Global Collapse-Chapter 434 - 410: Gugu May Be Late, But Never Absent_1
Xile Town was neither too big nor too small. A drive of less than twenty minutes from here could take you to Liannu River, which attracted some players who thought it wouldn’t hurt to check out the place first.
Today was May 21st, with a little more than a dozen days left before the event on June 7th. Most of those who could make it were already here.
The infectious disease from a few months ago was no longer rife, and there was still some activity in this unremarkable town, reminiscent of the lively atmosphere from before the game started.
Even in the outskirts of the town, a few people could be seen now and then.
007 was right, driving a Spirit Car is too conspicuous, Gu Mian thought, deciding to park it somewhere outside Xile Town where there weren’t many people.
However, just as he stopped the Spirit Car, he spotted two familiar faces in the distance.
These two already had unusual appearances, and standing together made them even more noticeable.
It was Xiao Qiao and Liu Ruyan.
One was a washed-up female star. Regardless of how popular she was before the game started, she was now indeed past her prime. Gu Mian did see a crowd not far from them, occasionally casting glances their way, obviously recognizing Xiao Qiao. The other was his landlady, who had spent years trying to tamper with Gu Mian’s natural gas valve. Despite repeated failures, she persisted until Gu Mian finally changed his door.
The appearance of these two, who should have had no connection, at the same place—and even at the last location mentioned in ’Second World’—made Gu Mian suspect an unspeakable bond between them.
At this point, Gu Mian had already stopped the car and opened the door to head their way.
Fatty hastily stuck the wilting rose in his hand into a water-filled pop can and quickly got out of the car to follow Gu Mian.
The street, which should have been deserted, was now bustling with people because of them. At this moment, the two women were standing in front of a very heavy-looking vending machine. Of course, they weren’t there to buy drinks. Everything inside the vending machine had been ransacked. The glass was smashed, the door was pried open, and even the large springs that pushed out drinks were almost straightened and exposed through the broken glass.
Liu Ruyan was leaning against the vending machine with her arms crossed, tilting her head slightly as she spoke to Xiao Qiao with a smile.
Xiao Qiao’s expressions were the same as those she’d shown on screen—she widened her eyes slightly to express surprise, fear, joy, and confusion.
Fortunately, she was pretty. If Xiao Hong were to perform the "slightly widened eyes" routine on TV every day, probably half the nation’s audience would develop heart conditions.
At this moment, Xiao Qiao had her eyes slightly widened again.
Gu Mian couldn’t decipher her current emotion either.
Soon, Xiao Qiao made a move. She crouched down, in front of the group of people stealthily watching them, and reached into the less-than-three-centimeter gap between the vending machine and the ground.
"Did something fall in?" It seemed someone wanted to come over and help.
Just as Gu Mian was wondering, he saw the washed-up actress, still crouching, forcefully lift with her arms.
She lifted the vending machine...
The bottom of the machine lifted, forming an acute angle of about thirty degrees with the ground. Gu Mian then watched as she released one hand to feel around on the ground; the scene was quite terrifying.
Gu Mian could even hear the sharp intake of breath from the onlookers. The onlookers who had stepped forward stiffly retracted their feet.
Fatty, standing nearby, also gasped, "That thing must be heavier than me!"
Chu Changge adjusted his glasses, "Approximately 300 kilograms."
Fatty peacefully closed his eyes.
Xiao Qiao seemed to have found what she was looking for. With a BANG, she abruptly released her grip, and the hefty vending machine crashed back onto the ground. Gu Mian felt the earth tremble. She’d be great at hauling bricks.
As he was about to reach them, he saw Xiao Qiao extend her hand, dirty from fumbling on the ground, towards Liu Ruyan. A coin lay in her palm, looking like a Game Coin from an arcade. "Is this it?"
"Yes," Liu Ruyan took the coin. "Was it heavy?"
"Nope."
Liu Ruyan laughed helplessly and took out a handkerchief to clean Xiao Qiao’s hand.
Gu Mian had now led his group over to the two women. After feeling the earth shake, Fatty silently moved behind Gu Mian. Chu Changge stood to one side without comment. Luckily, his brother knew to restrain himself and wouldn’t fuss over Gu Mian like a doting sibling in public, allowing Gu Mian to save some face.
Xiao Hong also got out of the car; she was, as usual, holding a can of lychee soda, sipping it as if lost in reminiscence.
At this moment, Xiao Qiao noticed a white sleeve in her peripheral vision. Looking up along the sleeve, she saw Gu Mian’s strikingly handsome face.
Gu Mian was looking down at the two of them against the light, "What are you guys doing here?"
Xiao Qiao didn’t react; she kept staring at his face.
Liu Ruyan, however, seemed perfectly at ease with Gu Mian, as if she knew he would show up here. Her gaze swept over Xiao Hong and his brother. "I’d like to say we just happened to be passing by, and you definitely wouldn’t believe it, but I’ll say it anyway: we were just passing by."
Gu Mian: "..."
Xiao Qiao was still staring at his face, her eyes slightly widened.
Fatty, standing beside them, leaned over and asked her, "Is he handsome?"
"Yes."
Gu Mian: "..."
Suddenly, Chu Changge’s voice came from the side, "I called them here."
Gu Mian turned to look at him. Chu Changge’s face was expressionless, and his glasses reflected the light, a white sheen obscuring his eyes.
