A bizarre and terrifying experience; I messed up the dungeon world.

"Oh." Han Yingying remembered that Zhou Lang had said that if she encountered trouble back in the real world, she could contact him.

"Tell me about the mirror in your house." Zhou Lang turned to look at her. "When did you discover it?"

"Just now," Han Yingying recounted what happened, "I saw your post on the forum saying you were going to check the mirror, and when I looked, I saw myself smiling in the mirror, but I wasn't smiling at all. Then I smashed the mirror, and a hand reached out from inside..."

"You smashed it?" Zhou Lang raised an eyebrow. "Pretty quick reaction."

"What else can we do but wait for it to crawl out?"

Zhou Lang smiled but didn't say anything.

The car drove for about half an hour and stopped in front of an old residential building. Zhou Lang paid the fare and led Han Yingying upstairs.

"Is this your home?" Han Yingying asked.

"This is a temporary place to stay." Zhou Lang took out his keys and opened the door. "Come in."

The room wasn't big, just one bedroom and one living room, with simple furniture, but it was very clean. Han Yingying looked around and noticed that there were many sticky notes on the walls, covered with writing.

"These are..."

"Instance information." Zhou Lang poured her a glass of water. "Every time I come back from an instance, I record my experience to prevent it from being 'completed'."

Han Yingying took the water glass and walked to the wall to carefully examine the sticky notes.

"Horror Manor, Rule: Do not leave your room at night."

"Cable Car Copy, Rule: Don't believe anything anyone says."

"Hospital copy, rules:..."

She saw the last sticky note, which read: "The real world is being eroded. Beware of mirrors, water, glass, and anything that can create reflections."

"So you already knew?" Han Yingying turned to look at him. "Is there something wrong in the real world?"

"It's not that I knew all along, it's that I guessed." Zhou Lang sat down on the sofa. "Do you remember what teammate C said in the cable car dungeon? He said that every time he came back from the dungeon, he would have a 'blank' memory."

"Remember."

"After I came back, I checked and found that not only memories, but even traces of the real world are being altered." Zhou Lang pointed to the sticky notes on the wall. "For example, even if I've never been to a certain place, there will be photos of that place in my phone's photo album. Even if I've never met someone, there will be their contact information in my address book."

Han Yingying felt a chill run down her spine when she thought of the "daily records" on her phone.

"So all of this is fake?"

"It's not fake, it's been 'completed'," Zhou Lang said. "Like NPCs in a game, dialogue and behavior are automatically generated, making the whole world look very real."

"And what about us?" Han Yingying asked. "Were we also 'completed'?"

"No." Zhou Lang looked at her. "We are players, the only ones who retain our true memories."

Han Yingying fell silent.

She thought of Lin Xiaoyu, her stepmother and stepsister, and the passersby on the street. Were they all real? Or merely illusions created by the world to maintain a sense of "normality"?

"Don't overthink it," Zhou Lang said. "At least for now, they're still alive."

"What about the mirror?" Han Yingying asked. "Why did the mirror malfunction?"

"Because mirrors are the conduits connecting two worlds." Zhou Lang stood up and walked to the window. "Have you ever wondered why we always wake up in the middle of the night after returning from a dungeon?"

"Because..." Han Yingying paused for a moment, "because we were pulled into the dungeon while we were sleeping?"

"Yes and no." Zhou Lang turned around. "To be precise, our consciousness was pulled into the instance, while our bodies remained in the real world. But the problem is, when our consciousness returned, our bodies were no longer exactly the same."

Han Yingying shuddered: "You mean...?"

"Something takes over our bodies when we're not around," Zhou Lang said. "And the mirror is the trace it leaves behind."

So, the image of me in the mirror...

"It's not you, it's 'it'." Zhou Lang walked back to the sofa and sat down. "But you were right to smash the mirror; at least it temporarily severed the connection."

Han Yingying sat down next to him, her mind a jumbled mess.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Can I still go home?"

"It's best not to go back," Zhou Lang said. "Since the mirror is already malfunctioning, it means your house is no longer safe."

"Then where will I stay?"

"Here," Zhou Lang pointed to the room, "Anyway, I live alone, it won't matter if you're here too."

Han Yingying looked at him and suddenly laughed: "Aren't you afraid that I'm 'it' in disguise?"

"If you were 'it,' you wouldn't have called me just now," Zhou Lang said. "And 'it' wouldn't smash the mirror, because that would be cutting off its own escape route."

"That makes sense." Han Yingying took a sip of water. "By the way, you said you were going to check for bugs in the dungeon, did you find anything?"

Zhou Lang paused for a moment, then took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"I found this in the cable car copy." He handed the paper to Han Yingying. "Take a look."

Han Yingying took the paper, on which was written: "The purpose of the game is not to kill players, but to filter them."

"Screening?" She looked up at Zhou Lang. "What do you mean?"

"Literal meaning," Zhou Lang said. "This game isn't about killing people, but about finding people who meet certain criteria."

"What are the conditions?"

"I don't know," Zhou Lang shook his head, "but I guess it's related to our performance in the dungeon."

Han Yingying recalled the expression on her teammate C's face when he handed her the reward in the cable car dungeon. At that time, he said that she was different from Zhou Lang, not as selfish as other players.

"So the game is testing our humanity?" she asked.

"Possibly," Zhou Lang said. "It could also be testing something else, like adaptability, survival instinct, or..."

He paused for a moment.

"Or what?"

"Or it's a test to see who's better suited to be 'their' container."

The paper in Han Yingying's hand fell to the ground.

"You mean...?"

"I'm just guessing," Zhou Lang said, picking up the paper. "But if this guess is right, then everything we're doing now is just delaying the time it takes to be 'replaced'."

The room fell silent.

The sound of car horns came from outside the window, and someone was singing in the distance. Life went on, but Han Yingying felt that everything had become unfamiliar.

"Do we still have hope?" she asked.

Zhou Lang looked at her, his eyes calm.

"Yes," he said. "As long as we are alive, there is hope."

Han Yingying smiled, though it was a somewhat forced smile.

"You're really optimistic."

"It's not optimism, it's just that there's nothing I can do." Zhou Lang stood up. "Alright, it's getting late, you should get some rest. You can have the bed, I'll sleep on the sofa."

"No need, I'll sleep on the sofa."

"Don't mention it, I'm used to it." Zhou Lang walked into the bedroom and brought out a quilt. "By the way, if you hear any noise at night, don't come out or open the door."