Time passed, and with it went the rumbling sound of thunder. The rain, however, did not relent but fell with renewed vigor all around them.
It invaded the house through the broken window on the east side of the living room, the copious splashes of water mixing with the mysterious striped stains on the concrete wall and the grime on the floor to form repulsive rivulets that oozed everywhere.
"These markings..." Bai Zhi frowned as he observed the black, bruise-like markings on Temperance Gentleheart's neck under a flashlight.
Unlike Late Night Kitty who was as timid as she was petite, Temperance, who wore glasses and gave the impression of a well-read, refined lady, seemed to be made of stronger stuff. She remained calm and collected, despite getting attacked not long ago.
The portable speaker was still blaring.
The promise you made to me, so simple and free~
"I don't even know what happened. We were just looking around, and the next thing I knew, I was choking—I could have died if Mustachio hadn't gotten me to safety… Have you noticed anything?"
The earlier performance of deductive logic, delivered by this [ Black&White ] with no regard to the people present in the room, clearly marked him as someone on the wrong side of crazy. Nevertheless, he had managed to search his share of the house with a deadweight in tow, the deadweight being Late Night Kitty, and the thing that gave her away... was her white-knuckle grip on the portable speaker that was still blaring those upbeat tunes non-stop.
In short, despite his abrasive attitude, Temperance had significant confidence in Bai Zhi's abilities.
"Oh... Whaddayaknow, there does seem to be something..." Bai Zhi nodded firmly as he aimed the light away.
Spring blooms come and go, the autumn moon it glows~
"The supernatural entity that attacked you must be a male vengeful spirit."
"You figured that out just by observing the markings?" said Mustachio skeptically, his arms crossed. "I say it's a female spirit! Murder by strangulation is a woman's thing, isn't it?"
"But girls like things to be clean, there's no way a girl spirit would have such dirty hands!" said Bai Zhi indignantly, a response that left Mustachio baffled and speechless.
I'm flying endlessly, in this fantasy~
"We found the head of some guy in the fridge when we were investigating the kitchen… Black&White must have connected the two clues," said Late Night Kitty in a timid voice, pulling the portable speaker closer to her. "We didn't find any more useful clues in the other rooms after that, though."
Temperance Gentleheart looked at Late Night Kitty in surprise. "We encountered a similar thing! We found a severed arm under the bed in the guest bedroom, but nothing anywhere else. Then we went to search the bathroom, and that's where I got attacked—"
Bai Zhi cut her off. "Tell me the details!"
Fireflies twinkle like stars in the sky~
"...Huh?"
"The windows we found were all boarded over with black wooden planks and we came across a mirror covered in some kind of gunk. Was it the same for you?"
Temperance looked up as she tried to remember, then said, nodding, "Yes, that's right."
"So, right before you were attacked, what were you doing?"
"Uh... Well, we were searching the bedroom, and I got some cobwebs on my face so I was looking for a mirror to make sure... the mirror?"
She froze at the realization.
Bai Zhi shoved another fistful of popcorn in his mouth and remarked casually, "S'not just dat mirror, I shushpect any reflective shurface may be a threat."
Who has so tenderly gathered my woes?
He swallowed and continued, "Seeing our reflections triggers an attack, that's probably how the vengeful spirit works... This is the first puzzle, easily solved through careful observation."
"The first..." Late Night Kitty mused. "Then, will there be a sec— Hey! Where did that popcorn come from?" Her eyes widened in astonishment.
"It's a must-have for watching drama! I even brought along a little stool and a six-pack of Coke in my Inventory."
Bai Zhi carelessly handed the rest of the popcorn to Late Night Kitty to hold and stood up.
"If the rule is that we get attacked as soon as we catch a glimpse of ourselves in a reflective surface, then putting together the jigsaw puzzle of body parts—well, we can talk about that when we've found them all. Right now, I have a question."
Bai Zhi extended an arm with two fingers raised.
"Why would you raise two fingers when you had one—" Temperance Gentleheart began, but stopped when she suspected a trap and quickly changed tact. "Never mind, what is it?"
"Simply put, how did Mustachio save you?"
Bai Zhi turned to look at the slightly uneasy-looking Mustachio.
"We're all newbies here. If we're talking about an attack happening as soon as you see your reflection, I can't imagine that a normal person would've been able to save you in time. If they could, why, this Newbie Run would be a cakewalk, easy-peasy lemon squeezy, fun for the whole family."
Like a fish to the water of your lotus pond~
"I—"
Late Night Kitty spoke up frustratedly before Mustachio could get a word in. "Hello? What about this is at all easy, or fun?!" She tightened her grip on the precious portable speaker
"If the rule is that seeing our reflections, even by accident, means we get attacked, this place just turned into a deathtrap! Puddles of water reflect light, so do phone screens! Lightning! A bright flash of light makes reflections appear even in clear glass windows... If we hadn't noticed the trick, we could have been wiped out instantly! How is any of this 'fun'?!"
"Yeah, but the clues were there from the start. Didn't you see the black planks on the windows? And the gunk on the mirror, too. I mean, obviously." Bai Zhi smirked.
"Even if you couldn't put two and two together, you guys at least knew that something that weird had to be important, right?"
"But that means what Mustachio was saying at the start..."
Patiently curled up, waiting for you~
"Indeed, the objective of this Survival-type quest is to survive for six hours, until daybreak. Since attacks are triggered by seeing our reflections, perhaps one might assume all we had to do was stay put for six hours to successfully clear the quest? Bah! Have you considered what if, during the final hour of our vigil, the vengeful spirit breaks free of its previous constraints? Our lives would be promptly snuffed out. Trust me, my deductions are perfectly accurate, guaranteed."
Temperance Gentleheart slid her glasses up along her nose. "Then we'd better find and put together the rest of the hidden body parts so we can bust that ghost. That's what they'd do in the movies, anyway."
Through the windows of my heart, I see~
"If we keep a safe distance from any reflective surfaces, we should be— Could you turn the damn music down?!"
With the mind-numbing dance music filling the room, Temperance Gentleheart had been alternating between a grimace and a serious expression for some time, but her patience had finally run out, and she snapped at Late Night Kitty.
After all, their whole conversation had taken place to tunes such as Drunk Butterfly* and Moonlight over the Lotus Pond...**
Meanwhile, Mustachio wordlessly pressed both hands against his head.
*Listen to Drunk Butterfly
**Listen to Moonlight over the Lotus Pond
