Mu Anqi noticed the bun shop owner's facial expression twitching—clearly, he was also thrown off by her series of actions. But as a creature of folklore, he truly lived up to the title. Even after Mu Anqi said such things, the owner quickly composed himself, forced a smile, and attended to them. "Of course, it's just that your request is a bit intricate. If you don't mind, please come inside and wait."
This guy is something else. Mu Anqi raised an eyebrow slightly. Seeing that there were several dining tables set up inside the bun shop, she slowly walked in, showing just the right amount of disdain. The bun shop owner's mouth twitched, but before she could say anything, he once again put on a smile, wiped the tables and chairs with a clean cloth, went to the back to wash his hands, and brought out two cups of warm water. "Please wait a moment, I'll start preparing right away."
"Is it just warm water? I noticed you also sell freshly ground soy milk here. Can I watch you grind some fresh?"
Shop owner: "…Ce-Certainly! Please wait a moment."
He placed the warm water on the table. Seeing that Mu Anqi and her companion absolutely refused to drink it, he gritted his teeth and went to the kitchen to fetch a handful of soaked soybeans. He then put them into the soy milk machine right in front of Mu Anqi—just to avoid any suspicion from this customer that he might use powdered mix, which would again give her an excuse not to drink it.
However, when he placed the two cups of specially prepared soy milk on the table, Mu Anqi merely took a whiff and smiled, claiming she was on a diet and that smelling it was enough.
"Damn it! Don't you f*cking know when to quit!" The bun shop owner finally lost his temper. He snatched up a cleaver from the cutting board, clearly done with the charade and ready to take direct action.
At this critical moment, the first thought that popped into Mu Anqi's mind was, What a pity that the Black Mirror Vortex doesn't reward emotional value from ghosts. In the next instant, she spoke with extreme politeness and a soft voice, "Wishing you a prosperous business."
Meanwhile, Ji Huaichu politely drew her long blade. Without so much as a greeting, she cleanly severed the shop owner's head with a single strike.
What splattered out wasn't blood, but swirling Yin energy. The shop owner's head wore an expression of sheer terror, clearly still unable to comprehend what had just happened. But Ji Huaichu gave him no chance to understand. The floor of the bun shop was engulfed in black mist, and dozens of ghostly shadows emerged from it, tearing at the shop owner's body and dragging him into the darkness.
"No, no! It's a misunderstanding… I just wanted to show you this cleaver! I was going to ask if you'd be satisfied with the mince made using this blade!" Realizing the dire situation, the shop owner's head began frantically apologizing. He unleashed a surge of Yin energy, trying to break free from the ghostly shadows and escape. But while he could shake off one or two, he was no match for the relentless onslaught as more and more shadows piled on.
Mu Anqi paid no attention to his ghostly nonsense. While General Ji commanded the shadows to annihilate him, Mu Anqi once again interrogated the red umbrella from her storage ring: "What other folktales are nearby? Tell me everything you know. Don't waste my time."
Worried that the red umbrella might not cooperate, she specifically took it out of the storage ring, forcing it to witness the shop owner's gruesome fate and listen to his desperate, piercing screams.
The red umbrella trembled in sheer terror, finally understanding its own value in that moment. It was utterly convinced that if it couldn't provide useful information, these two killing gods would undoubtedly dispose of it without a second thought. It began earnestly racking its brain for nearby folktales. Just then, the shop owner roared in fury, "It's you! You brought them here! Damn it, I should've torn you to pieces, you worthless trash!"
Perhaps driven by extreme rage, the shop owner mustered all his remaining strength in his final moments, clawing his way toward Mu Anqi in a last-ditch effort to retaliate. But Ji Huaichu didn't give him the chance. Her long blade swiftly severed the arm he stretched forward, and in the next instant, the ghostly shadows dragged what remained of him completely into the black mist.
—The ghostly shadows returned to the mist, and the black mist dissipated along with them.
With an expressionless face, Ji Huaichu turned her gaze to the red umbrella in Mu Anqi's hand. The umbrella trembled even more violently. Just as Ji Huaichu flicked her wrist, causing the long blade to vanish, the red umbrella—perhaps thinking Ji Huaichu was about to strike—screamed in a panic, "I remember now! I remember!"
"The public toilet! The one at the far end of the commercial street! If anyone uses it after 8 p.m. and doesn't have toilet paper, a voice will ask from outside, 'Do you need red paper or blue paper?' Answering either will get you killed!"
"Ah, this tale sounds familiar." Mu Anqi felt like she had come across this particular folktale in stories before her current life—it must be a fairly well-known one. "Think again about any folktales we can trigger right now. Don't bother with random ones like that. And there's no need to mention classics like the Slit-Mouthed Woman or Kiyosato Station either."
The red umbrella fell silent again. After a long pause, it whispered, "I'm just an umbrella, after all. I can't remember that many things. Could you… give me a bit more time?"
Mu Anqi let it off for the moment and stored the umbrella back in her ring. Since the red umbrella couldn't recall any other nearby folktales, and the public toilet one would only activate at night… they might as well head "home" and check it out during the time before nightfall. In horror stories like these, surprises could be lurking under the bed, in the ceiling, or inside the wardrobe. Ah, that's right—large posters put up at home might also trigger supernatural events.
