Chapter 180 A Game of Hide-and-Seek

So, if you've got nothing to do, don't always stare into the mirror.

It's really not a good habit.

Because you never know,

Whether the person in the mirror is really just your reflection, mechanically mimicking your every move;

Or,

Whether he's just treating you like an idiot, teasing you, and secretly gloating, chuckling to himself when you don't even realize he's there.

The figure in the mirror paused his face-slapping routine after about seven or eight seconds. Standing there, he initially tried to maintain the pose of Xu Qinglang.

But then he thought,

Looking at the expressions of Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang, he knew that pretending any longer would be pointless.

Before, he had been the one treating others like fools, smearing skincare products and slapping his face along with a man, finding it amusing. Continuing to pretend now would only mean making a fool of himself.

He silently retreated, his form growing smaller and further away, wanting to leave this place.

Zhou Ze was sure that even police academies teaching apprehension techniques wouldn't cover how to catch a criminal who's hidden in a mirror.

But now, he faced precisely that problem.

First of all, breaking the mirror was out of the question. The person inside would probably be delighted if he did that. But diving into the mirror?

Zhou Ze reached out to try, but his hand couldn't penetrate it. Clearly, this attempt had failed. Of course, Zhou Ze hadn't held much hope to begin with.

If just anyone could easily pass through mirrors, the number of children accidentally falling in and disappearing each year would far surpass those drowning while swimming in rivers.

The jerk in the mirror was shrinking further and further away. He even turned back with interest, making a "throat-slitting" gesture at Zhou Ze and the others, truly arrogant.

"Tianji Wuji, Xuanxin Zhengfa!" (Supreme Heaven, Infinite Universe, Profound Heart Righteous Law!)

Xu Qinglang formed a hand seal, and a protective mirror was directly slapped onto the surface of the mirror.

It had to be said, Old Xu was perfect both in the motion of his hand seal and the posture of taking out the protective mirror, exuding a certain air of a metaphysical expert. But after the protective mirror was affixed, the person in the mirror simply tilted his head, as if still smiling. Clearly, Old Xu's method was ineffective.

"Old Daoist, crotch!"

Zhou Ze shouted.

Old Daoist subconsciously reached down to touch his crotch,

And then,

He actually pulled out another talisman!

Keep in mind that Old Daoist wasn't wearing his Daoist robes but a bathrobe. This meant that after changing clothes, he had transferred the talisman over!

"Taishang Laojun urgently heed my command, Western Buddha, listen to my orders!" (Supreme Venerable Lord Lao urgently heed my command, Western Buddha, listen to my orders!)

Chanting a nonsensical incantation, Old Daoist directly affixed his talisman to the mirror.

The talisman glowed red briefly, and the image in the mirror distorted. The person inside seemed to let out a faint cry of pain, but he still didn't come out. Moreover, it seemed that the talisman's stimulation made him, who had originally wanted to stay and show off, truly start preparing to escape.

"Anything else?" Zhou Ze urged the Old Daoist.

He refused to believe that if he stuck ten or eight talismans on this mirror, the guy inside wouldn't be forced out.

There was nothing else.

"No more, boss. I only brought one today."

At this time, the person in the mirror was only a small black dot, almost disappearing.

Zhou Ze closed his eyes, opened his hands, and his fingernails all grew out. Layers of black mist began to rise from his palms. For Zhou Ze, only one method remained to try.

When faced with the incomprehensible, it seemed one had to try the incomprehensible approach.

Amidst the gazes of Old Daoist and Xu Qinglang, who looked at him like he was crazy, Zhou Ze clasped his hands in front of him and began to assume a tug-of-war stance.

In reality, Zhou Ze hadn't grabbed anything at all, but he still pulled backward, as if he really was holding onto something, and pulled with considerable effort.

Did he have to be so exaggerated?

Did he have to be so imaginative?

Old Daoist's lips twitched. He really wanted to tell the boss that this method was even more unreliable, but soon Old Daoist's lips stiffened, because he saw that the guy who had originally been only a dot in the mirror was actually slowly running back.

Oh heavens!

The boss had really pulled him back!

Old Daoist suddenly felt like he couldn't understand this world anymore. This actually worked?

"Help me!" Zhou Ze shouted.

Help you?

Xu Qinglang and Old Daoist froze for a moment, then joined in, pretending to help Zhou Ze pull. Xu Qinglang felt like one of the ministers in the story of The Emperor's New Clothes, doing something very foolish, but the key point was that with his and Old Daoist's participation, the speed at which the guy in the mirror was moving backward really increased!

