Global Collapse-Chapter 503 - 472: Old World_1

"Considering her previous record of climbing out windows, I think she's in for a nasty fall this time too…"

Before Gu Mian could finish his sentence, Xiao Hong, who Fatty had half-pushed out, lost her footing.

Immediately after, Gu Mian heard a LOUD BANG, like someone had jumped from a building and slammed onto the ground. Indeed, someone had slammed onto the ground.

After a two-second silence, Gu Mian stood up and walked over to Fatty, who was leaning on the windowsill, looking down with an indescribable expression. Gu Mian interpreted his expression to mean, You can't carve rotten wood.

Xingluo, who was brooding on the living room sofa on the fourth floor, was startled by the loud thud. After his experience in the College Entrance Exam instance, the slightest noise put him on high alert.

"What happened?" The two girls also ran out of their dimly lit rooms.

This was a two-bedroom apartment. Since having the couple (two of the players there) share a room would make assigning the other difficult, the rooms had been allocated by gender.

"It sounds like something fell… It sounded like a person…"

Xingluo felt uneasy and instinctively glanced at the wall clock. But the clock had long stopped ticking, its battery dead.

"Don't we have tenants upstairs too?" Accompany Me Next Year quickly walked to the window. "Could they have dropped something?" As she spoke, she leaned out to look down.

The street, devoid of streetlights, was pitch black. Looking down from the window, one could only see dense darkness.

The thudding sound made the already subdued group even more agitated, and a sense of panic began to set in. What kind of people lived upstairs?

Before Gu Mian and the others could go find Xiao Hong, who had accidentally fallen, there was a knock on the door.

Had Xiao Hong climbed back up herself? Fatty trotted to the door, looked through the peephole, and saw Liu Ruyan standing outside.

"Miss Liu…" Fatty opened the door. "What brings you here so late?"

"I just wanted to ask if this was dropped by you lot." Liu Ruyan spoke as she reached out and pulled Xiao Hong, who was lurking to the side, into view. "She took quite a tumble. It's strange, every time I run into her at an inn, she falls from an upper floor."

Pausing as if recalling something, Liu Ruyan added, "She landed face-first last time too."

Gu Mian suddenly understood why Xiao Hong looked so unattractive.

The last time Xiao Hong had fallen from a building was during the Lantern Festival. She had been climbing through windows looking for Gu Mian but had mistaken Liu Ruyan's room for his. According to Liu Ruyan, Xiao Hong's Mind Amplifier had been shouting, "Wrong room! Wrong room!" right before she plummeted with a SMACK.

Gu Mian didn't bother checking Xiao Hong's face to see if it had become even flatter. Instead, he turned to Liu Ruyan in front of him. "Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you."

His question concerned the Low-Dimensional World Chu Changge had spoken of.

Chu Changge hailed from the Second World. According to his description, the Second World had a background similar to Earth, except that, for some unknown reason, it was inhabited solely by Asians. Liu Ruyan and Chu Changge were not from the same place, so Gu Mian was curious about Liu Ruyan's world.

Liu Ruyan seemed to sense something and crossed her arms. "What is it?"

"About where you come from," Gu Mian said, staring at her.

Gu Mian had once used the Prophecy Book to see all of Liu Ruyan's identities throughout her life, and he was still very curious about her past labels of "fugitive" and "murderer."

Originally, Gu Mian had wondered how Liu Ruyan had evaded the eyes of the law, but if she were from another world, it would explain everything. Even if one committed countless evils in this world, one could simply jump to another world and become a respectable, law-abiding citizen.

But Gu Mian remembered Liu Ruyan was only twenty-two this year. Although she looked older than her years, she was indeed young. It was surprising that someone of twenty-two could have such vast experience. He subconsciously felt that Liu Ruyan's world couldn't be simple; at the very least, it was unlikely to be a society governed by the rule of law.

Truthfully, it would be hard to find someone Liu Ruyan's age with more life experience.

Just then, Fatty, who was nearby, leaned over to wipe strawberry jam Xiao Hong had smeared on the door.

Wait a minute, there's someone here with even more life experience than Liu Ruyan.

However, now wasn't the time to compare life experiences. Gu Mian continued to gaze at Liu Ruyan.

