An Unusual Life Beginning with Evil Spirits-Chapter 111 : We’re Going Back!

Volume 3: High School Arc - Mirror Game
I instinctively wanted to cover my neck, but… my body couldn’t move?
“Can’t… can’t move, break the window!”
Standing just a little behind the gear lever, I was facing the passenger window at this moment.
Right now, the reflection inside it is still continuing…
She… she severed her own neck?
Looking at the reflection in the mirror, I became very sure in that instant that what she was holding was not a knife, but… glass?
No!
A mirror!!
She used a shard of the mirror to cut her own neck!?
“Brother Shan, roll up the other windows in the car!!”
When Lu Haochen saw this, it seemed he instantly understood something.
While shouting to Shan Xuelin, he suddenly swung his hand and delivered a side punch to the passenger-side glass.
However, because the distance was too short, it lacked power.
With a crisp ‘crack’, the glass shattered, but it didn’t fall out.
Lu Haochen didn’t hesitate and struck again.
At that moment, time seemed to freeze.
I could feel something sharp slowly tearing across my neck.
Warm blood trickled down my chest, tickling as it slid along my cleavage.
The pain urged me to act.
But before I could do anything, Lu Haochen’s second punch had already landed on the glass!
‘Crash!!’
Accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, the window broke open completely.
The entire pane dropped outside the car.
At the same time, Shan Xuelin rolled up the other windows.
Just then, the wound on my neck, which had been tearing open, suddenly stopped.
“Whew…”
My body loosened up.
I staggered and nearly fell, quickly grabbing onto the seat for support.
I raised a hand to cover my neck.
The wound wasn’t deep and hadn’t hit any arteries or my trachea.
I was fine on my end.
But the homebody guy next to me wasn’t.
His neck looked like a crimson faucet had been turned on.
Blood gushed out with a sickening glugging sound.
He had already lost consciousness.
His body slumped sideways in the seat.
The deep red soaked into the velvet seat cover.
Lu Haochen withdrew his right hand, then reached out his left to check the chubby guy’s breath.
He shook his head.
“Too late.”
“This is trouble now. You two get out of the car immediately.”
As he spoke, Shan Xuelin braked and pulled the car over to the roadside.
In the process, he reached out and broke off the rearview mirror, then tossed it out the empty space in front.
“Brother Shan?”
I looked back at Shan Xuelin in confusion.
He shook his head.
“Get out. I’m dumping this car into the river and dealing with his body.”
“We can’t call the police in this situation.”
“You two get out. I can’t help you beyond this.”
“There’s a foldable electric bike in the trunk. Ride that back to the city.”
“It’s about thirty kilometers from here. That bike should have enough range.”
“Wait, Brother Shan, won’t this cause you trouble?”
I looked at Shan Xuelin, puzzled.
He shook his head again.
“Don’t worry. The app will make it all look reasonable.”
“This guy’s identity will probably be erased.”
“You don’t have to worry about any of it. Just get out.”
“Okay…”
I nodded to Shan Xuelin, then turned to look at Lu Haochen.
“Let’s get out. Looks like we’re riding an electric bike back.”
“Hope Xu Han’s doing okay.”
“I’ll notify Xu Han. For now, don’t do anything.”
“And don’t take out your phones.”
Shan Xuelin said as he casually lit a cigarette.
Seeing the calm on Shan Xuelin’s face and the helplessness in his eyes, I could tell he was very frustrated.
So I didn’t say anything more and just got out of the car.
“Lu Haochen, don’t go over yet. Let Brother Shan remove the rear window first, then we’ll go.”
After getting out, I didn’t dare go near the river.
I stood in the middle of the road.
Lu Haochen got out behind me.
Watching Shan Xuelin with a cigarette in his mouth, getting out to remove the rear window, I stood on the main road.
Looking up at the dark, cloud-covered sky above us, I asked Lu Haochen without turning around.
“How do you feel?”
Lu Haochen didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
His voice was heavy.
“Not great…”
I glanced back at Lu Haochen.
Seeing him standing behind me with his right hand behind his back, I couldn’t help but shout to Shan Xuelin.
“Brother Shan, is there any bandage or something in the car?”
“There is… I’ll get it for you in a bit.”
Shan Xuelin was momentarily stunned by my question, then responded.
Right after, a few knocking sounds were heard, followed by a series of crackling noises.
