Global Collapse-Chapter 684 - 649: Do You Also Want to Ride the Children’s Swing?_1

Thanks to the Wildlife Protection Law, Chu Changge and his group were no longer under attack by ghosts.

They were journeying through an abandoned town.

A short while ago, Chu Changge had explained to them the function of the special item, the Wildlife Protection Law, and revealed its holder.

"The Wildlife Protection Law is in Gu Mian's hands. Since Gu Mian let us use it, it must mean he knows we've been pulled into an instance, right?" the Fortune-teller asked, looking at Chu Changge in front of her.

"He must know," 007 responded, sweeping her high-intensity flashlight around. Her inventory held numerous tools useful for instances, including the flashlight, which she had been reluctant to use before for fear of revealing their location.

Now that they knew Gu Mian had activated the Wildlife Protection Law, Xiao Qiao even snatched the flashlight and cranked it up to maximum power.

The intense light from the maxed-out flashlight illuminated the surroundings as if it were daylight; the group could even spot half of a pale, reflective face hidden behind a tree.

Ignoring some of the spectral imagery, 007 pondered, "The greater the user's intimidation value, the longer the Wildlife Protection Law lasts. I presume if an ordinary person used it, it would only protect 'wildlife' for ten-odd seconds."

Even if it was just for ten-odd seconds, this was still an incredibly powerful special item.

The item allowed ten names to be entered, meaning it could individually help ten people by blocking a ghost's attack for about ten seconds.

Special items obtained from instances that could restrain ghosts were exceedingly rare, almost unheard of. In a life-or-death situation, every second was precious.

In a chase between humans and ghosts, ten-odd seconds could determine a player's life or death.

But Gu Mian was a cheat; it couldn't possibly be just a mere ten-odd seconds for him.

"In Gu Mian's case," the Fortune-teller began hesitantly, "the duration should be about half an hour? Or maybe an hour?"

007 clutched the flashlight, sensing the conversation veering in a strange direction. Gu Mian's 'duration'... She coughed a few times to cut off the Fortune-teller's speculation. "Time in reality and in instances aren't equivalent. A single day in reality often equates to several days in an instance. Gu Mian activated the Wildlife Protection Law in the outside world, so we don't know how the difference in time flow would affect the Law Code."

Just then, Chu Changge suddenly interjected, "It's also possible he activated the protection law here."

007 was startled. "What do you mean?"

Chu Changge pushed up his glasses and took out a colorful, crumpled voucher from his pocket. Upon closer inspection, there was a space to fill in a name, and the characters 'Gu Mian' were clearly written there.

Chu Changge stated, "He must have been in here for quite some time."

The Fortune-teller instantly recognized the counterfoil.

Not long ago, Gu Mian had suddenly shown up to squeeze her dry, making her craft numerous good luck charms.

The raw material for one of those good luck charms was this very thing.

She hadn't expected this good luck charm to end up with Chu Changge.

"A Dungeon Entry Ticket counterfoil?" Knowing that Gu Mian had unfortunately been dragged into this place, the Fortune-teller's joy was palpable. "Well done, Chu Changge!"

Looking at her ecstatic expression, an unknowing observer might think Chu Changge had dragged her mortal enemy into this godforsaken place.

"This is truly the most useful good luck charm I've ever made." The Fortune-teller, beaming, offered a fair assessment. "It seems the good luck charms I make aren't entirely useless after all."

007 had begun to scan their surroundings. "Even though Gu Mian has also entered this place, he doesn't seem to be nearby."

After some maneuvering by Xiao Qiao with the flashlight, the area was now as bright as day. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

If Gu Mian were nearby, he would have found them by following the light by now.

"Besides, given his personality," 007 analyzed, "if he were looking for us, he wouldn't search methodically. He'd more likely create some kind of commotion, allowing us to follow the sound directly to him."

007 began to deduce Gu Mian's method for creating a commotion. "He'd most likely blow something up to create a loud noise..."

It seems she still hadn't recovered from the "Audience Stand Explosion Incident" in the Circus instance.

"But Gu Mian wouldn't carry explosives on him. Given his luck, if he did, the explosives might suddenly go haywire and blow him up... He'd probably improvise with whatever's available, maybe catch a ghost and force it to make a sound to signal his location to us."

The Fortune-teller also agreed with 007's assessment. "That indeed sounds very much like Gu Mian's style."

But the surroundings were eerily quiet, without a single sound.

The Fortune-teller couldn't help but worry that Gu Mian had been teleported countless miles away.

"Let's follow the road," 007 said, looking at the small path ahead. "If Gu Mian is looking for people, he'd probably stick to the main roads. We might run into him if we follow this path."

At this moment, Chu Changge spoke unexpectedly, "If we had a vehicle, perhaps we could find Gu Mian sooner."

007 paused for several seconds before it dawned on her. "You're not thinking of riding my kiddie ride, are you?"

Riding a kiddie ride around a place like this was quite a surreal image in itself.

The kiddie ride could be used in instances. But since each use consumed a large amount of money, 007 couldn't afford to use it many times. Moreover, she was usually broke in instances, so she couldn't use it even if she wanted to.

Furthermore, this thing would blast a loud, idiotic children's song every time it was used, practically announcing to the ghosts, "I'm over here!" 007 never dared to use it in instances.

