Guessing the monster’s strength would be a coin toss, Nana Toki didn’t bother waiting outside. She stayed in the restroom, eyes on the mirror hanging over the sink like a cold pond at midnight.
Because she herself was a ghost, when she faced the glass and tried to study her face, only a blurred outline floated up—like fog on a river—her features refusing to surface.
Night really is the hour that lets a ghost loosen its shoulders.
She tightened her fist, then drew out the yin jade the Protagonist Lord had given her long ago. According to old folks’ whispers, three thirty a.m. is the cusp of yin and yang. Yin energy peaks, then ebbs into dawn. For most ghosts, without channeling power, the mirror won’t catch the true body—only a shadow like a lantern in mist.
Yet even a ghost fueled by lingering regret like Nana could appear without spellwork, borne on the heavy yin aura around her. This restroom wasn’t just damp; it was a cave of night breathing under tile and glass.
This sub-quest is savage. You picked a time when both sides get buffs—afraid I’ll one-shot it?
Her mutter fluttered through the silent room like a bat’s wing, echo scattering like ripples on black water.
She searched longer, fingertips brushing cold porcelain and wet grout. It was a normal bath, just thick with damp and yin; nothing else tugged at the eye.
So why did the mirror ghost choose this dorm, this mirror?
She sank into thought, the wind outside slipping through a window like a pair of icy hands stroking her cheek. Goosebumps raced her skin like ants under frost.
Gotta admit, this restroom’s got teeth.
“Ling Jiang… Ling Jiang… Ling Jiang…”
Someone seemed to be calling her name inside the stall’s hush. The voice was thin as thread, but Nana’s ear snagged it like a hook.
Is it coming?
As if answering her thought, her reflection in the mirror sharpened—the blur stitched itself into a face. She stood facing Nana, matching her posture, but the eyes were winter wells.
“Ling Jiang… Ling Jiang… Ling Jiang…”
A bloody tang began to bloom in the air, coppery and raw. The night wind shoved harder through the window like a black tide. The whisper at Nana’s ear tore into screeches.
Gurgle gurgle.
Gurgle gurgle.
Without warning, the faucet snapped on. Dark red stench-specked blood poured out, thick as rust-water. Nana’s brow pinched; the mirror’s tiles trembled like teeth chattering. Black blood seeped from the joints, slick and crawling.
The Ling Jiang in the mirror stirred like waking meat. She stepped closer, closer, mouth hooked in a crooked smile. Both hands lifted toward Nana’s throat, ready to burst through and crush it like a reed.
The basin brimmed, blood spilling over, trickling down the black tile with a whispering hiss. Nana never looked away from the glass; her expression stayed flat as a winter lake.
Finally, as if she’d finished touring a cheap exhibit, Nana gave the mirror-self a mocking curl of lip. That all? Boring.
Even Zhong Qiangwei and Li Yao, who spooked Xiaoxiao Ji earlier, were scarier than this.
Whoosh—
A black gleam flickered. The mirror didn’t even get time to react before it exploded, shards spraying like icy rain. The surrounding tiles cracked with a cannon-shot roar. Over the mirror’s shatter, the Ling Jiang within shrieked, eyes venomous, claws lunging for Nana’s throat, hungry for a death grapple.
Too late.
Nana didn’t budge. Her left hand dipped, and an Amber Talisman flashed, slapped onto the mirror-self’s forehead like a seal on boiling water.
Die.
Her gaze met the ghost’s and didn’t blink. Next heartbeat—
Bang!
A thunderous impact punched the air. The escaping ghost’s scream cut off like a severed string. Her head shattered under Nana’s single strike, fragments tumbling like ash in wind.
Ding—! Sub-quest II: [Mirror Dweller] complete! Extra reward will be issued after this realm ends!
The System chimed inside her skull. Nana dusted her palms, rinsed off the talisman’s ash, then hefted her Black Great Axe and drifted out of the restroom like smoke slipping under a door.
Now that’s how a proper sub-quest should feel. I recommend making the first ghost-school fiend’s sub-quest like this too.
