Chapter 948: Chapter 896: Your Friend Gu Mian Is Riding This Way
At this moment, Fatty had considerately taken out a map and was gesturing at it with Hao Laoshi.
"Gourd Valley is over there, you can see it’s at the top of the map. This small section represents a hundred kilometers. Let’s see now, Gourd Valley is over eight hundred kilometers from here in Lianhua City, and that’s just the straight line distance, not counting detours." He was calculating the distance from Gourd Gorge to Lianhua City for Hao Laoshi, though he also got the name wrong and called it "Gourd Valley" with Hao Laoshi.
Hao Laoshi visibly became anxious: "What should we do, over eight hundred kilometers—how long will it take to get back?"
Fatty patted him on the shoulder: "Don’t worry. No one dies of holding their pee, you’re all still alive, maybe you’ll get a special item that can transport you in the next instance, just like that girl transported with Mario to a sewer eight hundred kilometers away. For now, send a message to let your family know you’re safe, as long as you’re alive everything can be worked out."
"Let me correct you," Liu Ruyan beside him spoke up, "The item Anzhi Tianlan took out earlier can’t transport far, it only goes to nearby sewers."
"Maybe that item is part of a series, with ’Mario of the Nearby Sewer’, maybe there’s also ’Mario of the Sewer Eight Hundred Kilometers Away,’" Fatty nodded confidently, "If it doesn’t work, wait for the doctor to return and drive you back. If Miss 007 happens to be in your area, she can also be brought back along."
Mentioning this, Fatty checked the group chat again, but there was still no reply from 007.
This was somewhat eerie.
If he was transported out of the instance and found himself in another location, his first reaction would certainly be to ask for help from everyone, but 007 had been out of the instance for so long yet hadn’t said a word in the chat. Could there be some danger at her place preventing her from sending a message?
Hao Laoshi lowered his head dejectedly. He had met Gu Mian during the Spirit Car driving test instance and naturally knew the other had a Spirit Car driving license, but he was aware their relationship wasn’t close enough for Gu Mian to drive him back eight hundred kilometers home.
He’s not sure about Mr. Gu and Gu Mian’s relationship; maybe combined, their connection might persuade Gu Mian to take them back.
Thinking this, he looked up towards Guigu: "Mr. Gu, do you think we can go back anytime soon?"
Only then did Guigu return to his senses, casting a complex glance at Hao Laoshi.
Unlike Hao Laoshi’s anxious mood, Guigu found a sudden sense of relaxation after arriving at Gu Mian’s place from the instance.
This was a feeling he hadn’t experienced for a long time.
Long ago, together with Han Shan, Captain Feng, and many teammates, they established a base at Gourd Gorge to accommodate those willing to follow them.
Those were ordinary people without much intelligence or strength to outrun ghosts, with a high mortality rate in instances.
Back then, the instance protection mechanism was still in place, so death only meant losing attributes, special items, or game coins, of which they were most short of game coins. Han Shan planned for these people to submit their game coins to those outside instances for unified management, so dying in the instance wouldn’t waste too many resources.
Later, the death protection mechanism disappeared.
Han Shan then planned to reduce their instance entry frequency, mostly assigning them logistic tasks, like farming or searching for resources outside.
With so many people to feed, while their frequency in the instance went down, Guigu and the others had to increase theirs.
At that time, their frequency of entering instances was very high, and every time someone died in an instance. Although he felt stressed, he understood it was their duty. Fortunately, those who survived the instances would help lighten the mood, quickly getting everyone through the sorrow of losing friends.
They had to move on, as the next instance wasn’t far away.
As time passed, the number of people to feed was still high, but their former teammates grew fewer.
Until in the end, the few familiar faces all left him, leaving only himself.
Before he could emerge from grief, the burden of the base fell onto his shoulders.
The people in the base had long become accustomed to placing their hopes and future on someone of supreme status; without that person, the whole base’s faith would immediately collapse.
