Global Collapse-Chapter 533 - 502: The Title Was Eaten by GuGu_1

It seems that Old World is still a critical game world. Its collapse caused the global game to shut down completely.

"But with the ticket booths closed, it doesn’t make much difference whether the supermarket is open or not," Fatty muttered to himself.

Aside from losing their source of Game Coins after the instance shutdown, players needed tickets to enter the supermarket, which could only be issued at ticket booths. Now, only players who had hoarded supermarket tickets could enter.

As he thought this over, Fatty rushed into his room and rummaged through his cartoon Hello Kitty wallet on his desk. Sure enough, he fished out a stack of tickets.

He enthusiastically waved his stack of supermarket entrance tickets. "Before, the Doctor found it annoying to buy tickets before entering the supermarket, so I bought a big stack in advance. I never thought they’d come in handy today."

Actually, even without this stack of tickets, Gu Mian and the others wouldn’t starve. They would just have fewer food options.

"Ah," Fatty sighed as he flipped through his wallet. "The instances have been shut down for half a month. Quite a few people must be starving, right?"

Indeed. Because the instances were somewhat challenging and failure led to item drops, players rarely had many Game Coins. They usually lived from hand to mouth.

Just as Fatty was fumbling around in his Hello Kitty wallet, Gu Mian noticed that his compensation had arrived.

Looking at the mail, in addition to the standard one thousand Game Coins, there was an extra special item.

This special item was obviously published by Old World and had an inextricable connection with the Law Code—

["Wildlife Protection Law"]

[Introduction: "The moment it enters your mouth, the Wildlife Protection Law is activated!"

The most prominent characteristic of humans is their desire to taste anything they see, leading many rare animals to be ruthlessly hunted. Even after taking one bite, they want a second.

As wildlife continued to decrease, people realized this couldn’t go on, thus birthing the ’Wildlife Protection Law’!]

[Function: Enter a player’s name under the ’Wildlife’ section of this law, and that player will be immediately included in the wildlife protection list. Under the ’Wildlife Protection Law’, all attacks and injuries against that player will be restricted for a short period. Each player’s name can only be entered once.] 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

[Additional: The player who enters someone else’s name is the lawmaker. The higher the lawmaker’s deterrence level, the stronger the effect of the ’Wildlife Protection Law’ and the longer it lasts.]

Each person’s name could only be entered once.

Gu Mian flipped through the Wildlife Protection Law. The ’Wildlife’ section had ten slots, meaning that after entering ten names, the item was useless.

"So, this means..." Fatty glanced at Gu Mian’s new special item. "If the Doctor enters someone’s name, you’re the lawmaker. For instance, if you see a ghost chasing me and enter my name, the ghost won’t chase me anymore, right?"

Chu Changge interjected unhelpfully, "I think even without the protection law, the result would be the same."

Fatty choked. Chu Changge was right. If the Doctor saw him being chased by a ghost, the ghost must have also noticed the Doctor... In that case, whether the law existed or not, the outcome would be the same.

However, combining this law with the cheat group would be pretty cool, Fatty thought.

Fatty started to daydream. In a situation where the Doctor couldn’t reach him and he was being chased by a ghost, he would call out in the group chat, "Doctor, save me!" He’d expect Gu Mian to transform him into wildlife in time, but then he’d end up being eaten by the ghost because Gu Mian hadn’t checked the group chat in time...

Fatty’s imagination ran wild, his face twisting.

"Speaking of which, this thing says the higher the lawmaker’s deterrence, the stronger the effect, right?" Gu Mian looked at the protection law in his hand. "So, if Fatty is the lawmaker, would the effect basically be null?"

Fatty finally snapped out of his fantasies. Just as he was about to defend himself, red-faced, Chu Changge said, "I’m afraid so."

Gu Mian pondered, "So the effect should be stronger when it’s in my hands."

But he had no item slots, and his back was usually burdened with an enormous chainsaw. Besides, he and Chu Changge were often separated in instances.

