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Chapter 280

At this moment, Chu Changge spoke up: "Gu Mian, you just said that the second organizer cannot directly interfere with the matters of the dungeon, but can secretly mutate the dungeon... I guess that so far, the dungeon that has been mutated is definitely not just Fairy Tale City."

The fat man flinched.

The mutated dungeons have generated souls that are no longer bound by the game and can freely slaughter players who enter the dungeons.

Those mutated instances are silently devouring players, carefully concealing themselves.

Chu Changge continued, "Although there isn't just one, there won't be too many. Theoretically speaking, 'spirits' should be extremely rare now."

Gu Mian accurately grasped the word "now" in Chu Changge's words.

If it's extremely rare now...

Does that mean it won't be as rare in the future?

"In short," the fat man took a small sip of the ginger and brown sugar water in his thermos, "Doctor, we've gotten some information from the Fairy Tale Town instance, but if we want to get more useful information, we'll probably have to go into the instance a few more times."

Furthermore, there is no guarantee that every copy will contain information useful to Gu Mian.

They have to slowly gather clues.

The fat man is now only praying that the other players in the game will evolve slowly, otherwise Gu Mian will probably face the embarrassing situation of being stabbed to death by other players before long.

The cold wind was still swirling outside the dark garage.

They rubbed against the cracks, emitting a terrifying and eerie howling sound.

The fat man's attention was drawn to the sound of the wind outside. He remembered that this terrifying, unsettling wind would appear every time a storm was about to break.

Gu Mian glanced at the thermometer.

Minus nineteen degrees Celsius.

it's too cold.

There is no electricity, no air conditioning, and no underfloor heating.

Supermarkets do sell electricity cards, but I don't know how many people have the money to buy them.

At such temperatures, it would be extremely difficult for humans to survive.

The indoor environment was slightly better; even though the house was bare, the four smooth walls could still block the howling cold wind.

If you were to go outside wrapped in two quilts at this moment, you would immediately be chilled to the bone by the cold wind unique to the dead of winter, the cold penetrating everywhere.

Fortunately, some players have strengthened their bodies, but that's far from enough. They can only hide in buildings and wait for the cold wave to pass.

But will the cold winter really leave?
At this moment, the fat man looked somewhat dazed. He remembered that it was already March, and strictly speaking, March was no longer winter.

In several cars that were running in the distance, a few people were huddled together for warmth. Even with the air conditioning on, the temperature inside the cars was not good, and they only felt warmer by hugging each other.

Gu Mian used the lamplight to look at the people huddled together in the cars.

He saw someone inside sneeze violently.

If the temperature continues to drop, the saying "the road is littered with frozen corpses" will likely become more than just a saying.

The fat man also seemed very worried: "I'm really afraid that I'll suddenly freeze to death while I'm sleeping one day."

He doesn't want to become an ice sculpture.

Upon hearing this, Gu Mian reached for another blanket and wrapped the fat man up tightly: "Don't die, Fatty..."

The fat man was somewhat moved.

But that feeling of being moved vanished immediately.

Gu Mian's voice followed: "If you die, it won't be easy to dispose of your body."

The fat man silently swallowed his tears and wrapped himself tightly in his blanket.

The temperature did not continue to drop in the following days.

But it did not rise.

The blizzard came and went, and the sun hadn't shown its face for the past few days, remaining hidden beneath layers of dark clouds.

The snow was thigh-deep, making it impossible for even cars with fuel to move.

The hearse carrying Gu Mian and the others could still move forward with difficulty, but it was extremely difficult.

So the three of them temporarily stopped in this small town. Gu Mian found an abandoned, dilapidated building with no windows and parked the hearse inside.

Its first floor was originally all shops, and a sign for "Lankong Electric Appliances" was still hanging in the position of one of the shop signs.

This dilapidated building stands directly opposite a shopping mall, completely out of place amidst the bustling surroundings.

The fat man guessed that the building might have been left by holdout residents: "When the shopping mall next door was going to be built, they must have already made arrangements with the surrounding area. The holdout residents in this building might have turned their backs on us after the other land was bought, and started demanding higher prices because they felt that no matter how expensive it was, the shopping mall had to buy their property."

