Breakfast time.

Chen Li and her brother prepared generous portions of noodles with fried eggs for everyone. Old Lady Wang, her husband, and the five team members gathered together. Besides Murray and Leon who appeared normal, the other team members showed varying degrees of unease...

After setting down the noodle bowls, Old Lady Wang spoke up.

"The 'soul restoration ritual' will begin at 10 AM, in Chen Li's room. I need to prepare and set up the ritual site now... I'll notify you when it's time. During the setup, no one except my husband is allowed to enter. Any disturbance might scare away the 'substitute spirit.' Understood?"

"Yes."

With over two hours until the ritual began, Murray suggested using this time to determine their "activity zone." Considering that this building housed Chen Li, the possessed woman, it could potentially become an extremely dangerous area later. Moreover, the system had specified a 500-meter radius for their permitted movement area. He felt it necessary to scout the area first and create a detailed map.

Herbert, the newsboy, mentioned that besides selling newspapers, he had learned mapmaking from his father. As long as the area wasn't too large, he could create an accurate map after walking through it once.

"Captain... I'm not feeling well," Leon said.

Murray looked at Leon's thin, pale body with a smile. " You should rest in your room. Leave the map-making to us.”

"Thanks."

As the team's translator, Leon was irreplaceable. No one openly objected to his request for rest.

After Murray led the team away, Leon took a deep breath, preparing to execute his plan. Murray's "non-interference" policy seemed sensible on the surface, appearing to be the safest, most reliable way to survive.

But there was one fundamental issue.

Could Murray himself be trusted?

In an event with such a terrifyingly high death rate, it would be foolish to have no personal contingency plans and just wait passively for danger to arrive.

In this aspect, Leon shared something in common with the bald Derion.

From the start, he hadn't planned to trust anyone. In such life-or-death situations, Leon didn't believe a group of strangers would help each other.

"Uncle Liu, where are you headed?" Leon happened to meet Old Lady Wang's husband at the stairway.

"Going to town to buy some things for your aunt... need some items for the ritual. It's complicated stuff, hard to explain."

"Alright."

Back in his room, Leon took out the items he'd prepared in advance from his backpack. While other team members had used their system-provided 500 in cash to buy survival necessities, Leon had set aside money to buy several sets of rural clothing, including one identical to Uncle Liu's.

[Faceless Head]

One of its abilities - "Mimicry."

The head could mimic Leon's previous appearance so perfectly that even he could barely distinguish it in a mirror, proving the ability's authenticity.

After preparing, Leon transformed into Uncle Liu's appearance and went to the ritual preparation room.

"Old Wang, what are you doing wandering around? If you're free, come help with the setup."

Alone with her husband, Old Lady Wang had completely dropped her "mystic master" persona. She was currently sitting on the bed playing with her phone... There wasn't much preparation needed - just placing some offerings on the wooden table, while the paper doll substitute was carelessly placed in a corner.

"Is this arrangement okay?" Leon tried arranging the offerings on the table.

"As long as it's neat, there aren't many rules... Just like before, you'll drug Chen Li first. She's not in good health, so use 2/3 of the usual dose. I've prepared the antidote - we'll split the money as agreed when it's done."

At this point, Leon understood exactly how this renowned Old Lady Wang "exorcised spirits and cured illnesses."

"Alright..."

Leon immediately returned to his room and changed into another set of clothes, disguising himself as Qing. He already knew that Qing had taken his motorcycle to town two hours away to get food for lunch, as he needed to prepare lunch for at least seven people.

After completing his disguise, Leon tried to get into Qing's character... but this impersonation was different from the previous one.

The danger was obvious.

The possessed Chen Li was likely the "evil spirit" in this event.

He pushed open the half-closed hall door.

Chen Li sat on the sofa with a vacant stare. During daylight hours, she didn't seem much different from normal people, except for the sharp kitchen knife on the table in front of her... its blade glinting coldly.

"Sis, are you alright?"

"Close the door," Chen Li said softly.

Leon remained calm, turning to close the door... taking a deep breath, preparing for confrontation.

"Weren't you going to buy groceries?" A cold voice came from behind.

When he turned around, Chen Li was holding the knife... her body leaning forward as if about to stand.

Leon steadied himself, carefully mimicking Qing's way of speaking.

