Global Collapse

Chapter 890 Abusing power for personal gain
Shortly after Gu Mian and Liu Ruyan entered the gold coin grid, 007, who had been missing for a long time, finally sent a message.

[007]: The treasure chest is in the square immediately to the left of the starting room number three.
"The two sets of chess pieces and the player can't communicate, right? It shouldn't have been the two sets of chess pieces that entered the initial room who told 007." Liu Ruyan looked at the message sent by 007 with curiosity, not understanding why 007 suddenly knew the location of the treasure chest.

She and Gu Mian were unaware that Group Two had delayed before entering the initial room in the previous round, so they couldn't make a judgment based on Group Two's behavior.

Then 007 recounted the events of the previous round in the group chat and shared his analysis with the two of them.

"So that's how it is." Liu Ruyan also understood. "In the room to the left of the initial room of Group 3, Group 2 couldn't move up after respawning in nine steps. So the player in Group 2 wanted to send the piece on the field to be killed by 007, and then replace it with a new piece to move towards the treasure chest. That way, the number of steps would be just right."

However, 007 saw through Group Two's plan, so instead of killing Group Two's pieces, he only restricted their actions, thus thwarting Group Two's wish to exchange pieces.

Hao Laoshi entered Hao Leige in the last round, so he did not take action this round. Only his group and Group 2 took action this round.

“Although Group Two has lost the chance to get the treasure chest, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will die. As long as another group can get the treasure chest and finish the dungeon before their death countdown ends, they can survive.” Liu Ruyan analyzed the situation on the field. “We are very close to the treasure chest now. We can get there by taking two steps down and one step to the right.”

The fourth room, 605, is also very close to them; it's just two squares to the left.

Gu Mian has now given up hope on room 605, but he won't go directly to the treasure chest area to get the treasure chest.

The evil god has not been found yet...

He felt that the evil god might not be in a specific room, a specific grid, or even in this instance. Perhaps he would need to do something to summon the evil god.

Just like in ancient legends, humans would hold sacrificial ceremonies before summoning the gods.

To be honest, Gu Mian had made many wishes in her heart after entering this instance, hoping that the evil god would appear in front of her at any moment.

However, the wishes made seem to be useless, which shows that the condition for the appearance of the evil god in this instance is not making a wish.

"You haven't found the evil god yet, so you definitely won't go for the treasure chest. It's clear that the player in Group Three is a very smart person. He has probably already figured out that the treasure chest is on the left side of his starting room. Unfortunately, all three groups of pieces are dead, leaving only one player. Group Three has no chance of competing. I wonder if the player in Group Four has analyzed anything from the information in these rounds. If he is a smart person, he might have already figured out the location of the treasure chest from the confrontation between Group Two and 007 in the last round."

Gu Mian thought of Gui Gu, whom she knew from the past: "Based on my past understanding of him, he is not a very intelligent person."

However, Han Shan, who had always followed Gui Gu, was very quick-witted, but unfortunately, it's unknown how long Han Shan has been dead.

But so much time has passed, and perceptions can change. Gu Mian wasn't sure how Guigu had changed.

In Hao Laoshi's description, Guigu is now a wise and courageous leader who single-handedly supports the entire organization, seemingly inheriting the character of Hanshan.

“If the four groups of players are smart enough to figure out the location of the treasure chest, they might send their pieces directly to the treasure chest square.” Liu Ruyan pointed her finger in the air a few times, as if drawing a chessboard in the air. “Next, we should move to the left, in the opposite direction of the treasure chest square. At that time, the four groups of players can take the opportunity to move their pieces to our current position, and then move down two squares and to the right to get the treasure chest.”

The cost is that the four sets of pieces must pass through two previously unlocked squares, and the player cannot determine whether there is any danger in those two squares.

"You knew the player from Group Four before. In your opinion, he would take advantage of our distance from the treasure chest and risk his own group's pieces to move towards the treasure chest, regardless of the danger?" Liu Ruyan said, her gaze fixed on Gu Mian's face.

Even if Guigu did this, Gu Mian had nothing to say. Compared to the other two or three groups, Guigu was a great guy in this instance. At least he wouldn't deliberately send his pawns to their deaths.

According to Hao Laoshi, their organization has quite a few people. Judging from the professions of Guigu, most of them are probably elderly, weak, sick, or disabled who cannot enter the dungeon. It is not easy to support so many people. The treasure chest must contain abundant resources. It is only natural to compete for the treasure chest when there is an opportunity to do so.

Gu Mian just hoped that Guigu wouldn't get the treasure chest before she found the evil god.

How exactly does an evil god appear...?

As Gu Mian was pondering this, she saw 007 send another message in the group chat.