He had to put on a gleaming mask to soothe the people in the base, replacing Han Shan as their new pillar.
He forced himself to become more like Han Shan, imitating his every move.
Gradually, the people in the base slowly forgot the previous ’god’ and again raised him to a supreme position.
Sometimes as he walked through the base, looking at all those familiar yet so strange faces, after staring for a long time, they all seemed the same to Guigu, their heads transforming into gaping mouths, like insatiable black holes.
In the eyes of the people, Guigu was flawless, but he saw the void in his heart growing larger, like a winter window paper torn by cold wind, never to heal.
He had long forgotten what it felt like to be relaxed, until now.
He saw sunlight streaming over the brown cabinet in the living room, where a two-eared glass jar of fruit candies rested. He heard the delightful bubbling sound of a kettle boiling in the kitchen. The faint scent of laundry detergent filled the air; a basin on the balcony held several pieces of clothing that had yet to be hung to dry.
He hadn’t noticed such things for a long time.
He didn’t want to return; the thought suddenly arose in his mind.
He knew how shameful it was, knew how unspeakable it was. But after seeing those vibrant fruit candies, smelling the soothing scent of laundry detergent, he knew he could never go back to face that solitary winter.
"What happened to your hand and face?" Chu Changge glanced at his left hand, missing three fingers.
The death protection mechanism was now off, but the injury protection mechanism remained, meaning injuries sustained inside an instance would heal after coming out.
Which meant these injuries on Guigu weren’t caused inside an instance.
Hao Laoshi, who had been waiting for Guigu’s answer, blinked at Chu Changge’s question and then looked at Guigu’s facial and hand injuries.
He had arrived late at the base, and by then, Guigu had already had these.
Hao Laoshi had also curiously asked before, but had never received an answer.
Guigu smiled self-deprecatingly, the scar next to his left eye forming twisted fine lines as he smiled: "While Han Shan was still alive, there was a riot at the base, and once while he was in an instance, I got careless and was shackled in a room, and they set the place on fire. I used a knife to cut through half my hand to wriggle free, but it was a bit late and flames reached my face, even burning my left eye, so my vision isn’t very good anymore."
Saying this, he adjusted his glasses with the right lens poked out.
Fatty found those glasses familiar: "Those are Han Shan’s glasses, right?"
Guigu nodded: "There aren’t places to get professional glasses made anymore, I make do with these."
"It wasn’t an inside job," Chu Changge spoke again, not phrased as a question.
Guigu was silent for a moment: "It wasn’t an inside job, it was those people thinking game coins turned in for management had been pocketed, so this happened."
Fatty fell silent too. After a long while, he spoke: "You really seem to be suffering there, why not stay longer here. Hao Laoshi, don’t be rash, you see right now there’s no use in fretting, right? Among us, only the doctor can drive you, better to stay here until the doctor comes back and then discuss how you two can go back."
Last time, Gu Mian was taken by the Evil God to Paradise World for several days, and now, taken again by the Evil God, Fatty didn’t know how long Gu Mian would be gone.
"The doctor hasn’t been online lately, almost like a missing person, I’m thinking those missing person notices we have will likely be useful, maybe in a while, if the doctor still doesn’t return, we’ll just have to pitifully go to the streets displaying our missing notes."
Fatty referred to the [Warrant for the Hideous Mr. Gu] that Chu Changge and others obtained in Paradise World.
Although there’s a big difference between the warrant and a missing notice, at least it has a photo of Gu Mian to show others.
Though it’s an ugly photo.
Gu Mian doesn’t know Fatty is considering displaying his ugly photo; he is drifting in darkness right now.
Just like when transitioning from the Fierce Ghost Exhibition to Paradise World, the surrounding was pitch black, and Gu Mian suspected that soon he’d see a glimmer and hear that classic phrase again.
History often repeats itself, and just as he thought this, a chilling voice suddenly sounded behind him.
"With Hero Gu Mian here, we’ll definitely defeat the evil Upper Class People!"
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