Global Collapse Chapter 57: Rankings1

When Gu Mian got ho, Chu Changge and Fatty noticed a roll of steel wire in his hand—the wire rig he had extracted.

Fatty curiously prodded the coil of steel wire. This is way more useful than the gophers he’d pulled out before.

Chu Changge adjusted his glasses and said to Gu Mian, "I saw it. The ga notification said that an instance called ’Deadly Curse’ had collapsed, and your na is on the compensation list."

"Probably because I cut off the head of the curse’s source," Gu Mian replied with a slight nod.

Fatty, who was still fiddling with the wire rig, felt his scalp tingle.

Then, as if suddenly rembering sothing, Fatty blurted out, "Dr. Gu, did you blow sothing up this morning? I think I heard an explosion."

"No," Gu Mian shook his head. "The East City Police Station was hit by a rocket launcher."

"A rocket launcher?" Fatty’s hair practically stood on end. "Soone attacked a police station with a rocket launcher? And the police didn’t do anything?"

"The police can’t exactly go head-to-head with a rocket launcher, can they?"

If they tried to fight it head-on and died, it would be a significant loss. Death in an instance isn’t true death, but death in reality is terrifyingly real.

Humans are an inherently adventurous species. When another possibility presents itself, you can’t expect people to remain docile; they usually rise to the challenge. That’s why people who dared to bomb the police station had appeared.

Undoubtedly, more would follow—perhaps even people willing to burn down schools.

By now, quite a few people probably possessed lethal weapons, enough to take on the police directly—and potentially get away unscathed. Going out on the streets had beco extrely dangerous.

On his way back, Gu Mian had seen what looked like several bodies lying in concealed alleyways. Apparently, more conflicts had broken out that morning.

Chu Changge turned his head slightly. "This morning, while you were in the instance, we tried the radio again, but there’s still no signal at all. However, Fatty got so news from his friend..."

Fatty nodded continuously. "It’s that female celebrity from the Spirit Car instance; I added her as a friend." He was talking about Xiao Qiao.

"She’s in the capital now. She said many people from different places have ford large organizations... like bandits claiming a mountain stronghold."

"These groups are mostly made up of able-bodied young n who go around raiding and killing. I heard there’s one in the capital too, but there are plenty of soldiers there, and they were contacted directly. So, they used tanks to crush those bandits before they could get too big."

"She said the capital is completely locked down now. People inside can get out, but no one from the outside can get in..."

These organizations definitely need to be crushed before they can grow.

Otherwise, as the ga progresses, so organizations could quickly beco more powerful than the military, and a major conflict would be inevitable.

But while the capital could take such a hard line, other places couldn’t.

Military resources were tight; they couldn’t cover every region. The forces they could mobilize were probably only enough to protect major cities.

Moreover, the military personnel also had to enter instances to enhance their physical capabilities; otherwise, they’d soon be unable to suppress these large organizations.

"Her nickna is Xiao Qiao, right?" Gu Mian stroked his chin.

She’s in the capital now.

Fatty nodded. "Yep."

Gu Mian imdiately typed "Xiao Qiao" into the friend search bar and sent a request.

Shortly after, the other party accepted his friend request.

Captain Feng had previously sent Gu Mian a list of police officers in Lianhua City. Gu Mian copied the list and sent it to Xiao Qiao. "Hey, this is a list of contacts for the Lianhua City police. Could you help get this to the police in the capital?"

This way, the Lianhua City police should be able to contact the capital authorities directly.

The capital has a large military garrison, so it should be relatively safe. Strolling around there generally wouldn’t get you killed.

A few seconds later, she replied, "Okeydokey."

Gu Mian: "..."

Where the hell did she learn that from?

Xiao Qiao worked incredibly fast. By dusk, Gu Mian received a ssage from Captain Feng.

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: Damn, Gu Mian! You actually got the list straight to the capital! We’ve made contact with the higher-ups now.

Gu Mian: What did they say?

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: *Sigh*... They said it’s going to be chaotic down here for a while longer. There are organizations, big and small, popping up all over the country, and there just aren’t enough troops.

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: I have a classmate who said an artillery unit had finally cleared a road and was heading to another provincial capital. Halfway there, they all got dragged into a special instance. When they ca out, they were dumbfounded—their vehicles and equipnt, all gone. Snatched by soone else.

That’s pretty rough.

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: And I hear this kind of thing has happened more than once or twice. It seems like the ga’s special instances really like to target the military. They suffer heavy losses every ti.

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: As a result, the higher-ups are extrely cautious about deploying troops now, terrified that so special instance will pop up mid-route.

So tragic!

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: The governnt will do its best to maintain order, but you guys need to be careful. It’s really chaotic these days, so try not to wander around.

Gu Mian: Okeydokey.

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: Where on earth did you pick that up...

Gu Mian had just collapsed an instance, and now two announcents on the bulletin board bore his na.

He wasn’t in a hurry to get his na up there a third ti, so he spent the next few days at ho, researching the ga.

Although he didn’t want his na to beco common knowledge, the ga apparently had other ideas.

One morning, Gu Mian had just opened his eyes when he heard Fatty yelling from the living room, "Dr. Gu! Get up! Quick... co look at the ga interface!"

He ca barging in, practically bouncing, and yanked Gu Mian’s blanket off.

It was nearing the Spring Festival, and Gu Mian shivered as the cold air hit him. "What are you doing?"

Fatty said urgently, "Quick, look at the ga panel! The ranking system is up!"

Hearing this, Gu Mian suddenly had a bad feeling. He opened the ga panel, and sure enough, the "Rankings" section was now accessible.

He clicked on the rankings with a sigh of resignation. Of course. His na, Gu Mian, was at the very top, in first place.