Global Collapse

Chapter 332 Old Friend
The fat man stopped in his tracks. He saw Chu Changge, who was expressionless, still opening and closing his mouth, uttering words that sent chills down his spine: "Don't trust anyone."

Gu Mian was still seriously thinking about Xu Xingcheng's matter when she heard Chu Changge begin his lecture next to her.

Looking at the fat man in front of him, he saw that the already timid fat man was trembling with fear from Chu Changge's chilling tone.

Seeing this, Gu Mian hugged the fat man tightly: "Don't worry, with our relationship, even if I were a ghost..."

"Even if you were a ghost, you wouldn't have the heart to kill me, right?" The fat man swallowed.

Gu Mian paused for a moment and corrected him: "Even if I were a ghost, I wouldn't let you die too painfully."

Fatty: "..."

The fat man hesitated for three seconds before continuing, "Our main quest is to get rid of the ghosts, which means we are civilians; moreover, the person playing the ghost in this instance should be replaced by a real ghost. Logically speaking, the instance shouldn't allow players to be replaced by ghosts, so the player's identity cannot be a ghost."

The school roads were getting busier and busier, and people quickened their pace under the lights as they surged toward the teaching building.

The sky had completely darkened, turning into a strange color, like a deep blue mixed with an indistinct black, slowly covering the entire sky.

Chu Changge shook his head slightly: "That's not necessarily true. In games like 'When Darkness Falls,' there are usually multiple ghosts. It's possible that only one of the ghosts' actors will be replaced by the real ghost."

"Furthermore, the dungeon can completely alter the quest content. This happened to Gu Mian the first time he entered a dungeon; the quest content was forcibly changed just as he was about to complete it, forcing him to stay in the dungeon. So this dungeon might be the same, with the dungeon quest being tampered with after the player enters."

"Because the tasks for ghosts and ordinary people are definitely different, when entering a dungeon in a team, players who have never played this game before or do not know the rules are very likely to communicate with others about how to complete the task at the beginning, which can easily reveal their identities. To prevent this from happening, I guess the task will only change after the game rules are known... This is the most likely scenario I can think of."

Gu Mian was still stroking her chin in thought. Since it was a live-action version of "When Darkness Falls," why didn't the game rules of the instance reveal them at the beginning, instead of letting players find them on their own within the instance, simply to increase the difficulty?
By this time, a large number of people had already surged up the stairs; they were people who had finished dinner and were preparing to return for evening self-study.

Gu Mian certainly didn't intend to stay here for some stupid evening self-study session.

We need to find the other three players first to see if they have any clues.

He quickly returned to the classroom, picked up his guitar case that was leaning against the desk, and the game had also transported his guitar into the dungeon, although it looked rather incongruous for a high school student to be carrying such a large guitar...

His deskmate, Xu Xingcheng, looked up at him and asked, "Are you skipping class?"

Gu Mian responded with an unequivocal "Mmm".

Xu Xingcheng immediately gave a look that said, 'I want to skip class too,' but his expression only lasted a moment before he deflated: 'Then be careful. By the way…'

Seeing that he looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated, Gu Mian asked, "What's wrong?"

Xu Xingcheng raised his head slightly and looked at Gu Mian: "Have you seen Zhang Pingfan recently?"

Who is Zhang Pingfan? Gu Mian didn't know, but of course he couldn't admit that he didn't know, so he shook his head: "I haven't seen him."

But this sounds pretty ordinary. "Oh," Xu Xingcheng slumped back onto the table, "then it's nothing."

Gu Mian frowned slightly; this deskmate was really suspicious.

At this moment, Chu Changge was already standing at the back door, and the fat man was peeking out timidly behind Chu Changge, as if he were a thief.

Seeing this, Gu Mian quickly walked to the back door with her guitar on her back. Even during evening self-study, there would be teachers on duty, and it would be difficult to slip away once the teacher arrived.

Based on his years of experience, the period right at the beginning of evening self-study is usually when teachers are most active. He plans to avoid this time and hide in the greenery below the teaching building for a while.

Once the situation stabilizes, sneak back into the teaching building and check each of the other classrooms to see if anyone can access the player's information.

By this time, the students had mostly returned to their classrooms and were seated in their seats, preparing for their evening self-study session.

Therefore, there was hardly anyone on the stairs and corridors. Gu Mian and her two companions made their way to the first floor without any hindrance. However, just as they stepped out of the teaching building, they encountered someone coming towards them.

Even from five meters away, Gu Mian could immediately recognize that this was a player.

It really came to us like it was delivered right to our door...

As for why she could recognize someone as a player from five meters away... it's because Gu Mian had teamed up with her before!

He also had a very deep impression of this player; just seeing that face reminded him of the skinless arm.

007 never expected to run into three acquaintances.

After the Fairy Tale City instance, 007 developed strong suspicions about this global game, suspecting that it was not simply data, but a huge conspiracy.

What hurt her the most was that the Fairy Tale City instance didn't have any game settlement at the end, which was unheard of and unprecedented, causing her to lose a lot of money.

So much so that when 007 sees these three people again, he'll be reminded of that dungeon where he cleared the game but didn't get paid.

After the Fairy Tale City instance, she developed some psychological trauma, fearing that she might inexplicably die in the instance one day.

Although she was scared, she still had to go into the dungeon. Going into the dungeon might mean death, but in the current environment, she definitely wouldn't survive long if she didn't go into the dungeon.

Therefore, 007 cautiously navigated the dungeon, but little did he know that he was truly unlucky and would encounter the trio of death again.

Although he felt that encountering these three people was bound to be bad, as teammates in the dungeon, he still had to communicate. After much deliberation, 007 grabbed what he was holding and went to meet them.

(End of this chapter)