Burning

Outside Han Dong's room.

Chen Li stood guard at the door. After seeing Edward begin searching the first floor of the bungalow, she turned and asked,

"Do you need me to make a move?"

"There are nearly four hours left before the event ends. Since the evil spirit has already determined that I'm dead, we absolutely can't let Edward reveal that I'm alive. But we can't kill him outright either.

Miss Chen Li, do this later..."

Han Dong told her his improvised plan for dealing with Edward.

After hearing the plan, Chen Li looked somewhat worried about Han Dong. "Your body... will you be all right? What if he notices the trap?"

"I'm merely weak and lacking in stamina. I still have some means of protecting myself... Don't worry. Edward is already seriously injured and beset on both sides. There's very little chance he'll realize it's a trap.

On the other hand, if he sees you beforehand, he'll become wary."

"All right."

Chen Li found a corner on the second floor and hid there... As for her younger brother Da Qing, he followed the original plan and quietly concealed himself somewhere in the bungalow.

"Are they hiding on the second floor?"

Edward Mori completed his search of the bungalow's first floor as quickly as possible.

Just as he emerged from the woodshed and headed toward the stairwell...

Amid his extreme tension, he heard a faint abnormal sound mixed into the torrential rain.

He suddenly turned and looked toward the woods outside the bungalow.

A crawling life-form flashed through the darkness.

Edward's heart trembled.

"I clearly sliced open her mouth with my steel blade and sprayed high-temperature flames directly into it... Judging by her screams and her injuries at the time, she clearly had a fear of fire.

How long has it been? How did it catch up already?

My cousin was right. In Newcomer-level Destiny Events, aside from the simple one-star missions... in high-star events, all kinds of monsters are incredibly difficult to kill even when you know their weaknesses.

Even if they're seriously injured, they'll recover in a short time.

I need to find Nicholas quickly and buy myself some time.

Otherwise... I'll really die!

I have to become a Returner. I have to join the Knight Order. I have to see the world outside!"

Clang!

Hydraulics activated.

A burst of scorching steam leaked from the seams of his prosthetic arm, and a roughly thirty-centimeter-long hidden blade sprang from his palm.

At the same time, his human left arm held a wood-splitting axe he had found in the woodshed.

Edward's killing intent was fully exposed. Even if he encountered Possessed Chen Li carrying a kitchen knife, he would fearlessly charge her head-on and hack at her... To survive, Edward had suppressed fear to the lowest possible level.

He rushed up to the second floor.

He headed straight for the "Room No. 1" where Han Dong lived.

However.

Crack!

As his sword pierced the lock and he kicked the door open.

The frail Han Dong was indeed sitting on the edge of the bed... It was just a little strange that he had been found so easily.

Meanwhile, the downpour continued outside.

Edward could also faintly hear eerie crying coming from the woods.

It was precisely this invisible pressure from the evil spirit that made it difficult for Edward to think calmly and consider everything thoroughly.

At the last moment, Han Dong had not hidden, but had instead deliberately remained in Room No. 1... Anyone who thought about it would know there had to be a trap.

But under the pressure imposed by the evil spirit, coupled with his urgent desire to kill Han Dong.

Edward overlooked that point.

After all, against someone with less strength than even a woman, he could easily crush him to death with one hand thanks to his prosthetic enhancement.

Edward said with a vicious expression, "I really wanted to know how you escaped after being grouped with Akaman... but time is tight. I don't have time to solve that mystery."

He swept his gaze across the room and confirmed there were no obvious traps.

Edward revealed his killing intent and charged straight at Han Dong...

Crack!

After taking only three steps, Edward stepped through the floor and his body suddenly plunged downward.

Because his upper body was slightly wider than his lower body, his waist became stuck halfway down.

A simple yet concealed trap.

With his waist and abdomen trapped, Edward struggled frantically in panic, causing the steel bars between the floorboards to pierce his flesh... There was no possibility of breaking free.

A dead end.

Edward stared at Nicholas, who sat by the bed watching him struggle, and only then realized he had made a foolish, low-level mistake.

At the same time.

With a click, the door behind him closed.

A Woman in Red Robe with disheveled black hair joined them.

They did not kill Edward directly. Instead, Chen Li used hemp rope to bind both of Edward's hands tightly, then used a kitchen knife to destroy the crucial gears in his prosthetic limb.

With that, Edward became a lamb at their mercy.

At such a moment, Edward instead looked relieved.

"Valen Nicholas... you're not an ordinary civilian, are you?

You're on a completely different level from all those dead people.

Originally, I intended to keep a weak and sickly civilian like you as a final safeguard. I never expected I'd kept a rat instead—a despicable rat that could think.

Are you from the church? Or a Newcomer secretly trained by the Knight Order?"

Han Dong merely looked at him and gave no answer.

In truth, Han Dong still wanted to pry more information from him... But judging by his state, it would be difficult to get much out of him.

Just then.

A bell rang from the first floor. It was the signal from Da Qing, meaning the evil spirit had appeared and entered the bungalow.

"Go!"

A ladder leading from the window to the first floor had long been prepared.

Having calculated the timing, Han Dong and Chen Li left through the window.

After meeting up with Da Qing, they tossed several matches through the windows of the rooms on the first floor in succession... The firewood that had been soaked in gasoline beforehand quickly ignited.

"To the cellar."

After lighting the blaze, Han Dong and the siblings abandoned the bungalow and headed for the brick farmhouse where they had previously activated the Hidden Event.

Creak!

The door to the bungalow's second floor was pushed open.

Akaman, whose split mouth had been burned black, quickly crawled into the room.

She kept turning her head as she stared at Edward, who was tied to the bed and unable to speak because his tongue had been cut out.

Akaman still possessed a certain degree of intelligence and did not quite understand how Edward had ended up like this.

Waves of heat rose from beneath her feet. The flames had already spread throughout the bungalow.

Akaman was indeed afraid of natural fire. To make absolutely certain, she acted personally.

When all ten fingers pressed against Edward's face, this young man of extraordinary birth showed little fear. The only thing visible in his eyes was hatred for Nicholas.

There was no room for negotiation.

He had lost.

Survivor+ has died. Cooldown reset to 2 hours... Current number of Survivor+s: 1. Restrictions will be completely lifted in the final One Hour.

Just as the evil spirit received the message and prepared to crawl out of the building, the supports collapsed when the flames fully spread across the first floor, as the abandoned bungalow had long been damaged.

The entire bungalow instantly collapsed and vanished into the sea of flames.