52: Chapter 52 A World Where Only I Don't Exist

The purple qiankun bag landed lightly in Pei Duo's palm.

"Your Highness, what's inside?" A hint of hard-to-conceal anticipation flashed across Lin Sa's face.

That was a return gift from the Underworld Son of Heaven, who was also Pei Duo's biological brother.

Pei Duo was just about to open the bag, but before she could reach in, Xu Mo interrupted her in a low voice.

"Don't look yet. Put it away first."

Xu Mo looked around vigilantly. "There are many enemies in a mythic instance. This isn't the place to open a blind box. Let's find a safe spot first."

"I'll listen to the strategist."

Pei Duo followed his advice readily, tying the qiankun bag to the most convenient spot on her waist.

After the divine corpse was "physically moved," a deep obsidian passage was revealed.

The three of them walked along the passage, and before long, they reached a massive stone sacrificial hall at the end.

In the center of the stone hall stood a closed stone door, with a seven-person team standing before it.

These people were well-equipped, clearly old hands in s-rank instances.

The leader was a middle-aged man wearing a windbreaker, with a simple and honest face.

Hearing footsteps, the middle-aged man whipped his head around, instinctively raising the fog-shotgun in his hand.

But upon sensing the murderous aura emanating from Lin Sa, his pupils constricted slightly. He lowered his gun, his face breaking into a warm, enthusiastic smile.

"Oh! I didn't expect more friends to follow us!"

The middle-aged man quickly approached them with a familiar air. "I'm Lao Gui. You all look like new faces. Were you also caught up in this?"

Xu Mo calmly stepped in front of Pei Duo. "Xu Mo. These are my teammates. What's the deal with this door?"

"This is a 'Souvenir Door'." Lao Gui pointed to an old film camera embedded directly above the stone door.

"The Aztecs believe that 'death is not the end, but being forgotten is.' Someone has to press the shutter to take a photo—a souvenir—before the door will open."

He paused, his gaze lingering on Pei Duo for a moment before quickly shifting away. "We just figured it out from the clues we found and were about to organize everyone for a photo. Since you're here, why don't we do it together?"

Xu Mo narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the camera. The rule sounded simple, but in a place like this, the simpler something was, the deadlier it could be.

Instinct told him things weren't that simple. However, in an instance of this level, information was king, and there was no need to act rashly.

"Then we'll trouble Brother Lao Gui to lead the way," Xu Mo said indifferently.

Just as Lao Gui was calling everyone to line up, a low growl suddenly came from the shadows of the stone hall.

"Death to the profaners!"

A dark-skinned, bare-chested man covered in body paint lunged out of the darkness. Bright feather totems were stuck in his back, his eyes were rolled back, and he brandished a scepter embedded with obsidian blades.

"It's an Aztec Gods Chosen One!" Lao Gui's expression changed drastically as he shouted, "On guard! His undead hounds carry corpse poison!"

Before he finished speaking, the shadows at the Gods Chosen One's feet boiled, and three undead hounds leaped out with a roar, a foul wind hitting their faces.

The six team members behind Lao Gui instantly took up defensive stances, clearly having suffered from these creatures before.

Lao Gui retreated while keeping a close eye on Xu Mo's group out of the corner of his eye. He was waiting for these three newcomers to act as cannon fodder so he could test their strength.

"Hmph."

Lin Sa glanced at the foul-smelling hounds lunging toward them, not even drawing her daggers.

She took a step forward, her right wrist flicking suddenly.

Clatter—!

A Soul-Hooking Chain, black as ink, shot out from her sleeve like a venomous snake leaving its burrow.

The three undead hounds didn't even have time to howl before their skulls were instantly pierced by the chain.

The chain's momentum didn't flag as it traced an afterimage in the air, whipping heavily against the Gods Chosen One's chest.

Crack!

The Gods Chosen One was like a mosquito hit by a flyswatter, flying backward and slamming hard against the stone wall. His chest caved in, and he fell unconscious on the spot.

One hit, area cleared.

Dead silence filled the room.

Lao Gui froze in his fallen position on the ground, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

Those were undead hounds blessed with divine power! Monsters that bullets couldn't pierce were insta-killed by a single chain like they were nothing but chickens?

"Who... who the hell are these people?!" Lao Gui roared in his mind, but following that was a deeper chill that pierced through to his marrow.

Moreover, two of them hadn't even made a move yet. This team was too strong. With them around, his plan...

Lao Gui lowered his head, a trace of sinister calculation flashing in his eyes.

When he looked up again, his face was full of post-disaster gratitude. "Incredible! You're gods! Let's hurry up, take the photo, and leave. There are many Gods Chosen Ones in this place; if we're discovered, we won't be able to get away!"

