Global Collapse

After emerging from the instance, 007 found himself not back in his familiar surroundings.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the dim sunlight shining through the yellowed paper, and the air was filled with a humid and hot atmosphere.

Before she could figure out where she was, she heard people around her speaking.

"He's back! Mr. Gu is back!"

Mr. Gu? 007 immediately thought of the four groups of chess players Gu Mian had mentioned in the group chat. These four groups of chess players were acquaintances of Gu Mian, and their name was "Qi Huo Guiguzi" (meaning "Ghost Valley Master Who Lives Up in Anger").

The chess piece in the fourth group, "Hao Laoshi," calls Guiguzi "Mr. Gu."

Hao Laoshi said that they lived in a large base with dozens of people, and Guigu was the leader among them.

007 was still thinking when he heard more and more footsteps around him, as if many people were heading towards him.

"That's great. Mr. Gu was inexplicably pulled into a special instance. I was worried he wouldn't be able to come back."

"Huh? Weren't there three people pulled into the instance this time? Mr. Gu, Hao Laoshi, and Bafang Laifu. Where's the woman? How come there's a woman among the two who came back?"

"Old Hao! Old Hao! Is my Old Hao back yet?"

The cacophony of voices filled my ears, making me feel irritated.

Hearing the sounds coming from all directions, 007 almost immediately understood. She hadn't returned to the apartment; she had probably come to Guigu and Hao Laoshi's base. Something must have gone wrong when the instance teleported them out.

And the other person who came here with her...

007 looked to the side and saw a chicken stewed in an iron pot sitting on the ground, looking bewildered. It wasn't Guiguzi.

She looked around and found that it was a simple greenhouse covered with a transparent tarpaulin, and under her feet was cultivated land with some half-dead crops growing on the ground.

There was a drooping seedling under the bottom of the chicken stewed in an iron pot. The seedling was already on the verge of death, and the pressure from the chicken's bottom made it impossible for it to grow again.

By this time, the people at the very front had already realized something was wrong.

"No! Mr. Gu isn't one of these two. These are two strangers!" the person at the front shouted.

This shout startled those who followed behind, and they rushed towards the scene, pushing and shoving, trying to confirm whether the person at the front was telling the truth.

The group quickly arrived at 007 and the stewed chicken in an iron pot, and after examining the two of them, they showed a slightly panicked expression.

"Who are you? Where is our Mr. Gu? When will he be back?" someone asked.

"Mr. Gu went into the instance, but these two strangers came out. Is Mr. Gu not coming back? What should we do if he doesn't come back?!"

"Don't worry, everyone. Mr. Gu will definitely not abandon us. He will definitely come back. Let's wait a little longer. Maybe he will come out soon."

"Let's ask these two people first and see what's going on."

"Old Hao, hasn't my Old Hao come out either?"

A middle-aged man with a pale face and pointed cheeks stepped forward first, looking at 007 and the stewed chicken in an unfriendly manner: "Who are you people? Where are you from? Where is our Mr. Gu?"

007 looked at the people surrounding them.

These are all people from the Guigu base. 007 had heard Gu Mian mention Guigu's identity in the group chat and knew that these people mostly relied on Guigu for survival.

She looked at all those faces.

Those faces showed fear, doubt, and anger. But not a single face showed concern. It seemed that they didn't have any real affection for Guigu; they were just afraid that the big tree that sheltered them would collapse.

I've seen this face before.

Before the family went bankrupt, her father would always generously help relatives and friends who were in dire straits. Whoever encountered difficulties or hardships, her father would help them whenever he could.

Later, when the family went bankrupt, those who had helped them showed concern for them in the same way, but most of them, while expressing concern verbally, revealed a faint, barely perceptible regret on their faces.

They felt that their father was useless and could no longer provide them with any help; in fact, he would become a burden.

The faces of those relatives and friends overlapped with the group of people in front of them.

For a moment, 007 felt as if she had returned to the past. What happened to those relatives and friends afterward? They disappeared, as if they wished they had never known her father, vanishing completely from their lives.

007 looked at the people in front of him, each waiting for his reply.

She knew that since she had come to Ghost Valley, Ghost Valley must have been teleported to another place, and it would probably be difficult for her to come back.

After Guigu disappeared, would this group of people quietly disperse like her relatives and friends? No, she was certain in her heart.

Unlike in a peaceful society, where the wall that people rely on collapses, people can still survive, only their standard of living will decline.

But here, Guigu is their lifeline. Guigu is related to their lives. Without their lifeline, they would likely go crazy, and it would be a group of them who went crazy.

At that time, she and the chicken stewed in an iron pot, who caused Guigu's disappearance, became the first targets of this group of madmen's venting of anger. Of course, she knew that where Guigu was teleported to was not something she could control, but people full of anger would not listen to any explanations; they just needed a target to bear their anger.

When she was little, she watched Animal World. She learned that when the lion king in a pride is defeated by another invading male lion, the structure of the entire pride changes. The new male lion replaces the former lion king as the leader of the pride, while the former lion king is driven out of the territory.

