Global Collapse-Chapter 419 - 401: Rookie Novice Gu Bong Bong_2

The result was as he had anticipated.

A third body had appeared in this dim underground; it seemed to belong to someone quite young.

Just then, Gu Mian saw another person, who had been hiding behind the entrance, suddenly rush out. Just as he prepared to confront the rushing figure, he saw the person slide past him, sticking close to the wall, like a rat frantically scurrying along the wall in the darkness.

The short young man was dashing towards the wellhead at great speed along the wall, his mouth agape to an exaggerated degree. Even though Gu Mian couldn't hear him, he knew how loud the man's voice must be—

"Murder! Help me!"

With a voice that loud in an underground tunnel, the group at the wellhead would have certainly heard.

Gu Mian took two steps forward, wanting to give chase. However, the frantically fleeing man had a head start and was using all his strength. If Gu Mian pursued, he would likely be caught by the people approaching from the other direction before he could even catch up. Chasing the man would undoubtedly lead to his capture, but not chasing him and waiting here would also result in being caught. So, what exactly should I do?

Gu Mian frowned, standing in place and thinking for half a second before turning to look into the room, now unobscured by a curtain.

He quickly walked in and lifted the carpet beside the bed, which seemed to be hiding something.

A trapdoor, installed flush with the floor, appeared before him. An old, brass-colored padlock was fastened to its side.

Seeing this lock, Gu Mian immediately took out the Key he had found on the butcher's body.

"CLICK." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Fatty took out the metal-cased lighter in his hand.

The faint flame flickered in the night wind, seeming as if it would be extinguished at any moment.

"If we all destroy the save points left by the Doctor, then the character controlled by the Doctor will have to start over after they die."

Fatty understood the significance of "starting over" very well.

"This means the Doctor will have to restart the game... Brother Chu, what you mentioned about that Exile World..."

"Exile World Character Excerpt," Chu Changge's calm voice came from the receiver.

"Right, that's the one," Fatty nodded repeatedly at the receiver. "Can you repeat the characteristics of that goddess?"

Without pause, Chu Changge's voice came from the receiver, as if he had memorized the text:

"The goddess never truly perished;

New souls will be born from the burning black books;

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

As Fatty listened, he glanced at the three books stacked on the table. "The black books are the save files the Doctor gave us. So, the save files are a scam. If the Doctor's controlled character revives through a save point, the person at that save point will definitely be devoured. The Doctor saved his game at my location three times. His character always revives from the latest save after death. So, what if the Doctor's last two saves were here, and his controlled character unfortunately died? The goddess would resurrect here and eat me. Then, there would be no one left alive at my save point. If the Doctor died a second time and revived here again, what would the goddess eat then?"

"Two possibilities," Chu Changge's voice came from the receiver. "First, she might devour you in parts. But that's unlikely, as it's hard to guarantee you'd stay alive after she eats a third of you."

"Second, she devours you completely in one go. After resurrecting at your location the second time, she would exist as a spirit, only regaining a body when she resurrects at another save point."

Fatty was puzzled. "Can a spirit die?"

"You should have seen Gu Mian kill a ghost."

"...Well, if that's the case," Fatty hesitated before speaking, "did the Doctor's controlled character have a body as soon as he entered this game because it devoured a living person too?"

Could it have devoured a player from the previous time this instance was run?

Chu Changge also fell silent.

Just then, Fatty suddenly spoke. "By the way, you know the Doctor can't hear our voices, right?"

"Mm."

"Didn't I tell you before? The Doctor disappeared only after he left with a woman. When the Doctor and that woman passed by my place, I shouted at him, but he still couldn't hear me... But the woman seemed to."

Chu Changge's voice, with a slight inflection, sounded out, "Are you sure she could hear?"

"Mm. After taking the Doctor away, the woman brought a group of people past my place again. Just when I jumped down from the table, they passed by me carrying several bodies. I saw that they all seemed to hear the sound of me jumping off the table."

"Theoretically," Chu Changge began, "if other NPCs can hear our voices, Gu Mian should be able to hear them too."

However, various signs indicated that Gu Mian indeed couldn't hear their voices.

At this moment, Chu Changge's steady voice came from the receiver again. "If what you're saying is true, then the problem lies with Gu Mian. He might be unable to hear sounds because if any sound were to reach him—a secret would be revealed."

What kind of secret could it be? Fatty was completely baffled.

"In any case..." Chu Changge furrowed his brows slightly, looking towards the pitch-black doorway, "do not destroy the save files."

The three black books on the table were neatly stacked together.

007 was leaning against the table. The chandelier on the ceiling was always swaying; it was the first thing she noticed when she woke up. The swaying chandelier seemed to whisper, "I have a secret."

Just then, 007 finally retrieved the chandelier's secret: a lighter.

"CLICK."

This poor lighter – its flame was only the size of a bean.

"What happened?" a gaunt, curly-haired man at the front asked as he walked. Beside him was the short man who had scurried away from Gu Mian like a rat.

Behind the two of them followed nearly twenty emaciated individuals, mostly young or middle-aged men.

"The Holy Daughter killed someone! The village chief went out through the secret passage and told us to watch the door. Then, we heard the Holy Daughter coming," the short man gestured wildly. "She... she was holding a knife and killed two people!"

The curly-haired man twisted his neck. "That's impossible. The Holy Daughter has 'awakened' a few times before, but she only ever flailed around with a wooden stick or an oil lamp. She never managed to kill anyone. The most harm she ever did was break someone's skin. Where would she get a knife?"

However, when they had passed the Holy Daughter's room earlier, they had glanced inside; the dark room was indeed empty.

"You'll believe me if you come and see!" The short, thin man was extremely anxious, hiding fearfully within the crowd. "Quick, capture her!"

When they arrived, they only saw two corpses sprawled across the doorway.

A strange atmosphere suddenly filled the air; everyone exchanged uneasy glances.

The curly-haired man leading them widened his eyes. He quickly stepped over the bodies on the ground and looked into the now unobstructed room.

A large section of the carpet in the room had been pulled back, and a trapdoor stood wide open, revealing a pitch-black passage below.

That was the tunnel leading outside.

The short, thin man squeezed out from the crowd. "Look, she ran away!"

The curly-haired man stared at the open trapdoor in disbelief. After several seconds, he seemed to come to his senses and said to a woman beside him, "Go call Man. Tell him the person escaped and to come capture her."

"Okay, okay." The woman hurried out the door.

At this time, whispers began to ripple through the crowd.

"Was it really the Holy Daughter who did it? She wasn't this formidable before..."

"The Holy Daughter couldn't have killed two people at once; she doesn't have that kind of ability."

"With the way she is, she probably couldn't even kill one person, right?"

"..."

Just as everyone was whispering, the woman returned.

With a terrified expression, she collapsed to the ground, then raised her head to look at the others, her face a mask of panic and dismay. "He's dead! He's dead!"

The buzzing whispers instantly escalated into cries of incredulous disbelief.

"What?" "What did you say!" "Who's dead?"

Everyone turned to face the woman on the ground. Their eyes, wide with shock, reflected an eerie light.

"Man... Man is dead! His knife..." As she spoke, the woman's voice grew fainter with fear. "...his knife has also been taken."

"Yes, the Holy Daughter took it!" the short, thin man almost leaped up. "I saw her kill those people with a knife!"

An almost explosive sense of dread surged through everyone. They turned their heads to look at each other, and indeed, they saw the same fear and shock in each other's eyes.

The Holy Daughter killed Man?

So a woman so weak she couldn't even tie up a chicken... killed the butcher?