Possession

They had already asked about the "rules" on their way to the practice area that morning.

Director Qin, who was in charge of the project, had personally stated that this practice session would only trigger one event corresponding to an object.

Moreover, when they killed the zombie, they had clearly received notice from the institute that the practice had ended. This should have been the end of it; the rest should have been time for celebration.

Yet what was happening now had completely veered off the normal track.

When they heard Anna making clicking sounds with her tongue, everyone immediately thought of the object Anna had found—the metal box printed with a hexagram and a goat's head.

Seeing Anna's condition, they immediately connected it to something from their textbooks—possession.

This meant that a second event had been triggered.

There had been no buffer, rest, or preparation.

It was a sudden event with no warning whatsoever.

Wu Wen, the class monitor and core of the team, had even been severely injured. Her life might be in danger.

An accident.

That was the first possibility Luo Di thought of.

But on further thought, a massive research team stood behind this practice.

The institute could create all kinds of objects and corresponding Anomaly Events, and it could swiftly construct an old mansion based on the object selected. All this was enough to prove how capable the institute was.

With such a capable research team, and with the class monitor having connections to the institute, they should have attached great importance to this practice. They could not possibly have made such a basic mistake.

Since there was no problem with the institute as a whole,

Luo Di quickly thought of the most likely possibility: someone within the institute had gone wrong. Perhaps a "corner" had grown in that person's heart, and perhaps they had begun planning all this long ago, only for the four of them to happen upon it.

But there was no time to think about that. Dealing with the matter in front of them was what mattered.

Should they restrain Anna first, or treat the severely injured Wu Wen first?

Before Luo Di could reach an answer, one had already appeared.

With the axe embedded in her shoulder, the class monitor used that brief opening to inject an adrenaline shot from the first-aid kit into the outside of her thigh. Enduring the excruciating pain, she forced herself up and retreated to the front door.

"Phew... Something went wrong with the practice. I need to get down the mountain quickly... The institute must have noticed by now. Their response team should already be on the way up.

"I'll go meet them first and try to get to the hospital sooner.

"You two, please hold Anna back. If possible, try not to kill her. As long as we wait for the institute's people to arrive, this will be resolved."

The class monitor did not pull out the Tactical Axe. Instead, she pressed hard against the wound in her shoulder with her other hand. The adrenaline was already taking effect, dulling the pain.

Just as she was about to leave and head down the mountain for help,

Anna, who stood against the wall inside the room, spoke in a sinister voice that did not belong to her:

"What a pity. If Xiao Gao hadn't run his mouth, I could have split that pretty little face of yours in half with one swing, Wenwen.

"Then, when you walked down the street, no one would ever say you were prettier again.

"Once I kill those two, I'll come down the mountain to find you right away. Run, my Wenwen! I'll tear you open and let everyone see what you really look like inside."

The class monitor's expression did not change. Keeping pressure on her wound, she turned and left.

That left only three people in the room.

The possessed Anna was unarmed after losing her weapon. This was the best chance to subdue her.

As long as they could restrain her and wait for the institute personnel to arrive, this accident might be brought to an end.

Luo Di and Gao Yuxuan exchanged a glance, then closed in from both sides.

Their concentration returned to the level it had been at when they fought the zombie. They were ready to dodge or defend at any moment, since Anna surpassed them in both build and strength.

But when they reached Anna,

something unexpected happened.

Anna's head suddenly drooped, then lifted again. The sinister expression from before turned into one of fear and panic, and a trembling voice rose from her throat.

"I... I heard tongue-clicking when the zombie died. In the woods, I saw a headless Devil with nothing but a tongue hanging from it.

"I only looked at it once, and it came right up to me. It drilled into my body with its tongue.

"How did I get back to the room? Where did Wenwen go?"

When the panicked Anna saw the bloodstains left on the floor, she seemed to infer what had happened. Her emotions began to collapse.

The intense emotional shift caused the "thing" inside her, temporarily suppressed until now, to appear and vanish beneath her skin. It felt as though it could seize control again at any moment.

Smack!

At that moment,

a hand grabbed Anna's arm.

Rough, warm, strong, and powerful.

The touch of the opposite sex briefly pulled her out of her extreme emotions. At the same time, she felt her entire body being dragged toward the large bed in the Mansion - Master Bedroom.

Luo Di looked down at her and spoke in an almost commanding tone. "While you're still conscious, get on the bed! Gao Yuxuan, bring the bandages!"

He seemed to have taken over the class monitor's role, becoming the team's temporary commander and urging everyone into action.

Anna quickly understood the situation. If she wanted to survive, she had to do this.

She immediately lay down on the bed, spreading her limbs to reach the four corners as much as possible. The bed in the old mansion was made from exceptionally sturdy materials, and each corner happened to have a post-like structure.

Luo Di immediately divided the work with Gao Yuxuan, using as many bandages as possible to bind Anna's limbs.

Gao Yuxuan had another precaution prepared. He took out the silver needles they had used against the zombie and inserted them into several key acupoints on Anna's body.

The outside of her thigh—"Fengshi."

The inside of her thigh—"Yinbao."

The inside of her arm—"Chize."

In addition, Gao Yuxuan planned to insert a needle into "Baihui" at the top of her head. It could clear her mind and calm her spirit, perhaps allowing Anna to remain conscious longer.

Just as he pinched the silver needle and stared at the surface of Anna's scalp beneath her golden hair,

Creak, creak~

something seemed to squirm beneath her skin.

As Gao Yuxuan found his moment and prepared to insert the needle, the writhing thing formed the outline of half a human face and bulged outward. It even seemed as though that bizarre tongue was about to extend from between the face and lick the fingers preparing to drive in the needle.

If it licked him, even Gao Yuxuan himself might be in danger.

He had no choice but to give up and instinctively retreat, backing away below the edge of the bed.

However, the acupoints in her limbs had already been sealed. Combined with the restraints from the bandages, it should be enough to hold out until the institute personnel arrived.

Anna, bound to the bed, had already taken on another face.

There was no longer any of a high school student's youthful liveliness.

She seemed to have aged more than ten years.

Bluish-purple veins like marble patterns protruded beneath her skin, along with deep wrinkles that should not have existed on a high school girl's face.

Her mouth was stretched far wider than normal. Or rather, less of her lips remained, exposing more of her teeth and gums until her entire oral cavity was laid bare.

The incredibly agile tongue in her mouth kept slapping against the walls of her mouth, producing waves of deeply unpleasant sounds.

Only Anna's eyes still looked normal. It seemed the possession was not yet complete.

The tongue slapping around inside her mouth suddenly stopped, and the Devil's voice emerged from within.

"Ha ha ha! You touched me just now, didn't you? Can you hear it? My voice..."

The moment the words fell,

Click~

Luo Di and Gao Yuxuan both heard tongue-clicking.

They could not determine where the sound came from. It was not from the outside world, but from within their own minds.

At the same time as the clicking sounded, the Mansion - Master Bedroom began to change as well. The walls peeled away like skin, revealing a scorched-earth-like rock formation beneath.

Ash drifted through the air, making every breath burn hot.