Chapter Forty Five - The Next Stage!

When Tyler held the pieces in his palms, he realized that he had unknowingly assumed that only one piece was missing. In reality, two small parts were lying on his hands, shining so brightly that it nearly blinded his eyes.

At first, he didn't feel anything. But as the mirror pieces that were glowing brightly a minute ago started losing the light, he felt lightheaded. It seemed as if his body was unconsciously sucking the power from the mirror pieces. He closed his eyes as his body was filled with discomfort.

A wave of pain flashed through his limbs, and he felt as if he was breaking apart. After a while, he almost couldn't take it, and the mirrors abruptly fell. Thankfully, Dean was still staring at Tyler with complete focus. So he swiftly caught the pieces and put them back in Tyler's palms.

A while later, Tyler finally felt like his body had absorbed the power he needed, and somehow, he felt energetic. He couldn't tell what had changed. It was just that he didn't feel as tired as before. Even the thoughts of being exhausted from transmigrating from one world to another started fading.

Was it because of the power he sucked? Tyler frowned and looked around. The cave that was initially shrouded with darkness had instead changed into a regular one with a trace of light entering the cave from the entrance.

Ignoring Dean, who was still staring intently at Tyler for God knows how long, the latter walked toward the place where other parts of the mirror were kept. This time, Dean didn't make trouble. Both he and Tyler knew that he had exposed himself thoroughly in the car. So it was no use hiding.

He just sighed and followed.

Soon, Tyler attached the pieces in the empty place.

By this time, even Adam had returned, and he was just about to say that he hadn't found Stanley when he saw Tyler doing something to the mirror. Behind him, Dean leaned toward the cave wall, closing his eyes as if what was happening to the mirror had nothing to do with him.

But the atmosphere between these two people seemed to have become even more awkward...Adam was curious but didn't part his lips. He didn't want to seek death constantly by running his big mouth. So he swallowed the words that were on the top of his tongue.

Just then, the mirror parts attached to each other and transformed, turning into a single surface reflecting Tyler's face.

Just as he was about to jump, Adam stopped him. "I'm confused."

Tyler glanced at the man with glasses and raised his eyebrows.

"It's like I still don't understand why those monsters would stay away from this mirror as if it's a ghost or something. Clearly, they're monsters, and they shouldn't be afraid of something like this." Adam couldn't help but frown.

Tyler thought for a while before parting his lips. "From what I've seen, these monsters seemed to emerge from these mirrors, and only these small pieces could end their lives. Why wouldn't they be afraid?"

"How can you tell?" Adam was surprised hearing that.

When Dean heard his surprised voice, the former snorted. Of course, Tyler knew this. He was well aware of the deduction ability of this person.

"Isn't this pretty simple?" Tyler pointed out the darkness inside the cave. "When your other comrade found a piece of mirror,"—he still didn't want to talk to the male lead directly—"there was a monster guarding the place, but it became frightened as soon as the piece was taken away. And those monsters wouldn't reduce as if they were all reflections of each other.

"And don't forget about the part where they were learning our moves. It was as if they were a part of the broken mirrors, trying to copy the person they see in reality." Tyler could see his explanation made Adam even more confused.

So he thought for a while and said, "In short, they're just like your reflection in the water. No matter how much you jump on your reflection, you can't kill it. It was the same. The only way to kill them in real life was to use these mirrors to see the real monster and kill them."

"But how would we kill those monsters with these mirrors?" Adam was still confused, tilting his head.

"Take a mirror piece and try for yourself," Tyler said coldly when he was finally tired of explaining everything.

"No!" It was better not to know anything at all! Adam wouldn't walk outside a single step!

After that, Tyler instantly jumped inside the mirror, leaving behind ripples on the surface before Adam's queries could give him a headache.

Seeing that Dean was still leaning on the cave without saying a word, the man with glasses carefully walked toward the mirror and timidly took a step inside it.

After everyone was gone, Dean finally opened his eyes and flashed his dark eyes toward the place where Tyler was standing. It seemed he would have to confront that person sooner or later; otherwise, the atmosphere between the two of them would end up turning so bad that Tyler wouldn't even glance at him. Right now, he could tell that Tyler had been angry to the point of ignoring him.

Even thinking about it made Dean's heart sink. But now that he had already made a mistake, he had to find a way to coax that cold guy. But this thing was absolutely not possible in this world because he knew the ending. Tyler would have to die in the end.

Of course, as the male lead, he was supposed to be the one to kill the villain and get everyone out, but Dean was absolutely reluctant to take this step. For him, it was better to spend his time eternally inside the illusion with Tyler by his side than to return to reality without his beloved.

What was the use of going back to the second world and killing buttler?

But the ending wouldn't change even if he would desire to. The higher-ups had already warned him that he couldn't change the arc, and even if he didn't pick up the sword to kill Tyler's character this time, someone else would take his place. 

And if that happens, everything from the previous world would repeat all over again.

Dean would have to stay behind to stabilize this world. And if he would follow the arc, and keep the story intact, then he could leave the world without any regrets.

It was just that he couldn't bear to kill the person he loved. Even thinking about it made his heartache.

Or even if someone else won't kill Tyler, all the humans trapped in the mirror world would end up dying. The butler would be constantly sucking the power, and wouldn't stop until he would kill everyone. So all of them would die anyway.

So at this moment, he had already made his choice. He wouldn't kill Tyler no matter what!

After thinking about this, Dean relaxed his shoulders and jumped inside.

***

Tyler was the first one to get to the third stage, and he paused to wait for the other people who were behind him. But even after waiting for half an hour, no one came. He finally looked around and found himself standing in a tunnel made out of bricks.

The wall had a few fire lamps lighting up the entire area one after another, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

His brows furrowed. This third stage seemed to be heck weird.

Finally, after waiting for a while, he concluded that this third stage had perhaps separated the three of them on purpose. But what would the mirror world get after separating the three of them?

After spending more time wandering in the endless tunnel, Tyler finally couldn't take it and started calling out names. "Dean! Adam!" He screamed and screamed, but no one came.

At this moment, a trace of panic birthed in his heart. Was the male lead alright? He shouldn't have been so angry with that guy for hiding his identity. He could've at least talked to the guy. And now, he even lost the opportunity due to his worthless ego. He couldn't help but curse himself for making wrong decisions at the critical moment.

Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulders that almost made him jump. He swiftly turned around only to find the male lead standing behind with a wooden expression on his face.