Free Web NovelChapter 66: Chapter 66: Lan Chu’s Sudden Death
Seeing her act so recklessly—dragging a desiccated corpse as she approached the study without a shred of caution—Gao Tian, standing behind her, couldn’t take it anymore. He had to say something:
"We don’t know who or what is in that study. It’s too dangerous to just walk up to it.
"Be careful you don’t run into some fatal pattern."
Lan Chu was clearly annoyed. She turned to glare at Gao Tian.
"You think I need you to tell me that?
"Of course I know that. I’m just going to sneak over and take a quick peek. What’s the worst that could happen?"
Gao Tian was utterly exasperated.
Lan Chu only ever seemed to listen to Xia Ta. To her, everyone else’s words were just hot air.
’I really don’t get why Xia Ta insisted on having this woman on the team.’
Watching Lan Chu continue her death-wish-fueled advance, getting closer and closer to the study and its ominous glow, Gao Tian couldn’t just stand by. ’Even if she’s a little crazy, I can’t just watch her get herself killed right in front of me.’
An idea suddenly struck Gao Tian.
"Hey, Lan Chu! Aren’t you famous for your caution?
"Think back to before we left. Remember what you taught me? The only reason you survived all those paranormal incidents back in the United States was by being cautious, cautious, and more cautious, right?
"You told me over and over that even a gust of wind or a grain of sand could be a dangerous sign, that paranormal investigators should never touch anything they don’t understand.
"You were so convincing when you were teaching me. So why are you being so reckless and impulsive now, approaching a study we have zero intel on? fгeewebnovёl.com
"Oh, I get it. You’re testing me, aren’t you?"
As he shouted to Lan Chu, Gao Tian was already using the power of the Memory Ghost.
He was trying to alter her memories, to forcefully implant a new, overly cautious personality.
’That should stop her from stirring up trouble everywhere.’
Hearing Gao Tian’s words, Lan Chu did indeed stop, a short distance from the study. Just as Gao Tian was thinking he had her under control, she slowly turned her head and gave him a baffling look.
"When did I ever tell you any of that?
"Are those rules you invented in some daydream?
"You psycho."
Gao Tian froze.
Being called a psycho by an actual psycho was a uniquely awful experience.
What shocked him even more was that, faced with the power of the Memory Ghost, Lan Chu hadn’t been bewildered in the slightest. She didn’t even hesitate before refuting the fabricated facts he had presented.
’Her mental resistance must be terrifyingly high.’
’Or is it because she’s already so crazy that it’s a case of two negatives making a positive? Is that why the Memory Ghost can’t get through to her?’
’Whatever.’ Gao Tian gave up. All he could do was keep his distance, lest he get caught in the fallout when Lan Chu finally got herself killed.
’Then again, teaming up with a madwoman has its perks. If she wants to scout ahead, let her. Even if she gets killed by whatever’s in the study, at least it’ll rule out one wrong move for me.’
Lan Chu first tried the doorknob, found it locked, and got no response when she knocked.
She then pressed her face to the window, peering inside through the security bars for a while. Gradually, she seemed to lose interest in what was in the study and turned to walk away.
"Strange."
Lan Chu murmured to herself.
’This woman’s luck is insane,’ Gao Tian thought. ’To be so reckless and pay no price for it...’
He couldn’t help but ask.
"What’s strange?
"What did you see in there?"
Lan Chu was still mulling over what she had seen.
"There were five people in the study, and they were all in very weird positions.
"Isn’t a study for reading? Why would they be posing like that? Were they doing yoga?"
The more Gao Tian listened, the more uneasy he felt.
"Five people?
"Lan Chu, what were the five people in the study doing?"
Lan Chu nibbled on her fingernail.
"The first one was a skinny guy with silver hair. He had a rope around his neck and was hanging from a ceiling beam, his feet swinging in the air like he was on a swing set.
"The second person was a big guy, taking up two seats. He was lying on the sofa. He must have drunk some red wine, because there was red liquid spewed everywhere.
"The third person was a girl. She was wearing a heavy, elaborate dress and sitting perfectly still at the desk with a knife sticking out of her neck. It was still bleeding, staining half her dress red."
Gao Tian felt the urge to start swearing.
He cut her off.
"The fourth person... did he look a lot like me?
"And the fifth person... a woman who looked a lot like you?"
Lan Chu nodded eagerly, looking delighted.
"Yes, yes! How did you know?
"I thought you were a total idiot, but I guess you can be smart sometimes."
Gao Tian fought to control his anger.
"Tell me, what were the person who looked like me and the person who looked like you doing?"
Lan Chu tilted her head, clearly trying to remember.
"That ugly guy who looked like you was lying motionless in the puddle of ’red wine’ on the floor. The stuff the big guy threw up was all over, and it looked like he was licking it up so it wouldn’t go to waste.
"The beautiful woman who looked like me was standing next to the girl in the elaborate dress. She didn’t look too well, though. Her face was as pale as a sheet of paper, and she had a long gash on her wrist..."
Gao Tian stared into Lan Chu’s eyes and spelled it out for her, word by word.
"The big guy was Zhao Zhenjia. He bled to death.
