Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Only Exists in the Mirror
Jon abruptly turned to look at the mirror behind him. The reflection didn't seem unusual.
But the dog continued barking frantically and backing away, as if terrified.
"What are you barking at? Be quiet." Jon knelt down to scold the dog, glancing under the bed out of the corner of his eye.
He then stood up nonchalantly and left the room, pretending nothing had happened.
He stepped outside his grandmother's bedroom
Leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath.
Something defied logic...
Jon clearly remembered that when he first entered the room and glanced under the bed, there was nothing there.
But in the mirror's reflection just now, there had been an axe under the bed.
When he pretended to scold the dog and checked again, the axe was no longer there.
So, to be precise—
The axe only existed under the bed in the mirror's reflection.
It seemed that the entity lurking in the cottage could manifest objects in the mirror's reflection.
For an ordinary person, it would be hard to notice the additional items in the mirror.
Jon suddenly remembered the rules on the note. It wasn't rule 11 that mentioned the mirror, but rather rule 10.
The first part of rule 10 stated—
"Regularly clean the cottage, an overly dirty environment can make you ill, and it will notice."
If the house became messy, it would be harder to identify the extra items in the mirror, and cognitive interference would likely start there.
Jon muttered to himself, "So... can rule 11 be trusted?"
Rule 11 stated: "Protect all mirrors, do not break them."
Jon needed to think. Was this information left by his grandmother, or was it written under the influence of "it," during cognitive pollution?
Breaking or covering the mirrors might solve the problem at its root.
But Jon felt it wasn't that simple.
If the mirrors were truly dangerous, why hadn't his grandmother covered or broken them?
He had already deduced that "its" cognitive pollution wasn't very strong.
Interfering with human writing to create errors was likely its limit. Otherwise, it could have directly manipulated his grandmother to commit suicide, and the letter wouldn't have been left for him.
Grandma lived in this cottage and knew about rule 10, indicating she was aware of "its" ability to traverse through mirrors.
Yet, she didn't cover or break the mirrors.
This suggested that doing so might trigger something even more terrifying.
Perhaps breaking the mirrors would release "it."
Jon turned and left the room.
He had thoroughly searched his grandmother's room and found no need for further investigation at the moment.
The dog seemed very fond of Jon, wagging its tail and following him.
Jon looked back at the dog, which was panting with its tongue out, seemingly smiling adorably and wagging its tail tirelessly.
"Were you trying to warn me earlier?" Jon asked softly.
"Woof?" The dog tilted its head to the left, as if not understanding Jon's words.
Jon shook his head with a smile. It seemed that the little dog had a certain warning function, able to keenly sense whether "it" was watching.
He walked a few steps forward and arrived at the door of the last room on the third floor.
He had been keeping an eye on the ceiling.
There was no attic door in his bedroom, his grandmother's bedroom, or the hallway ceiling.
The door to the attic could only be in this room.
Jon stood before the tightly sealed door, reaching out his hand but stopping mid-air.
No... Don't open it!
The doors to the three rooms on the second floor, including his and his grandmother's, had always been open.
This was the only door firmly locked, which was rather suspicious.
The rules repeatedly mentioned not opening the door to the attic, perhaps "it" was locked in the attic, and opening the door would release it.
But what if the attic door was already open?
Then this door would be the only one separating it from the outside world.
Jon decided to temporarily abandon investigating this room. He had already collected two-thirds of the letter.
If he couldn't find the rest, he would consider whether to enter this room.
...
Not long ago, in Jon's classroom.
His third-person live feed was displayed on the electronic whiteboard.
Jon's stream took up most of the screen, with three smaller windows showing the live feeds of players from other classes.
Black Goat stood to the side of the podium, explaining to everyone, "The players on the board are in the same examination venue as your class's player."
"You can gather accurate information from players in other classes and relay it to Jon in your class."
"Feel free to discuss openly, no need to be so tense."
"Sometimes, just a tiny bit of crucial information or a clue can turn the tide. But you only get one free chance to relay information, so use it wisely."
"But I'm not a stickler for rules," Black Goat added with a sly smile. "If you want to relay information a second or third time, it'll just cost you a small price…"
In the live feed, a few players appeared in the same bedroom.
Each player had picked up the note on the desk.
The classmates each had a piece of paper in their hands.
Recording the rules Jon had already collected.
Class president Hanson stood up after Black Goat finished speaking and suggested, "Let's form groups for discussion and filter out the errors in the rules."
Hanson had considerable influence in the class, and the students quickly started discussing.
At that moment, in the live feed on the whiteboard.
The eerie sound of the door creaking open captured everyone's attention in the classroom.
The players on screen froze in place.
Player 1, Jon, stood motionless, as if paralyzed by the sudden sound.
Nora remarked disdainfully, "Seriously... is Jon that scared?"
Others in the class echoed her sentiment.
"Yeah, it's just the wind blowing the door open. Why's he so scared?"
"What a coward. If he's like this at the start, we're doomed!"
"Ugh, Hanson, I told you not to trust him..."
Hanson stared at the electronic whiteboard and said in a serious tone, "There's something behind the door. Look at Player 4's screen."
The complainers turned their attention to Screen 4 and fell silent.
Player 4 was a girl named Helen. From the slightly shaky feed, it was clear that her body had started trembling.
Hearing a sound behind her, Helen instinctively turned around.
In the pitch-black hallway, a pair of glowing red eyes were staring intently at her.
In a panic, Helen glanced at the note in her hand, clearly treating it as her lifeline. She rushed to the window and yanked open the curtains.
Helen pushed open the window, and the biting cold wind and snow swept across her face.
On a nearby hillside stood an outpost, illuminated by eerie red lights.
Helen's gaze was fixed on the red signal light, momentarily entranced.
Hanson looked down at the seventh rule—if you hear an eerie sound at home, immediately stop whatever you're doing, stay quiet, and go to the second floor to look toward the ranger's outpost. The ranger will help you.
"It should be Rule 7. This girl on screen 4 reacted so quickly!"
"Player 2 is also taking action now."
"Damn it, why isn't Jon doing anything?"
On the whiteboard, only Player 1, Jon, and Player 3 remained motionless.
"Should we use the hint now, Hanson?"
"Using the valuable hint right at the start, what will we do later?"
"Hey, look, Jon's moving."
The students in the class stared at the screen with anticipation, and the next second, their mouths dropped open in shock.
Jon had walked up to the door and was reaching out to open the door where the monster was hiding.
"It's over, we're doomed!" Nora stomped her foot in anger. "Hanson, I told you this shady guy is going to drag all of us down with him! And you didn't believe me!"
The class erupted in complaints.
Hanson frowned, saying nothing, his eyes still fixed on the screen.
He was also pondering whether the sound of the door being opened counted as an "eerie" sound.
"Woof! Woof!"
A cute dog barked, appearing in Jon's live feed.
It wagged its tail and kept rubbing against Jon's pants leg.
While the entire class was bewildered, a blood-curdling scream of agony suddenly echoed from Player 4's live feed!
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