Xiao Qiao was taken aback.
This surprise was even visible on Yao Zhai’s face, a man usually so stingy with his expressions.
All first-place winners were unable to leave the instance—
Xiao Qiao acted quickly, and soon the other mbers of the cheating group learned this news.
Fatty saw the ssage first. Like Xiao Qiao, he was stunned.
If the chanism of the ’tamorphosis’ instance has always been like this... then this instance must have devoured a good number of players... he thought to himself. Where have all the players who were left behind in this instance gone?
The realization that this ga had been quietly devouring Earth’s players from the very beginning sent shivers down Fatty’s spine and made his scalp tingle.
Though it claid to be for human evolution, it clearly wasn’t. So, what was the purpose of this ga? Was it related to Gu Mian’s identity? Could it be a conspiracy orchestrated by other worlds...?
Regardless, he was most worried about Gu Mian.
The instance would retain the top-ranked player.
But it was impossible for Gu Mian to stay here forever.
The collision of these two contradictory facts would ultimately lead to an outco that everyone would love to see.
Fatty had experienced this outco countless tis... He could almost imagine what would happen soon.
Hmm... thinking about it carefully, it is indeed sothing delightful.
As he thought about it, he grew worried.
They now knew that different instances might co from the sa world. This particular instance was situated in the Old World. Furthermore, these ’tamorphosis’ instances drew significant attention from the Old World. It could be said that Gu Mian had now beco a celebrity there, and no one would pass up a chance to cause him trouble.
If anything happened to this ’tamorphosis’ instance, the entire Old World would know Gu Mian was responsible...
If they tried to enter other instances in the Old World afterward, they would instantly be recognized, like rats crossing the street, with everyone pointing and shouting at them.
He didn’t know if the instance would help them erase the NPCs’ mories... But no matter how I think about it, the instance wouldn’t be that kind.
So Fatty fell into deep worry. At this point, even the woman under his bed didn’t seem so scary. He was seriously contemplating what to do if they ever had to enter the Old World again.
The most convenient solution for now was for this instance, along with the Old World, to effectively cease to exist for them, so they would never interact again. But Fatty dared not let himself think that way.
The Old World was, after all, a major world within the ga. If anything truly disastrous happened to it, the global ga would inevitably suffer significant turbulence, and turbulence in the ga could clearly affect the real world.
During the Lantern Festival event, Gu Mian had wrecked dozens of instances. After that, extre cold and rampant plagues had followed, and so ga instances had also undergone changes. If the Old World suffered a similar fate this ti, Earth’s environnt could beco even more dangerously bizarre.
Gu Mian, being a mber of the college entrance exam cheating group, was, of course, also aware of the special condition affecting first-place winners.
At that mont, Gu Mian also understood why the caraman had worn that smug, anticipatory expression.
He was waiting—waiting to reveal the cruel truth only after the guests had fully experienced this world’s malice.
You think you can leave this world once the mission is over. Even if you don’t want to stay another second, you still carefully endure the malice and nausea here because you cling to a thought: as long as I endure, I can leave. As long as I endure, everything here will have nothing to do with in the future.
And when you learn that you can’t leave, you’ll break down and question everything. That painful expression is precisely what the audience loves to see.
Especially when you find out that only you will be left behind. All the other players will leave after completing the mission. Even those who fail the mission can escape this world by suicide.
At that point, this disgusting world will contain only you. Everyone else will have moved on, leaving you alone to endure everything in this malicious world, to bear decades of manipulation and humiliation.
You’ll feel loneliness, anger, even a strong sense of betrayal... – of course, none of this had anything to do with Gu Mian.
Upon learning this, he feigned surprise for a mont, his expression as placid as if he’d rely seen a ghost crawl out from under his bed.
But there was sothing worth thinking about.
"But if that’s the case..." The caraman in front suddenly heard the guest behind him muttering to himself. He perked up his ears to listen carefully.
Gu Mian stroked his chin in thought. So, they use the inability to ever return to the real world to provoke the first-place winner’s emotions. This implies the production team knows a real world exists beyond the Old World. They also know their own world is utterly disgusting, which is why the first-place winner would break down upon learning they have to stay.
And judging by the caraman’s expression, he seems absolutely certain the first-place winner will have a hysterical breakdown upon learning they have to stay. It’s as if... he knows just how vast the difference is between this place and the real world, as if he too has experienced a beautiful world.
"I say..."
The caraman, ears pricked, suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. Then he heard Gu Mian’s voice near his ear, as if he wanted to say sothing.
Warily, he tried to shrug his shoulder to create so distance. But before he could move much, the eerie voice sounded again: "Which season’s first-place winner were you?"
Hearing this, the caraman staggered, his scalp prickling!
A wave of fear washed over him, making his hair stand on end.
The cara slipped from his grasp with a THUD, hitting the ground. The caraman couldn’t feel his legs; they seed to have turned into noodles. After a few dazed seconds, he collapsed to the ground and rigidly lifted his head to look at the person before him.
"Who... who are you?"
The audience had been eagerly awaiting the sight of the first-place winner hysterically shouting, "I don’t believe it!" Instead, before the first-place winner even reacted, their caraman collapsed to the floor as if he’d wet his pants. The fallen cara offered a view of the guest’s tall lower body and half of the caraman’s back as he sat on the ground.
"What’s wrong with him?" The director’s team, constantly monitoring each guest’s feed, had also noticed the anomaly on Gu Mian’s side. They were now furiously making a call, apparently to the caraman responsible for filming Gu Mian.
Gu Mian heard a phone ringing in his pocket.
Ah, yes. While the caraman had been showing him the picture of the covered rice, Gu Mian had deftly pocketed the man’s phone.
Perhaps they’d forgotten to switch the feed, as the program’s broadcast remained fixed on Gu Mian. Due to the cara angle, Fatty could only see Gu Mian’s lower half.
He watched as a hand reached into a pocket and pulled out a phone sturdy enough to crack walnuts.
Then, a cheerful "Hello?" drifted from the screen.
And so, the production team, who had been intent on provoking the guest into displaying a pained expression, finally ca face-to-face—or rather, voice-to-voice—with Gu Mian, who was utterly ignoring their script and stubbornly refusing to yield.
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