Global Collapse

Chapter 282 The Bizarre Phone Call
The girl with the fruit knife, Manjusaka, was clearly unwilling to team up with this group.

Her high ponytail swayed back and forth: "If we die here, we won't be harmed in the real world, and even if we die, we'll drop things..."

As she was speaking, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew into her mouth, successfully stopping her voice.

Even if Manjusaka kept quiet, Gu Mian could still guess most of what she originally wanted to say.

"Since I have nothing useful left, it doesn't matter how I die"—that's roughly the idea.

Just as Gu Mian was still pondering the unspoken message of Manjusaka, he was inexplicably called out.

Manjusaka's voice came through: "Of course, it's not impossible for me to take that doctor with me. As long as he's not too weak, I can protect him."

Gu Mian, who was called out, was slightly confused. He seemed to have just heard someone say that they wanted to protect him.

The atmosphere suddenly became somewhat strange.

Nine Lives and Manjusaka expressed their desire to act alone, and one of them even wanted to take away the relatively rare doctor from the team. Bai Qiong did not stop them.

The scarred man, who seemed unapproachable, was surprisingly mild-mannered. Standing next to Coco, he looked at Gu Mian and asked in a very gentle tone, "Doctor, do you want to go with her? Or do you want to stay with both of us?"

He had no intention of coercing or bribing, but was seriously asking for Gu Mian's opinion.

Seeing how seriously he asked, Gu Mian thought about it for a while before saying, "To be honest, I also want to act alone."

Upon hearing this, Nine Lives first let out a sneer. After laughing a few times, he said, "If I'm not mistaken, players with professions who want to develop their professional skills... probably need to give up some other things, such as giving up improving their physical attributes to upgrade their professional skills."

He was absolutely right.

Gu Mian's professional skills require attribute points to upgrade; if she uses them to upgrade her professional skills, she will not be able to strengthen her body.

Nine Lives continued, "Although the final score might be lower if everyone gathers together, it's safer for you. Don't be fixated on the final score. Professionals are likely to fail if they don't team up with others."

The words may be rough, but the principle is sound; that is indeed the case.

By this time, Manjusaka had retreated to the very edge. She glanced at her phone screen and said, "There's only one minute left. Have you all decided how to proceed?"

The phone screen displays the current time.

Gu Mian glanced down at the clock. It was 20:59 PM, and it would be 21:00 PM in a minute, at which point the game of hide-and-seek would officially begin.

Bai Qiong thought for a few seconds before looking up and asking, "How about this, Coco and I will go together, Doctor, are you going to go alone?"

Gu Mian nodded slightly: "I still want to act alone. To be honest, I'm really unlucky. All the bad things seem to happen to me first before others can have their turn. I'm afraid that following me will make me unlucky too."

When Gu Mian said this, Jiu Ming, who was not far away, showed a dismissive expression, as if his face said something like "How unlucky can things get?"

Bai Qiong didn't say anything else, but nodded to show that she respected Gu Mian's choice.

A minute passed quickly.

After the restriction was lifted, Manjusaka was the first to lift her foot and walk outside, and her figure immediately disappeared into the darkness.

Jiu Ming glanced back at Gu Mian and the other two, then slowly walked away.

The two of them left in opposite directions.

Bai Qiong nodded to Gu Mian, then walked away with Coco beside her.

Before long, Gu Mian was the only one left in the place.

The hazy moon hung in the sky, offering no real illumination.

The city was almost out of power; only the streetlights were still on, their light extremely faint and flickering, as if they might go out at any moment.

The dark city was shrouded by an even darker sky, stretching as far as the eye could see.

However, there are quite a few buildings that can be used for hiding.

At this moment, in this silent yet eerie city, five people are hiding in the darkness, their hearts pounding with fear.

There are also five other hunters who are forced to wander around in search of prey.

There might be other things present...

Seeing that everyone else had already left.

Gu Mian glanced down at her phone, where the screen displayed the three large characters "Ji Bieli".

Instead of immediately trying to call the player with the unique name, he put the phone given to him in the dungeon into his white coat pocket and then pulled out another phone.

[A phone that breaks down the dimensional barrier (mirror image)]

This is a special item he obtained in a previous instance.

[Feature: Each phone has five dialing options;]

If a player is in a dungeon while making a call, an important NPC within the dungeon will be randomly selected for the call;

If the player is not in the instance when dialing, a random player with the strongest compatibility will be selected to make the call;

Please note that this item will only allow players or NPCs with mobile phones to make calls.

Compared to Gu Mian's saw, this thing was practically useless, so it had been gathering dust in a corner. But the phone's size was an advantage, and Gu Mian, who didn't have an inventory, would bring it with her almost every time she went into a dungeon, even though it was practically useless...

However, it just so happens to come in handy today. If I perform well, I might be able to finish the dungeon in ten minutes.

"Since I'm currently in a dungeon, using this phone will definitely allow me to communicate with another NPC who also has a phone."

Gu Mian muttered to herself, "Come to think of it, ghosts can be considered NPCs too, right?"

"If the ghost is really hiding among us players, then it must have a cell phone. If I use this phone to make a call, then the player I'm talking to will definitely be the ghost!"

