After drinking the [Mint Iced Tea], Leon didn't immediately throw away the "antidote" candy, but instead found a small box and stored it.
This was to leave a backup plan.
This "Collective Fate" involving the [Alchemy Room Contagious Disease] had come too coincidentally and strangely, so Leon had to be extremely cautious.
He couldn't be 100% sure the antidote his big sister gave him was real, but he also didn't dare to gamble, so he could only take the [Mint Iced Tea] originally intended for late-game use, early to dispel the negative effect from the current disease.
If later on it was confirmed that Big Sis was truly a good person, then the leftover antidote would be safe and edible.
Overall, Leon's move was a conservative one.
Of course, coming up with this method was thanks to Rossweise.
It was she who gave Leon the [Mint Iced Tea]. Otherwise, Leon would still be agonizing over whether or not to eat that antidote.
After exiting the bathroom and resting for a while, Leon headed out again.
He went to the shared kitchen, retrieved the Black Holy Stone hidden under the water tank, then came to the first-floor lobby. After looking around and confirming no one was there, Leon hid the Black Holy Stone inside a set of guard armor at the entrance of the meeting room.
He had noticed this during the morning meeting. The entire first-floor lobby only had the meeting room function and didn't contain any task- or fate-triggering scenes, so compared to the shared kitchen, this area had no foot traffic outside meeting times.
Hiding it in the guard armor was a relatively safe option.
After hiding the Black Holy Stone, Leon returned upstairs.
Coincidentally, he ran into the two daughters from the [Friend Group].
Luna and Little Light were holding hands, and from the end of the hallway, they spotted Leon at a glance.
"Daddy~"
Luna sweetly called out and then pulled Little Light along as they jogged over.
Leon squatted down, smiling as he asked, "What's up? Doing a mission?"
"Mmhm, but it's a three-person mission. We wanted to ask Daddy to come with us."
Leon, of course, was happy to do a mission with his daughters, but he still casually asked, "Why not go find your sister?"
Upon hearing this, Little Luna's face instantly turned cold.
Leon froze for a moment. He didn't know what he said to make his dear daughter upset.
He looked at Little Light.
Fortunately, Little Pink Hair had already understood everything.
She leaned close to Leon's ear and whispered, "After the [Love Stronger Than Gold: Seven-Day Lock] effect ended, Second Sis had to separate from Big Sis, and then Big Sis started doing a bunch of duo missions with Helena, so now Second Sis is... like this."
"Hmph, what's so great about it? Little Light and I can do missions too, and we'll definitely be faster than Helena!"
Leon scratched his head.
'Sister-complexes sure are tricky...', Old Daddy sighed inwardly.
In fact, Leon felt a bit guilty about Luna's clingy personality toward Noah.
If he had been there for both daughters since birth, maybe Luna would've grown more independent.
But well, Leon wasn't going to force his precious daughters to change.
Whether you're a sis-con or bro-con, as long as the whole family can stay together, that's more important than anything.
Leon patted the ahoge on Luna's head and said, "Then let's try and see if we can find another [Love Stronger Than Gold] item card. That way, you can play with your sister again."
Upon hearing that, Luna's big eyes sparkled, "Really, Daddy? There are more [Love Stronger Than Gold: Seven-Day Locks] in the castle?"
Leon nodded, "Yes. Many item cards are duplicates. Your mom and I were hit with one earlier today, and you yourself found one and used it with your sister, didn't you?"
Luna blinked, tilted her head, and adorably asked, "Daddy, how do you know it was me who used the Love Stronger Than Gold card with my sister?"
'Oh come on, the whole world knows! Your little face can't hide any lies at all!'
"Alright, Second Sis, it's not important how Daddy knows. What matters is, since the castle has more [Love Stronger Than Gold] cards, that means you still have a chance to rebind with Big Sis!"
"Okay! This time I'll find three, no, five, no! Ten! I'll find ten [Love Stronger Than Gold: Seven-Day Locks] so Big Sis is bound to me the whole time~"
Leon gave a sweaty, wry smile. His second daughter only fixated on two things.
One: regularly receiving tribute from her old Daddy.
Two: being with her sister.
Leon stood up and held both daughters' hands, one on each side, then led them to complete the three-person mission.
The three-person mission wasn't difficult. With their Daddy's help, it went smoothly.
After completing the task, they received an intel card, ["That thing is a curse! It must be destroyed... it must be destroyed!"]
Leon looked at the quote on the intel card, and his brows lowered slightly.
"Looks like something someone said."
Little Light rubbed her chin, her little head spinning fast, "If we put it in the context of this game, that sentence probably represents a player's main quest. Their task is to destroy 'that thing.'"
Luna looked left at Daddy, right at Little Sis, and unusually began to think seriously, "Then this so-called 'thing' is probably the Black Holy Stone, right?"
