Global Collapse-Chapter 602 - 570: Oh no! Fallen into Gu Mian’s hands!_1

"Anyway, we need to get him out of here! This is so unlucky. If I'd known this would happen, I would've bought a peace charm from the Toy Goose Company. I've heard the peace charms their factories produce are quite effective—it's said that players who bought those peace charms never encountered Gu Mian."

"That's all nonsense. We have plenty of their factory's failed products right here. Who knows, if we rummage through this trash heap, we might even find a few peace charms they carelessly discarded."

The two inspectors' discussion strayed further and further from Gu Mian, turning to the Toy Goose Company and then back to peace charms.

Fatty felt that in the eyes of these NPCs, Gu Mian was like some kind of ghost.

Don't people generally go to the temple to get peace charms when haunted by a ghost?

"Enough with the chitchat. Think about how to pass the fourth stage! If we can't pass it, our only option is to request to terminate the instance." The female inspector steered the increasingly tangential conversation back on track. "Who the hell came up with this fourth challenge!"

Logically speaking, the creators of this instance definitely didn't anticipate these challenges becoming a problem for the NPCs.

Seeing both inspectors so agitated, Fatty hurriedly interjected, "Our Doctor is very honest; he won't cause any destruction!"

The two inspectors looked at Fatty, both wearing expressions that clearly said, "As if we believe that."

The person on the high platform was indeed behaving very docilely at the moment.

He sat quietly on the princess's throne, barely moving, only occasionally glancing back at the demon that had kidnapped him.

Every time Gu Mian turned his head, the demon's expression behind him turned a few shades more hideous—it was truly an effort for it to contort its pitch-black face into an expression.

Although Gu Mian looked very docile right now, no one could guarantee what he might do the next second.

He might suddenly go mad, pull out a bomb, and blow up the recycling station.

Didn't that happen to the food processing factory last time?

The male inspector looked troubled. "The people who received the news are probably on their way. Should we wait a bit longer to see if they can come up with any ideas?"

Fatty continued to seize every opportunity to argue, "The previous instance collapses weren't the Doctor's fault. I can testify that the instance made the first move! Our Doctor was just acting in self-defense!"

It was indeed the instance that had made the first move in the beginning.

Fatty still remembered the first 'Grudge High School' instance. All the other players had completed their tasks and left. However, the malicious instance had deliberately kept Gu Mian alone inside, which eventually led to a conflagration.

That must have been the first time the instance realized something was seriously wrong.

Ever since then, Gu Mian seemed to have flipped some kind of switch. Everywhere he went, chaos erupted, and countless Evil Ghosts shed tears of blood.

But I digress.

Fatty looked at the two inspectors in front of him. Of course, he couldn't let them just end the instance; they hadn't found what they were looking for yet.

The Greedy Mad Dog was still running wild.

The Fortune-teller was already exhausted. She could feel that the dog was near the clown mask, but after it had run many laps, the mask was still nowhere to be found.

The dog was going around and around in the same area, stuck in an endless loop.

Luckily, Xiao Qiao, who was searching for useful trash, happened to pass by. The Fortune-teller, nearly out of breath, asked Xiao Qiao to carry her to the dog's location.

When the Fortune-teller recalled the Greedy Mad Dog, her face was deathly pale, and she looked as if she could collapse at any moment.

But she persevered, looking around. She saw no difference from other places—just piles of garbage mountains, so numerous they were dizzying.

Xiao Qiao looked at the Fortune-teller with concern, then took out a can of energy drink from her inventory and started drinking it herself.

Fortune-teller: "…"

The Fortune-teller remembered a similar situation in the previous instance. She and Gu Mian had gone around in circles in the food factory, only to discover later that the item they were searching for was underground.

But... Her face pale, she looked at the ground in confusion. The ash-gray surface, made of some unknown material, felt as hard as an iron plate to the touch.

"Could it be underground?" the Fortune-teller wondered, taking a deep breath.

At that moment, they suddenly heard the sound of many footsteps approaching from a certain direction.

They turned to look and saw a group of people rushing out from that direction, heading straight for the high platform.

"Who are these people?" The Fortune-teller widened her eyes in surprise as she watched the group hurry past them.

Xiao Qiao, beside her, was completely clueless. Ultimately, another voice answered her question.

"They are NPCs summoned by the inspectors, probably here to help us complete the stage. They know Gu Mian is in this instance." Chu Changge slowly walked over from the direction the group had come, his gaze fixed on their receding figures.

The Fortune-teller was taken aback. "To send Gu Mian away sooner? So, we don't have much time left?"

Chu Changge nodded slightly. He retracted his gaze and looked at the Fortune-teller. "Have you found anything?"

The Fortune-teller leaned against a nearby garbage pile. "I divined that the clown mask is in this area, but I can't pinpoint the exact location. My dog just kept running in circles here. I encountered a similar situation in the previous instance. Back then, Gu Mian had me look for the NPC office. We searched in one spot for a long time before realizing the office was underground."

Hearing this, Chu Changge looked down at the ground. He had noticed it when he first entered the instance: the ground here was grayish-white and extremely hard, like metal.

"The NPCs in the Circus Dungeon threw the clown mask underground?" Chu Changge pushed up his glasses. "Would they really go to such lengths?"

Just then, the three of them simultaneously heard a rustling sound nearby, as if something was crawling.

Xiao Qiao was the first to locate the source of the sound.

She excitedly threw down the energy drink in her hand and charged in a certain direction.

The Fortune-teller deftly caught the can.

Chu Changge's gaze followed Xiao Qiao. He saw her suddenly pounce on the ground, apparently having caught something.

Then, he and the Fortune-teller saw her stand up, holding a huge rat by the tail, and displaying it to them. "Look! Moving trash."

This large, fat gray rat dangled by its tail, its body twisting continuously. But even though it was caught, it didn't loosen its grip on the item in its mouth.

Chu Changge quickly stepped forward and snatched the item from the rat's mouth.

It was a special item.

An undamaged special item, it looked utterly out of place in this recycling station filled with trash.

[Happy Atmosphere Perfume]

[Description: Perfume produced by an unknown cosmetics company, said to bring happiness to people.]

[Function: Spraying it allows anyone who smells its fragrance to feel joy.]

It was a rather useless special item. However, Chu Changge wasn't interested in the item itself, but in the rat Xiao Qiao was holding.

He adjusted his glasses. "This rat must have spent a long time in the recycling station. It's very familiar with this place."

The Fortune-teller's voice came from behind. "Are you suggesting we ask this rat if it knows where the clown mask is?"

The Fortune-teller said this while looking at the rat, which was still writhing and struggling.

Although it looked a bit more intelligent than Xiao Qiao, the Fortune-teller had no expectation that this creature could actually speak.