55: Chapter 55 The tea's not even cold yet, I'll blow your heart up first.

The instant the Mirror Lake shattered, the entire abyss bottom space let out a piercing, agonizing wail of being unable to bear the burden.

This was not merely the sound of breaking glass; it was a cacophony mixed with the shrieks of countless resentful souls and the snapping sound of spatial laws being violently torn apart, as if a ferocious beast imprisoned for ten thousand years had finally broken its chains, unleashing an all-destroying roar.

Crimson blood mist and pitch-black abyss water billowed up, transforming into a violent energy storm that swept across all directions.

Chen Fan instinctively held Su Shuang tighter. His back was slashed by flying shards of mirror, leaving several wounds deep enough to expose bone, but he seemed unable to feel the pain, his entire focus fixed on the girl with a faint breath in his arms and the cold system prompt echoing in his mind.

[Detecting 'Twin Sacrifice' action, unlocking 'Twin Critical Strike' preparation state (Shared Latency: 0.5 seconds)]!

'Twin Critical Strike...' Chen Fan gritted his teeth. An unprecedented, wondrous sense of connection was established between him and Su Shuang.

He could clearly feel his heartbeat and Su Shuang's heartbeat synchronizing at a bizarre frequency.

Every beat seemed to be exchanging their respective life force and spiritual energy.

He could empathize with Su Shuang's weakness; likewise, the power boiling within him due to the critical strike was being fed back to her bit by bit through this invisible tether, sustaining her last breath.

This 0.5-second delay was like the final gasp before a death sentence—both hope and the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head!

Su Shuang trembled lightly in his embrace, her bloodless lips tinged with pale white. She weakly lifted her eyes to look at the center of the chaos, her voice as faint as a mosquito's whine: 'That mirror...'

Chen Fan followed the direction of her gaze, his pupils contracting sharply.

He saw that in the deepest part of the original Mirror Lake, the shattered, black crystal-like fragments had not dissipated. Instead, they were swirling back as if pulled by some invisible force.

And at the center of the energy vortex, an ancient, dilapidated bronze mirror was slowly rising.

It was not large, only palm-sized, its edges covered in cracks, and the mirror surface was no longer smooth but shattered like a spiderweb, looking as if it could completely disintegrate at any moment.

Yet, this broken mirror emitted a terrifying aura that far surpassed that of the entire Mirror Lake just moments ago, an aura that made the heart palpitate.

It was a desolation and malevolence originating from the primordial era, as if it were the very source of all fear and inner demons.

Reflected on the mirror surface was the scene that made Chen Fan's eyes split with rage—he was clad in a king's robe, wearing a crown of thorns, his eyes as cold as ten thousand years of profound ice. Beneath his feet was not the Golden Throne Hall, nor a mountain of corpses and sea of blood, but piles of soft, snow-white fox tails, all devoid of life.

Every single one belonged to Su Shuang.

'Do you see? This is the price of power.'

The Mirror Slave's voice sounded again. This time, it was no longer standing in the shadows but slowly emerging from behind the rising ancient mirror.

Its form was several times more solid than before, and the bronze mirror mask covering its face now shimmered with the same evil light as the ancient mirror that had risen.

'She sacrifices for you, and you gain greater power as a result. This is only the beginning.' The Mirror Slave's tone carried no emotion, yet every word pierced the heart, 'You will step on her flesh and blood to ascend your throne. Every time you use 'Twin Critical Strike,' you are burning her life away. One day, she will become the last withered fox tail beneath your feet, and you will become the true Lonely King.'

'Shut up!' Chen Fan roared, his voice powerful enough to shatter this distorted space.

The power within him surged wildly due to his rage. The energy bar for 'Charged Critical Strike' filled instantly, and the red light on his fist blazed fiercely.

This was absolutely impossible!

He entered this damned place precisely to save Su Shuang; how could he possibly stand on her bones to rise higher!

This was the most vicious curse, the most insidious provocation!

