Outside Leon's room, Chen Li stood guard at the door. Seeing Murray begin his search of the first floor, she turned and asked:

"Should I take care of him?"

"There's nearly four hours left until the event ends. Since the evil spirit believes I'm dead, we can't let Murray reveal that I'm alive. But we can't just kill him directly either. Here's what we'll do, Ms. Chen..."

Leon explained his improvised plan for dealing with Murray.

After hearing it, Chen Li showed some concern for Leon. "Are you sure you'll be alright with your condition? What if he sees through the trap?"

"My body may be weak and lacking stamina, but I still have some ways to defend myself... Don't worry, Murray is already severely injured and cornered. The chances of him spotting the trap are minimal. In fact, if he sees you first, he's more likely to become suspicious."

"Alright."

Chen Li found a hiding spot in a corner of the second floor, while her brother Qing remained in his predetermined position somewhere in the building, as planned.

...

"Hiding upstairs, are you?"

Murray completed his search of the first floor as quickly as possible.

Just as he emerged from the kitchen heading toward the stairwell...

Through his heightened tension, he caught a faint sound mixed with the pounding rain.

He whirled around, eyes scanning the treeline.

A crawling figure flashed through the darkness.

Murray's heart skipped a beat.

"I cut open her mouth with a steel blade and blasted fire directly into it... judging by her screams and injuries, she was clearly vulnerable to fire. How is she already back? It's barely been any time at all! My cousin was right - except for one-star missions, the monsters in high-level Destiny events are nearly impossible to kill, even when you know their weaknesses. Even when severely injured, they recover quickly. I need to find Nicolas immediately to buy me more time. Otherwise... I'm dead! I must become a Returner, I must join the Knights, I must see the world beyond!"

Shink!

Hydraulic pressure activated.

Hot steam hissed from the joints of his prosthetic arm as a 30-centimeter hidden blade sprung from his palm.

In his human left hand, he gripped an axe he'd found in the woodshed.

Murray's killing intent was now fully exposed. Even if he encountered Chen Li with her cleaver, he would face her head-on... To survive, he had suppressed his fear to its absolute minimum.

He charged up to the second floor.

Straight to Room 1 - Leon's room.

However.

His blade pierced the lock, and he kicked the door open.

The frail Leon was indeed sitting on the edge of the bed... finding him this easily seemed somewhat suspicious.

The rain continued to pour outside.

Murray could still faintly hear eerie crying from the direction of the woods.

It was this intangible pressure from the 'evil spirit' that prevented Murray from thinking clearly and considering all possibilities.

The fact that Leon hadn't hidden but instead waited in Room 1... Anyone thinking clearly would realize this was obviously a trap.

But under the evil spirit's pressure and his desperate desire to kill Leon, Murray overlooked this detail.

After all, facing someone physically weaker than most women, Murray believed he could easily crush Leon with one hand, enhanced by his prosthetic.

Murray's face twisted with malice as he spoke: "Though I'd love to know how you escaped when paired with Arkman... time is too precious now for solving mysteries."

After a quick scan of the room confirming no visible traps, Murray lunged at Leon, killing intent blazing...

Three steps in, Murray's foot broke through the floor, his body plummeting downward.

His upper body being slightly broader than his lower half caused him to become wedged at the waist.

It was a simple yet concealed trap

Panic drove Murray to struggle frantically, causing the exposed metal reinforcement bars to dig into his flesh... There was no possibility of escape.

Checkmate.

Murray stared at Nicolas, who remained calmly seated on the bed watching him struggle. Only now did he realize he had made a foolish, elementary mistake.

At that moment.

The door closed behind him.

A woman in red with disheveled black hair entered the room.

Instead of killing Murray outright, Chen Li used rope she had prepared to bind his hands tightly, then used her cleaver to destroy the critical gears in his prosthetic arm.

Now Murray was completely at their mercy.

At this point, Murray's expression became oddly serene.

