Chapter 139 Angelina's Tea Party 7

Perhaps it is a common fault of poetry; it is written in such an obscure and vague manner that one cannot accurately understand its meaning.

Lin Xiangjun took a photo of it to keep a record, then put it back exactly as it was.

As she turned around after putting the book back, a mirror had suddenly appeared behind her at some unknown moment.

It was a standing mirror with a gold frame, tall and thin, and no different from a modern mirror, except that it was slightly yellowed.

Lin Xiangjun could swear that when she entered the living room, this mirror was sitting quietly in the corner. Even though the Servants had been cleaning, there was still a thick layer of dust on the surface of the mirror and in the crevices of the surrounding gold trim. There was even a faint spiderweb on the two support legs at the bottom, as if it hadn't been cleaned in a very long time.

The moment she saw the mirror, the hair all over Lin Xiangjun's body stood on end.

When did this thing appear behind her?!

In the instance, her vigilance never wavered for a single moment. Even though she had her back to the two Servants, she was constantly listening to their movements.

There hadn't been any sound behind her just now, yet this mirror had appeared silently behind her.

The instant she locked eyes with her reflection in the mirror, a strong, eerie aura emanated from it, maliciously entangling itself around her like tentacles—the intensity of this eerie aura even exceeded that of Angelina!

In the instance, the stronger the eerie aura, the closer one was to the source of the instance's pollution, and naturally, the more dangerous it was.

Could this mirror actually be something more dangerous than Angelina?!

Lin Xiangjun almost subconsciously held her breath—

She looked paler and weaker in the mirror than usual. Even though she had just taken a sip of black tea not long ago and was currently full of energy—her cheeks were slightly sunken, there were dark, dull circles under her eyes, and her lips were not a healthy pink, but a very pale light pink, as if she were anemic.

"7. The mirror in the living room will honestly reflect your 'Life Vitality.' If you in the mirror age rapidly or become transparent, please immediately drink a sip of black tea from any cup at hand (regardless of whom it belongs to). If Angelina is standing behind you in the mirror, but she is not actually behind you, please hold your breath and close your eyes; she will leave."

The mirror reflected her "Life Vitality," which was her life force; Lin Xiangjun abstractly understood it as her "soul."

Although her body felt full of strength due to the temporary replenishment from the black tea, her soul had become weak because it was being "parasitized" and drained of nutrients.

Her reflection in the mirror was staring at her without blinking, and suddenly, the corners of its mouth curled downward almost imperceptibly.

As the corners of its mouth curled down, the reflection's face, which had been weak but still young and full of collagen, suddenly collapsed like melting butter.

When a person's face collapses, the previously inconspicuous nasolabial folds, forehead wrinkles, and the non-existent crow's feet and lip lines all become incredibly obvious, as if she had suddenly transformed from a twenty-year-old girl into an eighty-year-old Old Lady.

The speed of this collapse was too astonishing and caught her completely off guard. Before Lin Xiangjun could prepare herself mentally, her reflection in the mirror had instantly turned from a normal human into a Shar-Pei dog.

Previously, Lin Xiangjun had always thought that the fastest thing to collapse was the dam built by the Indians, but now she had changed her mind; how could a dam collapse as fast as her face?

As the reflection's face began to melt, a not-intense but impossible-to-ignore tingling sensation appeared on Lin Xiangjun's face, as if something was tearing at her skin.

This thing actually projects onto reality?

The changes happening to the reflection in the mirror reflect back onto herself in reality?!

No, that's not it. Lin Xiangjun finally realized, nearly collapsing to the ground in anger at the instance's description.

"Wasn't it supposed to be aging? What's the meaning of melting me directly into a slime?"

"Is deducting my maximum life while my age remains the same considered aging?! Is there anyone who can manage this crappy logic?!"

Unfortunately, there was no one to complain to in the instance. Even though Lin Xiangjun was bursting with profanities, she couldn't voice them now and could only grit her teeth and pull out the black tea to take a sip as fast as possible.

Her body's strength was still relatively abundant, so she only took a small sip.

There was still more than half of the black tea left in the cup.

While drinking the tea, she kept a close watch on the mirror.

The rate at which her reflection collapsed was impossibly fast, like ice cream melting in an oven, already showing faint signs of evolving into a slime.

The tingling sensation on her body also spread from her face to her calves.

The hand holding the teacup became limp and powerless; it took both hands to barely hold the cup upright to keep it from spilling. She glanced over casually and happened to see the skin tissue on her wrist also beginning to become loose and sag downward.

"!!! Hurry up and drink! If you don't drink, you're going to melt away completely!"

Fortunately, her two limp hands managed to steady the teacup and bring it to her mouth.

The moment the black tea touched her tongue, the indescribable blob in the mirror stopped collapsing and then, like a piece of dough, began to squirm and slowly pile back up.

Her wrist also stopped the melting trend.

Subsequently, the skin, like a rubber band just taken off one's head, bounced back at a visible speed, returning to its original place.

Lin Xiangjun breathed a sigh of relief.

Her reflection in the mirror turned back into a human shape, though it was weaker than before, and the faint, barely noticeable pink on its lips had completely faded away.

"Fade away, then. As long as I don't melt into a slime, I can accept anything."

At worst, after leaving the instance, she would just have Aunt Gao Xiu catch two old hens and stew them with some ginseng.

Lin Xiangjun dared not stay in front of the mirror any longer; she bypassed the mirror and prepared to go to the dining room to take another look.

Although the half cup of black tea that Angelina hadn't finished might have already been cleaned up by the Servants, who knew if there were any desserts left?

Moreover, the rules mentioned that after completing the ritual, one needed to pour the "Rose Sugar Cubes" from one's own plate into the cup; logically speaking, there must be sugar cubes on her plate.

But given the nature of the instance, she started acting at 4:30; someone must have gone earlier than her. What if someone tampered with her sugar cubes while she wasn't there?

Better safe than sorry.

However, whether it was because time was tight and the tasks were heavy in the instance, causing all the scary things to appear at once, or if Lin Xiangjun was just unlucky, right when she walked to the middle of the living room, a thin, long bamboo pole could be seen from afar, swaying and wobbling toward her.

Looking closer, that was no bamboo pole; it was clearly a woman in a white nightgown, with disheveled hair, so thin she was barely recognizable.