Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 44 Imprisoned in the Mirror
The head nurse's question was like an invisible net that instantly enveloped Bai Yu.

Bai Yu's brain was functioning with immense difficulty under the numbing effects of the drugs and the intense emotional turmoil. Every reaction he made at this moment would be "observed" simultaneously by two worlds.

"This is getting more and more interesting." Hei Yan's voice rang out leisurely in the deepest part of his consciousness, with a hint of pleasure in watching the climax of the drama. "There are hungry wolves inside and fledglings outside. My dear Little White Whisper, how will you perform so that you can fool the onlookers outside the cage and deceive this emotionless sheepdog in front of you?"

Bai Yu slowly raised his head, his eyes meeting the head nurse's scrutinizing gaze. He didn't answer immediately, but instead subtly amplified the feeling he had just experienced from Lu Yueqi's touch and the resulting inner turmoil, pouring it all into his performance.

His eyes were no longer vacant; instead, they instantly shifted to one of extreme panic and unease. His body trembled slightly uncontrollably, and his lips turned deathly pale with tension.

"I...I..." He spoke like a frightened child, his voice hoarse and filled with fear, "I don't know...just now...just now it felt like...something touched me..."

As he spoke, he glanced around in terror, as if the unseen hand might reappear at any moment. He instinctively hugged himself tightly, curling into a ball—a defensive posture born of extreme insecurity.

"...So cold...like ice...is it...is it back again? That shadow that always chases me in my dreams...has it found me?"

His words were incoherent and illogical, perfectly illustrating the true reaction of a mental patient under the influence of hallucinations.

He successfully twisted the concept of Lu Yueqi's spiritual touch, which carried the power of "deep cold," and turned it into a fabricated "shadow" in his own "illness."

This performance not only demonstrated his "instability" to the head nurse, thus explaining his abnormal reaction earlier, but also conveyed a message to Lu Yueqi outside the door using the words "so cold" and "shadow"—"I received the signal, but I am being monitored. Hide immediately and do not make any rash moves!"

The head nurse stared intently at Bai Yu with her cold eyes, as if scanning every inch of his micro-expressions and physiological reactions in some unseen way.

A few seconds later, the doubt in her eyes seemed to fade a little, replaced by annoyance.

“It’s that non-existent ‘shadow’ again.” She said in the flat tone of a medical record. “Number Seven, your delusion is getting worse. It seems that ordinary medication can no longer suppress your excessive ‘fantasies’.”

She turned around and said, "Someone, take patient number seven to the 'meditation room.' He needs to calm down."

Meditation Room!

These three words made Bai Yu's heart sink. He knew from the man's reaction that it was definitely not a good place.

Meanwhile, Lu Yueqi, who was watching all of this from outside the door, felt her heart almost leap out of her throat.

She covered her mouth tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms. It was her recklessness that had put Bai Yu in such a dangerous situation! Intense self-blame and fear gnawed at her heart like two venomous snakes.

Soon, two tall, strong male caregivers walked in through another door of the activity room. Like two emotionless robots, they grabbed Bai Yu's arms, one on each side, and tried to drag him away.

Bai Yu did not resist. In his current state of being paralyzed by drugs, any resistance would be meaningless and would only expose his abnormality.

He had no choice but to comply. At the same time, he also needed to see for himself what kind of place the "meditation room" that all the patients feared was.

Just as he was about to be dragged out of the activity room, he turned his gaze to the young man who resembled Ruan Bo, who was still huddled in the corner.

The young man seemed to sense his gaze, and his head, which was buried deep in his arms, moved almost imperceptibly.

Bai Yu was dragged out of the activity room and led down an even colder and darker corridor. The walls here were no longer pure white, but had an unsettling grayish-brown color, with large patches of mold in the corners, like dried bloodstains.

Finally, they stopped in front of a door made of heavy steel. There were no markings on the door, only a small, closed observation window.

One of the caregivers took out a set of keys and unlocked the door.

"Squeak-"

The heavy iron door was pulled open, and a stench mixed with dampness, rust, and a strong medicinal smell rushed out.

Behind the door was a darkness that could swallow up all light.

"Go in."

The caregiver roughly shoved Bai Yu forward, and he stumbled and fell into the darkness.

"boom!"

The iron gate behind him slammed shut, the sound of the lock turning echoing repeatedly, completely severing his connection with the outside world.

Baiyu was plunged into absolute darkness and silence.

He slowly sat down against the cold wall, trying to regulate his breathing to fight the increasingly intense dizziness caused by the drug.

"Heh... truly the highest level of 'VIP' treatment." Hei Yan's voice carried a hint of schadenfreude. "It seems our 'gardener' prefers the simplest and most direct way to prune unruly 'potted plants.' So, dear Xiao Baiyu, how do you feel in this 'nothingness' tailor-made for you? Don't you find a bit of the warmth of home?"

Bai Yu wasn't in the mood for jokes; he focused all his willpower on fighting the chemical force invading his body.

He sank his consciousness into the deepest void of his soul. Drugs could numb his body, but they could not truly corrupt this primordial source that did not belong to any dimension.

