His eyes red and swollen,
"One more minute until midnight."
The bathroom lights were off. Chen Ge stared at his own reflection in the mirror.
He was afraid of missing something, so he didn't blink even once. His palms pressed against the sink, his face hovering close to the glass.
Fully concentrated, every ounce of his attention fixed on the mirror, and when only a few seconds remained until midnight, his phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket.
"A call? Who would be calling me at this hour?"
The unexpected development startled Chen Ge. He pulled out the phone — the caller ID displayed Captain Li's name.
"Has something happened?" Chen Ge answered, holding the phone to his ear. "Uncle Sanbao, is something the matter?"
"Zhang Peng still hasn't been apprehended. We've narrowed down the search area further — we can confirm he's hiding somewhere in the western suburbs of Jiujiang. You need to be careful! This suspect is extremely cunning and dangerous. His behavior is unlike that of a normal person. We cannot rule out the possibility that he'll come back for you!" Captain Li's voice on the other end was grave and urgent.
"Weren't there multiple layers of surveillance around New Century Amusement Park last night? His arms are injured — he couldn't have gotten far, right?" In Chen Ge's view, it was only a matter of time before Zhang Peng was caught.
"Things have changed. I can't go into detail right now, but I'll tell you this much — last night, after one of our officers successfully intercepted the suspect, they apparently saw something. Right now they're in a deep coma and being treated at the hospital."
"What?!" Chen Ge's expression shifted. He was about to speak when his gaze involuntarily drifted to the mirror on the wall.
On the smooth surface of the glass, a blood-red numeral had appeared at some point — "1".
"Don't worry though. The search area is shrinking by the day. Evil cannot triumph over justice — he will face the consequences of the law!"
Captain Li was still saying something, but Chen Ge had stopped listening. He set the phone aside and stared blankly at the mirror's surface.
"When did that appear? The monster in the mirror is already gone — how could the number still be showing on the glass?!" Chen Ge replayed the previous night in his mind: the mirror monster, half its body inside the mirror and half outside, and Zhang Peng pressing himself against the glass to merge with it.
"What does this number actually mean? Yesterday it was '2', and today it became '1'. After tomorrow's midnight, will it reset to zero?" The steadily decreasing number made Chen Ge's gaze grow heavy with worry. "The number changed for the first time after Zhang Peng was possessed by the mirror monster. Just now Captain Li said an officer fell into a coma — after the second victim appeared, the number decreased again. Could this number be connected to the victims? Does the mirror monster need three living people?"
Whether the number represented time or lives, Chen Ge had no intention of waiting any longer. A fierce sense of crisis had taken root in his mind.
"The monster in the mirror keeps growing stronger. Tomorrow night might be my last chance." Chen Ge took a cloth and wiped the numeral off the mirror's surface. He couldn't afford to hesitate any longer.
After a few perfunctory responses to Captain Li, he ended the call and carried the black phone into the tool room.
"Midnight has already passed, so the new daily mission should have refreshed by now. Right now, two missions could be of help to me — the Red-clothed Ghost's affection mission, and today's newly added nightmare-level daily mission."