The Protagonist and the Villain Both Kissed Me [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 43

After a brief conversation with Dr. Li in the infirmary, Su Xi didn’t feel inclined to share everything he knew especially since he was aware that she was being manipulated.

He offered a few vague excuses and took his leave.

At the elevator bank of the second basement level, the silver-white doors slid open, and an overwhelming stench came rushing out. Dressed in his white lab coat, Su Xi instinctively covered his nose and walked quickly into the interior. Compared to the other floors, this place looked exceptionally wretched.

Trash cans overflowing with food packaging and black plastic bags were scattered everywhere. The corridors were desolate and lonely; even the Institute’s high-grade air purifiers were useless here.

At 11:00 PM, the Institute’s staff usually had their shift change, so Su Xi couldn’t find anyone to ask for directions. Fortunately, the facility’s internal system included a map, and he easily located the room “The Loudspeaker” had visited.

Sticky green fluids stained the wall panels. It was impossible to imagine the psychological fortitude required to work here. Just looking at it made Su Xi’s stomach churn with nausea. He gripped the edge of his sleeve and used it to pull open the door handle.

Inside the room was a chaotic pile of cardboard boxes, taking up nearly two-thirds of the space. It was clearly a storage room of some kind. In the center stood a tall object draped in a crimson cloth.

“Host, there’s nothing here,” System 1368 whispered with confusion in his mind.

Su Xi looked around and indeed found no living creature. He lowered his lashes in thought for a moment before stepping into the center of the room. He grabbed a corner of the cloth and yanked it down with force.

As the cloth fell, a cloud of dust billowed up, and the smell in the air became indescribable. Su Xi reflexively took two steps back. He saw that the object was a full-length mirror, twice the height of a person. However, aside from its size, it looked ordinary, there were no ornate decorations or carvings on the frame.

“A mirror?” he murmured softly. He thought of movies he had seen where ordinary mirrors possessed magical powers gateways to new worlds or tools to see marvelous things. Was this one of those?

Su Xi walked unhurriedly toward the mirror and cautiously reached out a fingertip to touch the surface. To his disappointment, nothing happened.

“It looks like we won’t experience the same thing as The Loudspeaker,” he said with a hint of regret. Just as he withdrew his hand to leave, several glimmers of dark light flashed across the mirror. Suddenly, a slender and excessively pale hand reached through the glass and seized Su Xi’s wrist.

“How coincidental… I just finish speaking and it shows up…”

Su Xi’s voice was like a gust of wind being sucked into the mirror. He was pulled off balance and dragged inside before he could even look back.

A massive flash of white light blinded him. When his vision cleared, he found himself in a space that felt like a box every side emitted a soft, white glow. In this world, the setting felt utterly absurd.

He knew instinctively that in this situation, the System would be completely useless.

“Xiao Ba?” As expected, there was no response.

The space seemed infinite. Su Xi walked for a long time trying to estimate its size, but he never found an end. Just as he was becoming frustrated, he finally saw a door. He hurried over and pushed it open. Behind it was a simply furnished room. A figure was standing by the bed with their back to him, they looked like a young child.

“Um, hello?” Su Xi gave a polite greeting. He tentatively stepped forward; seeing no resistance, he walked up to the child’s side.

The child had long, silver-white hair and delicate features. Even his eyelashes were white. However, his lips and skin were far too pale, and his frame was so thin he looked incredibly fragile.

“Weren’t you looking for me?” The child had to look up to see Su Xi’s face. His grey eyes were like stagnant water lifeless and devoid of light.

The words Su Xi had prepared died in his throat. Meeting those eyes, he felt as if he were being seen right through. The oxygen in his chest felt thin.

“What do you want to see? Your past? Your future? Or do you want to make a wish?”

Receiving no immediate answer, the child seemed to grow impatient. He climbed onto the bed, standing up so he could look down into Su Xi’s eyes.

“No, that’s not it,” Su Xi shook his head. He knew his past well enough and had no desire to revisit it. As for his future, if he could see it now, could it even be called the future?

As for a wish, he could achieve his goals through other means rather than relying on the child before him. Out of a strange impulse, he asked softly, “Do many people come here looking for you?”

“Yes, many from your Institute…”

The child paused, using his fingers to count. After failing to get a clear number, he grumbled impatiently, “Anyway, more than ten. You people are the worst, you make wishes and then complain when my words don’t come true.”

Listening to the child’s rambling, Su Xi pieced together the information.

A001. Although only an A-rank subject, he possessed an incredibly alluring ability. He could not only grant wishes but also predict the future and peer into the past whether it was his own or someone else’s.

