Night of Terrors (1)

"I really hate it… I hate getting my hands dirty. But once in a while, someone like you always acts up. Why do you have to be such a bother? Just obediently follow our rules and you won't get hurt!"

A hulking beast of a teenager held another boy's head under the surface of the water in a sink. The water inside had a rank smell coming from it, which was close to the smell of rotten eggs.

The environment around them was also a mess. The ground was slippery with black water because of the open bathroom windows letting in the thunderstorm outside. The rainwater could be considered a shower for the unmaintained bathroom. The bathroom stalls had rusting hinges, and there was a thick layer of dust everywhere.

"The smell here is always so goddamn disgusting. Still, it's perfect for maggots like you to drink to grow. Hahaha!" The hulking teenager laughed out loudly. He was only 16, but his strength had exceeded an average adult's power. He lifted the other boy's head from the water by yanking his hair up. His name was Wu Ren, and he was also a "fellow student" in Sacred High School.

"Please, Lincoln! I, Wu Ren promise not to… is that what you want me to say?" A look of mocking was on the boy's face. Lincoln did not reply, and only pushed the other boy's head down again. He did it with so much force that the boy's face made contact with the sink, tainting the sink water red.

"Lincoln, how's it going?" The door to the bathroom swung open, and another teenager walked in. He wore an ironed white uniform and had a handsome face, but his devious grin betrayed his true personality.

Dane could only be described by Wu Ren as the worst of the worst. He was the perverted sadist that put his support behind Lincoln, the brains behind maintaining this extortion racket for so long.

"I think I should be done soon, Dane. I reckon that once I hold him under a few more times, his rebellious attitude would be long gone. I must say though, this method is really convenient. I don't need to clean my shirt everytime I beat these freaks up." Lincoln looked down at the faded bloodstains on his school uniform.

"Don't beat them up too much. If they're too injured, it will be too hard for them to work to pay us. Ugh, the smell here is horrible. I'm going first." Dane wrinkled his nose. He could have sworn that this bathroom didn't smell so horrible last time. He closed the door shut and left Lincoln to handle the rest.

"You hear that, Wu Ren? Dane wants me to be lenient. You should be thankful to him." Lincoln pulled Wu Ren's head out of the water. He expected that the boy's face would be in extreme fear by now, but he saw a sudden grin in the mirror. Wu Ren was grinning so wide that he even exposed some of his teeth.

"Who are you laughing at, huh? You will want me to punch you again? Do you really think you can go against us?" Lincoln was incensed. He put Wu Ren's head in the water to let him "reflect" a bit more.

"As the Ghost Door has been opened and this world has been doomed, all sentient beings on this world will now be deemed as participants in the Immutable Sequence."

"Huh? What the hell was that? Where did that weird voice come from?" Lincoln was 1000% sure that no one would come to this place besides him and Dane. There was no point in offending both of them, since they had even involved the teachers in this extortion racket.

"That voice was scary as hell, but what crazy stuff was he talking about? It's probably just the bad vibes from this place messing with my head." It was better to get out of here as soon as possible. Lifting Wu Ren's head, Lincoln left his body sprawled on the ground. He decided to scram from the bathroom to join Dane.

"I have no time to mess with a loser like you. Go away before I punch you again." Wu Ren took a deep breath the moment that he was free from Lincoln's clutches. He had closed his eyes as hard as possible to not let the rotten water in, but some of it still had seeped in. He wiped his eyes and his nose, taking extra care not to touch his damaged nose.

Now that he had wiped his eyes, Wu Ren finally opened them. He could hear the sound of raindrops falling and lightning striking across the sky. The bathroom lights only provided a faint illumination and was flickering non-stop.

"Why did he say that I was laughing? Do I look like I could laugh in the situation? I bet he just wanted another opportunity to torment me." Wu Ren's eyes were filled with indignation as he held onto a sink to help him get back on his feet.

Tutorial Mission: Living Truth

Description: Those who keep their eyes and ears closed to the truths of this world are the lambs that will be sacrificed for the moves of the schemers. Even the innocent will be pulled into the whirlpool of fate and be devoured whole…

Objective: Become the last survivor of this Abyss of Ghosts!

Reward: ??????

"Eh?" Something weird had somehow blinked into existence in front of him. It was a black text box with white letters written on it. As soon as Wu Ren had comprehended the contents, it disappeared from view. He was stunned into silence by the sudden appearance of this text box.

"Sci-fi technology? Along with that voice just now… what the hell is going on?" Even though Wu Ren read a lot of novels for escapism, he was utterly confounded when he was thrown into such an absurd situation.

