Shortly after "Bai Liu" disembarked, Bai Liu's body solidified from its translucent, data-virtualized state. He thoughtfully flexed his fingers—he could now touch the surrounding passengers.
Whether this was because two "Bai Lius" could not coexist in the same timeline, or because the impending death of "Bai Liu" on the train had rendered his own existence virtual, was irrelevant now.
The next stop was Antique City. He was still on the train, and in no more than three minutes, the carriage would explode.
"Bai Liu—!" Mu Sicheng's voice rang out from the crowded neighboring car. He fought his way to Bai Liu's side, his face ashen. "There are so many people here—how are we supposed to find the mirror shard? We're almost at the station! The train will explode before we arrive!"
"I tried to get off at the last stop," Mu Sicheng said grimly, "but I couldn't. It was as if something was holding me back, keeping me on the train."
But Bai Liu paid no heed to Mu Sicheng's anxious complaints. Instead, he spoke as if to himself, "This is reality. The real 'you' isn't on this train, so you can't get off. The real 'me' just disembarked, so I can't get off a train I've already left. The causal chain is broken; the game's logic would collapse."
"What reality?" Mu Sicheng demanded, wary. "Bai Liu, this isn't reality—it's the game! Your sanity hasn't dropped, has it? Are you hallucinating? What's all this nonsense about getting off or not?"
"That's not what I mean." Bai Liu tapped Mu Sicheng's shoulder, then pointed to the subway map above the door. "Look at this map. The stop before Antique City is Lujiazui, not the Reservoir. And this line isn't a loop—it's linear. This is the subway map from our real world."
Mu Sicheng followed his gesture and frowned. "But we can't have returned to reality. We're still in the game."
Bai Liu continued, "When I say this is 'reality,' I don't mean we've returned to the real world. This 'reality' is relative to the previous train full of charred corpses. That place wasn't truly the game world—it was a mirror world, endlessly looping."
"But this train," Bai Liu tapped his foot on the floor, his gaze tranquil, "is the true reality relative to the game. Or rather, it's a parallel timeline derived from the actual events. The game's prototype is the 'Mirror City Explosion.' Most games only strive to faithfully recreate the event, but this one possesses a power beyond mere imitation."
"It recreates the scene itself," Bai Liu said, looking at Mu Sicheng. "It brings us back to the moment of the explosion, and from that point, lets us, the players, determine the outcome. The game simulates possible scenarios based on our actions, leading to different consequences."
For example, Bai Liu's first instinct upon boarding was to find himself and Lu Yizhan. In reality, he hadn't fallen asleep on the train that night because it was too cold. But this time, he carried something that warmed the carriage—380 mirror shards, still hot from the explosion, which had automatically entered his inventory upon entering the mirror world.
Bai Liu was virtual, but the mirror was real. His proximity warmed the exhausted "Bai Liu," making him drowsy and causing him to miss his stop with Lu Yizhan, unlike in his memory.
But Mu Sicheng cared little for these details. All he needed to know was that Bai Liu understood they were still in the game. With only three minutes until the explosion, Mu Sicheng was desperate to clear the level, and he seized on the key point in Bai Liu's words.
"An endlessly looping mirror world?" Mu Sicheng pressed, "What do you mean by looping?"
"Don't you think there's a major logical flaw in our previous mirror shard collection task?" Bai Liu said lazily. "We were supposed to collect shards on a train that was about to explode, right?"
Mu Sicheng nodded. "Yes."
"But—" Bai Liu lifted his eyes, a faint, mocking smile on his lips, "—if the train hasn't exploded yet, where did all those explosion-forged shards come from?"
"Unless it's already exploded, there wouldn't be any shards to collect."
Mu Sicheng froze for a second or two before realization dawned. He murmured, "It's a train that explodes over and over… Collecting shards in there is pointless. Once we finish, we're likely trapped forever on that endlessly exploding train. That's why the passengers tried so hard to stop us—damn, they were trying to save us idiots."