Under Lao Gui's direction, the original seven-person team quickly occupied the center of the camera's view.

Out of caution, Xu Mo's group didn't squeeze into the center of the crowd, choosing instead to stand on the far-right edge of the line. Xu Mo and Lin Sa stood on either side, shielding Pei Duo in the middle.

"Alright! Everyone look at the lens! Three... two..."

Lao Gui held the shutter remote connected by a long wire, his finger about to press down.

Suddenly, his movements froze, and his brow furrowed deeply.

"Oh no! This is bad!"

Lao Gui suddenly lowered his hand, pointing at a stone platform in the right corner of the hall with a look of frustration. "The condenser! Why is the condenser on top of that crooked?"

He looked at the three on the far right of the line. "That's too far from me. Could you three trouble yourselves to go and adjust it? Just straighten it!"

At this moment, Pei Duo was standing on the outermost edge of the group, only a few meters away from the stone platform.

It sounded like an extremely reasonable request.

"I'll go."

Pei Duo didn't think much of it. With the black jade pendant protecting her, she wasn't afraid even if the stone platform was a trap.

Xu Mo's brow twitched. He was about to say "wait," but to save time, Pei Duo had already quickly stepped out of the line.

"Thanks, girl! Just straighten it!" Lao Gui shouted with a face full of gratitude.

Pei Duo turned her back and walked toward the stone platform.

Once she was five or six meters away, the grateful expression on Lao Gui's face vanished without a trace.

He didn't wait for Pei Duo to adjust any mirror at all.

Without the slightest hesitation, his finger pressed down hard on the remote in his hand!

Click—!!

A blinding flash of magnesium light suddenly erupted, illuminating the stone hall in a stark, deathly white.

Xu Mo's pupils shrank!

Something was wrong!

A sudden sense of crisis made him instinctively reach out to grab Pei Duo, but the intense light had already swallowed everything.

Amidst the play of light and shadow, the figures of the remaining nine people, excluding Pei Duo, were frozen on the film.

Buzz—!

A wave of rule-based fluctuations swept through the area like a tsunami.

Xu Mo's brain went blank for a split second.

A few seconds later, the light dissipated.

Xu Mo quickly organized his thoughts: This team had a total of nine people. He was the strategist, Lin Sa was the fighter, and they were following Lao Gui, the temporary leader, to scout the way.

He was the strategist, Lin Sa was the fighter, and they were following Lao Gui, the temporary leader, to scout the way.

Everything seemed so natural.

But his hand was still in a reaching posture, his fingertips grasping at empty air.

"Strange..."

For some reason, a massive sense of emptiness rose in Xu Mo's heart.

"Brother Xu, why are you spacing out? The door is open, let's go."

Lao Gui still wore that honest and simple smile as he turned and walked toward the stone door that had rumbled open.

Xu Mo gave him a cold look. Though he didn't know why, he had a strong urge to kill this man right now.

"Let's go."

Xu Mo suppressed the strange feeling in his heart and followed Lin Sa into the stone door.

In the corner.

Hearing the shutter sound, Pei Duo whipped her head around.

"Is it done? I haven't even..."

Her words caught in her throat.

The previously closed stone door was now wide open, and Lao Gui was leading the team through it in single file. Xu Mo and Lin Sa followed expressionlessly in the middle of the group.

They passed the spot where she had just been standing without so much as a backward glance.

It was as if she were just thin air.

"Xu Mo! Sister Lin Sa!"

Panic rising in her heart, Pei Duo dashed over and reached out to grab Xu Mo's sleeve.

Her hand passed right through Xu Mo's body without any resistance.

Xu Mo's pace faltered slightly. He looked back at the empty space behind him with some confusion, frowning. "Why do I feel like... someone is calling me?"

"There's no one there. Don't be paranoid, let's go." Lin Sa urged coldly, then walked straight through Pei Duo's body and into the stone door.

Pei Duo stood there in a daze, watching everyone disappear into the darkness beyond the stone door.

The black jade pendant on her chest emitted a soft, eerie glow.

The Underworld Son of Heaven's source power had forcefully withstood the rule-based erasure, but it couldn't reverse the rule's correction of everyone else.

In this instance, she, Pei Duo, was already a ghost that "did not exist."

If it were the old college student Pei Duo, she would probably be crying in fear by now.

But now, she was the Eldest Princess of the Underworld.

The panic in the young girl's eyes gradually receded, replaced by a surge of anger.

"Fine, you want to play dirty?"

"You old geezer, this Princess will remember you."