Mayor Turner was waiting for the group personally at the door of her residence. After everyone got down, she briefly introduce herself while shaking their hands.
"Welcome, thank you for sparing time to visit our small Wallux Town. I am Alice Turner, the mayor."
Everyone hurriedly accepted the handshake and expressed their appreciation of the mayor and the town.
Knowing that time was no longer early and the group had been traveling since morning, Mayor Turner invited everyone to the dining area.
"Let's talk after the meal. This is a small welcome from me. Please help yourselves as much as you can. No need to be modest."
Everyone thanked the mayor and chose their seats. Mr. Hughes took the lead, pulling the chairs for his daughter and wife before sitting down himself.
Charlie wanted to sit in the middle of the dining table with Stephan but before she could, Mayor Turner sitting on the head beckoned her to sit on her left. Unable to refuse, Charlie could only drag Stephan with her.
Halfway through the meal, small talk began to start. Mayor Turner noticed the small girl Micah eating quietly beside her parents and praised her.
"Your daughter is so well-behaved. What's her name?"
Mr. Hughes smiled at the praise. Looking at his daughter, he gave her an urging look. "The mayor is asking for your name. What will you say?"
Micah shyly shrank her head to her neck, replying quietly. "Hello, mayor. I'm Micah."
Mayor Turner paused her movements, showing surprise. "Micah? What a coincidence. I also have a daughter named Micaela."
Mr. Hughes was also surprised. "It's almost similar. What a wonderful coincidence indeed. May I ask where your daughter is now?"
A subtle change occurred in Mayor Turner's expression upon hearing this question. She shot a short glance at Charlie and spoke with a sigh. "That daughter of mine. A few years ago, she went to the city and hasn't come back."
Mr. Hughes made a sympathizing expression, looking at her daughter with doting eyes. "Children are like that. It also worries me that my Micah would leave us when she's old enough and never visit."
At this time, Micah raised her head to see her dad looking at her. She smiled, bright and lovely.
The warm interaction between father and child was fully captured by Mayor Turner's eyes, a mysterious glint flashing on them.
During the entire conversation, Mrs. Hughes on the other side of Micah remained silent as she ate, her posture rigid and stiff. There wasn't a woman's gentleness in her gestures at all, the exact opposite of her husband.
Mayor Turner and Mr. Hughes exchanged sentiments with each other for a while and the topic somehow moved to Charlie.
"Charlie is a daughter of a local businessman in Wallux Town. Due to her father's expansion of business, their whole family moved to the city."
As Mayor Turner spoke, she reached for Charlie's plate, helping her get more food.
Charlie thanked her with a smile, not feeling embarrassed by her favor.
Mr. Simpson across the table joked. "Doesn't that mean we don't need Mr. Andrew anymore? We can just have Charlie be the tour guide."
Charlie was done chewing her food. She giggled at Mr. Simpson's remark. "Then we might just lose our way. I haven't been here for a long time. This is only my third visit since our family left. I'm no longer familiar with the roads."
Hearing this, Jester immediately followed, "Losing our way is a terrible option. We'd better stay with Mr. Andrew."
Everyone laughed.
At one o'clock, the meal officially ended and everyone got in the car to follow their itinerary— the famous fairytale-like Wallux Town Apple Lake located inside Wallux Town Forest in the east of the town.
Before they left, Kai took note of the strong negative energy surrounding Mayor Turner's body. Mayor Turner seemed to have a lot of hatred toward everyone in the group except Charlie.
During the meal, although she always had an approachable smile, her negative energy would always fluctuate sharply when talking to the ten people.
Was the ghost related to her?
[ Ding! ]
[ Sub-task no. 1 in progress. ]
[ Plot completion: 12% ]
The sudden appearance of the prompt surprised Kai. Did he come upon another important clue?
The forest path leading to the lake was very narrow— barely one meter. Their vehicle cannot go through so everyone had to walk.
Kai was walking at the end of the group, flirting with Stephan when Gio's hands entered his line of sight, making him stare.
Gio's hands were trembling imperceptibly as he walked— as if he was scared.
Kai made a thoughtful look, noting this down.
The forest was a little dark due to the large number of trees. Even the forest path was scarcely lit up by the sun's rays.
The group walked for about ten to twenty minutes before they finally saw an open area, farther which was the lake.
