Me and My Demonic Friends

Chapter 3

"Surely, you’re still curious whether ghosts really exist in this world. How about playing a little game? The truth lies in the moment you open your eyes."

The description of the nightmare-level task was vague, leaving no clear understanding of what needed to be done, but it gave off an eerie vibe.

"According to the task description, it seems like I’m supposed to play a game, but can something as simple as a game really be classified as nightmare-level?" He had spent hours on a normal difficulty task without rest, just barely managing to repair all the dolls within the time limit.

Flipping through his phone, Chen Fan grew more curious. "What if I give it a try?"

Once the thought crossed his mind, it spread uncontrollably like vines throughout his brain.

"The nightmare-level task offers the highest rewards. Besides, of the three tasks refreshed today, I don’t have the confidence to complete the simple or standard ones. Might as well take a gamble."

Unable to weather the off-season, the haunted house was about to be sold or shut down, and Chen Fan knew his situation all too well. Seeing a glimmer of hope for change, he was unwilling to let any opportunity slip by.

"It's decided then. After all, I’ll have to experience a nightmare-level task sooner or later."

Sitting up on the bed, Chen Fan clicked on the final task.

"Confirm acceptance of the nightmare difficulty daily task? Acceptance may trigger unknown situations."

"Confirm."

The phone screen flashed, and the real task information appeared.

"To see another world, one must possess extraordinary courage, incredible luck, and a little bit of help. The game below is called 'There’s You in the Mirror.' At 2:04 AM, enter the bathroom alone, lock the door, turn off the lights, face the mirror, and light a candle between you and the mirror. Then close your eyes, focus your mind, and slowly whisper your name."

"In the dark, anything can happen. Perhaps a stranger’s face will appear in the mirror, maybe a pair of blood-red eyes will watch you from the corner, or blood will seep from the walls and door cracks. What you must do is remain unmoved and quietly stand before the mirror."

"After thirty minutes, the task will automatically be completed, provided you do not open your eyes during this time, regardless of what happens."

Reading through the task description, Chen Fan felt uneasy. "Could there really be another world, one that ordinary people cannot see?"

With still some time before 2:04 AM, he didn’t rush to start and instead searched online for information related to this game.

It didn’t take long before Chen Fan found some disturbing accounts. People who had played this game spoke of being cursed, some vaguely mentioning disfigured faces, and others even going missing from their homes, suspected to have been dragged into the mirror world.

"They describe it all in such vivid detail, like a ghost story." The more Chen Fan read, the more intrigued he became. As the owner of a haunted house, he was always thinking of ways to scare people, how to create a more terrifying experience for visitors while keeping them safe. After reading all the information about this game, he felt like a new door was opening before him.

"Playing a horror game alone in a haunted house in the dead of night—just thinking about it is exhilarating!"

He checked the battery on his phone, deciding that such a historic moment needed to be documented.

"I’ll record the entire thing. If it’s truly that scary, maybe my haunted house could add a new attraction." He rummaged through drawers for candles and a lighter. When the clock struck 2:00 AM, he grabbed the items and made his way to the first floor bathroom of the haunted house.

Choosing the first-floor bathroom wasn’t a random decision. He had thought it through—if something truly horrifying happened during the game, he could always jump out of the window and escape.

The haunted house was eerily silent in the dead of night. A young man, willing to risk his life to save on electricity, entered the cramped bathroom with a flashlight and a candle, locking himself in without hesitation.

"A dark, enclosed environment is the best at triggering inner fears. The bathroom, being the most sinister place in the house, is filled with items like mirrors, grids, and sinks that seem ordinary but can heavily influence the mind. The designer of this game is clever; they understand how to exploit the deepest fears in people, creating the most terrifying atmosphere from the simplest surroundings." Chen Fan, with his unique understanding of horror, analyzed and absorbed the situation.

"Real terror doesn’t require expensive props—just magnify the discomfort in the visitor’s heart, and they will be defeated by their own fears." Taking a deep breath, Chen Fan activated the recording feature on his phone and spoke into the screen. "I don’t know what consequences this game will bring. If something happens to me, please, anyone who finds this phone, keep the video safe—it might be the key, the key to unlocking the truth behind the lies."

After speaking, Chen Fan fixed the phone beside the sink, ensuring it captured both his face and the mirror in front of him.

"It’s 2:01 AM, just three more minutes."

The wait for death was far more terrifying than death itself. In the stillness of the bathroom, every little sound seemed amplified. As the minutes ticked by, his heartbeat quickened.

He watched the time on his phone. When the minute hand hit 4, he turned off the flashlight, lit the candle, and placed it between himself and the mirror.

The flickering flame became the only light in the dark, standing between the mirror and reality like a guiding spirit, trying to draw something out of the mirror.

Chen Fan glanced at his reflection in the mirror, feeling oddly unsettled. "Has the game started?"

He slowly lowered his head, closed his eyes, and softly whispered his name.

"Chen Fan, Chen Fan, Chen Fan…"

Repeating his name made it gradually feel unfamiliar, like writing a character over and over until even he couldn’t recognize it.

To prevent this, he counted silently for three seconds after each time he spoke his name. He was also using the time to keep track of the task’s progress.

After all, the success of the task depended on not opening his eyes within the next half hour, no matter what occurred.

"At 2 AM, standing in the haunted house, lighting a candle, closing my eyes, and playing a game in front of a mirror. If I weren’t doing this myself, I wouldn’t believe anyone would ever do such a thing." He whispered his name, trying to resist the urge to think of anything else.

"This game is full of psychological suggestions. The hardest part isn’t dealing with so-called ghosts and legends but restraining oneself. As long as I don’t open my eyes, I should be safe."

