When Mu Anqi said this, she genuinely meant it. After all, she was still looking forward to traveling with Ji Huaichu after the Black Mirror Vortex ended. If they could finish this Black Mirror Vortex quickly, that would be even better.
It was an old residential building, without even lights in the stairwell. Mu Anqi turned on her glowing brooch and walked upstairs with Ji Huaichu. A faint blue arrow on the stairs glowed weakly, guiding them all the way to the door on the fourth floor.
Only when they reached the door did Mu Anqi suddenly remember she didn't have a key. But then she thought of the Black Mirror Vortex's background setting and immediately began searching through her clothes pockets, finally finding the key in her pants pocket.
"Maybe a fight will start as soon as we enter, or maybe that thing will play hide-and-seek with us," Mu Anqi said, already preparing the blessings she was going to recite. Ji Huaichu cooperatively drew her long blade, holding it behind her back.
The key slid into the lock and turned gently.
It was a very unfamiliar room. Thanks to the glowing brooch, Mu Anqi quickly found the living room light switch. After turning on all the lights, the room brightened up. She walked over to the living room window—the "person" had been looking down from this window when they were downstairs earlier. But there was no light switch nearby either…
Well, since it was a ghost, controlling a switch probably wasn't too difficult.
"Now, how do we find it?" Mu Anqi circled around the room. It was a two-bedroom, one-living-room layout with a kitchen and bathroom. One of the bedrooms had been converted into a study, complete with a bookshelf. However, the books here were all "wordless heavenly books"—they only had pretty covers.
After searching every cabinet in the study, she still couldn't find the ghost. Disappointed, Mu Anqi switched the demon-slaying sword to her other hand. Ji Huaichu had also finished searching all the kitchen cabinets and even checked places like the pressure cooker, finding no clues. If that was the case… then it must be the master bedroom?
The demon-slaying sword slashed under the bed, while Ji Huaichu directly split the wardrobe open with her long blade. They searched every corner of the master bedroom but found no trace of the strange black shadow from earlier.
How strange.
Mu Anqi even cut open the mattress to check, yet still found nothing. As for the ceiling? They had already checked that too. Ji Huaichu used her abilities to summon shadow clones to continue the search. Meanwhile, Mu Anqi took her sword to the bathroom, searching both the shower area and the cabinet under the sink. Finally, when she helplessly stored the demon-slaying sword back into her storage ring and turned on the faucet to wash her hands, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. It wasn't looking down but was staring straight at her, revealing a perfect smile.
"Finally found you." Mu Anqi rubbed the bubbles from her hands and smiled with utter nonchalance. She washed her hands leisurely with cold water, speaking to her reflection in the mirror as if making casual conversation: "I wish you great wealth and prosperity, endless financial luck, and constant good fortune."
From within the storage ring, the Red Umbrella let out a silent, knowing sigh, huddling motionless inside the ring, not daring to move a muscle.
Meanwhile, Mu Anqi simply dried her hands, took out her assault rifle, loaded it with special anti-ghost rounds, and blasted the mirror to smithereens. Ji Huaichu's shadow clones swarmed into the bathroom, diving into the mirror's remnants, dragging out the hiding ghost, and tearing it apart as they pulled it into the dark mist.
The number of cleared anomalies now reached three. Mu Anqi stepped out of the bathroom. "We've already eliminated three anomalies." Why was the core of this Black Mirror Vortex completely unresponsive? Whether it was the master anomaly or the creator of these anomalies, couldn't it sense them being destroyed one by one? — And it still hadn't come for them.
"Devouring these anomalies is steadily increasing my power," Ji Huaichu sensed her own state and said quietly. "There's a type of energy within these anomalies that seems capable of assimilating me, turning me into part of the anomaly system… Of course, I didn't absorb that part."
Ji Huaichu spread open her palm. A twisted, purplish-black substance, resembling both mist and liquid, appeared in her hand. As she forced this substance out and concentrated it, she could feel a faint, elusive pulling force.
It pointed toward the location of the Black Mirror Vortex's core.
"Red Umbrella, have you ever seen the 'person' who created you?" Mu Anqi suddenly asked.
The Red Umbrella in the storage ring found the question baffling: "What do you mean? I wasn't created by anyone! Maybe my past life was a tragedy, and later I was trapped inside this umbrella, but I am an independent entity!"
Mu Anqi didn't respond. She looked at the mass of energy in Ji Huaichu's hand and asked, "Will this have any effect on you?"
"Not in the short term," Ji Huaichu said calmly. "Before it can affect me, we will have completed the purge of this Black Mirror Vortex."
"Can we use this to track the core?"
"It's very vague," Ji Huaichu said. "But it seems… very close to us."
Mu Anqi pondered for a moment, then suggested, "If we give all of this energy to the Red Umbrella… Since it's already an anomaly itself, it should have some connection to its creator. Once it becomes stronger… wouldn't it be able to pinpoint the location more accurately?"
