Obviously, letting the stalemate continue like this wasn’t a good idea.

As the saying goes, a dead fellow Daoist doesn’t die in vain.

In this situation, getting someone else to take the fall while protecting yourself is the wisest play.

Liang Weiguo had originally been teamed up with Chen Ze, but now he was the only one being attacked while Chen Ze hid behind a nearby pillar.

Any clear-eyed person could see Chen Ze had probably betrayed him.

Because the scuffling had been going on for a while and making quite a racket, an eerily chilling sound came from deeper in the garage: something was steadily approaching from the other side.

Thud-thud-thud—footsteps on the floor, carrying a strange, uneven vitality, interspersed with spooky children’s laughter.

“Heh heh…”

“Come on, I found you!…”

“Right here…”

For a moment, the somewhat empty garage rang with those children’s voices, echoing off the low concrete ceiling and lingering for a long time.

Staying here any longer wasn’t safe.

Chen Ze, hiding behind the pillar, carefully crawled down, planning to slip away through the visual blind spot created while Liang Weiguo and those ghost children were distracted.

But the Tang Sisters, who were behind him, clearly saw what he intended and weren’t about to let him escape so easily.

As Chen Ze inched forward, Tang Ke’er took advantage of everyone’s distraction and threw something toward Chen Ze without anyone noticing. With a clatter, the sudden noise drew the attention of both humans and ghosts. Chen Ze’s trembling flesh instantly froze.

From the depths of the garage, two figures burst out behind Liang Weiguo and rushed toward Chen Ze.

One ghost child boy had lost his hands and feet, replaced by slightly trembling black, spider-like limbs, two thick tentacles supporting his body.

At his feet crawled a rapidly moving creature—no ordinary spider, but a monster with the limbs of other ghost children grafted onto it, sprouting an extra pair of hands and a pair of legs from its abdomen, all of different lengths, crawling with frantic coordination.

Seeing Chen Ze, Liang Weiguo cursed angrily, shouting a few heavily regional dialect curses.

Roughly, he was cursing them to hell, wishing them a miserable death and promising to settle scores outside.

Chen Ze spat curses back, but his momentum had clearly been damaged—their alliance had long since collapsed.

Xiao Gui’an watched Chen Ze with a vicious look; his ruthlessness and decisiveness were no less than Liang Weiguo’s, and even more insidious.

The Tang Sisters had the same idea: use the distraction to slip away. But, as the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—the trap wasn’t that simple.

Xiao Gui’an saw Xu Zisheng give a mild smile, like a demon wearing human skin.

He immediately shut down the Tang twins’ plan. He pinched his throat and imitated a slightly shrill, soft female voice, “Sister, run! Don’t let them find you!”

Second trick in a row. The Tang Sisters, trying to tiptoe away, visibly froze.

Facing her sister’s questioning gaze, Tang Ke’er shook her head desperately, indicating she hadn’t made the sound.

They glanced around but saw nothing unusual and had no clue which pillar the voice had come from.

By now, though, it didn’t matter who had spoken; they had to divert their attention to the ghost children turning toward them.

Chen Ze, seeing the Tang Sisters, realized he wasn’t merely unlucky—someone had sabotaged him from behind and exposed his position.

Four people, five ghost children—that pressure eased considerably.

The battlefield gradually shifted toward Xu Zisheng and Xiao Gui’an; it seemed they couldn’t just watch the show any longer.

Xu Zisheng gave Xiao Gui’an a look. The two bent slightly at the waist and tiptoed, planning to retrace their steps.

Suddenly, they felt something was off, as if something behind them was watching.

Xiao Gui’an stiffened, turned his neck and glanced back. Behind them, without them noticing, the garage had filled with a cluster of eerie ghost children. Their heads twisted and turned, as if waiting for the two of them to stoop and crawl forward.

The ghost girl whose glass shards Xu Zisheng had smashed earlier was staring at them with a human-like teasing expression.

She held a piece of bone from an unknown part of a human body and casually tossed it at Xiao Gui’an’s feet, “Here! Here! Heh heh, heh heh…”

Three variations of the plum blossom!

There was no longer any doubt about which way to run.

Xu Zisheng weighed the pros and cons in an instant and dashed forward; Xiao Gui’an immediately followed suit.

They became a gust of wind, slipping past the other players.

“So it’s you two!?” Tang Ke’er snapped, furious; she’d insisted that the affected voice was too affected to be hers. “Stop right there!”

Chen Ze, seeing Xiao Gui’an and Xu Zisheng lively and intact, was shocked.

Even if Xu Zisheng had some ability and hadn’t been taken out by the old monster on the sixth floor, how was Xiao Gui’an still so spry?!

Chen Ze had assumed Xiao Gui’an was a goner in the first rotation.

Chen Ze tried to cozy up to them, but they didn’t even glance back—as if some raging beast were on their heels.

He darted a quick look behind. Even having seen many bizarre sights, his legs felt weak.

Those dense ghost children, covering the garage floor and low concrete ceiling—had every household in the compound sent theirs?

The five on this side were just a drizzle.

When life-and-death moments arrive, people can unleash enormous potential.

The players used every trick they had to shake off the five ghost children and didn’t hesitate to follow Xiao Gui’an and the others.

They stumbled and ran out of the underground garage. When they looked around, Xiao Gui’an and the others had vanished; in the dim light, it was impossible to tell where they’d hidden.

They had to immediately find another hiding place. There was no time for duels—first shake off the pursuing monsters, then find cover.

Cursing, Chen Ze ran toward the entertainment and fitness equipment area where they had first been.

If possible, he planned to squeeze into one of the slides to hide for a bit.

Suddenly, a fist shot out of the darkness like a gust of wind. Caught off guard, Chen Ze took a brutal punch to the face and emitted a muffled groan. “Shit, who set me up!?”

“Heh, it was you I wanted to hit!” A young-ish voice rang out. Chen Ze steadied himself and looked up to see Xiao Gui’an and Xu Zisheng standing before him.

It seemed they hadn’t vanished earlier but had hidden and followed him here.

The harsh look on Chen Ze’s face disappeared. “Oh, it’s you two little brothers! Let’s talk it out, don’t get excited!” A two-on-one brawl wouldn’t help anyone.

Xu Zisheng faintly smiled, appearing conciliatory, and nodded.

“Of course we can talk—on one condition: give back what you stole.”

Chen Ze’s face changed instantly.