Finishing a dungeon in ten minutes might not be a dream.

Gu Mian wasted no time.

He quickly pressed the dial button on the lower right, and then a strange "beep" sound came from the receiver.

The sound, drawn out, echoed through the dark street.

"beep--"

The green plants in the green belt swayed gently, casting menacing shadows under the streetlights; a faint rustling sound came from some corner, as if a mouse in a hole had come out again to do something to make a living.

But none of these sounds disturbed Gu Mian.

He listened intently to the voice on the receiver. Once the call started, even if it was just a single word, he could instantly memorize the other person's voice and thus find the ghost. All he needed was to get the call connected.

"beep--"

The eerie beeping sound once again filled Gu Mian's mind with its drawn-out tone.

He remained focused on his preparations.

Immediately, a rapid beeping sound, different from the previous one, suddenly rang out, as if it were a prelude to the call being connected.

Gu Mian immediately perked up her ears.

Even the wind on the street seemed to cheer for his discovery, and Gu Mian almost burst out laughing.

After a rapid beeping sound, a dull, gloomy female voice suddenly burst out from the microphone.

"Hello……"

Gu Mian recognized the voice!

"Hello, the number you dialed is not in service. Please check the number and dial again..."

Before the global game started, I often heard this mechanical female voice when I dialed the wrong number. I never thought I would hear it again today.

Gu Mian twitched her lips slightly, then hung up the phone.

I never expected it to end like this...

The fact that the dialed number was not in service means that there is no NPC in this instance who can talk to him, which means that all the players with the phones are real players and no one has sneaked in to play any role-playing games.

Of course, it's also possible that the ghost threw the phone away immediately after they separated.

Gu Mian was unaware of the situation of the others on Chu Changge's side.

However, if you want to throw your phone away, you must act alone to make it easier, right?

Putting all that aside, Gu Mian felt that the ghost in this instance probably wouldn't expect a player to possess something like a "phone that breaks through the dimensional barrier," so even if it was mixed in with the players, it wouldn't immediately throw away the phone after they separated.

In other words, the real ghost is most likely not among the players, but hidden in some corner of this city.

And who knows exactly how many ghosts there are...

This is really a headache!

Gu Mian stuffed the "Phone That Broke the Dimensional Barrier" back into her white coat while taking out the phone given to her by the dungeon.

"Since the phone I brought with me can't get through, let's try the phone provided in this dungeon first..."

Although he didn't expect Ji Bieli to answer the phone.

After all, the two sides are on opposing sides, the kind that fight to the death. Gu Mian really couldn't understand why this dungeon had a mobile phone component. The two sides simply couldn't see eye to eye.

As he thought about it, he pressed the dial button on his phone.

The wind was still blowing merrily. It should be late autumn in this instance. Every time the wind blew, it brought down a large number of fallen leaves. Gu Mian, who was standing under the tree, was the first to be hit and was covered with withered yellow leaves.

"beep--"

The eerie beeping sound started coming from the phone again.

It rang several times in a row, but the other party didn't answer or hang up...

Gu Mian had already prepared himself for being rejected, but he really didn't expect that neither he would answer nor hang up.

A little while later, the same familiar female voice eased the awkwardness of the unanswered call.

"Hello, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later..."

Ok.

Gu Mian had no choice but to put her hand down, hang up the phone, and put her phone back in her white coat.

He's been standing here for a long time.

The other players had already left, and he was the only one left who made two unanswered phone calls and was exposed to the cold wind for more than ten minutes.

Not long after Gu Mian put her phone back in her pocket, a cheerful breeze blew by, carrying leaves from a nearby tree and landing them steadily on Gu Mian's shoulder.

He reached out and brushed the fallen leaves off his shoulder, then looked up at the tree next to him whose leaves were always fluttering down.

But just as he looked up, he suddenly saw a figure in the distance.

The figure was standing quite tall.

It stands on the roof of a three-story building, almost at the very edge.

Gu Mian shook her head slightly, looking at the dark figure in the distance.

He was certain that none of the ten players present would have the leisure to go up to the top of a tall building and enjoy the panoramic view.

This shadowy figure is definitely not a player. Could it be a vengeful ghost existing in this instance?
It stood there stiffly, as if it were about to jump off at any moment.

It's very likely that he fell from the top and died, then became a ghost... But can you really die from jumping from the third floor?
As Gu Mian pondered this, she took a few steps in that direction.

After taking a few steps in that direction, he noticed a sign overhead that read: "School Ahead, Please Slow Down."

At this moment, the long-haired boy, Jiuming, had already arrived at the school.

This is a primary school. The desks used by the students are only one meter high, and the space under the desks is not large enough for an adult to hide in.

He walked around, looking at each classroom one by one.

The buildings in the school were all very low, only three stories high. It was the first time he had ever seen a school with so few buildings.

But this isn't the time to grab the designer by the collar and ask him why he designed the school to be so short.

"Being short has its advantages, at least it's easier to search." Nine Lives muttered to himself as he pressed the dial button on his phone again.

His counterpart is a player nicknamed "一生平安658".

He has called his number many times so far, but the other player has hung up on him each time, so it seems that the other player has no intention of communicating at all.

(End of this chapter)