Easier said than done. After the first ten minutes, something unexpected happened.

Maybe the bathroom window wasn’t shut properly, and the night wind swept across Chen Fan’s face like an invisible hand.

The bathroom door creaked lightly, water droplets from the ceiling pipes splashed onto the floor, and something in the drain seemed to crawl, making a rustling sound.

In the silence, every sound felt amplified. In this environment, many would feel uneasy, but Chen Fan was an exception. His early experiences had hardened his mind and nerves.

His mind was blank, and he focused solely on counting the time.

Around twenty minutes later, he felt the temperature in the bathroom drop inexplicably, as if ice cubes were placed around him, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

"Stay calm! Don’t think about why, don’t scare yourself. Just ten more minutes, I can make it!" He could vaguely feel a draft, something moving around him. His fists were clenched, veins popping on the backs of his hands, yet his body remained as still as a pine tree rooted in place.

"Chen Fan, Chen Fan, Chen Fan…"

In the final five minutes, Chen Fan sensed that the flame in the bathroom flickered, and another voice seemed to echo his name.

"An echo? No, that’s impossible!"

"Chen Fan…"

The voice seemed to be calling to him, anxious, as if there was something very important to say.

"It sounds like it's coming from outside the door. Should I go check?" He quickly dismissed the thought—he knew the game’s rule: just stay in front of the mirror.

He counted the time in his mind, and the voice seemed to distort. He was certain that someone else was calling his name from outside, and that person seemed very anxious.

"Whoever’s out there is just trying to trick me. It’s clearly a trap, and a very obvious one at that." Chen Fan scoffed. "The atmosphere is great, but the scare tactics are pretty lame."

In the final three minutes, a deafening scratching sound came from the bathroom door, as if someone was scraping it with their nails or biting it with their teeth. The door shook, as if it could burst open at any moment.

"1798 seconds, 1799 seconds, 1800 seconds!" The half-hour was up, and the sounds from outside stopped, leaving the room in complete silence.

To make sure he wasn’t mistaken, Chen Fan didn’t open his eyes right away. He counted another three hundred seconds before finally stepping back and placing his hands on his chest, blinking his eyes open.

The candle in the bathroom had long since extinguished, and the room was pitch black. Chen Fan felt that something had changed, though he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Turning on his flashlight, the light revealed the shattered mirror. His reflection was fragmented into countless pieces, an unsettling sight. What shocked him further was the appearance of an old doll in front of the mirror.

Its button eyes glimmered faintly, and its patched body was stuffed with cotton. The doll wasn’t cute, but it held great significance for Chen Fan—it was the first doll he had ever made, the same one his parents had carried with them when they went missing.

The doll leaned against the broken mirror as if trying to prevent something from emerging.

"The door’s locked. How did the doll get in? Through the window? No… Why is it moving on its own? That’s the real question!" Chen Fan felt his reality shatter, and his thoughts became a mess.

The two of them—the man and the doll—stared at each other for three minutes before Chen Fan regained his composure. He moved his cold fingers and carefully approached.

The doll’s button eyes, no matter the angle, seemed to follow his every movement. Chen Fan stared at the toy he had made, his lips twitching involuntarily.

He carefully avoided the doll, picked up his phone, and said to himself, "Luckily, I was prepared."

The recording had never stopped. After making sure to back up the video, he began to watch it.

The video wasn’t very clear. The candle flickered, and Chen Fan standing before the mirror appeared stiff. The reflection in the mirror, however, seemed far more alive.

The first ten minutes were uneventful, but things started changing from the eleventh minute onward.

The sound of the night wind wasn’t captured, but the video showed the bathroom door shaking lightly.

Then, static began to fill the video. Though the footage seemed normal, it conveyed an indescribable sense of terror—perhaps a result of the innate fear of darkness and the unknown.

As Chen Fan watched, his face grew pale. He remembered keeping his eyes closed and maintaining distance from the mirror, yet the video showed him slowly leaning forward, as though he was about to press against the glass.

By the twenty-fifth minute, his upper body had bent at a seventy-degree angle, and his nose was almost touching the mirror.

A few seconds later, cracks appeared on the mirror. The sight was enough to send chills down his spine.

Then came the most unbelievable part: the reflection of Chen Fan in the mirror changed expression, baring its teeth and violently slamming into the glass!

At that same moment, the candle went out, and the video stopped recording.

Due to the camera angle, the doll wasn’t captured in the video, and Chen Fan had no idea what had happened in the final five minutes.

"It seems the thing in the mirror was trying to get out, but it was stopped by the doll. If I think about it, I should thank it for saving me." Chen Fan hugged the doll from the sink and asked earnestly, "Can you understand me? Do you know where my parents went?"

The doll didn’t respond, its button eyes flickering faintly.

He hugged it tightly and glanced at the bathroom door, not daring to leave. Alone, he huddled under the windowsill, taking out his black phone. The task completion notification had appeared.

"I have to admit, you’re lucky. Congratulations on completing the nightmare-level daily task! You’ve earned the task reward—The Primary Talent Skill: Embalming."

"Embalming, I hope you take this talent more seriously when you inherit it. Unlike beautification, embalmers only apply makeup to corpses. The beauty you create touches both life and death, bringing the cold back to life and granting it eternal beauty."

"Completing your first nightmare-level task earns you the title 'Newcomer to Nightmare City' and an additional reward, unlocking the one-star horror scene 'Midnight Survival Trial' task! After completing this trial, the facility will be added to your haunted house!"

As he scanned the black phone for more details, Chen Fan became thoughtful. The development of his haunted house relied heavily on makeup artists—whether for actors or props, everything needed a second layer of transformation. A skilled makeup artist could make all the difference in creating a realistic effect.