Global Collapse-Chapter 444 - 419: _1

"Alright, you passed." Not wanting to harass the Fortune-teller too much, Gu Mian patted her shoulder and dropped his questions about the color of her underwear.

The Fortune-teller seemed taken aback for a couple of seconds before realizing Gu Mian had been messing with her.

She chose not to be angry; instead, she looked at Wang Xin’s body on the floor and asked, "The police will be here soon. What’s your plan?"

"Since our mission is to survive two days, we should try to escape," Gu Mian glanced at the door. "If we see a ghost, we turn tail and run. Same goes for the cops. Back in the day, I used to be a champion at the 1,000-meter sprint."

Fatty sidled up, whispering, "But Doc, back when you saw ghosts before, you didn’t exactly react this way..."

"Enough talk, let’s get a move on, or we may find ourselves in the back of a cop car," Gu Mian quickly walked a few steps, opened the door, and said, "We’ll hide out in some secluded place first."

With a trace of resignation on her face, the Fortune-teller followed. "According to my experience with past instances, going to more isolated places usually means dying faster, but this time is different... I’ll run with you guys."

She had considered leaving with the other three, but on second thought, it seemed safer to stick with this seemingly perverse doctor.

By now, Gu Mian had already started down the stairs.

The others soon streamed out of the room too. While descending the stairs, Chu Changge took out several property flyers from his pocket. "I’ve examined the map of this city closely..."

Fatty interjected, somewhat surprised, "When did you manage to grab those flyers?"

Chu Changge adjusted his glasses. He continued down the stairs, examining the papers in his hand as if he didn’t need to watch his step. "This city isn’t a tourist destination," he explained, "so it’s hard to find maps with details on building distribution or population density. That’s why I grabbed several property flyers from different residential communities."

Gu Mian knew that property flyers always contained maps, mostly boasting about their prime location, proximity to schools or supermarkets, and so on.

While talking, Chu Changge placed the topmost flyer at the bottom of the stack and started reviewing the next one. "If we don’t deal with Wang Xin’s body, the ghost’s influence will likely lead the police to discover it here. We could then become suspects, so I suggest we head somewhere remote."

Truth be told, their current location was already somewhat secluded, but the police would be arriving soon.

"By studying the mini-maps on these property flyers, I’ve got a general idea of population density in certain areas," Chu Changge continued. "I suggest we first go to Tongying Street in the west of the city. It’s mostly auto-manufacturing plants there. Normally, aside from the businesses, there’s hardly anyone around. If we head there now, it won’t be long before those businesses close for the day and everyone leaves, making it the most deserted place at night."

By this time, the group had reached the ground floor. The elderly people were still gathered around the horrifying corpse. A battered minivan was parked not far away.

Gu Mian strode past the group of seniors, quietly asking Chu Changge, "How far is Tongying Street from here?"

"About a one-and-a-half-hour drive."

"Who has a car?"

Liu Ruyan’s voice came from behind them. "I do, but we just walked past it."

Fatty coughed. "We came here in Liu Ruyan’s car."

Gu Mian stopped and looked behind him. The area wasn’t very crowded, so parking spaces were quite plentiful.

Within his field of vision, only a dilapidated minivan was parked there. Liu Ruyan raised her hand, a set of car keys dangling from her index finger. "That old wreck over there."

Upon exiting the building, Caoyuan, Mingyue, and Xiao Tuwan naturally caught sight of the gruesome corpse.

A chill ran down all three of their spines, and they hurried past the body without dawdling.

At this point, they had reached a slightly more crowded street. Xiao Tuwan looked visibly worried. "Although I know it’s usually pointless to stick together in a horror instance, there’s a sense of security with a larger group. I feel like it’s dangerous for just the three of us."

While observing their surroundings, Caoyuan remarked, "But you still chose to come with us, didn’t you? Did you think it was more dangerous to stick with them?"

The saying "strength in numbers" definitely didn’t apply to this damned horror instance. All three of them were acutely aware of this.

At this point, Mingyue spoke up, "Did you guys see the hand extending from that man’s pocket? Wasn’t that a ghost’s hand? It looked like some kind of special item."

Hearing this, the other two fell silent for a moment.

Caoyuan frowned. "All this time, in these horror instances, all I’ve ever been able to do is run. Even if I had a special item, it was never one that could attack ghosts. All I can do is run, run, run... That’s why I was scared when I saw that hand. The Spirit Pen is obviously a ghost too, but when that ghostly hand just lightly gripped it, the Spirit Pen seemed to vanish. I don’t understand how such a special item can exist."

That didn’t make any sense.

Mingyue and Xiao Tuwan also frowned; this was clearly the first time they had encountered such a peculiar situation.

"Maybe it involves some sort of sacrifice. There shouldn’t be any special item that can attack ghosts without a price," Xiao Tuwan speculated. "That group of people are no pushovers. Two of them have professions, and one even has that terrifying ghost hand..." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"But the actress didn’t seem very useful," Mingyue added abruptly.

Caoyuan gave Mingyue a strange look.

Xiao Tuwan paused, mumbling to herself, "But she seemed pretty nonchalant about the horror instance..."

At this, she shuddered, recalling the scene she’d witnessed from her hiding place in the cupboard. When Xiao Qiao had seen Wang Xin’s body, there was no fear on her face; instead, she looked... happy?

Years of watching TV dramas had taught her that it was very difficult to discern any emotion from an actress like Xiao Qiao. This could only mean that Xiao Qiao had been absolutely thrilled at that moment.

Mingyue didn’t seem to hear Xiao Tuwan’s muttering. She was busy discussing their next move with Caoyuan. "Where should we go next? We should head to a crowded place, right?"

"Exactly," Caoyuan nodded. "We’re better off finding a crowded shopping mall to hide out in. Ghosts typically don’t kill in crowded places. When it gets dark and other places are empty, we’ll go to a bar; they’re usually crowded at night."

Finding a crowded mall wasn’t difficult, as this was a fairly populated city. Even on weekdays, the mall was bustling with people.

The trio sat on leather stools in the mall, back to back, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

Since they had been sitting there for so long, the sales staff at nearby counters couldn’t help but shoot curious glances in their direction.

Xiao Tuwan checked the time. "It’s three-thirty now. The three of us are still safe. The ghost doesn’t seem very active in this instance. I wonder how the others are doing."

Caoyuan said knowingly, "They have more people. If anyone’s going to die, it’ll definitely be someone from their side first."