The mirrors stood in the four corners of the room, each one draped in white cloth, with only the very bottom portion visible.
"Why are there mirrors in the repair room? And four of them, no less?" Whether this room was meant for fixing living people or restoring furniture, mirrors didn't seem like something that would be needed.
"Could it be that after they finished repairing something, they placed it in front of a mirror to admire?"
Before Bai Ling and Wang Xiaoming could speak, Chen Ge reached out and pulled the white cloth off one of the mirrors.
"Don't touch it!"
Bai Ling's warning came a fraction too late. The cloth fell to the ground, and all three people in the room saw the mirror's surface that had been concealed beneath it.
"Is this... paint?" Chen Ge stood in front of the mirror, reaching out to touch the surface. The smooth glass was coated with a layer of something resembling red pigment.
The mirror's surface was completely covered—this mirror couldn't reflect a thing.
Chen Ge scratched at the surface with his fingernails, but the red substance seemed to have fused with the glass itself, becoming part of it. No matter how he tried, it wouldn't come off.
"Mirrors..."
Chen Ge suddenly recalled something. Since waking up in the classroom, this was the first time he had seen a mirror in the world behind the door.
Mirrors were commonplace in real life, but in this school, they seemed to have become some kind of taboo object.
"Room 413 had no mirrors. Xiao Lin's backpack didn't contain a mirror. The dormitory manager's room had no mirrors. The faculty dormitory where Bai Ling and Teacher Bai live doesn't have mirrors either!"
He pulled the white cloth off all four mirrors in quick succession. Chen Ge discovered that each of the four mirrors was a different shape and size—they must have been brought in from different places.
"The repair room keys are kept by the teachers and maintenance workers. Very few people come in here normally. The school placing four mirrors here was clearly intended to keep too many people from seeing them."
All four mirror surfaces had been coated with that red pigment. Even standing right in front of them, you couldn't see your own reflection.
"None of the mirrors can reflect a person. Are they afraid of seeing themselves in the mirror?" Chen Ge couldn't figure out the reason, but he made a mental note—if he ever encountered mirrors again, he needed to pay close attention. Perhaps the secret to escaping this place was hidden on one of them.
"Xiao Lin, have you found everything? We need to go." Wang Xiaoming kept urging Chen Ge. As time passed, he was growing increasingly agitated.
"Hold on a moment." Chen Ge studied the four mirrors in the corners of the repair room. The first mirror had no frame—its edges were wrapped in clear tape, and it looked as though it had been pried off a wardrobe door.
The second mirror wasn't large. Someone had apparently sawed off the upper half of a vanity table. It didn't look like furniture that belonged in a school.
The third mirror had the words "Science Building" written on it. It must have been brought from there.
The fourth mirror had a wooden frame, and inscribed on the frame was a number—413.
Below the number, at the edge where the frame met the wall, was a name—Lin Sisi.
"Why does this last mirror have Xiao Lin's name on it? Was this mirror taken from Xiao Lin's dorm room?"
Chen Ge felt that things weren't so simple. The student records didn't contain anyone named Xiao Lin—so why was the name Lin Sisi written on this mirror?