Global Collapse

Gu Mian had witnessed most of the coincidences in this world.

Thus, when such a fragile statue appeared before him again, he was not too surprised.

This thing will definitely appear again in the future, and it may belong to some big boss in a certain instance.

But now was not the time to think about this.

The statue in front of him cracked open a small crevice from its chest, and this crevice began to slowly spread.

Gu Mian took a step back. The forbidden area's barrier was upheld by this statue. If the statue crumbled, the barrier would surely vanish.

Once the barrier vanished, the monsters shackled within the forbidden area for years would freely surge out.

People who died holding grudges would become new monsters, and the world would gradually spiral out of control.

Gu Mian didn't know how many monsters were hidden in this city, but he knew that once the forbidden area lost control, Jin Hu's dream would shatter with it.

He could no longer maintain his noble and irreplaceable position through this forbidden area.

His dream of saving the world would certainly collapse as well.

"No…" Jin Hu ran over hurriedly. "This is not right!"

He panicked, covering the crack on the statue with his hand, but this was not the kind of crack that could simply be covered by hand.

Then, Gu Mian's voice came from beside him. "You are indeed doing this wrong."

Jin Hu abruptly turned his head. His skinless face could no longer reveal any expression, but his anger was palpable in his tone. "You understand nothing! People like you, who don't know my agony, have no right to criticize me!"

"No," Gu Mian said, secretly drawing out the stool leg tied to his waist. "I actually empathize with the idea of wanting to destroy the world."

"It's salvation!"

"Alright, salvation. I think we can save this world. In other words, this world is already on its way to being saved—an inevitable kind of salvation. But first, I have to do something…"

As he said this, he suddenly swung the object in his hand, and Jin Hu's head was unavoidably struck.

Gu Mian used tremendous force, so much that the impacted head almost flew off Jin Hu's neck.

For a moment, Jin Hu was dazed. His entire body slammed into the nearby wall, causing the corpses hanging there to sway slightly.

Seizing the opportunity, Gu Mian reached out, grabbed the blood man before him, and hauled him out of the warehouse door.

Jin Hu was still struggling, but he was startled to realize his efforts were futile. Facing this ordinary person, all his advantages as an evil spirit were useless. For a moment, he felt as if he had returned to his student days, caught up in fights and brawls.

The warehouse was in a room at one end of the corridor. Exiting it led to a large window.

Gu Mian opened the window and pressed the upper half of Jin Hu's body out of it.

In the tranquil night, moonlight illuminated the earth. Jin Hu thought he heard something breaking, or perhaps something burrowing out of the ground.

He stared blankly outside. He seemed to sense the barrier was about to break as a multitude of monsters suddenly emerged from their hiding places. Several cars with flashing police lights were parked in the middle of the road, their Order Guard occupants long gone.

Gu Mian's voice came from above him. "When I said you were wrong, I wasn't criticizing your dream."

"It's just that your method of realizing your dream is problematic. You just want to eliminate this world's exploitation, oppression, and inequality, right?"

Jin Hu subconsciously nodded.

Gu Mian pressed him down with one hand and stroked his chin with the other. "This might seem difficult, but you actually figured it out a long time ago; you just weren't aware of it."

The sound of the statue smashing in the nearby warehouse continued, along with the distinct CRASH of pieces falling to the floor.

"What?" Jin Hu asked, dazed.

"Actually, many seemingly unrelated things can be subtly linked. For instance, destruction and rebirth... Destruction *is* rebirth. I don't know if you've ever heard that saying."

As Gu Mian spoke, another loud CRASH came from the adjacent warehouse.

He guessed the statue's head had probably fallen off.

At the same time, the sky itself seemed to crack as the barrier encompassing the entire forbidden area emitted the fragile sound of shattering.

Seeing this, Jin Hu started struggling again. "What are you talking about? You want to destroy…"

"Salvation," Gu Mian re-emphasized.

"All you want is to eliminate this world's unfairness, to eradicate exploitation and oppression. But in your eyes, this world is already rotten to the core. Without the means to change, it's impossible to make progress; it can no longer be saved."

