Roommate, William Carter!

Why is he here?

And how did he appear behind him without being noticed?

Ignoring his confusion, William Carter lowered his voice: "I know you're confused, I'm confused too. If I'm right, you must be stuck in some kind of time loop. There's only one way to break it... Go back to the dorm. When someone knocks on the door, don't answer, and don't open it!"

After thinking for a moment, the boy nodded.

The origin of the time loop was asking who was knocking on the door. As long as he didn't answer, it should end.

If he didn't do this, it would keep repeating. The two of them bypassed the woods and walked along the back wall of the dormitory building, arriving beneath the window.

This way, they wouldn't run into their repeating selves, avoiding uncontrollable changes.

Hearing his "self" push the door and leave, the boy opened the window and quietly climbed inside.

The room was empty.

A gust of wind from the window slammed the door shut, and immediately after, the sound of someone kicking the door and an angry shout came from outside.

The boy held his breath and didn't respond.

Sure enough, there was no more movement, as if all the loops had vanished.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the boy finally felt his whole body go limp and sat down heavily on the floor.

William Carter also started laughing.

"Thank you..."

Knowing that if it weren't for this roommate, the chaos might have continued, the boy was about to express his gratitude when he suddenly froze.

After meeting the other, he hadn't mentioned the time loop, nor had he talked about what happened in the dorm. How did this guy know everything so clearly?

As if he had experienced it himself?

Something's not right!

Just as he was wondering whether to ask, his gaze fell to the floor, and his pupils shrank again.

Under the bed, a corpse was lying sideways, its head severed, eyes wide open in disbelief, as if even at the moment of death, it couldn't accept what had happened.

Judging by the coagulation of the blood, it had been dead for at least two hours.

And the face was... exactly the same as William Carter, who was smiling not far away!

Two William Carters—one standing in front of him, one lying cold and dead under the bed...

Trembling all over, the boy got up and instinctively backed away.

"You've noticed?"

Seeing his tension, William Carter wore a strange smile, a dagger appearing in his palm: "Then you can die!"

Whoosh!

He lunged forward.

"You..."

Knowing he couldn't dodge and that death was certain, the boy burst out with unprecedented strength, grabbed the other's wrist, struggled for a moment, snatched the dagger, and, eyes closed, slashed down.

Crack!

The other's head fell to the ground, eyes wide in disbelief at being killed in return.

Coming back to his senses, the boy trembled uncontrollably: "I actually killed him..."

A time loop was already hard enough to understand, and now he'd killed someone...

The intense anxiety made him dizzy. Not knowing what to do, a distant voice sounded in his ear.

"William Carter!"

"William Carter!"

The world spun. When he opened his eyes again, the boy found himself sitting in a spacious, bright classroom.

The dorm, the cold night, the blood, the corpse... all had vanished.

A boy about his age was softly calling his roommate's name.

His body jolted, and he turned his head: "Where is William Carter?"

Could it have all been a dream?

Was this William Carter not dead?

If so, then he hadn't killed anyone.

His deskmate frowned: "Aren't you William Carter?"

As he spoke, he handed over a mirror.

Immediately, the boy saw the face of his "roommate"—crystal clear, eyes wide in terror, exactly the same as the head under the bed.

His body froze, and a dry, shriveled voice squeezed out of his throat, full of tension and disbelief.

"I am... William Carter?"

He... was actually the roommate he had killed!

Chapter Two: The Mirror Appears

"You've always been William Carter, haven't you? Don't tell me you forgot again!"

His deskmate rolled his eyes.

A loud "boom!" sounded in his mind, countless memories merging together, and the boy's body stiffened.

So it was a dream!

He really was William Carter, eighteen years old this year, a student in Class 7, Grade 12 at Tan City No. 2 High School. His deskmate and best friend, David Bolton, was a slightly chubby boy with a large forehead, nicknamed: Edward Carter.

Whenever he slept in class, it was always the other who covered for him.

"How long was I asleep just now?" William Carter asked.

"About half an hour!"

Glancing at the cheap digital watch on his wrist, Edward Bolton looked odd: "Seems longer than usual."

Though he didn't know the content of the nightmare, his deskmate could tell something was off.

It was always around twenty minutes, very punctual, but this time it was longer.

Saying nothing more, the memories sealed in William Carter's mind surfaced. After an unknown amount of time, he sighed.

Three years ago, a car accident sent him flying, crashing into a mirror. He saw with his own eyes many fragments of his reflection burrow into his body.

Later, when the doctors operated to remove them, they were surprised to find that all the mirror shards had vanished!

They took several X-rays but found nothing. In the end, they could only conclude... they must have been mistaken!

Since he was healthy at the time, he didn't think much of it.