Gu Mian looked at the small, dilapidated building in front of her, which looked like a dangerous structure.

But to my surprise, the shopping mall was so stubborn, insisting that this unsightly little shack stand there without any intention of compromising.

Chu Changge glanced at the fat man: "You seem to know a lot about everything."

The fat man smiled sheepishly: "Because I've been wandering around for a long time, I've tried quite a few jobs..."

The temperature inside the hearse was maintained between -18 and -19 degrees Celsius, a temperature at which it is extremely difficult for humans to survive.

Even so, many players braved the blizzard to leave their homes and make their way to the ticket hall.

Gu Mian and her two companions even found a frozen young man on their way to the supermarket.

The eyes, though open, were still moving consciously or unconsciously, but the body was stiff, as if it had been frozen halfway through its journey before collapsing.

When Gu Mian and the others saw him, his body was already covered with a thin layer of snow.

Not dead yet.

So Xiao Hong, who wasn't afraid of the cold, carried him from there to a ticket booth that was far away. Although she abandoned him after leaving him there, it was still better than letting him freeze to death in the snow.

Our female ghost Xiao Hong finally did something good, although it was done under Gu Mian's instructions...

Since there were no rewards or compensation for the previous dungeon run, Gu Mian still only has 525 game coins.

The fat guy isn't much better off; he only has 900 left.

Fortunately, Chu Changge is showing signs of becoming a hamster. When Gu Mian was browsing through his information panel, she discovered that he had unknowingly accumulated more than 3,000 game coins.

These past few days, Gu Mian and the other two have been surviving entirely on Chu Changge's stockpile of supplies, which also serves to keep the chubby guy, who's been freezing every day, warm.

Until mid-March, the weather showed no improvement and remained as cold as ever.

The sun has almost never appeared.

The snow on the road had not melted, making it still very difficult to travel.

There was nothing they could do but stay here and participate in a few more dungeons.

Gu Mian originally wanted to find a hotel. A room with walls is always more comfortable than a car with nothing inside. There are hotels in Hengdian that are open to other players.

But this small place has insufficient population, so the hotel business is not profitable at all; moreover, there is no army here, and no one maintains order, so few people dare to come out and do business.

The chubby guy, who wasn't very brave, kept talking about wanting to go into the dungeon.

Because it wouldn't be this cold once they entered the dungeon. And today, Gu Mian and the others returned to the ticket booth from last time. This ticket booth was the closest to them, and although the ticket seller inside might already recognize them, it wouldn't affect anything.

However, this time, as soon as Gu Mian arrived at the ticket booth, she saw a brand new sign hanging there—"Gu Mian and dogs are not allowed."

Gu Mian: "..."

Of course, he wouldn't stop in his tracks just because he saw something like that.

The fat man stood in front of the brand-new sign for a while before following Gu Mian into the ticket booth.

The familiar face in the ticket booth was staring at them with wide, round eyes, seemingly surprised that they hadn't left yet.

Gu Mian asked for a team ticket without changing her expression, and then started matching for a dungeon with Chu Changge and Fatty.

Before entering the dungeon, the fat man still felt a little regretful; he wanted to look at the ticket seller's big, round eyes a little longer.

Before long, the three of them were successfully matched into a dungeon.

[Matching for a dungeon, please wait]

[Matchmaking successful, currently matching teammates...]

[Square match successfully completed]

[Instance: Heart-Pounding Hide-and-Seek]

For some reason, Gu Mian felt that the name of this instance was full of cheerful vibes...

[Content: This is an abandoned 'lost city,' where legend has it that many people disappeared after venturing into this place many years ago.]

Number of players: 10

Gu Mian continued reading.

The next part is the dungeon quest.

However, the length of this dungeon quest seems a little short.

[Mission: Survive in the city until midnight]

No, it's not a matter of being slightly shorter...

That's way too short!
It's supposed to be a game of hide-and-seek, but no rules or role assignments have been provided. Are we just asking these players to assign roles themselves in the instance?
However, Gu Mian soon realized that she was overthinking things.

