Global Collapse

Chapter 166 Riddles
Chu Changge knew that Gu Mian always liked to touch the ghosts and monsters in the dungeon.

But he had never seen Gu Mian chase after a ghost.

Thanks to this event, he has now seen it for himself.

As soon as Gu Mian's voice rang out, Chu Changge had the good fortune to see a ghost darting around faster than a rabbit.

The white ghostly figure at the door of the adjacent changing room didn't hesitate at all; it threw down the curtain it was holding and ran away as fast as it could, without even looking back.

It did not answer Gu Mian's question.

Gu Mian, who had poked her head out, didn't hesitate at all. She hugged the chainsaw tightly and chased after it, shouting things like "Don't be afraid" as she ran.

Of course, Gu Mian ultimately failed to catch up with the white-clad figure.

As expected of a ghost, it ran incredibly fast, darting out the door in just a few seconds and disappearing without a trace.

Gu Mian stopped at the door, glanced outside, and then silently closed the door.

At this moment, Chu Changge also peeked out from the last dressing room.

Gu Mian turned to look at him.

He and Chu Changge were not far from their starting positions. Gu Mian had only walked a few steps in the alley when he ran into Chu Changge, who was also looking for cover.

For the first fifteen minutes, no one was in the mood to guess the riddles; all they wanted to do was find a place to hide.

There was a changing room nearby, and Gu Mian and Chu Changge hit it off immediately, hiding there. Since the individual rooms were too small, they each hid in one of the two rooms.

Gu Mian hid it quite well, not making a sound at all.

So at first, the ghost only noticed that Chu Changge was at the very back.

But it never expected that Gu Mian's face would appear in the second-to-last changing room.

The ghost didn't answer Gu Mian's question in the end, and just ran away.

There were no lights in the locker room, so it was quite dark.

At this moment, Chu Changge was looking at his game panel, and then said in a deep voice, "It's 7:18 now, and these ghosts outside will leave in two minutes."

Gu Mian shrugged: "After we leave, can we just roam the streets in a big way?"

Chu Changge tilted her head slightly: "I think you can go out and roam the streets now in a big way."

Of course, Gu Mian did not do anything so extraordinary in the end.

In the darkness, Chu Changge spoke: "Every fifteen minutes, a five-minute ghost appearance occurs during this event. For other players, these five minutes are extremely dangerous, but not for you..."

As he spoke, he pushed up his glasses: "In fact, your dangerous time should have been those fifteen minutes."

Countless players have flocked to this place, and where there are people, there will be disputes; unexpected events are bound to occur here.

"I remember there was a group of people watching us before we entered the event," Chu Changge said, looking towards the entrance.

There were still rustling sounds coming from outside.

Apart from these sounds, there were no other sounds outside. The players were all hiding carefully, not daring to make the slightest noise.

Therefore, the two people's voices sounded somewhat eerie in the quiet night.

The soundproofing in this place is not good. At this moment, a player is shivering and hiding in an empty water tank not far outside the changing room.

Occasionally, rustling sounds came from beside him, but fortunately, those things didn't intend to lift the water tank to take a look and simply passed by.

Because it was so quiet, the sounds coming from outside seemed amplified many times over, and could be heard clearly.

He curled himself up and pressed himself tightly against the bottom of the water tank.

"Less than two minutes left..." He looked at his game panel and thought, "These ghosts will be back in the lanterns in less than two minutes. I have to hold on!"

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief as he thought about it.

But just then, he suddenly heard what sounded like people talking outside.

The sound was very faint, but he still heard it.

"What's going on?" The man pressed his ear against the side of the water tank in shock. "Why do I hear someone talking? Who's so bold as to risk their life?"

Even with his ear pressed tightly against the water vat, he could only hear a faint sound, barely enough to make out that two people were talking. The rustling sounds around him continued, but no one moved toward the direction from which the voices were coming from.

The man in the tank frowned in surprise: "I must go and see who those two people are after these few minutes!"

At this moment, Chu Changge was still speaking to Gu Mian in a low voice.

“Many people who come to participate in the event have ill intentions. You need to be careful during the 15 minutes of safety, especially the group of people we saw before entering the event.”

Gu Mian nodded: "So, to participate in this event, I not only have to solve riddles and dodge ghosts, but I also have to avoid other players?"

Chu Changge paused slightly: "You probably don't need the ghost-avoidance part."

Gu Mian touched her chin and then walked to the only window in the room.

The window was rather strange; it was very small, only about the height of a person. When Gu Mian walked to the side, only her head could peek out.

He looked outside.

Several white shadows flashed past the window; they were so fast that Gu Mian couldn't see them clearly.

The only things that were clearly visible were those that were still and motionless.

The two were in a place resembling a courtyard, and the changing room was in one corner of the courtyard.

There were some green plants in the courtyard, and some tracks on the ground, which looked like they were for filming.

Looking up, white lanterns hung overhead, emitting a faint light that illuminated this eerie place.

At that moment, Gu Mian noticed something moving among the green plants in the courtyard.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed what appeared to be a hat in the lush green flowerbed, but within seconds, the hat suddenly shrank downwards and vanished without a trace.

Gu Mian: "..."

I feel like I've seen this hat somewhere before.

And soon, the remaining two minutes had passed.

There was finally no sound outside; it was now 7:21 PM.

The dangerous five minutes have passed.

But at this point, few people dared to come out. Everyone was still immersed in the terror they had just experienced and decided to observe for a while longer, waiting until they were sure it was completely safe before going out.

Meanwhile, Gu Mian had already begun to take action.

He quickly pushed open the door and looked outside. Not far away, there were several water vats that looked like they were used to grow lotus flowers, all of which were covered with lids.

In the very center of the courtyard is a flower bed, lush and green, though it's hard to tell whether the plants are real or artificial.

Gu Mian glanced into the flower bed, but there wasn't a hat in sight, not even a ghost.

Directly opposite their door was a corridor, and looking ahead along the corridor, there was a mansion at the end.

Chu Changge looked at the scene before him: "This place has been disturbed."

"Has it been touched?" Gu Mian asked, somewhat puzzled.

Chu Changge glanced at the moon in the sky, then nodded: "The layout wasn't like this before."

The previous layout...

Gu Mian looked up at the sky, then stroked her chin: "You've been here before?"

He and Chu Changge had known each other since childhood, but he didn't remember when his friend, who was also an orphan, had ever visited Hengdian.

Chu Changge nodded without answering: "Let's guess the riddles."

Gu Mian didn't press the matter. He looked around and immediately spotted a white lantern hanging in the corridor.

He walked a few steps to the lantern and looked up at the riddles below.

"An empty room with a bright mirror: If a person turns off all lights and stands with their back to the mirror for one minute, what will they see if they suddenly turn around?"

Thank you to Su Xiaozhe, WeissP, Su Xiaolin max, Diwo Wuming, Erdou Xiaoya, Tou Tie de Shufu, Jinyuncheng, Mufeng Ruge, and Zhangjia Zhang Furen for the generous donations (′‵)I L



(End of this chapter)