"Yeah, I think so too."
Leon said faintly, "But who could've said this?"
Leon had found an intel card while he was bound to Rossweise earlier. It said there were at least two lone wolf players in this game.
Leon himself was one lone wolf, so that quote was likely said by the other.
His main quest was to hide the Black Holy Stone until the game ended. If the other lone wolf's objective was truly to destroy it, then things were very clear, two lone wolves, destined for a showdown.
As the family pondered this, Little Light's shadow stone suddenly emitted a voice, ["[Friend B], you have been 'killed';[Friend B], you have been 'killed.'"]
'Killed? Killed?'
That short notification left all three stunned.
"What happened? Little Light, how did you suddenly get knifed?"
The pink-haired fun-seeker was also completely confused, "I... I don't know, Daddy."
She instinctively touched her body, checking for any strange item.
But found nothing.
She then turned back to look at the room where they had just completed the three-person mission. Still nothing strange.
And just like that... she got knifed out of nowhere.
A wave of fear suddenly exploded among the three.
Even Leon was a little spooked by this strange attack mechanic.
What General Leon imagined for getting knifed:
Silently creeping up, taking one's life in a blink;
What actually happened:
Scheming from afar, knifing across a thousand miles.
Little Light threaded her fingers through her hair, pink gem-like eyes filled with frustration.
"Ah... don't be sad, Little Light. There might be a resurrection item card," Leon comforted her.
"Yeah Little Light, I won't look for a binding card anymore. I'll help you find a resurrection card! Don't be sad," Luna said seriously.
But Little Light shook her head.
"No no no, Daddy, Second Sis, I'm not sad. I just think... it's such a shame I won't get to watch you all backstab each other!"
Leon & Luna: "..."
Little Light lamented dramatically, "Sigh, why me? I only wanted to watch everyone scheme and plot. What did I do wrong, sob sob~"
Before long, a staff member came briskly, "[Friend B] Miss Aurora, please come with me. We'll take you to the God's Observation Room, where you can watch the entire game from a god's perspective."
Bling!
Little Light's eyes lit up.
'Watching the drama from a god's view? Way more fun than first-person?'
'Why didn't you say so earlier? If I'd known, I'd have self-knifed at the start!'
Thus, the previously gloomy pink-haired girl happily followed the staff to the God's Observation Room.
Leaving only Daddy and Second Sis in the wind.
"Oh my God, Daddy! We're over here being scared breathless by that thousand-mile stabber, and Little Light just waltzed off to watch the show in comfort!", Luna slapped her cheeks in disbelief.
Leon also silently facepalmed, "Anyway... let's call an emergency meeting first. Before that killer stabs the two of us too."
"Okay."
[Emergency Meeting]: When a body is found, a meeting can be called in advance.
Ten minutes later, in the meeting room on the first floor, all players gathered, except Little Light.
Rossweise naturally noticed her youngest daughter was missing first,
"Where's Little Light?"
"Got knifed," Leon said, "This emergency meeting was called by me and Luna because Little Light suddenly... got knifed right next to us. No warning at all."
Little Light was the first person to be knifed in over twenty hours since the game started, so this naturally drew everyone's attention.
"Got knifed with no warning?", Noah asked.
"Mm. The three of us had just finished a mission and were chatting a bit when Little Light... was knifed."
Though some time had passed, just recalling that "remote knife" moment was still a bit chilling.
"Did Little Light come in contact with anyone before she got knifed?"
Luna shook her head, "Not really, Little Light and I were together the whole time. We were going to do a mission, but it needed three people, so we found Daddy to go with us."
"Leon went with you...", The speaker was Claudia.
The beautiful woman's blue eyes looked at Leon, "Then could it be Leon who secretly knifed Little Light?"
"Because I found an intel card saying there are at least two lone wolves in this game. Lone wolves probably have different objectives from the rest of us, right?"
"And Luna and Little Light's Friend Group are definitely in the good faction, so taking out one of them would give the lone wolf an advantage."
Faced with the "vicious queen mother's" suspicion, Leon calmly replied, "Senior, your logic is a bit flawed."
"Killing a good guy does give the lone wolf an advantage, but you can't just assume I'm the lone wolf from the start."
"And any inference made from that assumption has no credibility."
"Unless... you have some very direct intel proving I'm the lone wolf?"
Claudia nodded slightly, "I can't be sure you're the lone wolf. But it's true that Little Light was killed right after doing a mission with you."
"I also agree with Senior Claudia's opinion," This time, the speaker was Isa.
"Brother-in-law is very suspicious. This meeting might be his self-stabbing self-bait to create the illusion that the [Wolf] can kill remotely. That way, if he kills again later, everyone will still assume it was a 'remote stab' and won't suspect him immediately."
"But if it was Daddy who killed Little Light, then why didn't he just stab me too?", Luna asked.
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