98. Chapter 98: Reversal Upon Reversal, Terrifying Desire
"Congratulations, you've won this gamble. I truly cannot kill you, but what does that matter? You likewise cannot kill me."
The Mirror Image released the knife handle with its right hand and met Xia Shang's gaze with its pitch-black eyes. "You can beat me once, but that doesn't mean you can keep winning. I only need to win once."
With that, its figure gradually faded until it completely vanished before Xia Shang.
"This guy is truly troublesome. Anyone with slightly weaker willpower could easily fall into the trap it set." Seeing the Mirror Image dissipate, Xia Shang felt a sense of relief. The Desire Mirror Image didn't test the physical body, but the mind.
No matter how powerful the body, as long as desire gained the upper hand, even Homelander would turn into a monster craving adoration from the masses.
Of course, that's assuming Homelander could be infected.
Xia Shang summoned his Panel. The Fusion Progress on it had actually jumped to 76%. It was a good thing he hadn't stopped the Mirror Image from committing suicide; otherwise, there was a high probability that his inner desire not to die would have directly erupted.
It had to be said, this Desire Mirror Image had a very high level of intelligence, and its ability was quite bizarre.
There were several times when even he almost couldn't react in time.
Just as Xia Shang was about to leave the Room, the ground suddenly began to shake violently, as if struck by an earthquake. The ceiling above Xia Shang's head creaked, cracking into countless fissures. In an instant, a large amount of bricks mixed with concrete rained down on Xia Shang.
An earthquake? Was there such a part in the source material?
The intense tremor caused Xia Shang's body to sway violently. The glaring cracks on the wall seemed to tell Xia Shang that he had no time to think. He had to leave the Apartment before it completely collapsed, or he would likely be buried directly by the falling building.
His arms transformed into blades, slicing through the falling concrete before him. Xia Shang's legs transformed into a cheetah-like structure.
"Shit, this is really messed up. An earthquake out of nowhere." To save his life, Xia Shang had to unleash all his speed. At this moment, he was like a true cheetah, constantly weaving through the debris. Obstacles that couldn't be avoided were mercilessly sliced apart by Xia Shang.
Relying on his astonishing reaction ability and speed, he reached the Apartment's Iron Door in no time.
Xia Shang turned his head to look at the corpses crushed by the falling rocks. He hadn't expected this dungeon to be destroyed like this. He wondered if Cha Hyun-soo could survive this earthquake. If not, he would have to leave this dungeon early.
Bang! A block of concrete weighing tens of thousands of pounds smashed heavily onto Xia Shang's shoulder.
Half of his body was driven into the ground.
Boom! Several tentacles shot up into the sky, forcefully shredding the rock. In the sky-high dust, Xia Shang slowly stood up. Facing the Iron Door, he directly swung his arm, which had transformed into a blade. The extremely sharp blade smoothly cut a nick into the Iron Door.
Just as Xia Shang was about to leave, he stopped.
Something was wrong! Twelve parts out of ten, something was seriously wrong!
Xia Shang spun around abruptly and rushed towards the corpses. He extended his arm and directly pulled one of the corpses out from under a large rock. The corpse's face was smashed into a bloody mess, its original appearance completely unrecognizable.
Immediately, Xia Shang endured the continuously falling heavy objects and dug out a few more corpses. But without exception, these corpses either had their heads smashed or their faces covered in blood, not a single one was recognizable, let alone a survivor.
"This is still the damn Mirror Space!"
Xia Shang was completely enraged. Crack! With a loud bang, a massive figure gradually appeared in the dust. The Titan Giant was over four meters tall, with blade tentacles growing from its back. Its chest, arms, and face were covered with countless lively eyeballs.
"Having fun? Don't let me find you." Xia Shang's mouth split to his ears, dense fangs covering his lower jaw. Only now did he understand that everything in the Mirror Space was fake, all hallucinations created by the Mirror Image.
Before, the reason the Mirror Image could wound him was only through hallucinations.
It made him believe that it had the ability to reflect injuries, but in reality, it was all in his imagination. The other party had merely used an illusion to create a wound on his body; the pain was just a result of his own mind filling in the blanks.
This was why the other party couldn't kill him.
As a Mirror Image of Desire, it only had the ability to control the Mirror Space, and this ability would increase as its Fusion Degree increased.
Before, it could only affect him, but now it could create such a large area of illusion.
As expected, once he figured this out, the earthquake suddenly stopped. The rocks falling from the ceiling dissipated like bubbles the moment they touched him. Hiss! Twelve blue lasers shot out from the eyeballs on Xia Shang's body surface.
Everything in the path of the lasers turned into nothingness.
"Found you." In the Room where he had been previously, Xia Shang found traces of the Mirror Image.
Xia Shang revealed a ferocious smile. With a boom, his massive body vanished from the spot like a cannonball.