"The groceries aren't urgent. I'm just worried whether 'this matter' will go smoothly."

Leon's response was deliberately ambiguous. "This matter" could refer to the "soul restoration ritual"... but if the siblings had any private business, it could draw that out too.

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However.

Chen Li remained silent.

She slowly stood up holding the knife... her hair falling forward over her face, only her red lips visible.

As she approached Leon... Whoosh!

The knife came down.

The cold, sharp blade struck the wall beside Leon's head... Their faces were less than a fist's width apart, and he could clearly see her bloodshot eyes.

"These foreign students who came are a big problem... but this is our only chance for revenge that we've prepared for so long. Continue with the plan - go find a way to sabotage Old Lady Wang's van. I'll figure out how to scare these college students away."

Hearing this response, Leon relaxed slightly.

When Chen Li had swung the knife, Leon's body had tensed... it was only because he had experienced death before that he could suppress the tension of being so close to death.

Leon thought to himself: "Understanding the local context really helps. In China, censorship is particularly strict regarding superstitious content... horror films often turn out to be caused by human actions."

When the system announced that "The Haunting" was a Chinese film, Leon had considered that there might not be actual "ghosts" in it.

This was why he dared to approach Chen Li alone.

Even so... that moment just now had really scared him - his palms were drenched in sweat. At this point.

The roles of the event characters became clear.

Old Lady Wang was just a fraudulent mystic, and due to some past incident, she had made enemies of the two siblings.

Chen Li and Qing had simply lured the elderly couple here, planning to exact their revenge in this remote location.

But that raised a question.

Where was the evil spirit?

Just then, a private system message echoed in Leon's head.

『Side event activated: [Choice]

Event requirements (optional):

1. Help Old Lady Wang and her husband escape the abandoned manor.

2. Help the siblings kill Old Lady Wang and her husband in advance.

Event rewards:

①. Increase the probability of obtaining a "Destiny Card (Novice Level)" during final reward settlement.

②. Increase or decrease your relationship with event characters.』

Originally, Leon had only intended to use his "Mimicry" ability to better understand the characters in "The Haunting." Unexpectedly, this interaction triggered a side event.

Leon wasn't particularly concerned about the Destiny Card mentioned in the side quest rewards... after all, he wasn't even sure if he'd survive this event.

What he valued more were the relationships between characters.

If he chose correctly and acted appropriately, he might significantly increase his "intimacy" with the event characters, potentially turning them into powerful allies he could count on.

After finishing his conversation with Chen Li.

Back in his room, Leon removed his disguise and fell into deep thought.

This interaction with the event characters had not only revealed the true nature of the movie and the relationships between characters but also raised a major question.

If both Old Lady Wang's couple and the Chen Li siblings were normal humans, then who was the 'evil spirit'?

There were two possibilities:

First - Event characters become evil spirits after death.

Second - An evil spirit haunts this remote area, unrelated to the event characters.

However, the first possibility seemed extremely unlikely.

The bald Derion had been killed last night... given his muscular build, if he'd been attacked by normal people, he couldn't have died so silently.

Most likely, he was killed by a mysterious evil spirit.

"Wait!"

The faces of his remaining teammates suddenly flashed through Leon's mind.

"There's a third possibility... What if there were only five humans from the Holy City participating in this destiny event from the start, and the real 'evil spirit' had been among us from the beginning as the 'sixth person'?"

For some reason, Leon's instincts told him this third possibility was the most likely.

"If that's the case, with my physical condition, I'll need to fully utilize this side event to survive... building relationships with the event characters."

Leon had determined his course of action.

With over an hour until the 'soul restoration ritual', while Murray and others were still exploring the surrounding area and drawing a rough map, Leon returned to his original appearance to meet the "possessed" Chen Li again, this time as Nicolas.

Chen Li's original plan was to scare away the college students before dealing with Old Lady Wang's couple.

Therefore, when Leon came alone to the ground floor hall, Chen Li sat in a chair with disheveled hair.

She gripped the kitchen knife in her hand.

As Leon entered the hall, he deliberately closed the wooden door, adjusting his emotions to enter an 'acting' state.

"Miss Chen... I'm Nicolas Waren. I want to discuss something with you, about 'Old Lady Wang'."