After an unknown amount of time, once the intense dizziness subsided slightly, he began to explore the cage.

The room was small, only about five or six square meters. The four walls appeared to be covered with a thick layer of soft padding, which felt supple to the touch; this was likely to prevent the patient from self-harming. The room was devoid of any furnishings or light source.

This is a "box" where all senses are completely stripped away.

Spending a long time in such an environment would drive a normal person crazy, let alone those patients who are already mentally fragile.

Bai Yu was groping around on the floor when suddenly his fingertips touched some uneven marks.

It's an engraving.

Someone else had been locked up here before him. And that person had left a message on the floor with their fingernails or something else.

Bai Yu's heart skipped a beat. He immediately bent down and used his fingertips to "read" the marks stroke by stroke, tracing their paths.

The writing was haphazard and chaotic, filled with despair and madness.

"...Liars...They're all liars...This isn't a hospital...it's a laboratory..."

"...He stole my memories...filling my mind with the pain of others...I'm not myself anymore..." "...The painting...don't look at that painting...those are his eyes...he's watching us all..."

“…The tower…I saw it…a tower built with our souls and bones…”

It's Ruan Bo!
These were Ruan Bo's last warnings before he was completely assimilated! He had also been imprisoned here!

Bai Yu continued to fumble around, and next to the chaotic handwriting, he found a familiar, complex symbol.

It is that spiritual coordinate that points to the "Tower of Ten Thousand Heads"!

Next to that symbol was a line of text so small it was almost illegible.

"...The mirror...is the only...way out..."

Mirror!

A flash of insight seemed to strike Bai Yu, and he understood Ruan Bo's meaning.

This "surface world," constructed from memories, is so pristine, like the surface of a mirror. But every mirror has a back. That dilapidated "inner world" is the back of this mirror! And what connects these two worlds must also be... a mirror!
He must find a way to leave this place and find a mirror!
Just then, he suddenly felt a faint resonance coming from the mark on the back of his hand that belonged to the "Tower of Ten Thousand Heads".

The resonance came from the other side of the wall.

It's Lu Yueqi! She's nearby!

Meanwhile, in the dilapidated corridor of the "inner world," Lu Yueqi was anxiously pressed against the cold wall, trying to use her abilities to sense Bai Yu's presence.

After Bai Yu was dragged away, the familiar fluctuations of "deep cold" power also disappeared, leaving her completely without a target.

She could only wander aimlessly through this enormous maze like a headless fly.

Suddenly, a burning sensation came from the mark on the back of her hand that shared the same origin as Bai Yu.

She stopped abruptly, staring incredulously at the moldy wall beside her.

Baiyu... is right behind this wall!
She immediately leaned closer and pressed her ear tightly against the wall.

The walls were very thick, and she couldn't hear anything. But she could clearly sense that Bai Yu's spiritual power was just inches away.

What should she do? How can she get through this wall?
Lu Yueqi looked around anxiously, searching for a possible breakthrough. Suddenly, her gaze was drawn to a room at the end of the corridor.

It was a public restroom. Half of the door was rotten, and the inside could be clearly seen from the outside.

Above a row of sinks hangs a huge mirror on the wall. The mirror has lost its former luster, its surface covered with cracks and black mold, like a face torn apart by time.

Mirror!

A bold idea popped into Lu Yueqi's mind.

She recalled the descriptions of certain peculiar nightmares she had seen in the Bureau of Investigation's files.

In some distorted spaces, a "mirror" is no longer a simple reflection tool, but a "door" connecting different dimensions or spaces.

Without any hesitation, she rushed into the bathroom.

She stood in front of the huge, broken mirror and looked at her own face, which appeared somewhat pale from nervousness.

She took a deep breath, gathered all her mental energy, and then slowly reached out to touch the cold mirror.

On the other side of the wall, in that dark cage known as the "Meditation Room".

As if telepathically connected, Bai Yu walked to the wall where he had sensed the resonance. He reached out and gently placed his palm on the cushioned wall.

The moment their palms touched the "wall" at the same time.

hum-

A strange resonance occurred.

The image on the mirror in front of Lu Yueqi began to ripple violently like water. The mirror no longer reflected her own image, but instead slowly revealed a bottomless darkness.

In the center of that darkness, the outline of a familiar figure was gradually becoming clearer.

Before Bai Yu's eyes, the cold, hard wall began to become transparent. On the other side of the wall was no longer another ward, but a dilapidated washroom.

A girl with a high ponytail, wearing combat uniform, her face filled with anxiety and determination, is standing in front of a huge broken mirror, staring at herself in disbelief.

They finally "saw" each other.

Separated by a "wall" constructed of memories and rules.

Looking at the familiar figure in the mirror, Bai Yu's surging emotions finally turned into a helpless yet warm sigh.

He opened his mouth and silently mouthed two words to her.

"Fool."

Lu Yueqi understood.

Her eyes instantly welled up with tears, but she stubbornly raised the corners of her mouth and mouthed the same response:

"You idiot, I'm here to save you."

(End of this chapter)