“You…”
Lu Haochen paused, his eyes studying me.
“You’re injured, aren’t you? Bare hands against glass—unless you practice iron body qigong and have thick calluses on your hands, you’ll get hurt. You do tai chi, right? That’s more for fitness. No need to hide it, show me how bad it is.”
Lu Haochen hesitated, eyes flickering, then extended his hand.
“Mm… not too serious. No damage to the muscles or bones, it’s alright. But you’ll probably need to rest your right hand for a while. The wound’s fairly large.”
I took his right hand.
There were three sizable cuts on the palm, and several smaller ones along the pinky’s side.
Luckily, there wasn’t much bleeding, so no major vessels were harmed.
I could even see a few glittering bits inside the wounds.
Though glass now gave me the creeps, leaving the wounds untreated could lead to trouble.
“You’re not scared at all?”
While I was inspecting his wounds, he asked me that.
“Come on, use your brain. In a game like this, if you’re still scared of something like this, you won’t last.”
Just then, Shan Xuelin brought over some medical supplies.
To be extra cautious, he even sterilized the scissor-like tweezers over a lighter.
“Thanks…”
Before I could even start treating him, this guy thanked me.
Sigh…
“Save the thanks for later. Hold still.”
I opened the mineral water bottle wrapped in yellow tape that Shan Xuelin handed me and rinsed the blood off Lu Haochen’s right hand.
Then I took the tweezers and pulled out a flashlight from my waist, clenching it in my mouth.
“Hrnff~”
I meant to say “don’t move,” but with the flashlight in my mouth, it came out muffled.
Still, Lu Haochen wasn’t dumb, and he got the idea.
I used the blackened tweezers, guided by the light, to extract the glittering glass shards from his wounds.
To my surprise, this guy had quite a tolerance.
Some shards were lodged deep, and I had to push the tweezers into the flesh to get them out.
Which just proved how much force he’d used to punch through the glass.
Fortunately, no blood vessels were hit.
And since I had some medical knowledge, everything went smoothly.
I ended up pulling out eleven shards of varying size.
The largest was around five millimeters, the smallest less than one.
As I removed each shard, I tossed it into a black cloth and covered it to prevent any reflection-related issues.
Once all the glass was out, I pressed his wound again to make sure there was nothing left.
I even heard him let out a muffled groan.
“Don’t be such a wimp. It’s just a few cuts.”
I removed the flashlight from my mouth and grumbled.
But I knew how painful that pressure would’ve been.
Not that I cared—it’s not like we were close.
I looked up and rolled my eyes at Lu Haochen, only to see him staring at me like I was an alien.
“Don’t look at me like that. Or I’ll shove the glass shards back in.”
Lu Haochen quickly turned his gaze elsewhere.
Much better.
“Hold still.”
I poured hydrogen peroxide over the wounds without hesitation.
‘Fizz fizz fizz~’
Tiny bubbles immediately rose from the injuries.
“Hiss!”
Even though I’d warned him, he still winced and sucked in a breath from the pain.
“Alright, quit hissing. You’re lucky this mission is a long-duration one. That means less frequent danger. If it were one of those time-pressured missions, there’d be no way to treat a wound like this.”
I took out some iodine, soaked a cotton ball, and wiped around the wound to prevent infection.
Though it probably wouldn’t help much—looked like it was about to rain soon.
“You’ve done this many times?”
Oh?
Still in the mood to chat?
Not bad.
“Yeah…”
“Is it dangerous?”
This guy… bored or something?
I suddenly yanked the bandage tight.
Lu Haochen gasped again.
I looked up and rolled my eyes at him.
“If you’ve got the energy to talk nonsense, better use it to figure out how to survive. The city might be even more dangerous.”
Up to this point, I still hadn’t figured out what triggered the danger in this mission.
What exactly activated it?
Was it just looking at a reflection?
“From what just happened, this so-called anomaly seems to attack through reflections.”
“All you’re saying is pointless. I already know that. If everything you say is just useless talk, then stop. It’ll mess with my thinking.”
Lu Haochen was briefly choked by my words, but then he gave a soft chuckle.
Hearing that laugh, I looked up and rolled my eyes at him.
“You’re still in the mood to laugh? Impressive.”
“Flattered.”
“It’s all wrapped up. You can’t ride the electric bike with this injury. I’ll drive. You sit on the back.”
The foldable electric bike had already been set up.
