Global Collapse

Chapter 421 What do you want, a bicycle?
Looking at the people coming and going in the mall, Little Rabbit Maru felt uneasy.

It was not yet four o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was still in the sky, although she knew that no matter how hot the sun was, it would be of no use.

At this moment, Mingyue was sitting next to Xiaotuwan, cautiously observing her surroundings while occasionally glancing down at her phone.

Before this global game started, Little Rabbit was a genuine internet addict, the kind who could spend an entire day glued to her phone. However, after the game started, the network crashed, and sometimes she would instinctively pick up her phone to open the game, only to be met with "Network unavailable."

Later, even the power went out, and when night fell, we could only rely on our precious electricity cards to keep the lights on, and we couldn't bear to charge our once-favored mobile phones.

"When was the last time I saw a lit-up phone screen?" Little Rabbit wondered to herself.

She glanced at Mingyue's phone screen subconsciously and saw that Mingyue was searching for related terms about the serial murder case in Ziyang City next door.

People come and go around, and every now and then a child carrying a helium balloon passes by.

Mingyue browsed the webpage for a while before lowering her voice and whispering to the other two, "I don't know who the ghost killed before, but judging from the description of the serial murder case next door, the murderer killed eight people in two days. However, the time of death of these eight people was basically different. Only three people died together because they were huddled together. The time of death of the other victims was several hours apart."

Caoyuan continued, "So you're saying ghosts can't teleport? If it wants to kill two people who aren't in the same location, it has to kill one first and then go find the second one?"

Mingyue nodded slightly: "It seems so. I think the chances of surviving are greater if we split up and escape in different directions."

Little Rabbit looked at the two people beside her and said, "So the three of us sticking together is actually quite dangerous, right? If a demon comes to kill people, it can definitely wipe us out in one fell swoop."

Mingyue suddenly smiled and shook her head: "Let me ask you, if you were a ghost and you wanted to kill the nine players who entered the dungeon, but your movements were restricted and you couldn't teleport or create clones, and now the nine players are divided into two groups, one with three people and the other with six people, which group would you kill first?"

"Of course, we'll kill those six people first... because they might suddenly separate at any time, and we have to kill them before they do," Little Rabbit said, looking up at the bright moon. "You mean the demons will kill them first, and we'll be safe for now?"

“Of course,” Mingyue put away her phone, “the more people gather in this instance, the more disadvantageous it is for the players. I think the ghost has already set its sights on that group.”

"But those six people seem tough to deal with. When I do problems, I always do the easy ones first before tackling the difficult ones," Little Rabbit Maru said with some worry.

"You said yourself that you only skip over difficult problems. In front of the ghosts, all of us players are easy problems. Do you think the ghosts can be stumped by the players? Impossible. So we are safe until they are all dead."

On the wide highway, a beat-up minivan was speeding along.

Liu Ruyan's van was already quite dilapidated, and it was not easy for six people to squeeze in, let alone a fat man who was "worth two men".

The sun was high in the western sky at 4:30, and Gu Mian and her companions were almost at their destination.

The driver was not Gu Mian, but Liu Ruyan.

At this moment, Gu Mian was sitting in the passenger seat, while Chu Changge, Fatty, and the rest of the group were all sitting in the second and third rows of seats.

Gu Mian heard Chu Changge's voice coming from behind: "I have learned about the serial murder case in Ziyang City before. Apart from the three victims who died at the same time, the others died some time apart."

The fat man immediately understood Chu Changge's words: "So you mean ghosts can't teleport or split into two? In that case, it's more advantageous to run separately, right?"

“That’s right,” Chu Changge pushed up his glasses, “Theoretically speaking, the farther apart the nine players are, the fewer people the ghost can kill in two days, so the ghost should really like the players to gather together…”

"But putting all that aside for now, I believe that all theories are invalid in the face of absolute force, so we are not the ones in danger now."

Upon hearing this, the fat man hugged his guitar case tighter. "Since we were safe until all six of them died, what happens after they all die?" In the bustling shopping mall, Little Rabbit looked at Bright Moon beside her.

“I can’t predict when they will die, but since the six of them are together, they should be doomed soon if they are targeted by a ghost. I don’t think the six of them can survive tonight, but we’d better make plans early,” Mingyue said, looking at the grassland on the other side. “Now that we know it’s better to split up, I suggest that the three of us find a car before the mall closes and head in three different directions, as far as possible.”

"I can't drive," Little Rabbit Maru said, looking a little worried. "Would it be alright to take a taxi?"

Even if you take a taxi, the driver probably won't accept a request like "keep driving forward and don't stop."

Mingyue shook her head: "I can't guarantee the driver's safety. You saw the spirit's answer too. In the Ziyang serial murder case, nine people died but there were only eight bodies. It's very likely that the ghost used one of the bodies to disguise itself. It's safer to escape alone. You can find a bicycle."

"Okay... so how are you going to find a car?" Little Rabbit asked.

Mingyue smiled slightly: "I have a car, it's in the underground parking garage downstairs from my house."

Caoyuan also touched his own pocket: "I have one too, I still have the car keys."

Grassland and Bright Moon live in the same neighborhood, very close to each other.

They parked in the same garage, and their car keys had small metal tags engraved with the parking location and license plate number. Little Rabbit Maru originally wanted to hitch a ride with someone, but was refused. At this moment, she was standing on the side of the street, looking blankly at a row of shared bicycles.

She told the other two that they would head west, because the road there looked flatter.

Mingyue and Caoyuan had arrived at the underground parking garage. The garage was somewhat eerie; they would never have come to such a gloomy place if it weren't for their need to escape by car.

Cao Yuan hunched his shoulders and looked at the metal plate on the key to find his car. He soon spotted the familiar license plate number.

Just then, he heard hurried footsteps behind him. It wasn't his and Mingyue's footsteps; it was the footsteps of a third person!
But the sound grew fainter and fainter.

He quickly turned around to look.

He saw Mingyue standing behind him, looking in one direction. Caoyuan immediately looked in that direction, but the densely packed cars blocked his view.

"What happened?" he asked, somewhat alarmed. "I just heard that sound coming directly from behind us."

Mingyue withdrew her gaze: "Just now, someone was crouching in the gap between the cars. After seeing us, they immediately stood up and ran away."

Without thinking twice, Caoyuan quickly walked a few steps and got into his car: "This place is quite eerie, I dare not stay here for long. You continue searching, I'm leaving now."

As the car started, Mingyue suddenly spoke up: "Which way are you going? I'll change direction."

The grassland quickly replied, "If Little Rabbit is going west, then I'll go east. Don't go east."

"Okay." Mingyue nodded slowly, watching the car in front of her get further and further away.

She immediately got into a car, started the engine, and slowly drove out of the underground parking garage.

Just after five o'clock in the evening, as the sun began to slowly set, the three people ran off in different directions.

(End of this chapter)