Tang Luo entered the third floor.
He had only just stepped off the stairs, the flashlight in his hand not even in time to shine at the surroundings yet when a black shadow flew out of the darkness and attacked him in the head.
It moved lightning-quick, so much so that people couldn’t react at all.
In fact, they wouldn’t even be able to get a clear look at what exactly it was before they took the hit.
Well, in the case of regular mortals anyway, not Tang Luo.
Tang Luo reached out and grabbed it.
As though it had sent itself right into his hands, he easily caught the black shadow that was assailing him.
It began to struggle furiously. The amount of strength it exhibited was practically as though what Tang Luo was holding was a vibrating pump.
“A bat?”
Tang Luo looked at the true form of the black shadow in his hand. It wasn’t some kind of strangely-shaped creature but an ordinary bat. Apart from the blood-red sheen in its eyes, there was nothing special about it.
He tossed it aside casually. The bat in his hand was sent flying at an even higher speed than earlier. After crashing into the wall, it turned into a pile of bloody mangled flesh.
The renovation work on the third floor was basically complete. Not only were there rooms, but even the doors had been installed.
However, there was rubbish everywhere. There was construction debris left behind from renovation works in the past, as well as quite a lot of household waste.
Homeless people had probably lived here before.
Tang Luo noticed a few people who were lying motionless on the floor.
He went over and glanced at them. These were dry and shriveled up corpses whose skin stuck to their skeletons. The clothes on them were very new, however.
“They’ve been sucked dry.”
Tang Luo squatted down and checked their bodies. There were two obvious bloody puncture marks on each of the corpses in places such as their necks and limbs.
Their blood had probably been sucked dry by that bat earlier.
The identities of these people didn’t require much elaboration—they were naturally the members of the supernatural enthusiasts’ group, Wang Shuishui’s companions.
“A bat spirit? Doesn’t really look like it though.”
Tang Luo looked at the splotch of blood on the wall.
A tiny bat like this couldn’t even count as a wild mountain spirit.
“Ahhhh!”
Before Tang Luo could make any further discoveries, a scream came from downstairs. It started out strong and then weakened.
Tang Luo took a couple of steps back. Then, he stepped on the floor with his right foot, creating a large hole right through the thick and solid floor.
Together with falling rocks, he landed on the second floor.
Upon landing, the form of Wang Shuishui and an unknown man hugging entered Tang Luo’s sight.
The two of them were locked in a passionate kiss and hug.
The way that the man was exerting so much strength, it was as if he wanted to knead Wang Shuishui’s entire self into his body.
The exposed half of Wang Shuishui’s face was contorted and filled with shock and fear. Her eyes involuntarily rolled up.
Tang Luo took a step forward, reached out, and grabbed the man’s head. He pulled him over, as though he was catching hold of a little chick.
After bringing him close, Tang Luo took a glance and said, “He’s dead. He can’t be saved anymore.”
Then, he applied force in his hand. The man’s head broke into pieces. There was no blood at all, as though it was just an empty shell.
A wisp of black aura rose from him and swiftly disappeared.
The corpse that had fallen onto the floor also visibly shriveled until it reached a state of erosion by wind.
In just a few short seconds, it turned into a pile of ghastly white bones.
Wang Shuishui laid limp on the floor, her eyes tightly shut.
Tang Luo helped her up and shook her a few times, waking her up.
Wang Shuishui opened her eyes, which were now dull and murky. Then, a foolish smile appeared on her face and drool dripped down the corners of her lips.
“Yin energy has entered her brain and turned her into an idiot. She can’t be saved anymore either.” Tang Luo reached out, gripped Wang Shuishui’s neck, and pressed on it, rendering her unconscious.
Then, he went back upstairs to check out the area.
Apart from the corpses there, he didn’t find anything else.
“The headcount doesn’t tally. Where are the others?” Tang Luo wondered.
Compared to the number of people in the group who had confirmed their attendance, the number of people Tang Luo had seen was a few short.
‘It’s unknown where they currently are. Or were these the only ones who came? All of them are already here?’