Before being sent to the Institute, many had sought him out. Eventually, after changing hands several times, he was sent here. He was originally handled by the Leader of Group One, but after that person went away, the Deputy Director took over personal management.

Almost no information about A001 was leaked; if people knew such an entity existed, it would cause a sensation. Only a few staff members had learned of him through back channels.

“Can’t you see your own future? Or rather, why don’t you find a way to escape?” Su Xi’s legs were getting tired, so he sat down on a wooden chair diagonally across from the bed.

“I have seen it. That’s why I stay here; the world outside is much more dangerous than this place,” A001 said nonchalantly, as if discussing a trivial matter.

“Then, how should I address you?” Su Xi pulled a few pieces of finely wrapped candy from his pocket and handed them over. “Fruit candy.”

A001 looked no more than ten years old and presumably liked sweets. He took the candy, unwrapped one, and stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing for a bit, he answered muffle-voiced, “Call me the Mirror God. That’s what the wish-makers call me.”

Su Xi let out a light laugh. The amusement brought life to his cold face, and even the mole at the corner of his eye seemed to brighten. “But I haven’t made a wish. How about I call you Xiao Jing (Little Mirror) instead?”

“Whatever.” A001 wasn’t picky about names. He kept unwrapping and eating the candies until they were gone. Then, he held out his hand to Su Xi. “Give me some more. Those people who come to make wishes only give me gold and jewelry. I don’t like that. Candy tastes much better.”

Su Xi pulled all the candy from his pockets and then retrieved some more from his System space. Xiao Jing’s eyes went wide as he watched an impossible variety of sweets emerge from the small pocket: fruit drops, chocolates, animal-shaped gummies… He licked his lips.

“Is your pocket some kind of magic treasure chest?” He scooped the candy toward himself, a flash of joy on his face. “You’ve given me so much do you really want nothing in return?”

“Nothing. I have no wishes for you to fulfill,” Su Xi replied softly. He looked at the open door; the outside was still an endless white void. “However, I do have a question for you.”

“What is it?” Xiao Jing was curious. What question could be more important than a wish?

“Someone was injured today and said it was because they saw you. What did he do?” Su Xi observed the child’s expression, finally arriving at the purpose of his visit.

“Him… That man’s wish was for the Leader of Group Two to die. I have my principles, of course; I won’t just kill people at random.”

Xiao Jing raised his head with a touch of pride and continued, “So I refused. Then he went crazy. I got angry and lost a bit of control. After that, it was exactly what you saw.”

Xiao Jing told the story with such innocence that Su Xi couldn’t find it in himself to hold a grudge certainly not on behalf of The Loudspeaker. Su Xi was someone who remembered slights; The Loudspeaker had argued with him and even wished him dead. Su Xi was no saint; he wasn’t going to play the martyr.

He glanced at the half-open door. The hallway was still white, making it impossible to tell the time. He opened his System panel. He felt as if he had been inside for only thirty minutes, but two hours had passed outside.

The flow of time is different between these spaces?

“Take care of yourself first,” Su Xi said, reaching out to pat the boy’s head. Inadvertently, he saw red marks covering the boy’s arms beneath his long sleeves. His gaze darkened; he wanted to ask, but didn’t know how to start since this was only their first meeting.

“I have to leave now.” Su Xi calculated the time; he had to see Mephisto. Tonight might be the last night he could sleep in peace.

“What? Leaving so soon?” Xiao Jing ran over to Su Xi, threw himself into his arms, and nuzzled him. For some reason, this person had a strange, comforting aura. He looked up and whispered, “Next time you come, bring me a cake, okay?”

“Okay.” Faced with a beautiful child’s acting spoiled, Su Xi had no defense. He admitted to himself he was a sucker for good looks. After Xiao Jing clung to him for a while longer, he was finally sent back out of the mirror world.

The moment his feet touched the solid floor, Su Xi felt a sense of grounding. He frowned, covered his nose, and hurried out of the room, only to run straight into someone.

“Ouch…” He clutched his aching nose and stumbled back. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. The collision was no joke; his face went pale with pain.

The person who hit him anxiously pulled his hand away and said with concern, “Why is your nose bleeding?”

Immediately, a soft handkerchief scented with light wood notes brushed against his nose to stop the bleeding.

Su Xi looked at the stranger and was stunned. This man had the same silver-white hair and grey eyes as Xiao Jing. But while the other was a child, this was a young man who looked to be of university age.

“I’m fine.” Where the man touched him, Su Xi felt that strange sensation again. He frowned, pulled away to create distance, and turned to leave.

“Wait, your things!” the young man called out urgently.

Su Xi didn’t stop. “I don’t want them.”