WTNL Chapter 7.1

Decai Middle School
Chapter 7.1

After a chase battle, Wen Jianyan knew the layout of the dormitory building like the back of his hand.

Skillfully using a few visual blind spots, he sneaked back into the room where he had woken up before anyone could discover him.

It looked no different from when he left a few hours ago.

Filthy walls, narrow iron beds, and messily piled books.

Wen Jianyan’s gaze hurriedly swept past the mirror hanging on the cabinet, not daring to linger on it for too long.

When he first woke up, he had inadvertently made eye contact with the face under the bed through this mirror.

Even now, he felt as if he could still sense that faint, terrifying gaze coming from a corner of the room, making his blood run cold and his hair stand on end.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, composed himself, and then slowly walked towards the mirror.

This time, he deliberately didn’t look into it, but directly took it down from the cabinet door.

In the previous hidden side quest, both the NPC and Xiaojie had mentioned a crucial mirror.

This immediately reminded Wen Jianyan of his experience after entering the instance.

After he made eye contact with the person under the bed in that mirror, his initial 20-minute survival time was determined.

And thinking back carefully, every time that ghost appeared afterward, it was in a mirror.

There might be some connection here.

Wen Jianyan pulled a pillow towel off the bed, covered the mirror surface, and only then did he carefully lower his head to examine the mirror in his hand.

This was a very ordinary vanity mirror. Oval-shaped, its light green plastic frame was a bit faded, glowing slightly white in the dark.

There was no interlayer on the back, nor anywhere to hide things.

Inside and out, there was nothing special about it.

However…

Wen Jianyan gently stroked the uneven surface at the bottom of the mirror with his fingertips, as well as the rough, hand-drilled small hole at the top of the frame, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

In other words, this was supposed to be the kind of vanity mirror that sits on a desk.

But now, its base had been removed, a hole drilled in the top, and hung on the cabinet.

Wen Jianyan raised his head and hurriedly scanned the room.

Ultimately, his gaze locked onto a corner of the desk.

Amidst a messy pile of books, there was a small empty space, looking as if it had been deliberately left open.

Wen Jianyan stepped closer for a careful look.

A rectangular dust mark remained on the desk surface, as if left by something placed there for a long time.

He held the mirror up to loosely compare it.

The size was a near-perfect match.

Right at this moment, the pillow towel draped over the mirror suddenly dropped downwards, as if pulled by some unknown force, sliding off violently!

Wen Jianyan was startled and instinctively reached out to catch it, but only barely brushed against the rough edge of the fabric.

The pillow towel slipped through his fingers and fell to the floor.

“…”

The air seemed to stagnate.

Wen Jianyan maintained his half-bent posture, his gaze fixedly focused on the pillow towel. A layer of fine cold sweat broke out on his forehead. It felt as if a gust of icy breath slowly crawled over the back of his neck, making his scalp go numb.

The room was terrifyingly quiet.

…This is a D-rank instance, a D-rank instance, a D-rank instance.

Logically speaking, the possibility of something already experienced happening again wasn’t high!

He muttered in his heart over and over again.

Wen Jianyan forcefully closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, slowly straightened up bit by bit, and forced himself to look into the mirror.

The mirror was facing the upper bunk on the right side near the door.

On the originally empty bed, a person’s figure had appeared at some unknown time.

She wore an old-fashioned student uniform, sitting silently on the bed with her back to the mirror, long hair hanging down her back.

However, judging by the curvature of the chest and the style of the uniform, she was currently… actually facing the front.

Wen Jianyan’s hand trembled, almost dropping the mirror.

In the mirror, the woman’s long hair shifted slightly, and that head slowly turned around, inch by inch—

“Smack!”

Wen Jianyan abruptly slammed the mirror face-down.

He took a deep breath and slowly turned his head to look behind him.

The bed that was in the mirror was completely empty.

Unknowingly, Wen Jianyan had broken out in a cold sweat.

He took out his identity card and glanced at it.

Three hours of survival time remained. It seemed his action just now didn’t trigger any fatal trap. So… the “person” in the mirror just now might not be a danger, but some kind of hint.

But… how should he confirm it?

Wen Jianyan thought for a few seconds, then opened the hidden live broadcast interface.

The barrage surged in like a tsunami, densely covering the screen, more than ten times livelier than before.

He glanced at the upper right corner; the real-time online viewers displayed there were a full five thousand plus.

Although he had a premonition, after seeing such rapidly growing live broadcast data, the smile at the corner of Wen Jianyan’s mouth couldn’t help but become a bit more sincere.

[!! The streamer opened the barrage!]

[Aaaaaah charge! Asking to be noticed!]

[Stop sucking up, what’s the use of being noticed by this kind of newcomer, the streamer will very likely not even survive tonight.]

[Stop talking nonsense with your eyes wide open. How many newcomers can single-handedly raise the rating of an entire instance? This is probably a big shot wearing a disguise coming to the beginner village to play a few rounds.]

[So exactly whose alt account is the streamer aaaaaah! Can someone who decoded it tell me please! I’m itching to know!]

[Please, streamer, give us a hint, we’ll go follow your main account! (Tipped 50 Points)]

[Begging for the decode +1 (Tipped 80 Points)]

Good! Great competition!

Keep outdoing each other!

