But when he hurried over and carefully examined the snowman, he didn't see anyone. Hearing his voice, Fatty Zi Gui and the others stopped and waited for him.

　　"No one..." Han Juanjuan patted his head, puzzled. Was he mistaken?

　　Just as he suppressed his doubts and was about to leave, his peripheral vision inadvertently swept around. His turning motion suddenly froze, and a strange chill climbed up his back.

　　He didn't see anything abrupt or terrifying, but he felt something was strange, as if some kind of change had occurred around him.

　　He looked up at the surrounding snowmen, frowning slightly. Slowly, his face stiffened. He remembered! These snowmen weren't here just now!

　　Along the way, the snowmen weren't arranged very densely; at least there was space between two snowmen for them to pass through. But the snowmen around him were almost touching!

　　It was as if... as if they had quietly surrounded him while he wasn't paying attention!

　　The moment this idea appeared, his mind buzzed. He couldn't care less about the strange black shadow anymore. Han Juanjuan finally came back to his senses. How could he be so foolish as to waste time here? They should be rushing to the Saintess Tomb!

　　Moreover, there was something wrong here. Even if it wasn't caused by the hungry ghosts, something else had mixed into these snowmen, something that would take their lives!

　　Fortunately, Fatty Zi Gui and the others were still waiting for him. Otherwise, Han Juanjuan would have been scared to death. "I'm sorry," Han Juanjuan said quickly, "I shouldn't have gone over there. Let's go, let's get out of here."

　　No one blamed him. Or rather, no one answered him. Everyone continued on their way.

　　But the more Han Juanjuan walked, the more he felt something was wrong. The cold sweat on his forehead never disappeared.

　　There were more and more snowmen, and they were becoming increasingly dense. At first, they could easily pass between two snowmen, but now, they had to turn sideways to avoid touching them.

　　If this continued...

　　Han Juanjuan didn't dare to think about it anymore. He knew something was wrong. This was definitely not the right path. If they continued down this road, something terrible would happen!

　　But why weren't the others reacting?

　　Han Juanjuan looked up at the people in front of him. He didn't know Fatty and Shang Zuo well, but Teacher Zi Gui was a very alert person. How could she not react?

　　She should have noticed the anomaly sooner and faster than him!

　　Unless...

　　Han Juanjuan's pupils narrowed to a slit. He looked at the people walking in front of him, their backs to him, and the more he looked, the stranger they seemed.

　　Somewhat belatedly, he realized that they hadn't said a word since just now. An eerie silence permeated the entire group.

　　When did this silence begin?

　　Han Juanjuan remembered. It was when he turned around and subconsciously searched for that strange black shadow.

　　That's right, it was at that moment!

　　Various previously ignored details pieced together in his mind, like an old dream slowly awakening. At the same time, his breathing became rapid, and cold sweat covered his forehead.

　　The remaining people were indeed standing there waiting for him.

　　But their backs were to him!

　　He hadn't seen any of their faces!

　　The people in front of him were still walking tirelessly, their steps stiff. The friction between their backpacks and clothes made a dry "嚓嚓" sound. The scene that severed the last string in Han Juanjuan's heart appeared: Zi Gui, Fatty, and... and Shang Zuo, the three of them were walking on the snow without leaving any footprints.

　　Of the road the four of them had walked, only Han Juanjuan's lonely footprints remained.

　　In an instant, Han Juanjuan understood everything. From the moment he turned around to look for the black shadow, everything had changed.

　　He was in the game. He had sent himself to the gates of hell.

　　Now that things had come to this, he calmed down instead. He knew he was being targeted by a ghost, but he had heard Teacher Gongsun say that being targeted didn't necessarily mean death. He might still have a chance.

　　No, not maybe, but definitely. He definitely still had a chance!

　　He slowly slowed down, trying to distance himself from the three "people" in front of him. 2 meters, 3 meters, 5 meters... Han Juanjuan's heart was pounding. He had never been so nervous.

　　Now!

　　While the three "people" in front hadn't noticed him, he turned and ran. Feeling the wind whistling in his ears, he ran very fast, even no slower than on flat ground. He deftly avoided every snowman, leaving the three "people" and the snowmen far behind.

　　"I did it!" Hope burst from Han Juanjuan's eyes. "I really escaped!"

　　He forcibly suppressed the joy in his heart so he wouldn't shout, but hot tears had already welled up in his eyes. No one who hadn't experienced the joy of surviving a disaster would ever understand.

　　After leaving the range of the snowmen, he restrained the urge to look back. He wasn't that stupid. He would never make the same mistake again. He ran for his life. As for the real Zi Gui, Fatty, and the others, although he was worried about them, he was truly powerless at the moment. He had just escaped death.

　　When he finally couldn't run anymore, he supported his waist, gasping for breath, and switched from running to walking. Just as he took the time to look up, survey his surroundings, and prepare to find a new path, several brightly colored dots in the distance caught his attention.

　　As he squinted and made out the dots, Han Juanjuan was completely dumbfounded.

　　They were three people.

　　All people he knew: Teacher Zi Gui, Mr. Wang, and Shang Zuo!

　　They were walking towards him, all three with their heads lowered, their legs dragging their bodies, like corpses that had been dead for who knows how long!

　　"How could this be?" Han Juanjuan couldn't help but retreat. "How could this be happening? I wasn't... wasn't I already..."

　　His retreating body bumped into something that was hard on the outside but soft on the inside, large, and very cold. Han Juanjuan froze.

　　He turned his stiff neck, turning his head little by little. Right next to him was a tall snowman.

　　And behind this snowman was an endless expanse of countless snowmen packed tightly together. All the snowmen were maintaining the same action, staring fixedly at Han Juanjuan.

　　The snowman he bumped into made a "crack" sound, and the snow on its face cracked open. As the snow fell away, it revealed a bloody, blurred skull face hidden behind it.

　　As if triggered by a domino effect, with this one snowman cracking open, all the snowmen behind it disintegrated. Each snowman was wrapped around the remains left over from a hungry ghost's meal.

　　Amidst Han Juanjuan's screams, countless remains surged over, engulfing him.