Global Collapse-Chapter 492 - 462: I Have Your Childhood Photos_2

As soon as Hao Laoshi finished speaking, he vanished in a puff of smoke, as if terrified Chu Changge would materialize beside Gu Mian at any second.

Gu Mian silently watched Hao Laoshi's retreating figure. I've always felt Chu Changge's mentality was a bit off, he thought. His values seem different from other people's.

This issue became even more pronounced after the global game began. Gu Mian discovered that Chu Changge seemed to have a shallow understanding of 'people.' To him, 'people' were like objects that could be casually discarded.

And sure enough, some people had been casually discarded by him.

It wasn't just Chu Changge with this issue. After a few encounters, Gu Mian realized Xiao Qiao had a similar problem, though hers was even more severe.

For instance, Chu Changge at least regarded people as valuable objects, only discarding them when he had no other choice.

Xiao Qiao, however, was different. She apparently saw everything as equal. What she might discard depended purely on luck. If she went completely mad, she might even discard herself.

Comparing the two, Chu Changge is somewhat more humane than Xiao Qiao, Gu Mian mused.

As Gu Mian walked along the base of the dormitory building, silently pondering who was more rational, he suddenly spotted a life-sized doll by the pavilion in the landscaped area.

A doll of that size looked particularly eerie in the darkness, almost like a person lying on the ground.

Gu Mian hadn't found the dead fish, nor were there any new questions.

Out of boredom, he took two steps into the landscaped area and squatted beside the pavilion to observe the doll.

The doll was smeared with bloodstains—a considerable amount, and the color looked fresh, suggesting a player might have been brutally killed by it recently.

In the darkness, the doll's realistic eyes were motionless, as if staring at him, extremely eerie.

Gu Mian squatted on the damp grass, staring at the eerie doll for a moment before remarking, "It's really ugly."

Then, the doll seemed to twitch.

Gu Mian paid it no mind. Just as he was wondering where to go next, he suddenly heard a voice from nearby, "Doctor!"

That drawn-out call was unmistakably Fatty's; Gu Mian had been hailed like that countless times.

He looked up to see Fatty running towards him, holding a neatly folded test paper.

Gu Mian had already posted his question's location in the cheating group chat. It seemed Fatty had found him using that information.

"Doctor!" Fatty ran over, his call drawn out, then stopped at the edge of the landscaped area, panting heavily.

"I heard you, I heard you," Gu Mian stood up. "I'm not deaf."

Fatty looked like he wanted to step closer, but he froze when he saw the terrifying doll by Gu Mian's feet. His face fell. "Doctor, are you in the middle of a question?"

According to Chu Changge, if Fatty were to interfere with Gu Mian's question now, he'd be as good as dead.

"No," Gu Mian said, stepping out. "I saw this ugly doll by the roadside and came over for a closer look."

Fatty couldn't quite follow Gu Mian's logic, but he was used to it. He ignored Gu Mian's explanation and got straight to the point. "Doctor, I came looking for you because I found this thing. It's a special item, but it doesn't seem to have any real use. It was in a pretty obvious spot, but for some reason, no other players found it..."

As he spoke, he took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and spread it open in front of Gu Mian. "I had a fill-in-the-blank question that required me to return a book to the library, and that's where I found this."

Gu Mian took it. The sheet of paper, about octavo size, had only a few lines of text. It looked like a page torn from a book. A story ended on this very page, with only the few lines at the top starting mid-sentence.

[...death, the secrets beneath Songcheng College were thus concealed. Every night, resentful voices could be heard emanating from here, seeming to curse everyone who heard them.]

[Years later, this place was deserted. The entire college lay under a thick layer of dust. Only when the weather was clear would the gate at the 'bottom of the cup' glint dazzlingly in the sunlight.]

[That secret would never be known again.]

[Actually, every place has its stories; it's just that people often don't discover them.]

In addition, there was a page number "13" in the lower right corner. This was page 13 of the book.

Gu Mian instinctively thought of the Second World. Could this be a page from the Second World?

Was this book torn out page by page?

Gu Mian said to Fatty, "A little while ago, I met three ghosts. They were students from Songcheng College. So, we can say that the place we're in right now is Songcheng College... I have a theory: the Songcheng College in this book is structurally based on Lianhua University. That's why the event is being held at Lianhua University."

And although the general layout is similar, the stalls in the cafeteria are completely different from before.

I'm afraid the Songcheng College in this book imperceptibly replaced Lianhua University when the event began.

As he spoke, he flipped the paper in his hand to see the back. Indeed, in the bottom left corner was the page number "14."

Page 14 had no text; it was a full-page illustration—a massive door.

A keyhole was visible in the middle of the door. This must be the door to the underground area, Gu Mian thought.

Gu Mian looked at the illustration, then reached into his pocket and took out the Key he'd kept there since the Dragon Boat Race event. Back then, Gu Mian hadn't known what this Key was for. Now, he did.

He held the Key up to the drawing of the door, sizing it up. "I think it'll fit. We can get underground."

The reward from the Dragon Boat Race event was this Key. Does that mean only they can open this door? Could this be considered a special reward from the Dragon Boat Race event?

Fatty blinked a few times. "So, this paper means we can unlock another storyline in the event, one about the secrets beneath this school, right? Since we have the Key, it would be a shame not to go... But Doctor, you don't seem to know where the door is."

At this moment, Gu Mian glanced at his test paper. A new multiple-choice question had appeared:

[Do you wish to go underground?]

[A. Yes][B. No]

At the same time, Fatty discovered the same choice had appeared on his test paper.

"Since it's the same question, it wouldn't count as cheating if we answer it together, would it...?" Fatty wondered aloud.

Gu Mian glanced at the time again. It was 9:40 PM.

"There's still time, and I know where the door is," Gu Mian said, starting to walk along the path.

Fatty quickly followed. "Doctor, I'm coming too!"

Just as the two turned to leave, the doll lying in the damp grass suddenly swiveled its head, looking at their retreating backs.

Gu Mian suddenly turned back. The doll in the grass looked exactly as it had before; nothing had changed.

Fatty sensed something was off. "What's wrong, Doctor?"

"Nothing," Gu Mian said, stroking his chin. "I just find the ghosts in this event a bit strange."

The ghosts in this event showed no fear. Take Liu Xuan, the ghost he'd encountered earlier; it was still baring its teeth crazily even as it was dying. If given the chance, it would have counterattacked immediately.

Commendable courage, but so different from the ghosts I've seen before, Gu Mian thought. Other ghosts would at least show some fear, but the ghosts in this event were so frenzied they'd fight to the death to drag someone down with them.

Fatty trotted eagerly after Gu Mian. "Speaking of which, Doctor, you were in the female dormitory for a long time, weren't you? Didn't you run into any proctors?"

"No," Gu Mian shook his head. "No proctors entered the female dormitory. Probably because the proctors are all male."

Ah! Fatty suddenly gazed at Gu Mian with admiration, clearly envious that Gu Mian could enter the female dormitory.

But Fatty quickly got back to the point. "But Doctor, do you actually know where the door mentioned in the book is?"

"It said it's under the 'cup.' Remember when we entered the school, there was that trophy statue as tall as a three-story building, right? I think the Stone Tablet under that 'cup' looks a lot like this door," Gu Mian said, looking down at the paper in his hand.

Fatty also looked with Gu Mian, and just then, he suddenly had an eerie feeling, as if something was staring at his back.

He whirled around and saw that the doll, which had been lying in the grass, was now just three meters behind them, its eerie face turned towards them.

It had followed them!