Global Collapse-Chapter 570 - 538: Intermittent Playing Dead in My Hand_1
"Brother Chu!" Fatty exclaimed. "The announcement is out!"
His voice attracted the attention of Xiao Hong, who was hugging a green dog plush toy by the window. Hearing this, Xiao Hong pressed her gloomy face against the glass, her gaze continuously sweeping the dimly lit street outside.
Chu Changge saw it too. He stared at the words "Killed in the line of duty" on the announcement for a while before shifting his gaze down to the compensation list.
There were only two names: Gu Mian and Keke.
Fatty hesitated before asking, "Does this mean... only the Doctor and Miss Keke survived the Amnesia instance?"
When Gu Mian and Keke returned to the real world, they found that it was already dark.
The salesperson behind the glass counter lazily raised his head to glance at the two of them, then quickly lowered his head again, as if afraid of attracting Gu Mian's attention.
The ticket booth was empty. It was the first day the death protection mechanism was disabled, and not many people were rushing into an instance.
Keke moved her foot. She had sprained it in the instance before, and it had throbbed with pain every time she moved it. Now, however, she felt nothing. All injuries sustained in an instance were repaired upon returning to the real world.
Only death was irreversible. In fact, she had almost died. The moment she ran out of the cave, Zhao Shuang had grabbed her.
But Zhao Shuang apparently hadn't expected Gu Mian to be at the cave entrance as well.
Keke recalled the last scene she saw before being teleported out of the instance—
Gu Mian grabbed Zhao Shuang by the hair, lifting the female ghost—whose face was contorted and expression terrifying—like a rabbit. He even uttered a line that ghosts often had on their lips.
Then he did what psychopaths in horror movies often do.
He held up the Saw and cut the woman in half at the waist.
Just like Cang Yue had been cut in half.
At that moment, Keke was not only overjoyed at her narrow escape from death but also terrified.
She feared Gu Mian at that moment, terrified by the coldness, horror, and madness that had erupted from him.
As Keke thought about this, she looked up at the person beside her.
Gu Mian was as kind and friendly as usual. He was looking down at her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Keke immediately shook her head. "It's late now, let's head back."
The two of them left the ticket booth under the friendly gaze of the ticket seller.
The weather at the end of June wasn't too hot. As they stepped out the door, a breeze carrying the scent of leaves wafted over them. The long-unattended grass by the roadside had grown to their ankles and swayed in the wind.
The sun had completely set beyond the horizon; only its afterglow still lingered on the land, stretching their shadows out long.
The road was deserted. The two of them wandered slowly down the street, one in front and one behind.
Keke followed behind Gu Mian, looking up at his back.
"Gu Mian." Gu Mian, walking ahead, suddenly heard Keke call him from behind.
"What's wrong?" He turned around.
Keke looked at Gu Mian and suddenly asked a strange question: "Have you ever liked someone? Or loved someone—like parents, siblings, or a romantic partner?"
This touched upon a blind spot in Gu Mian's knowledge.
He pondered for a moment and realized he had none of the things Keke mentioned.
Gu Mian answered truthfully, "I don't think so. Why?"
"Nothing," Keke pulled her jacket tighter around herself and continued walking into the breeze. "Just curious."
In the final moments of the Amnesia instance, Gu Mian's expression and the look in his eyes had resembled those of someone utterly devoid of humanity, giving her an immense sense of being threatened.
She couldn't help but wonder if the man before her possessed any human emotions at all.
But that was only for that moment.
After the instance collapsed and she saw Gu Mian again, he was back to his usual self, speaking gently and making her feel safe.
"Speaking of which," Gu Mian, who was walking in front, also began to ask, "I just saw the announcement. It seems the others all died, didn't they?"
They hadn't completed the "survive for thirty-six hours" task in this instance.
It was because Gu Mian had inadvertently cut Zhao Shuang in two, causing the instance to stop running and kicking out all remaining players.
The compensation list only had their two names; the fate of the others was self-evident.
Keke nodded. "Yes. I was suddenly pulled into that tunnel and saw Cang Yue's and Xia Jianren's corpses one after the other... They both died horribly."
"They were closest to Zhao Shuang when she regained her memory, so naturally, they bore the brunt of it."
Keke continued, "After I got in, I found Wang Chuan had also been dragged in by the ghost. The two of us tried to escape together, but we initially chose the wrong direction. We ran towards the wider end, not expecting it to be a dead end.
"At the very end was a wall. Beneath it lay a decomposing body—it was Zhao Shuang. When I ran there and looked back, I saw her standing behind me. Wang Chuan was nowhere to be seen; I knew he was dead."
Gu Mian asked, "How did you escape?"
