60: Chapter 60: A group photo with only 5 people

Xu Mo stepped on the heavy bear trap, his eyes locking onto Zhao Tie and Ah K like hooks. His voice was bone-chillingly cold:

"Zhao Tie, Ah K, let's be blunt. Who among us knows how to use this thing?"

Zhao Tie froze on the spot, his gaze darting back and forth between the pile of "murder weapons" on the ground and Xu Mo's arm.

The sense of cognitive dissonance made his heart pound wildly.

"This... none of us knew how to use these during the journey," Zhao Tie stammered.

"Exactly, no one knows how to use them. But this item was in Lin Sa's bag," Xu Mo's voice suddenly rose. "Because the owner of these explosives was already erased during the photo session on the previous floor! We forgot him, but his belongings remain!"

"These explosives are the ironclad proof!"

Xu Mo whipped his head around, staring fixedly at Old Ghost, his eyes boiling with killing intent. "This isn't some 'Soul-Capturing Gate' at all! This is a Sacrificial Camera! Every time a photo is taken, a teammate must be sacrificed in exchange for the qualification to pass!"

This reasoning was like a heavy hammer, ruthlessly shattering everyone's psychological defenses.

Zhao Tie, Ah K, and Skinny Monkey subconsciously took two steps back. Their gaze toward Old Ghost changed instantly, filled with terror and suspicion.

"Bullshit! Utter nonsense!"

Old Ghost was exasperated. He pointed at Xu Mo and roared, "You made all of this up! You stuffed that junk into Lin Sa's bag to frame me and split the team? Don't believe him! If we don't take the photo, how will the door open? We'll all die here!"

"Since you have such a clear conscience..."

Xu Mo interrupted his roar, his lips curling into a cold arc. "Then let's do a test."

He pointed at the camera: "If this is just a key to open the door and doesn't require everyone to be present... Old Ghost, you've worked hard leading the way on this floor, so let us have this photo opportunity. You stay outside the frame to rest, and the five of us will go in to take the picture. As long as the door opens and everyone is fine, I, Xu Mo, will kowtow and apologize to you on the spot—I'll even commit suicide to atone for my sins."

"How about it? That's fair, right?"

As Xu Mo's words fell, the air in the cave seemed to freeze.

This was essentially putting Old Ghost on the roasting fire.

Zhao Tie and the others turned their gazes toward Old Ghost in unison, waiting for his response.

The muscles on Old Ghost's face twitched frantically. In those cloudy old eyes that had been so well-disguised, the honesty and grievance peeled away bit by bit, replaced by a venomous malice and madness born of being driven into a corner.

He couldn't afford to gamble.

No sacrifice, no door. Once the rule was seen through, his plan to slowly wipe out this group was ruined.

"Hehe... Hahahaha..."

Old Ghost suddenly began to laugh low, his voice raspy and piercing. He snapped his head up, his face full of ferocity: "Fine, Xu Mo! I didn't expect that after hunting geese all my life, I'd have my eyes pecked by a gosling today!"

The dagger was out!

"Since you're looking for death, then all of you can go to hell!!"

Before his voice even faded, Old Ghost suddenly pulled a bone shield painted with eerie blood-red runes from his robe. Instead of retreating, he lunged forward like a cannonball, charging directly toward the camera!

He was going to force the shutter!

At this distance, if he was the only one by the camera while everyone else was outside the frame...

According to the rules, everyone would be erased!

"Stop him!!"

Xu Mo roared, his voice even cracking from the strain.

Lin Sa, who had been prepared for a while, had a cold glint flash in her eyes as she flicked her wrist.

Swoosh—!

The pitch-black Soul-Hooking Chain shot out like a venomous snake, aiming straight for Old Ghost's heart with a shrill whistling sound.

"Get lost!"

Old Ghost didn't even look back, swinging the bone shield behind him to block.

Clang—!!

Metal clashed and sparks flew. Old Ghost's strength was surprisingly immense; though the Soul-Hooking Chain struck the shield, the massive recoil actually pushed him forward faster. He was less than three meters from the camera!

"Get into the viewfinder!! Everyone who doesn't want to die, get in there!!"

Xu Mo screamed, grabbing Lin Sa and charging toward the open space in front of the stone door like a madman.

This wasn't a battle; this was a race against the Grim Reaper for every second!

They had to make sure their figures appeared in the lens the moment the shutter was pressed!

Ah K and Skinny Monkey were also snapped awake by that roar. Survival instinct trumped everything, and the few of them scrambled forward like startled wild dogs.

Closer! Even closer!

Old Ghost's finger was already hooked on the shutter cable, a look of perverted ecstasy on his face: "All of you, vanish!!"

Without hesitation, Lin Sa used her running momentum to hurl her body sideways, slamming like a bowling ball into Xu Mo, who had already lunged toward the altar.

At the critical moment when Old Ghost slammed down the shutter.

Xu Mo, Lin Sa, Zhao Tie, and Ah K.

The four of them tumbled into the camera's field of view in a disheveled heap, like a human pyramid.

At the very end of the group, the man called "Skinny Monkey" had started half a beat too slow and was tripped by a piece of rubble on the ground.

He reached out desperately, his fingertips just ten centimeters away from the edge of the viewfinder.

Click—!!

The blinding magnesium flash exploded once more.

In that extreme white light, time seemed to stand still.

The light dissipated.

A photo slowly spat out from the bottom of the camera.

In the photo, Xu Mo and the others were sprawled on the ground with ferocious expressions and distorted postures. The background was the dim cave and Old Ghost standing by the camera with a face full of shock and resentment.

And at the edge of the photo, there was only a blurred hand, seemingly trying to grab something, only to eventually dissipate into the darkness.

Rumble—

The heavy stone door made a tooth-grinding grinding sound as it slowly slid open to both sides, revealing the passage to the next floor.

"Fuck..."

Old Ghost watched the slowly opening door, the corner of his eye twitching frantically.

They didn't all die?

These guys were too tough to kill!

Now that he had lost his disguise as a guide, he had become a total enemy. Facing combatants of Lin Sa and Zhao Tie's caliber, he would surely die in a direct confrontation.

"We'll settle this debt on the next floor!"

Old Ghost was extremely decisive, slamming his hand down toward the ground.

Bang!

A black smoke bomb instantly exploded, and thick, sulfurous black smoke quickly filled the entire cave.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Everyone was choked, unable to open their eyes.

A few seconds later, when Xu Mo waved away the smoke in front of him and stumbled to the stone door, the deep passage was already empty.

"He got away."

Lin Sa gritted her teeth, resentfully retracting her dagger. "That old geezer runs faster than a rabbit."

Xu Mo didn't speak.

He stood there, panting heavily, as that intense sensation of his brain rebooting hit him again.

Memories were blurring; cognition was restructuring.

Just now... what happened? Weren't there five of us? Old Ghost ran away, so there are four of us left?

No.

Xu Mo snapped his head up, his gaze sweeping over his teammates.

Lin Sa, Zhao Tie, Ah K. Including himself, that was four.

If he added the escaped Old Ghost...

That was five in total.

"Five people..."

Xu Mo's voice was trembling, a bone-deep chill rushing from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull.

Two photo sessions, seven people became five. Did someone fail to make it just now?

Who was it?

Who was the person who disappeared?!