Global Collapse-Chapter 679 - 645: The intermittent play-dead never sends lunchboxes_1

"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on!"

In front of a dark, dense forest, a male player named Song Tang was looking around in sheer disbelief.

Just seconds after he and his two friends stepped out of the supermarket, they found themselves in this eerie place.

It seemed that night had recently fallen, and the surroundings were dimly lit.

Behind them was a pitch-black forest, and in front of them was a winding path. Looking further down this path, they could faintly make out buildings concealed in the darkness.

It appeared to be a small town in the distance.

But at the moment, Song Tang had no energy to focus on the town. Instead, he asked with wide eyes, "Where are we? How did we suddenly appear here? Did any of you see a prompt on your game panel?"

As Song Tang spoke, he turned to look at the others. Unsure who to ask, he scanned their faces one by one.

"No," a female player with the nickname "A String of Thoughtful Years" said, her face grim. "We were inexplicably pulled here. No alerts, no notifications…"

As she spoke, her eyes were fixed on the void in front of her, as if trying to see the panel that would issue missions.

"Me too. No instance prompt, no mission alert. I don't even… know how to leave this place," the male player next to A String of Thoughtful Years finally said.

His expression was also grim, but he remained relatively calm. He looked at his two friends, then shifted his gaze to the four people opposite them. "Did you all not receive any alerts either?"

He noticed a popular female star among the four people opposite them, but in the current situation, no one had the mind to care; they just wanted to figure out what was going on.

Miss 007 looked at the man nicknamed "August Fifteenth", then turned to survey her three companions, silently questioning them with her gaze.

The Fortune-teller was pale. "I didn't get any panel notification either."

She hadn't expected to enter this deathtrap so quickly, and with Xiao Qiao and the others at that.

Chu Changge shook his head lightly, his meaning clear.

Xiao Qiao was staring blankly at her surroundings, as if not expecting to return to this world. Only when she met 007's questioning gaze did she snap back to reality, answering curtly, "Didn't see a panel."

007 frowned. "It seems none of us received any alerts."

"Could this be a special instance?" A String of Thoughtful Years suddenly asked, her voice laced with urgency. "It's a special instance, right? But why didn't we receive any instance prompt? Without any missions issued, how do we leave?"

007 knew this wasn't an instance.

It was a deathtrap Earth had chosen for them.

Earth didn't want them to leave, so naturally, it wouldn't issue any missions.

The Fortune-teller knew this too. Her face white, she looked at Chu Changge. "We're trapped here, aren't we? Without a mission, we'll never be able to leave."

As she spoke, her eyes kept scanning the surroundings, trying to spot Gu Mian's figure.

Unfortunately, the surroundings were clear; he was nowhere to be seen.

On this silent land, there were only the seven of them, and no one else.

Are we... going to die here?

Trapped forever in this vast, lonely world, with no escape even in death.

Overwhelmed, Song Tang burst out, "How could that be! How is that possible!"

"Calm down first," August said, patting Song Tang's shoulder. "The game wouldn't slaughter players senselessly like this. My guess is we've indeed entered a special instance, but maybe the game system malfunctioned and hasn't issued us missions yet."

007 knew this wasn't the truth, but she didn't say it out loud; the truth would cause these three to have an emotional breakdown.

But this explanation calmed Song Tang somewhat. He looked up blankly. "You mean the game has a bug?"

"Exactly," August nodded. "We can wait a bit; maybe the panel will appear later… If it still doesn't show up, then we'll try to explore this instance. It's possible the mission for this instance only appears when we trigger it."

A String of Thoughtful Years and Song Tang both accepted this explanation.

"That's right. This might be a rather unique special instance, one where we have to find the mission ourselves," A String of Thoughtful Years nodded.

Just as A String of Thoughtful Years opened her mouth to continue discussing their next steps, the sharp-eared Fortune-teller suddenly heard a CRACK from behind them.

It was the sound of footsteps on fallen leaves.

She whirled around to look, only to see a deep, dark forest.

In the dim night, the forest was pitch-black, with extremely low visibility, making it impossible to see anything inside.

The others had also heard the sound and turned to look.

"Could there be other players?" August stared warily at the menacing forest. This instance was eerie through and through; he didn't even dare to breathe too loudly.

Normally, when players heard unknown footsteps, they would turn and run without a second thought.

However, August wasn't certain how many players had entered this place. He clung to the hope that the footsteps belonged to another player; after all, in these strange circumstances, one more person meant more strength.

The Fortune-teller held the same hope.

She hoped Gu Mian would emerge from the forest.

She hoped to see Gu Mian walk out, brushing leaves from his shoulder while cursing what a stupid place this was.

007 also cherished this hope.

If it were Gu Mian, there might be a chance to change their fate.

The footsteps sounded again, closer this time.

Song Tang and A String of Thoughtful Years had unconsciously retreated a few steps, frightened by the sound.

But the others stood their ground, watching the forest as if awaiting something.

The Fortune-teller watched the dense forest, a mix of hope and fear in her heart.

Could it be?

Could it be him?

Would this sound bring hope?

Just then, Chu Changge suddenly noticed something under a tree in front of him.

He stared at it for two seconds, then his pupils constricted.

"Run!"

007 heard Chu Changge's voice from beside her.

"Quick, run!"

Then, 007 saw a deathly pale face emerge from the pitch-black forest.

At the same time, Liu Ruyan, inside the inn, suddenly sensed something and turned to look towards the supermarket.

Xie Bi'an, who was upstairs conversing with Accompany Me Next Year, also paused for a moment, then glanced in a certain direction.

"Doctor," Fatty said, sitting on the sofa and propping his head up with his hand, "speaking of which, I haven't seen much of Brother Chu these past few days. Ever since he started listening to the radio, he's been so elusive. I wonder what he's secretly up to."

Gu Mian pondered for a moment. "I really haven't seen him these past few days. He wouldn't have run away from home, would he?"

Fatty was silent for half a second. "Even if Xiao Hong ran away from home, Brother Chu wouldn't."

Xiao Hong, who was sprawling about on Gu Mian's bed, paused upon hearing her name, then resumed her assault on the bedsheets and quilt.

"We need to ask Brother Chu where he's been running off to these days. If he goes missing in the future, when we post a missing person notice, we can at least provide a clue like 'often spotted in XX location.'"

Fatty opened his panel. Then, as if remembering something, he looked at Gu Mian. "Oh, right, Doctor, let's add the Fortune-teller and Miss 007 to the group chat. If they really do end up in that instance, they can ask us for help from outside."

"Let Xiao Qiao add them; she's the group admin," Gu Mian said, reaching out to toss Xiao Hong off the bed. "Anyway, there are still plenty of empty spots in the group."

Fatty then turned to look at his own panel.

His expression turned a little strange, then that strange look faded, replaced by shock and panic.

"Doctor," Gu Mian heard Fatty's trembling voice come from the living room, "the group chat... is gone."