Global Collapse-Chapter 681 - 647: Praise for the Wildlife Conservation Act_1

Outside the dilapidated tile-roofed house, the sound of a slow, heavy gait echoed.

The people inside held their breath, daring not to move, their eyes transfixed on the aged door.

The light inside the room was dim, making it difficult to see the surroundings. In the darkness, every sound was magnified severalfold. Each step of the eerie footfall felt like a needle stabbing into their hearts. After what seemed like an eternity, the halting footsteps finally receded into the distance.

Only after confirming that the thing outside had truly left did August finally open his mouth to gasp for air.

"That was close! If we hadn't run into this room in time, we would've been caught by the ghost." Song Tang clutched his chest. Even though the footsteps had vanished, he didn't dare speak loudly. His voice was barely a mosquito's hum.

"Those footsteps just now must have come from that ghost in the forest," August also lowered his voice. "It was looking for us. Fortunately, it's not fast."

"Who'd have thought we'd encounter a ghost as soon as we entered the instance," Si Huanian said, leaning against a table to recover his strength. "What's going on with this instance? Not only did they give us no hints, but they also threw us straight into an encounter with a ghost right at the start."

August's brow furrowed. He was also quite baffled by the current situation.

Initially, they thought it was just a somewhat special instance, but encountering a ghost right at the beginning of an instance was unheard of.

In a normal instance, a ghost would only begin to kill after players had collected a certain number of clues.

Therefore, most players died in the middle or later stages of an instance.

But this instance threw them face-to-face with a ghost right away. Why? Could it be that this instance simply wanted to slaughter players?

Of course, there was another possibility.

That, in such a short amount of time, someone had already discovered key clues for this instance, which was why the ghost had appeared.

August suddenly recalled that, back by the forest, the male player with glasses had shouted for them to run. At that time, everyone had only heard footsteps and hadn't seen anyone, but that male player seemed to have discovered something, immediately confirming that the presence in the forest was not human. Perhaps he had found some crucial clue.

As he thought about this, he looked towards that player. He saw the man standing in a dark corner, putting something into his pocket.

"Did you discover something?" August took a step forward, looking directly at the player in front of him, whose screen name was Meiren Chu.

"No." Chu Changge didn't intend to talk much with this player.

Song Tang also remembered Chu Changge shouting 'Run!' back at the forest. He too stepped forward to stand beside August. "You must have discovered something to tell us to run. If you found a clue, don't keep it to yourself. This instance is unusual. Analyzing clues together increases everyone's chances of survival."

As he spoke, he advanced a few steps further, his eyes fixed on Chu Changge's pocket as if attempting to discern what he had just stowed away.

007 shifted her position to block his view. "Personal belongings. None of your business."

Song Tang looked up at the female player blocking his view. He had noticed at once that she was a player with a Class—a Beast Tamer.

The other female player beside her was also a player with a Class—a Fortune-teller.

This was Song Tang's first time encountering players with Classes. He hesitantly withdrew his gaze. "Did the four of you enter this instance together?"

"Yes," 007 answered, offering no further details.

"Both of you are players with Classes, so you must have Class skills!" Song Tang said anxiously. "Why not have the Fortune-teller divine how we can leave this instance first?"

If I could divine that, I'd be a ghost myself!

The Fortune-teller clutched her Pendulum tightly. "I don't have that ability."

"But you should at least be able to divine a general direction, right? Like, where there might be clues, or which places are safer..." Song Tang pressed, extremely anxious.

"Alright," August suddenly cut Song Tang off. "Our priority now is to figure out why this instance has no hints. Is it a bug, or is this just how the instance's mechanics work? Of course, it's also possible this instance wants to hunt us down and slaughter us all. Speaking of which..."

August suddenly turned to 007. "You must know something. Before we entered the instance, I heard you shout 'Split up!' not far from the supermarket. It was as if you'd already anticipated we would enter the instance together."

007, of course, wouldn't reveal the truth.

This instance had been prepared by Earth specifically for Chu Changge and Xiao Qiao; everyone else was just innocent collateral damage.

Earth wanted to eliminate Chu Changge and Xiao Qiao.

007 couldn't guarantee how these three players would react if they learned the truth.

Upon learning the truth, there was a high probability they would develop murderous intent towards Chu Changge and Xiao Qiao.

"Since the instance only wants to kill these two, if we kill them, the instance will be satisfied and might mercifully let us go"—they might think along those lines.

Any player desperate to survive would think that way.

They couldn't be blamed for it. But if these few really did develop murderous intent, then there would only be one solution...

"Why aren't you speaking?" August narrowed his eyes at 007. "Are you hiding something from us?"

The atmosphere in the dimly lit room grew tense, with an undercurrent of hostility, as the two groups of players subtly squared off against each other.

Sensing the atmosphere turn sour, Si Huanian quickly tried to smooth things over. "Let's not be like this, everyone. This instance is too strange. We need to stick together. Mutual suspicion won't do us any good at a time like this."