I buried the gods in the restricted area.

"One of you is no longer human."

The moment they saw those words, everyone felt a chill run down their spines and up their necks. They looked up and, without prior arrangement, stared at the green mirror in the distance with a missing corner.

Even though they knew it was just information from the video and had nothing to do with their current situation, a strong sense of fear gripped everyone's hearts.

"calm."

After a brief silence, the tall, thin man was the first to regain his composure and said in a deep voice, "The last group of participants didn't even last two hours. We may not be much better than them. If we don't figure out why they disappeared as soon as possible, we may soon follow in their footsteps."

Although they sped up the recording just now, they still wasted a lot of time, and now there is less than an hour left before the previous group of participants were "wiped out".

Jiang Rou glanced at Jiang Mian furtively and saw that he not only didn't show any unusual expression, but was actually thinking about it with great interest. Only then did she feel relieved and mustered up her courage to say, "I think... in order to survive, we must come into contact with those mirrors."

The tall, thin man nodded slightly: "That's what I think too."

Based on the video footage, they managed to glean the following useful information:

First, there are four types of mirrors in Mirror Lake: the most common and most numerous ordinary dressing mirror; the black mirror that can be traded; the green mirror that can be exchanged for important information; and the blue mirror that can be interacted with.

Second, the dressing mirror appears to grow slowly. This was a discovery made by a female participant in the video. However, since everyone's attention was focused on the other three types of mirrors at the time, this has not yet been confirmed.

Third, if you want to trade with the Black Mirror or obtain important information from the Green Mirror, you will need to pay a price. The price is unknown, but it may be related to the disappearance of the previous batch of participants.

Fourth, interacting with the blue mirror means playing a game with the reflection in the mirror. Winning the game will earn you a reward, and even if you lose, you will receive a participation reward. The reward is unknown, but it seems to be a "price" to interact with the black and green mirrors.

Fifth, there is only one black mirror, which cannot be moved. The green mirror requires some effort to find. The blue mirror occasionally rises from the lake, each time lasting for five minutes. If you want to interact with it, you must act quickly.

Clearly, whether it's trading or acquiring information, one cannot bypass the blue mirror. In other words, being forced to play games with the mirror image is perhaps one of the most basic and cruel rules of Mirror Lake.

Realizing this, everyone felt a little heavy-hearted. If they had a choice, they would rather fight the monsters in the forbidden zone with real weapons than touch this eerie game.

But it was too late for regrets now. A short-haired woman analyzed, "Since there's a participation prize even if you lose the game, it means there won't be an instant death penalty. This might be our chance."

"The absence of a death penalty doesn't mean there won't be other penalties." Some are not optimistic, saying, "Maybe the previous batch of participants disappeared because they failed too many times."

"We all know exactly where we are; risks are inevitable."

The tall, thin man spoke up, "But I believe that even the most severe punishment is less costly than directly interacting with the black and green mirrors."

The man fell silent, which was taken as an admission of this conjecture.

To survive in a restricted area, it's impossible not to take risks; the only question is the level of risk.

"So now the goal is very clear."

Seeing that the discussion was almost over, the bald man stepped forward again to summarize, "Once the blue mirror appears, interact with it immediately. After receiving the reward, exchange it with the green mirror for information that will allow everyone to get through the next six hours safely."

Jiang Rou hesitated for a moment, then said uneasily, "All the intelligence we have so far comes from the previous group of participants. Since they knew this information, they should have adopted the same strategy, but in the end, everyone disappeared... The photographer even exchanged some meaningless information from the green mirror before he died... Don't you find that strange?"

"I don't think that statement was meaningless."

Just then, Jiang Mian suddenly spoke, drawing everyone's attention.

"One of you is no longer human."

He first repeated the words on the green mirror, then said in a confident tone, "Knowing that he could not survive, the only thing the photographer wanted to do at that time was obviously to leave this clue for the next group of participants—that is, us."

His logic was simple: the video footage was clearly a clue provided by the haunted house for the players, and as we all know, clues are often hidden in seemingly useless information.

As the last survivor, the photographer had no need to care whether anything else had infiltrated the group, yet he still left this message before his death. Aside from scaring people, the only possible purpose was to warn those who came after him.

"you mean……"

The short-haired woman's expression hardened, and her gaze slowly swept over everyone present. "Is there really something that isn't human among us?"

The others also looked grim, their eyes filled with wariness as they looked at each other.

Upon closer examination, this is not impossible. The reason why the previous group of participants ended up being wiped out may have been due to the deliberate guidance of that non-human entity. The photographer only realized this at the very end, which is why he wanted to pass this information on to the later participants.

Jiang Rou's face also turned slightly pale, and there was a hint of strangeness in her eyes as she looked at Jiang Mian.

"Everyone's immersion is just too strong..." Jiang Mian thought to herself, and said seriously, "I can't guarantee whether something has slipped in, but I think the message the photographer left behind before he died must be useful."

Although he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run. Planting an NPC as an undercover agent among the players is a common tactic in haunted houses.

"At this time, we shouldn't say things that are detrimental to unity."

The tall, thin man pondered for a moment, "In any case, let's prepare to interact with the blue mirror first. We don't have much time, so we must not miss any opportunity."

"So here's the question..."

The short-haired woman's gaze swept across everyone's faces again, and she said expressionlessly, "Who's going to play the game with the blue mirror?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the air froze.

Yeah, who's going?

Even a fool could tell that playing games with a blue mirror is a dangerous thing. Even if you don't die in the game, it will definitely come with a lot of risks.

Moreover, even if they were to win by sheer luck, the reward would certainly be used to exchange for intelligence rather than for personal gain. Who would be willing to do something so thankless?

The crowd looked at each other, and for a moment no one spoke. Even the bald man who had been trying to project a leadership image earlier lowered his eyes and remained silent.

"Or, how about we smoke..."

"I'll go."

Before he could finish speaking, a hand was raised high; it was Jiang Mian.

"Mr. Jiang Mian?"

Jiang Rou was startled and hurriedly grabbed his sleeve, trying to pull down his raised right hand, but the bald man immediately replied, "Alright, then you go."

Jiang Rou instinctively glared at him, but when she met his face full of fat, she timidly looked away and whispered, "Mr. Jiang Mian, you can't go, it's too dangerous..."

Before Jiang Mian could answer, the bald man sneered, "He already agreed, what are you saying? What, you want to stand up for him?"

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on her, Jiang Rou quickly lowered her head, but her hand was still gripping Jiang Mian's sleeve, refusing to let go.

Just then, Jiang Mian suddenly turned her head and looked at the bald man with a strange expression: "I only want to go because I'm interested in the Blue Mirror game. If I suddenly lose interest, can you go in my place?"

The bald man was stunned, and his face instantly turned ashen.

Jiang Mian ignored him and looked down to see Jiang Rou still looking worried. She couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. She lowered her voice and said, "Really, how come you're getting into the role too? Don't worry, it's just a game. Even if you lose, it's not like you'll lose a piece of flesh. I'm just curious how this haunted house will make the mirror image play the game with me. I'll try it and come back."

In his simple worldview, the cruelest consequence of failing a game in a haunted house is simply being eliminated. These people are probably just unwilling to take the risk because they can't bear to part with the rewards promised by the production team.

He didn't know what kind of evolution potion it was, or which company's new health product it was; in his opinion, it was not as practical as two hundred yuan.

"But……"

Jiang Rou wanted to say something more, but Jiang Mian had already gently pulled her sleeve out of her hand, smiled casually, and turned to walk towards the lake.

"Don't worry, I've never lost a game in my life."