Global Collapse-Chapter 407 - 390: Gu Mian and His Three Useless Teammates _1

[[Triggered special instance 'Angel Redemption']

Angel Redemption?

This name sounds quite spiritual.

Gu Mian had to admit that he was indeed proficient in the art of redemption. This instance seems to be well chosen for him.

At this time, 007, standing next to him, stared at the panel and said, "This is my first time encountering a special instance. I've heard it's quite challenging…"

Fatty mumbled from the side, "I'm different. Right after encountering the Doctor, the first instance I matched with was a special one."

Hearing this, 007 looked over. "That unlucky?"

Just then, more words popped up on the panel.

[Instance Participants: 4 people]

Four people…

Seeing this, 007 subconsciously counted the people present—exactly four. "So, only the people here can enter the special instance?"

"No," Fatty shook his head vigorously. "It wasn't like this before!"

[In this special instance, the death protection mechanism will be turned off]

Reading this, Gu Mian paused.

Protection mechanism off?

The only protection mechanism in this game is that if you die in an instance, you won't die in real life. But now it says the protection mechanism will be shut down...

Fatty, beside him, was already exclaiming, "What the hell!"

It felt like being struck by lightning.

Gu Mian remembered Fatty exclaiming the exact same thing the first time they matched with a special instance after meeting him.

But back then, Fatty's tone was, at most, shocked. This time, it was pure terror.

After all, the possibility of actual death in an instance was something... Gu Mian had grown accustomed to.

But when it happened to others, they couldn't remain as calm as him.

Fatty was practically jumping up and down. Even 007 looked shocked. "When it says the death protection mechanism will be turned off… is it what I think it means?"

Gu Mian nodded. "Presumably so."

He was worried about Fatty's well-being while thinking, This special instance is rather strange. It actively shut off the protection mechanism, yet no instance mission has been dispatched...

And just as he was thinking this, the next line of text finally appeared.

[Players will enter the instance in batches. Please be patient.]

[First player to enter the instance: Doctor]

It was the familiar green font color. That forgiving color almost blinded Gu Mian's eyes.

But before he could even complain about why the instance mission hadn't appeared on the page yet, he vanished from where he stood.

The book in his hand fell to the ground with a THUD.

Fatty, bewildered, stared at the spot where Gu Mian had disappeared. "The instance mission hasn't appeared yet, right? And the Doctor is already gone?"

Three people and their panels remained. Only Gu Mian had disappeared.

007 and Fatty looked at each other, then turned to Chu Changge as if hoping he would offer some explanation.

At this moment, Chu Changge also turned his head to look at Fatty. "This instance is targeting us."

"Targeting... us?" Fatty shivered. "So, is this what they call 'to catch the thieves, first catch the pawns'?"

Exactly. Gu Mian wasn't protected by the death protection mechanism to begin with; this rule was irrelevant to him.

But for the remaining people…

An eerie atmosphere spread among the three of them.

007 didn't quite understand why Fatty would say something like "to catch the thieves, first catch the pawns," but she understood that their situation was critical.

Fatty opened his mouth. "Although I don't really want to be a burden, in this situation, wouldn't it be safer to stick close to the Doctor?"

Chu Changge looked at his panel. "Why do you think this instance is having us enter in batches?"

To separate them.

There's no need to separate everyone; just separating Gu Mian from them would suffice.

Sure enough, the next line on their game panels read—

[Second batch to enter the instance: Meiren Chu, Fat Kid Surnamed Wang, 007]

Before Fatty could utter another sound, the three of them also disappeared from the spot.

「The library was brightly illuminated, with only an electrical card left alone in the slot.」

The surroundings suddenly darkened. The wooden door, gently pushed by the wind, made a CREAKING sound. On the table, an open notebook rustled as the wind flipped its pages.

The sky outside was orange. It was late evening.

An ancient pendulum clock swung back and forth, indicating it was six o'clock in the evening.

Fatty's head felt a bit groggy. The heavy smell of wood shavings, mixed with the scent of paper books that had been gathering dust for years, assaulted his nostrils.

He lifted his head and looked around. He was completely alone.

This appeared to be a bookstore. Old wooden bookshelves were piled with miscellaneous books, looking as if they might collapse at any moment. Fatty had no doubt that if he so much as leaned lightly against one, a bookshelf possibly older than himself would immediately fall apart.

In front of him was an old, cracked desk. On its right corner sat a pen holder with a few pens in it. Beside the pen holder was a desktop telephone.

Just as he was staring at the telephone, wondering about it, a strange voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Hello, I'm here to return a book."

Fatty turned his head to look.

A tall woman had appeared at the entrance at some unknown point.

She was tall and gaunt, her head almost touching the doorframe. Her face was withered and pallid. She held out a black book towards him, its cover hidden from view.

The woman wore a tattered garment that resembled a ragged sack, yet it was surprisingly pristine white, creating an unsettling contrast.

The setting sun stretched her shadow long, making it look like a monster sprawling across the bookstore floor.

"Okay, okay..." Seeing the woman standing motionless at the entrance, Fatty hesitated for a moment before getting up and walking over to take the book.

「Meanwhile, Gu Mian found himself in a small, twenty-square-meter dark room.」

The room was truly bare, with not even a window, as if they were afraid he might escape through some nook or cranny.

Gu Mian had tried using a chainsaw to cut through the wall, but it was useless.

He didn't know how thick the room's walls were. After digging for more than two meters without finding an exit, he had no choice but to give up.

Fortunately, this dilapidated room had one saving grace—an entertainment facility: a computer.

A computer that could play games even without an internet connection.

Gu Mian was already sitting in front of the computer, operating it. "This crappy game is alright, except it lags like hell when saving."

When the game started, a line of text appeared on the screen:

[You can leave the instance after completing the game]

Seeing this line, Gu Mian immediately sat down and started playing. He quickly figured out the game's mechanics.

Similar to many horror games, this one was played from a first-person perspective. The player explored a creepy location, with a health bar in the top-left corner of the screen. When the health bar depleted, it meant death.

Fortunately, it had a save function. However, like many games, one had to reach specific save points to save progress, and there were several such points on the game map.

It's just like in the real world, where you need to find a ticket booth to enter an instance.

After dying, the player character would respawn at the last saved location.

The game's premise was that the player had fallen from a cliff and suffered amnesia...

Although Gu Mian had no idea why the player would climb a cliff, or how they survived the fall, now wasn't the time to complain about such things.

Right now, he should be bravely charging out of this small dark room to save his teammates, who were probably scared to tears.

Unfortunately, Gu Mian had no idea where the other three were.

As he mused over this, he saw the words "You have successfully saved" pop up on the screen.

Each save point only had five save slots. Exceeding five saves would probably mean overwriting earlier ones.