System: “………” Please don’t think peach, Host.
“Is Sister Ling Jiang… okay?” The restroom sounded like it screamed just now…
Perched at Zhao Yue’s bedside, Xiaoxiao Ji shivered. In battle mode, big sister ghost was terrifying, like a blade in snow.
“Fine for now. I killed it,” Nana said, calm as a judge. “We’re going downstairs.”
“Eh?” Downstairs?
Xiaoxiao stared, blank as a sheet. Was her ghostly sister saying something humans weren’t meant to parse again?
“We’re not sleeping?” She hunched her neck like a turtle. “It’s three a.m. Another while and it’s basically morning…”
Sleep? You see this school’s packed with ghosts that want you dead, right?
Nana shot her a glare sharp as a nail. Learn some caution, will you.
…But you’re so strong, Sister Ghost. I feel like I could sleep fine.
Of course, Xiaoxiao only said that inside. If she said it out loud, she might never sleep peacefully again.
“Move. I’ll wait at the third-floor stairwell.”
Nana floated to Xiaoxiao’s dorm doorway with the Black Great Axe resting like a midnight crescent. She paused, decided to go through the wall.
Then—
Clank.
Naturally, the dorm door snagged the axe and stripped it out with a harsh bite.
“……”
Grass—a plant. She’d forgotten her axe was painfully physical. No phasing for you.
Poker-faced, she slid half her body back inside, stowed the axe, then adjusted the white triangular headscarf atop her hair and drifted out again, posture aloof as a crane.
“……”
What is Sister Ghost doing?
Missing Nana’s theatrical flourish, Xiaoxiao tucked the corners of her quilt for herself and Zhao Yue. Then she peeled a few Amber Talismans off her own clothes and stuck them on Zhao Yue, hands shaking like leaves.
Honestly, saying she wasn’t worried would be a lie. After so many scares, staying in this eerie dorm beside an unconscious friend, her body was close to its limit.
Sorry, Yueyue. I’ll make it up to you next time.
She grit her teeth, closed the dorm door, and hurried after Nana.
“Sister Ling Jiang… wait for me!”
By the time Xiaoxiao reached the third-floor maglock gate, Nana was already battering it with the Black Great Axe. Each blow crackled and popped, louder and louder, like thunder chewing metal.
“Sister Ling Jiang, that’s way too loud. What if a teacher shows up?” Xiaoxiao clapped her ears. “I don’t want points docked and a fine for wrecking school property.”
Nana didn’t have a body. If they got caught, Xiaoxiao would be the one mopping up the mess.
Relax. If anyone could notice, they’d have caught those two dimwit ghosts harassing you. Not now.
Nana snapped two bars, opening a hole just big enough for Xiaoxiao to squeeze through. She stowed the axe again, then phased through the gate like ink sliding over glass.
“……” Xiaoxiao slipped through the hole without a word.
“Where are we going, Sister Ling Jiang?”
They left Dorm Building Three. Xiaoxiao glanced back at the looming dark block, then edged closer to Nana like a sparrow seeking a branch. At this hour, she had no idea where to go.
“We’re checking the old campus.” Nana didn’t wait for agreement. She grabbed Xiaoxiao’s hand and headed for the school gate, her pull firm as winter current.
“Hey, hey! Wait! Why the old campus?” Xiaoxiao’s face went green, like leaves under hail. She’d just crawled out of one fright, and now they were heading into that place that screamed creepy even in daylight. And it was midnight.
Who knows what’s hiding inside!
She hadn’t forgotten the red figure she’d seen at the old campus perimeter. Without a solid reason, she wouldn’t go even if you beat her.
“I think the old campus has a secret,” Nana said. She’d seen enough—every ghost in the new campus was vicious, hunting humans like wolves. She didn’t believe they just slept at night. No weird news for years, and yet she’d been here less than a day and already met four or five ghosts. Someone—or some other fiend—was pulling strings. Maybe it was the ghost school’s owner they’d heard about on the ride earlier.
Nana had to drag that one out by the throat.
