Mirror Sheep Sheep

The successful restoration of three sealing points in a row greatly boosted the morale of the spectators.

Only the last one remained.

At the core sealing point.

Chen Miemie was teleported over.

Surrounding him was a large circle of mystics he had never seen before, each looking at him with a smile.

After waiting for almost a minute.

The expected two chosen ones did not appear.

The voice of [Trial] sounded: "For the final sealing point, the selection begins. The candidates this time are special, so the selection process will no longer be made public."

A massive pillar of blood expanded outward with Chen Miemie at its center, until it was larger than the bloody curtain Father Jing had conjured earlier.

Chen Miemie stood in the enclosed eggshell-like space, watching the small pillars of blood surrounding him gradually move further away as the perimeter expanded.

Another minute passed.

"[Trial], where is everyone?"

[Trial] replied: "Both individuals are in position. Please approach the [Magic Mirror]."

Chen Miemie walked up to the [Magic Mirror].

In the mirror was his reflection.

"Hello, Chen Miemie."

This voice came from the person in the mirror.

The Chen Miemie outside the mirror didn't move, while the one inside waved in greeting.

Chen Miemie rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me. What era is this, still playing the mirror image trope? Are we going to debate who is real, or do I have to defeat myself? It's a bit outdated, don't you think?

By the way, you in the mirror, to make it easier to tell us apart, I'll call you Mirror Miemie."

"Sure, then I'll be Mirror Miemie. I'm not you; I'm just a mirror anomaly." The person in the mirror was surprisingly easygoing.

"Oh? You've got some tricks. You're actually not following the cliché? What kind of anomaly are you?"

"I am a mirror anomaly, born from the vanity of people looking in mirrors all over the world. I only appear when someone is looking in a mirror.

Right now, you are looking in the mirror, so I've taken on your appearance. If someone else were looking, I would look like them."

"Where do you usually stay? Were you caught and brought here by [Trial]?"

"No, I can control all mirrors and travel through them, including the [Magic Mirror]. To some extent, it's me who is imprisoning [Trial]."

"You? You feel pretty weak. You can control [Trial]? You must be bragging."

"I can't control it, but the [Magic Mirror]'s effects work on it and can keep it locked up. Besides, [Trial] itself likes to sleep inside the [Magic Mirror] after a trial ends."

"Alright, Mirror Miemie. When the trial is over, come find me. You can roll with me from now on."

"No thanks. I like running all over the world and won't stay in one place. Plus, I can see into people's hearts, and no one likes having absolutely no secrets in front of someone else."

"Fine, let's get down to business," Chen Miemie didn't press the issue. "Mirror Miemie, why do you want to destroy the seal?"

"I don't want to destroy the seal. The Magic Mirror has always been helping to repair the seals, so why would I want to destroy them?"

"Come on, it's just the two of us here. I'm here to fix it. Even now, you still want to deceive me?"

"I'm not deceiving you. And are you really here to repair the seal?"

"I made that pretty obvious at the first three locations, didn't I?"

Mirror Miemie smiled eerily:

"Chen Miemie, who is really deceiving whom here? Or are you even fooling yourself?

For the first seal, you didn't choose your incredibly familiar close friend, but rather a classmate who loves to put on disguises.

For the second seal, you didn't choose the resilient doctor known for his good deeds, but instead a woman who leeches off her family and loves to show off.

For the third seal, you didn't choose the godfather of the Moon Church, but a lunatic from the Mist Cult.

Did you really want to choose people to repair the seals?

You clearly have the ability to completely wipe out the alien races in the city on certain nights, yet you deliberately leave the city to avoid them.

You have no lingering attachments to your past life, you lack compassion for humanity, and you are surrounded by anomalies.

You are leading your group of anomalies in search of a 'new home.' Do you really want Sixiang City to be as stable as Mount Tai, with no vulnerabilities to exploit?

Chen Miemie, do you think of yourself as a human, or an anomaly?"

Chen Miemie looked at his eerily smiling self in the mirror and sighed softly:

"I just said you had some tricks, and now you're back to clichés.

You're not actually some mirror anomaly, are you?

Whatever you are, you think pulling some mind-reading and giving a speech will make me doubt myself?

It's useless.

What I am doesn't need to be defined by others. I can be human, or I can be an anomaly; it depends on my mood and my needs.

The reason my actions and choices seem capricious is that I have the power to take responsibility for them.

So what if I choose wrong? Even if the seal breaks, as long as I don't allow it, no one can take Sixiang City.

However, you were right about one thing: my empathy is indeed not very strong. I might lend a hand if something happens right in front of me, but I won't fancy myself a hero and run around putting out fires."

Mirror Miemie seemed stunned by Chen Miemie's words.

After a good while, it finally spoke, "Since you are so resolute, it seems I can't persuade you. Walk into the mirror yourself."

Chen Miemie stood half a meter away from the mirror, clapping his hands with a smile.

"After acting for so long, you've finally revealed your true colors.

You orchestrated the drama of selecting people to enter the mirror three times before, all just to make me believe that entering the mirror would repair the seals.

You should know that I'm not afraid of death, nor will I die, so I wouldn't fear repairing the seal.

In reality, your true target has always been me.

You want to trick me into walking into the mirror myself."

Mirror Miemie chuckled.

"See? This is your inner choice. You don't want to repair the seal, so you make up some unfounded conspiracy theory. Suit yourself. If you don't want to go in, you can choose me."

Mirror Miemie returned to mimicking Chen Miemie's exact posture.

The two looked at each other in front of the mirror, separated by less than a meter.

Chen Miemie was smiling.

Mirror Miemie also wore a face full of an eerie smile.

The two of them were more anomalous than anomalies themselves.