A faint ray of light entered my eyes.

He looked around and realized that he was already inside a dungeon.

Because it was nighttime in this instance, he hadn't noticed it earlier.

He was standing on a wide road, which was clearly in disrepair. The asphalt had cracked open in several large places, and green grass was almost growing out of them.

The shops on both sides of the road have been abandoned for a long time. Some of the shops even have half of their eaves collapsed, making them look extremely desolate.

This is a deserted city.

Where are Chu Changge and Fatty?
Gu Mian looked around.

I noticed that there were already four people standing next to me.

They were all looking around at the scenery, seemingly not yet adjusted to it.

The person closest to him was a dark-skinned young man, somewhat like a school dropout who was involved in crime, but he looked very kind and always had a smile on his face when he looked at people, revealing his goodwill in his eyes—if it weren't for the huge, hideous scar on his neck, Gu Mian really thought he was a good person.

Gu Mian, being an intern, immediately recognized the scar as likely being a mark left by an axe.

It's clear that the wound is very deep; the doctor who operated on him back then must have used every trick in the book to snatch him back from the clutches of the Black and White Impermanence.

His nickname is Bai Qiong, and for some reason, Gu Mian thinks it's quite fitting.

A little further away was a pretty girl with short hair and bangs. She looked like a high school student with beautiful eyes that seemed to be filled with a layer of mist. Even in the dim night, Gu Mian could see the light emanating from her eyes—not the eerie light of a fish's eye.

She was looking around, curious yet uneasy.

Her nickname is Coco.

Behind the girl was a long-haired young man wearing glasses, who was smiling and looking around with an air of confidence... He even looked a bit like a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur).

Because the long-haired boy was quite far away, already more than three meters away, Gu Mian couldn't see his nickname.

The last player on this side was a woman with her hair spiked high. She was currently at the very edge, holding something that looked like a fruit knife, and occasionally letting out a cold laugh.

Gu Mian: "..."

He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that some of his teammates this time were mentally challenged...

Chu Changge and the fat man had disappeared without a trace.

Including Gu Mian, there were only five people present. Where were the promised ten people?

Just as Gu Mian was curiously looking around, he suddenly saw what appeared to be a dark shadow flickering in the distance ahead.

It's not surprising that a mysterious black shadow appears in a paranormal dungeon.

Gu Mian took two steps forward and stared at the dark figure carefully. She discovered that it was not a ghostly figure at all, but a fat man who was jumping around and beckoning to her.

Upon closer inspection, Chu Changge was also watching this side, next to the fat man.

How strange...

Is it really necessary to be so far apart to enter a dungeon?

Gu Mian took a few more steps forward, but as he was walking, he suddenly found that he could not move forward.

It was as if a layer of transparent glass blocked his path, preventing him from moving forward even an inch.

Meanwhile, the other people on this side also noticed the figure over there. They walked over with strange expressions, but without exception, they were stopped by the transparent barrier.

Bai Qiong was the first to speak.

He frowned, puzzled, and asked, "What's going on? Are we splitting into two groups to play hide-and-seek?"

By this time, everyone had gathered together, and Gu Mian finally saw the nicknames of the two players who seemed to be mentally challenged.

The long-haired, bespectacled boy is called "Nine Lives," probably because his demeanor is quite chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur), which even makes Gu Mian feel chuunibyou when she sees this nickname.

The other woman, who was sneering and holding a fruit knife, was named "Manjusaka".

The name suits her temperament quite well.

Gu Mian's nickname naturally caught their attention as well; the green color of the color "forgiveness" was quite rare.

Before anyone else could ask, the high school girl Coco stared at the top of Gu Mian's head and asked curiously, "Is this your profession?"

Gu Mian gave the high school girl a strange look. Could it be that she had seen the green name before?

Sure enough, Coco continued, "I've seen players with other professions before, and their names were all green."

"Oh, I see," the others exclaimed in realization, looking at the bright green "doctor" above Gu Mian's head. "Looks like she's a wet nurse who needs protection."

Although doctors may not be of much use in dungeons, they still need to be protected.

(End of this chapter)