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Chapter 520 Look at this moon, it's so big and round.
"Indeed, I'm quite good at it."

Gu Mian had already seen the group of people rushing out of the residential area, and she also saw Cang Yue striding over.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the enigmatic expression on her face as she spoke, a mixture of relief at escaping danger and anger as if she had discovered her husband's infidelity.

That description might not be entirely accurate, but in short, it's anger.

The customer service representative on the other end seemed very unwilling to continue arguing with this lunatic, but fortunately Gu Mian said goodbye at the right time.

"I have no more questions."

"Would you like me to call a car for you, sir?" the other party asked as a final, very professional question.

"Yes, I need a bigger one."

After receiving an affirmative answer, the other party replied with "okay" and hung up the phone quickly, showing that she had wanted to do this for a long time.

"So what exactly are you doing?" Cang Yue stood outside the phone booth, panting heavily as she glared at Gu Mian with all her might.

Although these players had all improved their physical attributes through attribute points, the points produced by dungeons were too few, and the players allocated these limited resources haphazardly, so most of them did not see a significant improvement in their stamina.

Gu Mian hung up the phone and turned to look at Cang Yue outside the glass door.

Turning your head again, you'll find yourself at the unsafe gate of the residential area, where other players are gathered, bent over, holding their knees and panting heavily, clearly having just experienced a fierce escape.

Having no experience in escaping, Zhao Shuang was almost collapsing to the ground. She could only stand up with the help of Keke, her face flushed.

Fortunately, the neighborhood was relatively remote and not many people lived there. The security guard was probably slacking off somewhere all day, so no one saw their terrified expressions.

Looking at the scene before her, Gu Mian came to a conclusion: "Are you being chased by ghosts?"

Cang Yue's forehead twitched. She didn't quite understand why this person described "you were being chased by ghosts" so casually and matter-of-factly, as if he were saying, "Look at this moon, it's big and round."

“We were almost chased by ghosts,” Cang Yue let out a long breath. “Luckily, they didn’t really do anything… You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”

Gu Mian opened the drafty glass door and stepped out, the wind making his coat rustle.

“It’s not like I asked the ghost to chase you, why are you glaring at me like that?” He took a few steps toward the entrance of the residential area. “You can’t take your anger out on me just because you were scared by the ghost and I wasn’t.”

That's indeed the case, and Cang Yue understands it too.

But having just survived a dangerous escape, they would feel resentful and angry to see Gu Mian leisurely making a phone call in a phone booth.

“But you still haven’t answered my question,” Cang Yue calmed down, her breathing less rapid than before, “Who are you calling here?”

Gu Mian's identity was already special, and once he entered the instance, he was always on the phone with someone, which made Cang Yue unable to ignore him.

Logically speaking, players who have just entered the instance should know nothing about it and shouldn't be talking so familiarly with people outside the instance. Cang Yue always felt that this person had some kind of conspiracy.

"Taxi customer service, I just called a taxi." Gu Mian pointed to the landline in the phone booth.

Cang Yue looked in the direction he pointed and saw that there was indeed a "call a taxi" button in the lower left corner of the landline, which was quite different from the phone booths in the real world.

Next to the landline was a newspaper, which looked like it had just been read. The words "Grave Hill Car Accident" were printed on it, along with headshots of the people who had disappeared without a trace. Gu Mian must have read this newspaper during this time.

Gu Mian glanced at Zhao Shuang, who was being supported by Coco: "Since you brought her out, you should have discussed your next move. You should at least call a car to take you away, or are you planning to spend the night here at the gate?"

He spoke with absolute certainty and conviction.

Cang Yue was too embarrassed to say anything more after hearing this.

She did indeed have the idea of ​​actively seeking a way out of the dungeon. This way out was too obvious, making Cang Yue want to take a knife and stab Zhao Shuang to death right now.

Not long ago, the person she wanted to stab to death was Gu Mian.

Xia Jianren also came over after recovering from his shock. He stood in front of the two of them, looking at Cang Yue and then at Gu Mian: "You haven't been fiddling with the phone by yourself since you left the house, have you?"

These words were spoken to Gu Mian.

Gu Mian nodded honestly: "It has indeed always been here."

"Aren't you afraid?" Xia Jianren's expression was somewhat subtle. Before the death protection mechanism was turned off, he had indeed seen some bolder players, but their boldness mostly came out after danger arrived.

He'd never seen a player so daring as to directly seek out danger before. To be alone in a dungeon where real death is possible, messing with a phone booth in the dead of night—it was practically suicidal!
Gu Mian glanced at Xia Jianren, whose face was still a little red, touched the strap of the guitar case, and said insincerely, "You scared me to death."

Xia Jianren's eyebrows twitched; he didn't look like someone who had "scared me to death" at all.

"So you've decided to take Zhao Shuang to explore the mysteries of the dungeon?" Gu Mian asked the two.

Xia Jianren looked at Cang Yue with a puzzled expression: "When did we make this decision?"

