Global Collapse

Chapter 3: Letting go is such a joy
Without arguing with the unscrupulous merchant for too long, Gu Mian pushed open the portal and stepped inside.

There was complete darkness behind him. As soon as he entered, his feet suddenly seemed to slip into thin air and he began to fall freely, which startled Gu Mian.

After experiencing weightlessness for about ten seconds, Gu Mian suddenly felt a pain in her buttocks, as if she had landed.

At the same time, a light suddenly turned on above his head, and he immediately looked around.

This is a dilapidated corridor. Regardless of what the corridor looks like, it is worth mentioning that there are several people standing around Gu Mian at this moment, looking at him with surprise as he sat down on the ground.

The panel then appears, introducing the content of the instance.

[Instance: Haunted High School]

[Content: An accident many years ago resulted in the death of the entire class. Since then, twenty-nine vengeful spirits have lingered there. Even years later, when the school was abandoned, passersby could still hear their desperate cries.]

Number of players: 6

[Main Quest: Take on the role of the new teacher for 29 lost souls, and uncover the truth behind an accident that happened years ago]

[Friendly reminder: Please keep your identity as a living person concealed]

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

[Dungeon Rewards: 10 Game Coins, 1 Free Attribute Allocation, 1 Lottery Draw Attempt]

"This is...this is making us be teachers to ghosts? And we can't let them find out?" Gu Mian heard a familiar voice as soon as she finished reading the mission.

He had already stood up, turned his head to look at the source of the sound, and saw it was the fat man who had almost bumped into him earlier.

What a coincidence!

Surrounding Gu Mian were players. He counted them and found there were six of them, including himself.

It's worth mentioning that among these players, besides the fat guy, there was another familiar face—Chu Changge.
This person has been friends with Gu Mian for quite some time; the two can be described as brothers in misfortune.

However, before starting kindergarten, Gu Mian didn't think that this person could be described as "brothers in misfortune".

He had always thought of himself and Chu Changge as childhood sweethearts, with him as the childhood friend and Chu Changge as the childhood sweetheart.

Until one day during a nap at kindergarten, he witnessed a horrific scene.

Chu Changge is actually a total straight man, a straight man in the law school, which is specifically reflected in his communication with girls.

From then on, no girl ever discussed such legal issues with him again.

He didn't care about confessing his feelings, and he cared even less about other things. From childhood to adulthood, Chu Changge always had an expression that remained unchanged even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him.

Gu Mian felt that if the sky were to fall, she could at least blurt out "Holy crap!", but Chu Changge might not be able to.

For example, right now, he has a cold face, but his gaze lingers a little longer when it sweeps over Gu Mian, without any awareness that he has encountered a fellow sufferer.

The other players, however, were panicked and almost jumped up.

"Being a teacher to ghosts? Exciting!" This was the voice of a young man in his twenties.

He was about 1.8 meters tall, very strong, and didn't look weak at all. On the contrary, he looked very expectant, but his slightly trembling calves betrayed him.

Gu Mian opened his player information, and the first thing that caught her eye was his excellent nickname.

Chu Changge and Fatty's nicknames were much more normal; one used his real name directly, and the other was "Fatty with the surname Wang."

So this fat guy's surname is Wang... Gu Mian pondered for a moment.

There are two other players.

A middle-aged woman, slightly plump, who looked like a housewife, was trembling with fear. She was affectionately known as "Zhao Hongqing's mother."

The other was a high school girl with a panda hair clip in her bangs. The clip looked like a fake, with the panda head on it appearing as if it might fall off at any moment. Her face was deathly pale, and her nickname was "Purple Heart Ice Crystal."

There are six of us, including myself.

Gu Mian glanced at her surroundings again.

This is a corridor inside the teaching building. On one side are classrooms with class signs hanging above them. This floor seems to be for the first year of junior high school. On the other side of the corridor are windows, and right next to the large playground, this should be the first floor.

This looks like a junior high school from many years ago. The decoration isn't great, but it's not bad either. The desks are a bit shabby, with moss covering the legs, indicating that the school has been abandoned for a long time.

It was early morning in the instance. The cramped corridor was still dimly lit, with only one chandelier on, under which six players were huddled. The air was filled with a musty smell, somewhat sour and pungent.

A whistling sound came in through the corridor windows, and the cold wind blew through the rotten classroom door. At this moment, the twenty-nine dead souls had not yet appeared.

The atmosphere is very strange.

The fat man shivered from the cold, and Gu Mian looked at the others in the dim light.

Fortunately, no one chose mosaics or grass skirts, otherwise they would probably be freezing and huddled in someone else's arms right now.

Chu Changge spoke first in the eerie atmosphere: "In short, we are to play the role of these students' new teachers, and we cannot be found out that we are alive."

He lowered his voice as he spoke, as if afraid of being overheard by the spirits of the dead.

Xun Li asked somewhat nervously, "What if we get discovered?"

Chu Changge spoke:
"The rule about not revealing your identity as a living person is mentioned in the friendly tips, not part of the main quest. Therefore, if the ghost discovers you're alive, it won't be considered a failure of the main quest, and you won't be teleported out of the instance."

"And if the ghost finds out you're alive, and you can't be teleported out of the instance, just imagine it."

Gu Mian glanced out the window with its security bars: "Can you imagine the joy of being chased by ghosts?"

The fat man, who was sneaking closer to Gu Mian, suddenly stopped in his tracks, his face clearly saying, "Being chased by ghosts is not a happy thing."

"Can...can I go out?" Zhao's mother asked, her body trembling. Her voice was shaking so badly from the trembling that it was barely perceptible.

This is the normal reaction.

However, this instance doesn't offer many advantages to normal players.

Gu Mian sincerely suggested, "Why don't you try suicide?"

Of course, he didn't expect his sincere opinion to be accepted. Upon hearing this, Zhao's mother immediately swallowed her words and never mentioned the matter of releasing a copy again.

Chu Changge continued, "Since we are new teachers, we must first figure out which subject we are teaching."

"Are we supposed to write our own lessons, or are the originals already decided?" Xun Li frowned.

"Perhaps we can find the answers we're looking for in the office," Chu Changge replied.

Fortunately, it was early morning and there were no classes yet, so the six of them found the office without much trouble.

The office is on the first floor. A long strip of glass is embedded in the door panel, and the handle has fallen off. You can just push it open and go in.

Seven tables were neatly arranged inside, with several players' names posted on them.

Gu Mian spotted her name at a glance—

"Gu Mian, there's a book on politics on the table."

Right next to her was biology teacher Chu Changge, and Gu Mian felt that their subjects seemed to be reversed.

The fat man's desk was almost right by the door, and Gu Mian glanced at it—it contained his physical education textbook.

At this point, everyone understood the subject they were to teach.

Gu Mian is in politics, Chu Changge is in biology, and the fat man is in sports;

Zhao Mama is math, Xun Li is history, and Zi Xin Bing Ling is English.

My major is completely unrelated to my job.

There were seven tables, and one extra one in the far corner next to the window. There was a chair in front of the table with a very simple embroidered cushion on it. Gu Mian went closer to the table to take a look.

There was a timetable, a digital clock, and another teacher's name on it.

"Chinese teacher, Kosaka?"

The fat man leaned closer and said, "This name is quite peculiar; it doesn't seem like the names we have here."

Due to unforeseen circumstances, all copies of the first set used unusual names.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the first instance was modified three times, resulting in completely different instances with different content.

Gugu ascends to heaven.

It's been revised four times now!
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(End of this chapter)