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This is a Mirror Maze that causes trouble for other tasks by continuously sending fissure people with mirror abilities to other worlds.
Why does an ordinary fissure person become so powerful inside the Mirror Maze? This does not conform to the laws of energy.
In the Wish Box task, Xiang Wansi was indeed very strong at the end, but it took an entire SSR-level task to cultivate Xiang Wansi into a boss-level fissure person. More mutated fissure people are just the big-mouthed, sharp-toothed monsters in Yin-Yang Ancient Town, and such monsters are insignificant compared to Xia Yao, who can control countless mirror people.
The fact that it can continuously produce these mini-bosses indicates that the energy in this task is clearly imbalanced.
It utilizes mirrors to continually amplify the power of a certain individual until quantitative changes eventually lead to qualitative changes, and then sends out the mini-bosses that have undergone these transformations.
Unlimited energy amplification is a feature of this task and also its rule. However, no matter the space, the amount of energy that can be accommodated is limited.
There is a question that Qin Xunfeng and the others have been consistently overlooking: Why, after Mo Qi and the others entered the Mirror Maze, did no new people enter afterward? If the Mirror Maze is meant to create powerful monsters, why not continuously bring in more people? This way, more monsters could be created endlessly.
Mo Qi and mirror image Mo Qi, after careful consideration, both believe that this is determined by the spatial volume.
The Mirror Maze is only an SR-level task, and within such a small space, only one boss that has undergone qualitative change can exist.
Xia Yao had to leave the Mirror Maze and enter the “Survival in the Wilderness” task for subsequent qualitative change bosses to appear. Rong Feng, unknown players, and Ke Manman all left the Mirror Maze after their qualitative change, and a new qualitative change boss would only appear after one had left.
Therefore, after they entered the Mirror Maze, the number of people was already sufficient for one qualitative change to occur. With Xia Yao, who was already a boss that had undergone qualitative change, the Mirror Maze could not accommodate more bosses, which is why no other people were let in.
Without unlimited amplification of energy, all of this is merely an inflated deception. Once the energy within the Mirror Maze exceeds the spatial limit, the space will collapse.
Mirror image Mo Qi realized this, which is why he willingly fused several fragmented pieces into cards.
Mirror image Mo Qi wants to be with Mo Qi, but within this space, he and Mo Qi are in a mutually destructive relationship. If Mo Qi dies, mirror image Mo Qi will not die alongside him but will instead disappear forever from this world.
Mirror image Mo Qi cannot tolerate this unequal relationship, so he took a step back.
If the world cannot fulfill his wishes, he will destroy it, even if it means merging with the fragments he despises.
His love and murderous intent toward Mo Qi led mirror image Mo Qi to abandon his aversions and choose to achieve completeness.
This mindset also gave rise to the top-tier card known as “Incomplete Zhou Moxun.”
“It’s so dark!” Qin Xunfeng turned on his flashlight and, seeing Liang Tianxiu and Mo Qi unharmed as they emerged from the mirror, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“What’s that smell?” Following the scent, Qin Xunfeng’s flashlight illuminated Xia Yao, and he was taken aback.
Xia Yao’s eye mask had been completely burned away, leaving his eyes as two black holes emitting a charred smell. Fortunately, he was still alive.
There was a fragment of a mirror in Xia Yao’s eyes. When the world was destroyed, the mirror fragment was also destroyed, and the terrifying energy that accompanied its destruction took Xia Yao’s eyes along with it.
Seeing Xia Yao’s pitiful state, Qin Xunfeng couldn’t help but pull out the healing card and said, “It’s okay to be foolish. At least you’ll recover once we’re back in the real world. But if your wounds get worse, I’m afraid you won’t last until we complete the task.”
He used another 30 IQ points to restore Xia Yao’s eyes. Xia Yao himself had a high IQ, around 115, but now it was only 55, making him like a child.
“What is this place?” Liang Tianxiu also came over and said, “It seems like…”
Qin Xunfeng shifted and pulled Xia Yao closer to Liang Tianxiu: “I also think it seems like…”
“A movie theater,” Mo Qi answered.
The pitch-black environment, the chairs beneath them, and the armrests on either side were identical to the movie theater Mo Qi had been in before.
“I remember ‘Survival in the Wilderness’ was a movie. Did we come out?” Qin Xunfeng asked.
“No, leaving the movie theater means Liang Tianxiu won’t remember what happened,” Mo Qi said.