She seemed to have anticipated his question, as her expression didn't change much. "I see. Chu Changge must have told you."

Gu Mian stroked his chin. "Can you tell me about your world?"

"My world…" Liu Ruyan spoke in a resigned, almost defiant tone. "Since Chu Changge has already told you about such things, I'll be frank. The development level of my world was similar to the real world several decades ago. People were very warm; neighbors visited each other frequently, and strangers meeting on the street would greet each other kindly. Furthermore, the world was inhabited only by Asians. But I must say, it was an extremely pathological world, almost indescribable…

"If I had to describe it… people in that world lived for only two things: eating and surveillance.

"Our world had a supposedly perfect Law Code. Everyone memorized its contents by heart and acted strictly according to it. The slightest transgression meant you were finished—and I mean truly finished.

"Everyone was constantly monitoring everyone else. If someone's actions deviated even slightly from the rules of the Law Code, they would be reported and publicly denounced by those around them, including their friends and family. In that world, obeying orders was far more important than familial ties.

"I often saw people stripped naked by their own relatives, bound, and thrown into the street to be flogged, a sign reading 'SHAME' hung around their necks. Large crowds would gather to watch, cheering around the bound individual. Anyone could spit on them, pull their hair, or pelt them with stones. I still remember the expressions on those people's faces."

Liu Ruyan chuckled at this point. "They were excited and frenzied… You would never guess what that person had done."

She paused, looking at Gu Mian. "He lied to his parents about his salary, saving a little money to buy bread for a starving child on the street.

"In our world, deceiving one's elders was a grave offense. Anyone who broke this rule would meet such a tragic end. No one could resist." Liu Ruyan seemed to greatly dislike recalling these things; an unnatural look came over her face.

Gu Mian, however, remarked thoughtfully, "Oh. Good thing I'm an orphan, then."

It was as if he didn't find her world particularly tragic.

Liu Ruyan silently glanced at Gu Mian. "Sometimes I wonder what would happen if you appeared in our world."

Fatty, having finished wiping the jam, leaned over. "It would definitely be spectacular! He'd be punching parents and kicking the masses, probably even tear up their Law Code!"

Fatty figured that, never mind stripping him, those people wouldn't even be able to pluck a single hair from Gu Mian.

"Yes…" Liu Ruyan leaned against the wall, her expression suddenly melancholic. "Perhaps everything would have been different if Gu Mian had appeared in our world back then… In our world, the most terrifying thing wasn't the inescapable Law Code, but the human heart.

"No one thought it was pathological; instead, they took pride in it."

"So, does that mean you were considered normal in your own world?" Fatty asked Liu Ruyan curiously.

Liu Ruyan gave a small laugh. "If I had lived in this world from the beginning, I'd probably be considered normal now."

"But, Doctor, we've never entered an instance like Miss Liu Ruyan's world, have we?" Fatty racked his brains. "I can't recall any instance with a worldview that matches."

Speaking of worldviews, the worldview of the Slaughter Game was somewhat similar to that of Liu Ruyan's world.

The worldview of the Slaughter Game was also quite pathological, but it was different from Liu Ruyan's world. Liu Ruyan's world appeared peaceful on the surface; everyone seemed united, kind, and lovely. At first glance, it appeared to be a perfect world of peace and prosperity. Only by delving deeper could one uncover its underlying madness.

The worldview of The Slaughter Game, however, was different. Gu Mian had seen the pathological class antagonism in that world as soon as he entered the instance. The elite looked down on the lower classes as if they were beasts in a fighting pit—perhaps even worse than beasts.

At least frenzied beasts could provide them with extreme entertainment, whereas in that world, very few of the lower-class people dared to become frenzied—almost none.

They didn't know how to resist. This aspect was somewhat similar to Liu Ruyan's world; perhaps the two worlds were closely related.

By this count, there were at least three worlds.

Chu Changge's Second World, the unnamed world of the Slaughter Game, and Liu Ruyan's world…

As Gu Mian pondered this, he looked at Liu Ruyan and asked, "Every world has a name, right? What's the name of your world?"

Liu Ruyan clenched her fist and tapped it lightly against the wall. After hesitating for two seconds, she said, "Old World."