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"Nicolas Warren... you're no ordinary civilian, are you? You're on a completely different level from the others who died. I had planned to keep a weak civilian like you as my final insurance. Instead, I kept a rat - and a cunning one at that. Are you from the Church? Or perhaps a secret Knight trainee?"

Leon simply watched him, offering no response.

Though Leon would have liked to extract more information from Murray... judging by his demeanor, it seemed unlikely

Just then

A bell rang from the first floor - Qing's signal indicating the evil spirit had appeared and entered the building.

"Let's go!"

They had already prepared a rope ladder from the window to the ground floor.

Right on schedule, Leon and Chen Li escaped through the window.

After reuniting with Qing, they ignited the gasoline-soaked firewood by tossing matches through the first-floor windows. The flames spread instantly throughout the building.

"To the cellar."

After setting the building ablaze, Leon and the siblings abandoned the structure and headed for the brick farmhouse where they had previously triggered the hidden event.

...

The door to the second-floor room swung open.

Arkman slithered into the room, her charred, gaping mouth split into an unnatural grin that revealed burnt flesh beneath.

Her head twisted around as she stared at Murray, bound to the bed with his tongue cut out, unable to speak.

Arkman retained enough cognition to be puzzled by Murray's predicament.

Heat rose from below as flames engulfed the building.

Despite her primal fear of natural flames, Arkman couldn't resist claiming her prey personally.

As her ten fingers pressed against Murray's face, this privileged young man showed little fear. His eyes reflected only hatred for Nicolas.

There was no room for negotiation.

He had lost.

『Survivor death detected. Cooldown reset: 2 hours... Current survivors: [1]. Restrictions will be completely lifted in the final hour.』

Just as the evil spirit received this message and prepared to crawl out of the building, the already damaged structure's supports gave way, weakened by the flames spreading through the first floor.

The entire building collapsed instantly, consumed by the inferno.

The original plan was for Murray to die in the woods at the hands of the evil spirit... which would have set the final battleground at the inn.

The traps set in the room were actually prepared for the evil spirit.

However, Murray hadn't died, and instead came hunting for Leon.

Facing someone capable of surviving an encounter with the evil spirit, Leon knew he had to take this seriously.

Time for a change of plans.

The traps meant for the spirit would now be used against Murray!

Additionally, Murray would serve as bait to lure the evil spirit in. The fire wasn't meant to kill the spirit - just buy more time

Due to the heavy rain, the fire that could have spread to the surrounding forest was contained, burning for only half an hour before dying out completely.

In the ruins of the burned building, a pool of putrid fluid was slowly forming in the ashes.

The sound of joints moving followed.

Through gaps in the bricks, a charred mouth could be seen twitching as it spoke:

"It hurts..."

"It hurts..."

"It hurts..."

...The voice gradually transformed from pain to excitement.

Time remaining: [2 hours 30 minutes]

Having reached the brick house, Leon made a decision.

At Chen Li's urging, they let Qing, who wasn't directly involved in the event, leave first.

After all, Qing was Chen Li's last attachment to this world.

As long as Qing could safely return to his family and live a normal life, Chen Li would have no regrets.

This meant one less ally.

"The final hour will be the deadliest... when the spirit's 'restrictions' are completely lifted. This fire won't buy us much time. We need special countermeasures. Chen Li, please keep watch upstairs. I need some time alone to think."

"Alright."

Leon pulled up a chair and sat alone in the dark plague cellar.

In his previous life, whenever he hit an academic wall, Leon would cancel all activities and block out all external distractions for this kind of 'solitary contemplation.'

"What do I have left..."

Like how he used to review every piece of research before starting a new project, Leon listed out his remaining advantages and trump cards one by one.

Advantages:

1. The evil spirit believes Leon is dead

2. If the evil spirit can't pass through walls, the plague cellar has only one entrance

3. The evil spirit has a confirmed fear of fire

Trump Cards:

1. Destiny Weapon - "Plague Doctor's Dagger"

2. Ally - Possessed Chen Li

3. ...