Wang Shuishui had already turned into an idiot. She naturally wasn’t able to answer Tang Luo’s questions.
He expended a bit of power of virtuous merits and woke the woman pretending to be an animated corpse up in advance.
A few minutes later, Tang Luo walked toward the neighboring villa.
According to what the woman pretending to be a ghost said, they had set out in two teams.
One of the teams stayed in this particular villa to do the setup while the rest were stationed at the other villa.
The villa at the other side was actually the true main course that they had spent a significant amount of effort on.
This one here was just an appetizer.
The other villa’s degree of completion in construction was even lower than the first one. Even the enclosing walls of the courtyard were only half-built.
It was a bare-bones house where only the structure was fully constructed. All the doors and windows were in place, though.
When Tang Luo pushed open the main door of the villa, he unexpectedly saw a figure standing right in front of him. There was even a hint of a smile on his face.
At the same time, resentful and accusing sobbing could be heard coming from the corner.
This figure wasn’t anyone else but Tang Luo himself!
A full-length mirror capable of showing a person’s reflection from head to toe stood right opposite the doorway at an area not too far off.
There was even a red candle that had already burned considerably lit up in front of it.
It felt as if some kind of horrifying ritual[1] was being held here.
Tang Luo ignored the mirror and the candle and walked over to the corner. A black audio player smaller than the size of a hand sat there.
It was even blocked from sight by other things. Evidently, it was one of the elements of the so-called main course.
What a shame that they had run into Tang Luo, someone who was here to subdue and vanquish demons to earn merits, instead. This was equivalent to making eyes at a blind man.
“Is anyone there?” shouted Tang Luo.
The place remained silent. No one answered him.
His gaze swept across the surroundings casually, but he didn’t see anyone on the first floor. Tang Luo headed to the second floor.
He had only just reached the intermediate landing of the stairs and turned when he saw another figure.
To his surprise, it was yet another full-length mirror.
In the darkness, Tang Luo’s blurry form was vaguely reflected in the mirror.
Tang Luo continued his way up and checked out the whole villa.
Mirrors had been placed at several turning points and other similar corners.
Had they probably wanted to set up a mirror-themed haunted house?
Apart from the mirrors, Tang Luo didn’t make any other discoveries.
He didn’t see anyone, nor did he spy any backpacks. Oh, other than that tiny music box.
“Where did they go?”
On the top floor, Tang Luo shone his flashlight at the mirror in front of him and stared at it.
In an environment like this, even his own face in the mirror felt terrifying.
It made people’s hair stand on end.
Stories of supernatural incidents related to looking at the mirror in the middle of the night were pretty widely circulated.
After staring at it for a while, Tang Luo turned and walked over to the window. He pushed the stuck window open and looked out.
In the distance were the city’s lights, while sparse black vegetation could be seen in the vicinity.
Behind him…
Within the mirror that no longer had a source of light pointing at it, Tang Luo’s form, however, didn’t turn in tandem with his action of turning around.
It maintained the pose where it faced outward, as though… there was a real person inside the mirror.
The corners of the lips of the Tang Luo in the mirror curled up bit by bit. At the same time, he leaned forward with a weird smile and fully pressed his face against the mirror’s surface.
Ripples, like waves of water, appeared on the mirror’s surface, as though someone slowly surfacing from the depths of a pool.
The Tang Luo in the mirror walked out of the mirror soundlessly.
He raised his arm and aimed it at the “I’m on the top floor admiring the scenery” Tang Luo.
When his palm was ten centimeters away from Tang Luo’s back, it suddenly sped up and became a lot more forceful, shoving Tang Luo on his back violently.
And yet he didn’t even budge an inch!
The incident of someone falling off from a building didn’t occur.
Tang Luo didn’t even look like he was about to fall forward.
The person in the mirror paused in his movements.
Tang Luo slowly looked behind him and cast a glance at him through his peripheral vision. Then, his palm went smacking toward him.
Crash!
A crisp crash later, the person in the mirror flew through the air.
Upon landing on the floor again, cracks appeared on its body. Then, it broke into pieces like a mirror.
