Global Collapse

If the chainsaw hadn't been missing, Gu Mian guaranteed she would have immediately picked it up and sawed the head off the person making the noise from behind.

He recognized the voice of the evil god.

This time, the classic lines didn't start with the visuals; the surroundings were still pitch black, and Gu Mian knew that the evil god was toying with her.

He turned around and saw Xu Xingcheng, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

The surroundings were still dark, but their feet had somehow transformed into a giant chessboard—Gu Mian guessed that this was the complete picture of the chessboard game instance, which the evil god had now taken and used as a carpet under his feet, probably because he thought it was very classy.

Without saying a word, Gu Mian quickly walked towards Xu Xingcheng's direction.

The grudge from so many reincarnations in Paradise World has yet to be avenged.

Seeing that things were not going well, the other person quickly started moving as well, circling around the edge of the chessboard with Gu Mian. The two of them circling the chessboard looked like a unique two-person comedy act.

As Xu Xingcheng ran around the chessboard, he said, "Don't rush, don't rush. Look, I've already given you the entire Paradise World, and you're still chasing me like this. It's really disheartening..."

"Are you sending me here? You're forcing me into your shitty script. Luckily, I'm quick to understand, or I'd still be stuck in your hero-versus-dragon script."

"You can only understand the truth of things through personal experience. Look at you, you only understood it after experiencing it yourself. I've known you have high comprehension since you were little. Didn't you say the same thing to Jin Hu when you first entered Paradise World..."

Gu Mian stopped in her tracks.

He recalled his last conversation with Jin Hu in the killing game instance.

Jin Hu, a lowly lower-class person in the Paradise World. In the era Jin Hu lived in, the relationship between the upper and lower classes was not as tense as it would become later, which allowed him to harbor delusions.

They wanted to change their status and escape the status of being considered inferior through their own efforts.

Later, he realized how insignificant and laughable his efforts were. Even though he had learned and mastered all the methods of the upper class and tried his best to change the status quo, he was still a small joke in the eyes of the upper class, not even a big joke.

His efforts vanished without a trace, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

Later, he had an epiphany. He realized that he couldn't do it alone; he had to change the world. He wanted to eliminate exploitation and oppression, and to eliminate inequality in the world—which, at first glance, sounded the same as the initial wish of Xu Xingcheng and his two friends.

Unfortunately, Jin Hu and the trio met the same tragic end.

Jin Hu died before his grand ambition could be fulfilled. His soul remained in the forbidden zone of the killing game, continuing to serve the upper class, still harboring the great desire to change the world.

Later, Gu Mian entered the killing game and met Jin Hu in the restricted area hospital, where she learned about his wish.

Tell him that destruction is rebirth.

"Only by destroying this ignorant world can a new order emerge, all exploitation and plunder disappear, and his dream be realized."

"Since the world is irreversibly heading towards decay, it must be destroyed to be saved."

Xu Xingcheng recounted what Gu Mian said to Jin Hu before killing him, and then drew his own conclusion: "At that time, I thought that there was really no need for this Paradise world to continue struggling."

As Xu Xingcheng repeated the story, Gu Mian's forehead twitched twice.

Who says life doesn't have a lot of spectators?

He only used this phrase to fool Jin Hu, hoping that Jin Hu would not resist him taking off his clothes.

For a long time afterward, Gu Mian believed that only he and the long-dead Jin Hu knew the above words. It wasn't until he entered the circus instance that Louis told Gu Mian that he was downstairs when Gu Mian was deceiving Jin Hu, and he also heard those words. He found them very reasonable and was thus awakened to the idea of ​​destroying the upper class, which led him to plant a bomb under the audience seats of the circus variety show.

Gu Mian now realizes that Louis wasn't the only audience member at the time; Xu Xingcheng was also there.

Are you having a team-building activity in a killing game? Why don't you all just come out now, instead of jumping out one by one like the Calabash Brothers trying to save their grandfather?

Xu Xingcheng on the other end continued, "Of course I know that you came up with those words on the spot to deceive him, but they make a lot of sense."

