At the start of the global ga, NPCs happily road in instances, completely unalert.
"We can't possibly encounter danger in the ga," everyone thought.
Then, a man whose gender was listed as "?" appeared.
He imdiately destroyed the first instance he was matched with. Although this attracted the NPCs' attention, not many paid it much mind.
Everyone considered it reasonable for the ga to have flaws. That instance must have had design defects, which was why it collapsed.
But then, the second instance crashed.
Coincidentally, this man of indeterminate gender was also in this instance.
So began to grow wary, while others still believed it was re coincidence.
Clever supermarket manufacturers imdiately seized the business opportunity, urgently launching a type of tag they anticipated people might need. Subsequent instances collapsed one after another, proving their decision savvy; these tags eventually sold out.
Initially, when an instance collapsed, the ga operators would try their best to salvage it. But as more and more instances collapsed, the ga's rescue asures beca increasingly passive, until they finally threw in the towel.
The spectating NPCs realized the gravity of the situation.
"If I don't step up now and condemn the ga operators' passive attitude, then when that fiend Gu Mian enters my instance, no one will stand up for ."
The NPCs united to protest.
In response to popular demand, the ga operators recently launched the "Instance Ghost Labor Protection Contract."
NPCs could sign this contract with the ga operators by paying a certain price. The contract would guarantee the personal safety of its signatories. It also ensured that if Gu Mian attacked them, the ga operators would promptly shut down the instance and eject the source of danger.
Accompanying this labor protection contract was the "Instance Accidental Injury/Death Insurance."
Forcibly closing an instance would inevitably cause so damage, requiring funds for repairs. However, with the accidental death insurance, if an insured's instance was damaged due to Gu Mian, the ga operators would provide most of the compensation. This greatly reduced the pressure on the victimized NPC to earn money to repair their instance.
It was said that an NPC with the surna Che, upon hearing the ga had launched the "Instance Accidental Injury/Death Insurance," lanted his cruel fate and the injustice of heaven, then ran off crying.
Of course, Gu Mian knew nothing about this.
He just heard the ghost beneath him rustle out sothing paper-like and croak in a hoarse voice, "I have a Labor Protection Contract!"
What Labor Protection Contract?
Before Gu Mian could react, a translucent ga panel appeared before him—the sa panel he was familiar with, as it popped up every ti an instance collapsed.
But the content on the panel was slightly different this ti.
[Detecting a Labor Protection Contract signatory in danger! The ga will forcibly close said signatory's instance and expel all players from the instance within ten seconds.]
What in the world is this? Gu Mian looked as if he had eaten shit.
anwhile, the panel had already begun its countdown.
[8, 7, 6…]
A few seconds later, Gu Mian reappeared in the ticket booth.
The ticket seller didn't seem to notice Gu Mian's return. He was behind the counter, holding a microphone and talking to soone, "…Is this Sunshine Insurance Company? No, no, no, I don't want to buy Instance Accidental Death Insurance. I want to ask if you have insurance for ticket sellers. For example, if soone were to threaten my personal safety with a saw, could you send soone to protect …?"
Just as he said this, he finally saw Gu Mian, who had just erged from the instance.
The man in the white coat was smiling warmly at him, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth.
This display of teeth startled the ticket seller so much his hand trembled, and the microphone CLATTERED to the floor.
「…」
"Spit it out! Spit it out now! They're not cooked yet!" As soon as Gu Mian reached his doorstep, he heard Fatty's roar from inside.
He opened the door, and an uncooked mooncake flew out, SMACK!—right on his forehead.
Nearby, Chu Changge retreated two steps to avoid a similar blow to his own forehead.
Gu Mian silently removed the mooncake from his head and looked into the living room.
Xiao Hong was hanging from the opulent chandelier in the living room, holding a mooncake in one hand and chewing sothing with relish.
Below, Fatty was frantically jumping on tiptoe, trying to snatch the uncooked mooncakes from Xiao Hong's hands.
In the kitchen was Xiao Qiao, who was always stealing things. She was currently sneaking furtively towards the oven, reaching for the half-baked mooncakes inside.
What a delightful welcoming committee, Gu Mian thought.
Ultimately, the welcoming ceremony concluded with Xiao Hong and Xiao Qiao each receiving a beating from Gu Mian.
Due to the antics of these two, it was past seven in the evening by the ti Fatty finished baking the mooncakes.
"It's a bit late, but it's perfect for eating mooncakes while admiring the moon," Fatty said cheerfully, placing a plate of freshly baked lotus seed and egg yolk mooncakes before Gu Mian.
He then took out so oiled paper, wrapped several portions of mooncakes, and said, "I'll take so down to Miss Keke and the others."
With that, he trotted off happily with the mooncakes.
Nearby, Xiao Qiao and Xiao Hong had already started fighting over the previous batch of red bean paste mooncakes. In the scuffle, they knocked the specially made "Sister Mooncake" from Brother's hand.
Fatty had specially made a mooncake for Brother, with "Sister" patterned on it. Brother had been treasuring it, never expecting them to knock it away.
So he too joined this war between the girls.
Gu Mian had no inclination to bother with them.
He picked up a lotus seed mooncake and took a bite. It was delicious.
Chu Changge didn't seem to care for them, rely taking a couple of perfunctory bites.
"By the way, before we were kicked out of the instance, you also saw that 'Labor Protection Contract,' right?" Gu Mian asked, watching the ongoing battle.
"I saw it. It seems the ga has introduced sothing new," Chu Changge said, setting down his mooncake. "I suppose it's similar to real-world insurance. If an NPC who has signed the contract unfortunately encounters Gu Mian, the ga operators must take counterasures."
Is encountering such an unfortunate event? I'm actually very likable, alright.
"This Labor Protection Contract won't be sothing everyone has, will it? If that's the case, we won't be able to get information from NPCs anymore," Gu Mian mused. "The mont they see , they'll just whip out this contract, shout 'I have a Labor Protection Contract!' and the instance will imdiately kick out."
What a tragic state of affairs.
"It probably won't co to that. I think this contract only activates when the signatory is in actual danger. In the instance just now, didn't you pin that ghost to the ground and choke him? He only took out the contract when he was on the verge of being strangled to death," Chu Changge said, pushing up his glasses.
That did seem to be the case.
Gu Mian nodded, holding his mooncake. It seems that from now on, I'll have to use gentler thods to gather information from ghosts, he thought to himself.
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