“Knock, knock. Knock, knock.”
In the dead of night, the sound of knocking echoed from the bathroom.
Ethan Grant pulled his blanket tighter around himself.
He had just been watching some creepy ghost videos.
“Geez, daylight’s all about pretty girls and food, but at night? It’s nothing but creepy things.”
“This is messed up.”
Ethan couldn’t stop grumbling to himself, glaring at his bedroom door.
After a while, nothing happened.
He let out a breath in relief.
“Cheap developers, can’t they make the floors thicker?”
Ethan figured it was noise coming from one of his neighbors’ apartments.
After all, he was the only one in his place.
He shut his eyes, ready to fall asleep.
“Knock, knock. Knock, knock.”
The sound from the bathroom started up again.
“Ugh!”
Ethan sucked in a sharp breath.
This time, it was louder.
He could tell, clear as day, the sound was from his own bathroom.
“What the hell is going on?”
Ethan’s heart raced.
Grabbing his phone, he quickly searched for “Buddhist chants” with shaky fingers.
“This one, let’s go!” he mumbled desperately.
Without hesitation, he hit play on a recording of the Kṣitigarbha Sutra, cranking the volume on his phone to the max.Ethan suddenly felt a surge of courage.
He flicked on the light and cautiously opened his bedroom door.
Peeking through the crack, he scanned the hallway. Everything seemed normal.
"Just my imagination. Ghosts don’t exist," Ethan muttered to himself as he stepped out of the room and headed toward the bathroom.
His hand tightly gripped a baton, something he’d bought for self-defense. Ever since his parents passed away in a car accident years ago, he’d been living alone. The baton gave him a sense of security.
"Phew. Definitely just noise from the neighbors," Ethan reassured himself with a glance at the bathroom.
Nothing unusual. He breathed out a sigh of relief.
The faucet hissed as he turned it on, splashing water over his face to calm his nerves.
But then, as he raised his head, a scream tore from his throat.
It wasn’t his reflection staring back at him in the mirror—it was Martin Grant, his grandfather who had been missing for nine years.
Back then, his family had searched high and low, even involving the police, but found no trace of him.
"Don’t recognize your granddad anymore, Ethan?" Martin asked from the mirror, his expression calm.
“You—you—” Ethan stammered, panic taking over as he instinctively prepared to bolt. "What's with that cowardly look? I'm your grandpa, not some ghost."
"Nine years ago, I ended up crossing over to another world. Worked hard and became a general," Martin Grant stated with an aura of authority.
"The emperor there’s a cruel tyrant. I led a rebellion against him a while back."
Ethan Grant stared blankly at Martin Grant in the mirror.
His grandpa had always been a mountain of a man—served in the military, fought in battles, he'd even killed before. Back when he walked the streets, thugs avoided him like the plague.
The image in the mirror reminded Ethan of his strong, intimidating grandpa from memory, sharing a resemblance around seventy, maybe eighty percent.
"Are you really my grandpa?" Ethan asked, still skeptical.
Martin shot back, "Would a ghost prank you like this? Go call your dad; there's something I need to discuss with him."
Ethan’s face darkened. "Dad and Mom passed away in a car accident five years ago."
Martin froze. His eyes slowly reddened.
"They always said he wouldn’t be easy to raise… My wife and I did everything we could to bring him up right. And yet, he still left before me," Martin said bitterly, voice tight.
Ethan watched his grandpa in the mirror. He was starting to believe him—the sadness he showed didn’t seem fake.
"Grandpa... Were you just knocking on the mirror earlier?""You scared the life out of me with that mirror knocking in the middle of the night," Ethan said, turning off the music on his phone.
Martin rubbed his eyes. "This is the only way I can contact you easily for now."
"Grandson, I need your help urgently," Martin said.
Ethan frowned, puzzled. "How could I possibly help?"
Martin cleared his throat and said, "The emperor here is cruel and tyrannical, even trying to kill me. The rebellion was a bit sudden, and now we're short on food and weapons."
