Trust Is More Dangerous Than Truth

The clamorous hall instantly fell silent.

Murky eyes rolled all around, every gaze converging on Su Lai.

Some held doubt, some held mockery, but most were simply buzzing with excitement, eager for a show.
Neighbors loved this kind of thing best; the juicier and more scandalous the gossip next door, the sweeter it was. After all, as long as it didn’t concern them, they could just watch from a safe distance.

Bai Ke shot a worried look at Lai-ge. As a fellow player, he was sweating bullets for Su Lai.

But Su Lai, at the center of all those stares, remained completely unfazed. He was focused on counting money, stacking hundred-yuan bills one after another.
The unique smell of ink from cash permeated the silence.

Unfazed by the surrounding doubts, Su Lai said: “You’ve said this, and my mom’s heard it, no less than a hundred times.” “Kid, if you want a raise, you need to show some real skill, not learn to threaten people. Get it?” Su Lai handed the money to the high school boy, his tone as calm as ever. “I don’t fall for that. Don’t ruin your own job over something so petty.”

“One sentence: you in or out? If you’re out, plenty of others are in.” Su Lai mimicked the high school boy’s tone.

The high school boy glared at Su Lai hatefully. He struggled internally for a moment, but in the end, for the sake of his games and internet cafe money, he gritted his teeth and reluctantly put on the wonton shop apron.

“In.”

The corner of Su Lai’s mouth lifted in a humorless smile. No one could argue with money, whether player or NPC. That was the charm of 「Money Makes the Ghost Turn the Mill.」

As the high school boy passed by Bai Ke, he muttered darkly: “You’re also a liar. A bald guy pretending to use hair growth serum. That mop on your head is fake.”

“…” Innocently caught in the crossfire, Bai Ke froze for a moment, then immediately retorted: “So what if I’m a bit bald? Wait until you graduate and enter the workforce as a beast of burden. You’ll be bald soon enough!”

Several NPCs with thinning hair quietly applauded Bai Ke from the sidelines.

So it seemed the way original residents went berserk wasn’t just limited to pulling knives; they could also run their mouths off without restraint.

Seeing this, Bei Yao immediately melted into the crowd. She didn’t want to make eye contact with that sharp-tongued high school boy.

“Mom, I’ve already paid the deposits to everyone. Just assign them their tasks.” Su Lai pocketed the remaining money, glancing at Wang Chunying, who had remained silent.

The words of the berserk original residents were different from everyday gossip. They could have a deeper impact on NPCs. At this moment, Wang Chunying’s gaze seemed less firm. Her murky eyes rolled slowly, looking at Su Lai with a confused expression.

“Little Four, what did Jiang Zhenhua just say?” Wang Chunying’s voice was light and airy, like a breeze brushing past one’s skin, making people shiver involuntarily.

Jiang Zhenhua was the high school boy’s name.

Su Lai paused slightly. He knew Wang Chunying’s faith in this “mother-son” relationship was wavering. Trust wasn’t unbreakable. If the value could go up, it could certainly come down.

“He’s talking nonsense.” Su Lai’s tone remained calm. “Mom, do you believe him?”

Wang Chunying: “Jiang Zhenhua makes a hobby of peeping into his neighbors’ private lives. His teachers and parents at school say he writes everything he peeps at from other people’s windows into his essays. And everything he sees, records, and writes down really happened.”

Su Lai nodded. “So, Mom, you’re doubting that I’m your Little Four now.” His tone neither confirmed nor denied. There wasn’t even a hint of being wrongfully accused.

“You’re not a resident here. You’re just like them. You’re an outsider. And outsiders are all no good.” The high school boy, having received his advance payment, had no integrity and continued exposing the contractor to his face.

In the real world, he would have been fired on the spot.

“We’re all working in the same shop. Don’t cause division.” Su Lai glanced at him.

But the high school boy remained unrestrained. “The way to verify is simple. A mirror.” “In the mirror, outsiders are different from us. They’re people. We’re ghosts—”

Before he could finish, Uncle Wang, wielding his watermelon knife, covered his mouth. “It’s the seventh lunar month. Don’t mention ghosts! Amitabha.”

