correct identity. Even the obsolete snake was turned into the chauffeur like a puppet with Du Xin’s help. He was in a suit with the fancy car keys in his pocket.

The three trainers who were ‘maids’ were responsible for cleaning and decorating the main hall. The driver, bodyguard, and two gardeners were responsible for moving various abandoned or broken objects into the corridor.

Mr. Fang, who was a chef, Dr. Jin, and Su Zimo, who were idle, were responsible for setting up the various dishes and utensils that the maids wiped down on the table until all the materials were placed.

All the trainers gathered the intact vases from the villa into the main hall, and placed all the broken vases into the place where the trash was collected. Su Zimo picked up the other intact decorations to offset the insufficient plants and decor.

After being moved, the decorative mirror directly faced the blank wall, so the tablecloth that was no longer needed was returned to the table. The tableware for four was placed correctly by the housekeeper madman. On the edge of the table were various dinner plates and three relocated candlesticks.

A small pile of snacks and chocolates were set on each dinner plate. Sever cans from the supplies that were previously contributed by the snake were also set on the plates. Because they weren’t willing to wash the dishes with drinking water, the foods couldn’t be eaten after they were placed on the dishes that were simply wiped down.

Because the three candlesticks on the table were all empty, Su Zimo took some candles from the sconces on the wall and carefully placed them into the tabletop candlesticks, so that the table filled with cheap and easy foods was improved by half a grade.

“That should do it, barely?” The madman looked around the ‘new’ main hall. The expression on his face was still a bit disgusted. “This is the first time I’ve seen such a shabby banquet since I chose this profession.”

“It’s good enough.” Su Zimo was also the one who had seen such a scene, but after seeing the shabby results in the madman’s eyes, he nodded in satisfaction while adding water to the glasses.

“Then how do we get started?” The madman spread his hands. “We’ve done all we can do. Can we stand here and sing birthday songs?”

After the madman finished speaking, the trainers all nodded with clear faces. They all agreed. “Good idea.”

“I should sing a birthday song? Is there a birthday party atmosphere? After all, we don’t have a cake!” Su Zimo also nodded in agreement to the madman’s proposal. If there was no need for a birthday song, they wouldn’t have held the banquet.

With that said, Su Zimo placed the two gifts from the master bedroom cabinet on the chair of the main seat. The ruined grey teddy bear sat there, shaking its head and wobbling.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you……”

Under Dr. Jin’s leadership, the trainers could only sing along awkwardly. Even those who couldn’t remember the lyrics were humming along. Because everyone was standing by the table and there was no one sitting at the head, the picture looked very strange.

During the melody, the sound of the figure pushing himself in the wheelchair came from the direction of the stairs.

All the candle flames in the hall began to sway, but the hall didn’t darken as before. It was like a premonition, telling the trainers present what was about to happen.

Su Zimo turned his head and found that the malicious spirit from the second floor had appeared in the light for the first time. The old spirit, who drove the trainers to look for a lifeline, had very feeble skin and eyes. He usually stared at them, mouth slightly open, and made ‘aahhh….’ noises.

Only this time, the old spirit no longer anxiously banged on the wheelchair, but pushed it to the dining table little by little.

The madman quickly pulled out the chair at the head of the table so the wheelchair could stop there, and then quietly waited behind it in a row with the other trainers like cautious servants.

But the old spirit just sat there, motionlessly staring at the seat with the grey teddy bear with the black button eyes, making the trainers hearts beat faster, not knowing if they had really found the so-called lifeline.

[Aahhh….]

After waiting for a long time, the old man who had been quiet suddenly stretched his thin arms out in the direction of the teddy bear. The trainers looked at each other, not knowing what he meant by doing so.

He wants the teddy bear?

Or to remove the teddy bear?

Does he want to take its seat?

While all the trainers were puzzled, Su Zimo’s eyes seemed to see a shadow of his grandfather. The grandfather who insisted on seeing his grandson while lying on his deathbed seemed to overlap with the old grandfather’s spirit in front of him.

