Global Collapse

Chapter 413 Persecution of Gu Mian
The official start time for work is 8:00 AM.

They arrived too early; it's only a little past 7:30.

The small shop was empty. The wallpaper was dark gray, and a row of single chairs stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, probably for single people. The fat man was sitting in one of the chairs.

Next to the other tables were dark gray leather sofas, which looked quite heavy.

In short, this is a store that looks quite high-class.

With her own face added to the overall ambiance, Gu Mian thought to herself.

He tugged at his tie, which was making his neck a little uncomfortable, and turned to look at Liu Ruyan beside him. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he was going to be playing a dungeon with this landlady who had caused him to lose a bicycle.

Even though the relationship isn't great, I still have to ask the questions I need to ask.

Gu Mian casually sat down at the table closest to the counter: "So, out of the nine players, we already have three here."

As he spoke, he tapped the table with his index finger: "Liu Ruyan, have you seen any other players?"

She sat in front of the wooden counter, resting her chin on her hand and shaking her head: "I live alone in a nearby community. I arrived in the instance at 12:20 last night, and I had to search through my house and phone to find this place."

"A cell phone?" The fat man seemed to realize something. "Doctor, don't we not have cell phones?"

"It shouldn't be." Gu Mian rubbed her forehead, feeling a bit of a headache.

The fat guy hadn't used his phone in dungeons for a long time, so he subconsciously ignored it.

Gu Mian had specifically looked for it, but couldn't find it. In order not to be late, she had to rush over first.

Of course, he wasn't trying to play the role of a diligent and hardworking employee. Gu Mian had thought that he might meet other players here when he arrived, and now it seems that he was right, even though he ran into the one he least wanted to see.

At this moment, Liu Ruyan was flipping through a piece of paper on the counter and said with a smile, "By the way, you don't have any experience in this area, so I want to remind you first. When a customer comes in, you should say, 'Miss, welcome home.'"

Gu Mian pursed her lips slightly, suppressing her laughter.

He'll probably burst out laughing and spray his guests with spittle.

The fat man sat in the single VIP seat and asked thoughtfully, "Do I need to say that too?"

Liu Ruyan glanced at the fat man: "I don't think you'll have a chance to show your face."

Fatty: "..."

“The remaining players might also come to this place.” Gu Mian calmed herself down and pinched her chin with her index finger and thumb.

However, the method of delivery is uncertain.

Perhaps a customer...

Thinking of this, Gu Mian frowned. Female players were one thing, but would Chu Changge come to a place like this?
Seemingly sensing Gu Mian's thoughts, the fat man waved his index finger near his face: "Maybe Brother Chu works as a waiter at the sadistic milk tea shop next door? For example, when a girl goes to drink milk tea, Brother Chu will push up his glasses and say things like, 'You can't drink anymore, you're already too fat.'"

As the fat man described it, Gu Mian strangely imagined the scene.

Gu Mian quickly shook her head to shake off the image of Chu Changge, who was expressionlessly saying "fat," from her mind.

He asked Liu Ruyan somewhat uncertainly, "Are there any other coffee shops around here?"

Liu Ruyan seemed to think for a moment: "As far as I know, there aren't any."

Hearing this, the fat man looked somewhat disappointed: "I thought Miss Qiao would be in a maid café, and when she saw us, she would say something like 'Welcome home, Master'..."

"Stop having those dangerous thoughts." Gu Mian glanced at the fat man.

“This city is very big, and it will probably be difficult to find the person you are looking for, so let’s stay here,” Liu Ruyan glanced at the time, it was almost eight o’clock. “Since the three of us can gather here, others may come as well, and we may hear some useful information from the guests.”

"By the way, do you want to see my phone?" she said, pulling out a phone and pushing it toward Gu Mian. "Most of my information comes from this phone."

Gu Mian reached out and touched Liu Ruyan's phone.

Presumably to make it easier for players to view the screen, no screen lock password was set.

Gu Mian first checked her phone messages, but there was nothing useful in them; most of them were balance warnings and spam ads for the Kun-raising game.

He turned off his phone and checked his contacts.

The address book contained several pages of phone numbers, mostly belonging to guests, including those of Fatty Gu Mian, Liu Jie, and Yang Ziwen.

Gu Mian closed her contacts again and opened the bright green social media app on the screen.

Nowadays, most people communicate through convenient social media apps, and sure enough, he saw a lot of information as soon as he opened it.

Most of this information pertains to business dealings.

Gu Mian habitually scrolled to the bottom and looked up from there.

It turned out that Liu Ruyan was indeed a shrewd businesswoman, buying only inferior raw materials, but the price level of this store was not low.

What's even more outrageous is that the most recent post was about perfume. Gu Mian never imagined that she would have to wear perfume while working at this store.