When considering his third trump card, a series of grotesque images flashed through his mind:

The writhing tentacles in the prison walls, the creeping fungal filaments along his neck, the bizarre dreams, and the horrific tentacle that had sprouted from his palm.

"I have enough advantages and trump cards... now to see just how difficult a four-star challenge can be.

Actually, I suppose I'm a bit of a 'cheater' too.

Without the special properties of this head, pure strategy wouldn't have been enough to beat Murray... let alone survive the evil spirit's claws.

If I survive this, I can slowly learn more about this world.

I must survive!"

Knocking sounds came from the cellar entrance.

Then Chen Li's low voice: "Something's moving outside... What should I do?"

"So soon?! Well, this is what you get with a four-star challenge..."

Leon was startled.

He'd hoped Murray's death and the fire would buy time until the final hour... but with two hours left, the spirit had already tracked them down.

Leon made a risky decision:

"I have an idea!

Chen Li, please pretend to be Monica from our team, stay in a dark corner of the basement.

You don't need to be her perfect double - just make sure the spirit can't see you clearly.

The 'evil spirit' now believes Monica is the only survivor."

Chen Li asked: "What about you?"

"I'll die again."

...

『Related restrictions lifted. Please hunt down the final survivor in the remaining two hours.』

The crawling evil spirit received this message as it followed the footprints to the brick house... Though burned beyond recognition, its movements weren't hindered at all.

The sound of nails scraping against concrete walls echoed through the old house.

The evil spirit crawled across the ceiling, quickly entering the building.

First, in the main hall, it found Leon with his throat slit, clutching a knife... The evil spirit had no doubt about his death.

While searching, it discovered the bed in the bedroom had been moved.

This deliberate displacement was, of course, Leon's doing.

Arkman pulled the bed aside, revealing the secret passage to the cellar.

A strange laugh escaped her mouth... she seemed eager to end this event.

Her blackened arms crawled slowly down the moss-covered steps.

With her night vision, the evil spirit immediately spotted the 'final survivor' huddled in a corner of the cellar, body trembling slightly.

With her vocal cords severely burned, Arkman's voice came out raspy:

"Never thought you'd be the last one... I expected that blonde boy to use you to buy time. Haha, but it doesn't matter who's left, the ending's all the same, haha..."

The eerie laughter echoed through the cellar.

The spirit confirmed there was no other exit; the 'Monica' in the corner had no escape route.

With plenty of time, it crawled forward slowly.

Severely burned. Arkman was completely bald, a long thin tongue licking across her face as she crawled, somewhat reminiscent of the Lickers from Resident Evil.

Of course, as an 'evil spirit,' she possessed many special properties.

She was far beyond any ordinary mutant life form.

Arkman's killing method involved her ten fingers - once they touched a target's face, the victim would lose all ability to move.

Her long, twisted fingers stretched out, inches away from 'Monica's' face.

An alien aura spread out.

Accompanied by a surge of dark energy, a cleaver materialized in 'Monica's' hand.

With a twist of the wrist, she delivered a precise and vicious slash.

The spirit's two arms were cleanly severed... landing five meters away.

A shriek echoed through the air.

The 'Monica' in the corner stopped trembling, revealing a fierce expression.

" You... you're one of them?! I'll tear you apart! "

Streams of dark energy leaked from the evil spirit's severed arms, instantly forming two new limbs of semi-gaseous, semi-solid darkness... This time faster than the cleaver, they grabbed Chen Li's throat tightly, lifting her into the air.

As the ten fingers touched her skin, dark energy began seeping into Chen Li's body.

Chen Li was gradually weakened, unable to swing her cleaver freely... slowly losing all ability to move.

A corrupted human like Chen Li was no match for a true evil spirit.

However, Leon's plan had never involved Chen Li actually killing the evil spirit.

This was all just to draw Arkman's attention.

Because of the severed arms. Arkman's attention was completely divided between the 'pain' and Chen Li.

She completely failed to notice the sickly young man slowly descending the cellar steps.