Marvel : Starting as Ghost Riser

"What kind of world is inside? Why has Roger been in there so long and hasn't come out yet?"

George, his eyes bloodshot, chain-smoked cigarette after cigarette.

Roger had been inside the mirror for several hours, and he couldn't help but worry.

Sally, the informant, remained silent.

"You can go in and see for yourself. It's a paradise inside. I guarantee you won't be able to forget it once you're in there," Sally sneered.

"Then why did you come out?"

Every time this question was asked, Sally would clam up, making George itch with curiosity. This guessing game was too agonizing.

"Why did you abandon your child? You know, as a single mother, you raised him alone for so many years. Your bond must have been incredibly strong, I'm guessing that's right." George began to probe.

"But after you got the diary with your father's mirror, everything changed. It was like you completely lost all feelings for your son."

"The diary says the mirror is a magic mirror that can grant any wish, but it's also a demon that devours desire. Let me make a guess."

"That is, you got something from the mirror and exchanged something else for it. And that something might be your familial love, right?"

As George reasoned step by step, Sally's expression began to change, but she still remained stubbornly silent.

George's eyes lit up. It seemed he was right.

His years of police work had given him a knack for reading people. He'd make a statement, then judge the truth based on the other person's facial expressions, leading and deducing the story.

George lit another cigarette, taking a deep drag. He decided that if Roger didn't come out in another hour, he'd go into the mirror himself to take a look.

Just then, two figures appeared in the mirror. A moment later, they rushed out.

George quickly drew his gun, aiming at the two, while also holding the holy water Roger had given him.

"Don't shoot! Don't be hasty! It's us," Roger said urgently. Another moment, and George would have fed him some lead, and the whole book would have ended, which would have been hilarious.

"Roger, you're back! This is—Sally?!" George's eyes widened. He looked, and yes, it was her.

Then he rubbed his eyes and looked at the other side. It was still Sally. How could there be two?

"What? What's going on? There are two Sallys?"

Roger shrugged at George. "Don't look at me. I don't quite understand it either. And both of them are real."

Roger's pupils had a faint flicker of flame. He looked at both of them. They were both human, without any trace of demonic presence.

"This has turned into a case of the 'real and fake Monkey King.' Which one of you is real? I'm very curious."

The Sally tied up on the ground had a hideous expression, glaring venomously at Roger, the meddling handsome guy who had ruined everything for her.

"We're both real," said the Sally who had come out of the mirror.

"It all started when I got my father's diary. I learned about this magic mirror. At first, I wanted to follow my father's wishes and destroy it. But my growing curiosity eventually made me try it out."

"The result was that the first time I entered the mirror world, I discovered that it really could grant any wish. I created a pile of gold, hoping it would make life less difficult for me and my child.

However, I discovered that anything, as long as it was taken out of the mirror, would vanish into nothingness, becoming void. But I was unwilling to guard a treasure trove without being able to use it, so I desperately tried to find various methods."

At this point, Sally looked sadly at the Sally on the ground.

"Later, I discovered that I was God in the mirror world. Anything was real, as long as I thought it. Including food. So I had an idea: could I create a real Earth and bring my son to live here?"

So, Sally became increasingly curious about what she could achieve in the mirror world. Superman, Batman, Godzilla, everything that existed only in their movies and shows was created by her, one by one.

The longer she stayed, the less she wanted to leave. When she went to the real world, she had the illusion that the real world was fake, and the mirror world was real.

Then, as Roger knew, after Batman awakened, he tricked Sally, the creator, into forgetting her child and remaining immersed in the magic mirror.

"Then who is she? Who is she?" Roger pointed to the other Sally on the ground.

"She's my other personality, just like my mother—" Sally explained sadly.

"After my father and mother discovered this magic mirror left by my great-grandfather, they also began to study its abilities. Eventually, my mother's personality changed drastically, and she divorced my father.

