Lin Xiaowei, who corresponded to the Fifth World, and Song Yu, who corresponded to the Sixth World, were both dead. This left them unable to determine which of those the Escape World was.
Fatty leaned over, looking at the page in Gu Mian's hand. "At least we know the nas of six worlds, though it's unclear if one of them belongs to the Fifth or the Sixth World."
"Only Miss Xiao Qiao's world doesn't have instances, but the Fifth and Sixth do," Fatty said. "So we might have entered instances from the Fifth or Sixth World before."
To figure out the nas of these two worlds, they needed to enter instances again and ask the advanced NPCs from those worlds.
Thinking of advanced NPCs, Gu Mian turned his gaze back to Mr. Green.
Mr. Green, feeling the stare, shrank back and muttered, "What... what are you looking at for?"
Gu Mian asked directly, "Do you know the nas of the Fifth and Sixth Worlds?"
Mr. Green shook his head vigorously. "Of course I don't know that! They're miles away from ! The Old World and Paradise are between us; I have no idea what the nas of the Fifth and Sixth Worlds are!"
"What about their advanced NPCs?" Gu Mian asked, still holding Mr. Green. "Do you know which instances their advanced NPCs are in?"
Mr. Green, as if possessed by a rattling drum toy, kept shaking his head and shouting, "I really don't know!" His expression looked genuine.
He felt he was the unluckiest NPC. He'd been living happily in his own instance, but then Gu Mian had to drag him into this ss. Not only was he plucked out, but he was also exploited daily.
Is there any NPC in this world more miserable than ? Mr. Green wanted to howl at the sky.
「At that mont, Coach Che, who was working part-ti in so courtroom, suddenly sneezed.」
"Is soone thinking about ?" he wondered, stopping his work to rub his nose. "Could it be my spirit cars missing ? I need to work hard, earn money to fix them, and reopen the instance!"
Coach Che clenched his fists. Dreams made life more fulfilling. He worked with even more enthusiasm.
"This is a problem," Gu Mian thought, letting go of Mr. Green. "It seems we'll have to randomly enter instances. Who knows how many we'll have to go through to find the Fifth or Sixth World."
He then looked at Dwarf Xiao Lv, who had just regained his footing on the ground. "Do you know which instances the advanced NPCs of other worlds are in?"
If they couldn't get matched with the Fifth or Sixth World, matching with an instance containing advanced NPCs from other worlds would also be acceptable.
Mr. Green wanted to pretend he hadn't heard the question. But before he could feign ignorance for long, the sound of Gu Mian unzipping his guitar case reached his ears.
He quickly raised his head. "I know, I know!"
Gu Mian stopped his movents and looked at him.
Mr. Green hesitated before speaking. "If you're asking about advanced NPCs, Coach Che is one. He's the only NPC in his special professional instance, and he definitely has connections with other advanced NPCs!"
Coach Che had indeed told Gu Mian about the advanced NPC in the Circus Instance. But from Mr. Green's tone, it seed Coach Che also knew of several other instances with advanced NPCs, and quite a few at that.
"If you ask him about matters concerning the Global Ga, he might be able to answer so. I guess... and this is just my guess, mind you... he probably knows so inside information about the ga." Mr. Green was doing his best to sell out his teammate in front of Gu Mian.
"Ever since his Spirit Car Instance was damaged, though, he's been drifting between different instances, taking odd jobs. He doesn't have a fixed location now, so he's hard to find. If you guys ever run into him in an instance, make sure to grab him and ask him more questions!" Mr. Green desperately wanted others to experience his unfortunate plight.
「Coach Che, who was organizing case files, sneezed again.」
"Strange," he muttered, wiping saliva off the file cover. "Are that many people thinking of today?"
Hearing Mr. Green's words, Gu Mian fell into deep thought.
If only I could bring Coach Che to Earth too, Gu Mian mused. Drag him through one of those portals and get him here.
However, since the Crazy Guessing Words instance, Gu Mian hadn't seen that kind of portal—the type that could trap NPCs—again.
Gu Mian voiced his confusion. "Speaking of which, I only saw that portal in your instance. I haven't seen one since. Are they exclusive to your instance?"
Upon hearing this, Mr. Green forced out a stiff smile. "Of course not. When Global Ga first started, almost all variety instances were equipped with these portals. They were mostly for aesthetic reasons, so your departure from an instance wouldn't seem too abrupt.
"But then, unfortunately, you dragged here through one of those doors. After that incident, the ga discovered the security risk these doors posed. To protect everyone's safety, all the doors were removed. In the end, I was the only unlucky one."
"Such misfortune, such misfortune," Gu Mian said with a sorrowful expression, kicking Mr. Green. "Continue."
Mr. Green suppressed his grievances and raised his voice. "Then there's the Train Instance—the bizarre Great Train Escape you wrecked! It's an instance that doesn't belong to any world. That train can travel between worlds, and there's a conductor on it.