"Sssssss…" Now that the text box was gone, Wu Ren could see what was in front of him again. He was standing in front of the mirror that was next to the sink he was suffocated in just now. His eyes widened as he saw what was happening in the mirror.

Lincoln's face was squashed against the mirror in the reflection, while blueish dark hands gripped his shoulders so tightly that blood was leaking out. A strong expression of fear was fixed onto his face.

Next to him was a boy who looked like Wu Ren. His face was completely symmetrical, giving others a sense of harmony. There were no imperfections to be found on his skin either. A huge grin was on his face, fully exposing his perfect teeth.

His appearance when compared with Wu Ren was like heaven and earth. He could be described as the "perfect Wu Ren". However, the most crucial difference between him and Wu Ren was that there were no eyes in his eye sockets!

"Who is that? THAT'S NOT ME!" Wu Ren could not help but scream out loud. His whole body froze up in fear. Why was Lincoln inside the mirror when he was not being reflected? Why was his reflection so weird? When he turned his head to look at the surrounding mirrors, all of them were reflecting the same image. He unconsciously backed up against a toilet stall's door.

"Abyss of Ghosts… does this have anything to do with that black technology? And that voice just now…" This thought flashed through Wu Ren's head. There was no way that this was a coincidence. If what the text box said was correct, then what he was dealing with here would be the supernatural!"

The ghost that had Wu Ren's appearance had been slowly expanding its grin the whole time. When Will Ren stared directly at it, it smashed its head into the mirror. A distinct "Crack!" sound was heard as all the mirrors in the bathroom shattered.

"Arghhh!" Shards of glass flew at Wu Ren, cutting him in various places. He had instinctively raised his hands to shield his face from the glass shards, so it was where most of the glass shards embedded themselves.

The face… if you could even call it a face, was shattered into tiny pieces, but it still held together. Through the cracks, Wu Ren could see something squirming behind the face. Some translucent liquid leaked out from the cracks.

The face was cracked, but the mouth had grown to inhuman sizes. Wu Ren could not help but shiver involuntarily when he saw what was inside the ghost's mouth. The perfect teeth from before were actually wriggling maggots! The maggots grew long tendrils, piercing into Lincoln's neck. Lincoln tried to reach for his throat with a look of pain, but his head jerked upwards immediately. The light in his eyes had been extinguished by the mysterious tendrils.

The tendrils let go of Lincoln's neck, leaving two dark holes. A black, bubbling liquid covered the wound instantly. Wu Ren only watched as Lincoln's pink body slowly turned grey, and his eyes began to turn black.

His white shirt started to turn red, while mysterious words ran across his skin. The look of pain in his face had been frozen, but there were worm-like things moving under his skin, shifting his face and changing his facial expression into a grin.

"What's happening? Why is Lincoln in that damn mirror?" This completely defied all common sense. If his assumptions were right, that Lincoln had somehow been dragged into the mirror, and was now turning into a ghost, then…

Wu Ren's self preservation instincts kicked in. He didn't feel any pity for Lincoln, after all, he was the devil that made his life a living hell.

"The only thing I need to do now is to escape and get the hell away as soon as possible! I'm going to get killed by Lincoln or that weird thing in the mirror if I don't run now!" An extra boost of adrenaline was added to Wu Ren's bloodstream as he headed right for the bathroom door.

[G-grade Side Quest: Mirror Ghost

Description: Inside every mirror hides a different you. If there is no you in the mirror, then perhaps you are hiding inside the mirror now…

Objective: Find your own soul and shatter the mirror that contains it before it is consumed by the Mirror Ghost!

Reward: Vanity Mirror]

A black and white seal appeared on the door of the bathroom, reflecting the force Wu Ren was charging with back onto him, pushing him back to the ground.

"Let me out! Let me out! I don't want to be in here!" Wu Ren screamed with all his might, but only silence accompanied him.

[Are you certain in your desire to fail this mission? A penalty of 1000 Secrets will be imposed upon failure. (Current amount of secrets collected: 1)

(Warning! Participants who do not have adequate secrets to pay the penalty will be auctioned off as slaves!)]

"Slavery? This rigged shitty RPG wants me to become a slave again? I refuse!" Wu Ren steeled his resolve the moment he saw the words on the system prompt. This so-called Immutable Sequence clearly wanted him as a slave, that's why he was forced into this mission! The arteries on his neck flexed repeatedly as he was filled with anger.

Even an idiot could tell that for such a transcendent power that could release real ghosts, their definition of slavery would be different from this world, where you had a chance to escape. If he was brave enough to stand up to Lincoln and Dane, then why would he submit to this stupid system?

"If you want me to become a slave, then I won't do it! I will beat this mission so hard that this damn ghost will become my slave!"