For the past few days, Chu Changge had been kept busy by Gu Mian and Fatty, preventing him from continuing to track Xie Bi'an.

Mr. Green was also summoned by Gu Mian to create fake identities for communicating with NPCs. Despite being extremely unwilling, Mr. Green agreed, fearing Gu Mian would confiscate his special items in anger. Thus, he had to swallow his pride and help create the fake identities.

"I'm not from that Paradise World, and I really don't know much about it. I've only heard that the people there aren't quite normal. Most of them are unaware of other worlds existing and are solely focused on their internal class divisions and organizing entertainment activities," Mr. Green said. He clearly disdained the people of Paradise World, his tone dripping with contempt whenever he mentioned it.

Gu Mian looked at the three contact methods listed in the small booklet. "In Paradise World, the distinction between Upper Class People and Lower Class People is very clear. Lower Class People have an extremely low social status, almost like livestock being farmed; they certainly wouldn't possess communication tools."

"These contact methods must belong to Upper Class People, and they aren't easy to communicate with."

Gu Mian then recalled the Upper Class People he had encountered in Paradise World. Their personalities were even uglier than Xiao Hong's face.

As he thought this, he glanced at Xiao Hong, who was sitting quietly nearby, drinking soda. Xiao Hong noticed Gu Mian's gaze, turned her repulsive face towards him, and offered a chilling smile.

Gu Mian silently averted his gaze, not looking at her further.

However, not all Upper Class People were deviants; Lu Yi was an exception. He behaved quite normally and had really hit it off with Gu Mian.

After leaving the Circus Dungeon, he hadn't seen Lu Yi again and wondered how he was doing now.

With the Carnival's audience section having been bombed, Lu Yi would definitely be investigated. Gu Mian wondered how he would clear his name.

"These three contacts might not all belong to Upper Class People. The people in that world are all abnormal. I heard the organizers deploy some normal people from other worlds to act as NPCs. NPCs in crucial areas, like the wharf near the station, should be normal people," Mr. Green said uncertainly. "But that's just hearsay; I can't be sure."

That made sense. The Upper Class People in Paradise World weren't exactly obedient. They only did what they enjoyed, and expecting them to dutifully fulfill their roles in an instance was practically a fantasy.

Take someone like Teacher Slaughter, the host of his show; he wasn't fulfilling any duties for an instance. He didn't even know his Slaughter game show *was* an instance; he was simply reveling in it.

According to Mr. Green, Jisan, who was in charge of recruitment at the Carnival Wharf, should be a normal person. And his place was a recruitment office, so calling to inquire about work at the wharf would be perfectly reasonable, right?

Chu Changge, who was nearby, pushed up his glasses. "We can pretend to be Gu Mian's victims—poor, homeless NPCs whose instance collapsed—and inquire about work at the Carnival Wharf."

Upon hearing the phrase "poor, homeless NPCs whose instance collapsed," Mr. Green's expression visibly twisted. Clearly, the remark had struck a nerve.

"That's easy! The Doctor has destroyed quite a few instances before. We can just pick one of those destroyed instances and pretend to be NPCs from it," Fatty chimed in, slapping his thigh.

After careful consideration, they chose the instance called "The Marvelous Adventure of the Food Processing Factory." This instance had collapsed recently, and the Food Processing Factory had many NPC employees. It stood to reason that many of them would be unemployed and looking for work.

The problem was their limited knowledge of this Food Processing Factory. If questioned about details, they would likely blow their cover.

Gu Mian had entered the Food Processing Factory through an instance called "One-Man Hide and Seek." He hadn't been inside for long before the Fortune-teller bombed the building.

That's right! The Fortune-teller had spent a long time in the Food Processing Factory; she would know more about it.

So, Gu Mian went to get the Fortune-teller.

"You want me to pretend to be an NPC harmed by Gu Mian and call other NPCs to ask for a job?" Gu Mian had given her a lot of information at once, and the Fortune-teller was struggling to process it all.

"When the time comes, turn on speakerphone. Chu Changge will be beside you with a whiteboard to prompt you on what to say," Gu Mian told the Fortune-teller.

The Fortune-teller hesitated for a few seconds. "Alright... I'll do my best not to blow our cover."

Before making the call, Chu Changge specifically went over several potential questions the person on the other end might ask the Fortune-teller, coaching her on how to respond.

The Fortune-teller was a little nervous. "This feels just like a real job interview."

After calming her nerves, she picked up Mr. Green's mobile phone and dialed the contact number Gu Mian had provided.

"Carnival Wharf Recruitment... 1-8-8-8-7-2-5-0..." The Fortune-teller double-checked each digit as she pressed it, afraid of making a mistake. Only after confirming the number was correct did she press the call button.

This phone was similar to ones she had used before, so she didn't need Mr. Green to show her how to operate it.

RING... RING... RING...

The phone just kept ringing, but no one answered.

After waiting for about a minute with no answer, the Fortune-teller redialed the number as Gu Mian had instructed.

This time, after about ten seconds of ringing, the call was picked up.

As soon as the call connected, a cacophony of sounds came from the other end. It sounded like some heavy object was being dragged across the floor, emitting a harsh, scraping noise.

Besides the scraping, there were also the faint, distant voices of people talking animatedly, though they were too far away to make out clearly.

Then, a loud voice boomed from the other end, "Lift it! Lift it up! Don't drag it on the ground! You'll wreck my floorboards!"

Another voice chimed in, "This steel bar is huge! How am I supposed to lift it by myself? Our wharf really needs to hire more people. There are still a dozen more of these steel bars waiting to be moved for the stage construction."

The first loud voice spoke again, "Hang on, hang on! I'll come help you carry that as soon as I'm done with this call..."

Clearly, this preceding conversation wasn't meant for Gu Mian and his group.

"Hello, who's this?" the person on the other end finally addressed them.

"Ah, yes, I... I wanted to ask if your wharf is still hiring? I'm from the Food Processing Factory. I recently lost my job and was thinking of finding work at your place," the Fortune-teller stammered, her eyes flicking to the notes detailing her fabricated identity.

"Good timing! We're actually short-handed right now. That bunch of Upper Class People are planning some kind of talent show, and we're building the stage. A ton of materials are coming through our wharf, and we just don't have enough manpower. Stuff's been piling up for days! By the way, which Food Processing Factory are you from? Is it near us?"

It seemed the person on the other end thought the Fortune-teller was an NPC from Paradise World. They even mentioned the Upper Class People planning a talent show. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

So, since they couldn't host the Slaughter Game or the Carnival anymore, the Upper Class People had come up with a new idea.

The Fortune-teller replied, following the prompts on Chu Changge's board, "I'm not from your Paradise World. I was an employee at the Food Processing Factory—the one Gu Mian bombed. We really couldn't find any work here, so we had no choice but to call you."

As she said this, the Fortune-teller's voice trembled almost imperceptibly. After all, she too had played a part in bombing the Food Processing Factory.

Back then, Gu Mian had brought along a ghost that resembled a teddy bear. At the time, she had mistaken it for a special item with a perpetually gloomy face. Seeing it try to escape, she had even stepped forward to help Gu Mian by pinning it down with her foot.

Later, Gu Mian told her that the thing she had stepped on was a ghost. For several nights afterward, the Fortune-teller had nightmares, repeatedly dreaming that she would open her eyes to find that gloomy-faced teddy bear sleeping right beside her.