Global Collapse-Chapter 583 - 551: A Day Without Gu Mian_1

Run!

Without looking back, Liu Yiji started dashing down the nearby staircase. The thing behind him followed closely. He heard something coming after him!

Liu Yiji, who had rested for several hours, was full of energy. He sprinted down the stairs, taking two or three steps at a time, almost flying down.

Yet, the distance between him and the thing behind him didn't widen.

He heard the rustling sound right behind him. His skin prickled, and the hair on his back stood on end.

The bell tower had seven floors, and he was originally on the top floor.

Realizing he had been spotted by the ghost, he had already fled down three or four floors, but he couldn't shake it off.

The sound behind him grew closer. Liu Yiji even felt the stuffed animal's hand touch his back, the spot it touched tingling and itching.

It's about to catch me...

Feeling the touch from behind, Liu Yiji's eyes widened.

No! If I'm caught, it's over!

At that moment, he noticed an open window around the corner of the staircase ahead.

Spotting the window, he charged towards it without a second thought, heedless of the fact that a fall from this height could leave him half dead. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Before the stuffed animal could react, he propped his hands on the windowsill and vaulted out of the open window.

THUD!

Liu Yiji landed heavily on the ground.

There was no one around the plaza, so his fall didn't cause any panic.

Having jumped from buildings in previous instances, Liu Yiji was already adept at positioning himself for landing, so he hadn't sustained any major injuries despite jumping from the third floor.

After the heavy landing, he frantically reached out to brace himself on the ground, but his right hand was useless, completely unresponsive.

He quickly used his left hand to push himself up, thankful it was still functional.

His right arm hung limply from his shoulder, swaying with his movements and sending jolts of excruciating pain.

He knew his right arm was broken.

It's not a severe injury.

Ignoring his arm, he stood up and bolted.

But then he heard the sound of something else landing behind him.

The teddy bear had jumped down too!

Liu Yiji didn't look back; he just forced himself to run forward. However, his leg was also slightly injured, throbbing with unbearable pain and causing him to limp.

A ghost's speed was far beyond what a player could match, especially a limping Liu Yiji.

Almost immediately, he felt something reach for his neck from behind.

Then, a weight settled on him, as if something was pressing him down.

He was now near the entrance of an underground parking lot. Without turning his head, he could see his reflection in the glass panels beside him.

He tilted his head slightly.

In the reflection, he saw two hands gripping his neck tightly, and the human-sized teddy bear had clambered entirely onto his back...

There's no way out now.

Desperate, Liu Yiji closed his eyes.

But just then, he heard someone rushing over from the side.

Before he could open his eyes, he felt something collide with him. Then the weight on him lightened, and the sensation on his neck vanished.

Liu Yiji immediately turned to see Bai Wu.

She had forcefully pinned the teddy bear to the ground. Holding a knife high, she stabbed it into the bear's abdomen.

The spot had been cut open before and stitched up with crooked red thread. Bai Wu's stab severed all the red threads. Glutinous rice, mixed with a few fingernails, streamed out from the teddy bear's belly.

Once its contents spilled out, the previously animated teddy bear lay motionless on the ground.

Liu Yiji held his breath, staring at the stuffed animal on the ground for several minutes. Only after confirming it truly wasn't moving did he finally exhale, turning to stare in shock at the suddenly appeared Bai Wu. "This is…"

Bai Wu, presumably out of breath from running, took a moment to compose herself before saying, "This is the way out. Aside from not getting caught, there's another way out.

"The instance name is 'One Man's Hide and Seek.' It's not about one ghost catching many people; as long as there's one person and one ghost, the game can proceed. But the instance brought in six players and then dispatched six ghosts to hunt each of them individually. That's illogical.

"It didn't make sense until I saw a group of kids playing hide-and-seek in the clothing mall earlier. 'One Man's Hide and Seek' means the rules only apply between that one person and their one ghost. The person hides, their corresponding ghost chases, and that ghost won't go after anyone else.

"Each ghost corresponds to a specific player and won't target others. This means you can interfere with the ghost chasing me! And I realized something else...

"My doll was in perfect condition when I left that room. But when I saw it again, I found its eyes had been gouged out.

"The Doctor said earlier that he'd experimented with his own teddy bear and found it indestructible. But when I saw my corresponding teddy bear again, its eyes were gone. Of course, it couldn't have gouged out its own eyes!

"So, I had an idea: what if players are only unable to destroy their *own* corresponding dolls? I suspect another player gouged out my doll's eyes. Someone must have done it after I left!"

"In short," Liu Yiji frowned, summarizing, "destroying each other's dolls is the way out, right?"

He glanced at the doll on the ground, which showed no signs of stirring.

Bai Wu nodded. "Yes. So, separating at the beginning was a mistake. But when I came looking for you, I didn't expect you to be chased by a ghost. It seems I arrived just in time."

Liu Yiji winced, moving his injured arm slightly. "Indeed. I think it targeted me when I was on the phone. So, this doll... did you kill it?"

Bai Wu shook her head. "How can ghosts be killed by players? You must have been through quite a few instances. Have you ever seen a ghost killed by a player? It's just that the doll's contents spilled out, so it lost its target."

As she spoke, she glanced at the puddle of glutinous rice on the ground, mixed with several fingernails.

The ghost relies on the fingernails or hair inside its body to identify its target.

Now that these things had fallen out, the ghost naturally lost its target.

Bai Wu handed the knife to Liu Yiji. "We shouldn't separate now. I just saw the ghost that was looking for me. If it comes, you…"

Just as she was halfway through her sentence, a stuffed animal's arm suddenly shot out from the nearby underground parking garage, grabbed Bai Wu, and dragged her into the darkness.

"AH—" Bai Wu screamed, but her voice was quickly swallowed by the dark garage.

Having just taken the knife, Liu Yiji immediately tried to give chase, but his limping leg couldn't keep up with Bai Wu.

Using his phone for light, he frantically searched the dark garage for several minutes but found no trace of Bai Wu.

"Bai Wu?" Liu Yiji scanned the surrounding cars, shouting.

Only his own echoes reverberated in the underground garage.

Panting heavily, he quickly opened his phone's contact list and dialed Bai Wu's number.

Half a second later, a faint ringtone echoed from a dark corner.

Liu Yiji hesitated for a moment before following the sound.

The light from his phone pushed back the darkness. After walking for half a minute, he finally reached the source of the sound.

He looked closely and found the sound was coming from a red sedan.

Liu Yiji aimed his phone's light through the car's windshield.

A headless corpse sat in the driver's seat.

His hand trembled.

Then, something tumbled and rolled to his feet.

He looked down and saw Bai Wu's severed head, her eyes bulging.