"So what you need is a new world—a perfect new world."

While Gu Mian ran his mouth, he nonchalantly began undressing Jin Hu.

"Only by destroying this ignorant world can a new order sprout. All exploitation and plundering will disappear, and your dreams will be realized."

"Who says destruction isn't salvation?"

At this moment, the barrier enveloping the entire forbidden zone emitted intense CRACKLING sounds, as if it would shatter at any second.

Jin Hu stared dumbfoundedly at the monsters surging below. They were densely packed, like a tide rushing toward the edge of the forbidden zone, waiting to burst forth into the outside world.

"Look," Gu Mian said, extending a finger towards the outside. "This is actually the world you want—a perfect new world."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire forbidden zone quaked as if struck by a sudden earthquake.

Then came the sound of breaking glass, like a mischievous child smashing a ball into someone's window. The CRASH of shattering glass echoed throughout the forbidden zone.

The barrier was completely destroyed.

The monsters rushed towards the outside world in a frenzied scramble, while Jin Hu, neck stiff, watched the tide of monstrosities.

He opened his mouth slightly. "This is…"

By this point, Gu Mian had already stripped Jin Hu's clothes off.

He had never performed the experiment of "throwing a ghost from the twelfth floor to see if it would die."

But now he had the chance.

Jin Hu's figure was tossed from the twelfth floor like a worn-out rag. He didn't panic, but continued to stare blankly.

Accompanied by a loud THUD, a skinless humanoid figure slammed hard onto the ground.

The moment Jin Hu hit the ground, he thought he heard the long-lost voices of the Upper Class People—terrified screams seeming to come from a very distant place.

He struggled to turn his head forward. His vision was already blurred, but he could still imagine the future.

The world devoured by monsters, order collapsed and rebuilt, the hierarchy destroyed…

Jin Hu, his neck twisted, murmured, "This is... the perfect new world…"

Content, he closed his eyes amidst his illusions, a smile spreading across his face.

Gu Mian leaned on the windowsill, watching as the bloodied figure below lifted its head to look at something. Then, as if drawing its last breath, its head tilted to one side, and it died.

Almost at the exact moment Jin Hu drew his last breath, Gu Mian saw his own panel emerge.

This time, it wasn't a notice of an instance collapse, but something else.

[Career Achievement Unlocked: Alternative Redemption]

[Occupation Acquired: Doctor]

[Occupation Skill Acquired: {Medical Expertise Level 1} When using medical items, their healing effect is doubled.]

[Tip: New skills can be learned by unlocking Career Achievements. Skills can be upgraded with Attribute Points.]

Well, I've become a healer now.

Gu Mian stared at the panel. Still, it's better than having a bunch of Attribute Points and nowhere to use them, right?

Since the game started, hospitals had been shut down, and it was unclear if they would ever resume operations. Injuries sustained in the real world were undoubtedly fatal.

If the injured didn't receive professional treatment, they could easily develop infections and inflammation. Untreated, such conditions could easily lead to death.

So, being a Doctor could be quite useful in the real world.

Of course, it would also be very useful in an instance. Maybe I can forcibly get a dying teammate back on their feet. A necessary healer for team instances! The kind everyone has to protect.

Furthermore, this time he could finally experience what it felt like to leave an instance normally.

Just as Gu Mian was immersed in his wonderful fantasies, he found he couldn't seem to leave the instance for the time being.

His panel hadn't disappeared, but the words on it were gone.

Gu Mian was a bit stunned. Then, new words suddenly popped up on the panel.

But these words were different from the previous ones: they were bright red, like a cheesy horror font from a scary movie.

[Acquired 'Evil God's Gift']

When Gu Mian saw this line of text, he felt a little unsteady. Although he didn't know why the Evil God's statues would appear in different instances, there was no doubt he had destroyed two of them now.

This was like rushing into someone's shrine and smashing their golden idol.

Instead of a gift, a 'Curse of the Evil God' would be more appropriate right now.

He continued to read and found that this item was actually a gift—or at least, not some kind of curse.