In the mirrored realm, five real people and twenty-one doubles created a lively yet chaotic scene. With the increase in doubles, the space expanded accordingly, preventing any crowding.
At this moment, the other four individuals fixed their cold, resentful gazes on Xia Tianqiong. Xia Tianqiong noticed Luo Ying scrutinizing him and felt a sense of dread; if he were chosen as the real body, it would spell certain doom.
"Wait, I have something to say!"
"Hmph, now you're scared, huh? Spill whatever you know!"
Liu Wangcai glared at Xia Tianqiong with a hostile expression.
"I'm not speaking to you; I'm speaking to it," Xia Tianqiong said, turning to the nearest mirrored double. "I want to buy mirror doubles!"
He had been holding several small gold ingots, which he now presented to the double.
Suddenly, all the mirrored doubles displayed expressions of greed. The ghostly allure of the gold ingots, particularly the rare gold ones, was irresistible.
"Very well, I will sell. One tael of gold for one mirror double."
The double beside Xia Tianqiong, no longer mimicking him, expressed visible delight and spoke.
"Here's the gold then!"
Xia Tianqiong handed over the gold, which the double weighed and confirmed as sixteen taels. "I'll give you sixteen mirror doubles."
To the mirrored entity, these mirror doubles were mere condensations of its own spectral power, hardly worth a tael of gold. It was astonished that this human did not haggle and seemed quite the fool!
The double quickly produced sixteen mirror doubles and handed them over, fearing Xia Tianqiong might change his mind.
Xia Tianqiong immediately used all the mirror doubles, causing sixteen mirrored doppelgängers to surround him, creating a dizzying array of identical figures.
"This is your chance to choose me. With only a one in twenty chance, it's far lower than others. Be warned: choosing wrong means death!"
Xia Tianqiong's words shocked everyone present.
The game could be played this way!
"This isn't fair. Why does he get to buy items?"
Liu Wangcai protested loudly to his doubles. "I don't have gold, but I have cash! I want to buy items too."
He pulled out a wad of red notes from his wallet, but his doubles ignored him entirely.
"What's going on? Don't they accept paper money?"
Liu Wangcai looked to Xia Tianqiong for an explanation.
Xia Tianqiong disregarded him and instead warned Luo Ying, "The longer you delay, the more doubles will appear, reducing the chance of selecting the real body. A tip: choosing someone familiar increases your chances."
Luo Ying and Liu Wangcai exchanged glances.
"What do you mean? Are you trying to sow discord?" Liu Wangcai roared.
Zhang Zhihu, pondering, asked the hotel employee, "How did you accurately identify the cleaner's real body?"
This question mirrored what Luo Ying and Liu Wangcai wanted to know.
The hotel employee avoided eye contact, hesitating, "I'm familiar with her. Just one glance, and I felt one was familiar, while the other two were strange."
Her response confirmed Xia Tianqiong's hint: familiarity makes it easier to identify the real body.
"Familiarity! Eye contact!"
Zhang Zhihu silently noted these key terms.
Another minute passed, and each person gained an additional mirrored double. Luo Ying, frightened, suddenly made a decision and turned to Liu Wangcai, scrutinizing him carefully.
Liu Wangcai's face darkened. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get me killed?"
"You said you loved me, you'd divorce for me, and you'd die for me. Now's the time to fulfill that promise!"
"Damn it, I was just saying that! You're a worthless piece of crap. Who would willingly die for you? Don't choose me."
When facing danger, even the closest lovers may turn on each other. In truth, they weren't even a real couple, just a fleeting romance.
Luo Ying, angered by his words, became even more resolute in choosing Liu Wangcai. She carefully examined his six figures, relying on their years of intimacy to sense which one felt familiar.
Her face lit up with recognition as she raised her hand to point. Liu Wangcai, realizing the danger, rushed forward.
"Damn it, dare to choose me? I'll strangle you."
He couldn't tell which was Luo Ying's real body, so he grabbed one and fiercely choked it. The six mirrored doubles followed, each seizing a Luo Ying, and another appeared.
Luo Ying, not willing to back down, engaged in a fierce struggle, creating chaos in the room.
Zhang Zhihu wanted to intervene but noticed Xia Tianqiong was not watching the fight but rather staring at the mirror.
Turning his gaze, Zhang Zhihu saw a line of blood-red characters appear one by one.
[Attack mirrored doubles, die!]
As the final exclamation mark appeared, all the mirrored doubles of Liu Wangcai and Luo Ying abruptly stopped, their faces contorted into sinister smiles, and then they attacked.
They tore the souls from their bodies, shredded and devoured them, and then the mirrored doubles vanished.
The restroom fell eerily silent.