The body of water had a unique shape of an apple, hence its name. Under the glaring sun, it sparkles brightly like diamonds. Surrounding the lake were willow trees, green short grass, and some wild exotic flowers of different colors, creating a fairytale-like atmosphere.
Everyone had looks of appreciation.
Andrew pointed to the wooden structure in the distance. "Those are the shower rooms. Those who wanted to swim in the lake can go there to wash."
Jester, who was about to rush to the lake showed a look of dissatisfaction. "Why do we still need to wash when we're going to the water to bath, anyway?"
Andrew was still wearing a polite smile but his tone was resolute. "This is a requirement from the residents of Wallux Town. It is to avoid dirtying the lake's water."
His words made everyone fall into silence. With an unbearable look on their faces, they unanimously thought, Why did it sound like he was telling them they were dirty?
Meghan couldn't help whispering in Charlie's ears. "Is this how things are normally?"
Kai nodded nonchalantly. He can understand the residents. Having such an enchanting place, of course, they wouldn't want it to be ruined.
In the end, everyone washed in the shower rooms except Kai, Andrew, and Stephan who all have no intention of swimming in the lake.
Kai originally thought Stephan didn't go swimming to accompany Charlie. Later when Charlie asked the other to walk around the lake with her, Kai realized that wasn't the case.
According to the script, Stephan should agree with Charlie's invitation. However, Stephan actually refused, and vehemently at that.
Before Kai knew it, Stephan was already curled up on the ground, screaming as he received the warning. Not long after, he passed out.
This series of events made Kai at a loss. It was only walking around the lake, does he have to be so against it that he would rather go out of character?
Or—
Was it because of the water?
Kai recalled Ivar, who had a bloated figure. Thinking of his earlier premise that he hadn't yet confirmed, Kai opened his sub-task on the screen with his thought.
He had already changed the setting according to Andrew's advice.
[ Do you wish to input Ivar beside the character Stephan's name? ]
Kai chose confirm. 'Ivar should have died from drowning and should fear the water.'
[Ding!]
[ Sub-task no. 2 in progress. ]
[ The candidate playing the character Stephan has been identified. ]
[ Number of characters to be identified left: 8 ]
Kai let out a breath of relief. Fortunately, his inference was right otherwise, he really don't know how else to clear that additional task.
Other than Stephan, Chris, and Mrs. Hughes also accidentally act of out character while swimming in the lake.
Chris squealed even louder than anyone. Luckily, he was in the shallow part of the lake and only lose consciousness for a short while and felt weak.
If had fainted for long, he would definitely drown with no one helping him. On the other hand, Mrs. Hughes endured quite well and recovered quickly.
When someone received the OOC warning, they would receive a free pass for a limited time, allowing them to act and speak however they want until the time limit.
It was for this reason that Stephan was able to faint for a few hours without receiving another warning.
Chris and Mrs. Hughes used this time to exchange information among themselves.
Stephan woke up two hours later after which he took Meghan who wasn't feeling well but still looked cheery to the car first.
Kai waited for the time to pass while observing the people at the lake. He saw Micah taking stones from the lake, lining them on the ground.
Charlie approached the little girl, asking what she was doing. Micah replied in a serious tone not fitting her young age, "I'm grouping them based on their color, texture, and size."
Hearing this, Kai scrutinized the stones on the ground and found that it was indeed the case. He watched for a while. Seeing that the other was busy and couldn't talk, he quietly left.
At six o'clock, the group started heading back. Charlie walked alongside Jester in the middle of the group. Jester had fully recovered from earlier and was now acting normally, chatting with the people in front and behind them.
Charlie joined the conversation shortly before choosing to listen quietly, which Kai used to continue observing everyone.
At this time, Mrs. Simpson walking in front of Charlie tripped for the nth time, almost dragging her along this time.
Mr. Simpson hurriedly helped his wife, apologizing to Charlie half-heartedly. After this happened so many times, Mr. Simpson seemed finally unable to contain his thoughts, speaking with contempt, "With you always tripping like this, how are we going to climb the mountain tomorrow? Do you need me to carry—"
Mr. Simpson abruptly stopped talking, falling to the ground as he screamed in pain. It appears his annoyance made him momentarily forget his character and he spoke out of line, earning an OOC warning.
Everyone acted as if nothing happened, still talking and walking along the forest path.
Kai gave a slight glance at Mr. Simpson on the ground as he circled around his body, thinking to himself, 'This contemptuous attitude seems to be Timothy's.'