Chapter XIII
Inside the door that glowed red was a dance studio.
The walls on both sides of the room are lined with waist-level wooden handles. The wall opposite the door is completely covered with a floor-to-ceiling mirror.
As soon as everyone entered the room, the mirror, which had been emitting red light, dimmed, leaving only the ball of light suspended behind everyone barely illuminating the room.
Steven couldn't help but take a step closer, touch his chin in the mirror, and brush his hair again.
There was only one piece of furniture in the spacious dance studioโa dresser that was placed in the corner.
In addition to some makeup utensils, there is also a vase on the dresser. The flowers in the vase have withered, and a few dry leaves are scattered on the countertop.
The lower part of the dresser consists of a wooden cabinet that is calf high. Ziang stepped forward and opened the cabinet.
There are several dance costumes stacked on top of each other in the cabinet.
"We're looking for an adult, Ziang." Lanny said lightly.
"I can't say for sure." Ziang responded, bending down and glancing into the cabinet, "As far as we know, anything can be just an illusion, like the maintenance man we saw earlier. Perhaps, this cabinet is also a fake. As soon as I opened it, I found another room hidden inside. โ
"That's really, so wrong that I don't know how to correct it." Lanny shook her head, "When you say 'illusion', you actually mean 'mimicry'. She gestured to the floating orange orbs of light, "They're nothing more than light energy created with Spiritual Power. The more consciousness is consumed, the more the mimicry will look real. โ
The orange ball of light floated into Lanny's hand.
"If you reinforce their contours with the Psychic Powers," Lannie reached out and stabbed the ball of light, her fingertips resting on the surface of the orb, "the virtual body mimicry will also become a solid mimic. However, they are not real things after all, and they are bound to shine. In addition to this, there is a product of longitudinal spirit that is the opposite of 'mimicry', called 'hidden state', which ......"
"End of today's Lannie Lecture Hall, ladies and gentlemen." Steven interrupted Lannie and turned to walk towards the door, "There don't seem to be any other rooms on this floor. Let's go to the second floor. โ
Just as Steven turned, a red glow of human form appeared in the floor-to-ceiling mirror. The figure in the mirror rushed to the door, also in the mirror, slamming it shut.
Nothing is visible in reality, but the door to the dance studio closes, forcing Steven to stop.
"Be careful!" Lannie shouted, raised her hands, and pointed in front of Steven, who seemed to be empty.
In the mirror, the red figure turned around and punched Steven in the face in the mirror.
In reality, an orange barrier quickly opened in front of Steven. In the next second, something invisible hit the barrier, making a muffled sound.
"Hey! It's kind of interesting. Steven took a few steps back and turned to look at himself in the mirror.
"You should say 'thank you.'" Lanny ran between Steven and the door.
In the mirror world, the figure retracts into a fist and kicks sideways, shattering the barrier Lannie had created. At the same time, the barrier of reality shattered and disappeared.
Lanny turned her head sideways, glanced in the mirror, and threw a cloud of orange light directly in front of her.
The figure in the mirror leaped high, dodging the incoming light, and pounced on Lannie running towards her from diagonally above.
A flaming rune flew towards the figure, forcing it to change its name to its original course of action.
The figure does a backflip and kicks the rune paper impartially with its raised foot. It descended straight down and landed lightly in front of Lannie, who had stopped in her tracks.
The kicked rune paper reversed course and flew back the way it came.
Ziang tilted his head and looked at the picture in the mirror. After seeing the rune paper he threw fly back, he hurriedly raised his right hand and threw it to the right side of his body.
The rune paper in the mirror changed course and flew to his right hand according to the real-life Ziang's movements, but the real-life rune paper flew to the left and crashed into the wall, causing a small explosion.
A large piece of white wall fell, and Ziang's face was confused.
The figure in the mirror repeats the previous action and kicks sideways at Lanny. An orange band of light wrapped around the leg, dragging it to the side. The figure turned around and kicked the tangled leg diagonally upward. Lanny, who was holding the other end of the ribbon, failed to react in time and was thrown to the ceiling.
A few pieces of rune paper lined up between Lanny and the ceiling, took her steadily, and carried her back to the ground.
Ziang slapped his face as he stretched out his hand to Lanny. Lannie's runes overlapped and flew back into his hands.