The hotel employee and Zhang Zhihu stared at the newly added corpses, speechless.
So there were these additional rules!
Were there more hidden rules, each capable of causing death if overlooked?
Zhang Zhihu glared at Xia Tianqiong. "Did you know these rules all along? Why didn't you say anything? You just watched them die?"
"What else could I do?"
Xia Tianqiong retorted, his eyes cold and indifferent to life.
He had no choice; this game, like the one involving the eerie mother, could only end with one survivor.
The mirror once again displayed the images of three people, cycling through, and the final selection fell upon Zhang Zhihu.
He glanced between Xia Tianqiong and the hotel employee, trying to decide whom to choose.
The hotel employee had five doubles, while Xia Tianqiong had twenty-one; it was clear choosing the hotel employee would be easier.
"Don't choose me, I don't want to die!"
The hotel employee pleaded, tears streaming down her face.
"No one wants to die!"
Zhang Zhihu sighed and turned his gaze to Xia Tianqiong.
"Thank you, thank you!"
The hotel employee hurriedly expressed her gratitude, thinking Zhang Zhihu's mercy had spared her.
Little did she know, Zhang Zhihu's decision was based on the game's rules. According to the rules, selecting the real body allowed survival to the next round. What constituted a round? Likely, it required everyone to make a choice to complete the round.
Since the first round had not yet ended, choosing the hotel employee as the real body would conflict with the rules. The game might include a hidden rule stating that the chosen real body could not be selected by others in the same round, or they would be killed for breaking the rules.
As an experienced police officer, Zhang Zhihu was cautious.
He scrutinized each of Xia Tianqiong's mirrored doubles, focusing on their eyes, reflecting on the keywords "familiar" and "eye contact."
Mirrored doubles were like copies, mimicking actions and expressions but likely with differences. Otherwise, the hotel employee wouldn't have been able to distinguish the cleaner's real body by mere eye contact.
The eyes were the key.
Eyes were fascinating organs; even a blink could convey varying emotions based on one's mood.
As time passed, the three remaining people each gained another mirrored double. Zhang Zhihu carefully analyzed the eyes of the twenty or more Xia Tianqiong doubles.
The eyes were extremely indifferent, seemingly identical.
After a while, he noticed one pair of eyes seemed more chilling, as though looking at a corpse.
Startled, he recognized this gaze from encounters with murderous criminals or battle-hardened soldiers, who displayed a similar disregard for life.
"I found you!"
Zhang Zhihu snorted. "Reveal everything you know, or I'll point out your real body right now."
Xia Tianqiong looked at him, somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected this old officer to find his real body through observation alone and couldn't help but admire his skill.
If chosen as the real body, there was only one path: death.
"Knowing or not won't change the outcome. In this game, only the last person standing can leave."
"Is there no other way? Why are you so calm? Are you sure you'll survive to the end?"
"Of course."
"Hmph! I've already identified your real body, second row, fourth from the left. If I point it out now, how can you survive under the game rules?"
"Are you so sure?"
Xia Tianqiong suddenly smiled. "Words alone are meaningless; you need to use your hand to point it out. You can try!"
Zhang Zhihu, once confident, suddenly began to doubt. Xia Tianqiong's calm demeanor suggested he was not afraid of being chosen as the real body. Why was that?
As time ticked away and doubt grew, another minute passed, and the number of doubles increased.
With less than a minute remaining, Zhang Zhihu abruptly raised his head, glaring at Xia Tianqiong.
"This must be a psychological tactic. I'm certain of which is your real body."
He raised his hand, about to point out Xia Tianqiong's real body. And he was indeed correct.
Just as his arm extended, preparing to indicate the target, he suddenly saw a blur, and the person had vanished.
His finger pointed to a double that had replaced the original position.
"What's happening? Where did he
go?" Zhang Zhihu's eyes widened in fear.
"I'm right here."
A head emerged from behind a mirrored double beside him.
Xia Tianqiong had used shadow teleportation to shift into the shadow of the mirrored double at the last moment. Since the mirrored doubles couldn't replicate such tricks, they remained stationary.
"You... you're not human?"
That was Zhang Zhihu's last question.
Before he could receive an answer, he was killed by a mirrored double beside him.
Now only Xia Tianqiong and the hotel employee remained.
The mirror displayed the images once more, no longer cycling, as this round had only Xia Tianqiong left to choose.
"Please, don't choose me. I don't want to die."
The hotel employee begged, tears falling one by one.
Xia Tianqiong shook his head. "There's no choice. Only one person can survive to end this death game."
The hotel employee had seven doubles, making the chance of selecting the real body only one in eight. Yet Xia Tianqiong was not concerned about making a mistake; he had a solution.