The high school boy sneered. “You people who’ve entered the workforce are so complicated. Is admitting you’re already dead really that hard?”

His words made everyone present awkward, whether living or dead.

Wang Chunying’s hand, chopping meat, paused in mid-air. Holding two sticky cleavers, she turned to Su Lai. “Little Four, you haven’t been to my room in a long time.” “There’s a dressing table in front of my bed. The mirror on it is big and bright. Your father gave it to me when we got married. I never threw it away. Kept it as a memento.”

Wang Chunying’s implication was clear. She wanted Su Lai to go to the mirror and verify his true form. Human or ghost, original resident or outsider—one look would tell.

Bai Ke and Bei Yao immediately panicked, forgetting to control their expressions. They looked at Su Lai in alarm. If the disaster affecting the city gates brings harm to the fish in the moat, and Su Lai’s impersonation of Wang Xiaosi was exposed, they wouldn’t fare well either.

Su Lai’s expression didn’t change. He put down the registration book, walked out from behind the counter, and said: “Okay, Mom. Let’s go.”

Meet the soldiers with arms, stop the flood with earth. Since he had dared to lie and impersonate Wang Xiaosi, performing flawlessly in front of Wang Chunying, he had the courage to face the consequences if his lie was exposed.

The only option now was… Whatever Wang Chunying wanted to see, let her see it. As Wang Xiaosi’s mother, she had that right.

Wang Chunying’s murky eyes stopped rolling. She stared at Su Lai for a moment, then wiped the pork blood from the backs of her cleavers on her apron. “Good.”

Like all parents of the older generation, she wasn’t much for talking. Apart from coaxing Wang Xiaosi to sleep, she rarely…

Su Lai followed behind Wang Chunying. His pink flip-flops thumped on the cement stairs, the only sound in the building at that moment.

Whether murky or clear, the gazes followed the flip-flops upward. Some were worried, some were waiting for the show.

Su Lai watched Wang Chunying’s shoulders, which held the two cleavers. Earlier that afternoon, he had said Wang Chunying was well-suited to holding them. Now, that seemed somewhat ironic.

But Su Lai showed no sign of panic as Wang Chunying pushed open the door to her bedroom. This room was even mustier than Wang Xiaosi’s. There was no air conditioner, only an old fan by the foot of the bed. The fluorescent light wasn’t very bright, its dim white glow flickering.

The dressing table facing the bed was covered with a black cloth. The original residents of this community were wary of anything reflective. Yet even so, Wang Chunying hadn’t thrown out this mirror.

Wang Chunying gestured for Su Lai to go to the mirror himself. She waited by the door with her knives, surveying the entire room.

The room was small. In a couple of steps, Su Lai was in front of the dressing table. He paused for half a second. He could clearly feel Wang Chunying’s gaze on him.

Wang Chunying’s stare wasn’t sharp. It didn’t have the ferocity of someone determined to get to the bottom of things. It was something more complex, calmer, and more contradictory.

Might as well gamble. Su Lai trusted his instincts.

The moment Su Lai lifted the black cloth from the mirror, suddenly, click. The room was plunged into pitch-black darkness.

Wang Chunying by the door had turned off the bedroom light. Without a light source, the mirror and the person in front of it were both submerged in darkness. Only the light from the opposite building faintly filtered in, multicolored, like a spreading stain of contamination.

“It’s dark. Sleep early.” Wang Chunying’s voice sounded calm and distant. “Little Four, sleep in my room tonight. It’s farther from the kitchen. They’ll be working all night getting ready for the opening, and it’ll be noisy. You’ll sleep better in Mom’s room.” “Sleep early. Tomorrow’s opening will be busy. You need to help Mom.”

With that, Wang Chunying left in the darkness. Her hurried footsteps faded down the stairs, merging with the sounds of the house below, which had come back to life.

Su Lai, who had already lifted the black cloth, stood alone facing the pitch-black mirror. Only a vague outline was reflected. He couldn’t see anything clearly.

He said nothing. Following Wang Chunying’s words, he lay down on her bed and closed his eyes to rest.

