Global Collapse-Chapter 605 - 573: Unexpected, Isn’t It! _1
These NPCs had no idea that as soon as they arrived, they would see a female player toss something into a hole the size of a watermelon.
Soon after, the NPCs began to realize something wasn't right.
The vast ground was slightly bulging, like the lid of an old, swollen can.
Considering the ground at the recycling station was usually quite flat, this irregularity quickly attracted everyone's attention.
Then, right before the stunned NPCs, the grey surface began to bulge rapidly. The bulge instantly grew as tall as a person.
Even the ground beneath their feet started to rise slightly.
A patrol officer, dumbfounded, stared at the swelling ground. A bad feeling rose within him. "What did you throw in there!"
Even though he was addressing Fatty and the others, the officer couldn't take his eyes off the swelling ground. He watched it grow higher and higher. He felt the ground rising, and when he looked down, his own position had already risen half a meter.
He glanced around at everyone else.
All of the passionate voters from just moments ago now had ghostly white faces, some with jaws dropped in surprise as if dislocated.
They all realized this instance was likely doomed.
The rising ground caused the trash heap to tilt, sending debris sliding down the slope. The NPCs descended into chaos, and an uproar began.
Amidst the confusion, the officer faintly heard someone shouting, "I told you we should have gotten rid of them earlier!"
But before those words could even fade, a louder noise drowned out the shouting.
With a BANG, the bulging ground exploded right in front of them, blasting a huge hole from which a massive monster emerged.
A few unlucky NPCs were hit by debris from the explosion and writhed on the ground, clutching their injuries.
The moment the beast emerged, it rushed towards the high platform.
These NPCs had just come from that direction, effectively becoming an obstacle in the beast's path.
The dutiful patrol officer remembered his responsibilities. He rushed toward Chu Changge and the others, who were just peeking out from behind the trash heap, all the while yelling to the surrounding NPCs, "First, get them under control!"
But just as he finished speaking, the oncoming beast knocked him over, and he couldn't get back up.
Chu Changge, meanwhile, was lying prone beside the newly blasted crater, looking down. He noted that the rats had done a surprisingly good job of sorting the trash; similar special items were all placed together.
He scanned the area and quickly found several colorful masks with eerie smiles in a distant corner of the deep pit.
"Over there!"
Just as Chu Changge found the masks, a game panel popped up in front of everyone. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
[Warning! Significant damage detected in this instance. The instance will be terminated early. All players will be kicked out in ten seconds.]
[10, 9...]
"Damn it!" the Fortune-teller cried out, looking at the panel. She had just expended a good deal of stamina and couldn't run now, let alone jump into the pit to retrieve items.
Chu Changge was too far from the masks, and with his lack of athleticism, there was no way he could get them in ten seconds.
Meanwhile, Fatty was frantically trying to reach the Human CD just below him.
Xiao Qiao, on the other hand, was quite energetic. She dove headfirst into the newly formed crater but ran in the wrong direction.
The Fortune-teller almost cursed aloud as she watched Xiao Qiao run farther and farther away.
But, as the timer on the panel counted down to five seconds, someone suddenly rolled down the edge of the large crater, landing beside the pile of masks—it was 007!
She had rolled quite a distance, unable to control her speed as she went down.
But she immediately scrambled up, quickly got her bearings, and locked onto the location of the clown masks.
007 sprinted to the pile of masks and crouched down. The countdown had already reached "4."
She grabbed two masks, stood up, and forcefully tossed them towards Chu Changge.
007 had good aim. Chu Changge caught the masks she tossed up without much effort. After he caught them, two more were tossed up, and Chu Changge caught each one.
At this point, 007 had already tossed up four masks.
Just as she crouched for another mask and was about to toss it up, the countdown hit "0."
「The instance was over.」
The group felt the world spin as, amidst the enraged shouts of the NPCs and the sounds of the giant beast running, they were ejected from the instance.
When they looked around again, they were greeted by a familiar sight.
Familiar room, familiar coffee table, familiar lychee soda.
The familiar Xiao Hong was, at this moment, bored and bizarrely perched on the windowsill, staging a ghostly horror scene.
And of course, the familiar Mr. Green.
He sat on the ground, his head hanging low, his face ashen—just like those NPCs in the instance moments before.
But nobody paid him any attention.
Fatty, who had just exited, was carefully blowing dust off the Human CD he held. "Good thing I was quick..."
Chu Changge, on the other hand, held four brightly colored masks with eerie smiles. As soon as he exited the instance, he lowered his head to study the items in his hand.
The Fortune-teller first glanced at the masks in Chu Changge's hand, then turned her attention to the game announcement.
「It read—」
[Announcement (August 1, 12:51 PM)]
[The 'Princess Mianmian and Her Seven Loyal Knights' instance has suffered massive damage and will be shut down for repairs. The instance will be temporarily unavailable to players. We apologize for the inconvenience...]
Of course, the initial part was useless information; the Fortune-teller went straight to the compensation details.
Seeing 1,000 Game Coins, she broke into a satisfied smile.
Ever since I met Gu Mian, I've started earning more Game Coins, she thought happily.
Gu Mian looked at Chu Changge, who was deep in thought, staring at the masks in his hand. "I was too far away. What did you guys do at the end to blast such a huge hole in the ground?"
Chu Changge finally looked up, adjusting his glasses. "For that, we have the Goddess to thank. We figured out the clown masks were likely dragged into a rat's den by the rats. But no one could squeeze in to check. So, we thought we could try sending the beast in to test the waters. Of course, at the time, it was just an idea to try. We didn't expect it to work so well."
Fatty, beside them, put his palms together. "Thank the Goddess."
"But now we have a big problem," Chu Changge said, laying out the collected clown masks on the coffee table one by one. "The explosion at the end of the instance affected these masks. Out of these four, only one is intact."
Hearing this, Gu Mian also turned his attention to the clown masks on the table.
Three of them were labeled [Clown Mask (Broken)].
[Description: A crushed mask. It once served as a Dungeon Entry Ticket, but now it can only be worn on the face to scare people.]
Gu Mian: "..."
He hadn't expected these things to be so intelligent, with descriptions that could update at any time.
As he thought this, he looked at the last, intact mask.
[Clown Mask]
[Description: A Dungeon Entry Ticket to the special instance 'Love and Justice Circus'. This instance is a class-specific instance.]
[Function: Wearing it on your face will grant direct entry into the 'Love and Justice Circus' instance.]
