Global Collapse-Chapter 412 - 395: The Gentle Madonna_1

Before long, a fervent blaze ignited in this dilapidated gully, as spectacular as a burst of fireworks.

Gu Mian had thrown the lighter, so while gaining this splendid pyrotechnic display, he lost his source of illumination.

The small cart he had pushed to the doorway proved useless; the people inside didn't even run out before becoming roasted sweet potatoes in the fire.

Of course, Gu Mian had no idea if this mysterious two-story building possessed any secret tunnels or other means of escape.

In any case, no one within his line of sight ran out.

Watching the fire before him grow ever larger, Gu Mian turned and headed in another direction.

Just then, he suddenly saw the silhouette of another person appear on the screen.

The figure ran over from a distance, and in a few seconds, was right in front of Gu Mian's screen.

Given the screen between them, Gu Mian couldn't quite feel immersed. He didn't really understand why he had to control the character from a computer. Wouldn't it be better to put him directly into the game?

The newcomer was a woman.

She had dark brown, naturally curly hair. Probably due to a lack of care, this hair was piled messily on her head, casually tied up with a strip of gray-blue cloth. If a bird flew by, it might even consider laying an egg in there. That's why Gu Mian decided to call her Xiao Niao.

The face beneath her unruly hair was just as unkempt. The girl wasn't what you'd call pretty to begin with, and her face was covered in sooty marks, like a wall blackened by years of chimney smoke, making her even further removed from "beautiful."

Her rather plain face had just appeared on Gu Mian's screen when a line of text materialized below:

"Did you see that fire? It looks like there are still people in the house."

Since the computer had no speakers, Gu Mian mentally supplied her with a voice; it sounded about right.

Did the people in this village already know the character he was controlling, or were they just naturally too familiar? Everyone he met seemed to just start talking at him.

Immediately after, Gu Mian saw two options appear before him, apparently responses to Xiao Niao's previous words.

[I saw it. Such a pity, I'm heartbroken.]

[Of course, I saw it. I started the fire.]

Gu Mian contemplated the two options for a moment.

Only a ghost would choose the second one, right? Are they asking to be trussed up and dumped in the river?

Since this game is called Angel Redemption... Gu Mian muttered to himself, "This fire is such a tragedy. I wonder which heartless monster started it."

As he spoke, he reached out and selected the first option.

No matter where this woman had appeared from, or whether she recognized him or not, he absolutely had to act like a paragon of virtue.

Xiao Niao took a step back, and new text appeared on the screen: "You truly are as you've always been, so kind."

What in the world? This is so bizarre. Gu Mian frowned at the message below.

Fortunately, no new options appeared this time, so he didn't have to make any choice.

「」

Meanwhile, Fatty had found a strange character profile among a messy pile of character settings.

He immediately picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Brother Chu? I found a character profile in this book of settings that seems a lot like the one the Doctor is controlling."

"Really? I don't think the character setting book I have here mentions this character."

Holding the book in one hand and the phone in the other, Fatty began to read seriously.

"The Holy Daughter"

"Bestowed the title of Holy Daughter before birth, she has no true name. Legend says she is the reincarnation of the Doctrine Goddess."

"Kind-hearted and innocent by nature."

"Her parents died in a fire when she was nine.

Her only brother disappeared when she was thirteen; his body was found a year later in a dry well.

At sixteen, she was kidnapped by her best friend but returned safely."

"Despite experiencing so much misfortune, she remains as kind and innocent as she was at birth, protecting this sanctuary of peace."

"There's a picture beside it. It looks a bit like the character the Doctor is controlling, just not as thin..."

Fatty's voice came from the receiver.

Chu Changge listened while looking through the book in his hands.

He had already gone through all the game-related books on his shelf once, but there was no mention of the character Fatty described.

Fatty's voice continued, "Speaking of which, this Holy Daughter, quite the character, has certainly had some rotten luck, hasn't she? Parents dead at nine, brother dead at thirteen, kidnapped at sixteen... That's on par with the Doctor's luck. No wonder they want the Doctor to control this character. But why did she get so thin later on?"

Chu Changge listened silently to Fatty's voice, who was still saying, "The character profile is quite similar to the Doctor too. One is an incredibly unlucky Holy Daughter who still protects her people, and the other is an incredibly unlucky Doctor who still dedicates himself to saving lives."

After a good while, Chu Changge finally spoke, "I'm afraid this character isn't as simple as she appears on the surface. I can't find any useful information on my end. Keep searching your bookshelf."

Fatty acknowledged and hung up.

Chu Changge also put down the receiver.

The very next second after he hung up, the phone on Chu Changge's desk rang again.

He reached out and picked up the receiver again.

The voice of 007 came through: "I found a strange diary... well, let's call it a diary."

"I'm in the wardrobe. People waving flags with an evil symbol burst into the room. I watch through a crack as they tear my father apart, and my mother is turned into a hanging picture on the wall."

"They shout, 'Kill the Holy Daughter!' They yell, asking where the Holy Daughter is."

"I'm in the wardrobe."

"My brother disappeared. I looked for him for a long time. Finally, I saw him in a well. He hadn't decayed yet, but his fingers were clawed raw. The walls of the well were covered in desperate scratch marks; he had been trying to climb out."

"I saw that evil symbol again at the bottom of the well—the symbol of those who turned my mother into a hanging picture."

"I found a huge stone to cover the mouth of the well, to let my brother rest in peace there. But a year later, someone still disturbed him."

"Later, the villagers caught those evil people. They knelt on the ground, weeping, kowtowing, and begging for mercy."

"The kind villagers looked at me."

"'The Holy Daughter will forgive everything.' 'No matter what, the kind Holy Daughter won't mind'—I heard them say."

"After that, I remained the kind Holy Daughter."

"'Let me take you away from here,' the girl next door always liked to say to me. When she spoke, her eyes would twinkle like stars in the sky."

"I nodded in agreement."

"Later, the villagers caught us. They said the kind Holy Daughter would not abandon the people she protected, that the kind Holy Daughter was lying for a kidnapper."

"I watched as she was placed on a barbecue grill, her once bright eyes turning black."