In that instant, he was convinced. Wang Chunying cared about this “mother-son” relationship more than anyone. Trust had already been established. She didn’t need the so-called truth.

It was enough that Wang Xiaosi had come home. She only wanted that “fact.” Anything that might shake that “fact” had no reason to exist.

Going to the mirror was just a bit of a mother’s “willfulness.” She wanted her “son” to be willing to patiently prove something to her, even if the result didn’t really matter.

Su Lai sighed softly. Looking at the mixed light from outside the window, listening to the sounds of preparations downstairs, he unknowingly drifted off to sleep. In this contaminated instance, he slept even better than in the real world.

He met Xiao Chang again in his dream. This guy was curled up like a kitten beside his pillow, occasionally flicking his eyelashes with a finger.

Su Lai opened his eyes in the dream. Xiao Chang smiled playfully.

“Don’t disturb my sleep.” Su Lai waved his hand. He hated it when people disturbed his rest.

“Heh.” Xiao Chang’s fingertips didn’t settle down. They moved from his eyelashes to the corner of his eye. His hands were cold, his movements slow and meticulous. Even though Su Lai couldn’t see his features clearly, he felt an unprecedented seriousness.

Why would someone focus so intently on touching another person with just their fingertips? Tenuous, carrying a playful smile.

He didn’t know what Xiao Chang was thinking. He didn’t even know who the other person was. He only remembered always having this “non-existent” friend in his memory. They were close, but he seemed to have disappeared from the very beginning.

“Ah Lai, want to play a game?” Xiao Chang leaped lightly from the bed like a cat and grabbed Su Lai’s wrist. “The mirror game.”

Xiao Chang’s hands were too cold. It wasn’t a temperature a living person should have. Cold and soft, reminding Su Lai of a snake that had cultivated into a spirit.

But snake spirits were always reserved and gentle, not as mischievous as Xiao Chang, Su Lai thought.

In the dream, Su Lai lost control of his body. With a gentle pull from Xiao Chang on his wrist, he sat up. Led by those cool hands, he arrived in front of the mirror. The light was still off. Only two blurry outlines were in the mirror. Whether human or ghost, it was hard to tell.

Guided by Xiao Chang, Su Lai reached out and touched the mirror’s surface. “Be careful. It’s all cracked. Don’t cut your hand.” Xiao Chang whispered in his ear. “Ah Lai, don’t forget. I’m afraid of your blood.”

Su Lai gently touched the surface with his palm. Wang Chunying’s dressing table mirror was indeed covered in cracks, as if it had been smashed again and again. But even so, she hadn’t thrown it away. She kept it in the corner, covered with a black cloth, a tattered memento.

“Is this a dream or reality right now?” Su Lai asked the other.

Xiao Chang: “A dream and not a dream. Does it matter?”

“It matters. Give me a straight answer.” Su Lai was firm. “Otherwise, I’ll cut my hand and smear my blood all over you.”

Xiao Chang himself had just said he was afraid of his blood.

Xiao Chang laughed as usual. “Ah Lai, you’ve forgotten again.” “Your dreams aren’t dreams. Only people can dream.”

Su Lai: “You’re saying I’m not a person either?” He emphasized the word “either.”

“Let’s not talk about that. We don’t have much time. It would spoil the fun.” Xiao Chang placed his fingers over Su Lai’s, guiding him. “Ah Lai, when you find the entrance to the labyrinth and find me, I can answer more of your questions.”

Xiao Chang took his other hand as well. He carefully pressed his palm against the mirror’s surface, avoiding the crisscrossing cracks. Their two figures overlapped in the mirror.

The window moved without wind. The light from the opposite building shone onto the mirror. In the cracked mirror, Su Lai saw his own face. Xiao Chang’s reflection was superimposed on his.

“You like having a mother, don’t you? I gave her to you.” Xiao Chang, within Su Lai’s reflection, lifted the corner of his mouth. It was an expression Su Lai wouldn’t normally make. Xiao Chang wanted to use his face to make expressions he wouldn’t make.