Well, what Xu Xingcheng said was pretty much the same as what Louis said back then.

“I’ve had this idea for a while, but I didn’t dare to think about it too much.” Xu Xingcheng took a deep breath. “I thought that since the three of us opened the curtain on the story together, the ending should also be drawn by the three of us. No matter whether the ending is good or bad, it’s better than the story ending abruptly in the middle. But later I found that I not only couldn’t write the ending, but I also couldn’t make the story end abruptly. Everything before was just unrealistic fantasy. Now that someone has appeared who has the ability to end everything, I’ve decided to unload the burden.”

"You've relieved yourself of your burden, but it's now on my shoulders, isn't it?" Gu Mian thought to herself.

Gu Mian decided to discuss this hot potato with him.

"Now that your world has become a seed, what will happen to the people inside?" Gu Mian had wanted to ask Xu Xingcheng about the Paradise Seed for a long time. He had no idea why the Paradise World had become a seed, what its future purpose would be, or whether Xu Xingcheng's two friends were still alive.

"They are all still here, and they will reappear on the day when a new world grows up again."

"Grow back to life?" Gu Mian looked at him. "So I'm going to get a pot, plant it, and then water and fertilize it every day?"

If a theme park actually grew on Earth, the planet would probably explode with anger.

“Actually, I don’t know,” the evil god said matter-of-factly. “Just like I said before, I am a person who has ideals but can’t do anything. I can only guide those who can do things to do them. I only understand a little bit about the will of the world. I only know that stopping the progress of the Paradise World is also its own will, so I just went with the flow.”

Gu Mian understands why Paradise World wants to halt the process.

This world has been influenced by Earth too much. Later, due to the rollback control, it could develop in a way that Earth wanted it to.

Paradise is like a pig waiting to be slaughtered on Earth.

At least a proper pig isn't very smart and doesn't know how to resist. It eats and drinks its fill and lives day by day without much thought. When the day of its end comes, it just takes a knife in and out and it dies. It can't endure suffering for long.

The lower-dimensional world is different. They are incredibly intelligent and possess a strong rebellious spirit. They are a group of highly intelligent pigs who worry daily about when they will die and how to defeat their enemies to achieve spiritual transcendence. But no matter how intelligent they are, they are still pigs. The fate of intelligent pigs and unintelligent pigs is actually not much different, and they will suffer a lot of mental torment in between.

"So you brought me here today just to tell me about your helplessness?" Gu Mian felt that Xu Xingcheng had been rambling on for a long time, spouting a bunch of nonsense.

Gu Mian thought Xu Xingcheng was going to refute her, but to her surprise, he shamelessly nodded: "It seems so."

Gu Mian felt that she must have been out of her mind to go to such lengths to find Xu Xingcheng in the chessboard instance.

But Xu Xingcheng spoke up again.

"But you received a free gift today."

"What free gift?" Gu Mian had just asked when she saw Xu Xingcheng rush over and then cling to her.

Then he felt the chessboard beneath his feet disappear, and he felt as if he was falling down.

"Of course it's the handsome and dashing me"—Gu Mian heard him say this during the descent.

"boom"

Hao Laoshi, who was sitting on the sofa, suddenly heard something fall to the ground behind him, and then felt the sofa next to him sink a little as if someone had sat down next to him.

He turned his head and saw no one beside him, only a guitar case. He continued to look behind him and saw two people lying on the floor behind the sofa.

The person above dusted himself off and stood up. Hao Laoshi realized that he knew this person.

"Xu Xingcheng?" His face was full of doubt. He knew Xu Xingcheng from the Death Shooting instance, where Gu Mian and Chu Changge were also present.

At the time, Hao Laoshi knew that Xu Xingcheng, Gu Mian and Chu Changge knew each other before, but Xu Xingcheng did not live with Gu Mian and the others. It seemed that they just happened to be matched in the dungeon.

Was Xu Xingcheng also in the chessboard game instance? That's why he was teleported here. He's not from Group 1 or our group. All the pieces from Group 3 are dead, so could he be from Group 2? Hao Laoshi wondered.