Being cornered by a ghost against a wall... it looked like a dead end.
Keke replied, "Actually, during the college entrance exam event, I obtained a special item called 'Money Can Make Ghosts Grind.'"
Gu Mian stroked his chin. That's a very logical special item.
"When you use that item, your Game Coins are instantly depleted. This money compels nearby spiritual entities to involuntarily grind. The duration they grind is proportional to the Game Coins you spend."
Gu Mian pondered.
That's a great item.
If I save up enough Game Coins in the future and use this special item, I might be able to make a ghost grind for the entire duration of an instance.
Seeming to recognize Gu Mian's thoughts, Keke glanced at him. "You probably don't need something like this."
This special item was extremely rare, one that could hold back ghosts.
Of course, the cost was high.
Having your Game Coins wiped out meant it would be even harder to survive in the real world. Moreover, a few hundred Game Coins could only stall a ghost for a mere tens of seconds.
Ordinary players would need to clear several instances to save up a few hundred Game Coins.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, Keke would never use this item.
She continued, "At that time, I was cornered and had no choice but to use it. That bought me just enough time to turn around, run, and escape the tunnel... I saw Wang Chuan's corpse on the way."
Truthfully, she'd had almost no hope of surviving back then.
She knew that even if she ran out of the tunnel, into the sunlight, into the woods, she still couldn't outrun the ghost.
But her survival instinct drove her to run desperately, leading her to Gu Mian.
Keke, her thoughts still on this, looked at Gu Mian. "Had you just arrived at the cave entrance then?"
"Indeed," Gu Mian said, walking forward. "After you disappeared, I headed in the direction Cang Yue and Zhao Shuang had left. I followed a ditch for quite a while and then spotted a conspicuous cave—and half a body."
It was Cang Yue's lower half. Xia Jianren had hastily discarded that half of her at the cave entrance.
"Actually, when you ran out, I was at the cave entrance, pondering a problem..."
"What problem?" Keke looked at Gu Mian.
Gu Mian patted his guitar case. "This case is a bit big. I saw the cave entrance was quite narrow and was wondering what position to use to get it inside. I was still thinking about it when you rushed out."
And, of course, Zhao Shuang, whom Keke had led out with her.
Now Gu Mian no longer had to consider how to get the guitar case in; he could just resolve the instance with a single cut.
Keke fell silent. The contrast was a bit much—while she had been desperately fleeing for her life, Gu Mian had been pondering how to get his guitar case into the cave. A strange expression came over her face.
Keke composed herself. "Regarding the Amnesia instance, based on the clues we found, I'm guessing Zhao Shuang had long since discovered her boyfriend was involved with Jiang Mei. She probably also found out that many people knew about it behind her back."
"The chat history we saw on Xia Jianren's phone at the beginning was probably about this."
"Then, filled with resentment, she argued with others on the bus. I guess in her extreme anger, she might have grabbed the steering wheel," Keke continued. "As a result, the bus plunged off the mountain, and more than half the people on board, including Zhao Shuang, died instantly.
"But Zhao Shuang's resentment was far from settled. She transformed into an Evil Ghost and hunted down the other survivors. Finally, she hid her own corpse along with the survivors, then returned to the mountainside and lost her memories."
The instance had laid a massive trap, waiting for players to step into it.
"I also don't think those dozens of people who died long ago were benevolent towards us. The ghost led Wang Chuan to Jiang Mei's room, allowing him to discover the crucial clue that could awaken Zhao Shuang's memories. I suspect that group of long-dead people, besides holding resentment towards Zhao Shuang, also wanted to kill us. However, they were probably restricted by something and couldn't harm players," Keke mused.
Gu Mian knew this was a restriction Earth placed on instances.
The day ghosts in instances could kill indiscriminately, without any restrictions, would surely be the day Earth had lost its battle against the Low-Dimensional World.
As they discussed this, they arrived downstairs from the hotel.
Because Fatty constantly protested that the inn's name was unlucky, Liu Ruyan had taken down the wooden "Passing Inn" sign.
Later, Fatty chopped up the sign, saying he was saving it for firewood in the winter.
The first to see Gu Mian was Xiao Hong, who was pressed against the glass. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Gu Mian was still walking forward when he heard a BUMP from above.
Looking up, he saw Xiao Hong knock the window open with her head and crawl out of the room, hair disheveled. She climbed vertically down the building's outer wall but slipped when she reached the second floor, crashing directly onto the ground.
She landed face-first. Xiao Hong paid it no mind. She quickly pulled her face from the ground, rushed excitedly to Gu Mian, and then latched onto him.
She even craned her head, trying to gnaw on Gu Mian's skull.
