But when he came to his senses and looked again, the shadow had returned to normal.

He didn't think too much about it, assuming it was just a hallucination caused by his poor mental state. Besides, how could a person's shadow not match the person themselves?

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind.

The deaths of Teacher Gongsun, Teacher Zhou, and Chan Li filled him with extreme frustration. It wasn't so much the fear of death that he couldn't accept, but the feeling of helplessness he felt in the face of it.

He could only watch as the people around him died one by one, and there was very little he could do, if anything at all.

"You've done very well," Jiang Cheng said, suddenly looking up.

Bai Xi, lost in his memories, paused and slowly raised his head, meeting Jiang Cheng's eyes, which flickered with a faint light.

"You were decisive. If it weren't for that shot you fired at the Starving Ghost, more of us would have died," Jiang Cheng said. "Mr. Gongsun didn't want to implicate us, so he used the light to illuminate the Starving Ghost. He was a brave man, and so are you."

"But I still couldn't save Teacher Gongsun. He was a good man, and he took good care of us. Teacher Zhou, Chan Li, they were all good people..." Bai Xi lowered his head, his voice choked with sobs.

"Brother, this isn't your fault," Huai Yi couldn't help but say from the side. "Blame it on this mission, no, blame the guys who created these missions! They're the ones who deserve to die!"

Before meeting Jiang Cheng and the others, Huai Yi had also made a living in Nightmare Assault missions. Several of his acquaintances had died in the missions, so he sympathized with Bai Xi's experience.

"Mr. Jiang, Mr. Huai, I have only one request," Bai Xi said quickly. "If I die, please continue to act as bait according to the original plan."

"In the other team, apart from Teacher Zi Gui, who is quite capable, Han Juanjuan and Lu Yu don't have much experience. They're just ordinary people. Han Juanjuan gets upset even watching someone kill a chicken."

"If the Starving Ghost goes after them, they're finished!"

Jiang Cheng stood up, walked over, and patted him on the shoulder. "You don't need to say that. You're not the only one with friends. Our friend is in that team too."

"We will be responsible for him," Jiang Cheng said firmly.

"Brother Fu Gui is especially strong. With him around, you don't need to worry too much," Huai Yi encouraged. "And he's a really good guy. If you need help, he'll definitely help."

"If that's the case, then that's great," Bai Xi's tense body relaxed a little.

After what happened before, Jiang Cheng and the others dared not rashly communicate with Zi Gui, Fatty, and the others, fearing that the Starving Ghost would see through their disguise.

"Don't stay here too long. For at most an hour, then we'll continue on our way," Jiang Cheng said, turning to look outside the cave. The tranquility of the snow mountain did not make him feel relaxed; it only made him feel unusually tense.

He could feel that the Starving Ghost hadn't gone far. It was somewhere outside the cave, watching them.

...

"How is it?" Zi Gui, who had just passed through a treacherous terrain, turned back to look at Lu Yu behind her.

Lu Yu's small face was red with cold. She held her phone in her hand and shook her head at Zi Gui. "No, I can't get in touch with them. I've sent several messages, but they haven't replied."

"Damn it!" Han Juanjuan stomped her feet and cursed from the side.

"How much further?" Fatty asked, following Jiang Cheng's instructions, keeping an eye on Shang Zuo all the way. After all, he was a key figure, or rather, he was the Starving Ghost's ultimate target.

If Shang Zuo was killed by the Starving Ghost, then the mission would fail, and everyone would die on this snow mountain.

Although Shang Zuo looked old, his physical strength was really good, at least much better than Han Juanjuan and Lu Yu's. He stopped, hunched over, and looked as far ahead as he could, saying vaguely, "It should be soon. I remember it's this way."

"If you take us down the wrong path, you can wait to die!" Han Juanjuan had a very bad impression of Shang Zuo and couldn't help but threaten him with a fierce tone.

Whether he was frightened by these harmless words, or Shang Zuo's body was not as good as it looked, he slipped and didn't manage to stand firm, falling backward.

Below him was a slope, and Shang Zuo rolled down uncontrollably.

Not far below was a cliff.

Lu Yu, who was to his side and slightly behind, was quick-witted and fast-handed. She suddenly lunged forward and grabbed him hard, and the two rolled down for a while, until Lu Yu desperately grabbed a protruding rock, and they barely escaped with their lives.

When everyone rushed over, Shang Zuo looked at the cliff less than 5 meters away, his face as white as if he had been drained of blood, his legs trembling. Fatty had to lift him up.

But when Han Juanjuan went to help Lu Yu, an accident happened. Lu Yu had just stood up a little when she fell heavily to the ground again. "Lu Yu, what's wrong?" Han Juanjuan asked in surprise, grabbing her.

Lu Yu's face was very pale, her eyebrows furrowed tightly together, and she was holding her right ankle with her other hand, cold sweat rolling down her forehead.

Fatty's heart skipped a beat. He hurried over and, together with Zi Gui, examined Lu Yu's injury. After lifting her trouser leg a little, Zi Gui couldn't help but gasp.

Lu Yu's ankle was swollen to the size of a bowl. Through the swollen part, they couldn't even feel the bones inside. Although Lu Yu didn't cry out, her expression showed how much pain she was enduring at the moment.

Fatty stared at Lu Yu's face, and a familiar feeling of helplessness rose in his heart.

Lu Yu couldn't even stand up, let alone walk. And in any case, in this environment, it was unlikely that they could take another person with them.

What was most important to them now was time.

The other team was using their lives to buy them time.

Zi Gui slowly stood up and gently shook her head at Han Juanjuan, who looked anxious. The next moment, Han Juanjuan was so anxious that tears were about to come out. "Lu Yu, hang in there. We won't leave you alone."

Apart from Han Juanjuan, no one spoke. Shang Zuo seemed to understand that this was all his fault. He lowered his head, rubbed his arms, and didn't dare to say a word. The occasional glance he gave to Lu Yu was also full of guilt.

"You..." Lu Yu lowered her head and said softly, "You guys go."

"Lu Yu..." Zi Gui pursed her lips tightly, her eyes red, tears swirling in them.

Lu Yu shook her head and said softly, "Don't waste any more time. The sooner you go, the better chance Teacher Gongsun and the others will have to survive. We... we all have to be strong, right?"