Global Collapse-Chapter 456 - 431: Relatives at the Crematorium_1

At this moment, Fatty and Chu Changge were still on their way to Gu Mian when they bumped into the Fortune-teller midway.

She seemed to be hesitating, as if she had discovered something. However, before either of them could ask her anything, a strong tremor ran through the ground, signaling the collapse of the instance.

"This strange trembling…" Fatty commented, feeling the ground shake beneath his feet. "I'm afraid this instance is about to collapse, Brother Chu?"

Who knows what the Doctor had done this time.

The Fortune-teller stopped her hesitant explanation and looked thoughtfully behind them. "Did Gu Mian cause more trouble?"

The ground shook violently. Gu Mian leaned against the wall, staring into the ghost's eyes. The violent shaking of the ground seemed to be trying to prevent him from seeing something.

Then, the message warning of the imminent collapse of the instance appeared.

[Warning! The 'Image of Death' instance will be closing prematurely. All players inside will be immediately expelled...]

Gu Mian wasn't in the mood to deal with the game interface; he was focused on the ghost's eyes.

However, the instance was collapsing rapidly.

A loud cracking sound was heard, as if something had torn apart the entire instance. Gu Mian felt a beam of light pierce the darkness from above. It gradually spread across the instance before quickly illuminating his body.

He was about to be thrown out of the instance.

Just at this moment, Gu Mian also caught a glimpse of a vague image in the ghost's eyes.

Was that... a dump?

It seemed like there were heaps of garbage in its eyes. Gu Mian spotted colorful fragments piled together, forming a small mound.

What was that? A mosaic in the crematorium?

Before Gu Mian could think further, the bright light engulfed him completely. Then, the sounds of footsteps, conversations, and soft throat-clearing reached his ears as he looked around.

He was back.

As expected, the instance had thrown him back into the real world at the critical moment.

Also thrown out were Chu Changge, Fatty, Xiao Qiao, and Liu Ruyan.

Now, all of them were staring at Gu Mian. The scene was quite bizarre.

"Doctor," Fatty spoke softly, "did you do something to the ghost again…?"

"No," Gu Mian shook his head. "I didn't do anything this time."

This time, the instance had decided to self-destruct. It seemed it didn't want him to see the image the ghost had seen before its death.

What's the big deal if I see it? It's not like I'll get pregnant. Gu Mian mused.

"Let's get out of here," Chu Changge said, taking a step forward. "We can talk somewhere with fewer people."

The ticket booth was indeed not a suitable place to talk. Besides, a ticket seller in a nearby booth was eyeing them, looking ready to pounce.

He's probably considering whether to go to the supermarket and buy a "No Gu Mian or dogs allowed" sign. Gu Mian suspected.

They quickly arrived at the Spirit Car. The place where Gu Mian had parked was quite secluded, so even if Xiao Hong pressed her face against the window, it wouldn't scare anyone.

It was somewhat cramped in the Spirit Car with five people and a ghost. The big brother in the CD also extended a hand, wanting to squeeze into the crowded space.

Gu Mian, sitting in the driver's seat, looked at Chu Changge. "The instance self-destructed this time because it contained something it didn't want me to see."

Chu Changge adjusted his glasses. "Did you see it?"

Gu Mian recalled the image he saw in the ghost's eyes before leaving the instance. "...I saw it."

To be precise, I did see it, though not perfectly. What he saw was different from what the ghost saw. After all, he was looking at reflections in its eyes, making it difficult to see the image clearly.

Gu Mian briefly described the ghost's characteristics, then mentioned what he saw in its eyes. "I saw… a mosaic?"

Those colorful fragments must be a mosaic.

What on earth did that ghost see that was so unsuitable for children it got censored into a mosaic?

"But it might not necessarily be a mosaic," Gu Mian continued. "I didn't see clearly what was in its eyes; I just saw a mess of colors."

"Ah… what kind of threat would seeing that pose to the instance? Why would the Doctor be kicked out of the instance for seeing it?" Fatty asked, confused. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he took out his camera. "By the way, Doctor, Brother Chu and I found a piece of paper in the ghost's room. I took a photo."

Gu Mian looked down at the screen.

The drawing wasn't very well done, but one could still make out what it was.

Stick figures were densely drawn on the paper. These tiny human figures appeared to be packed closely together.

"This," Gu Mian said, staring at the crude stick figures on the screen and frowning slightly. "Was it drawn by the ghost?"

"Most likely," Chu Changge stated. "It was found in a locked cabinet, hidden at the very bottom beneath some clothes."

In that case...

Gu Mian fixed his gaze on the screen. "Then I might know what I saw in the ghost's eyes."

It must be people.

A dense crowd of people wearing different colored clothes.

To be precise, they must be corpses. Piled up together, in numbers so vast they could fill an entire crematorium.

That would make sense. The ghost saw corpses in the crematorium, so many that they filled its entire field of vision.

But what kind of crematorium would accumulate so many bodies? The crematorium the ghost saw a year ago definitely wasn't in the real world. The instances existed before the game even started, and within that world, there was a crematorium filled with corpses. Where did those corpses come from? Were they related to the arrival of the instances on Earth...?

Moreover, the ghost claimed to have seen *him* in the crematorium. Gu Mian frowned.

But that wasn't him. Gu Mian knew for certain that a year ago, he hadn't been anywhere near a crematorium.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Fatty's voice asked.

Gu Mian looked up and shared his thoughts with them.

After listening to Gu Mian, Chu Changge adjusted his glasses. "So, you're saying the ghost saw you in a crematorium before the game started, and it's very likely it died because of you? This means there might be another 'Gu Mian' inside the instance?"

Gu Mian shrugged. "Who knows? But if there's another person in the instance who looks exactly like me, then the NPCs in the instance should know something, right?"

Gu Mian thought back to the various NPCs he had encountered.

Mr. Green might know something... And Coach Che, who was always wandering through the instances? Gu Mian remembered Coach Che had once mentioned the term "crematorium" to him.

But if there really was another "Gu Mian" in the instance, why hide it?

Was it afraid he'd cozy up to this other 'him' and claim they were twins?