[Day Three]
In the middle of the night.
After meeting with ["Possessed" Chen Li] during twilight, Han Dong retreated back to his room and did not come out again.
The other members of the small squad also returned to their rooms before eleven o'clock.
The power continued to be cut precisely at eleven o'clock at night... only the bright red lanterns remained lit.
This was the last night of the event. The two girls on the team took out all the candles from their backpacks and lit them in every corner of the room, using the light to dispel the fear in their hearts.
As for Edward, who well-understood the 'hidden rules', he fell asleep peacefully after checking the Steam Prosthetic Limb.
Han Dong also rested... even though he had already rested for the entire day.
...…
The third night was different.
No longer awakened by the sound of footsteps lingering in the hallway.
Han Dong slept until he woke up naturally.
The first thing Han Dong did when he opened his eyes was to quickly turn his head and look at the winding device on his wrist.
"9 hours left until the 'end of the event'."
"Strange... is there a problem with the time or the environment?"
Outside the window, the moon was high in the pitch-black sky, and no matter how you looked at it, it was night.
However, the standard time for Han Dong and others to arrive at the manor was six in the afternoon, so the deadline should also be after three days at six in the afternoon... Subtract nine hours, and the current time should be nine in the morning.
Yet, there was no sign of 'daybreak' outside the window.
"Could it be... Edward's so-called 'Speed up' has already begun."\
At this moment.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Han Dong's room door was knocked on continuously.
Outside the door were Edward Murray, with a panicked expression, and two women with sunken dark circles under their eyes.
At least this showed that no one was killed last night.
"It's good to see you're fine, Nicholas... the 'Speed up' I mentioned to you yesterday has come."
Han Dong asked urgently with a clueless expression, "Captain! What should we do?"
Edward suggested: "First, we should meet with the characters involved in the event. Maybe we can get help from them.
According to rumors, the reason the former captain of the Black Rose Knight Squad was able to lead a majority of their newcomers to survive out of the Fate Space was because they received help from the event characters."
"Alright."
The four of them set off together, with Edward leading the way at the forefront.
Unfortunately, events unfolded beyond Edward's estimation...
Upon opening the 'creaky' wooden door of the main hall on the first floor...
Monica, the blond woman in the squad, was so scared by the scene the flashlight showed in the main hall that she fell onto the ground.
Even Edward, who always maintained his composure, also was sweating slightly on his forehead.
Arkman, the believer, fell to her knees, clutching the cross and mumbling some strange scriptures, trying to dispel the fear in her heart.
Indeed, just like in the early morning, the 'two' siblings had prepared breakfast, waiting for everyone to come and eat.
However, today's siblings have turned into paper people.
These were the same paper people used for the 'Return Human Ceremony' before - a rough male and female pair.
But to the four of them, these were Chen Li and Daqing, the siblings.
The breakfast was six bowls of rice, each with a long incense stick stuck in it, laid out on the table.
Even Han Dong was startled by this creepy scene, fearing that something had happened to Sister Chen Li and her brother.
However, relying on the 'prison level' connection, he knew Chen Li was still alive and was not the paper person in front of him.
"Ah!!!"
Suddenly, a scream rang out from Arkman's mouth.
In the direction her flashlight shone, a 'van' belonging to the Wang Po Couple was parked on the small road outside the bungalow.
Although Han Dong knew that the Wang Po Couple had been killed... the other members of the squad didn't know, including Edward, who thought that after the Return Human Ceremony was successful, the Wang Po Couple had gone back on their own.
Edward led the team, slowly approaching this somewhat rough 'van'.
Upon closer look, it was a large paper hearse.
The Wang Po Couple, also 'paper people', were sitting in the hearse, with a creepy smile made of red stickers tied on the paper person's face.
"Do we have no way out? There's no way to seek help from the event characters..."
Just as Edward fell into contemplation.
Whoosh!
The several large red lanterns that were hanging in the corridor all extinguished... The bungalow, which had originally served as a 'light source', plunged into complete darkness.
Everyone reflexively pointed their flashlights at the corridor on the second floor of the building.
Creak!
In the silent darkness of night, the sound of an aging wooden door opening was especially loud.
Room No.6.
From that room, which was also ["Possessed" Chen Li]'s room, a black-haired, face-covered woman slowly stepped out... She just stood in the corridor, staring at the squad members next to the hearse through her black hair.
The pieces of information 'Chen Li is an evil spirit' and 'it is impossible to return to the bungalow' were deeply imprinted in Edward's mind.
Edward composed himself, brought out the 500-meter range map drawn by the Newspaper Boy earlier, and quickly formulated a response plan:
"The situation is worse than I thought! Returning to the bungalow is a dead end... Now the only way to survive is to use the 500-meter radius movable range to evade the evil spirit's pursuit.
If the four of us stick together, once we encounter the evil spirit, we will all be annihilated.
I suggest that we split into two groups and act separately!
This will increase the survival probability for at least some of us... I'm sorry, my abilities are limited. I may not be able to keep everyone alive."
"I'm on your team!!!"
The blond woman Monica naturally wanted to cling to this lifeline.
In her eyes.
Nicholas, who had a frail body that rested in his room every day, and Arkman, the believer who only knew how to pray at any tension, could not and did not deserve to survive.
At this time, the woman in red standing in the second floor corridor had started moving. There was hardly any time to discuss how to split the team.
"So let's split up like this... Miss Arkman and I will form a team." Han Dong said with a bitter smile.
Edward showed a smile of understanding, handed Han Dong a copy of the map, "We split up and run for our life, you and Arkman go to the southern hill... You must survive!!"
Edward, seemingly concerned, actually pointed out the most difficult path for Han Dong.
Han Dong and Arkman's physical condition were originally not good. If they fled towards a slope, their stamina would be greatly depleted... Once they encounter an evil spirit, they won't even have a chance to escape.
However, Han Dong did not raise any objections.
"Let's run... I hope we can meet again in [Holy City]."
Split into two-member teams and fled towards the north and south... Edward, who was escaping, headed downhill, and there was a set of abandoned buildings at the foot of the hill for hiding.
After each squad member had fled separately, Chen Li, who walked slowly to the ground floor of the bungalow, revealed a spooky smile.
At this moment, Daqing, her younger brother holding an oil lamp, came over from the direction of the outhouse.
"Sis... Do we really have to help that foreigner who speaks Jiuzhou language? We really don't have to take risks."
"Help!"
Chen Li's disheveled black hair had entered a state of 'Possession'.
Just this one word scared her little brother Daqing so much that he trembled... He dared not have any dissenting opinions.
Indeed.
While the plan with the paper people had nothing to do with Han Dong, Chen Li's appearance was arranged by Han Dong himself...