Global Collapse-Chapter 575 - 543: Tears and Snot Flowing Freely, Grumbling Spirit_1

No one expected a player to still be hiding in a room after the instance began.

Even though this person was quite striking to look at, the others were taken aback.

"Holy crap!" Liu Yiji, who had just taken a large step backward, only dared to voice his thoughts after confirming it was a person. "You scared the life out of me!"

Gu Mian touched his own face. He didn't think his appearance was particularly frightening and wondered why these three looked so startled.

He took two steps forward and walked out of the room.

Liu Yiji craned his neck, trying to see into the room Gu Mian had just exited, but just as he caught a whiff of something burnt, the player in the white coat reached out and shut the door.

Liu Yiji opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Gu Mian. "So, you're my teammates."

There were a total of seven players in this instance.

Gu Mian knew that Chu Changge and Xie Bi'an had both entered this instance. Including himself, that made three. With the three players now in front of him, that made six in total.

One player was still unaccounted for.

After hearing Gu Mian's words, the three people in the room exchanged glances. They all felt this player in the white coat was very strange. At first glance, he seemed like a normal person, but a closer look revealed something unsettling.

But they couldn't pinpoint what it was.

He also carried a guitar case on his back. The case bulged oddly, and no one knew what it contained.

Stranger still was this player's nickname.

Opening his player panel, they found that the nickname field displayed 'Doctor' in a vibrant green.

Huai Xin Zhen Yue was the first to speak. "I've heard from others that players with Professions have their nicknames displayed in green. You must have the Doctor Profession, right?"

Gu Mian nodded. "Indeed. If any of you ever get your neck half-severed, you can come to me. I guarantee I can reattach it..."

He paused before adding, "Of course, if it's completely severed, then don't bother coming to me."

Hearing this, the group grew somewhat excited.

Of course, it wasn't the prospect of having their necks half-severed that excited them.

Now that the instance's death protection mechanism was disabled, players could die in many ways besides being killed by ghosts. For instance, being stabbed in the stomach and slowly bleeding to death in agony, jumping from a high building and dying from a broken rib puncturing a lung, or having one's neck half-slashed and dying from blood loss...

If they could receive medical treatment from a Doctor in such situations, they might be able to survive a little longer. Perhaps they could even hold out until the instance ended. They remembered that the mission for this instance was to avoid being caught by the ghosts before sunset. Time was life, so to speak.

Gu Mian had no idea why the others' gazes had shifted from startled to excited.

"Speaking of Profession instances..." Huai Xin Zhen Yue recalled a past experience. "Before the death protection mechanism was disabled, I was fortunate enough to enter a Profession instance. Liu Yiji, you weren't there that time."

Hearing this, Gu Mian glanced at Liu Yiji's player information.

His nickname was normal, not green, nor was it a Profession name.

It seemed he had honorably perished in that instance.

Huai Xin Zhen Yue continued, "I remember the Profession in that Profession instance was 'Translator.' That instance was extremely dangerous; the other players died one after another. I was the one who survived the longest, but unfortunately, I still couldn't complete the instance mission in the end."

As he spoke, he looked at Gu Mian. "Profession instances are said to be quite dangerous. For you to have cleared a Profession instance, you must be an incredibly skilled player."

Gu Mian nodded in agreement. "Indeed."

Huai Xin Zhen Yue was momentarily speechless. He hadn't expected Gu Mian to be so utterly devoid of humility. Shouldn't a normal person offer some polite demurral, like 'Oh, not at all,' or something similar?

"You truly are modest," Huai Xin Zhen Yue said, an eyebrow twitching.

Gu Mian nodded in agreement again. "Indeed."

This time, the other party was rendered completely speechless.

The truth was, Gu Mian had only participated in a single Profession instance so far.

If he'd encountered a few more, he might now be able to pull out a whole stack of Profession certificates and show them off one by one.

"Alright," Liu Yiji glanced at his pocket watch. It was now seven-ten. In another fifty minutes, those dolls would start moving. "Let's not discuss Professions for now."

As he spoke, he shifted his gaze to Gu Mian. "What... were you doing in the room just now?"

The three of them had quickly exited their bedrooms and gathered in the living room, but this Doctor had stayed in his bedroom for several minutes.

When Liu Yiji had wanted to peek into his bedroom, the Doctor had shut the door, as if there was something inside that couldn't be shown to others.

"I was studying the doll," Gu Mian answered truthfully.

In this instance, those dolls were the 'ghosts.' Gu Mian felt that studying them a bit wasn't going too far.

Liu Yiji opened his mouth but said nothing.

They had indeed observed those dolls too, but the thought that those things would soon spring to life and start killing people made them too afraid to actually touch them. They only dared to observe with their eyes.

But judging by the amount of time the Doctor had spent in the room, he had likely done more than just observe with his eyes.

"Speaking of these dolls," Bai Wu, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up. "I have an idea. If we destroy these dolls right at the beginning—say, by burning them or something—will they still be able to come after us?"

The others had actually had the same thought. But no one dared to try it. What if, in the process of burning them, they actually brought the things to life? Wouldn't that be walking right into death's embrace?

At this point, Gu Mian touched his chin and spoke, "To be honest, I've tried it."

"You've tried?" Liu Yiji widened his eyes in surprise.

He finally understood where that burnt smell emanating from the room earlier had come from.

This guy actually went and burned the doll right off the bat?

Gu Mian stated matter-of-factly, "I saw a lighter on the table earlier. I couldn't resist, so I lit it up..."

So that's what you meant by 'I was studying the doll'? Liu Yiji thought.

While Liu Yiji was undoubtedly shocked, Huai Xin Zhen Yue was more interested in the outcome.

He stared intently at Gu Mian. "And then?"

Gu Mian recalled, "Its fur got singed off in one spot. I don't know if it was because it had been soaked in water, but apart from the bald patch of fur, there wasn't any other damage. It just got a bit blackened and charred."

"You've really got guts, burning it right away like that," Liu Yiji couldn't help but exclaim, marveling at Gu Mian's audacity.

Huai Xin Zhen Yue frowned. So these dolls really can't be destroyed.

But Gu Mian's next words made his frown deepen.

"Then I slashed it a few times with a knife."

Liu Yiji's forehead twitched uncontrollably. "You even slashed it with a knife?"

Is this guy even human? He couldn't help but suspect that this person in front of him had a death wish. Did he enter this instance just to die?

"I slashed it several times. It's very soft, but I couldn't cut it open. Not a shred of cotton stuffing came out," Gu Mian said earnestly.

Hearing his description, the few people before him all unconsciously retreated a few steps, a sense of dread washing over them.

「Meanwhile」

Fatty had also learned from Xiao Qiao and Liu Ruyan that Gu Mian and the others had entered an instance.

Alone and learning this news, Fatty started wailing dramatically, like an abandoned wife full of grievances.

He sobbed as he typed in the group chat.

[Fatty]: Doctor, Brother Chu, have you all entered an instance?

But for a long time, there was no reply from Gu Mian in the group chat.

He waited for several minutes before a message from Chu Changge finally came through.

[Chu Changge]: The instance name is 'A Lone Hide and Seek'.

Hide and Seek?

Fatty stopped sobbing.

He remembered having entered a hide-and-seek instance before, called 'Heartbeat Hide and Seek'.

He typed, puzzled.

[Fatty]: Is it ghosts hunting you this time too?

After a while, Chu Changge replied.

[Chu Changge]: It's a plush toy.

So it's not ghosts.

Fatty seemed to come to a realization and muttered to himself, "So it's not ghosts, huh. Well, that's no big deal. The Doctor has killed plenty of non-human things anyway."