“Ah Lai, how can I make you feel fear?” The “Xiao Chang” in the mirror looked extremely sincere. He stared unblinkingly at the Su Lai outside the mirror.

In Su Lai’s eyes, his own reflection was scrutinizing him from behind a thin layer of glass. Neither truly real nor truly false. Far away yet close at hand.

“I’ve looked forward to it many times. I want to see you invaded by contamination.” The “him” in the mirror wore a smile. But because the mirror was cracked, the smile seemed precarious and fragmented.

Su Lai narrowed his eyes slightly, returning an equally aggressive gaze without changing his expression. After a moment, the corner of his mouth twitched. “To be honest, you’re sick.”

“Heh.” Being cursed at made Xiao Chang a little happy instead.

“You really are sick.” Su Lai affirmed again.

“Right? Can’t be cured. Come and try to cure me, then.” The hand Su Lai pressed against the mirror moved uncontrollably, with force. The cracked glass cut into the lines of his palm. Tiny sharp fragments pierced his flesh.

Blood welled from his palm, instantly spreading across the mirror’s surface along the complex network of cracks. Soon, the shattered mirror was bathed in scarlet blood.

Perhaps because it was happening in a dream, Su Lai didn’t feel pain or fear. Everything happened so calmly and naturally.

Fresh blood flowed from the gaps in the glass. Within the blurry scarlet, countless shattered eyes gazed.

Su Lai: “Fine. Just you wait.”

The moment his palm left the mirror, the dream ended.

The self-built house in the urban village didn’t let in sunlight. With the lights off, the room was still dark, but the clock pointed to 6 AM.

Downstairs was lively. After working all night with the nine highly-paid berserk original residents, Wang Chunying’s wonton shop, closed for years, was reopening.

No firecrackers, no worship of the God of Wealth. Wang Chunying had brewed a huge pot of bone broth and was giving it away free to nearby residents.
After drinking the broth, if they wanted wontons, they had to pay. Attracting customers and making money at the same time—it was also a marketing tactic for the opening.

Su Lai lazed in bed for a while. He lay staring at the mold spots on the wall and noticed the dressing table in the corner was gone. It had been cleared away while he slept.

This room no longer had a mirror. Wang Chunying had completely severed her ties to the past, both the memories and the doubts about her recovered child.

Wang Chunying had decided to believe unconditionally that he was Wang Xiaosi. No matter the truth, she had cut off her own path of doubt.

Su Lai raised his hand. There was no cut on his palm, not even a scar.

So it was just a dream.
As he breathed a sigh of relief, an indescribable sense of loss grew amidst the noise.

“Only people can dream”
—Xiao Chang’s words from the dream echoed repeatedly in his mind.

This guy was saying I’m not a person? What kind of insult was that?
Su Lai remembered Village Committee Rule 1: Always remember your name, gender, and appearance. Do not forget who you are.

Maybe Xiao Chang was his contaminant, invading his dreams to shake his will to be human.
For now, he’d firmly believe he was a person.

Downstairs, the self-built house was bustling inside and out. The wonton shop next door was already full. Customers couldn’t wait, so Uncle Wang simply set up tables in their own living room to seat the queue.

The sharp-tongued high school boy passed by, glanced at Su Lai fearfully, then scurried to the back kitchen to help like he’d seen a ghost.

Su Lai noticed the boy was wearing a mask. Through the white gauze, he could vaguely see traces of red, like rouge outlining his lips.

In a brief pause from his work, Uncle Wang smiled at Su Lai.
“Jiang Zhenhua talked too much. Your mom found him annoying, so she sewed him up.”

Su Lai raised an eyebrow.
“Sewed him up?”

Uncle Wang nodded, gesturing at his mouth.
“Your mom’s skilled. The stitches are fine and dense. Very neat.”
“We won’t short him his pay. But he won’t be saying anything he shouldn’t anymore.”

A couple of simple sentences were enough to make one’s imagination run wild and shiver.

Bai Ke had also put on a helper’s apron and was busy inside and out. The moment he saw Su Lai, his whole body relaxed with exhaustion.
“Cousin, I thought you were a goner. Scared me to death. I was on tenterhooks for you all night.”

