The rest of the third day ended quietly with everyone each staying at their rooms.
As someone had died in his room, Stephan didn't want to stay in his room at first, suggesting he go with Jester but Andrew rejected it, telling them they can't change their rooms at will or they wouldn't want to experience the consequence.
Everyone can now ascertain after hearing this that the townspeople had bad intentions towards them and the amicable attitude from two days ago was fake, making them not dare go against them and only obediently follow.
Inside Charlie's room, Kai stared at his main task as he recalled what happened earlier.
In the mirror was a beautiful young woman, shrouded in black mists so dense it was like she was wearing them as cape.
Kai only knew Charlie's appearance from the character profile and her pictures on her phone but he can tell the woman in the reflection wasn't her.
At that time, Kai's first thought in a daze was Charlie's time had come and he was about to fail the assessment.
It was only after a while did he realized— he hadn't received a death prompt yet, how can Charlie die so soon?
But the ghost was indeed in the mirror and based on the bloody slit on her throat, Kai could infer that she was the Micah the others were talking about.
Wait— did Charlie not exist in reality and was in fact only an illusion created by Micah to deceive everyone? Or was Charlie actually Micah?
Kai thought for a while and immediately dismissed this thought. If Charlie is only an illusion or if she was actually Micah, he wouldn't be able to enter and control her body since it doesn't exist. If he had to put it this way, it should be that Micah was possessing Charlie's body.
This reminded him of Stephan's words when he said earlier that although he didn't know Micah, he knows Charlie.
Thinking about it now, Charlie was indeed the only one connecting Stephan to the town and Micah.
This result is quite expected. Kai thought for sure the ghost was among the NPCs. Who would've thought it was actually the character he was playing?
No wonder he couldn't control his extrasensory perception and there was only blackness when his vision is off. There was another soul in Charlie's body and the blackness was actually dark energy.
But how did Micah possess Charlie? Did something happen in the few days after she came back to town? Was this the work of the deity?
As he pondered, the screen that he had been ignoring for a while caught his vision and he was reminded of the prompt that appeared on his screen during the discussion.
[ You have reached 50% of the plot. ]
[You are now qualified to complete your main task: Find the ghost. ]
[ Do you wish to complete it now? ]
Kai chose no.
His sub-task of completing the plot only has a 65% completion rate. Kai still hadn't figured out many things along with Charlie's possession such as Mayor Turner's profound attitude towards Charlie, the whole of Wallux Town helping Micah in her revenge, and the occurrences in the festival in two days.
In any case, Micah is possessing Charlie so Charlie's time shouldn't come just yet. He still had some time to figure everything out.
The hotel fell into silence as the night went deeper. In the family of three's hotel room, a clear audible ticking sound reverberated as the hour hand of the clock pointed to three.
Mr. Hughes woke up with a strong urge to pee. Sitting up, he slowly removed his wife's head from his arms, careful not to wake her.
The lamp on the bedside table was currently not on, combined with the room's heavily covered window, the room was enveloped in darkness.
Mr. Hughes was puzzled. He clearly remembered leaving the two lamps on both beds on before he slept, how did it suddenly end up being turned off? Did the hotel experience a blackout?
No, that shouldn't be. Carlisle must've been unable to fall asleep again and turned them off.
Mr. Hughes leaned his upper body above his wife's head, trying to reach for the bedside table on the other end.
He groped for a while, his arm already becoming numb from being stretched too much but the only thing he touched was air.
Mr. Hughes was once again puzzled. The bed wasn't even two meters wide, how can he not reach the bedside table when his entire upper body was already almost leaning on the bed?
Feeling his urge becoming stronger, Mr. Hughes had no choice but to get down.
The moment his foot touched the floor tiles, the coldness crept up his body, making him shudder. The inability to see heightened his other senses, allowing him to realize that the room's temperature was a little too cold.
There also seemed to be a dripping sound coming from somewhere though he didn't know if it was just his imagination.
He unconsciously hastened his movements, his left hand fumbling the bed's edges for guidance. Soon, he reached the other side of the bed.
