Global Collapse-Chapter 417 - 400: Exile World_1

Being able to save the game only fifteen times already made it extremely difficult. But now Gu Mian faced an even more significant predicament in this challenging game…

He halted his actions, staring at the health bar in the upper left corner—now less than half full. I can't die... I can't die, he muttered to himself.

If the character died even once, a player at a save point would inevitably die. This meant the three save points would become completely useless, and he would have to complete the game in one life.

The raging furnace fire behind him cast the silhouette of the Holy Daughter on the cracked, ancient walls. The dark shadow swayed with the flickering firelight, resembling a demon rising from hell.

Worse still, the demon Gu Mian controlled couldn't use these special items.

[Doctrine Goddess Information (Incomplete Version)]

[The goddess never truly perishes;

New souls will emerge from the burning black books;

The flesh and blood of the living will provide the goddess a new body.

(Note: Some say the means by which the goddess rejuvenates is demonic, but angels and demons are often just a thought apart.)]

Chu Changge's fingers traced these lines, then with a SNAP, he shut the book he was holding. Embossed on the brown hardcover in gold were the words— "Exile World Character Anthology."

He glanced up at the pendulum clock opposite him. It was nine twenty-five, and Gu Mian still hadn't appeared.

A strange-sounding wind scraped past the doorframe, making a whistling sound. Collapsed buildings were piled up in the dark night, and the roadside weeds were flattened by the wind. It was an incredibly strange scene: in the bizarre, grotesque, abandoned village surrounded by mountains, three intact buildings still stood, as if waiting for something, anticipating something.

The haggard, emaciated woman Chu Changge was waiting for didn't arrive. Instead, the ringing of a telephone interrupted his wait.

"Hello, Brother Chu?" Fatty's anxious voice came over the handset. "It's been an hour, and I still haven't seen the Doctor. And 007 hasn't seen anything either… Where do you think the Doctor could be now?"

Chu Changge was silent for a moment after hearing his voice, then finally spoke, "When was the last time you saw him?"

"It was when I called you before to say the Doctor discovered…"

"The last time," Chu Changge cut him off before he could finish.

Then, there was silence on the other end of the phone.

For a time, only the whistling wind could be heard from outside and through the handset. After a while, Fatty finally spoke, his voice somewhat sheepish, "You knew?"

"Gu Mian hasn't appeared since he saw 007 and then you. He didn't come to my location afterward. Perhaps he turned back. If Gu Mian mysteriously disappeared at one location, you'd have the highest probability of witnessing it. Your tone just now gave you away."

Fatty on the other end of the line fell silent for a few seconds. "That's right, I did see the Doctor again later. He left with a woman, a woman with hair like a bird's nest... I saw that woman pass by with a few men earlier, so I wanted to tell you about this."

Chu Changge spoke in a solemn tone, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Brother Chu, I've noticed… are you planning to do something to 007?

"Before I saw the Doctor for the last time, you said you hadn't found any clues on your end. After I saw him for the last time, you called to ask when the Doctor last saved at my place. Later, I learned that you also asked 007 when Gu Mian last saved at her place.

"Perhaps the more clues you know, the sooner death will come. And I think the Doctor is currently working hard to keep all of us alive."

Chu Changge didn't speak, listening as Fatty continued through the handset.

"I still don't understand how we're supposed to escape this instance, but Brother Chu, I have a strong feeling you're planning to set her up. Besides, setting her up won't help with this instance at all. This is an instance where you can actually die. I wouldn't say anything if this were some other instance, but this one specifically… My father once told me that everyone has the right to live."

Having said this, Fatty fell silent. No more sound came from him over the handset.

The silence lasted for a long time before Fatty's voice finally came through again, "Could I perhaps ask your reason for doing this?"

"Your father probably also told you that the more you know, the faster you die."

Fatty on the other end choked for a moment, then finally managed to speak, "We, as save points, can't contact the Doctor. I know that even telling you the Doctor left with that woman wouldn't help, but the instance surely wouldn't put all the agency in the Doctor's hands alone.

"The three of us definitely have some power… Perhaps it's to escape this instance by killing the Doctor before he destroys us. To save ourselves, we must first kill the person who might kill us. This is a contest between two sides. There have been instances of this type before."

Chu Changge fell silent. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

After a good while, he finally spoke, "We all know that when playing a game, if a character dies, you can load a save. But what if a player controls a character into the mid-to-late game, and upon dying, finds that all their saves have suddenly disappeared?"

Fatty hesitated before speaking, "Then it's game over, and you have to start from the beginning… But can this game really be started over? And how could the saves just suddenly disappear?"

Fatty looked at the three black-covered books stacked on his desk—those were Gu Mian's three saves. "Actually, I've also thought about this possibility," he said. "But there's nothing in the room that can destroy the saves. If it's just brute force..."

Fatty had once tried to forcibly open the hard-covered, black book, but he couldn't even leave a mark on it.

Just then, Chu Changge's voice came from the phone on the floor beside him, "Stand on the table and look straight ahead, in the direction of the pendulum clock."

Fatty frowned.

He glanced at the table beside him, then at the pendulum clock directly opposite it.

Without hesitation, he immediately climbed onto the table.

Fatty wasn't short to begin with, and now standing on the table, he was even closer to the ceiling. As he straightened up, breathing the higher air and looking towards the pendulum clock, he was shocked to find that the chandelier hanging from the ceiling was almost level with his head. And on that chandelier, which was often swayed by the wind, sat a metal-cased lighter, placed perfectly upright.

Fatty's mouth fell open in astonishment.

He heard Chu Changge's voice slowly emerge from the phone at his feet once more, "And the danger we face probably isn't just limited to being destroyed."

How could one clear the game without dying even once?

It was almost impossible.

By this time, Gu Mian had already left the cave illuminated by the furnace fire, carrying several unusable special items.

He wasted no time, immediately turning left at the fork in the road.

That way was the village chief's room. Since everyone's room was just covered by a tattered curtain, the key found on the butcher wasn't for opening room doors. This key should be useful for other locks. Xiao Niao doesn't seem to be back yet. And the village chief's room is far from the people at the well; it should only have a few people, or perhaps just one, inside.

The Holy Daughter, carrying a blood-stained cleaver, had already arrived at the village chief's doorway. No one would have imagined the frail Holy Daughter acting in such a manner.

This, of course, startled the person who suddenly lifted the curtain and stepped out.

And the person who suddenly lifted the curtain also startled Gu Mian, who was in the middle of steeling his nerves.