Soon, Hao Laoshi's conjecture was confirmed.

They heard a rustling sound from behind. There was no one else here but them; it had to be the ghost!

The ghost was indeed here!

Hearing the sounds from behind, Ningmeng Busuan ran desperately forward.

Hao Laoshi, who had just claimed he had no strength left to run, was now leading the pack as if he'd had a shot of adrenaline.

"The photo! Look at our second photo!" Wenqin Tan Jiu shouted at Ningmeng Busuan.

Ningmeng Busuan glanced at the photo in her hand while running. Their second photo only vaguely showed their surroundings, but she could faintly discern a blurred figure in their current location—the image of the ghost. The figure seemed to be reaching out, as if to grab someone in front of it.

Ningmeng Busuan's pupils contracted. Who is it trying to grab?

The sounds from behind them provided the answer.

They heard a dragging noise from behind. The two women turned to look and saw Xu Xingcheng, who was at the very end of the group, being dragged by the ghost onto a different path. Almost instantly, Xu Xingcheng was dragged down that path and vanished from sight.

The two women didn't dare to look any longer and turned to flee.

Xu Xingcheng's death bought them a little breathing room, and the remaining survivors continued their desperate flight.

Still shaken, Hao Laoshi glanced back. He remembered Xu Xingcheng was Gu Mian's teammate; he never expected Xu Xingcheng to die just like that.

"What do we do? We can't stay on this path, can we?" Wenqin Tan Jiu asked Ningmeng Busuan as they ran.

"The ghost already knows our plan. It will definitely pay more attention to this path now. We probably won't be able to use the photos to avoid it anymore," Ningmeng Busuan said, a hint of despair in her voice. Their glimmer of hope had been instantly extinguished.

"The most important thing now is to shake off this ghost! Let's split up!" shouted Hao Laoshi from the front.

They quickly decided to split up at the upcoming intersection.

But before they could reach the intersection, Ningmeng Busuan saw in the photo that the ghost was catching up.

"It's too late! The ghost has caught up!" she cried, on the verge of a breakdown.

After killing Xu Xingcheng, the ghost hadn't paused; it came straight for them.

Ningmeng Busuan watched the ghost drawing closer in the photo. She couldn't gauge the actual distance between them, only sensed that it was extremely close. A chill ran down her spine, and fear began to creep through her entire body. She knew the ghost was right behind her.

Wenqin Tan Jiu beside her felt the same. Her hair stood on end, and she sensed a malicious presence clinging to her back.

Despair flooded their hearts. They should have known it would end like this. The moment they knew their path to survival was destroyed, they should have realized they might die here. This instance no longer had a path to survival; everyone was going to die...

The two of them felt the chill behind them draw nearer, until it was almost pressing against their backs.

It's over, they thought.

Wenqin Tan Jiu felt a sudden weight on her shoulder, as if something had settled there. She turned to look at her shoulder but saw nothing. Then, a tremendous force yanked her backward.

In what she thought were her final moments, Wenqin Tan Jiu shrieked in terror, "Help!"

Ningmeng Busuan glanced back at Wenqin Tan Jiu, who was being dragged away by the invisible ghost. She desperately wanted to help but was powerless. All she could do now was flee for her life.

I'm sorry, Ningmeng Busuan thought, turning to sprint away, her heart heavy with sorrow.

Her sorrow, however, was short-lived, interrupted by the sudden appearance of two people ahead. She stared, dumbfounded, at the two bicycles that had suddenly appeared. On them were the unreliable-looking doctor and his spectacled teammate.

She hadn't expected those two to still be alive.

Hao Laoshi up ahead seemed to have snapped. Seeing the cyclists, he stopped running, even turned, and pointed back. "The ghost is there!" he declared with self-righteous bravado. He sounded so righteous, as if he were a hero leading reinforcements, rather than a traitor guiding the enemy into the city.

What's the point of telling other players where the ghost is now? Does he expect them to pull out a gun and shoot it? Ningmeng Busuan thought he'd gone mad.

But something even crazier was about to happen.

Upon hearing Hao Laoshi, the doctor on the bicycle actually looked excited. Then, he started pedaling towards the ghost.

WHOOSH! Gu Mian sped past Ningmeng Busuan.

Ningmeng Busuan stood agape, momentarily forgetting to run. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She turned back, stunned, to watch the doctor cycling towards the ghost. Is this what he meant by holding off the ghost? A suicide mission? Using his own life to hold off the ghost, buying them time to escape?

Realizing this, she immediately started running again, hoping to use this brief window to escape the ghost's pursuit.

But she noticed Hao Laoshi ahead had given up running. He'd plopped himself down on the road and was fanning himself with his hand, watching the events unfold in the ghost's direction like a nosy old man on the roadside, thoroughly enjoying the drama and hoping for more.

"Run!" Ningmeng Busuan screamed at him.

Hao Laoshi had been running all day and felt like he'd drop dead in the instance if he ran any further. Seeing Gu Mian arrive, he simply sat down by the road and didn't budge.

Ningmeng Busuan didn't dare follow his example and ran with all her might. As she ran, she kept checking the photo.

Suddenly, she noticed the ghost's actions in the image had changed. Before, the ghost had been dragging Wenqin Tan Jiu, its movements slow due to the burden. But now, the ghost was retreating at a terrifying speed, like a rabid dog whose tail had been stepped on. And from its gestures, it looked like it was no longer dragging anyone.

Ningmeng Busuan quickly looked back. Wenqin Tan Jiu had indeed been released!

Wenqin Tan Jiu was now scrambling towards her. Behind her, the doctor in the white coat charged relentlessly forward on his bicycle.

What's going on? Ningmeng Busuan was stumped.

The ghost not only let Wenqin Tan Jiu go but also turned and fled? What exactly happened?

Wenqin Tan Jiu was equally baffled. The photo wasn't with her. Panting, she reached Ningmeng Busuan. "You've stopped—is the ghost gone?"

"Yes..." Ningmeng Busuan said, staring at the photo in her hand with a peculiar expression. "The ghost...fled."

"Could it be? When I struggled free, did I trigger a path to survival?" Wenqin Tan Jiu mused, convinced she had broken free on her own.

"No, I don't think so," Ningmeng Busuan shook her head. "Didn't you see that doctor on the bicycle?"

While struggling, Wenqin Tan Jiu had been too frantic to notice anything else. Only now did she look back, just in time to see Gu Mian's figure disappearing into the distance.

"He... isn't that our teammate?" Wenqin Tan Jiu stammered, gaping in the direction the ghost had fled. "Has he gone mad?" Why would he charge towards a ghost?

Ningmeng Busuan calmly analyzed, "The moment he arrived, he went straight for the ghost. I think the ghost let you go and fled because of him. I believe he's found another path to survival, a way to counter the ghost. That's why it's avoiding him like this."