Mr. Hughes bend his knees a little, stretching out his free right hand to grope the air in front of him, probing from left to right. At this time, a cold and soft object got caught in his hold, with a smooth surface like a woman's arm.
He retracted his hands in shock.
He—he must have been hallucinating, right?
With trepidation, he took a deep breath, summoning his courage and probing the object once more.
There was a cold and smooth surface under his hands. Tracing it with his finger, he was able to find the outline of the lamp's body.
Mr. Hughes sighed. He groped for the switch, turning it on and lighting up the room. With his vision back, he was able to relax.
The sudden brightness of the surroundings woke up Mrs. Hughes. She sat up, her head bowed. Seeing this, Mr. Hughes was apologetic. He spoke with worry, "Sorry, did I wake you up?"
Mrs. Hughes didn't respond.
Mrs. Hughes thought she was angry and hurriedly sat on the bed to comfort her.
"I only need to use the bathroom quick. After I'm done, we can turn off the lights again, ok?" As he spoke, he reached to hold his wife's cheeks, lifting her head to face his own.
As a result, a woman's pale face adorned with makeup with white eyes dripping with blood, and wearing a smile greeted his vision, looking extremely hideous. Mr. Hughes' entire body froze.
This face had been always in his dreams before. Although the one in front of him was no longer beautiful and charming, he could never mistake it.
Micah!
Warm liquid flowed down Mr. Hughes' legs. Following after, his shrill, piercing screams filled the room. Mr. Hughes tried to move his body in a panic only to find that his hands were tightly held. As he tried to pull it out, the woman's sharp nails pierced his skin, gripping his bones.
Mr. Hughes trembled violently, his left hand and feet flailing desperately, unable to get away. The violent movement hit the bedside table, making the bedside lamp above it fall.
The only source of lighting in the room was broken and the darkness intensified Mr. Hughes' terror and pain.
The dripping sound he heard earlier once again entered his ears, this time even more clearly. Following after, he felt many hands on his body, their nails digging up his skin as they savagely pulled at his limbs, tearing him apart.
Agonizing pain overwhelmed Mr. Hughes from all directions, torturing him to no end. It was like he was being cut alive but without a knife, his eyeballs were already rolling to the back of his head.
He didn't know what he thought of but as he began to slowly lose his consciousness, he weakly called out, "Micah."
Instantly, as if by magic, the tearing pain he felt disappeared along with others. The surroundings returned to silence. Even the lamp that should've been broken was now back in its place, illuminating the room.
Mr. Hughes' disappearing consciousness abruptly returned. Looking up slowly, his face was filled with disbelief.
A beautiful young woman in a white short dress was crouching in front of him, staring at his face.
The scene was just like when they first met at the brothel.
Mr. Hughes vividly remembered.
That time, he had just argued with his wife and decided to stay the night out. He was supposed to go to a night bar but along the way, he saw a young woman crouching down the road, feeding a stray cat.
The young woman's charming face attracted him, making him approach and crouched down similarly as he asked what she was doing.
Back then, the young woman smiled at him, pure and innocent while seriously answering his question.
"This cat looks hungry and pitiful. I happen to have food with me so I'm sharing it with him."
Looking at the young woman in front of him now, Mr. Hughes was in a daze. He thought, 'Nothing changed, Micah is the same as before.'
This made him excited. Filled with expectation, he called out, "Micah!"
Micah showed a smile, bright and pure. Getting up, she extended her hand, doing the same action as he did back then.
Mr. Hughes was even more excited. He enthusiastically reached out his hand, thinking to himself, 'I knew it. Micah is such a pure girl. She should've turned into an angel when she died. How can she become a vicious ghost? It must've been the town deity tricking and deceiving me.'
At this time, the pure girl Micah bypassed Mr. Hughes' hand and instead grabbed his neck. Mr. Hughes was puzzled but before he could think deeper, the hand in his neck tightened and Micah still wearing a smile, squished it into a pulp.