Everything blocking his path was shattered. As he approached the Mirror Image, deep, bottomless cracks appeared in the ground. But Xia Shang didn't care, plowing through the ground as if walking on flat land, charging towards the Mirror Image! Boom! Accompanied by a terrifying explosion and tremor, the Mirror Image was smashed into the wall by Xia Shang's punch. Countless debris splattered, and the wall exploded.
"Having fun?" Xia Shang's five fingers dug into the decaying Mirror Image, lifting it to his eyes. "I am your desire. As long as you don't die, I cannot disappear."
The Mirror Image opened its only remaining eye and looked at Xia Shang. At the same time, a large amount of black liquid surged from its body surface. The essence of this liquid was Xia Shang's desire. As long as Xia Shang's desire still existed, the Mirror Image could continuously regenerate. This was the true reason for its fearlessness.
"You are indeed my desire, but only a small part of it. Do you think it would be difficult for me to erase you?" As soon as Xia Shang finished speaking, several terrifying shadows, blotting out the sky, appeared again from behind the scenes. That indescribable sense of oppression.
It caused the Mirror Image to have a thought of death in its heart. "Will I really die?"
It was originally condensed from Xia Shang's desire not to die, yet what it feared was also death. The moment it thought it would die, it truly died. Its body shattered into countless pieces like a mirror, and finally, along with the Mirror Space, dissipated before Xia Shang.
Inside the Room, Xia Shang opened his eyes, as if everything just now had been merely hallucinations.
[Adaptation Self-Healing Talent is fusing, current progress 99%]
Fortunately, the Mirror Image had its own consciousness, otherwise, it would have been even harder to deal with. This time, he almost got himself trapped.
......
As evening approached, Cha Hyun-soo successfully led Han Du-sik and others to the First Floor.
And informed them about the Speedster Monster.
At this time, Yoon Ji-su and Jung Jae-heon had made a huge rescue banner out of bedsheets. They planned to hang it outside the Apartment so that if the Army passed by, they could see the banner and know that there were still survivors inside the Apartment.
Seo Yi-kyung, who came to the First Floor with Cha Hyun-soo, had also confirmed the fact that she was pregnant.
"What's wrong with him?" Xia Shang frowned, looking at the unconscious Pyeon Sang-wook.
"He's still alive, just attacked by a monster and fell into a coma."
Park Yu-ri, who was bandaging Pyeon Sang-wook's wound, said.
Little did she know, various images were flashing through Pyeon Sang-wook's mind at this moment... The worker whose daughter was missing, begging him for help to find her; witnessing his Father being burned alive by Criminals when he was a child, yet enduring the pain and crawling out of the sea of fire...
These images instantly startled him awake. He subconsciously grabbed Park Yu-ri's neck. Park Yu-ri was checking the recovery of his wound and didn't expect to be suddenly attacked.
"Hey, Uncle, let go quickly." Cha Hyun-soo hurriedly helped Park Yu-ri break free from the restraint.
"Cough, cough, cough!!" Pyeon Sang-wook's actions almost made Park Yu-ri unable to breathe. She clutched her chest and coughed violently. She had asthma and couldn't be overly stimulated, so she quickly took out her drug from her pocket and sprayed it into her throat.
The next day, a group of people held an internal drill to deal with the monsters.
The drill results were very good, and everything seemed to be within the plan.
Xia Shang did not participate in this drill. Instead, he found An Seon-yeong. At this time, she was carefully taking care of the siblings Kim Soo-young and Kim Young-soo. Due to Xia Shang's intervention, An Seon-yeong did not hide in the Restroom and turn into a cocoon like in the source material.
"Come chase me, hehe, you can't catch me."
After Xia Shang pushed open the Room door, he found the siblings Kim Young-soo and Kim Soo-young playing and chasing each other.
An Seon-yeong watched them play quietly from the side.
"Is there something you need?" An Seon-yeong asked.
"Nothing, I just came to see them." Xia Shang took out two lollipops and handed them to the two children. These candies were taken from the Green Supermarket. When he went to get the candies, he unexpectedly saw Kim Seok-hyun's Wife bringing him food.
Kim Seok-hyeon was very dissatisfied with his Wife and severely reprimanded her. The Woman, who had endured domestic violence for a long time, took a knife and placed it behind the scenes after leaving the Isolation Room. She wanted to kill Kim Seok-hyeon before her, but ultimately did not act.
"These two children are quite lively," Xia Shang said while using his analysis ability.
An Seon-yeong showed a happy smile: "Yes, they are as lively as my child. It's a pity..."
She looked at the empty stroller before her, her gaze somewhat lost. It seemed she had walked out of the shadow. This was a good thing. If she had remained immersed in the illusion that her child was not dead, she would have sooner or later been completely swallowed by desire and turned into a monster that had lost its sanity.
A few minutes later.
The Panel popped up a notification that the analysis is complete.
(End of Chapter)