Carter stood up from the ground, his face still lingering with the bewilderment and terror of being mind-controlled.
He was just about to say something to explain himself, to justify his crazy actions from moments ago.
However, an eerie rustling sound abruptly echoed from the top of the maze's towering plant walls.
A figure was crawling at high speed along the vertical wall on all fours in a manner that defied physics, rushing toward them like lightning.
It was Megan, completely lost in her crazed playtime.
"Hey!"
Startled by this bizarre sight, Carter instinctively took a step back.
And it was this exact step that caused him to plant his foot squarely onto the hand of Megan, who had just crawled to his feet, ready to give him a "surprise."
"Oh, shit, you stepped on my hand!"
Megan instantly yanked her hand away.
Carter's foot slipped. Completely losing his balance, he pitched forward uncontrollably.
Right in front of him was the fire axe that the ghosts had previously snatched away, only to drop it in terror.
The blade faced upward, gleaming with a cold light, like a guillotine Death had prepared long in advance.
*Squelch—*
A muffled sound of tearing flesh rang out.
Carter's neck slammed right into the sharp axe blade.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl in that moment.
Everyone watched helplessly as the fire axe sliced effortlessly through his lower jaw, cleanly severing his windpipe and cervical spine.
Blood rapidly gushed out. Carter's body twitched twice on the ground, the light in his eyes swiftly dimming until all signs of life were completely gone.
Carter was dead, dying in the script that was supposed to belong to Terry.
Originally, this axe dropped on the ground had been prepared for Terry.
Witnessing this extremely gory scene, Terry and Clear's minds went completely blank.
At the same time, Death's list fell into disarray.
In the air outside the Overlook Hotel, a cold and absolute conceptual rule plunged into logical chaos due to this unpredictable variable.
Immediately after, that chaos morphed into a silent, seething fury.
Inside the Gold Room, Tomie was holding a glass of wine, enjoying the farce outside.
Suddenly, she felt a chill. The coldness didn't come from the surrounding ghosts, but from a higher-dimensional existence.
In the driver's seat, Yang Yi slightly raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the hotel's ceiling as if he could see the furious Death.
"Oh?"
"Can't handle losing?"
"Flipping the table now?"
As soon as his words fell.
*Pop! Pop! Pop!*
The lights throughout the entire hotel began to flicker wildly, the *bzzzt* of electrical currents buzzing endlessly.
Wine glasses, windows, chandeliers, and other glass objects in the lobby simultaneously developed fine, dense cracks.
The survivors, who had just escaped the hedge maze and returned to the lobby, hadn't even caught their breath before a scorching wave of heat blasted their faces from the direction of the kitchen.
*Boom—!!!*
The gas pipes in the hotel kitchen instantly ruptured.
Crimson flames immediately shattered the kitchen doors, surging out from behind them and incinerating every flammable object in the vicinity.
The century-old Overlook Hotel was completely engulfed in raging flames in just a few short seconds.
"It's Death!"
Alex stared at the terrifying wall of fire, all the color draining from his face as he let out a desperate shout.
"It's not following the order anymore! It's going to kill all of us!"
Faced with this sudden explosion, Yang Yi clapped his hands together.
*Clap.*
An invisible barrier instantly expanded outward with the group at its center.
Although the ferocious flames were right in front of them, they seemed to crash into an unseen wall. No matter how much they roared and churned, they couldn't get a single inch closer to the group.
However, while the survivors were saved, the ghosts bound to this hotel were not so lucky.
They couldn't leave the building, and the flames mercilessly swallowed their ethereal bodies.
Waves of shrill, agonizing screams echoed through the sea of fire.
They became the first batch of casualties under Death's impotent rage.
Miko watched the ghosts struggling and twisting in the flames, a trace of pity surfacing on her face.
Then, she silently brought out her Myriad Soul Banner.
The black banner expanded against the wind, emitting a gentle suction that gathered all the fragments of the ghosts on the verge of dissipating, drawing them entirely inside.
Yang Yi glanced at the shell-shocked survivors, the smile on his face as relaxed as ever.
"Don't panic."
"This is just the appetizer."
As soon as he spoke.
*Rumble—!!!*
The ground of the entire estate shook violently as muffled explosions echoed from deep underground.
The intense blasts erupted directly from the hotel's foundation. The sheer force of it even blew half the hotel straight into the air.
A charred wooden sign spun through the air and landed right in front of Alex.
By the light of the fire, he made out the faded writing on it.
"Before the hotel was built, this site was actually a military munitions depot!"
Clear and the others' faces instantly turned as pale as paper.
It turned out they had been standing on top of a massive armory this whole time!
The terrifying shockwave of the explosion ripped up large swaths of the estate's turf, exposing the dark, damp soil beneath, along with countless twisted, hideous tree roots.
Before the survivors could even catch their breath from these back-to-back disasters.
*Awooo—*
A chorus of wolf howls suddenly rang out from the dark, shrouded forest surrounding the estate.
Hundreds of eyes gleaming with an eerie green light lit up in the darkness.
Immediately after, a massive pack of wild wolves charged out of the forest, surrounding the estate.
Their targets were the living humans inside the building, who gave off such an enticing scent.
At the same time, swarms of venomous snakes slithered out from beneath the blasted ground, hissing and flicking their tongues as they crawled toward them.
Death had completely torn off its disguise.
It wanted to kill all the witnesses so no one would know the design had been disrupted.
"It's over."
Alex's voice was dry, laced with utter despair.
"We're really dead this time!"
They were completely surrounded, with absolutely nowhere left to run.
However, amidst this apocalyptic scene, an untimely voice rang out, carrying a hint of morbid excitement.
"Oh?"
Tomie stuck out her tongue, slowly licking her bright red lips, a bloodthirsty gleam flashing in her beautiful eyes.
"Is it my turn to put on a show?"
The next second, her figure blurred into an afterimage as she took the initiative to charge straight into the horde of venomous snakes and wild wolves.
*Riiip—!!!*
The moment she plunged into the beastly pack, Tomie's body underwent a horrifying mutation.
Countless crimson, fleshy tentacles violently burst from her back.
The tip of every tentacle instantly hardened, extending into sharp blades that glinted with a cold light.
The tentacled Tomie darted through the wolves and snakes at high speed, those hideous, bloody blades turning into a highly efficient harvesting machine.
Wolf claws and venomous fangs couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes; they could only be endlessly slaughtered by Tomie.
Their warm blood and severed limbs splattered everywhere, dyeing the earth an even deeper shade of crimson.
"So fun!"
"This is fun too!"
Seeing this, Bart and Megan didn't feel the slightest bit of fear; instead, they thought it was a brand-new game.
The two little rascals let out weird shrieks and charged out, directly wrestling with several wild wolves.
Miko watched this incredibly surreal scene and silently pressed a hand to her forehead.