[007]: By the way, when the pieces from Group Two came to my room in the last round, a ghost rushed over.
what?
[007]: Just as I had taken control of the second set of pieces, I heard the sound of a door opening from the wall next to me, the wall you passed through in the first round. I looked over there and saw a door appear on the wall, and a ghost opened the door and poked its head in from outside.

[007]: At the time, I was also very confused as to why the ghost had come to the starting room, and I even wondered if I had broken some taboo. But the ghost just poked its head in for a look, and after seeing that I had knocked down the pieces in the second group, it left without worry.
After the message was sent, there was a moment of silence on 007's end, and then a few seconds later, another message was sent.

[007]: I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it felt like that ghost was trying to help me.

This illusion is completely wrong.

Gu Mian knew that the NPCs in the lower-dimensional world harbored deep-seated hatred for him, to the point that even those around him kept their distance. Toy Goose Publishing Company even published a book called "A Guide to Avoiding Dangerous People," specifically designed to introduce the people around Gu Mian and advise NPCs that if they saw any of the characters in the book, they should start preparing to run away.

The book is selling exceptionally well; when Gu Mian last saw it, it had already reached its eighth edition.

As a character who occupies a large portion of the book "A Guide to Avoiding Dangerous People", 007 will naturally be resented by NPCs and ghosts. Why would a ghost worry that 007 can't beat the second group of chess pieces and go to cheer her on?

Unless the higher-ups have assigned the ghost a task they absolutely must perform.

"The dungeon seems to dislike 007's death," Liu Ruyan also noticed this, revealing a meaningful expression. "Why? Are you afraid that if your dear teammate dies, you'll take revenge on the dungeon?"

"What can I do to retaliate? I can't just bring in an excavator and demolish this place."

Liu Ruyan thought for a moment: "That's true. Of course, besides being afraid of offending you, there's another possibility. 007 is the player in our group. What would happen if the player died?"

There is no precedent for a piece remaining alive after the player has died.

Just as the two were talking, a door appeared on the wall next to them.

The twelfth round has begun. 007 has determined her route forward, following the same path planned for the four rooms of 605. This time, the door opens on the left wall.

Gu Mian took a few steps forward and pushed open the door, revealing an empty room behind it.

"An empty room?" Gu Mian looked at the empty room in front of her and frowned slightly. "Is it starting again? Are they going to recreate the situation when we first entered the dungeon?"

Liu Ruyan followed up: "Another empty space, what a coincidence. There's a door on the opposite wall. It seems 007 rolled a two this time. We need to move two spaces to the left."

Gu Mian stared at the door, and after entering it, she arrived at the last room, 605.

He and Liu Ruyan soon entered the second door.

As expected, there was no evil god behind the door, and it was an empty space.

"The evil god is gone, and the ghost has run away too?" Gu Mian looked at the empty room.

Liu Ruyan pondered the message 007 had sent in the group chat earlier: "Didn't 007 say that when she was fighting against the second group of chess pieces, a ghost wanted to help her? I think it's very likely that the dungeon team gave some instructions to the ghost to help 007, and the ghost in the square ran away under the pretext of doing business."

What a blatant abuse of power for personal gain!

Liu Ruyan's guess is indeed the most reasonable explanation at present, but why does the dungeon need to go to such great lengths to coordinate so many ghosts to help 007?

The dungeon team seems very afraid that 007 will die because he can't beat the second set of pieces.

Then he remembered what Liu Ruyan had said earlier.

What would happen if the player playing the game died?

Liu Ruyan looked at Gu Mian in surprise: "Didn't I just ask you that?"

“If the player dies, we will be left without a leader and will remain on the same square where we were when the player died,” Gu Mian pondered.

“But each round of chess pieces also has a countdown. They must leave the current room within one minute after the player makes their choice. If they stay in one room…” Liu Ruyan suddenly stopped, realizing the loophole in her words.

She figured it out: "That's right, the one-minute countdown only appears after the player makes a choice. In the initial room, we only saw the one-minute countdown after 007 made a choice. So, the one-minute countdown for the pieces could actually be nonexistent? If the player dies and can't make a choice, the one-minute countdown for the pieces won't appear. It should skip this step and the pieces can stay in one room indefinitely."

Speaking of this, Liu Ruyan thought of something else: "But at most, it can only stay for ten minutes. The rules clearly state that chess pieces cannot stay in one room for more than ten minutes."

Gu Mian shook her head: "No, some pieces have been staying in one room for more than ten minutes since the first round."

Upon hearing Gu Mian's words, Liu Ruyan first frowned, then suddenly remembered something: "I remember now, it's really tiring."

Damn it, how can we ever stand up if things continue like this! No, Auntie has to stand up!