Cang Yue wiped her forehead: "It's like this, I think this dungeon might be relatively simple. Rather than hiding and risking our lives in the dungeon's hands, it's better to start with something easier..."

“But your guess might be completely wrong!” Xia Jianren said in a low voice, as if afraid that Zhao Shuang in the distance would hear him. “What if stabbing Zhao Shuang to death is not a way out but a way to death? What if those ghosts not only have no grudge against Zhao Shuang, but are actually getting along very well with her? Wouldn’t stabbing her to death be the end of you?”

Of course, the idea of ​​ghosts and humans getting along very well is highly unlikely; Xia Jianren was just giving an example.

"That's why I didn't stab her to death on the spot!" Cang Yue moved slightly as she said this, allowing Gu Mian to see the fruit knife she had hidden in her pocket. He silently took a few steps back, in case the person in front of him suddenly went crazy.

Gu Mian looked at the fruit knife in Cang Yue's pocket and couldn't help but sigh, "You're really something."

Cang Yue felt that these words sounded familiar, as if she had just said them not long ago.

But now is not the time to dwell on such things. She reached into her pocket and pressed down on the fruit knife: "I also considered that such an obvious path to survival might be a trap in the instance, so I didn't act directly. Actually, it's quite simple to know whether this is a path to survival or not, as long as we help Zhao Shuang find her memories from that day..."

Wang Chuan had arrived in front of them at some point, but Gu Mian had already taken several steps back to distance herself from the group of players, in case anyone tried to do something to him.

Fortunately, no one has been contemplating suicide yet.

Wang Chuan, who had just arrived, strongly agreed with Cang Yue's statement: "Yes, I think the first dungeon the players will participate in will really be a death dungeon. The difficulty of the dungeon may be reduced. We need to give the players a buffer period. Killing Zhao Shuang may be the way out of the dungeon. But we still need to be careful. As long as we help Zhao Shuang regain her memories of that day, we will know whether this way out is real or not."

The instance is called Amnesia, which shows that it is closely related to the things Zhao Shuang forgot on the day of the accident.

Whether the deaths of those colleagues were caused by Zhao Shuang or not, as long as she remembers what exactly happened that day, we can determine the path to survival for the dungeon.

Xia Jianren stared wide-eyed at Cang Yue: "You didn't say that when we were inside. You promised not to do anything reckless!"

“This isn’t necessarily courting death,” Cang Yue said, pressing the fruit knife in her pocket as she looked at Zhao Shuang, who was being supported by Coco in the distance. “If she really is a way out, wouldn’t killing her be easier than struggling in a dungeon for thirty-six hours?”

The people present had all struggled through countless terrifying dungeons, so they naturally wouldn't feel any pity for an NPC and wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

“Alright, if you all want to find a way to survive, then I’ll go with you,” Xia Jianren said, looking at Gu Mian. “You also agree with Cang Yue’s plan to help Zhao Shuang find her memories?”

Gu Mian nodded slightly: "I originally planned to stay with Zhao Shuang, but you can go if it's on your way."

He had just asked the operator about locations and variety shows in other instances, and got a clue that there was a Sweet Manor in the next city. If it wasn't a duplicate name, it meant that this instance was connected to some others. Perhaps he could get more clues out of the NPCs; he came here specifically for Zhao Shuang.

“Finding memories isn’t actually that difficult. Just stimulate them with past events, and they might suddenly remember,” Wang Chuan said. “And I remember the news said that there were 38 people on the bus on October 1st, but only 30 bodies were found. Besides Zhao Shuang, seven other people are missing. I guess they are probably still alive. If we can find these seven people, it might be a major breakthrough. Even if Zhao Shuang really can’t remember, these seven people might know what happened that day.”

"You're not thinking of taking Zhao Shuang to the cemetery to reminisce about the past right now, are you?" Xia Jianren pursed his lips. "I think it's a bit dangerous to go there in the middle of the night."

Cang Yue shook her head: "No rush, we can go to their company first. These people spent more time at the company than in the staff dormitory before they died. We might be able to find some important clues there, and the company isn't far from here..."

Just as Cang Yue was speaking, a minivan drove up from a distance and screeched to a halt in front of them.

The car window slowly rolled down, revealing the face of the man in the driver's seat: "You took this taxi?"

Gu Mian nodded.

There were six people there, so Gu Mian specifically asked for a larger car when she called.

Then a minivan arrived.

The group quickly got into the car and sat down. In the back seat, Xia Jianren was whispering to Wang Chuan, "Are we going to the company?"

The three girls sat in the second row, with Zhao Shuang sandwiched between Cang Yue and Ke Ke, still feeling lingering fear.

Gu Mian sat in the passenger seat with her guitar in her arms. The driver turned the steering wheel and asked, "Where to?"

Before anyone else could speak, Gu Mian, already prepared, blurted out, "Can we go to Sweet Manor?"

A dull day, without the tension of being just minutes away from being unable to update.

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(End of this chapter)