When Su Zimo saw the old man’s outstretched hands, he seemed to think of something…

Without waiting for Su Zimo to speak, a small figure threw the shears in her hands directly to the ground. He then saw Wan Ling, a little girl in a white skirt, suddenly walk in front of the old grandfather spirit and throw herself into the old man’s arms without hesitation as he said–

“Thank you.”

The old man’s stiffly open hands slowly moved again and again, gently patting Wan Ling’s back.

“The task is cleared.” He suddenly felt a tingling sensation in his arm. Dr. Jin and the others looked dazed. After so many tasks and so many accidents, it was finally complete?

“This can be considered as we expected, right?” The madman stretched out his hands and found that they were gradually becoming translucent. “It’s obviously my eighteenth nightmare world. I don’t know why I’m so calm now.”

“Zimo.” Du Xin turned his head to look at Su Zimo from the other side. “I’m sorry.”

The young girl Wan Ling who was still being held in the old man’s arms looked down at the gardening shears that she threw on the ground in regret.

This may be the first time Su Zimo saw the trainers after clearing a task. All he could do was stand in the darkness of the hall and cover his body that hadn’t become translucent at all.

In under a minute, all the trainers disappeared from the candlelit hall, leaving only Su Zimo and the old man in a wheelchair looking at each other.

“It seems we’re all that’s left.” Su Zimo reluctantly spread his hands, and picked up the two star ghost tool called ‘Ghost Severer’ to put it into his backpack. In addition to this two star tool, he had two, two star ‘Nightmare Brand Sleeping Pills’ left, a three star ‘Gushan Notes: Postscript,’ and a mysterious ghost cane broken into two pieces. Su Zimo prepared to return to An Yu Yi Yu to try and ‘fix’ it with clear tape.

In general, although this trip was a bit rough, his harvest wasn’t that much. It wasn’t comparable to the no star products taken from Peng Peng’s training institute.

But a two star ghost tool was comparable to fifty no star products, the value of which can’t even be imagined.

Thinking about this, Su Zimo even felt a little sorry for the old spirit sitting in front of him in a wheelchair. He seemed to have accidentally raided his villa.

“Actually, grandpa, I still don’t understand some things.” Su Zimo looked at the motionless old man and squatted down carefully in front of him. He asked gently, “Why didn’t this birthday party finally end?”

“Why are the doors and windows in the villa blocked?”

“What happened to the servants and the family doctor who did bad things?”

“Did they have an accident while preparing the birthday party? If you were really looking forward to holding this birthday party, that shouldn’t be enough to prevent it from starting anyway?”

“What really happened?”

All Su Zimo’s assumptions in the past few days were just speculations. They were only approximate guesses. Now he knows those things were mostly right, but there were too many things he didn’t know.

It’s a pity that even if Su Zimo asked here, the old man wouldn’t be able to answer. After all, the old man’s illness seemed to affect the spirit’s state, and it was impossible for him to tell him what happened.

But when Su Zimo thought that, a burst of soft vocals belonging to a young girl came singing from down the hall–

“Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me……”

This voice is…

Su Zimo immediately got up and looked around, then found that the sound came from the mirror facing the wall.

“Things that the old man can’t remember, the mirror remembers.” Su Zimo murmured what he had said before, then walked over and turned the mirror around.

When he turned it around, the mirror was facing the corridor leading to the next room. Although the voice was still singing, he couldn’t see anyone. But even so, Su Zimo found that the hall reflected in the mirror was gorgeous and neat, not at all abandoned and broken like outside the mirror.

After thinking about it, Su Zimo moved the mirror again so it could face the long dining table.

This time, Su Zimo saw four people sitting at the table. On the left was a pair of a man and woman in luxurious clothes, and a cute little girl wearing a white tutu and a birthday hat, like a noble little princess under the candlelight.

There was a banner hanging on the wall behind the dining table, which read: Happy 8th Birthday To The Little Princess!

The picture reflected in the mirror was limited, but Su Zimo could see that many people in uniforms were walking around the picture. It should be the villa staff.

[Pingting, do you like the little skirt your grandfather gave you?] The pretty lady sitting on the side asked with a smile.

[I like it!] The little girl shouted, then rushed into the old man’s arms. [I like grandpa the most!]