But now, things were different.

They were under the protection of the Wildlife Protection Law.

Although they didn't know how long it would last. A few hours should be possible, right?

Thus, the four of them climbed onto the pathetic kiddie ride.

Chu Changge took the lead.

He sat primly on the kiddie ride's seat, his glasses reflecting an eerie glint under the flashlight's beam.

007 managed to squeeze onto the seat as well. Looking at Chu Changge sitting so formally beside her, she was speechless.

The seat of this kiddie ride was probably only meant for two small children. Usually, it was quite spacious for 007 alone, but with two people on it now, it was very cramped.

There was no room for the Fortune-teller and Xiao Qiao to sit. Fortunately, there was a footboard at the back of the ride. The two of them stood on the footboard, holding onto the back of the seat, carefully trying not to fall off.

The Fortune-teller divined a direction.

And so, the group began their bizarre journey, accompanied by the cheerful strains of "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All the Way." Four people, one kiddie ride. What a stunning sight.

If Gu Mian happened to pass by at this moment, he would definitely stop them, confiscate their 'vehicle,' and issue a twelve-point penalty.

The Fortune-teller stood precariously on the footboard, feeling the wind rush against her face.

Listening to the idiotic children's song emanating from the kiddie ride, she asked with genuine sincerity, "Is this really a horror instance?"

If Gu Mian was nearby, he would definitely be lured by this delightful song, right?

Listening to the noise from the kiddie ride, 007 felt a sense of unease.

She looked at Chu Changge beside her. "This will easily attract ghosts, right? What if the Wildlife Protection Law expires, and we've attracted a swarm of them? Won't we be in even greater danger?"

Chu Changge looked at her. "We don't have time. We must find Gu Mian immediately."

No time left?

007's brow twitched. Is Chu Changge in such a hurry because something is about to happen?

Speaking of which...

007 thought back to what happened before, in front of the dense forest. "Back then, in front of the woods, did you notice something?"

At that time, they hadn't yet seen the owner of the footsteps, but Chu Changge had decisively concluded that it was a ghost.

What exactly had he discovered?

August had asked this question too, but Chu Changge hadn't provided an answer.

007 had initially thought Chu Changge would brush off the question, but to her surprise, he actually answered.

His gaze was somewhat vacant. "I saw something familiar."

Something familiar?

Seeing that familiar thing, he had immediately judged the footsteps were from a ghost.

The Fortune-teller was also listening intently, ears pricked. She ventured a guess, "Was it something belonging to a dead person?"

"Sort of," Chu Changge replied.

"Seeing something familiar belonging to a deceased person here..." The Fortune-teller mused. "Could it be that people from the real world become ghosts and come here after they die?"

Chu Changge didn't answer further.

007 also fell into deep thought.

「Meanwhile, Gu Mian had followed the shadowy figure to a building.」

The dark shadow was incredibly fast; by the time Gu Mian had followed it here, he had lost it completely.

"That shadow," Gu Mian muttered, standing at the entrance of a derelict photo studio, "it really resembled..."

He had seen the dark figure dart into the photo studio's entrance and vanish.

It didn't seem aggressive; it was merely guiding me here.

Familiar figures, missing time, a rhythmic alarm...

Gu Mian felt as if he had glimpsed the secrets of this world.

"So, this is what this world is like," he murmured, tying the female ghost's hair to the doorknob to prevent her from escaping.

Then, he stepped through the doors of the photo studio.

The long-abandoned photo studio was thick with dust.

Old, broken tripods littered the floor.

Several cameras lay in disarray on the ground, shrouded in a thick layer of dust.

There don't seem to be any useful clues here.

Gu Mian wandered around the dust-filled photo studio a few times before finally approaching the counter.

The counter was glass-topped. Beneath it, numerous customer photos were piled up, mostly in white paper bags marked with names and contact details.

He squatted by the counter and began to rummage through these photos.

This was a photo studio, not an artistic portrait studio, so most of the photos were one or two-inch headshots, the kind used for ID cards or documents.

With a complete lack of public decency, he tore open other people's photo envelopes to examine them.

Gu Mian examined a thick stack of photos but found not a single clue.

He was getting impatient and started to only open the ones that looked somewhat special.

Just then, a thick, yellowed paper bag at the very bottom caught his attention.

Gu Mian reached out, pulled out the heavy paper bag, and tore open the seal.

Inside was a stack of two-inch headshots.

He pulled out the topmost sheet of photos and looked down.

When he saw the face in the photo, Gu Mian froze for a moment.

For a second, he thought he was looking at his own headshot.

The person in the photo bore about a sixty percent resemblance to him. At first glance, it was easy to be mistaken, but a closer look revealed the differences.

Gu Mian then recalled the ghost in the Deathly Visage instance mentioning "another Gu Mian in the crematorium."

Could the crematorium that ghost mentioned be in this world?

He pulled out the next photo.

Good heavens, the person in this photo bore an even stronger resemblance to him, and it wasn't the same individual as the previous one.

Seeing this, Gu Mian pulled out all the remaining photos from the bag.

He saw that the person in every photo looked incredibly similar to him, yet each was a different individual.

What in the world?

Gu Mian put down the photos in his hand. "My brothers and sisters?"