Chapter 65: The Mirror Labyrinth
At this moment, Aoto suddenly snapped his eyes open. His expression was a bit bewildered as he looked around. He immediately jerked back and screamed loudly:
"Aahh!"
One hand clutched his head which felt a bit painful, feeling as if someone had used a stick to hit the back of his head; the feeling was still a bit lingering and hadn't stopped.
He breathed rapidly and calmed down. The pain had eased slightly, almost disappearing. He glanced around with eyes wide with bewilderment.
Around him was a vast space with almost no end. And rows of mirrors placed there connected to each other like eternity. Rows of eyes were looking at him; those were all his reflections.
Aoto was bewildered; he stood up with some difficulty like a baby learning to stand. He scanned around, observing everywhere.
"What the hell? Where is this?"
"So many mirrors."
Swallowing a mouthful of saliva as if pushing the bewilderment inward. He walked close to a mirror with slow, silent steps and observed himself in the mirror. He smiled smugly, then changed to a sorrowful face, then a fierce face.
Frowning, he stared into the mirror for a long time.
He turned to look at the rows of mirrors, raising his head; the ceiling was a layer of blue-white stone.
"Is this a mirror labyrinth?"
Aoto held out his hand; he tried to use energy but couldn't.
"Energy cannot be used in here."
He spoke slowly while observing everywhere.
"It's not interference, but rather making it so energy can't be used at all? If so, then it must be some kind of treasure, a super item to be able to do that."
"So I'm stuck in the book? It's so strong it won't even let me use energy."
"Can't use energy but locked in here, what exactly is going on?"
"Is this place a mirror labyrinth? Do they want me to solve this labyrinth?"
He closed his eyes and shook his head to re-orient.
"Oh my god, just looking in here for a moment has made me dizzy; seeing rows of myself appearing looks truly confusing."
His voice was a bit annoyed as he complained.
"Who thought of this? Wanting to play with people?"
Aoto took a deep breath and let out a long exhale.
"So I need to solve this labyrinth, but this thing is so messy that just walking is already hard. And I don't even know where its end is."
"Surely the one who created this labyrinth also knew to place the exit at the center, right?"
"If according to what Lilith said, there's a possibility that if I don't solve it, I might get stuck in here and die."
Aoto began to walk; the rows of his reflections in the mirrors also simultaneously walked.
"These mirrors don't even have frames."
He took a step and was startled. Under his feet... was also a mirror. He saw himself looking up from below, exactly like a person standing opposite him, as if Aoto were standing in the sky, while that copy was at the bottom of a deep abyss.
"What the... is this a labyrinth or a soul prison?"
"There isn't a single place with a different color except for the ceiling."
"Doing it like this to make it hard to mark the path?"
"Like this, it's easy to lose direction; damn whoever made this."
Aoto still leaned down to observe; he stepped back as if to check. Aoto's eyes opened wide as if he couldn't believe his eyes; his pupils trembled slightly from shock.
When he stepped back, clearly he hadn't crossed to another mirror yet, but this reflection did not move with him.
Both looked at each other; the face under the mirror also had a bewildered, fearful face like his; the only difference was that Aoto had stepped back, while it still kept its two feet parallel.
Aoto stood straight and looked around; all the mirrors followed him, only the mirror under his feet remained motionless, looking down.
Aoto spoke, asking with suspicion.
"Who are you?"
When he finished asking, the mirror was like a silent lake surface someone had thrown a stone into. Ripples appeared, making the reflection disappear and return to reflecting like the other mirrors.
Aoto bent his body, standing silently there, his eyes wide with surprise.
"What the hell was that?"
He immediately raised a hand to wave at the reflection below; this time it reflected his action.
"Huh? Back to normal."
"Eh? So how is that? Did I do something to make it disappear?"
"It's like a living thing."
He looked up around him; the reflections also followed his movements.
His voice was a bit shaky:
"This place is too creepy."