Shan Xuelin was over there organizing the rest of the stuff in the car, taking anything that could link to our identities.
“The toolbox is over there. If anything happens, use what’s inside.”
Shan Xuelin didn’t come closer—probably worried something might trigger a danger.
He stood at a distance, pointed to a black box, then got in the car.
“Oh right, there are two walkie-talkies on top. Figure it out yourselves.”
After that, he drove off.
I walked over and tossed one of the walkie-talkies to Lu Haochen.
Even though he’d hurt a hand, he could still adjust it himself—I didn’t need to baby him.
“Set the channel to fifteen. Do it yourself. You know how, right?”
“Yeah.”
Lu Haochen nodded and awkwardly used his left hand to adjust it.
I strapped the toolbox to the bike’s handlebars and put on my own walkie-talkie.
By the time I was done, Lu Haochen was still fumbling with his.
“Sigh…”
Watching how clumsy he was, I hadn’t planned to help.
But time was tight, so I walked over and set it up for him, adjusted the channel, and popped the earpiece in his ear.
After I finished, he smiled at me.
“Thanks.”
“Enough. If you hadn’t saved me earlier, I wouldn’t bother. Don’t try to get close to me. This game—who knows if you’ll even survive. If you want to bond, wait till you live through it.”
“Heh… okay.”
Okay?
Tsk, seriously.
Forget it, I didn’t even know what to say.
Was he just thick-skinned?
Or plain stupid?
I turned and got on the electric bike, then glanced back at him.
“Get on. Hurry up.”
“Mm.”
Lu Haochen didn’t say anything more and got on the back.
But… that 1.8-meter-tall guy perched on a tiny seat less than thirty centimeters off the ground looked absurd no matter how you saw it.
But I didn’t laugh.
I wasn’t in the mood.
I was too focused on how to avoid the next danger trigger point.
And trying to figure out if this game had any hidden rules or clues for early completion.
We rode the electric bike slowly, about twenty kilometers per hour.
It’d take nearly an hour to reach the city from here.
Looked like we’d be caught in the rain for sure.
After riding for a while, I suddenly heard Lu Haochen speak from behind me.
“You just said, don’t let useless things interfere with your thinking…”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I was thinking… if this is a game, then it can’t be a guaranteed death mission. But no matter how I look at it… returning to the city seems like a death trap. There are too many reflective surfaces in the city.”
Hearing that, I suddenly froze…
Right!
How did I overlook that?
I slammed the brakes and jumped off the bike, turning back to look at Lu Haochen.
He gave me a small smile.
“Is that useful information?”
This guy… was he doing this on purpose to annoy me?
Can I get an extra meal tonight?
Looking at his grin, I thought maliciously.
“Don’t give me that look… I’m scared. I’m a wounded man.”
Lu Haochen raised his injured right hand and pretended to be scared.
What was that?
A threat?
Playing the pity card?
Or just reminding me he got hurt for my sake?
“If you keep that up, don’t count on seeing tomorrow’s sunrise.”
I glared viciously at him.
He immediately dropped the cheeky act and scanned our surroundings, then looked up at the sky.
“Hey… should we go back to Factory Building No. 7?”
“You think… the key to this game lies at Factory Building No. 7?”
I unfastened the toolbox from the handlebars and held it in my hand.
Then I pressed the walkie-talkie and informed Shan Xuelin to immediately tell Jiang Yulong and the others not to enter the city.
He nodded, fell silent, then continued,
“We spent an hour inside the factory, yet have no memory of it. That’s strange enough.”
“I’ve thought about that…”
“Then you never considered going back to check?”
“I did. But it’s too dangerous. Last time, outside the factory, we already—wait! If the anomaly at the factory intentionally revealed itself to make us think it was dangerous…”
Then it hit me—what if… the Death Coffin people experienced the same thing when they arrived?
And that’s why that blond guy Yaocheng and Xiang Wei ran off immediately after leaving the factory?
So… what if the anomaly at the factory deliberately scared us into thinking the place was deadly?
And as soon as the game started, it made us instinctively choose to run?
If that’s true, then this mission… was psychological warfare?
That would mean… only people who never went to the factory would even consider returning!
Lu Haochen had never been there.
Nor had he experienced an Interdimensional Space encounter outside it.
That’s why he was the first to think about going back.
The rest of us who had already been there wouldn’t think of it.
“Get on! We’re going back!”