It turned into black aura again and vanished.
“So it really is a Mirror Demon,” murmured Tang Luo.
Mirror Demons, simply put, were demons that formed when mirrors merged with things like vengeful spirits and ghosts.
Strictly speaking, they weren’t actually considered demons but ghosts.
Objects such as bronze mirrors, portraits, and whatnot were considerably easier for vengeful spirits and ghosts to possess and merge with.
God of the Portrait and Demon of the Mirror were terms that the common people used when referring to ghosts like these.
Most ghosts possessed abilities such as possession, consuming the essence, energy, blood and spirit of humans, and other similar kinds of abilities.
The bat and the man who couldn’t be saved in the other villa earlier were examples of this.
In the case of Mirror Demons, they possessed other kinds of special abilities too. Some powerful Mirror Demons could even create mirrors-in-mirrors and pull someone into it.
This particular Mirror Demon most likely couldn’t, however.
The ‘Tang Luo’ in the mirror was just a reflection of the most superficial level.
Now that he had determined the identity of whatever was making mischief, things were a lot simpler from here out.
He kicked the full-length mirror in front of him. It broke into pieces and fell onto the floor.
“It’s not this one.” Tang Luo walked over to another mirror.
He reached out and gave it a push.
The person in the mirror similarly reached out—outside of the mirror.
It hit against Tang Luo’s palm and broke into pieces, starting from the palm all the way to the mirror too.
“That’s two down.”
Uncertain which of the mirrors was the main body, Tang Luo broke all the mirrors in the villa.
There was a total of seven to eight mirrors anyway, so it wouldn’t take him much time and effort.
When the typical human was up against a Person in the Mirror and other similar creatures, even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would be maimed nonetheless.
But to Tang Luo, this was a piece of cake. Even another hundred of them wouldn’t be able to stop him from destroying all the mirrors.
The sound of mirrors breaking resounded in the villa.
In just a few minutes, Tang Luo had broken all the mirrors.
He was left with only the one that he saw when he opened the door. Standing behind it, Tang Luo kicked at it as usual.
The mirror even knocked the candle over and put it out when it fell.
“Alright, it’s all over…” A smile spread across Tang Luo’s lips. “Did you think I would say that?”
He had indeed broken all the mirrors, but the Mirror Demon wasn’t dead yet.
None of these mirrors were the Mirror Demon’s main body.
The mirrors had been brought here by Wang Shuishui and the others.
If the Mirror Demon’s main body had been hiding in them, Wang Shuishui and the others wouldn’t even have had the chance to do any filming.
Therefore, the Mirror Demon’s main body was likely a mirror in the villa.
Besides, no matter how weak the Mirror Demon was, its main body wasn’t something that just a light push to the floor could break. Most importantly, he hadn’t received any power of virtuous merits, proving that the Mirror Demon wasn’t dead yet.
Tang Luo didn’t know how the Mirror Demon in the villa had come to be. He guessed that all the mirrors set up by these fellows had activated the pre-existing Mirror Demon, thereby leading to the incident of tonight.
“Let me see…”
Tang Luo raised his head and looked at the ceiling.
During his search earlier, he had basically already combed through the whole place.
The only place he left out was above him.
As expected, an old bronze mirror slightly larger than a person’s hand was hanging right above Tang Luo.
It was roughly ten centimeters away from the ceiling.
If one didn’t deliberately look up and happen to shine their flashlight across it, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to discover it.
Tang Luo leaped up and reached out to grab the mirror.
At that moment, four people were squeezed out of the mirror in an instant as well. They had deathly pale faces and crimson red eyes. Their original faces were already distorted.
Tang Luo neither recognized their current selves nor knew what they used to look like.
However, he could hazard a guess based on the headcount. These were the remaining few missing people.
After switching from a grabbing stance to a palm stance instead, Tang Luo’s arched fingers suddenly straightened. All five fingers spread open, and he dealt an Airy Palm Hit right out!
[1] The red candle is used in a lot of traditional ceremonies and religious worship purposes in Chinese culture