Global Collapse-Chapter 428 - 406: Truly Stingy_2

At this time, Fatty, who was still trying to comfort 007, caught sight of a white figure in the corner of his eye. The sacred white coat, the magnificent guitar case... If not the Doctor, who could it be?

Just as Gu Mian approached this save point, he heard an excited voice from the dark room—

"Doctor!"

So they can hear voices from inside, huh? Gu Mian was a bit puzzled. What was Chu Changge doing in there when I passed him earlier? Was he just standing still, staring at me?

"Doctor, how did you get in... No, wait, shouldn't you be controlling a character?"

Standing before this dark house, Gu Mian figured Fatty and the others must have deduced a lot. At the very least, they know they're save points, and that the Holy Daughter is a character being controlled.

Gu Mian looked at the house before him and cleared his throat, trying not to sound like a lunatic muttering to himself, "Actually, I don't know why I came in. To be precise... I don't know how I got out either."

The distant screams were steadily decreasing. It looks like the Holy Daughter will finish off all the monsters soon.

"Got out?" Fatty suddenly changed the subject, as if remembering something. "Right, Doctor, what were all those screams about?"

"Oh, the screams in the first half were mostly my doing. But just as everyone was midway through screaming, my character learned to go idle... This should symbolize that a game is nearing its end." As he said this, Gu Mian suddenly understood why he had emerged from the save point. The Holy Daughter is invincible now; she can't die. That means we, the save points, are useless. Naturally, we'd be released. But why was I the only one let out?

At that moment, Fatty's voice, somewhat shaky, emanated from the darkness. It seemed Gu Mian's words had unsettled him.

Gu Mian heard Fatty give a couple of awkward laughs. "HEH HEH. I was worried with 007 earlier that some of the screams were from your character... It seems we were overthinking it."

So 007 is alive too, Gu Mian thought, tightening his coat in the darkness. That was expected, but I was still worried something might have gone wrong.

Just then, a faint voice came from the darkness ahead. It was 007's. Gu Mian listened closely; her voice sounded hollow, as if coming through a microphone.

"I'm still alive, no accidents. I was just scared by the screams you created... There was a little incident in between."

Fatty began to explain, "She used a lighter to burn the floor of her save point and almost suffocated. She also said she discovered reflective stones underneath."

Gu Mian put his hands in his pockets and closely examined the house before him. They have a phone, a lighter, and wooden floors in there. Compared to this, my place is a real slum.

The cries in the night had almost vanished. Gu Mian turned to look into the distance. Steep mountain cliffs stretched endlessly in the darkness, almost completely encircling the village, forming a natural prison.

But I remember it wasn't like this in the game. When my perspective followed my brother, I saw a small creek flowing by the village and a flat road leading into the distance. When I fled with the girl, we passed through a dense forest filled with brightly colored, dangerous mushrooms. But around this village, there's nothing but endless cliffs, making escape impossible.

Just then, a barely audible, weak cry suddenly reached Gu Mian's ears. He frowned and turned towards the source of the sound.

This sound... it's very close.

Fatty watched the Doctor in his white coat standing outside the door. The wind whipped at the hem of his coat, making the white robe appear somewhat wild. Gu Mian was staring in one direction, though Fatty didn't know what he was looking at. Just as Fatty was about to say something, everything before him suddenly went black.

It wasn't fainting, nor was it a power outage. It was as if someone had abruptly pulled down a black security door. Fatty could no longer see what was happening outside.

He called out twice, refusing to give up, but received no answer from outside. 007's voice then came through the microphone, "What's wrong?"

Fatty quickly ran to the phone and picked it up, "The Doctor was right at my door, but suddenly I can't see outside, and I can't hear anything from outside either!"

007, on the other end, was silent for a moment before replying, "Maybe something is about to happen outside that you're not supposed to know about."

Something I'm not supposed to know? Fatty was bewildered.

The night wind whistled through the narrow alley. A staggering figure ran through it. Though 'running' might be an overstatement, as his speed wasn't much to speak of. Gu Mian saw him stumble out from a short distance ahead; it took him about twenty seconds to reach Gu Mian.

At that moment, he recognized the man. It's the one from my parents' memories, the one who held the Holy Daughter's father's head high like a banner! I didn't expect him to still be alive.

Even though he had long been emaciated by hunger, he had somehow managed to survive... although a dense black fog was hot on his heels, ready to devour him at any moment.

Gu Mian looked at the fog behind the man. That must be the Holy Daughter, successfully transformed under my control.

The fog was now gradually creeping towards him. The man running ahead seemed to be the last survivor. Gu Mian watched him stagger along until he finally tripped and fell right in front of Gu Mian.

Apparently not expecting anyone to be there, the man looked up with a surprised expression.

Gu Mian, in turn, looked down at him, a slight smile revealing a row of white teeth.

"Save... save me!" Although the man didn't know where this person had come from, the brilliant smile clearly rekindled his hope. He desperately grabbed Gu Mian's trouser leg and clung to it. "Save me!"

Gu Mian looked down at him.

The man clearly didn't recognize that the previous Holy Daughter had been controlled by Gu Mian, or that Gu Mian was responsible for half of the widespread screams.

The unsuspecting man, with a look of longing, gazed up at the Doctor before him, whose smile was as radiant as the sun.

At the same time, the black fog behind him suddenly stopped advancing. It churned in the not-so-wide alley, like an agitated, black-furred hamster.

Gu Mian glanced at the black fog that had abruptly halted, then bent down slightly, extended his hand, and said softly, "Alright."

The man seemed bewitched. He stared blankly at Gu Mian for a moment, then placed his somewhat grimy hand in the offered one, letting the Doctor pull him up. However...

"Go to hell!"

The man never imagined someone could change expressions so fast. One second he thought the person before him was a gentle doctor; the next, he felt as if a strongman had kicked him viciously in the stomach, making it convulse.

If it had just been a kick, it might have been tolerable. But the black fog was right behind him. It rapidly swirled around him. The black mist surging from behind filled the man with terror. He watched, horrified, as he was enveloped by the black fog. He opened his mouth wide, looking at the white figure before him, but couldn't make a sound.

The man's contorted face gradually vanished before Gu Mian's eyes. That was the last living person in the entire game.

With the disappearance of the man's figure, the black fog in front of him also stopped surging. It halted about a meter away from Gu Mian and advanced no further.

With the death of the last person, Gu Mian finally sensed the game was about to end.

He heard an emotionless voice echo through the sky, and saw several large lines of text appear out of thin air before him—

[Angel Redemption Game Cleared]

[Achieved 'Stingy' Ending]