The next second, the picture in the mirror seemed to be fast forwarded hundred or thousands of times, then stopped. The decorations in the hall didn’t seem to change much, but the banner at the back became: Happy 10th Birthday To The Little Princess!

[Pingting, do you like the bunny toy your grandfather gave you?] The still beautiful lady sitting on the side asked carefully?

But this time, the girl who was originally lively and lovely with a big smile only smiled timidly at the old man in the wheelchair, and kept silent.

[What’s the matter? Don’t you know grandpa after less than a year? I know that grandpa’s lost a lot of weight, but it’s still grandpa.] The young father sitting to the side patted his daughter’s shoulder with his hand.

Then, the ten year old little girl hugged the little bunny plush in her arms and walked in front of the old man step by step, then carefully hugged him and quickly shrank back.

The picture in the mirror fast forwarded again.

Because the mirror was aligned with the long dining table, Su Zimo looked at the table changing. He looked at the tablecloth being replaced, watched the dinner plates change like magic, watched many people go in and out of the screen, and saw the clock on the back wall spin like a top.

When the picture stopped again, the banner on the wall became: Happy 12th Birthday To The Little Princess!

It was still the same dining table with the same four people sitting there, but the old man became thinner and thinner and the girl on the throne had grown up. She replaced the princess tutu and was wearing a school uniform and a short skirt. She even had some light makeup on despite her age.

Before, Su Zimo felt that Wan Ling, who suddenly rushed out to embrace the old man, had an unusual identity. But then he found that Bai Pingting and Wan Ling had no similarities after they grew up. With her thin, bruised body, Wan Ling looked much younger than her real age, and she didn’t have the luxury of a spoiled childhood like Bai Pingting.

[Pingting, Grandpa has prepared two gifts for you. One is a skirt and the other is a teddy bear. Do you like them?] The mother sitting on the side also looked a little colder.

[Mom, you know I don’t like that kind of thing. Just put it upstairs.] The twelve year old girl sighed. [When can we go home?]

[Pingting, grandpa is here. That’s too rude.] Her father scolded indifferently.

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[I tried too hard. No matter how much I talked to him, he didn’t respond. Even if he did speak, maybe I didn’t hear it.] The girl grunted. [My classmates said they would celebrate my birthday with me. The little princess thing is really embarrassing.]

[Then finish with this first.] The girl’s mother shook her head helplessly, not paying attention to the dishes and pastries that hadn’t been touched on the table.

The family of three left that place one after another, leaving only the old man in a wheelchair to stay where he was, looking at the direction of the throne and slowly reaching out.

The picture began to fast-forward again, and this time it stopped shortly. Su Zimo subconsciously looked at the banner on the wall and found that it said: Happy 13th Birthday To The Little Princess!

Compared to before, it seemed that only one year had passed.

But this time, it wasn’t the family of three and the grandfather sitting at the table, but the housekeeper and a few servants sitting carelessly.

[Master said long ago that he wouldn’t return to the villa this year. The three of them are going to travel abroad for her birthday. However, the old man didn’t believe it and babbled like a baby. I spent a long time with him, and he must have this birthday party.] The housekeeper’s suit was open, not even half-proper.

[It’s okay. Anyone can eat this anyway. Not all of the money from the budget was used.] The chef took a large chunk of braised pork and ate it in a big mouthful.

[I think this old man isn’t really watching. We can be bolder next time we do the accounts.] The family doctor in the white coat straightened his feet on the dining table.

[Wait for now… Be careful first.]

[The old man is a living cash cow!] The chauffeur playing with the car keys smiled. [After Master moved away, our days are getting better and better.]

[He’s babbling everyday. It’s really noisy. Next time I’ll lock him up, not push him from the second floor like we did last time, or else we won’t have a cash cow.]

Footnotes

<ol>Shou Xing is one of the three stars of Buddhism. He is a god of longevity, health, and the elderly. There was a thing about a birthday banquet for an emperor. I don’t remember which one, but Shou Xing was honored there and it was just a bunch of really old people attending. As a result, he’s also known as the birthday star ? So this whole arc about a banquet and the birthday sounds heavily inspired by Shou Xing, tbh.</ol>