With red and swollen eyes, Chen Ge stood in front of the mirror holding the doll.

"It's one minute till midnight."

There was no light on in the bathroom, and Chen Ge stared at himself in the mirror.

Afraid of missing something, he didn't blink, his palms pressed against the sink, and his face was very close to the mirror.

He was concentrating, all his attention was focused on the mirror. A few seconds before midnight, the phone in Chen Ge's pocket suddenly vibrated.

"Phone? Who would call me at this time?"

The sudden change scared Chen Ge. He took out his cell phone and saw Captain Li's name on the caller ID.

"Did something happen?" Chen Ge answered the phone and put it to his ear: "Uncle Sanbao, do you want to talk to me about something?"

"Zhang Peng has not been arrested yet. We have further narrowed the scope of the investigation and can confirm that he is hiding in the western suburbs of Jiujiang! You have to be careful! This criminal suspect is extremely cunning and dangerous. His behavior is different from that of normal people. We cannot rule out the possibility that he will come back to find you!" Captain Li's voice was serious and urgent on the other end of the phone.

“Wasn’t there a lot of surveillance outside New Century Park last night? With both of his arms injured, he shouldn’t have been able to run far.” In Chen Ge’s opinion, it was only a matter of time before Zhang Peng was caught.

"The situation has changed. I can't explain it to you in detail for now. I will reveal one thing. Last night, a police officer successfully intercepted a criminal suspect and seemed to have seen something. He is now in a deep coma and is being treated in the hospital."

"What?!" Chen Ge's face changed. Just as he was about to speak, he inadvertently saw the mirror on the wall again.

On the smooth mirror surface, a blood-red Arabic numeral "1" appeared at some point.

"But don't worry, the search area is shrinking. Good will prevail over evil, and he will definitely be punished by law!"

Captain Li was still talking, but Chen Ge had no intention of listening. He put his phone aside and stared at the mirror in a daze.

"When did it appear? The monster in the mirror has already left, how could the numbers still appear on the mirror?!" Chen Ge recalled the scene last night. Half of the monster's body was in the mirror, and the other half was outside the mirror. Then Zhang Peng took the initiative to stick to the mirror and merge with it.

"What do these numbers mean? Yesterday it was '2', and today it has become '1'. Will it be reset to zero after 12 o'clock tomorrow?" The gradually decreasing number made Chen Ge look serious: "After Zhang Peng was possessed by the monster in the mirror, the number changed for the first time. Captain Li just said that a police officer fell into a coma. After the second victim appeared, the number decreased again. Could this number be related to the victim? The monster in the mirror needs three living people?"

Regardless of whether this number represented time or human life, Chen Ge was not prepared to wait any longer. He had a strong sense of crisis in his heart.

"The monster in the mirror is growing. Tomorrow night may be my last chance." Chen Ge took out a rag and wiped off the numbers on the mirror. He no longer cared about anything else.

After briefly speaking to Captain Li, he hung up the phone and went into the tool room with his black cell phone.

"It's past midnight, and it's time to refresh the new daily tasks. There are two tasks that can help me now. One is the favorability task of the red ghost, and the other is the nightmare-level daily task that was added today."

Opening the black phone, Chen Ge clicked on the daily tasks column.

“Easy difficulty: A terrifying experience should not cause traumatic psychological trauma to the experiencer. I think you should understand that too much is as bad as too little. Please improve the safety system of the haunted house and check the safety hazards in the haunted house.”

"Normal Difficulty: You have been given a chance to expand the haunted house. Please find a suitable site for expansion as soon as possible! Due to site restrictions, you cannot perform any trial missions in any scene before the expansion is completed!"

“Nightmare difficulty: There has always been another person living in your room. Don’t you want to know who he is?”

"Attention! Some missions are extremely dangerous, please choose carefully!"

After Chen Ge finished reading the three tasks, his eyes lingered on the third nightmare task: "There is another person living in the room? It makes me feel uncomfortable just hearing that."

Chen Ge was fully aware of the danger of the nightmare mission. He hesitated for a long time and did not choose to accept it. Instead, he flipped through his phone and opened the exclusive page of the red-clothed ghost.

"Do you want to accept Zhang Ya's favorability mission? Be careful! This mission is somewhat dangerous!"

The phone gave Chen Ge a thoughtful warning. He rubbed his temple, a little undecided.

"Both of these missions are extremely dangerous, but the rewards for nightmare-difficult daily missions are random, and there's a good chance that they'll give me another auxiliary ability. On the other hand, for the favorability mission, Zhang Ya is a red-clothed ghost with her own page on the phone. She looks very powerful, and seems to be several levels higher than the monster in the mirror. If I can get her to take action, I'll have a great chance of breaking through."

After analyzing for a long time, Chen Ge gritted his teeth and clicked on Zhang Ya's favorability task.

"Are you sure you want to accept Zhang Ya's favorability mission?"

"Sure!"

The blood-red interface began to churn like a withering rose, and new words soon appeared on the phone screen.

"The Red Shoes" from the third collection of the first volume of Andersen's Fairy Tales: There is a pair of very beautiful and attractive red dancing shoes. When girls put them on their feet, they will feel lighter and more energetic when dancing. But the girls only think about it, and no one dares to really wear them on their feet to dance. Because these are a pair of magical shoes. Once put on and danced, the dancer will dance endlessly until all his energy is exhausted..."

"Please arrive at West City Private School within one hour of accepting the mission and find Zhang Ya's red dancing shoes before dawn."

"Note: Don't be late for a first date, or she will be unhappy."

After reading the task prompt on his phone, Chen Ge had a strange expression. The West City Private School had been abandoned several years ago. The specific reason was unknown. It was said that something terrible happened and it had to be closed.

"The first time I went on a date with a girl was in an abandoned school after midnight. Is there something wrong with my love story?"

The mission required them to reach the West City Private School within an hour. Chen Ge calculated the time and it was still plenty of time. "The old site of the West City Private School is in the western suburbs. It's not too far for me. The key is that I have to go there after midnight... Forget it, I'd better go take a shower first. After all, this is my first time."

After a quick shower, Chen Ge changed into clean clothes and stood in front of the mirror again: "There are only fifty minutes left. Why am I suddenly getting a little nervous?"