Wen Jianyan remained completely impassive, turning a blind eye to all the barrage comments asking about his alt account, and greeted with a smile: “I didn’t expect that after just a few hours, there would suddenly be so many new friends in the live broadcast room. Hello everyone.”

He swept over the rapidly refreshing barrage, picked a few fans with high tip amounts to thank, and then changed the subject:

“Everyone saw the person in the mirror just now, right?”

The young man glanced at the upper bunk of the iron bed not far away, frowning with genuine emotion: “That was too scary. I really… absolutely do not want to go near that place.”

A troubled expression appeared on his face:

“But, I just have this feeling there might be clues… Should I go up and take a look?”

A simple question, so natural that people wouldn’t overthink it, yet it seamlessly steered the topic towards a direction where he could obtain more information.

The barrage instantly became heated, and the viewers watching the live broadcast all began to jeer and encourage:

[Go! Of course you have to go!]

[Quick quick quick, streamer don’t chicken out, charge! (Tipped 100 Points)]

[Thrilling. I’ve watched this instance a few times, but it’s my first time seeing the ghost in this mirror too. Pulling up a stool and waiting. (Tipped 100 Points)]

First time seeing it?

Then it’s safe.

Based on the information revealed in the barrage earlier, they had probably watched many streamers clear this instance called Decai Middle School. Since they hadn’t seen this backward-facing person in the mirror, it meant that she most likely hadn’t actively attacked streamers before.

Then the possibility of it being a clue was even greater.

Although he was crystal clear in his heart, the look of struggle on Wen Jianyan’s face deepened, seeming very hesitant.

Finally, after hyping the atmosphere in the barrage to its peak, he sighed and very helplessly gave in:

“Since everyone says so, then for the sake of everyone’s viewing experience, I’ll climb up and take a look.”

Moreover, with the buffer of the barrage just now, that hair-raising feeling had been diluted quite a bit.

After hiding the panel, Wen Jianyan nimbly climbed onto the bed.

Under the weight of an adult man, the iron frame let out an overwhelmed creak.

A thin cotton mattress was spread on the bed, compressed until it lost its elasticity. A few faded stickers were stuck on the wall, and the edges of the bedsheet were neatly tucked under the mattress.

When he groped towards the head of the bed, Wen Jianyan’s movement paused.

The tactile sensation under his palm wasn’t quite right.

He lifted the mattress and pulled out a thin notebook from underneath.

Two elegant characters were written on the title page of the notebook: Xu Yuan.

Most of the contents inside were already blurred and illegible, leaving only two or three short diary entries that could still be read clearly.

“Year X, Month X, Day X, Sunny.

This girl is really scary. I always feel she has a gloomy and creepy aura. Every time I stay alone with her in a dorm, I feel so uncomfortable. This afternoon in the washroom, Axin said some mocking things. Although it was a bit much, I smiled and chimed in. But as soon as we went out, I saw her retreating back. I don’t know if she heard it or not…

Uneasy.”

{Year X, Month X, Day X, Overcast.

I wanted to apologize several times, but every time I saw her back, I didn’t dare step forward.

After sketching class ended today, I secretly followed her. I originally wanted to find a chance to say something to her, but I never found the opportunity.

I followed her all the way to the small grove and saw her breaking a sausage into pieces to feed a stray cat. The cat is named Little Orange, very affectionate, and I often go feed it secretly. Seeing that she also liked cats, I was so happy and wanted to go up and talk to her, and then…

I heard Little Orange’s miserable shriek.

I saw her grab Little Orange, then use her hand to strangle its throat.

Little Orange’s claws scratched long bloody streaks on her hand, but she didn’t move at all, as if she felt nothing. Her hand deadly choked Little Orange, and then she used a utility knife to stab into its neck.

Little Orange quickly stopped moving.

I trembled all over, standing in place not daring to move.

I should have gone up and stopped her, then maybe Little Orange wouldn’t have died, but… I’m really so cowardly. If only I had half of Axin’s bravery.

After realizing my body could move, I ran back without looking back, lying under my quilt shivering continuously.

I heard the sound of her opening the door and coming back. I heard her standing by my bed for a long time without leaving. I also heard the sound of water dripping onto the floor, but I didn’t dare to move, nor did I dare to speak.

Please, leave quickly.

I didn’t see anything; I didn’t hear anything.}

{Year X, Month X, Day X, Rainy.

Something has changed, but I can’t put my finger on it.

The me in the mirror seems to have changed, but no matter how I wipe the mirror, it is blurry; I can’t see anything clearly.}

{Year X, Month X, Day X, Rainy.

Today the class monitor handed out the test papers wrong again, giving her report card to me. There are more and more people calling me by the wrong name too. What is going on?}

{Year X, Month X, Day X, Overcast.

I went to talk to Axin after class, but Axin looked at me with very unfamiliar eyes, said a few perfunctory words, and left.

Why? Did I do something wrong?}

{Year X, Month X, Day X, Rainy.

It’s the weekend, but I didn’t wait until my parents came to pick me up and take me home. I went to ask the teacher at the security office, but that teacher told me with great surprise that Xu Yuan’s parents had already taken Xu Yuan home.

…

But I am Xu Yuan.}

{Year X, Month X, Day X, Rainy.

The mirror is no longer blurry.

But the face inside is not mine.}

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