The next morning arrived.
Elm Street returned to its usual calm. The sun was bright, and smiles spread across people's faces.
The only thing unusual was the smell of roasted meat lingering in the air, making many stomachs growl.
An old woman pushed open her door and immediately noticed a pile of charred remains on the street.
She scratched her head. "Who was grilling meat out here last night?"
At the house in the center of the street, the Yujin's family stepped out, each of them sporting heavy panda-like dark circles under their eyes.
After getting into the car, seven-year-old Diana fastened her seatbelt and yawned. "Dad, why couldn't I fall asleep the whole night?"
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Winnie also looked exhausted. "I didn't sleep either, honey. Where did you go last night?"
Yujin gripped the steering wheel and rolled his stiff shoulders. Winnie, ever attentive, placed her hands on his shoulders and began to massage them gently.
"I couldn't sleep either, so I went out for a walk," Yujin said.
"But you didn't come back until dawn, honey! Next time you go out, can you take me with you?" Winnie blinked her big eyes at him.
"Uh… you should stay home and look after Diana."
"Well, alright then~ But promise me, honey, if you're going out that late, be careful. I heard the town hasn't been very safe recently."
Faced with such a gentle and considerate wife, Yujin had no temper at all. He just nodded repeatedly.
He drove the car to the school gates. Diana had classes, and Winnie was heading off for shopping.
"I'll come pick you both up at eleven forty," Yujin said.
"Okay, Daddy!" Diana leaned over and gave Yujin a big kiss on the cheek.
Winnie, imitating Diana, also leaned in and kissed him playfully. "Okay, Daddy~"
"Alright, go on, go on."
After sending his wife and daughter off, Yujin let out a long sigh.
If you ignored Freddy the demon, Elm Street actually felt like a perfect vacation spot.
But he knew better than to get lost in such gentle illusions.
The Lord God would never give every reincarnator such a warm, perfect family without a reason.
Yujin drove straight to the hospital. At the entrance, a crowd had already gathered, mostly made up of Asians.
Among them, Miao Xiangyun—who claimed to be a security guard—stood with dark circles under his eyes, his expression filled with exhaustion. His hands trembled unconsciously.
He looked around, trying to find some comfort in his teammates' faces, but realized everyone was in about the same state as him.
Product manager Xiao Ming leaned against the corner of the wall. His face still showed the panic from last night, his eyes red and swollen, as if he had cried the entire night.
KTV princess Li Shuang sat on the ground, hugging her knees. Her gaze was empty. She had clearly been through a lot, yet somehow survived.
The newcomers glanced at each other. In each other's eyes, they saw reflections of themselves.
Zhan Lan, the Central Continent team's later-stage psychic controller, was counting the members. When she saw Yujin step down from the car, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Captain, thirteen members remain."
"Two died?" Yujin was stunned for a moment and looked at the team. Sure enough, Mr. Ding, who worked in insurance and had died in the classroom dream yesterday, was nowhere to be seen.
Yujin had no clear memory of the other person who died, only remembering that he was a round-faced man wearing white socks, sporting a beard and glasses, and a bit chubby.
Zhan Lan didn't know exactly what had happened last night, still doing simple arithmetic in her mind. "If two die in one night, we can't possibly survive until the return."
Zheng Zha, with dark circles under his eyes, looked at Yujin with admiration, like looking at an older brother.
Only he understood that if Yujin hadn't dragged Freddy around Elm Street last night, more than two people would have died.
A full team wipe wasn't even impossible.
Yujin realized this too.
From what he knew about the Lord God, without active intervention, it was only a matter of time before the Central Continent team was wiped out.
"It's already been a day, and there hasn't been a team fight yet. Could it be that the difficulty of this horror story lies in Freddy himself?"
Yujin rubbed his chin, recalling carefully how it felt to face Freddy last night.
If he had to say how strong Freddy really was, it might not be as terrifying as it seemed.
Immortality was tricky.
With his Wing Kagune activated, he could evade Freddy for an entire night.
But it wasn't a long-term solution. The Lord God wouldn't just stay out of it. They still needed a way to deal with Freddy.
Judging from what Freddy went through before his death, this guy was probably weak to fire as well.
The Composite Ninjutsu: Flame Wind Chaos Wave was currently the highest-damage jutsu available—and it was fire-based.
If all his chakra was poured into this technique… could it kill him?
While Yujin was calculating, Zheng Zha approached.
"Captain."
The way Zheng called him startled Yujin for a moment. "What's up?"
"I've been thinking… this isn't going to work. Thirteen nights left, we definitely won't survive."
"Do you have any ideas?"
Yujin knew Zheng Zha was clever. He might not match Chu Daxiao or Xiao Honglu from the Central Continent team in strategy, but he was far smarter than ordinary people—enough to count as half a genius.
Zheng Zha paused for a moment before speaking. "I'm wondering… what exactly does the Lord God mean by 'home'? Does it have to be an actual address? Or is it enough if we feel it's home—so we can avoid Freddy's pursuit without falling asleep?"
"If we all consider the school our home, then we can stick together and remind each other not to fall asleep!"
Yujin patted Zheng Zha on the shoulder. "Good idea, but you understand too little about the Lord God."
"How so?"
"Simply put, the Lord God is like a fat boss in a VIP box at an arena, holding a beautiful woman's waist and swirling a glass of red wine."
"He brought us here for his own amusement. He likes watching people struggle on the edge of death."
"Imagine it this way: Freddy is like a raging bull in the arena."
"The Lord God wants to see us wave a red cloth and perform in front of it."
"Whether the Reincarnators get gored to death doesn't matter. What matters is how thrilling it is."
"He absolutely doesn't want to watch us sneak around on fences to avoid harm like clever chickens."
Recalling all of this, Yujin spoke slowly. "If we do that… what will be waiting for us isn't the raging bull, but two black security guards with AKs."
"This! Like this?" Zheng Zha stepped back in shock. "So there's really no other way? We have to stay up all night, or just wait to die?"
A horrifying image of his poor daughter from last night flashed through Zheng Zha's mind, and he shivered. "The night… it's too hard to endure."
Yujin smiled faintly. "Let's go back to the earlier example."
"You think the Lord God prefers watching a matador wave a red cloth at a bull," he said, "Or would rather see a weak human grab the bull by its horns and fight it with bare hands?"
Zheng Zha drew in a sharp breath. "Fight it?"
"Exactly." Yujin's eyes were firm as he turned to the others, shouting to encourage them, "Tonight, everyone gathers! We go on the offensive!"
"If we kill Freddy, we won't have to endure thirteen more days!"
With a clear target, time suddenly seemed to pass faster.
Dusk had arrived, and there were forty minutes left before the mission required them to be back home.
Before leaving, Yujin set ten alarms at home and slipped drugs into his daughter's milk and his wife's beer.
Once everything was in order, he stepped out and headed to the police station where everyone was to gather.
Seeing Nova, Zheng Zha, and Zhan Lan struggling, unsure what to do since only a few of them had arrived and their teammates had bailed, Yujin couldn't help but smile.
****
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