Chapter 2991: Reflection People
A group of people wandered through the estate for an hour without encountering any other person who might be trapped there, including the Painting Woman and Wang Chengren, who had appeared earlier.
During this process, at least half of the Wang family's fifteen employees saw their own shadows change. Sometimes, when they turned, their shadows didn't turn in time; other times, the shadow in a mirror would suddenly wink at them or even walk toward them.
The estate's atmosphere was already oppressive enough, and the constantly shifting reflections made it impossible for anyone to find peace. More than a dozen employees, like startled birds, grew increasingly dispirited with each fresh scare.
"This can't go on," Xiao Yang said quietly to Xu Huo. "If this continues, they might be dragged away by their shadows at any moment."
The estate was filled with reflective surfaces. Although they had covered many of them with whatever materials they could find along the way, it was impossible to eliminate every potential reflective factor. More importantly, any reflective surface could be a passage to the reflection world, and they couldn't completely cut off those channels.
"Let's find a place to rest for a while," Xu Huo said, looking around. He chose a corridor farther from the water and used cloth and paper to cover the reflective spots on the floor and ceiling, even covering the lights.
"Get some sleep while you can," Xiao Yang said to the Wang family employees. "We might have to leave at a moment's notice."
More than a dozen people huddled together, repeatedly confirming that the players were standing nearby before daring to close their eyes.
"Strange, isn't it?" Sutton said. "We've been here for a while now, and we still haven't found anything wrong with the shadows."
They had seen "Xu Huo" earlier, which meant their shadows already existed in the reflection world. Yet, when facing them, the shadows never changed. Honestly, even if the shadows changed while staying in the reflection world, there wasn't much they could do about it—unless, when the shadows changed, the spaces on both sides became interconnected.
After some discussion, they decided to find an opportunity to test this theory.
They had rested for less than two hours when another person appeared at the corridor corner not far from them, telling them to go to the dining room for a meal.
Just hearing the word "meal" made everyone's face change color. Thanks to Xu Huo's interruption, they hadn't eaten anything from the plates during the second round. But during the first round, after the chef disappeared, they had eaten a little—otherwise, the reflection people wouldn't have let them go. The nausea hadn't even faded yet, and now a third round was starting!
"I don't want to go..." someone whispered, casting a glance at Xu Huo and the others.
"We still have to go," Sutton said. "If we don't follow the reflection people's demands, I'm afraid we'll never get to see our own shadows."
"Has your personal panel opened?" Xu Huo asked Wei Mang and the others.
They all shook their heads.
"Do as they say," Xu Huo said. "Don't overthink it. Just focus on staying alive."
With that, he was the first to head toward the dining room.
The dining room had returned to its pristine state. By the time everyone sat down at the table, Wang Chengren and Ms. Yao appeared again. They had changed clothes, and their faces looked slightly older than before, though still younger than the real Wang Chengren.
Wang Chengren remained as cold as ever, while Ms. Yao continued her sharp-tongued mockery of everyone at the table. But this time, instead of attacking indiscriminately, she singled out a timid female employee.
The female employee, stared down and cursed at, began to tremble, the knife and fork in her hands shaking.
The person next to her quickly grabbed her hand, silently offering support to help her calm down. But this seemed to strike a nerve with Ms. Yao, who slammed her knife and fork onto the table and pointed at the female employee, shouting, "So young and already learning from those cheap sluts outside! Wipe that pathetic crying look off your face—who are you trying to fool with your fake weakness?!"
"And you!" She turned to the employee who had reached out. "Who gave you the nerve to get handsy at the dinner table?!"
As her words fell, two reflection people acting as servants stepped forward to drag the employees away.
"No! Don't kill me! Help!" the grabbed employee screamed in panic.
This time, before the employee could even get up from his seat, Xu Huo had already sealed the area with a space barrier. Just like before, the reflection people passed straight through the barrier into the glass windows or the floor, leaving the employee behind.
"Bam!" "Wang Chengren" at the head of the table suddenly slammed his hand on the table and stood up. Immediately, the lights in the entire dining room began to flicker. As the light pulsed, every reflective surface in the room—the floor, the ceiling—turned into countless abyssal mirrors, each reflecting infinite depths. Suddenly, beams of light shot out from these abysses, striking the tableware and creating new reflections. These new beams passed through the space barrier and landed on the trapped employee!
Realizing something was wrong, Xu Huo immediately activated a time ray to seal the employee. But even though the employee wasn't moving, he was still sucked into the reflection world!
Spiritual power instantly flooded the entire dining room. Door after door opened repeatedly at the spot where the employee had disappeared, but in the end, none of them opened a passage to the shadow world.
The employee vanished into the reflection world. After failing to rescue him, Xu Huo activated "Darkened Heart," covering the entire dining room with black substance to block all reflective surfaces. At the same time, he charged toward the nearby Wang Chengren.
Seeing him move, Sutton, Wei Mang, and the others also went after Ms. Yao and the other reflection employees.
But unexpectedly, these seemingly rigid shadow people carried light sources with them—matches, flashlights, or portable lamps. Whenever light appeared, the players closest to them became their escape routes. Props, accessories, even eyes could serve as channels for their escape!
On the other side, Xu Huo grabbed Wang Chengren. This "person" made of shadows appeared to move and eat normally, but when grasped, it felt like a puff of mist. It dispersed instantly, moving like a cluster of energy, slipping through the spatial blockade in just a few seconds. The next moment, it reformed into "Wang Chengren" at a corner of the dining room.
This sudden attack seemed to truly anger the reflection people. "Wang Chengren" stepped back into a glass window, and in an instant, multiple layers of the same reflection space stacked around the dining room. Countless beams of intense light shot out from them, expanding the room, which had been covered in dark substance, several times over!
The black power of "Darkened Heart" couldn't extend into the other spaces, and being inside made it impossible to completely block out the light. With multiple layers of space appearing, every single person in the dining room—without exception—was pulled into the reflection space.
The same happened to Xu Huo. His feet slipped beneath him, and with a soft "thud," he found himself standing in an empty dining room.