"Ah, is it for the dragon boat event?" Fatty seemed to recall something. "I remember, Brother Chu, you seemed to get along pretty well with Landlady Liu, and you also seemed to mysteriously know Xiao Qiao well during the Fairy Tale City instance."
Gu Mian hardly had time to concern himself with their relationships during the Fairy Tale City instance, as he was in contact with 007 most of the time. By the time he encountered Chu Changge and the others, the instance was almost over.
Chu Changge adjusted his glasses, "We needed to meet up for some matters. Plus, it might be risky to try forming teams on the spot during the dragon boat event."
Gu Mian thought this landlady, who had repeatedly tried to sneak into his house, was far more dangerous.
At this point, Xiao Hong had finished the drink in her hand and was turning to head back to the Spirit Car.
Fatty quickly took out his car keys to follow, "Wait, let me open the door. Don’t break the car window."
Gu Mian glanced at the three people in front of him, who were strangely silent, then at Fatty who was chasing after Xiao Hong, and said quietly, "I’m going to get my bag from the car."
His brother followed him closely into the car.
Fatty was at the back of the Spirit Car, looking for straws in a shopping bag.
Gu Mian swiftly moved into the driver’s seat. He looked at Chu Changge and the other two, who seemed to be discussing something.
He remembered Chu Changge’s status that he had seen in the Close Your Eyes instance. There were a few strange identities listed. He pondered for two seconds, then took out the Prophecy Book 007 had given him before leaving.
By writing a person’s name, one could learn all the identities they had ever possessed.
Gu Mian casually picked up a pink rabbit pen and glanced at Xiao Qiao and Liu Ruyan. There was some ambiguity regarding Xiao Qiao’s name, and Gu Mian was afraid that if he wrote her name, the paper might show something bizarre like ’Zhou Yu’s wife’. Although special items had specific targets, so such an outcome was unlikely.
Just to be on the safe side, Gu Mian filled in Liu Ruyan’s name.
Name: Liu Ruyan
Identities: Student, Murderer, Prisoner, Fugitive, Player, Champion, Guardian, Landlord
The three blatant ’criminal’ statuses practically blinded Gu Mian.
Indeed, he had unfortunately rented a house from a murderous landlord before meeting Liu Ruyan. However, he hadn’t expected his current landlady to also be a murderer.
How had she avoided capture and was still parading around so openly?
What the hell is going on? Gu Mian massaged his temples, a headache forming.
Chu Changge and Liu Ruyan did indeed share the ’Guardian’ identity. Gu Mian reckoned this was why they had so much in common.
Xiao Qiao was probably one too.
Looking at Liu Ruyan’s identities, Gu Mian couldn’t help but ponder her odd attitude towards him. If this ’Guardian’ role corresponds to protecting me, then that’s just ghostly weird. I’ve never seen a guardian who insists on fiddling with the gas valve of the person they’re supposed to protect.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Chu Changge had also fiddled with his gas valve.
What kind of bizarre relationship did these three have?
Just then, Fatty’s mournful voice came from the back of the Spirit Car, "Who plucked my flower?"
Gu Mian turned around to see Fatty’s flower, which had been in the pop can, had been plucked, leaving only a bare green stem quivering in the can.
His brother stood to the side, smiling gently.
"Forget it, I’ll buy you another one later," Gu Mian said, picking up the guitar case beside his seat and pulling Fatty, who was still cradling the stem. "Let’s go. Is Xiao Hong coming down?"
As he spoke, he looked at Xiao Hong.
She was curled up in the very back, silently chewing her straw, seemingly lost in memories.
Gu Mian didn’t press Xiao Hong further and, pulling Fatty, got out of the car and walked back to Chu Changge.
The three of them seemed to have quickly finished their discussion. Seeing Gu Mian approach, they all stopped talking with noticeable coordination, and the air instantly fell into an eerie silence.
Gu Mian put a hand in his pocket, "Don’t you have anything to say to me?"
The three of them shook their heads in unison, "No."
Such perfect coordination.
Gu Mian was still thinking about how to expose their identities when Chu Changge adjusted his glasses, "After these two events, they will leave. But there are still twenty days until the event, so we can enter an instance first."
"The instance has been chosen," Xiao Qiao suddenly pulled something like a ticket from her pocket; it looked like it had been prepared long ago. Gu Mian recognized it; it was an Instance Exchange Ticket. By filling in the instance name and player names, they could enter that instance via a ticket booth.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Qiao had one too.
And the names were already filled in. Gu Mian frowned as he looked; the instance name was ’Death Face’.
That’s a rather terrifying name.
Why enter this instance?
Chu Changge adjusted his glasses, "I chose it. I screened all the terms from the early part of the book ’Second World’ that could possibly be instance names. Only this one could be filled into the instance name field of an Instance Exchange Ticket."
It seemed Chu Changge had already discussed this with Xiao Qiao, probably through the Friend System. Perhaps while they were asleep, Chu Changge was still secretly chatting.
Gu Mian rubbed his temples with his index finger, quickly accepting the situation. "Alright. I don’t want to be stared at anymore. Let’s go find a ticket booth."
There was still a crowd of people around, staring at them.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to walk far before finding a ticket booth and entered the instance under the despairing gaze of the ticket seller.
...
At 12:15 AM, the room was pitch black.
Wang Xin, nestled in her quilt, yawned. The phone in her hand cast a dim glow in the darkness.
She scrolled through some messages, put down her phone, and got ready for bed.
But just then, she saw a figure standing in front of her dark door.
