Everyone sat at the dining table in silence. The events this morning came too abruptly. Yesterday, they were still having a feast at Mayor Turner's residence. Now, not only did two of them die, they even ended up being confined in the hotel.
Jester ruffled his head in frustration. "What do we do now?"
Mrs. Simpson knocked on the table with agitation as he replied, "No matter what, we have to leave. Who knows who will die next if we stay here."
Chris asked back, leaning on his chair. "And how are we going to do that? Did you see their guns?"
The question made the table once again fall into silence.
A few minutes later, Mr. Hughes voiced out his thought. "In fact, I have been feeling this town is odd when I saw the statue of the deity they worship."
Mr. Simpson asked, "What do you mean?"
Mr. Hughes thought for a while then explained, "I've always liked reading myths about gods, demons, and angels. Among the demons, there was one called succubus. Succubus are extremely beautiful female demons with horns on their head and tails on their back. Don't you think this appearance fits perfectly with the statue in the shrine?"
Everyone nodded in thought.
Kai wasn't able to see during the time at the shrine so he didn't have any idea how the statue look. Hearing Mr. Hughes's description now, he was given an inkling.
Jester snorted at this. "You're already so old and still believe in fairytales. How can something like that really exist?"
Mrs. Simpson looked at Jester with a frown. "The truth is, when we went to tour the mayor's house, I got briefly separated from the group and accidentally found a ritual room in a hidden corner with many strange things inside. I thought it was part of the town's customs so I didn't pay it mind but now I remembered seeing skulls in the room on the foot of the deity's statue in the altar."
This is the first time Mr. Simpson is hearing about this. Extremely dissatisfied, he glared at his wife. "Why didn't I know this?"
Mrs. Simpson had only also remembered that she hadn't told this to her husband. Hurriedly, she tried to pacify him, "It's because you never believe in these things and as I've said, I didn't think much about it before."
Mr. Simpson humped, not pacified. Mrs. Simpson was helpless and could only continue explaining.
Chris found the conversation was disrupted and continued the topic. "So the town is worshipping a demon. Why did they invite us here then? To be a sacrifice?"
The word sacrifice made Mrs. Hughes laugh a little crazily. "Sacrifice? That's right. That woman must be taking her revenge by offering us as sacrifices! It's her! It's that vixen!"
Her sudden madness made Jester who was sitting beside her scared. He asked, "Who is she talking about? The woman she mentioned before?"
Mr. Hughes had a little embarrassment on his face as he urge Mrs. Hughes to sit down. Hearing Jester's question, he was reminded and put on a serious face.
"In fact, this is what I really wanted to talk about." He looked at Mr. Simpson. "Mr. Simpson, do you still remember Micah?"
Mr. Simpson subconsciously looked at Mr. Hughes' daughter, Micah, who was sitting quietly in her chair as a response.
Seeing this, Mr. Hughes' embarrassment came back and he hurriedly went to clarify, "I mean someone called Micah and worked at Love Paradise."
Mr. Simpson didn't remember who he was talking about but Mrs. Simpson did. She asked, "Do you mean Micah who committed suicide after catching AIDS from a client?"
Mr. Hughes turned to her and nodded. "Do you know her hometown?"
Mrs. Simpson thought for a bit then shook her head. Mr. Hughes gave the answer. "She's a native of Wallux Town."
The words native from Wallux Town made Jester look at Charlie.
Mr. Simpson was losing his patience. He knocked on the table, "Stop making us guess and tell us straight."
Mr. Hughes complied, telling them a story of a young woman who came to the city from a small town to experience the world against her parents' wishes.
Growing up in a small town, Micah was stubborn and naive. Before going to the city, she didn't take much money, telling her parents that she wanted to rely on her own.
When she was out finding a job, she met Mr. S.
Mr. S is a brothel owner. Seeing Micah's beautiful face and figure and learning of her naivety, he persuaded her to sell her body.
Being offered a 'job' she earned by herself, Micah was very excited.
On her first night, she met her first client, a man named Brixton. Brixton was kind and a gentleman. Micah like him very much. Every time he comes, she would always tell him stories about herself.
After Brixton found out that she was scammed, he promised to take her out of the brothel.
Micah was glad. During her few days of stay at the brothel, she find out how much of an awful place it was and no longer wanted to continue.
Days, months, and years passed. Micah waited and waited for Brixton yet the promise he made had never been fulfilled.
During those time, many of her clients offered the same thing. Micah never agreed, still waiting for Brixton.
Later, a client carrying a disease infected her. Following after, a woman claiming to be Brixton's wife came to harass her every day.