The others in the living room were also caught off guard by Xu Xingcheng's sudden appearance.

Just a second ago they were discussing when Gu Mian would come back.

Xu Xingcheng happily greeted the others in the room: "Everyone's here. It seems like we don't need to introduce ourselves since we're all acquaintances..."

Before he could finish speaking, Gu Mian, who had just gotten up, kicked him aside, ending his unfinished entrance lines.

"The doctor is back!" The fat man stood up excitedly when he saw Gu Mian appear where Xu Xingcheng had just been standing. He had thought that Gu Mian would disappear for several days again, but he did not expect that Gu Mian would come back less than an hour after the others left.

"What's going on with him?" Liu Ruyan pointed at Xu Xingcheng, who had been kicked aside by Gu Mian. She naturally knew Xu Xingcheng's identity, but she didn't expect him to come out with Gu Mian.

Xu Xingcheng was kicked, and naturally walked a few steps forward to the low table by the balcony. He plopped down on the chair next to it and happily picked a flower that the fat man had carefully planted.

Gu Mian had already noticed that there were two more people in the living room, so he didn't continue the conversation about Xu Xingcheng's identity: "We'll talk about it later."

He recognized one of them as Hao Laoshi. He knew Hao Laoshi was in the chessboard instance, but he didn't expect to see him again after he came out.

It took Gu Mian a few seconds to recognize the other person; it was Gui Gu. He had a burn scar on his face and was missing a few fingers, making him look quite different from before. But the biggest change was in his demeanor; he was now very composed and showed no trace of his former impulsiveness and restlessness.

"What happened?" Gu Mian asked.

Liu Ruyan turned her gaze away from Xu Xingcheng: "There was a mistake when the dungeon sent us out; they sent the child to the wrong house. By the way, the chess player from Group Three was with us before you came back, not Renleshan."

“It’s Anzhi Tinglan, you’ve met her before.” The fortune teller next to Gu Mian said, “I didn’t expect you to be matched with her in the same instance again.”

Riverbank orchids and water lilies...

Gu Mian quickly found the name in her mind. It was an old acquaintance from that dating reality show segment. He was a very smart person.

Mentioning Renle Mountain reminded Gu Mian of 007. He looked around but didn't see 007 anywhere: "Where's 007?"

"Unfortunately, I don't know which group's base I was teleported to when I came out," Liu Ruyan said, glancing at the group chat as she spoke. "I haven't received any replies yet."

At this moment, Hao Laoshi noticed that he had received a reply to the message he had sent to his family. After he came out and found that he had been teleported here, he immediately explained the situation to his family and let them know that he was safe. However, his family did not reply for a long time, which made him feel uneasy.

And now he has finally received a reply from Huluwa.

The reply was very long. Hao Laoshi read it carefully. After reading it, his mind went blank for a moment, and even his eyes became a little confused.

Hearing Gu Mian asking about the "007" thing, Hao Laoshi whispered, "Your friend named 007 is in Huluwa."

"Huluwa?" Gu Mian was hearing this name for the first time.

"That's where Guigu and Hao Laoshi live. They have a big base there with dozens of people," the fat man explained.

Guigu was also stunned. He didn't expect that he would come to Gu Mian's side and Gu Mian's teammates would happen to come to his side.

After leaving the instance, he didn't check the messages he received. He knew that the people in the base would definitely send him messages to ask what had happened, but he was too afraid to face them.

Hao Laoshi glanced at Guigu as he spoke, hesitated for a long time before continuing, "She was teleported to our base, and she said..."

"What did you say?" the fat man asked anxiously. The wounds on Guigu's body showed that the base wasn't some benevolent organization. Guigu was their backbone, and now that he was suddenly gone and replaced by a stranger, they were bound to feel disappointed and angry, venting their anger on the person who had driven them away. They might even tie up the stranger and interrogate him!
Therefore, the fat man was very worried about 007's safety.

Hao Laoshi stammered, "She said Mr. Gu, you're just a defeated opponent, nothing special..." (End of Chapter)