Chapter 131 The Pain of Losing My True Name

Chapter 131: The Agony of Losing One's True Name

"What is the real name of that gentleman with the flashlight over there?"

The moment Su Bai posed the question, one Zhang Pan immediately raised his hand, a rather joyful smile on his face.

"Zheng Mingliang!" That Zhang Pan, as if fearing the other him would snatch the answer, blurted out what he knew even before everyone could turn to look.

But soon, Zhang Pan realized something was amiss.

Everyone around him was staring with strange expressions—suspicion, confusion, but mostly astonishment. Even the other Zhang Pan across from him looked surprised.

No, something was wrong. Had he said something he shouldn't have?

Zhang Pan No. 1, standing beside Zhou Qingshou, instinctively glanced at Su Bai, who had asked the question. As if suddenly remembering something, he touched his neck, took two steps back, and chuckled awkwardly. "What's wrong? Why are you all looking at me so strangely?"

"Those three uncles never told us their names. We've only been calling them by their nicknames," Zhou Qingshou also moved a few steps away, deliberately widening the distance between himself and Zhang Pan No. 1. "Throughout the journey, Uncle Flashlight's friends never called him by his name either. How did you know?"

"How could... I..." Zhang Pan No. 1 seemed equally bewildered.

"From what I understand, the entity in the mirror should be able to read the memories of whoever looks into it. That's why the mannerisms and reactions of the two Zhang Pans were identical—because whatever Zhang Pan knows, the entity in the mirror would know as well."

"But in reality, it wasn't just Zhang Pan who looked into the mirror. All of us here did," Su Bai continued recording with Ai Xiaojia's phone, not forgetting the task he'd been entrusted with. "Afterward, there were seven shadowy figures in the mirror. Even though they eventually merged into one, the entity in the mirror had access to more than just Zhang Pan's memories—it also read the memories of Uncle Flashlight and the others."

"That's how you were able to know Uncle Flashlight's name."

"The issue wasn't that you didn't know—it was knowing too much."

"If you'd taken more time to think, I believe you would have realized that the name didn't come from Zhang Pan's memories. But clearly, you were too hasty in answering and blurted out something the real Zhang Pan couldn't possibly have known."

What Su Bai said wasn't particularly hard to grasp, but as the players and students listened, they kept having moments of sudden realization, paying even closer attention than they would in a classroom lecture.

"Anyway, this is just my theory. If I had to say, the Zhang Pan standing over there is the entity from the mirror," Su Bai continued filming with one hand while pointing directly at Zhang Pan No. 1 beside Zhou Qingshou with the other.

Almost the moment Su Bai finished speaking, the "Zhang Pan" standing there quickly distorted into a black humanoid shadow.

"Snap!"

Although the player group hadn't been much help along the way and hadn't encountered any highly aggressive ghosts, they at least remembered the task they had to complete for this game. The instant "Zhang Pan" turned back into a shadow, Mr. Flashlight immediately pressed the shutter of the film camera, capturing the true form of the "Girls' Restroom Mirror," one of the school's urban legends.

The flash from the camera shutter seemed to anger the twisted humanoid shadow. Its arms suddenly elongated, as if it were about to attack Mr. Flashlight, who was holding the camera.

But when the shadow noticed Su Bai standing near Mr. Flashlight, not only did its outstretched arms freeze, but it then scrambled up onto the sink of the old restroom in full view of everyone and disappeared into the dirty mirror.

Although the entity in the mirror wasn't very aggressive and wasn't too bright, upon seeing Su Bai, it probably remembered the feeling of nearly being wiped out by Ghost Bride A Xi.

"What just happened? Did we... beat a school mystery?" Ai Xiaojia stared in disbelief as the mirror ghost made its awkward exit. "And we, the Honghuai Iron Triangle, didn't even do anything?"

"But haven't we had similar situations in games we've played before?" Zhou Qingshou thought for a moment and said, "Using the props and clues provided in the game to uncover the true identity of the ghost hidden in the scene. Once the ghost's true identity is exposed, it gets eliminated or something like that?"

"Makes sense," Ai Xiaojia nodded repeatedly.

"Let's get out of here first. The mirror ghost hasn't completely disappeared yet. We don't know when it might return," urged Mr. Flashlight, who'd just had his name exposed, hastening the laid-back student trio to leave the restroom.

"Okay, Uncle Zheng!"

"Got it, Uncle Zheng Mingliang!"

"Understood, Uncle Zheng Mingliang!"

The student trio obediently filed out of the restroom one by one.

"Don't call me by my name!" Uncle Flashlight gritted his teeth and kicked Zhou Qingshou's butt before leaving the restroom with Su Bai, who was still filming. Mr. Dajian and Mr. Axe took up the rear to guard against any unexpected incidents.

"But it's strange," Ai Xiaojia said thoughtfully after exiting the restroom, turning back to look at Su Bai with some confusion. "Since the entity in the mirror has the memories of all seven of us, how come it couldn't solve that problem? Su Bai, you should know how to solve it, right?"

Su Bai naturally knew how to solve it, but the entity in the mirror couldn't access Su Bai's memories.

Not to mention Su Bai's memories—the entity, not being particularly powerful, had limited access to memories. It was more like it had connected threads to the memory pools of the other six people, allowing it to read them in real time when needed. Once those threads were severed, the connection was lost.

The memory pools of humans are far more terrifying than they themselves imagine.

"Maybe it's because... even after seeing it, it still couldn't solve it?" Su Bai offered a partially truthful explanation.

"So scary," the student group shuddered inexplicably, feeling that test problems were indeed far more terrifying than school urban legends.

"Speaking of which, that fake me earlier said you've had a crush on a girl for over two years? I had no idea about that. Maybe it read it from your mind!" The real Zhang Pan suddenly remembered this crucial point and approached Zhou Qingshou with a meaningful smile. "Skinny, you'd better confess..."

"Tell me about your crush first," Zhou Qingshou pushed his friend away dismissively.

Ai Xiaojia quickly walked over to Su Bai, her expression a mix of gratitude and pleading. "Su Bai, thank you so much for helping us with the filming and coming up with questions earlier. But could you keep holding onto the phone? We might need to trouble you, kind Su Bai, to help with filming again later! Of course, if it's too much trouble..."

"It's fine," Su Bai didn't mind being a faceless photographer.

"This student's capabilities are far greater than you think," Mr. Dajian, walking behind them, looked at Su Bai with a hint of admiration. "If you were ever dragged into the Nightmare World one day, he might be the one who survives the best."

"Nightmare World?" This was the first time Ai Xiaojia and the others had heard this term.

"Never mind," Mr. Dajian tried to quickly change the subject, then took a closer look at Su Bai's face under the flashlight beam, a trace of confusion appearing in his eyes. "Huh, looking closely now, this student named Su Bai... seems somewhat familiar."

"You're not even from Honghuai City. How would you know a high school student from here?" Mr. Flashlight expressed doubt.

"I know I don't, but I feel like I've seen a somewhat similar face somewhere before. Not as good-looking, but similar," Mr. Dajian stroked his chin thoughtfully, then asked Su Bai, "Do you have an older brother?"