After Su Lai was “invited” into Wang Chunying’s bedroom last night, he never came out. Bai Ke and Bei Yao thought their Lai-ge was done for, chopped up by Wang Chunying and stuffed into wonton fillings.

But early this morning, Lai-ge appeared in the living room in his pink flip-flops, not only unharmed but looking refreshed from sleep.

Having slept well, Su Lai yawned.
“How come you’re working too?”

Bai Ke grimaced.
“Auntie wouldn’t let me off. She grabbed me as free labor.”

Su Lai smiled.
“Our own auntie. Don’t complain. It’s not like your hair was going to grow back anyway.”

Bai Ke was speechless, silently cursing Su Lai’s hair to fall out completely.

“You’re helping out here, in contact with lots of original residents. Be careful not to farm your affection too high.” Su Lai reminded him.

Bai Ke’s expression soured further.
“Don’t even mention it. Doing business with the neighbors means dealing with picky customers. My affection is going down, not up.”

Just then, Bei Yao finished washing up and came to the living room. She was a paying tenant, so Wang Chunying hadn’t grabbed her for labor.

“Cousin, what exactly happened last night?” Even though he’d been busy non-stop moments ago, Bai Ke hadn’t forgotten to “care” for his good teammate.
“How did you escape from under Auntie’s knife?”

“During his escape, the suspect attacked a father and son surnamed Jiang living in Beixin Lane.”
“It is reported that at the time of the incident, both father and son were outside tenants. The father was seriously injured, the son less so. Both have been rushed to the hospital for isolation and treatment.”

At this point, shaky, low-resolution footage from the scene flashed on the screen. Holding their wonton bowls, everyone crowded in front of the TV to look closely.
This unfortunate father-son pair were precisely the neatly dressed toothpick-chewing duo—the older and younger players.

Yesterday, it was also the scarred father who had instigated Hu Xiang to steal…

The host’s smile widened.
“Whether this assault stemmed from personal vendetta or was a random act by an anti-social element is not yet known.”
“Nor will it ever be known. Cannot be known. Need not be known.” The host recited rapidly. His smiling voice, mixed with the noisy static, flowed like liquid contamination into the ears of the viewers in front of the TV.

Bai Ke and Bei Yao involuntarily shivered. Their mental stability dropped by two points.

“Currently, the escaped convict Hu Xiang has been **shot dead on the spot. It is understood that Hu Xiang was also an outside tenant, arrested for theft last night. His identity information is unknown.”
“At the moment of his death, Hu Xiang repented to heaven, loudly proclaiming himself a good person.”

The footage cut back to the crime scene, but it was already covered in static. Only a blur of red and black remained.
Several gunshots came from behind the screen, along with the enduring phrase—”I’m a good person!”

The broadcast ended. The two people at the table were stunned for a long time.

“Amitabha.” The moment he snapped out of it, Bai Ke muttered this, imitating Uncle Wang.

Su Lai: “You’re not a ghost. Why are you chanting sutras?”

Bai Ke was speechless. Bei Yao analyzed seriously.
“Looks like it’s not just original residents who can go berserk after being reported. Players can too. And after going berserk, their combat power increases drastically. Even if forcibly detained, they can still escape…”
Su Lai nodded thoughtfully. “Sounds perfect for doing things that need violence to solve.”

Bei Yao: “If Hu Xiang went berserk, it makes sense that the toothpick father and son were attacked. He was the one who instigated Hu Xiang to steal.”
“When your mental stability is severely compromised, you can lose your judgment. If someone gives you a push at that point, you really do fall into the abyss.” She sighed.

Bai Ke said with mixed emotions.
“If it hadn’t been Hu Xiang this time, it could have been you or me.”

A moment of silence spread.

Ring, ring, ring—
The living room phone suddenly rang. Wang Chunying wiped the blood from her hands on her apron and hurried over to answer it.

A few seconds later, Wang Chunying turned her gaze to Su Lai. Her expression was several degrees more serious than usual.
“Little Four, I need your help with something—”