Just then, a prompt from the Nirvana Space arrived:
[Unable to obtain more folktale information from the red umbrella, you decide to:]
[A. Destroy the red umbrella.]
[B. Return home first to investigate.]
[C. Wander around the vicinity and wait until nightfall to trigger the public toilet folktale.]
Mu Anqi directly chose B, activating the navigation home.
One advantage of clearing Black Mirror Vortexes with Ji Huaichu was the savings on props—after all, offering blessings didn't cost anything, whereas Mu Anqi's tools were all purchased with points. Of course, progressing through Black Mirror Vortexes always lacked a certain… thrill. It wasn't as entertaining as playing games alongside the silly players. After all, in the games of the Shattered Mirror Continent, you could mess with both players and ghost NPCs.
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The "home" set in the background was located far from the city center. Mu Anqi and her companion had been walking for about half an hour and still hadn't arrived. The navigation only showed the route on the ground and couldn't tell Mu Anqi how much longer it would take.
The further they followed the navigation, the fewer people they encountered. As they passed through a park, they saw only a man holding a black umbrella sitting on a bench nearby. As they walked past him, Mu Anqi couldn't resist taking a few extra glances and ended up meeting his gaze. The man's face was initially expressionless, but the moment their eyes locked, he slowly raised the brim of his umbrella, revealing a wide, crazed smile.
By the time they left the park, Mu Anqi sensed something off and glanced back. She discovered that the man with the umbrella was now standing under a street lamp, staring directly at them, his maniacal smile growing even wider.
Though his laughter was silent and the man made no additional movements when Mu Anqi looked back, he exuded an inexplicable sense of pressure and dread. Especially when they took a smaller path—every time they looked back, the umbrella-wielding man was there, standing by the roadside, staring and smiling at them. And the distance between them was steadily shrinking—
"Seems our luck is holding," Mu Anqi thought with an inward smile. Her hand was gently squeezed by Ji Huaichu, and in the next moment, she heard the general's slightly displeased complaint: "Stop looking back at others."
"He won't lose us," Ji Huaichu said. "And even if he does, I can find him." As they walked, a few faint tendrils of black mist drifted through the air, lightly attaching themselves to the umbrella-wielding man.
"I'm just curious. Since he's holding a black umbrella, could he be an old acquaintance of the red umbrella?"
The red umbrella hurriedly denied any connection: "No! I don't know him at all! I've never been around here before; I don't know the local folktales!"
The man kept following them. Every time they looked back, he wore the same standard maniacal smile and stood perfectly straight, the black umbrella held steadily above him. This repeated glancing back made Mu Anqi feel as if she were playing a game of "Red Light, Green Light" with this supernatural entity.
A dark, narrow alley appeared ahead, and the navigation indicated they should enter it. Mu Anqi perked up and whispered, "This should be about the right spot."
"Okay," Ji Huaichu responded, stopping at the alley's entrance. Mu Anqi didn't turn around immediately but quietly listened for any movement behind her. The umbrella-wielding man made no sound as he walked, but she estimated the time it would take for him to approach. After about two or three seconds, she softly uttered a blessing: "May you rest high and peacefully, and swiftly ascend to paradise."
In an instant, a cold gleam flashed. Ji Huaichu reversed her grip on the sword and thrust it directly into the umbrella-wielding man's chest. With an upward slice, she cleanly cut him open and also severed his black umbrella. The man's frenzied smile froze on his face. His hand still clutched the umbrella handle, but his upright body involuntarily bent forward as if bowing to Ji Huaichu.
There was no need to waste more time. Ji Huaichu unleashed her power, and countless ghostly shadows emerged from the black mist, dragging both the man and his black umbrella into the darkness, devouring them completely.
"How much energy do these folktale ghosts provide when consumed?" Mu Anqi asked curiously.
"Just average," Ji Huaichu replied. "They're merely offshoots of the Black Mirror Vortex's main power."
After finishing this "side dessert" that had delivered itself, Mu Anqi and Ji Huaichu safely passed through the alley and began speculating about what other folktales might actively "deliver" themselves next. The red umbrella inside the storage ring remained completely silent throughout, as if utterly terrified or perhaps desperately trying to recall other folktales to bargain for its life?
Finally, they arrived at an old residential building. By now, the sky had darkened, and not a single light was on in any unit. It was as if the entire complex was devoid of living people. The streetlights below cast a dim glow, perhaps due to insufficient power? The arrow pointed toward the stairwell entrance. Standing at the base of the building and looking up, Mu Anqi suddenly noticed a light flick on in one unit. White light spilled through the window, and a dark figure appeared at the windowsill, as if someone was leaning over to look down. Just as quickly, the light went out—so briefly that it felt like a hallucination. But Mu Anqi's mental protection barrier was still intact.
"It seems we live on the fourth floor," Mu Anqi shrugged, resigned. "Let's go. We shouldn't keep our… guest waiting."