"He's a very advanced NPC. If you catch him, he can tell you the nas of all the worlds! He might even write you a 'Chronicles of the Seven Worlds'."
That was bad.
Gu Mian recalled the details of that instance.
He rembered eting that conductor. At the ti, he'd swiftly drawn a door on the tal plating outside the cockpit and barged in. The conductor had been cowering in a corner, shivering.
He hadn't been swayed by any allure at all; his only focus had been smashing the control panel to bits.
Of course, Gu Mian had interacted with this conductor before—he'd hijacked the poor fellow and disdainfully thrown him onto the station platform.
They hadn't exchanged a single word from start to finish. Thinking back now, it was a huge loss.
After Gu Mian's rampage, the instance had 'sadly' shut down and hadn't reopened to this day.
Recalling the conductor's appearance, Gu Mian kicked Mr. Green again. "Tell about so instances that aren't completely defunct."
Mr. Green clutched his backside. "Besides those two, I only know one more: Death Operator! An instance called Death Operator. I heard an advanced NPC sotis goes there to impersonate an operator when they're bored.
"I don't know which NPC it is, or which world's instance it is. Other than the instance's na, I really know nothing else!"
It was clear he had squeezed himself dry; his face practically scread, I really don't know anything else!
Gu Mian finally let Mr. Green go. Upon gaining his freedom, Mr. Green didn't dare stay in the room any longer; he bolted out the door like the wind, disappearing into who-knows-which room.
Gu Mian still had one Dungeon Entry Ticket.
But this ticket was for threatening NPCs. If he used it, he wouldn't get to see those priceless, shit-eating expressions on their faces when threatened.
"Let's just enter an instance randomly for now," he sighed. "Maybe we'll get matched with one that has an advanced NPC."
Advanced NPCs did indeed know a lot.
Lu Yi, for instance, had told Gu Mian a lot and even helped him blow up a location. Hopefully, the next NPC they encountered would be just as reasonable.
"Speaking of which, Doctor, Miss 007 just sent a ssage saying she got the Beast Tar class. Didn't you get that class, Doctor?" Fatty leaned in curiously. "Could it be that each player can only have one class and can't have multiple?"
"No," Gu Mian puffed out his chest. "The NPC in that instance said the Beast Tar class was too low-tier and unworthy of ."
Fatty's expression imdiately turned skeptical. He hesitated for a mont before saying, "Oh, I see."
「The sky had long since darkened.」
Gu Mian and Chu Changge discussed when to enter an instance next, and Gu Mian also dragged Fatty to the Fortune-teller for a reading.
"I'm completely drained! Not a drop left!" the Fortune-teller wailed as Gu Mian forcibly dragged him up to perform a divination.
The final divination concluded that Fatty was a bit 'heated' lately and should eat more fruit.
What kind of garbage divination is this? Gu Mian, contemptuous of the Fortune-teller's abilities, left with Fatty.
「When Gu Mian returned with Fatty, Xiao Qiao was still sitting in the living room.」
It was way past dinnerti, and the dishes had been cleared. Xiao Qiao, having finished her scrounged al, was craning her neck to look in a particular direction.
Gu Mian followed her gaze to his bed, where Xiao Hong was wriggling under his covers, occasionally poking her head out to look their way, as if inviting Gu Mian to bed.
Before Gu Mian could react, Xiao Qiao darted to the edge of the bed and burrowed into the covers. "I want to sleep too!"
Gu Mian: "..."
The female ghost on the bed, thoroughly displeased, tried to kick Xiao Qiao off as she clambered on.
The girl and the ghost began to tussle on Gu Mian's bed.
Fatty, watching from the side, smiled with satisfaction. "Those two won have finally realized they're love rivals!"
Gu Mian: "..."
In the end, Gu Mian threw Xiao Hong downstairs.
Gu Mian then personally carried Xiao Qiao back to Liu Ruyan's room; the two girls shared a dorm.
"Keep an eye on her. Don't let her run off," Gu Mian instructed as he set Xiao Qiao down.
Xiao Qiao squatted on the sofa, watching forlornly as Gu Mian closed the door and left.
After Gu Mian left, Liu Ruyan leaned against the door and looked at Xiao Qiao on the sofa. "Did he take you to the Fortune-teller today?"
The girl on the sofa nodded.
"What did the Fortune-teller say?"
"She said I have the sa fate as Chu Changge."
Liu Ruyan was silent for a few seconds before asking softly, "Is there anything you want to do now?"
Xiao Qiao nodded emphatically.
"Then go ahead." Liu Ruyan stepped back a few paces, clearing the way to the door behind her.
「So, when Gu Mian woke up in the middle of the night, he found Xiao Qiao's head nestled in his arms.」
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