"Yes. I noticed before I entered the station—the escalators were running in reverse, the order of passengers boarding and alighting was reversed, even our task was, in a sense, 'reversed.'" Bai Liu explained with crystalline clarity, "Our mission was to collect shards, but the passengers had already gathered them. What we did was scatter them again, stealing from those who had already collected them. In effect, we were playing the villains, and the passengers were right. I suspect this is one of the mirror's properties—'to invert the nature of things.'"
"So I believe the main quest in the mirror world is the opposite of the true main quest in this reality." Bai Liu's gaze was cool and languid, idly flicking the coin at his chest. "Here, the train hasn't exploded, which means the mirror is still whole. The mirror world's quest is to gather and reassemble the mirror, so the reverse must be—"
Mu Sicheng's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "We have to shatter the mirror!"
Bai Liu grinned and snapped his fingers. "Bingo."
[System Notification: Congratulations, Players Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng, for triggering the ultimate main quest—Shatter the Sinful Ghost Mirror and end the endless cycle of the Exploding Last Train.]
[System Notification: The 380 mirror shards in Bai Liu's possession have returned to their original state. Please locate the true mirror and shatter it to clear the level.]
Mu Sicheng exhaled in relief, glancing at Bai Liu with a mixture of awe and exasperation. "You… Even now, your mind never falters, does it?"
Three minutes to detonation, one point of health, and this guy still had the composure to ponder the true quest. Was he not anxious at all?!
"But where's the mirror?" Bai Liu remained unhurried, but Mu Sicheng was growing frantic. "There are six carriages, and only two minutes left. We can't possibly search them all."
"No need." Bai Liu leaned casually against the door, pointing. "I've ridden this train before. Before I got off, I remember the thief brothers were in this carriage, so I came straight here. Sure enough, there they are, standing in the center."
Mu Sicheng followed his gaze and saw, amid the crowd, two shifty-eyed passengers—one large, one small—pushing a massive suitcase, just the right size for a mirror. Beside them stood several men in suits, likely museum staff. Mu Sicheng instantly recognized the thief brothers. He shot Bai Liu a look of disbelief. "You saw them already—why didn't you go over? Why just stand here?"
Bai Liu spread his hands and smiled. "I was waiting for you to steal the mirror, master thief. How could I possibly snatch something from another pair of thieves? That's your specialty."
Mu Sicheng paused, then slowly smirked. "You really do know how to make things easy for yourself."
With that, his expression turned cold and sharp. He adjusted his headphones, pulled his hood low over his eyes, and flicked his right hand back, transforming it into a razor-edged monkey's paw. His figure slipped like a shadow through the crowd.
Bai Liu barely saw him move before the thief brothers shrieked, "The mirror's gone—!! Thief!!!"
The carriage erupted in chaos. Bai Liu felt a hand grab his collar; Mu Sicheng, hooded and grinning, held the suitcase in one hand and Bai Liu in the other, sprinting up the wall of the train as the thief brothers howled in fury, "Catch that thief!!!"
Mu Sicheng flashed a knife with a blank expression and barked, "Out of the way." The crowd scattered in terror, fleeing to other carriages, leaving the two of them an empty car.
"Cool, Mu Sicheng. You're really quite the criminal," Bai Liu said with genuine admiration, surveying the deserted carriage.
Mu Sicheng raised an eyebrow. "Right back at you."
Bai Liu crouched and opened the suitcase. Inside was the mirror, perfectly intact. As he set it upright, the system blared a shrill warning.
[System Warning: The instant the mirror is shattered, the god-level NPC will emerge. All players before the mirror will be subject to indiscriminate attack. Please exercise extreme caution!]
A single blow from a god-level NPC would mean certain death for either of them, given their current health. Mu Sicheng's smile faded. The only sounds in the empty carriage were the rush of wind and the muffled sobs of frightened passengers in the next car.
At that moment, the sweet voice of the train announcer chimed in:
"Now approaching the final station—"