"If you believe in your heart that you can pull him back, you can pull him back. He's in the mirror, but in reality, he's more in our eyes," Zhou Ze said, uttering a philosophical statement.

The mirror's function is to reflect light. It only serves as a medium. Rather than saying that there is something in the mirror, it's better to say that there is something in one's own eyes.

Of course, this involves many philosophical arguments. Delving into it would be too troublesome.

As they pulled, the person in the mirror slowly grew to the same size as when Xu Qinglang had just applied skincare products.

He was about to be pulled out,

He was about to come out,

Put in more effort!

A little more strength!

He was almost out!

Old Daoist shouted from the side, calling out commands. Vaguely, he seemed to have returned to the years when he was a dock worker, but his commands sounded more like three grown men acting as midwives.

Finally, a corner of the thing's clothes appeared in the mirror.

But then,

There was a crisp "pop" sound, and the mirror actually shattered directly.

Then a black shadow burst out from inside. Perhaps Zhou Ze and the others were too deeply immersed in the performance, as the three of them fell backward together, as if the rope had suddenly snapped during a tug-of-war.

This made Zhou Ze feel a bit dumbfounded. When he quickly stood up and realized he had to grab the black shadow, he found that he had already lost the advantage.

Zhou Ze's fingernails only snagged the other party, and after hearing a scream from the black shadow, it actually shrank again and escaped Zhou Ze's control.

It turned and plunged into another glass door in the bathroom.

But this time, it didn't seem to be able to get in completely, and part of it remained outside, like a blood leech. This was probably due to the injury, which affected his performance.

Zhou Ze swept his fingernails across, and the glass door shattered directly. The black shadow let out another scream and fled again, like a wild rabbit, very fast.

"Don't let him escape. He can only hide in reflective objects. You guys search. I'll trap him first!"

Zhou Ze stabbed his fingernails into the ground at the same time, and black energy spread out, completely enveloping the small villa. Zhou Ze had done this before when facing the water python's attack, but that time it was for self-preservation, while this time it was an active confinement.

Old Daoist and Xu Qinglang rushed out of the bathroom and began searching for reflective objects to see if the thing was hiding inside.

The beginning of the matter was unbelievable, but the process was even more surprising. As for it now evolving into a game of hide-and-seek, it was something no one had expected.

Ultimately, it was because Old Daoist and Xu Qinglang were both living people. Living people living in this world emphasized birth, aging, illness, and death. There was science, reason, and rules to be followed. Therefore, their perspectives were sometimes not as rich as Zhou Ze's.

For someone who had been to hell, nothing was unacceptable, and nothing was impossible.

The search process was troublesome and complicated, because there were too many reflective objects here. Confirming them one by one, while also preventing the other party from moving, even though Zhou Ze had confined the range to this small villa, ferreting out that thing was not an easy task.

Old Daoist searched around but found nothing and had no clues. He felt like he was going crazy, his mind filled with glass, wishing he could turn into glass himself.

Xu Qinglang searched around and found nothing. They were also embarrassed to ask Zhou Ze if he had really stopped that thing, in case it had already escaped from the villa.

"That's right, the hot spring!"

Old Daoist ran to the hot spring. The water in the hot spring pool had been drained, but there were still several puddles of water. These could also reflect light and act as mirrors!

Old Daoist jumped down to the hot spring and searched puddle by puddle, but still found nothing.

Feeling somewhat drained, Old Daoist simply sat down at the bottom of the hot spring.

He couldn't find it,

That thing could drill into mirrors, and who knew where it had run off to. Amitabha, Immeasurable Heavenly Lord, Merciful Lord, please show some power and let this poor Daoist find him.

Zhou Ze in the bathroom was almost unable to hold on, constantly shouting and asking if they had found anything.

This put even more pressure on Old Daoist.

Damn it, if only he could call the police and ask them to help find the person, Old Daoist thought wildly, then he suddenly froze and took his phone out of his pocket.

The phone screen was also a mirror. It could also reflect light!

And it had been with him all along, the most likely place to be overlooked!

Old Daoist immediately pressed the phone screen, and the screen lit up. Originally, Old Daoist's screen saver was a classic photo of Marilyn Monroe's skirt being blown up, but now, a black shadow had appeared under Marilyn Monroe's skirt, as if a layer of mosaic had been added, and it was still squirming.

Old Daoist was so happy that a bubble appeared on his nose,

Appearing very excited,

He immediately reached out to grab the "mosaic," muttering excitedly:

"Amitabha, this poor Daoist has finally found you, hehehe!"