Global Collapse-Chapter 705 - 670: A Pigeon Attempting To Accomplish Great Things Now Puts Down the Keyboard_1

"I've seen it," Yu Ji raised her hand. "I remember in that movie, the male lead was haunted by a ghost. Every time he took a photo, he would find a ghostly shadow in the background that was constantly approaching him."

"I think this instance might be the same; we might also find... ghosts in the photos." Wenqin Tan Jiu started flipping through the pictures in his hands.

"If this assumption is correct, we need to quickly find the ghost in the photos and then figure out our escape route." He put the photos he had checked aside. "Of course, this assumption could also be wrong. Perhaps these photos are just the instance's way of misleading us, causing us to focus all our attention on them and ignore the real clues."

Just as he was speaking, Ningmeng Busuan suddenly said, "Strange, isn't this different from before...?"

She had been examining the photo in her hand for a long time, and the more she looked, the stranger it seemed.

Hearing this, the others also leaned in to look at the photo in her hand.

In Ningmeng Busuan's hand was the group photo they had taken after they arrived. Wenqin Tan Jiu and a few others had seen the photo after it was developed, so they could tell the difference between how it looked then and now.

"It seems... it really is different from before." Jin Ye Bai, who was holding the Polaroid, frowned as he looked at the photo.

He pointed to the background behind the nine people in the picture. "We took the group photo in front of the stone stele inscribed with 'Taiying Mountain.' I remember the trees next to the stele weren't this dark."

Gu Mian also looked at the photo in Ningmeng Busuan's hand.

He hadn't seen what this photo looked like before, so naturally, he couldn't tell the difference.

Gu Mian just felt that the trees in the background looked rather gloomy.

Wenqin Tan Jiu nodded. "Indeed, it's different from before. I wonder if it's because of the photo paper..."

Polaroid photos are completely white when they first come out, with nothing visible. After a few seconds, the image gradually appears. The colors in the photo darken over time, and only after a while does the image become fixed.

"Let's put this one aside for now," Wenqin Tan Jiu said, placing the suspicious photo on an empty seat. To prevent it from blowing away, he even pressed a tightly capped water bottle on it. "Let's continue looking at the other photos and find all the problematic ones."

The car had already descended the mountain and was now traveling smoothly on the road.

Wenqin Tan Jiu and the other three players continued to sort through the stack of photos.

Most of the photos were snapshots of the passing scenery taken from the car; there weren't many pictures with people in them.

Gu Mian didn't join them. Instead, he turned his head to look at Xu Xingcheng, who was sitting beside him.

He hadn't had a chance to have a proper conversation with this Evil God yet.

Taking advantage of the other players' focus on the photos, Gu Mian pulled Xu Xingcheng closer and reached into his pocket.

Hmm, nothing there.

He'd wanted to shear some wool off this top-tier NPC, but who knew? The man was so poor he had nothing at all.

"You'd even fleece an Evil God." Xu Xingcheng saw through Gu Mian's intentions and covered his pockets, though there was nothing in them.

Gu Mian looked down at the leaf brooch on his chest. The items the Evil God gave him were just too useful; it made him unable to resist fleecing him again.

As this thought crossed his mind, he wiped the greedy expression off his face. "I heard you were looking for me all over the world. What's up?"

Please don't tell me he wants me to pay for the damaged statue.

Hearing this, Xu Xingcheng paused for a moment, his expression turning somewhat strange.

What kind of expression is that? Gu Mian wondered, looking at Xu Xingcheng's expression with some puzzlement.

The Evil God looked a little hesitant, then began, "Actually, I don't know why I was looking for you."

Gu Mian: "..."

Are you kidding me?

Chu Changge's voice came from the side, "He's an avatar. Not only is he weak, but he has also lost some of his main body's memories."

"Yes," Xu Xingcheng admitted his weakness frankly. "I remember my main body was in the Fourth World. You know which one the Fourth World is, right? It's the world where a group of albinos are scurrying about."

He was referring to the Upper Class People in Paradise World.

Gu Mian glanced at the players behind him, who were engrossed in the photos, then said, "I know."

"The Low-Dimensional World has been unstable recently. My main body in the Fourth World can't leave, so the only ones who can get out are these avatars of mine." Xu Xingcheng spread his hands. "Because I'm not in the same world as my main body, I've been greatly weakened."

Looking at the man before him, Gu Mian felt that this avatar of the Evil God was indeed quite weak. It seems like I could knock him over with a single finger.