Micah was suddenly woken up, coming to understand that Brixton never meant his promise. Unable to accept it, on a rainy right a day after she was dismissed from the brothel, she slit her own throat, killing herself.
Mr. Hughes finished the story and the dining table was silent.
Finally, Chris concluded, "So the town was helping that woman Micah take her revenge?"
Mrs. Simpson had a face of realization. "Now that you mention it, Gio's death scene resembles Micah's!"
On her side, Mr. Simpson found this unbelievable. "I was only doing a business. It was her fault for being a country bumpkin and being so easily deceived. How can she take revenge on me?"
Jester also couldn't believe it, "If that's the case, how can you explain our connection? I haven't gone to your brothel yet. I don't know the Micah you're talking about at all."
Chris turned to Jester, asking, "How about Stephan then? Are you sure he didn't know her?"
Jester hesitated. That's right. It was Stephan who won the ticket. If someone among them is connected to this Micah, it can only be him. "...How about we call him and ask?"
The others looked at each other, thought for a while, and agreed.
A few minutes later, Stephan came down with Jester, his hands tied to his body.
Stephan answered before the people at the table could ask, pointing to Micah as he speak. "I don't know any Micah beside her. I haven't even been to your Love Paradise."
This answer made Mr. Hughes at a loss. He has been certain that Micah is the link connecting everyone. If Stephan didn't know her then wouldn't the link he managed to connect be broken?
As he was thinking, Stephan suddenly continued, "But I do know Charlie."
The others took a while to understand what he mean. Seconds later, they reacted. That's right. Charlie is also from Wallux Town and had been cheated by Stephan. She could also be involved in this.
Kai, who was suddenly dragged from his focused attention on the completion rate of his sub-task that had already reached 65% as the others talk suddenly received a prompt, startling him. He thought Charlie wouldn't speak until the discussion ended.
Charlie received suspicious looks from the others and didn't know what to do. Looking at Stephan who was also looking at her with malice, she was in disbelief. "Stephan, are you still not done with this? How can you always accuse me?"
Stephan smirked, "I was only answering their question."
The others also chimed, "Charlie, we're not trying to accuse you. It's because you're from Wallux Town. How about you try proving your innocence then?"
Charlie sighed, getting up from her chair. Everyone thought she was angry and didn't want to talk to them anymore. Unexpectedly, a few minutes later, she came back holding a paper, giving it to Stephan.
Stephan took the paper. Reading the content, he began shaking. Jester beside him was curious, stretching his head to peek, and was surprised. He blurted out, "You're pregnant?!"
Hearing this, the others unanimously turned their heads to Charlie. Charlie softly replied, "Hmm. I had symptoms a little more than a month ago so I took a pregnancy test. The result was positive three times so I went to the doctor."
She looked at Stephan. "You said Meghan put a tracker on me. Was it on my phone?"
Stephan didn't answer, still in shock. Charlie continued, "It must be, right? I remembered that day when I went to find you in the empty music room and I forgot to bring my phone. You and Meghan never found me while you were making out."
At this time, the others already had an idea of what happened.
"If your memory is good, you'll be able to remember that that day was also the day I went to Wallux Town."
Stephan slumped on his chair but Charlie was not done yet. "My parents would never accept me getting pregnant so early. When I came here a few months ago, I met our previous neighbor who does abortions. That time, I came here in anger to have the baby aborted."
The world abortion made Mrs. Simpson react strongly. "How can you abort a child?! They don't know anything! They're innocent!"
As someone who never had a child but always wanted to have one, she felt pity for those children who had to die without seeing the world and despise their mothers who made that happen.
Charlie didn't immediately reply. Touching her belly, she choked, and tears started falling from her eyes. "That's what I thought too. And I was with Stephan for almost three years after all. I love him so much and wanted to give him another chance so I backed out at the last minute."
The result was Stephan continuing his cheating with others without remorse, even wanting to drag her this time when his cheating partner was killed.
Everyone had a bad look directed at Stephan. This guy is such a scum!
In the end, the matter of the town avenging Micah had been deemed by everyone as Mr. Hughes' nonsense.
Charlie went back to her room, going straight to the bathroom to rinse her face which had been stained with tears.
There was no prompt for Kai to turn off his senses this time so he went straight to the sink. He was about to open the faucet when Charlie's reflection in the mirror caught his eyes.
This is the first time Kai had seen Charlie's reflection. After all, the mirror was in the bathroom and Kai had to turn off his vision every time he went inside. Charlie didn't like putting on make-up and wasn't like many girls who like to use the restroom to retouch either. She doesn't even take selfies.
Now— Kai stared at the mirror in front somewhat in a daze, silently cursing, 'f*ck!'