"So, this is the left ......" Steven ignored the other two who mingled with the figure, and continued to look at himself in the mirror, gesturing with his hands in front of him, "and then this is the right ......"
"Feel free to join us!" Lanny yelled at Steven. As soon as she finished speaking, the figure in the mirror rushed up again.
Steven turned around. "You should say 'thank you.'" He looked at the figure in the mirror and threw a punch diagonally forward.
A cloud of blue light flew forward along the trajectory of the fist.
Unsurprisingly, the light struck Lannie impartially, knocking her to the ground.
"Huh?!" Steven exclaimed, "Oh, yes, I turned around, left changed to right, right changed to left." He reached out and gestured at his side, "It's an accident, Lanny, don't believe it." Why don't you stand back and let me ...... again"
Syllable!
The oncoming orange glow didn't make Steven finish.
A number of runes spread out in all directions, forming an upwardly bulging hemispherical surface, covering the figure in the mirror in the middle.
"Let me in." Lannie got up from the ground and ran towards the hemispherical surface. A few pieces of rune paper stepped aside, giving her room to pass through.
An orange band of light forms a ring horizontally on the inside of the hemispherical surface.
In the mirror, the arms of the red figure are held to the sides of the body by bands of light. It flipped backwards and distanced itself from Lanny, only to crash into the rune paper above it and bounce back to the ground.
"Indulge together, Lanny." Steven rushed to the ring that bound the figure, and a few pieces of rune paper moved to the sides, making way for him, "Take control of Alpha Fifteen." He pressed his hands to the ring.
The blue glow blends into the orange rings, turning both dark brown at the same time.
In the mirror, the trapped figure gradually blurred, and the light that composed it became dimmer. However, just as it was about to lose its original silhouette, a wave erupted from the center of its body, bouncing Steven and Lannie to the sides at the same time, and dispersing the rune paper that enveloped it.
In the mirror world, the figure becomes extraordinarily dazzling. Red light churned over it, some of which were even beating so violently that they diffused into the air around them. Instead of attacking the people in the mirror, the new figure turned its head and turned its face at the real world outside the mirror. It pushes one shoulder out of front and strides towards the mirror.
The mirror shattered in an instant. Debris of all sizes fell, revealing snow-white walls.
"Huh?! Cheat! Steven exclaimed, looking at where the mirror had been.
Something invisible hit Steven in the stomach, causing him to instinctively bend over.
Steven swung a cloud of blue light forward. Something grabbed his hand and dragged the rest of his body into the air. He spun around sharply, then was flung straight into the corner, hitting the edge of the dresser before hitting the ground.
Lannie opened the barrier in front of her, only to be hit from behind by something equally invisible in the next second, slamming her back into the inside of the barrier.
Dozens of rune papers were lined up in front of Ziang.
An invisible object passed through the runes and walked in front of Ziang. The runes were attached to its body, outlining the outline of a humanoid figure, but it had no effect of stopping it.
Ziang was choked by the neck and dragged off the ground. He pressed the invisible arm in front of him with one hand, and with the other he slapped a piece of talisman paper to the place where the other man's face was.
All of the rune paper burned at the same time, creating a large ball of fireball in the shape of a human.
Holding Ziang's thing, he let go of his hand and shook his head, trying to shake off the burning rune paper. Its legs were dragged backwards by an orange band of light, causing it to fall face down to the ground.
At this moment, a dazzling blue light fell from the sky and smashed onto the burning rune paper, scattering the flames and causing the things that were originally wrapped in the rune paper to explode.
A stream of air spread out from where it had been struck by the light, and vanished as it touched the walls.
The whole dance studio finally fell silent again.
The blue light did not dissipate directly, but flew to the corner of the wall, and transformed into a dazzling ball of light next to Steven who got up.
"Why are you so bright?" Lannie reached out to cover the light and looked at Steven.
"You should say...... Thank you. Steven turned and walked to the door. Probably due to the previous impact, his voice sounded stiff. He pulled open the door and walked straight to the staircase that led to the second floor. The blinding ball of light followed closely behind him.
Ziang and Lannie followed a few steps and also walked up the stairs.
In the dance studio, the mirror of the dresser suddenly glows a faint red, illuminating a small area around it.
Perhaps due to the previous impact, the dresser at this point was separated from the wall by some distance. In this gap, a person is lying face down. Most of his body was blocked by the dresser, and only his legs were exposed against the corner.