As he was thinking, his eyes fell on his brother standing nearby. His brother couldn’t take items into the disc, but recalling how he’d clutched a rat the entire time in Old World, Gu Mian figured he could act as a temporary pack mule. He handed the Wildlife Protection Law to his brother. After a moment’s thought, he also gave him a pen. Perfect.

Finally, Gu Mian stuffed the CD into his brother’s pocket.

The Goddess’s brother couldn’t stray too far from the CD. With it in his pocket, he could roam freely.

When entering an instance, the CD usually stayed in Gu Mian’s pocket. When outside of an instance, Gu Mian would often let him take the CD out for a walk.

But his brother usually didn’t go out.

After repeatedly checking Chu Changge’s and Fatty’s mail, Gu Mian confirmed he was the only one who received an extra special item. The instance probably thought I used too much force tearing up the Law Code and must be tired, so they gave me extra compensation.

Gu Mian was indeed a bit tired. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

It was nearly three in the morning, and a drizzle had started outside the window, showing signs of growing heavier.

Xiao Hong, already feeling restless, had climbed onto Gu Mian’s back and was nibbling at his head.

Gu Mian lifted Xiao Hong off his head and stuffed her under the bed. Then he took off his blood-stained jacket. "I’m a bit tired today. Going to sleep. Good night, everyone."

With that, he rested his head on the soft pillow, pulled up his small quilt, and used one hand to push Xiao Hong, who was struggling to crawl out from under the bed, back down.

Fatty trotted off with Gu Mian’s white coat from the bedside, went to the bathroom, and shoved the special item into the washing machine. Before pouring in the detergent, he carefully checked if the bottle contained toilet cleaner instead.

When Fatty came out of the bathroom, he saw Xiao Hong struggling out once more, perched on the headboard with her maw wide open.

Gu Mian was already asleep. Against the backdrop of Xiao Hong’s gaping maw, his face looked utterly serene.

After holding her maw open over Gu Mian’s head for a while, Xiao Hong seemed to realize he was fast asleep. She reluctantly closed her mouth and quietly crawled back under the bed.

"Ah," Fatty said, gazing at Gu Mian’s room. "So, the Doctor gets tired too, huh?"

Fatty had been tagging along with the trouble-prone Gu Mian for half a year, and this was the first time he had seen Gu Mian show such fatigue.

Chu Changge, looking at the "Ghost Editor Simulator" on the table, said, "Of course he’s tired. He just altered a world’s most fundamental data."

Only Gu Mian could manipulate the Law Code; others might not even be able to leave a mark on the book.

Just then, Fatty heard a knock on the door. With two households now residing in the building, a knock wasn’t surprising.

He hurried to the door and looked through the peephole. Outside stood Accompany me next year—the one whose noose Gu Mian had stolen.

After the collapse of the Metamorphosis instance, the group downstairs had likely figured out Gu Mian’s identity.

「Meanwhile, Xiao Qiao had long known that Gu Mian and his group had left the instance.」

The player she had held hostage and interrogated, Yao Zhai, managed to escape. Once Gu Mian and the others left the instance, Xiao Qiao immediately released the collar she had been clutching and departed without a word.

Yao Zhai felt something was off about the way Xiao Qiao departed; she was stumbling, likely because her legs were numb from standing for so long.

It’s worth mentioning that Xiao Qiao was a person of principle. She knew where Gu Mian and his group were staying and found her way to Liu Ruyan’s hotel on that rainy night.

Since it was the middle of the night, the front door was locked.

So Xiao Qiao politely asked in the group chat, "Excuse me, can someone come downstairs and open the door for me?"

However, everyone was already asleep, so no one saw her polite request.

Consequently, Xiao Qiao, who could have easily smashed the door down, waited patiently in the rainy night for someone to open it. She waited until Gu Mian, an early riser, discovered her polite request upon waking.

At this time, Fatty was sound asleep. Chu Changge was silent but also asleep.

Liu Ruyan also showed no reaction.

Gu Mian thought for a moment and had a sinking feeling. He immediately went downstairs to check and saw Xiao Qiao collapsed on the doorstep, looking like she was on the verge of death.