"My power has been diminished, and I've lost part of my memories," Xu Xingcheng admitted. "Actually, I only know that my main body issued an order to find you; everything else is unclear. In fact, I only recently remembered that I'm an avatar."

What a fragile and ignorant avatar.

Gu Mian looked at the player nickname above Xu Xingcheng's head. "How did you manage to get a player panel for yourself?"

"Though greatly weakened, I've retained some abilities." Xu Xingcheng gave a slight smile. "Disguising myself as a player is an innate ability of mine, which awakened after I remembered I'm an avatar. Other avatars might have different abilities."

"Do the other avatars look just like you too?" Gu Mian asked, examining Xu Xingcheng's face.

"I'm not sure about that, since our memories aren't shared," Xu Xingcheng mused. "Their tasks might not involve finding you; otherwise, other avatars would have found you before I did."

A strange Evil God, creating bizarre avatars and assigning weird tasks.

Gu Mian asked him a few questions about the Low-Dimensional World and its key figures.

This peculiar avatar is even more clueless than Xiao Qiao.

Staring at Xu Xingcheng for a while longer, Gu Mian finally accepted the reality.

This guy is essentially just a mascot. Nice to look at, but that's about it.

Lacking both memories and abilities, Xu Xingcheng insisted on sticking close to him for his task, though Xu Xingcheng himself didn't know why he had to follow Gu Mian.

Gu Mian glanced at Chu Changge, whispering, "This guy is useless. Should we... saw him up and dump him on the roadside?"

Before Chu Changge could respond, Xu Xingcheng puffed out his chest. "I'm definitely useful! My memory loss is due to inter-world restrictions. Once you destroy a few more instances and destabilize these worlds further, I'll be able to retrieve more of my memories through the resulting loopholes."

If I had the spare time to help you recover your memories, I might as well go to the Fourth World and talk to the Evil God's main body directly.

Gu Mian asked directly, "Where is your main body located in the Fourth World?"

Xu Xingcheng looked up. "I really don't know."

Gu Mian wished he could just grab Xu Xingcheng, hop on a train to the Fourth World, and have him navigate. Unfortunately, the world-traversing train had broken down after Gu Mian rode it once and wouldn't be repaired anytime soon—perhaps not until pigs flew.

"Speaking of which," Gu Mian recalled the Judge's instance. "Chu Changge encountered you in the Judge's instance. Is that instance in this world too?"

"Not exactly," Xu Xingcheng said, looking at the leaf brooch on Gu Mian's chest. "This is an anchor. After I awakened, I could sense you directly through this. No need for a train; I can teleport directly to your vicinity."

So, that's how this thing found me, Gu Mian thought, also looking down at the leaf brooch on his chest. I didn't expect it to be a teleportation anchor.

"In short, the more instances you destroy, the more memories I can regain," Xu Xingcheng stated. "By then, I won't be so clueless." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Is this really an NPC from a Low-Dimensional World?

Gu Mian began to wonder why Xu Xingcheng was so enthusiastic about destroying instances.

While they were talking, Wenqin Tan Jiu and the other three players behind them had nearly finished sorting through the photographs.

"There's nothing unusual about these photos," Ningmeng Busuan said, inspecting a roadside snapshot in her hand. "No ghostly shadows and no other anomalies."

Jin Ye Bai was studying the Polaroid camera, contemplating its use.

Wenqin Tan Jiu turned his head to look at the group photo held down by the water bottle.

Just then, the bus reached a traffic light and stopped abruptly.

The water bottle holding down the photo toppled over, and Wenqin Tan Jiu quickly moved it aside.

Luckily, the bottle cap was tight, so no water spilled onto the photo.

He carefully inspected the background of the photo and noticed something else strange. "Hey! Look." He passed the photo to Jin Ye Bai. "Weren't those trees in the back very dark just now? Now they seem normal again."

The others leaned over to look.

"You're right," Yu Ji said, scrutinizing the photo in Wenqin Tan Jiu's hand. "The lighting on those trees is normal again."

As the three of them stared, puzzled, at the trees in the photo's background, Ningmeng Busuan, who had also been leaning over, suddenly turned pale and slumped back into her seat.

Startled, the three of them turned to look at her.

With a pale face, Ningmeng Busuan shakily pointed to a crucial, previously overlooked part of the photo. "Look... behind us... is there... an extra person?"