Leon deliberately approached Chen Li, keeping his eyes on the knife in her hand.

"I'm different from them - I'm half Italian, and my mother was Chinese... I suggested and organized this filming. The purpose was to expose Old Lady Wang's true nature and bring her to justice. But... I can’t accept this! Without solid evidence, she'll only be imprisoned briefly, which can't make up for her crimes. My mother was one of her victims."

Throughout his speech, Leon's expressions were perfectly delivered.

This kind of emotional disguise was the same act he put on at faculty gatherings.

The truth was, Leon hated socializing... but his job forced him to attend all these gatherings and events.

Chen Li's expression remained unchanged. "You want her to... just disappear, right?"

Leon feigned surprise, pretending not to know about Chen Li's hatred for Old Lady Wang: "Miss Chen, you?"

"Me? You think I really paid Old Lady Wang to exorcise me? Haha... don't joke. If it weren't for you all, they would have disappeared last night.This is even better! I was wondering how to 'deal with' you college students who suddenly interfered with our plan."

"So what's the plan" Leon tried to draw out Chen Li's plan.

"Old Lady Wang's fate was sealed the moment she came here. Just take your friends and leave, then wait for news of her death."

Leon immediately replied: "No problem!"

Despite Leon's convincing act, Chen Li wasn't taking any chances - she kept the details of her plan to herself.

In her mind, only Qing was truly trustworthy.

"Why help us?"

Leon shrugged with a casual air: "Help you? Not at all... I just want Old Lady Wang and her husband to get what they deserve, the sooner the better!"

The hall fell silent.

After about two minutes...

Chen Li couldn't detect any flaws or falsehood in Leon's eyes. She put down the knife and spoke softly: "Alright... if everything goes according to plan, my brother will sabotage their van, so they'll have to stay another night.

Tonight, we'll add laxatives to the couple's drinking water.

My brother and I will deal with them at the outhouse.

You just need to keep your classmates in their rooms, make sure they don't leave at night, and especially keep them away from the outhouse.

Tomorrow, just tell your companions that Old Lady Wang and her husband left early in the morning after fixing their car. My brother will rent a car to take you all back to the city."

"Understood!"

Just as Leon agreed...

Chen Li suddenly lunged forward with incredible speed.

Her face suddenly pressed close to Leon's, their faces almost touching... her lips whispered in his ear:

"If any of you come near the outhouse tonight and discover this... we'll have no choice but to kill you all too, understand?"

"No problem."

The negotiation was successful.

Leon chose to assist the sister and her brother in this side quest.

The reason was simple.

The siblings, who were determined to take revenge but still showed enough conscience to spare the innocent college students, were definitely more 'useful' than the fraudulent Old Lady Wang couple who deceived people without conscience.

The self-interested couple would flee at the first sign of danger, even if he helped them or saved their lives.

Building a relationship with them had no value.

Soon after Leon returned to his room.

When the time came, Old Lady Wang summoned everyone to Room 6, where the "possessed" Chen Li lay on the bed.

The 'soul restoration ritual' began.

Due to Leon's intervention, the movie's plot had changed.

Chen Li, who had originally planned to go berserk during the ritual, chose to lie quietly on the bed, waiting for the three-hour 'restoration' to end.

She forced herself to drink Old Lady Wang's ritual water, then smiled afterward, pretending the evil spirit had been exorcised.

'The ritual was successful'

Qing's acting also impressed Leon.

He knelt and grabbed Old Lady Wang's legs, crying with snot running down his face while calling her 'benefactor', and handed over the prepared ritual fee.

After a brief rest and lunch, the elderly couple prepared to leave.

Leon's group had to stay at the manor due to system restrictions.

The excuse was that they needed to wait until Chen Li fully recovered to interview her about her experiences during the 'soul restoration ritual' to complete their filming.

So, Old Lady Wang and her husband left first.

Of course... Qing had secretly sabotaged their van.

Within an hour, their vehicle broke down. With a five-hour journey ahead, it was impossible to walk back... the couple had to return to the manor and call a repair team from town.

The first step of the 'revenge' plan had succeeded.

Night fell on the second day at the abandoned holiday inn...

(Note: Event characters in the Destiny Space are 'digitized products', not real entities.)