'Angry? Unwilling?' The Mirror Slave's mechanical voice actually carried a hint of mockery, 'But this is the essence of 'Twin Resonance'—either you die, or I live. It's just that your resonance has been twisted by the rules of the abyss into a crueler form. The stronger you become, the faster she dies. This is your destiny.'

As soon as the words fell, the light of the shattered ancient mirror surged!

Buzz—

The entire abyss bottom world trembled violently.

The Mirror Lake fragments suspended in the air began to spin and recombine wildly, as if responding to an emperor's command.

They were no longer flat surfaces but were stretched and folded in the distorted space, transforming into independent, mobile mirrors of varying sizes.

In all directions—up, down, left, and right—all inherent spatial concepts were completely subverted at this moment.

The original ground disappeared, replaced by a gigantic mirror reflecting human figures.

The sky above also became a constantly swirling, mirrored dome.

The walls, stone steps, and even the air were replaced by countless knife-sharp mirror shards.

In an instant, Chen Fan and Su Shuang plunged into an endless, three-dimensional labyrinth composed of countless moving bronze mirrors!

Every mirror reflected the image of Chen Fan holding Su Shuang.

In some mirrors, he was a youth at a construction site, covered in mud, his eyes desperate; in others, he was a cold monarch stepping on fox tails; in yet others, he was being devoured inch by inch by blood-red vines, letting out silent screams; and in still others, he and Su Shuang were embracing, transformed into two cold, withered skeletons.

The past, the present, the possible future, the deepest fears... all fragments of inner demons materialized into a tangible cage at this moment!

'You...' Su Shuang clutched Chen Fan's collar. The terror in her eyes even surpassed the moment she faced death just now. 'This is... the Myriad Manifestation Mirror Prison! It's the second layer of the Heart Abyss! It's over... No one can get out of here...'

Her voice carried bone-chilling despair because she knew better than Chen Fan what this meant.

The first layer, the Mirror Lake, tested the courage to face inner demons directly.

But this second layer, the Myriad Manifestation Mirror Prison, tested the ability... to find the one true 'Self' amidst endless reality and illusion.

Once lost, the soul would be cut into countless pieces, forever imprisoned in different mirrored worlds, unable to live or die.

'Don't be afraid.' Chen Fan's voice was low and hoarse, yet it carried an unquestionable firmness.

He adjusted his posture, securing Su Shuang more firmly on his back, and stomped hard in the void. He actually used the momentum from a rapidly passing mirror surface to stabilize his figure.

Although the surrounding world was a dizzying array of spinning mirrors, his gaze was clearer than ever before.

'I don't care if it's a Mirror Prison or Hell!' He stared at the core broken ancient mirror reflecting the illusion of the throne and said word by word, 'Today, even if I have to smash this abyss bottom to pieces, I must take you out!'

Before his words finished echoing, the cold system alarm sounded again in his mind, as if ruthlessly mocking his grand declaration.

[Zone Erasure Countdown: 21 minutes 46 seconds.]

Time was running out.

The Mirror Slave's figure flashed and vanished among the countless mirrors, leaving behind a cold echo, as if delivering the final judgment:

'The First Abyss tests what you fear. The Second Abyss tests what you lose as true. Welcome to... true despair.'

The voice dissipated, and the entire mirror world began to operate in a more frantic and irregular manner.

Gravity instantly vanished, and Chen Fan and Su Shuang, like rootless leaves, plummeted rapidly toward the bottomless abyss composed of countless mirrors.

During the descent, countless 'Chen Fans' in the mirrors simultaneously opened their eyes. Their gazes—some venomous, some sorrowful, some indifferent—locked onto the single true body.

All around them, they were all himself, and all were enemies.

The just-established 'Twin' connection transmitted a sharp pain, as if it were about to be torn apart by the infinite reflections.

Chen Fan grunted, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, but the arms protecting Su Shuang remained unmoving, as if cast from steel.

Falling, endless falling.

All that remained around them were the dazzling streams of light refracted by the mirrors, and the ever-approaching malice coming from all directions.