Liang Tianxiu also realized, “Right, I remember now. ‘Survival in the Wilderness’ was the movie I was in, wasn’t it? Although it was a lousy film, our crew organized a team-building event today. The main cast went to watch a movie together…”
Liang Tianxiu was surprised by his own words and looked at Qin Xunfeng: “Wait, you’re not one of our actors, right?”
Qin Xunfeng: “…You just came from the Mirror Maze and didn’t remember you were an actor, and now you’re treating me as a rival?”
“Yeah, I… What exactly happened to me?” Liang Tianxiu said, holding his head.
“I’m the task initiator, and I’m in the movie theater. Therefore, the entire SSR-level task should be related to the movie. Even if it’s divided into several SR-level tasks, they should still be related to the movie,” Mo Qi said, holding the flashlight and coming over to Xia Yao. He searched Xia Yao and found a movie ticket in his pocket.
He picked up the ticket, which was for the movie “The Mirror” and was dated for November this year, while it was only September now.
Qin Xunfeng came over to look at the movie ticket and frantically searched his database: “I remember seeing a trailer for ‘The Mirror’ in the cinema. It’s supposed to be released in two months. What’s going on?”
Mo Qi quickly understood: “The Mirror Maze we’re in isn’t the one in the shopping mall; it’s actually the movie ‘The Mirror.’ This SSR-level task didn’t drag an entire shopping mall into the game world but brought the time dimension of the cinema into the game world.”
“What does time dimension mean?” Qin Xunfeng asked, completely confused.
Mo Qi turned to Liang Tianxiu: “When was your team-building movie event?”
“Today, September 26th,” Liang Tianxiu said, noticing Qin Xunfeng looking at him strangely. He couldn’t help but ask, “Wh-what’s wrong?”
Qin Xunfeng said, “Today is September 13th.”
After stating the date, Qin Xunfeng wasn’t sure himself. He looked at Mo Qi: “Isn’t that right?”
Fortunately, Mo Qi confirmed: “It’s also September 13th for me. It seems the players’ timelines are in the same dimension.”
Liang Tianxiu was utterly confused, his memory and sense of time a jumbled mess: “So what’s going on? What do you mean?”
In the face of such a bizarre situation, Mo Qi actually relaxed and smiled: “It means that the deceased Xi Rou and He Yang haven’t truly died. As long as we successfully complete the task, they won’t be dead.”
Qin Xunfeng suddenly understood: “I get it now! It’s September 13th, but the characters who died in the task are from September 26th, so they’re actually still alive on September 13th!”
Liang Tianxiu tugged at Qin Xunfeng: “Help me out here. What are you guys talking about?”
Qin Xunfeng, slightly impatient, said: “You’re someone who’s destined to forget things, so why bother trying to understand? Anyway, let me explain. It means that it’s not the shopping mall from September 13th that was dragged into the game, but rather the timeline of a cinema. On this timeline, the movies shown and the people who watched them were pulled from their own time into the same task!”
He searched through Xia Yao’s belongings and found his phone. When he checked it, it confirmed his suspicion: Xia Yao’s phone displayed the date as November 2nd.
“What’s here isn’t the Xia Yao who entered the Mirror Maze on September 13th. Xia Yao probably went back to school as if nothing had happened after playing the Mirror Maze on September 13th. It’s only on November 2nd, when he came to this cinema to watch the newly released movie ‘The Mirror,’ that he was dragged into the game world. The Xia Yao from September 13th is perfectly fine!” Qin Xunfeng said. “The game, however, has mixed up your and Xia Yao’s memories to hide the truth and deceive us into thinking we’re in the same time frame.”
To help Liang Tianxiu understand and to clear his own mind, Qin Xunfeng took out his phone, opened a drawing app, and drew a single coordinate axis.
“Assume this axis represents the timeline. I’m on September 13th, and the game pulls both you from September 26th and Xia Yao from November 2nd into this space. But actually, once we complete the task and leave the game world, we’ll return to September 13th. On that day, you’ll still be alive, and nothing about being pulled into the game world will have happened. So, the deaths of Xi Rou and He Yang will not have occurred,” Qin Xunfeng explained.
“What about when time reaches September 26th?” Liang Tianxiu asked.
“Since we’ll have resolved the game on September 13th, by September 26th, the fact that you entered the game won’t exist, so nobody will die,” Qin Xunfeng said.
Liang Tianxiu responded, “But wouldn’t that create a parallel world? Isn’t that the famous grandmother paradox? I go back in time and kill my grandmother, but I’m still alive—doesn’t that create a parallel world?”
