Chapter 1231: Chapter 819: Probing
Maria clenched her teeth, braced herself against the door, and hid behind it without saying a word.
Maria gestured to Hafeez with her eyes to join her, but the timid Hafeez’s lips continued to tremble, his legs were shaky, and he could already tell from Maria’s expression that the person outside the door wasn’t right.
"If you don’t open the door, I’ll have to break it down," Datu issued an ultimatum, then stepped back half a step and slammed his broad shoulder against the door.
This time he didn’t use full force, so Maria managed to withstand it, but the old door couldn’t take the strain, and at Datu’s second hit, the door burst open.
Maria was indeed fierce; at that moment, she didn’t forget to scream and lunged towards the candle, shoving the obstructive Hafeez aside, standing guard over the candle to ensure it wouldn’t go out.
"Are you... are you human or ghost?" Maria stared wide-eyed at Datu.
Subsequently, Yang Xiao and the others parked their car and came inside, briefly explaining the night’s situation, and the misunderstanding was cleared up.
Maria realized she had been tricked by Datu Supa, but being outnumbered now, she couldn’t afford to start trouble, so she had to swallow her pride.
She didn’t even mention Datu’s and Supa’s deception in front of Yang Xiao and the others, as it held no meaning.
However, hearing that two people from Yang Xiao’s team had died tonight, Maria’s twisted mindset calmed somewhat.
At least this proved the ghost wasn’t targeting their team relentlessly until their complete annihilation.
This was her greatest fear.
The problem was, none of them had yet figured out the ghost’s killing pattern.
You could say that anyone alive now owes a bit to luck.
Moreover, this ghost was entirely different from those Maria had encountered in previous tasks; it hadn’t disguised as a teammate to kill anyone yet, apparently having no need to.
Whenever it appeared, someone would die, like a precise machine.
Or perhaps... a kind of causation law.
When this thought emerged in her mind, even Maria was startled. She never believed in these things, but reality had tormented her unbearably.
This inescapable death was the most tormenting, and now, all she could do was wait for the next person to die, to delay time as much as possible, hopefully postponing until the task ended.
The optimal solution to the nightmare task naturally is to find the key clues and uncover the secret behind the nightmare, but if it can’t be found, they can continue using teammates to stall time, and perhaps survive in the end.
For someone like her, with no particular pursuits, obtaining the Resentful Eye in the nightmare isn’t important; all she ever wanted is just to survive.
Night fell deep, and after exchanging information between the two teams, everyone dispersed, each returning home.
But this time, when the two teams separated, Yang Xiao and Musa noticeably had lighter steps because they knew the ghost had followed Datu’s team home.
Their task tomorrow night would be fatal.
After Yang Xiao’s team returned to the meditation room, they held a meeting to confirm the plan for tomorrow. Yang Xiao proposed two points:
First, to visit the house of the missing tavern owner and find his blind, weeping mother, to see if they could tease out any key information from her.
Second, they should leave a team at the temple to go through scriptures and investigate whether the High Monks left any anomalies or relics before their deaths, as these might provide new insights.
The most crucial thing now was to confirm the ghost’s identity and its relationship with the submerged "River Immortal Village".
"I agree with Chu Xi’s suggestion; tomorrow, I’ll stay and help them review the scriptures, as that’s my area of expertise," Musa volunteered.
"Fine, Mr. Musa, pay special attention to the Inner Buddha Hall; I’ve heard that every time the High Monks perform rituals to heal the sick, it’s always in the Inner Buddha Hall," Yang Xiao reminded.
"I’ll go with little brother Chu Xi to ask questions tomorrow," Adila was easygoing, accommodating any arrangements.
"It’s late; let’s get some rest," Yang Xiao adjusted the candle to burn slightly brighter with a thin needle, then shook it and said, "You all sleep first, I’ll take the first watch."
"Good, a cautious person," Adila patted Yang Xiao’s shoulder to show approval, then went to sleep.
After the two teams converged, Musa’s ankle injury was briefly treated by Maria, who happened to be a doctor, and fortunately, his injury wasn’t very severe.
Soon, two snores rose, and Yang Xiao forced his eyelids open, struggling to stay awake for the night watch.
In reality, the ghost had followed the other team, making the night’s watch pointless, but Yang Xiao insisted out of caution, given the old saying "better safe than sorry," and partly to deceive Adila.
Especially since going from having someone on guard every night to instantly falling asleep upon return would raise suspicions even for a fool.
Musa proposed not sharing intel with everyone was something Yang Xiao understood, particularly tonight. If they disclosed that the ghost picked teams based on numbers, tonight would certainly end in chaos.
The four people from the other team wouldn’t sit idly, and what might happen afterward could be unpredictable—chaos would ensue, internal strife would intensify, and more people would die.
The reason the two teams were mostly peaceful was the need to help each other, striving for mutual survival. Once this balance is broken, the consequences would be unimaginable.