Aoto suddenly thought of something:
"If I walk randomly now, I'll definitely get lost. Now I'll probably follow a rule; just keep turning left."
He nodded, feeling that was reasonable given the current situation.
"Yeah, let's do that."
Aoto began to walk, one hand stroking his chin. Starting to think again.
"Strange, did I do something so that reflection disappeared? Or did I ask wrong?"
"What the hell did I do?"
Aoto's eyes widened as he just realized.
"That's right, I only did gestures, yet it didn't disappear. But when I asked it, it disappeared."
Aoto frowned, scowling.
"So I need to ask a reasonable question?"
He realized again:
"Ha, so if I ask, it answers?"
He nodded as if he understood.
"Oh, so it means this place is for solving puzzles, so that's it... so that's it."
Aoto immediately turned left and continued. He had walked a few steps when he suddenly froze. The reflection in the mirror also kept a walking posture just like him, looking extremely funny. But one difference was that it didn't blink.
Aoto kept the posture and blinked continuously to verify, but the reflection did not blink; its eyes were still wide open and staring at him as if there were a grudge.
Aoto frowned.
"Not reflecting."
He immediately pulled himself back and stood opposite the reflection; it did the same. But only one strange point was not blinking.
Aoto narrowed his eyes and observed as closely as possible, wanting to find if there were any strange details.
"Wait, I need to ask... but what to ask now?... Whatever, just ask anything."
Aoto spoke, breaking the quiet space of the labyrinth. His voice echoed everywhere:
"Hey... am I handsome?"
Just like the last time, the mirror was like water someone had thrown a stone into. Creating ripples that made the reflection in the mirror return to normal.
Aoto was both surprised and disappointed.
"Huh? Not that?"
He shook his head a few times.
"Wasted the opportunity, Aoto, why did you ask something so nonsense? Can you still joke at a time like this?"
"But ask what?"
Aoto reviewed his current situation, then nodded in thought.
"Now I'm locked in here, so I need to get out."
"Surely it's: how to get out. Yeah, that seems reasonable. So I'll ask that question."
He was walking and then stopped again; Aoto looked bewilderingly at the mirror on his right hand. His eyes opened wide, pupils dilated and vibrated slightly.
The mirror with a cunning face, eyebrows raised, a smirk to one side as if smiling smugly.
Aoto blinked a few times, then pressed close to observe. It also pressed close to observe but the face remained the same.
Aoto, with worry, instinctively swallowed a mouthful of saliva, the sound of swallowing echoing in his head. His eyes were still glued to the mirror. He slowly opened his mouth, a bit shaky.
Instinctively, Aoto asked a slightly different question, partly because he was quite bewildered and a bit scared of this version of himself. Feeling inferior, he instinctively changed his form of address.
"If I want to escape from here, what must I do?"
The reflection in the mirror then moved its lips; Aoto opened his eyes wide and observed the lip movements of the reflection in the mirror.
* "1: Touch the mirror that reflects your true essence."
* "2: There is only one truth."
* "3: Every essence can be right or wrong."
* "4: Don't trust the 9th one."
* "5: Choosing wrong will pay a price."
Right after finishing, the reflection in the mirror immediately disappeared like the other mirror essences.
Aoto frowned, a bit confused.
"Surely I read the lip movements correctly."
"So this is a puzzle game; if I choose wrong, I'll be punished."
Aoto bit his lip, a bit annoyed.
"This game was already hard, adding a punishment, who could pass? Damn it, who thought of this?"
He continued to turn left and while walking continued to think. Brows furrowed, face pensive with thought.
"So there will be 8 essences that will give me different answers."
"And there will be right or wrong."
"Choosing wrong will be punished."
"If I choose right, surely I can get out."
He seemed to realize something. Muttering back in his mouth what he had just said, then grimacing.
"Eh? It seems there was 'there is only one truth', then it gave that there will be right or wrong. Do they want to mess with me?"