[Liu Jie: Boss, we're almost out of perfume in the back office!] At this moment, Liu Ruyan took out a newly bought pink bottle of perfume from the drawer: "I bought it on the way here, do you want to use it?"

Gu Mian took a few steps back to distance herself from the persecution.

"Alright, time's almost up," Liu Ruyan glanced at the wall clock, "I need to go backstage."

The fat man asked, somewhat puzzled, "Aren't you going to stay outside and sit?"

Liu Ruyan smiled slightly: "The young ladies don't want the faces they like to have any boss's wives."

“Indeed,” the fat man nodded solemnly and looked at Gu Mian, “I think they don’t want to see a man more handsome than you, it would make them feel insecure.”

As he spoke, the fat man walked over and patted Gu Mian on the shoulder: "Anyway, our boss's wife is one of us, so I'll skip work and go outside to see if I can run into anyone else. I'm quite worried that Brother Chu won't be able to find us."

So Gu Mian watched as this man, who was even more handsome than herself, walked out the door.

He was the only one left in the small coffee shop. Gu Mian had already stood up from his seat, as it would be really inappropriate for customers to see a waiter slumped in his seat.

He just stood there, completely still.

Gu Mian has never worked as a waitress in her more than 20 years, mainly because she is afraid that customers will suddenly die from poisoning while eating.

Fortunately, not many people came here to relax on Friday morning. Gu Mian stood there until almost ten o'clock before the first batch of clueless customers arrived.

This is a girl with a slightly round face, who looks like she's still in school; she has two ponytails, and the little cherries on the hair ties sway with her movements, making her look a little shy.

Beside her was a girl of similar age with long hair, who was smiling at Gu Mian.

Gu Mian immediately went to the door and dutifully delivered her lines—"Miss...welcome home."

The two sat down near the door, and Gu Mian then heard the girl with long hair talking to her friend: "I told you this morning's was the best..."

While they were ordering, Gu Mian heard the door behind her being pushed open again.

He dutifully turned around and said, "Miss, Huan..."

But he swallowed his words halfway through.

The glass door behind me was pushed open, and a person walked in. Sunlight streamed through the glass, illuminating the person's face.

Chu Changge looked at Gu Mian, expressionless, and pushed up his glasses: "Why don't you continue?"

"..."

How did you find me? Gu Mian really wanted to ask that.

However, there were two girls sitting at the table next to them, so Gu Mian had to swallow all her words and led Chu Changge to the most secluded corner before whispering, "How did you find us?"

Chu Changge looked at the menu in his hand carefully: "I am a student. Wang Xin, Qiao Chu and Xiao Wan, who are in my class, did not come to the first class today. I found out that the three of them rented a house together... Caramel Macchiato, extra sugar."

Gu Mian paused slightly: "Okay, I understand. Continue."

"I found where they lived and went inside."

"I have the phone numbers of these three people saved on my phone. I called to confirm before I went. Xiao Wan is a player, her nickname is Magical Girl Little Rabbit Maru, and Qiao Chu goes without saying."

Gu Mian knew that Xiao Qiao's real name was Qiao Chu.

"They told me about their situation on the phone. Wang Xin died last night, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, Xiao Qiao hid the body under the bed. The two of them are currently researching the places Wang Xin went to a few days ago. It would be too much of a waste of time for them to come back and open the door for me."

“I used the special item, the ‘Warehouse Access Card for Carriage No. 1,’ to enter their room. You gave me that card.”

Gu Mian didn't have an inventory and couldn't hold many special items, so she gave most of them to Chu Changge and Fatty.

He remembered that the item Chu Changge mentioned was a one-time access card obtained in the bizarre train escape scenario, which could open any door that required a card swipe.

Now that Chu Changge has gone in, given his personality...

Gu Mian suddenly lowered her voice and looked at Chu Changge seriously: "You dug up someone's corpse?"

Chu Changge's fingers, holding the menu, curled slightly. After a few seconds, he looked up at Gu Mian and said, "The body is gone."

"Then I searched through Wang Xin's house."

Gu Mian knew that Chu Changge's so-called "flipping" was definitely a real flip, meaning he might even pry the floor off.

"I found this in a pocket of a garment."

As Chu Changge spoke, he pulled out a business card and stepped back toward Gu Mian: "Of course, there are other business cards in her room, but this one is the most relevant."

Because the name "Gu Mian" is written in large characters in the middle of this business card.

Gu Mian looked down and saw that besides her own name in the middle, the business card also had his phone number and workplace—"Weaver Girl Cafe"—at the bottom.

Chu Changge put down the menu and rested her chin on her hands: "That's why I came here."

(End of this chapter)