"Winter is almost here, and we're lacking winter clothes too."
"Ten thousand soldiers under me—at the very least, they need to be fed and warm to keep fighting."
Ethan felt a jolt of surprise. Ten thousand soldiers? That sounded like a lot. Was his grandpa exaggerating?
"But, Grandpa, you're in another world. I can't exactly help you from here," Ethan sighed. "And even if I could, what's in my bank account wouldn’t be enough to buy much."
Martin replied, "Your grandpa’s cultivation is quite advanced now, and I’ve obtained a powerful artifact called the Void Mirror."
"This artifact lets me connect to you."
"And you can use the mirror to send things from your side to mine."
Ethan’s eyes widened in disbelief. "You mean that's actually possible?""Ethan, help your grandpa with the rebellion, and you'll benefit too," Martin said with a grin.
"Let me improve your physique first."
As he spoke, a faint glow emerged from the mirror and entered Ethan's body. It felt like warmth washing over him, soothing and energizing at the same time.
"Sleep on it, and you'll wake up stronger," Martin added casually. "What I need most now is food. Think of something, alright? I'll reach out in three days."
With that, Martin's image in the mirror blurred and faded away completely.
"My grandpa is alive...and leading a rebellion in another world?" Ethan muttered under his breath, disbelief etched on his face. He pinched himself hard. "Ow!"
Not a dream.
"But food... He needs food, and all I’ve got is ten grand in my account. Five thousand pounds of rice tops," he calculated, frowning.
Sure, five thousand pounds of rice would last a lifetime for a small family—but for an army of ten thousand? They’d barely each get half a pound; even turning it into porridge wouldn’t last long.
"Ugh, forget it. I’ll think about it tomorrow," Ethan muttered. His gaze shifted back to the mirror, suspicion flickering in his eyes. "That might not even really be Grandpa."He only had ten thousand bucks, no way he could spend it recklessly.
Lying in bed, tossing and turning until 2 a.m., Ethan Grant finally fell asleep.
"Ugh, what’s that smell?"
The next morning, Ethan woke up feeling a nasty churn in his stomach. He nearly threw up.
"What the—"
"Body cleansing?"
Ethan looked at his arm, covered in some sticky black gunk. His eyes sparkled with excitement.
So, Grandpa Martin wasn’t joking about the body enhancement last night.
He clenched his fist tightly. The strength he felt was unlike anything before.
"Whoa!"
Grabbing the extendable baton on the bedside table, Ethan gave it a solid squeeze—and snapped it in half.
"Okay, now this is wild. My strength’s gotta have doubled, at least."
He was pumped with excitement.
"Time to shower."
Rushing into the bathroom, Ethan scrubbed himself thoroughly until all the greasy filth was gone.
"This is—"
Fresh from his shower, Ethan stared at his reflection in the mirror, stunned.
His height, originally a modest 5’9”, must’ve shot up five or six centimeters overnight—he had to be 6 feet tall by now. And his face and whole vibe? Totally transformed.
Sharp features, radiant confidence—the guy in the mirror wasn’t just good-looking. He was giving off serious "school heartthrob" energy.“Looks like it really was Grandpa last night,” Ethan thought to himself.
Who else could’ve given him such a crazy boost?
“Ding dong, ding dong!”
The doorbell rang.
Ethan suddenly remembered he had made plans with someone to check out the rental today. His apartment had two bedrooms, and renting one out could earn him some extra cash.
“I’m coming!” Ethan called out as he went to open the door.
“Isabella Carter?”
He froze for a moment, surprised to see who was standing outside.
Isabella was the campus beauty at their university, a sophomore. Ethan had seen her photos before—sure, he thought she was stunning at first, but he didn’t take it seriously. With makeup and photo filters these days, any random dog could look halfway decent.
But now, seeing her in person, he realized he might’ve been too harsh. Isabella didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup, yet she somehow looked even better than her photos.