"The skinny one was Jiang Yang. He hanged himself.
"The one in the elaborate dress was Xia Ta, stabbed in the neck.
"I was lying in a pool of blood on the floor.
"And you had slit your wrists.
"What you saw in that study were the five of us, dead. What do you mean they ’looked like’ us? That *was* us!"
Talking to Lan Chu was enough to drive a person to death from sheer frustration. If she died and became a ghost, her killing pattern would undoubtedly be to drive her victims to a complete mental breakdown out of pure anger.
’But why would the bodies of our five-person team, the ones who came up the stairs, be in that strange study that just appeared out of nowhere?’
’What is this? A warning from a powerful ghost? A curse? Or some kind of premonition?’
’Whatever it is, it’s not a good sign. We need to stay as far away from that study as possible.’
But going back the way they came might not lead them out of Mirror Alley. Worse, they might run into that old man in red ghost again.
Now they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Gao Tian clutched his Terror Blade and prepared to get away from the study.
Just as he was about to leave, a glint in the corner of his eye caught his attention. In a mirror behind Lan Chu, two blood-red, skinless arms were slowly extending, reaching for her back. The madwoman was still completely oblivious, the chain in her hand still attached to the desiccated corpse, as she stared blankly at him.
’What is that?’
’A ghost hiding in a mirror?’
But the mirror from which the blood-red arms were emerging still reflected only the back of Lan Chu.
"Behind you! Look out!"
Gao Tian yelled, trying to warn her.
Startled by Gao Tian’s shout, Lan Chu finally reacted, whipping around to face the mirror.
The pair of blood-red arms seized Lan Chu’s shoulders, but hadn’t yet applied any force. If she ducked and tried to get away right now, she still had a chance to escape the bloody arms from the mirror.
But Lan Chu, despite clearly feeling the grip of those crimson, monstrous hands, did something Gao Tian could never have imagined in his wildest dreams—
She showed not a shred of fear. Instead, she seemed fascinated by the thing reaching out of the mirror.
"So it’s a ghost that hides in mirrors."
Muttering to herself, Lan Chu actually reached out and grabbed the bloody arms extending from the mirror.
"Gotcha, hehe.
"Take me in with you. I want to see what it’s like inside the mirror."
The next moment, the bloody hands that had seized their prey suddenly increased their strength tenfold. Caught off guard, Lan Chu—along with the chain in her hand and the desiccated corpse attached to it—was dragged bodily into the mirror. In an instant, she was devoured without a trace.
By the time Gao Tian rushed over with his Terror Blade, the mirror had returned to normal. All it reflected was his own bewildered and shocked face.
The bloody hands, the ghost, and Lan Chu had all vanished without a trace.
And just like that, Lan Chu was gone. She had gotten her wish: she’d entered the Mirror World, devoured by the ghost.
"I give up... What a psycho,"
Gao Tian muttered.
It wasn’t that he was mourning her disappearance. He didn’t feel the least bit sorry that she was gone. For someone who loved to flirt with death, dying was only natural. The real miracle was that she had survived this long.
The Mirror Ghost’s killing pattern had revealed itself.
’No wonder this place is called Mirror Alley. It’s a hunting ground for the Mirror Ghost.’
’Now I’m all alone. The study blocks one way out. If I want to get through this endless Mirror Alley, I have no idea how many mirrors I’ll have to pass. I’ll be hunted by those bloody hands the entire time.’
It felt impossible to defend against.
But if he didn’t go back, he’d be stuck here, facing that bizarre study all by himself.
Wait...
Gao Tian slowly raised his head, an idea beginning to form.
’Something’s off.’
A strange thought had just flashed through his mind.
’Those blood-red, skinless hands... Could its true form be that old man in red?’
’Was that what the "Gao Tian" in the future-predicting altar fought?’
"I think I finally understand why he was so desperately holding down that old man in red."
As the truth dawned on him, Gao Tian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
’He was acting like a madman—he wanted to use the Shattered Face Ghost’s power to copy the Mirror Ghost’s killing pattern.’
’The condition for the Shattered Face Ghost’s power—mutual eye contact—is pretty strict. A long, continuous stare only counts as one instance. A quick glance doesn’t count at all. Getting the five required instances of eye contact is probably harder than it sounds.’
Gao Tian now completely understood why his future self had been acting so frantically. The Mirror Ghost’s ability was far more important than he had realized.
’For a ghost, its killing pattern isn’t exactly unbeatable.’
’But for a living person, it’s a god-tier ability—the very one I’ve been dreaming of copying.’
Its power was to extend bloody hands from a mirror and drag its victims inside.
’If it can pull people... could it also pull ghosts?’
’In other words, if I could master that killing pattern, could I lock those unkillable, undying ghosts inside mirrors? Trap them like in a prison so they could never harm anyone again?’
’What’s the difference between that and actually finding a way to kill them?’
’No wonder my future self was acting like a madman, pinning it down to force eye contact. He had to obtain that power, no matter the cost.’
Thinking about it this way, the frantic actions of the "Gao Tian" from the altar vision made perfect sense.
But there was still one small, nagging detail that he couldn’t explain.
