Xiao Cheng looked around, a subtle excitement welling up inside her. Her mind was blank; she couldn't remember why she had been dragged into this game, but this place seemed strangely familiar.

In the porcelain-white sink, a lit red candle stands upright, its flickering light reflected in the mirror. Apart from this cramped corner illuminated by the candle, the rest of the room is shrouded in darkness.

Xiao Cheng stood in front of the mirror, examining the white bone comb in her hand by the dim candlelight. The comb was cool to the touch and emitted a faint fishy smell. The teeth were shaped like finger bones, with distinct grooves, and the tips were speckled with reddish-brown spots, like dried blood that had seeped into them.

Above the mirror is a box-shaped black wall clock with the current time displayed on its digital screen.

23:57

Xiao Cheng glanced up at the wall clock and casually placed the bone comb back on the edge of the sink.

"Ding-dong." A crisp notification sound rang out, followed by a cheerful child's voice.

"Attention all players, the survival instance 'Seven Nights of Ghosts' has been loaded. Game rules are being imported. We wish you a pleasant gaming experience."

As soon as the words were spoken, the surface of the mirror suddenly shimmered with water, and the scene in the mirror became completely blurred. Two lines of blood-red characters slowly emerged, and the crimson ink flowed down the strokes, dripping onto the edge of the mirror.

[Attention players, the game has officially begun.]

Rule 1: Strictly abide by the game rules.

Rule 2: Fighting among oneself is strictly prohibited.

Rule 3: Try your best to survive.

The blood-written words didn't linger on the mirror for long; they disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the mirror returned to its original state, reflecting the flickering candlelight and Xiao Cheng's pale face.

A piece of paper quietly fell into her hand, on which was written in different sizes: "Midnight, you want to comb your hair in front of the mirror."

At the same time, the time on the electronic wall clock jumped to 0 o'clock, and the short beeping alarm sounded, sounding abrupt and eerie in the silent night.

Xiao Cheng grinned in the mirror, revealing a stiff, mechanical smile. Then she let her hair down, picked up the bone comb, and began to comb it again and again.

The comb teeth grew sharper and sharper, eventually turning into fine knives that carved a hole in the top of "her" head, bone and flesh intact.

Blood stained the bone comb a bright red, and a palm-sized "Xiao Cheng" crawled out of the hole, grinning and revealing a mouthful of sharp shark teeth.

She poked half her head out with a sinister and venomous look, and said to Xiao Cheng outside the mirror, "It's your turn."

Xiao Cheng picked up the bone comb as if possessed.

A cacophony of sounds arose from the depths of darkness, a mixture of laughter from men and women, sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes seeming to emanate from the depths of the earth, and sometimes whispering in her ear: "It's your turn."

A thin, bony hand reached out from the wall behind her, slowly approaching and lightly resting on her left shoulder.

Xiao Cheng seemed completely unaware of this; she kept staring at the mirror and raised her hand as if bewitched.

—Thud.

The bone comb slammed heavily onto the mirror with a loud thud, leaving spiderweb-like cracks across most of the surface. The person in the mirror let out a shrill scream as the comb teeth became deeply embedded in the mirror, and thick, foul-smelling blood gushed from the cracks.

The candle went out instantly, and the light suddenly came on, dispelling the darkness in the room. The hand that had reached out from the wall recoiled as if burned by the light, and all sounds fell silent once more.

"Why are you combing your hair so late at night? Look at you, you're bald."

Xiao Cheng tapped the broken mirror with her finger, crumpled up the paper and tossed it aside, then turned on the tap to rinse away the bloodstains in the basin.

Now, she can take a good look at the room.

The room wasn't big, about 30 or 40 square meters, it was square, with only one bedroom and a very small bathroom.

The bathroom and bedroom were separated by a curtain. The room contained only a single spring bed covered with snow-white bedding, with the sheets hanging down almost to the floor.

A black backpack sat on the bedside table, containing food and water. Next to the backpack was an open diary with only two pages written on it. The gist of it was that a group of college students had foolishly decided to stay at the rumored haunted house and had agreed to play a ghost-summoning game every night.

That was the game from the first night, the Ghost in the Mirror.

Xiao Cheng searched around and, after confirming there were no other clues, tried to open the door, but couldn't open it at all, and couldn't hear any movement outside.

She had no choice but to abandon her plan to go out and turned to observe the window on the opposite wall. It was a sliding glass window, without curtains, and the right size; given Xiao Cheng's height, the windowsill reached just to her chest.

The windows were locked too, and looking out through the glass, it was completely dark; there was nothing there.

So Xiao Cheng went back and reread the diary.

The notebook was slightly warm in her hands, and on the blank pages, handwriting appeared stroke by stroke, as if an unseen person was writing it.

"The game is over for today. I actually saw something in the mirror... It was terrifying. I wonder what happened to the others. I'll go to the first floor to meet them after dawn and have a good talk with them. Now, I should go to sleep."

The lights snapped off, plunging the room into darkness.

Xiao Cheng truly experienced the pitch-black darkness and blinked hard, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to it.

"If you're going to sleep, just go to sleep. Why did you turn off the light?" she said indignantly, clutching her notebook. "I'm not sleepy."

However, the next second, a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over her, and she unconsciously yawned, her eyelids growing heavier and heavier. It worked faster than sleeping pills, and forced to fall asleep, Xiao Cheng had no choice but to go to bed.

The bedding reeked of formaldehyde, and as she lay there, she had the illusion of being inside a body bag.

The spring mattress was narrow, and even the slightest movement would produce a dry, creaking sound. Xiao Cheng chose a relatively comfortable sleeping position, facing away from the door, and drifted off to sleep.

In her hazy state, she heard the sound of dripping water from the direction of the bathroom, followed by a dragging rustling sound, as if something was crawling on the floor. The noise grew closer and closer, finally stopping for a moment beside the bed.

"whee."

A short, strange laugh rang in her ears, and then she felt a sudden heaviness in her chest, as if a heavy object was pressing down on her.

She tried to reach out and forcefully push the thing off, but she couldn't move at all. Her consciousness was floating in the air, and her body felt like it was stuck in a quagmire.

"whee."

The eerie laughter drew closer, and in the hazy light, a dark shadow twisted and enveloped her.

The diary under the pillow suddenly became incredibly hot. Xiao Cheng snapped back to reality and opened her eyes wide: "Get away!"

However, there was nothing there; the strange laughter, the shadowy figures—it all seemed like an illusion.

Xiao Cheng sat up, pressing her temples, which were throbbing slightly.

The blinding sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating her pale, sweat-drenched face.

Daylight broke.