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However, that ten thousand Game Coins seemed to have been snatched up by some cute little ghost as soon as they had appeared.

Gu Mian thought about this as he put his hand into his pocket, fiddled with something for a while, and finally pulled out a piece of paper, already somewhat wrinkled from being rolled up.

It was an IOU.

[A Huge IOU]

[Description: A huge IOU. It reads: "The player who holds this IOU owes the Nine-headed Baby ten thousand Game Coins. Non-transferable."]

Before the debt was paid off, the player could face the wrath of the Nine-headed Baby at any time. If the debt was paid, however, they would receive "The Nine-headed Baby's Appreciation."

Come to think of it, the Game Coins that the Nine-headed Baby swallowed in the instance just now seemed to be exactly ten thousand. Shouldn't this IOU have turned into 'The Nine-headed Baby's Appreciation' by now?

However, reality proved that Gu Mian was being far too optimistic about this world.

This lousy IOU hadn't changed at all.

Gu Mian looked at it from left to right, top to bottom, repeatedly turning it over and examining it.

There wasn't the slightest change. It hadn't evolved from an IOU into "The Nine-headed Baby's Appreciation"; not a single word had changed, no, not even a punctuation mark.

Just then, Fatty, who had already hidden the [Small Notebook], leaned over. "Doctor, what are you looking at?"

Gu Mian glanced at Fatty's pants and said, "The Nine-headed Baby gulped down the ten thousand Game Coins I just got in the instance, but this IOU hasn't transformed."

Fatty clutched his pants. "Speaking of... Doctor, did you actually get the coins back then?"

Gu Mian paused, slightly stunned.

No. Back then, I didn't actually get the coins. The one who got them was my registered character, [Gu Gu].

Theoretically, items in a character's possession couldn't be considered owned by the player because items from the instance were only distributed to players at the very end.

So, the Nine-headed Baby was stealing right under my nose! How desperate for money must it be to act so shamelessly...

A bit irritated, Gu Mian stuffed the IOU back into his pocket. Next time I see the Nine-headed Baby, I'm definitely going to give that kid a good thrashing.

As he thought about this, he placed his hands on the steering wheel.

They were still parked in the middle of the road. The roads in this city had been cleared, but for some reason, not many people were driving.

However, even if there were no other cars, blocking the road is unethical. We need to get moving.

Just as this thought occurred to him, Fatty's voice suddenly came from the side, "Hey, Doc, don't you feel like we're missing something?"

It really did feel like something was missing.

The scent of her shampoo was missing, and so was the cascade of beautiful hair by the window. Right, when we entered the special instance, we left Xiao Hong here by herself... Where is she now?

Thinking this, Gu Mian opened the car door. The moment it cracked open, a cold wind blasted in, making Fatty, who was beside him, shiver.

He wrapped his blue jacket tighter around himself. "Damn, this weather is brutal! Why doesn't it show any signs of warming up at all?"

On the contrary, it was getting colder.

At this moment, Chu Changge also looked out the window, seemingly deep in thought.

Gu Mian had already gotten out of the car. He was wearing calf-high boots to prevent the cold wind from seeping up his pant legs. Although Gu Mian wasn't particularly afraid of the cold, he still rejected the idea of being "passionately caressed" by it.

The moment he stepped out, his sturdy, calf-high boots, which kept his pant legs snugly tucked in, landed on something.

Gu Mian looked down and saw a spill of hair, emitting the fragrant scent of shampoo.

This cascade of hair emerged from beneath the car, looking like a gruesome accident scene where some beautiful woman had been run over by a heartless driver and was trapped underneath.

He paused for a moment, then squatted down, peering under the car's chassis.

Then, he came face-to-face with an incredibly ugly face.

Xiao Hong seemed to have known Gu Mian would look down at her; she was now grinning idiotically at him. The [Thought Transmitter] around her neck dangled to the ground, emitting a HEH HEH HEH sound.

He'd never seen such an idiotic ghost.

Gu Mian reached out and with some effort, pulled Xiao Hong out from under the car, then stuffed her inside.

He couldn't just let her stay on the roof; it was far too conspicuous.

With the opening and closing of the door, Fatty's nose began to run profusely.

Even Chu Changge noticed that after last night's typhoon, the temperature seemed to have dropped to a terrifying level, which was why the streets were nearly empty today.

One would probably freeze solid even if wrapped in two quilts.

"It's freezing!" Fatty said, pulling out a tissue and wiping his nose hard. "The coldest part should be over by now, right? But why does it feel even colder than the coldest winter I've ever experienced?"

He seemed to be catching a cold, which wasn't good at a time like this, but it wasn't something Fatty could control.

Presumably, quite a few people had already started to fall ill, and some might have even developed the flu, given how terribly cold it was.

If one gets sick, it's best to take medicine, especially for something like the flu.

Chu Changge glanced at Xiao Hong, who was clinging to the car window, then at Fatty, who was continuously wiping his nose with a tissue, and said, "When we get to the supermarket, we should buy a thermometer and some medicine."

Fatty nodded in complete agreement.

Gu Mian rubbed his chin. "The medicine in hospitals and pharmacies is probably under military control by now. If there's a large-scale flu outbreak, would they distribute it?"

There were medicines in the supermarket, but they were extremely expensive.

Chu Changge spoke, "In theory, they definitely would. But I suspect there's a high chance an accident might occur. As for what kind of accident, we'll only know when the time comes."

As he spoke, he looked out the window.

A severe shortage of medicine would likely occur soon.

Just then, Liu Ruyan's voice suddenly came through, "Did you know, most of the original resources on Earth before the game seem to have disappeared."

Fatty looked at her in confusion, not quite understanding her meaning.

"The roads have been cleared, but there are still very few vehicles," Liu Ruyan continued. "As far as I know, it's because all the gasoline fuel evaporated... or rather, it disappeared. Most likely, there isn't a drop of oil left in gas stations or in the fuel tanks of abandoned cars by the roadside. Of course, some might have survived, but it's extremely rare."

"And from what I know, the same has happened to crops; they've mostly all died. So, it's best not to hold out much hope for things like medicine."

Fatty fell silent.

The chilly wind was still howling, a sound that could make one instinctively huddle for warmth.

Gu Mian had already stepped on the accelerator, and the Spirit Car started moving.

He glanced in the rearview mirror at Liu Ruyan, who was sitting in the very back, and said, "Get off at the supermarket. I don't want you unscrewing my gas canister anymore."

Though, to be fair, what Liu Ruyan had messed with back then wasn't actually a gas canister, and you couldn't keep something like that in the Spirit Car anyway.

Liu Ruyan, however, didn't refute. "Honestly," she said, "your gas canister really is a pain to unscrew…"

She paused there, not continuing her previous thought, and instead changed the subject. "Alright, goodbye."

They weren't far from the supermarket and reached it while they were still talking.

Liu Ruyan didn't linger. She immediately opened the car door, got out, and walked off in the direction opposite to the supermarket. As the door opened and closed, Fatty sneezed again.

He pressed his nose and muttered, "This damn weather."

"Speaking of which," Fatty said, holding a tissue and watching Liu Ruyan's retreating figure, "it doesn't seem like she did anything particularly useful by hitching a ride with us…"

Wait, Fatty paused his train of thought. She did flirt with Brother Chu.

He remembered Chu Changge and Liu Ruyan talking for a bit before they entered that last special instance. He had no idea what they'd discussed.

"Could they have been discussing the shape of the Doctor's gas canister?" Fatty mumbled to himself.