Staying in the magic mirror for too long will create another personality. It's the embodiment of your negative traits. The longer you stay, the more real the alter ego becomes, until it eventually takes human form and walks out of the mirror."

Finishing her explanation, Sally took out another diary. This one belonged to her mother.

"Wait—I have a question," Roger suddenly thought of something.

"That means your mother is still somewhere in the mirror world? Didn't you see her when you went in?"

Sally shook her head sadly. "I don't know. When I first entered the magic mirror, I also wanted to find her, but I couldn't. Maybe she already died in the mirror world."

"Maybe she didn't die, but instead completely transformed into a shadow of the mirror, just like she went from being a person in the mirror to a real person. That's why you couldn't find her."

Roger pointed to the Sally on the ground. "Look at her shadow."

At this moment, the shadow of the Sally on the ground was becoming fainter and fainter, as if the room were lit by shadowless lamps.

And the attentive Roger noticed that when she first came out, Sally's shadow was very faint, but now it was becoming deeper. Perhaps if Roger had rescued her a few days later, she would have completely disappeared into the mirror world.

"It's all your fault, all of you! If you hadn't come out, everything would have been fine." Mirror Sally looked venomously at Sally and the others.

"If you hadn't come, nothing would have happened. I curse you all to die a horrible death! Now I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I finally came to this real world and enjoyed it for such a short time, and now I'm going to die, boohoo—" Mirror Sally, at first, cursed incessantly.

Gradually, her voice became softer, and eventually, she began to cry. There is great terror between life and death, and clearly, she was no different from a human.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. My selfishness, my greed. I'm sorry to all of you. I'm sorry to Tom. I let Superman down, and I'm sorry to you."

"You are the second personality that emerged from all my dissatisfaction with reality, my greed and craving for desires. I'm so sorry."

Sally, her eyes red, tears streaming down, slowly walked over and hugged Mirror Sally.

An astonishing scene occurred. Mirror Sally slowly turned transparent, transforming into a transparent white light.

In the white light, Mirror Sally's venomous expression gradually softened, replaced by a relieved smile. Finally, she merged with Sally...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dawn broke—

The birds began to chirp, busily searching for worms to eat. Plants stretched their bodies, welcoming the first ray of hope of the morning.

When a golden ray of sunlight shone into the room, George realized he hadn't slept all night.

He couldn't help but yawn and stretch.

He had dark circles under his eyes, and his eyes were bloodshot, looking like—

"George, you look like a panda who's been playing video games all night, hahahaha—" Roger couldn't resist making a joke.

"Is that so? I don't really care about that. I'm just concerned about my two colleagues from the precinct. Are they also in the magic mirror, swapped out like Sally?" George said helplessly.

"It's possible. When I was in the magic mirror, there was another Sally outside. She might have done something to make your two colleagues suspicious."

"Or, they saw me enter the magic mirror, or your father's diary, and discovered the magic mirror."

Sally hesitated for a moment, then continued, "The magic mirror has a magical quality. It's like D-rugs, addictive. Once you've been inside, it's impossible to resist its temptation."

After saying this, Sally couldn't help but look at Roger curiously, because she really didn't understand how Roger had resisted the temptation of the magic mirror.

A real world, where you could be a creator with a wave of your hand, getting whatever you wanted.

"Hahaha, no big deal. I saw at a glance that those demons weren't human." Roger chuckled, but his heart was bleeding. If it weren't for fear of censorship, he'd have loved to experience a harem of three thousand beauties...

"George, you go rest first. I'll go out and investigate what happened to your two colleagues. Then we can discuss it in the afternoon." Then Roger turned to Sally.

"You should rest too. You don't look well."

"What about you? Don't you need to rest?" Sally asked.

"Hehe, I don't need to. I'm a demon hunter. I can go days without sleep, no problem." Of course, Roger wasn't telling the truth, but he could go a day or two without sleep. After all, the Ghost Rider was a creature of the night.

