Staring at the pale, dismembered corpse in the bathtub, Chris and the others finally began to believe Dan’s warning about cannibals.
Yet a small part of them still held onto hope—could it just be a normal murder?
Right now, everyone shared the exact same thought: get out of the cabin immediately and head back to the main road before the killer spotted them.
However, the moment they burst out the front door, the roar of an approaching engine echoed from the distance.
With no choice left, Chris and the group sprinted back inside.
Chris had already checked the back door—it was jammed shut.
Their only option was to hide.
Dan scrambled under the bed directly opposite the front door, and Jessie scrambled in right behind him.
Seeing Dan move so fast, Scott and Carly ducked under the bed right by the door, while Chris darted into the inner room.
The cabin fell deathly silent.
Moments later, the front door was kicked open with a violent, creaking crash.
Three mutated freaks stepped inside, one after another.
The largest and most muscular one held the body of a woman wrapped in barbed wire.
He casually tossed her onto the floor.
She landed right in front of Dan and Jessie, her eyes wide with unseeing terror, staring directly at them.
Lying flat on the floor, a Ghost Card materialized in Dan’s palm.
[Anomaly detected: Mutant.] Seeing her friend’s corpse, Jessie was too terrified to even breathe, clinging to Dan for dear life.
Soon, the dead woman was hoisted onto the dining table like a slaughtered pig.
The mutants began dismembering her, sawing off her left hand and right leg.
Fresh blood painted the tabletop anew, trickling slowly down the edges and off the corpse.
The three mutants began to feast ravenously.
Only now did Chris and the others truly believe in the existence of cannibals.
Regret was useless now.
Minutes bled into hours.
Dan’s nerves remained pulled taut.
Even with a warm, soft body pressing against him, he felt no distraction whatsoever.
The standoff lasted well into the afternoon.
Hearing the heavy snoring, Dan realized his chance had come.
He motioned to Scott and Carly under the opposite bed, preparing to crawl out.
Just as he was about to move, Jessie grabbed his hand and shook her head in fear.
She only let go after Scott successfully crawled out first.
After carefully creeping out from under the bed, Dan glanced at the mutant sleeping on the mattress.
His appearance could only be described as repulsive—sparse hair, twisted and ugly features, no eyebrows, and clothes caked in filth and foul stench.
He truly lived up to his description.
Dan gestured to Scott, pointing at the sleeping mutant.
Scott looked at the mutant, swallowed hard, and shook his head rapidly.
He didn’t dare.
At that moment, Chris quietly opened his door and crept out.
He motioned for everyone to head outside first so they could discuss their next move.
Jessie and the others instantly agreed with his decision.
However, Dan wasn’t about to let such a perfect opportunity slide.
Earlier, he had tried using the Two of Hearts on the sleeping mutant, but the card couldn’t contain him while he was alive and unrestricted.
That left him with one alternative: Could a body be contained if it was incapacitated or dead?
Looking at the mutant sleeping on the bed with one hand resting over a shotgun, Dan drew his handgun and aimed straight at the creature’s forehead.
Chris had just quietly cracked open the front door.
Seeing Dan draw a gun, he tried to stop him—waking the mutants would put everyone in extreme danger.
But it was too late.
*BANG!
BANG!
BANG!* Three sharp gunshots shattered the silence.
Dan put three rounds into the creature’s head.
If that didn’t kill him, nothing would.
A gut-wrenching scream tore through the cabin.
The entire exchange took less than three seconds.
Woken by the gunshots, the remaining two mutants began bellowing in rage.
Jolted out of their stupor, the group ran out like madmen, scrambling over a fallen tree and charging up the hillside.
Gunfire erupted behind them, but thanks to the mutants’ wild aiming, no one was hit.
The short mutant glared at the fleeing group while emitting strange, guttural shrieks, while the other sprinted toward their truck to drive it.
By the time they reached the top of the ridge, the group’s spiking adrenaline finally began to level off.
Gasping for air, Chris looked at Dan in sheer disbelief.
“Man, have you always been this ruthless?” “I had a bit of tactical training before,” Dan panted, his stomach churning as he looked at the blood splattered on his clothes.
“If they didn’t die, we would.” Carly couldn’t walk any farther.
She broke down sobbing, muttering incoherently about the dismembered woman in the cabin.
She was the textbook definition of a deadweight teammate.
Jessie and Chris hurried back to comfort her.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Dan gradually slowed his pace to a stop.
Jessie noticed and turned to him anxiously.
“What’s wrong?” Dan made a decision that seemed completely unhinged to the rest of them.
“I’m going back.” “Holy shit, bro, are you crazy?” Chris snapped instantly.
“Didn’t you see how vicious those freaks are?” Jessie grabbed Dan’s arm, pleading, “No!
Come with us!
Going back alone is way too dangerous!” Dan shook his head.
He was confident he wasn’t committing suicide.
When they ran out, the mutants had taken off in their truck to hunt them down.
Instead of wandering blindly through the woods, heading back to the cabin was a calculated risk.
Right now, the most dangerous place was likely the safest place.
Besides, his pistol was equipped with an extended magazine.
Even if he ran into one of the mutants, he wouldn’t be completely helpless.
As long as he stayed cautious, nothing would go wrong.
He hadn’t been lying about his weapons training—after discovering the existence of the Demon Nun, he had taken several firearms courses to prepare for emergencies and give himself some peace of mind.
Most importantly, he needed to figure out how the Ghost Cards actually functioned.
“Then I’m coming with you,” Jessie said, locking her eyes on Dan.
She felt that staying by his side was her only guarantee of safety.
“No.
Stay here—I’m just going back to scout.” They hadn’t run that far, so there was no need for two people to take the risk.
If he spotted a mutant, he wouldn’t engage blindly; he would retreat immediately.
After parting ways with the group, Dan quickly snuck back to the wooden cabin, carefully peering through a gap in the front door.
The mutant he had shot was lying on the bed holding a shotgun, his forehead roughly bandaged.
He was breathing faintly—he actually wasn’t dead yet!
Taking three rounds to the head hadn’t killed him completely.
Dan knew his aim couldn’t have missed at point-blank range.
After scanning the room once more and confirming that no other mutants were present, Dan burst inside.
He snatched the shotgun directly from the near-vegetative mutant’s grip and drew the Two of Hearts.
Text surfaced on the card’s surface: [Name: Mutant] [Status: Near Death, Restrained, Containable] *Near death and restrained—that’s what makes it containable?* Dan leaned toward the latter: being restrained or incapacitated was the key.
*Contain!* Without a second thought, Dan triggered the card.
The Two of Hearts flew from his hand as if guided by auto-navigation, slamming into the mutant’s forehead and drawing his entire body into the black card.
The face of the card was no longer blank.
Instead, a vivid, ugly depiction of the mutated cannibal now occupied the surface.
It seemed that mutant cannibals were at the absolute bottom tier of the Ghost Card hierarchy.