"If I pay close attention, I see he is one essence and 7 other essences will give answers. While the 9th one will just be the thing messing with me."
Aoto raised his face and laughed out loud.
"How can you make it hard for me, these cat tricks."
Then he realized something was not right; his happy face turned back to pensive thought.
"Eh, but what if the 9th one is mixed among the other 7 essences, won't that be troublesome?"
"So I need to find that out too?"
"If the 9th essence is interference, maybe it will give an answer that is opposite to another answer. This will create a thought trap."
"Like: if it's interference, it will answer opposite to the result. That way I'll have to choose and discard the others."
Aoto nodded in admiration.
"That can be considered enlightened, now what I haven't thought of is simply because I haven't thought of it yet."
Aoto glanced around.
"Walking for a while and haven't met another essence; it seems they will appear randomly, not just by continuing to walk."
"This is not good at all; if it's random, then maybe I'll have to wait a very long time for one to appear. While I still have to find the stone with everyone."
His voice was annoyed and bitter.
"The person who made this game is such a jerk."
Aoto alertly looked around.
"I wonder if the person who made this is observing me? If I say that, what if they make it hard for me?"
"But it seems this labyrinth is created by that book, so maybe it's fine?... But what if there is?"
Aoto slapped his own mouth.
"Must be careful, this habit of saying whatever I think is truly hard to quit."
Walking, he went blank again as he just realized something.
"Oh, damn it. What if the person who made this game created those rules to lead the player's thinking? Maybe the statement that the 9th essence makes opposite to another one is actually the right answer?"
"Damn it, if it's like that then it's too hard."
"Although currently, just assume I've clarified the rules, the key is still having to choose and having chosen, there is definitely risk. This isn't good at all."
"If the person who created this game didn't create any safe answers. And in short, I still have to choose, that way there's still a possibility the player chooses wrong and will be punished."
Aoto stopped, scratching his head and ruffling his hair with the mess in his mind. His voice lamented:
"Oh my god, why is it so hard? How can you play with luck? I have dog-ink luck."
He was bowing his head and ruffling his hair when he suddenly saw on a mirror surface a line of black text with quite clear but small print. Aoto frowned; he knelt down to look closer.
* "If everyone is telling the truth, then only one is lying."
Aoto's mouth opened wide, two hands brushing his hair back, his face miserable.
"What the... the person who made this game wants to play a trick on me?"
He sat on the ground muttering each word, his face scowling.
Then the lines of text on the mirror all disappeared. Aoto raised an eyebrow watching it disappear in confusion.
"So in the end, are they telling wrong or right? So is it finding the one telling right or wrong? But in the end, how to choose?"
Aoto sat there on the ground, chin in hand, thinking.
"Eh? That text didn't say how many there are, so that means the essence that gave the rules is also untrustworthy."
"What the hell is going on? So everything wants to mess with my thinking?"
Aoto shook his head, mouth muttering:
"Can't... can't..."
"Now calm down."
"If I total all the information I have, it's that the essences will tell right or wrong, and I shouldn't completely trust any essence."
"Like this it's too hard, while currently there's only this much information. And I haven't even known a single answer from an essence at this moment."
He realized something again. He was extremely focused on giving his thoughts.
"Wait, could it be that only this line of text on the mirror is the real rule? And the essence that gave the rules is actually the 9th one."
"It's not certain the information he gave is true; maybe there are more than 9 essences. But if that essence said it itself, could it be it also circled itself and affirmed there are 9 essences, right?"
He let out a sigh with a bit of tiredness and annoyance.
"Forget it, thinking too much is tiring. Better right now is not to trust anything, just collect more information then deduce further. Thinking so much nãy giờ makes me so tired, so sleepy."
He stood up and continued to walk, observing while walking. He came to a four-way intersection and continued to turn left.
He stepped into the left path. The space remained unchanged, infinite mirror reflections, no frames, no sound, no direction.