After leaving the house alone, Roger began to inquire. In this day and age, finding a criminal was difficult, but finding two police officers was too easy, especially two out-of-town cops.

Soon, Roger found a uniformed patrol officer, a large, fat man, buying breakfast at a breakfast shop.

"Drinking such a high-calorie milk tea so early in the morning, no wonder you're so fat," Roger muttered.

He walked up to the counter of the breakfast shop. Nothing special, just the same old routine.

"Hello, please give me the same meal as this gentleman, and put his bill on my tab."

The fat man turned around, looking at Roger suspiciously. It was rare for someone to offer to pay for a police officer's breakfast. It was either someone they knew, or someone trying to bribe them.

"Good morning, officer. Can we sit down and chat? I'm from New York, looking for two guys in the same uniform as you." Roger extended his hand, friendly.

Hearing Roger's words, the fat man understood. He also extended his hand and shook Roger's.

"You're their colleague, right? Your New York precinct has called several times, asking about the situation. Honestly, we don't understand what's going on with them either."

After receiving the two breakfasts from the waitress, the two found a corner and sat down, starting to chat about George's two colleagues.

"My name is MacPherson."

"Roger."

Seeing that no one was looking their way, Roger pulled out a cigarette and, holding two green bills between his fingers, offered it to the fat man.

The fat man's eyes lit up when he saw them. It was the largest denomination, Franklin.

With lightning speed, the fat man took Roger's cigarette, and with a flick of his wrist, the green bills disappeared into his hand.

"You want to ask about your two police colleagues, right?"

"That's right. They were originally here to investigate a case, but then, for some reason, they suddenly stopped returning and even called to resign. You know, being a police officer is a special profession. Such a strange thing, the New York police department couldn't help but be curious."

MacPherson savored a mouthful of hot milk tea, then stopped to continue.

"I know what you're talking about. This matter started with your side. First, a woman named Sally went missing. Then, we couldn't find her here. The New York side thought she was dead or missing, so they sent people to investigate.

Normally, this kind of cross-border case would be handled by other departments. You know, this country has more departments than there are stars in the sky.

Later, she suddenly reappeared, but refused to go back. And she's a single mother, with a child at home. So the New York police department thought it was abnormal and sent people to check it out.

As a result, the two police officers who came also disappeared for a few days, like her, and then reappeared. Anyway, no one was missing, no one was dead, so our superiors didn't bother to deal with it.

As for their behavior becoming strange, who knows? Maybe they encountered some kind of stimulation."

Seeing that the fat man had been talking for a long time without getting to the point, Roger felt he should remind him that his green bills weren't for nothing.

"Ahem, my friend, I want to ask where those two guys are now?"

"Oh, oh, sorry. I'm a bit long-winded. Those two, they ate and drank a lot here every night, and they liked to chase women. They maxed out their credit cards in a few days. Then, when they ran out of money, they started stealing things."

The fat man had a strange expression. "Our captain, seeing that they were colleagues, and it was just some food, reached an agreement with the shopkeepers and helped them pay a little money. No charges were filed. After that, those two guys left, and we don't know where they went. Probably back to their hometown."

"Honestly, their behavior was really strange. They didn't act like police officers at all, more like... like... prisoners who'd been locked up for a long time."

Roger was thoughtful. Not locked up for a long time, but coming to the real world for the first time in their lives...

"Okay, thank you, officer. So, they've left this town, right?"

"Uh-huh, yes. If you need to know anything else later, you can come to the town police station and ask for me. There aren't many police officers here. Just mention my name."

"OK, then I'll be going. I still need to find out where they went. Thank you very much for your help."

Roger shook hands with the fat police officer again, said goodbye, and left the breakfast shop.

Fat MacPherson happily picked up his hot dog, taking a big, satisfying bite. He'd made some extra money early in the morning. Today was truly his lucky day.

He turned and shouted, "Boss, give me another hot dog meal! Oh no, two! I'm not dieting today. I'll start tomorrow—".