At the time, she asked her father in bewilderment, "Why did the old lion king's pack accept the new lion king so easily? Didn't they have feelings for the old lion king? Why didn't they unite to drive the new lion king away?"

Her father told her that the wild grasslands were a world of life and death, and the primary instinct for all animals was to survive. If a new leader could defeat the old one, it proved that it was more capable of leading the group forward; survival was the first priority in such a dangerous world.

She didn't understand at the time.

But now she understands.

007 suddenly laughed. Instead of answering the man's question, she countered, "You mean that piece of trash I trampled under my feet?"

"She said she was a master strategist, having calculated several ways to clear the level, and that she had utterly defeated Mr. Gu. In the end, she almost controlled the pieces to storm into our group's initial room and end your foolish life. But then, at the crucial moment, the instance suddenly malfunctioned and teleported everyone out, and to a completely different place. However, she said that Huluwa seemed pretty good, and she could take pity on them and stay there to help these poor souls..." Hao Laoshi described the information he received with great enthusiasm. Of course, what he described was only the general idea of ​​007's account; 007's own description was not so vivid.

"At first, the people in our base didn't really believe what she said. They thought, how could this young girl be more capable and cold-blooded than Mr. Gu? But the guy next to her who teleported out with her, called Iron Pot Stewed Chicken, was terrified when he saw her, like a mouse seeing a cat, saying, 'Don't saw off my leg! Don't see off my leg!' When everyone heard that, they thought this girl was capable and seemed to have some skills, so they believed her to a large extent. Many people sent me messages asking if what she said was true."

Gu Mian: "..."

Guigu: "..."

Gu Mian found it hard to imagine the scene of her storming into Guigu's room and sending him to his death.

Guigu could hardly imagine himself being utterly defeated by a girl he had never met.

In fact, Guigu is about the same age as 007, but the burden on his shoulders is too heavy, which makes him look and act much older.

Liu Ruyan, however, was quite interested: "That little chicken stewed in an iron pot whose leg was sawed off by 007 was teleported to Huluwa with her, which made 007's commercial image even more impressive."

The fat man breathed a sigh of relief: "I was really worried that your people would take their anger out on Miss 007 after they found out that Guigu had been replaced. But Miss 007 is really smart. She can temporarily take over Guigu's place, so we don't have to worry about the people of Huluwa going crazy."

"Have you replied?" Gu Mian asked Hao Laoshi.

Hao Laoshi shook his head: "Not yet."

"Reply as 007 said, and say the same thing to your family." Gu Mian came up behind Hao Laoshi and made him open his friends list to see his reply.

"They said you and Guigu were teleported to another place. When Guigu came out of the dungeon, he was so scared that he was sweating profusely and almost couldn't stand up. When you asked him what happened, he said that the chess player in the first group was very powerful and he almost died at her hands. Besides, you have now been teleported to a place far away from Huluwa, and you probably can't go back."

Hao Laoshi dared not disobey and obediently replied as Gu Mian had instructed.

Guigu wiped his forehead and the cold sweat from Gu Mian's mouth.

"The people at the base asked me why Mr. Gu didn't reply to my messages." After Hao Laoshi replied, another message came from the base immediately, and he repeated it to Gu Mian.

"He said he was still shaken and hadn't recovered from the near-death experience. It's getting dark, you need to find a place to stay, so I won't reply now."

Hao Laoshi then sent it back as Gu Mian had instructed.

"The people of Huluwa know that Guigu is probably gone forever. The loss of Guigu makes Miss 007 even more precious, so they'll be even less likely to do anything to her." The fat man patted his chest.

"Remember, no matter who asks you in the future, you must say the same thing as you do now, even to your family." Gu Mian looked at Hao Laoshi.

Hao Laoshi nodded, then hesitated before asking, "You'll be going to Huluwa to bring her back, right...? Could you take me with you?"

“Definitely,” the fat man stood up abruptly. “That place is too dangerous. Look how sunny Guigu used to be, and now he’s been ruined like this. If we had gone any later, Miss 007 might have lost a hand too.”

“Didn’t you consider that she might not want to come back?” Louis, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up.

Guigu turned his gaze to the pale-skinned man. He had noticed this man ever since he entered the room. Not only did this man look strange, but he also couldn't open the player panel.

However, it was normal for the people around Gu Mian to act strangely, so Gui Gu didn't ask any further questions.

Hearing the man say this now, Guigu seemed a little dazed. Would anyone be willing to stay there alone and bear the hopes of everyone? When he was at the Huluwa base, he felt so suffocated that he couldn't breathe every day and often woke up in the middle of the night.

He had never met 007, but according to Gu Mian and the others, 007 should be a young girl. From the board game, it could be seen that she was very smart. Would such a vibrant and intelligent person be willing to stay in that kind of place?
Louis said softly, "She's a beast tamer. There are many qualified 'beasts' there. I think she'd probably like to stay there." (End of Chapter)