Breakfast time.
Sister Chen Li and her brother have prepared a generous serving of fried egg noodles for everyone.
The Wang Po couple and the five members of the team were all gathered here.
Apart from Edward and Han Dong who were acting normally, the other team members all seemed a bit off in one way or another...
After putting down the bowl of noodles, Wang Po spoke up.
"The Return Human Ceremony is scheduled at the end of the sixth hour, in Chen Li's room.
I need to prepare in advance, set up the ceremony site...I'll notify you all to come up when the hour arrives.
During the setup, aside from my partner, no one else is allowed to enter.
If anyone is careless, it might scare off the Substitute boy, understood?"
"Yes."
There were still over two hours left before the ceremony.
Edward proposed a plan, using this time to define the 'mobile area'.
Considering that this bungalow inhabited by the "Possessed" Chen Li could potentially develop into an extremely hazardous area later.
And also, the System granted a mobile area with a radius of five hundred meters.
It's necessary to confirm the general conditions within this zone in advance and draw a detailed map.
Newspaper Boy Herbert stated that he wasn't just selling newspapers most of the time, he had also learned how to draw maps with his father. As long as the area wasn't too large, he could sketch quite an accurate map after walking through it once.
"Captain...I'm not feeling so well." Han Dong said.
Edward stared at Han Dong's frail and sallow body, grinning, "In that case, you should stay in the room and rest. We will take care of the map projection."
"Thank you."
As the team's translator, Han Dong was irreplaceable.
And no one objected to his request to rest.
As Edward led the team out, Han Dong drew a deep breath and prepared to enact his plan.
Edward's "non-interference" principal may seem harmless on the surface. It seems indeed to be the safest and most prudent way of ensuring survival.
But therein lies a problem.
That is, is 'Edward' truly trustworthy?
In a series of frightfully lethal events, if one doesn't have their own thoughts or backup strategies, simply waiting for danger to arrive, it's nothing short of stupidity.
In a certain sense, Han Dong is somewhat similar to Bald Derleon.
From the very beginning, he never had any intentions to trust anyone. At such a critical moment, Han Dong did not believe a group of strangers would help each other.
"Uncle Liu, where are you going?" Han Dong coincidentally ran into Wang Po's husband at the stairwell, who was on his way down.
"Gonna get some stuff for your auntie from the village... We need some small items for the ritual, it's rather complicated, I wouldn't be able to explain to you..."
"Alright."
After returning to his room, Han Dong took out the props he had prepared earlier from his backpack.
Other team members used the 500 yuan granted by the System to buy some 'necessities' needed for survival.
But Han Dong allocated some money to buy several sets of countryside clothing, one of which looked exactly like Uncle Liu's.
[Head of the Faceless]
One of the abilities - 'Imitation'.
The figure that the Faceless One's skull had taken the form of even looked real to Han Dong. Looking in the mirror, he found it hard to tell the real from the fake, which was a testament to the realism of 'Imitation'.
After getting ready, Han Dong, dressed as Liu, entered the 'Ceremony Preparation' room.
"Old Wang, what are you idly prowling around for? If you've got nothing to do, come help me set up."
Wang Po, alone with her husband, didn't have that 'witch' vibe to her anymore.
She was currently sitting on the bed playing with her phone...As for the things that needed to be prepared, there weren't many. A few offerings on the wooden table would suffice, and a paper man representing the Substitute boy could be casually placed in the corner of the room.
"Can I arrange them like this?" Han Dong tried to arrange the fruit offerings on the table.
"Just make it neat, there're no strict rules... Like before, you need to administer the drug to 'Chen Li' first. She's frail, use 2/3 of the dosage. The antidote is ready here. After this is done, we'll split the money 64."
Upon hearing this, Han Dong immediately understood how this famous Wang Po 'exorcised evil spirits and treated the sick'.
"Okay."
Han Dong quickly returned to his room, changed into another set of clothes, and transformed into the appearance of Daqing.
Han Dong knew beforehand that Daqing had driven to a town two hours away to buy groceries on his motorcycle.
After all, he still had to prepare lunch for at least seven people.
After disguising himself, Han Dong tried to settle into the role of 'Daqing'... but this time, the disguise was different from before.
The danger was self-evident.
There was a high likelihood that the "Possessed" Chen Li was the 'Evil Spirit' in this event.
Creaking.
The partially open door of the lobby was pushed open.
Chen Li, with a dull expression, was resting on a sofa.
There was not much difference between her during the day and a normal person, save for the sharp kitchen knife on the table in front of her that she'd just used for cutting vegetables... the blade glinted coldly.
"Sis, are you okay?"
"Close the door," Chen Li muttered.
Keeping calm, Han Dong turned around to shut the door... he took a deep breath, ready for a showdown.
"Weren't you supposed to go buy groceries?" a frosty voice wafted over from behind.
Turning, he saw Chen Li holding the kitchen knife... her body was slightly forward, as if she was ready to rise.
Han Dong steadied his state of mind, doing his best to mimic Daqing's way of speaking.
"Grocery shopping can wait, I'm just a bit worried about whether 'this matter' can proceed smoothly."
Han Dong's comments hit just the right note.
The 'this matter' in his sentence seemed to refer to the 'Return Human Ceremony'... but if there was any secret between the siblings, he could probe it with this sentence.
Who would have thought.
Chen Li remained silent.
Holding a kitchen knife, she slowly rose to her feet... she tilted forward, her hair falling over her face, only her red lips were visible.
As she approached Han Dong... Whoosh!
The knife came slicing down.
The gleaming kitchen knife plunged into the wall beside Han Dong's head... their faces were now less than a punch's distance away, he could clearly see her bloodshot eyes.
"These exchange students who have followed us here are a big problem... but this is our long-prepared and only opportunity for revenge.
Keep following the plan, you need to find a way to disable Wang Po's van, and I will scare away all these college students."
Exhale...
Hearing her reply, Han Dong breathed a sigh of relief.
As Chen Li swung her knife, Han Dong's body froze... only his prior experience of death helped him suppress the panic of approaching death.
Han Dong thought to himself, "Sure enough, having a good understanding of the national conditions is very useful.
In Jiuzhou, films about feudal superstitions face extreme censorship... the horror behind local films is often man-made."
When the system announced that "Possessed" was a film from Jiuzhou, Han Dong considered that this movie itself might not have any 'ghosts'.
It was for this reason that he chose to approach Chen Li alone.
Only... that moment just now scared him out of his wits, his palms were dripping with sweat.
With this,
The character identities in this mystery have become unequivocally clear.
Wang Po is nothing more than a fraudulent shaman, who has some grudge with these siblings due to a past incident.
Chen Li and Daqing are just trying to lure the Wang Po couple here in order to enact their revenge in this desolate mountain wilderness.
So, here's the question.
Where is the Evil Spirit?
At this moment, an independent system voice echoed in Han Dong's mind.
"Side event activation: [Choice]
Event requirements (optional):
1. Help Wang Po couple escape the abandoned mansion.
2. Assist the siblings in killing the Wang Po couple ahead of time.
Event rewards:
①. Increases the likelihood of obtaining a 'Fate card (novice level)' during the final reward calculation.
②. Can improve or degrade your relation with characters involved in the event."