Ji Huaichu thought for a moment and said, "We can try." If it failed, she could just devour the umbrella and reclaim the energy anyway.
Even though it heard it would become stronger, the Red Umbrella shuddered for some unknown reason. It was taken out once again by Mu Anqi.
"Behave. After absorbing the energy, focus on sensing that thing's exact location. If you prove useless—you know what will happen." After saying this, Mu Anqi handed the Red Umbrella to Ji Huaichu. She then scratched her head belatedly, suddenly feeling her words sounded a bit… villainous. Ah, it must be an illusion. She was just an ordinary, unremarkable player in the Nirvana Space, after all.
The Red Umbrella was probably among the weaker anomalies. Of course, it might also be because the combined energy of three anomalies was simply too much for it. When Ji Huaichu dumped the energy into the Red Umbrella, they witnessed the umbrella's consciousness let out a short sound—somewhere between a shriek and a moan of excessive pleasure—before falling completely silent.
If she had to describe it, it was probably "overwhelmed into unconsciousness."
Mu Anqi and Ji Huaichu sat resting on the living room sofa for a while. Ji Huaichu held the Red Umbrella the entire time. If it woke up and showed any unusual movement—whether attacking or trying to escape—Ji Huaichu could react immediately.
After about half an hour, Ji Huaichu felt a slight tremor from the Red Umbrella in her hand. "Now that you're awake, demonstrate your value."
The Red Umbrella, its consciousness just reviving, jolted violently. Forgetting to assess its own changes, it hurriedly said, "Right away! Just let me adapt for a moment! I wasn't pretending to sleep!" The fear of being held by Ji Huaichu was three times greater than being held by Mu Anqi. The Red Umbrella didn't dare to lie. It mobilized its energy, striving to trace the source. Even though it didn't want to believe it was merely a casual creation of another being, when its energy genuinely resonated with a specific location, the Red Umbrella had no choice but to accept the fact. This realization infuriated it: its tragic life, everything it had done since becoming an anomaly… was it all orchestrated by someone else?
It felt no gratitude toward its "creator." Upon confirming such an existence, its desire to eliminate that lofty being was even stronger than Mu Anqi's and Ji Huaichu's. The Red Umbrella cooperated with unprecedented eagerness. It exclaimed loudly, "I found it! I found it! It's right inside this building!"
"Good. Lead the way," Ji Huaichu said calmly, rising to her feet while gripping the umbrella handle. Mu Anqi also grew excited, preparing herself for the final stage.
What could the ghost that created this Black Mirror Vortex and all these anomalies possibly look like? She was truly curious.
With such thoughts, they followed the Red Umbrella's directions, step by step, going higher up the building until they stopped at door 701.
"It's here?" Mu Anqi blinked, full of anticipation. After receiving confirmation, she politely stepped forward and knocked on the door, the prepared blessings already on her lips. As for the task of eliminating the "mastermind"—she could leave that entirely to General Ji.
After the knock, light footsteps sounded from inside. They sounded so real that Mu Anqi felt a bit dazed: Since when do ghosts make footsteps? An illusion?
The next moment, the door opened. A woman with a low ponytail, wearing comfortable home clothes, opened the door. She seemed somewhat surprised to see two people standing outside, then noticed the Red Umbrella in Ji Huaichu's hand, showing a hint of confusion: "Is that… my lost umbrella?"
"Huh?"
"May I ask… what brings you here?"
'Is this the acting prowess of a Black Mirror Vortex ghost?' Mu Anqi was stunned by the question. This female ghost showed not the slightest hint of aggression, which was really— "You… do you recognize this umbrella? If you know about it, then you must also know the anomalous story behind it, right?"
"Ah, of course I know." The woman smiled. "After all, I'm the one who writes those anomalous tales."
"You're already dead," Ji Huaichu looked at the woman and suddenly said.
"Me?" The woman laughed and shook her head. "How could that be? I'm living quite well. If you're here to promote some cult, then I'm afraid I cannot entertain you. I'm very happy. My dream is to write all sorts of terrifying anomalous tales, so that everyone hears of them and fears my stories."
"Even if I died… isn't such a life after death wonderful?" The woman smiled gently and harmlessly, stating this as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going back inside now. I've been bursting with inspiration lately and am currently writing a story about a ghost general roaming the modern city."
The Ghost General herself: "…"
"Well then, we won't disturb you any further. Before we part, I'd like to offer you a few blessings," Mu Anqi said with a smile. "I wish you a continuous flow of ideas and a masterful pen!~"
Before the woman could even utter a "thank you," her body completely left her control. The instant she was restrained, Ji Huaichu, her face dark, unceremoniously drew her long blade and swung it down. The burst of murderous aura in that moment made the Red Umbrella, which was only marginally affected, tremble from tip to handle, utterly incapable of any other emotion.