Aoto yawned while scratching his head:
"This hellish place... no echo, no shadow, no smell at all."
He stepped further forward, right at the end of a 4-way intersection, he saw an essence standing there clutching its stomach laughing, looking extremely natural. But it didn't emit a single laugh.
Aoto frowned and stepped up; it still laughed without caring about his somewhat confused gaze. Pressing close, he knew what his goal was and didn't want to waste any more time here.
He didn't care about it, immediately asked:
"If I want to escape from here, what must I do?"
The essence in the mirror then stopped, it slowly turned over, looking straight at Aoto, its eyes serious without any other emotion. Its mouth then moved as if it wanted to say something.
* "Choose the one who lies the least."
Then it immediately disappeared like the previous essences.
Aoto frowned. Not caring about its disappearance, he knew what he needed to do.
"Choose the one who lies the least?"
"So it's finding the liar?"
Aoto realized another suspicious point. He let out a sigh, as he gradually got used to the fact that every once in a while there was something suspicious.
"Eh, could it be this essence that just appeared is also a troublemaker?"
Aoto immediately shook his head and brushed that thought away.
"Come on, don't think anymore, Aoto, now you need to collect enough first."
"Although that's the case, the worry here is what if there isn't just 7 answers? Forget it, don't think, just keep going."
"But I can't not think. What if there is more than 1 liar? And more than 1 lie from 1 liar. Like that, then what?"
"Damn it, like this I'm trapping myself in my own deduction."
He shook his head a few times, wanting to clear the mess in his head.
"Can't think anymore..."
He continued to walk and observe around, still that scene of rows of his reflections through rows of mirrors. After a long period of not finding any essence. He stood before a mirror and stared at it, eyes not blinking once. But tiredness showed.
He currently didn't know what to do while wandering around this mirror labyrinth. Surely he felt less bored when looking at his own dejection reflected in the mirror.
.....
After a moment of silence looking into the mirror, Aoto seemed to realize something; he frowned and pressed close to the mirror, and was only a tiny bit away from his nose touching the mirror.
Staring even more…
"In my eyes..."
Aoto opened his eyes wide and observed. Surprisingly, in his pupils, there was something.
"Is it a line of text?"
Aoto jerked back, expression fearful.
"What is this?"
He was terrified and swallowed saliva but it choked a bit and he had to use more force to push the saliva down, like pushing the fear deep down to make room for what needed to be done. He stepped close to the mirror once more slowly and opened his eyes wide. In the right eye, a small line of text appeared.
* "All answers originate from yourself."
Aoto widened his eyes and stepped back a few steps; he was panicked and bewildered.
"What does it mean? My eyes... are considered... mirrors?"
"All answers... originate from yourself?"
"What does it mean?"
He wanted to clarify and confirm again, so he pressed close to the mirror once more and used his hands to open his eyes wide. But the small line of text was no longer in his eye.
"Nothing?"
Aoto stepped back in bewilderment.
"What exactly does it mean?"
Aoto's breathing became increasingly rapid.
"What does that sentence mean? Why me?... So confusing."
"Originates from myself?..."
At this moment, he was extremely tired with information trying to make him more confused; he was exhausted....
He staggered toward a mirror, his reflection with a haggard face. He slumped his head against the mirror, gaze looking down at his feet.
Mouth continuously repeating:
"Too messy... too messy..."
His rapid breathing could be heard very clearly. When he heard his own breathing, he realized he was not okay.
He calmed himself down again.
"Must be calm... must be calm, this damn labyrinth is trying to mess with me."
He took a deep breath and exhaled hard, gaze determined. He lifted his head from the mirror and stared at his reflection in the mirror.
"Alright... now. I need to set rules for myself: No panic, no bewilderment, and no thinking. Just look and keep walking."
He seemed to regain his spirit and stood straight, gaze determinedly staring into the mirror reflecting him.
He opened his eyes wide and pressed close to the mirror. His voice dropped as if to emphasize:
"I will escape."