Global Collapse-Chapter 463 - 438: Gu Mian’s Ten Thousand Sweet Words_1

The loss of the school badge revealed Chu Changge's real name.

Although the name Chu Changge was quite familiar to other players, it was nowhere near as shocking as Gu Mian's name.

Fatty looked at Gu Mian's changing game alias and said, "Now we don't need to worry about other players recognizing you, Doctor. This disguise can last for half an hour. Who will you transform into?"

Gu Mian stroked his chin.

Transforming into anyone present isn't a good idea; twins always attract more attention than lone wolves.

Thus, Gu Mian considered transforming into either a generic male figure or Xiao Hong. Since he had no experience impersonating a woman and couldn't do it convincingly, he ultimately opted for the male disguise—definitely not because Xiao Hong was too ugly to mimic, of course.

Xiao Hong, meanwhile, didn't notice Gu Mian's thoughts.

From somewhere in the house, she had produced an outdated smartphone and was now frantically pressing its buttons. As a ghostess of the new age, she took a liking to new gadgets, so the outdated phone soon replaced lychee soda as her new favorite.

Gu Mian watched as she randomly pressed a few buttons and opened the camera. The screen immediately displayed her own grisly face.

Xiao Hong seemed quite confident about her face. With no training whatsoever, she grinned and, SNAP, took her first selfie.

Fatty turned away, unable to bear the sight. "She looks as pleased as Punch," he noted.

Gu Mian: "..."

Today was June 1st, Children's Day.

Gu Mian was sure that if it weren't for the upcoming dragon boat event, Fatty would have definitely gone to a children's amusement park and bounced on a trampoline for a bit, just to prove he was still young.

"By the way," Fatty said, looking at Chu Changge, "Brother Chu, didn't you say someone bought gasoline? What should we do if things actually catch fire?"

While their boat was unlikely to be set alight directly, Fatty was unsure how densely packed the players would be during the event. If one boat caught fire, it could easily spread through the assembled dragon boats.

Chu Changge rapped on the table. "First, stay away from the crowd. Fire spreads along conductive materials. As long as we're separate from them, we won't get burned."

"Huh?" Fatty was a bit confused. He could imagine the scene when the event started in a few days: players on the river would surely swarm forward, and it would take considerable effort to maintain a significant lead.

Thinking of this, Fatty frowned.

At this moment, Chu Changge's voice continued, "You don't actually need to exert too much effort."

...

「June 7th came quickly.」

Before Fatty could even properly get into the Children's Day spirit, the Dragon Boat Festival arrived. In the past, it would have been a joyous holiday marked by celebrations and time off, but now it lacked its former liveliness.

Gu Mian set a 6 a.m. alarm on the phone Xiao Hong had found.

The event started at 7 a.m., and he definitely didn't want to wake up naked on a dragon boat.

At 6 a.m., Gu Mian woke up promptly. As expected, Fatty was still sound asleep in bed, undeterred by the alarm.

Gu Mian reached out and shook Fatty awake. Presumably, the other players wouldn't want to see a stark naked, snoring Fatty during the dragon boat race either.

Chu Changge was already awake, and the two girls were also up early, sitting on the sofa. Today's breakfast was frozen wontons.

Since Fatty was always slow to wake up in the morning, and Gu Mian and Chu Changge were both terrible cooks, the responsibility had fallen on the two girls, who, unfortunately, turned out to be just as unreliable.

After being tormented by Xiao Qiao's cooking several times, Gu Mian had decided they should stick with ready-made food in the mornings.

As a result, their refrigerator was stuffed with premade dishes like frozen dumplings and frozen wontons.

Chu Changge was still giving instructions for the event. "Xiao Qiao, make sure your hat and mask are on properly. Try not to make any noise, and don't get recognized. Liu Ruyan, don't go around batting your eyelashes at people. Gu Mian... where's Gu Mian?"

At this moment, Gu Mian was squatting in front of Xiao Hong, making sure she had the Dungeon Entry Ticket. As he was unsure if Xiao Hong could even enter the event, he had specifically bought her an entry ticket for the event as well.

Xiao Hong wasn't a special item, nor was she a player, so Gu Mian was quite worried about whether she'd be able to get in, even with a ticket. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

After all, she's important cheap labor.

Gu Mian patiently stuffed the ticket deep into Xiao Hong's pocket to prevent any accidents.

Meanwhile, Xiao Hong wasn't worried about anything at all. She fiddled with the phone in her hand, then raised it and pushed it into Gu Mian's grasp.

Gu Mian looked down and saw Xiao Hong's face on the screen—it was another one of her selfies, a bust shot.

"What's up?" Gu Mian asked, taking the phone and looking at Xiao Hong's picture.

At this point, a sleepy-eyed Fatty also squatted behind Gu Mian, rubbing his eyes and looking at the phone in Gu Mian's hand. "Maybe she wants you to photoshop her photo to look better?" he said. "She probably wants to post it on her Moments... Oh, I forgot, Moments is probably defunct by now."

Really?

Gu Mian looked up at Xiao Hong and saw her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

Seeing this, Gu Mian looked down again and started to "improve" the photo.

Gu Mian stared at the grisly face, lost in thought. This is a tiny bit harder than clearing an instance...

The hour before an event should be a tense time for preparation. All players were anxiously awaiting the event's start in an hour, but Gu Mian was calmly squatting on the ground, pondering how to make this photo look better.

After several minutes, even Chu Changge came to stand behind Gu Mian, looking at the phone in his hand.

But this small problem didn't stump Gu Mian. After much deliberation, he finally made his move. He dragged a sticker onto the screen, covering Xiao Hong's face in the photo, then turned the screen to her and coaxed, "See? Much better now, right?"

Xiao Hong stared at the screen for a few seconds, then her lip trembled, and she started to cry.

[How to Treat Suspected Depression in a Ghostess]

[Photoshopping Through the Ages]

[Ten Thousand Sweet Nothings from a Scumbag]

These were the topics Gu Mian and the others were anxiously researching an hour before the event. Luckily, the moment the clock struck seven, Xiao Hong's crying abruptly stopped, replaced by an eerie silence.

The event—had started.

Fatty turned his head, looking around. He found that Gu Mian and the others had all vanished. He himself was now sitting in a small boat on the river—evidently the dragon boat mentioned for the event...

Occasionally, a gust of wind would sweep in from the distance, causing a throbbing pressure in his eardrums.

"What's going on... What happened to the five of us?" Fatty looked around, dazed.

Other players on the river were in the same situation. They looked at each other, apparently wondering why their teammates had disappeared.