Nightmare

Nightmare

With no clear understanding of the movie's plot,

the group could only stay by Granny Wang's side and gather as much information as possible through Han Dong, their translator.

From their conversation, they learned that Granny Wang mainly practiced "fortune-telling" and "soul transfers." Han Dong had never heard the latter term before.

According to Granny Wang, it was essentially a form of exorcism.

The method involved finding a substitute, usually a paper effigy, and transferring one's illnesses and suffering onto it in order to achieve healing.

The process was complicated and lengthy, usually taking three hours or even longer.

Just Then, halfway through the interview, Granny Wang's husband, Uncle Liu, suddenly came forward. He interrupted them, saying that someone in Wangzigang had been hexed and urgently needed a Soul Transfer Ritual.

Granny Wang was reluctant at first. Wangzigang was far away and secluded, requiring at least five hours by car.

But once she heard that her husband had already settled the matter of payment, she checked the time and immediately prepared to leave. They should be able to arrive before nightfall.

In Han Dong's and the others' eyes, the so-called Wangzigang was the location where this incident would take place.

While Granny Wang and her husband packed the necessary luggage, the group used the five hundred yuan issued by the system to buy a series of necessities locally.

Flashlights, compressed biscuits, bottled water, and so on, in case of emergencies.

The bald De Leon even bought a woodcutting machete for self-defense.

In truth, there was no need for an ordinary weapon like that. Incidents involving evil spirits could not be solved with a blade, and carrying one would only hinder their movements.

Everything was ready.

Taking the filming crew into consideration, Uncle Liu found a relatively spacious van with just enough room for six people in the back.

All that remained was to wait until they reached their destination.

They could have slept during the five-hour drive... but because of worry, anxiety, and an instinctive fear of death, most of them found it difficult to sleep. They simply stared blankly at the pastoral scenery beyond the car window.

Han Dong was different.

His past research work had required him to reverse day and night, allowing him to adjust his body clock to a certain extent. He had also learned a method of falling asleep quickly online.

Using a sleeping technique developed by World War II pilots, Han Dong completely relaxed his body, leaned against the window, and quickly fell asleep.

If he could sleep for five hours before the incident began and replenish his energy, then even if something strange happened at night, he would be able to focus and analyze it properly.

This was the first time Han Dong had slept since gaining his second life more than seven years ago.

Yet once he fell completely asleep, Han Dong entered a bizarre dream.

Bzzzz!

In the dream,

Han Dong returned to the familiar Florence University.

Holding a teacher's manual, he entered a Staircase Classroom.

Unlike before, not a single student had skipped the dull, tedious cell biology class. The enormous Staircase Classroom was completely full.

Even stranger,

every student wore a hooded jacket with their hoods up and their heads lowered, making it impossible to see their faces.

When Han Dong reached the podium, he habitually took out a USB drive and inserted it into the multimedia equipment.

Just Then, something bizarre happened.

The USB plug Turned Into a slick tentacle and inserted itself into the "fleshy mass" of the multimedia device.

The cell biology courseware that should have appeared on the projector screen transformed into strange symbols Han Dong could not understand.

At the same time, all the students in the Staircase Classroom raised their heads, pulled back their hoods, and revealed featureless, Faceless faces.

"Faceless..."

Bzzzz!

Accompanied by a burst of ringing in his ears, Han Dong jolted awake.

Night had fallen.

When Han Dong woke up, the van had just arrived at Wangzigang, the site of the incident, in front of an abandoned rural guesthouse.

Before the van stood an old, nearly abandoned, long rectangular bungalow.

The two-story bungalow had once been used as an inn. The second floor had been divided into eight separate guest rooms, with the staircase in the middle.

Rows of large red lanterns hung neatly along the second-floor corridor, looking vaguely eerie in the darkness.

The client and the person suffering from The Hex lived in this bungalow.

As everyone looked through the car window at the decrepit building,

Han Dong, who had just awakened from his nightmare, seemed somewhat unwell. Both hands were shoved tightly into his waist pouch, and his expression was unusual... as if he were deliberately hiding something.

You have arrived in the event area. The Countdown has begun. The relevant requirements are as follows:

1. The permitted activity area for all participants is the Abandoned Manor and a five-hundred-meter radius around it. Anyone who leaves the designated area for more than Ten seconds will be erased.

2. Group lodging is prohibited. Please choose separate rooms to sleep in.

Between 23:00 and 06:00, if two people are in the same room at the same time, the first violation will receive a warning. The second violation will result in erasure.

3. During the event, you may freely communicate and interact with plot characters without restriction.

4. When the seventy-two-hour Countdown ends, survivors will be teleported away.

When the group stepped out of the van, a man around thirty with an honest-looking face came forward to greet Granny Wang. At the same time, he asked, "Master, these people are?"

"They're international students filming a documentary. They'll be recording this entire Soul Transfer Ritual... You don't mind, do you?"

"As long as they don't interfere with your ritual, I don't mind. It's just... I may not have prepared enough dinner."

Han Dong hurried forward and said politely, "It's fine. We brought our own food. Just make sure Granny Wang and Uncle Liu eat. There's no need to worry about us."

After some polite refusals and negotiations,

they successfully entered the bungalow's first-floor hall and met the person afflicted by The Hex.

Unlike the possessed people they had imagined—bound to a bed or locked in a room, screaming, self-harming, or eating insects—

the afflicted person was a refined-looking rural woman with long hair. She appeared completely normal and was even responsible for washing and cooking vegetables.

After dinner, they immediately got down to business.

The man living here introduced himself and explained the situation regarding The Hex. They learned that he and the hexed woman were siblings.

The man's name was Da Qing, while the hexed woman was Chen Li.

They had previously run a rural guesthouse here, and business had been fairly good... but it had been abandoned several years ago after the tourist area relocated.

As for his older sister Chen Li, her condition was rather unusual. She behaved normally during the day and only had episodes at night.

According to Da Qing, they had already taken her to see doctors in the city... She had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but Chen Li firmly insisted that she was not schizophrenic. Rather, something was "living" inside her body.

That was roughly the situation.

Da Qing hoped Granny Wang could use a Soul Transfer Ritual to move the thing inhabiting his sister's body into a paper effigy.

"We can't do it now. The Yin Energy is too heavy at night, and the thing living inside your sister might not come out... Besides, we're tired from rushing here.

A soul transfer is a ritual that greatly drains one's vitality and spirit. We can only perform it tomorrow."

Granny Wang's statement meant that everyone would have to spend the night here.

Da Qing said warmly, "All right... I'll take you upstairs to rest. The conditions here aren't very good, so I hope everyone can make do."

The six members of the filming crew, Granny Wang and her husband, and Chen Li, the woman afflicted by The Hex—

would fill the Second Floor of the bungalow, where the large red lanterns hung, exactly.