“Seems like you know quite a bit,” Qin Xunfeng said, unsure how to explain further.
“There are no parallel worlds,” Mo Qi said. “Parallel worlds would only appear if you went back from September 26 to September 13 and changed things. But in reality, you haven’t traveled to September 13. Instead, you’ve entered a game world that exists independently of the real world. In the game, time in the outside world is frozen. This isn’t the real world; you’ve merely been borrowed from September 26 for the game. Once the game ends, you will be returned, and everything will go back to as if nothing had happened.”
Liang Tianxiu said, “… I give up trying to understand. Anyway, as long as we complete the task, everyone won’t die, right?”
“Then it’s unclear,” Mo Qi said. “People downstream on the timeline won’t die, but I don’t know if there are people upstream on the timeline.”
“Let me check what task we’re in this time.” Qin Xunfeng opened his phone, his expression turning blank.
“What’s wrong?” Mo Qi asked.
“My phone shows that there are 30 participants in the game. So far, 10 have died, leaving 20 players,” Qin Xunfeng took a deep breath.
“Same number of participants as my task. It seems the Mirror Maze’s destruction has merged several separate SR-level tasks together,” Mo Qi said calmly.
Qin Xunfeng said, “… The task clues have also changed. It says, ‘This is a strange world. What you see may not be real, what you hear may not be real, and what you feel may still not be real. In this world, there is only one path that does not retreat. Finding that path is the only way to complete the task. I hope you do not get lost in the crevice of time.’”
“That’s right,” Mo Qi said. “My task hint is the same.”
Mo Qi now had a rough idea of what the message meant. Since this was a bizarre movie world, anything unbelievable could happen, so everything seen, heard, and felt could be false. The phrase “I hope you do not get lost in the crevice of time” already hinted that the task was related to the timeline.
“What does ‘a path that does not retreat’ mean? Is it time? Finding this path is the only way to complete the task?” Qin Xunfeng asked.
“How could that be,” Liang Tianxiu interjected, “I’ve already gone from September 26 back to September 13; where could time not retreat?”
Just as Qin Xunfeng was about to respond, a loud “bang” came from the theater’s door, as if a heavy object had slammed into it.
Qin Xunfeng jumped in fright and instinctively hid behind Mo Qi. “W-what is that?”
Mo Qi said, “Anything is possible. The Mirror Maze is likely a transit point or dividing line for several tasks. Now that the transit point is gone, all the movies are merging together… Think about that lizard monster.”
“Xia Yao once mentioned that the Mirror Maze has 6 exits. Considering the 7 tasks of the Mirror Maze, now that it’s destroyed, all 6 remaining tasks are merging together. Six movies!” Qin Xunfeng nearly lost his voice. “Are we about to see Godzilla versus King Kong versus Aliens versus Predator versus Sadako versus an alien battleship?”
Just as he finished speaking, the noise outside hit the door again.
Liang Tianxiu and Qin Xunfeng huddled together in fright, while Xia Yao, looking confused, joined them. The three big men trembled in fear.
Only Mo Qi’s expression remained unchanged. “If it really is a monster, I’m not afraid of it.”
He held up a card, and Qin Xunfeng glanced at it, noticing it was the “Ash Urn.” He said, “I know this card; it can tame a monster for your use, right? But it can only tame one monster, and only at the SR level. The negative effect is minor, just a bit of crying. But each movie’s boss is SR-level, and there’s more than one. It’s impossible to capture them all.”
Mo Qi didn’t respond, only giving a light smile.
Qin Xunfeng felt a trace of disdain hidden behind Mo Qi’s confident smile, as if he thought the monsters he mentioned were trivial.
The door was hit again, and it seemed like it was about to burst open. Qin Xunfeng’s heart tightened in anxiety.
At that moment, his phone rang, the sound piercing through the quiet theater.
“W-who’s calling at a time like this…” Qin Xunfeng nervously silenced his phone and then looked closely at the name on the screen.
“It’s my friend!” Qin Xunfeng’s eyes widened in disbelief. “He’s still alive! We’re in a task right now, and he finally managed to contact me!”
He excitedly pressed the call button, and his friend’s voice came through the receiver: “Qin Xunfeng, you’ve answered the phone, hehe. It’s your turn next~”
The eerie voice sent a chill down Qin Xunfeng’s spine. Mo Qi already kicked his phone away, but it was too late.