"Matching instance for you, please wait..."
"Instance matched successfully, matching teammates for you..."
While waiting, Gu Mian took the time to organize his belongings.
In the last instance, there was a side quest: if Zhao Lei's suspicion level did not exceed 60 by the end of the instance, players would receive a "Financial Management Handbook."
However, out of the three of them, only Gu Mian did not receive this side reward because his behavior of taking a chainsaw from a guitar case severely affected the perception of the characters in the instance.
The Financial Management Handbook could increase a player's Game Coins by 50%. This meant the more Game Coins a player had when using it, the greater the profit. Therefore, Chu Changge and Fatty hadn't used theirs yet.
At this moment, Gu Mian looked at his special items again.
"Leaf Brooch," "Blood Clothes Wrapped in Resentment Lv.4," "Dimension-Breaking Mobile Phone," "Mad Chase Order," "A Vial of Failed Experiment Reagent."
"A Vial of Failed Experiment Reagent" was originally obtained by Chu Changge. It was a good item that could double a player's speed for ten minutes. However, Chu Changge's speed attribute points were low, making it a waste for him to use, so he had given it to Gu Mian.
This item seemed to be considered medical supplies. If Gu Mian injected it into other players, the effect could be multiplied several times.
As for the "Worn-out Wire Rig," Gu Mian had given it to Fatty. Even if he had kept it, he wouldn't have dared to use it. Although it wasn't certain Fatty would dare to use it either, Fatty had more inventory space and wasn't worried about it taking up room.
The "Blood Clothes Wrapped in Resentment" was at level three before entering the Terror Manor instance. Now it had reached level four. The description read, "It can withstand a full-force strike from a sharp fruit knife." That was a lot better than before.
He also had another item: an "Instance Exchange Ticket."
This allowed free entry into any instance.
Gu Mian had once used this item to threaten NPCs in an instance. The gist of his threat was, "If you don't give me the reward, I'll come back."
As it turned out, the threat had been effective, so Gu Mian had always been reluctant to use it.
Professional Skill: "Superb Medical Skills Lv.3"
It took five attribute points to upgrade this skill to level four, but to Gu Mian's dismay, the skill hadn't come in handy since he acquired it.
The reason was straightforward: players usually died the moment they encountered a ghost, leaving Gu Mian no opportunity to provide medical aid.
I hope in this instance, I can save a player who is on the brink of death, barely breathing, Gu Mian quietly resolved.
Fatty's voice came from the side, "In that case, you may have to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."
It seemed that to match the guitar on Gu Mian's back, Fatty was carrying a large pot on his.
Standing together, the two of them did share a strangely similar vibe.
Just then, words suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Teammates matched successfully, instance content will be displayed soon—"
"Instance: Death Taxi"
"Number of Participants: 6"
"Instance Introduction: Many years ago in Yecheng City, a creepy tale circulated. Someone once took a strange taxi after midnight and then vanished without a trace."
"Instance Task: Take a taxi home after midnight."
"Instance Rewards: 3 Freely Assignable Attribute Points, 300 Game Coins, Monster's List"
This Monster's List... Gu Mian frowned slightly.
Just then, Fatty's voice came from the side, "Doctor, have you noticed? The instance difficulty star rating seems to have disappeared."
Gu Mian had noticed the difficulty star rating disappearing in the previous instance but hadn't paid it much mind. After all, regardless of an instance's difficulty, the outcome was always the same for him.
Just as he was about to say something, it suddenly brightened in front of him.
To say it "brightened" wasn't quite accurate, as it was the middle of the night in the instance, and things didn't get very bright.
At this moment, Gu Mian was standing beside a deserted street.
Both Chu Changge and Fatty were gone. Now, he stood alone in this place.
The night was extremely dark, with only a dim, gibbous moon hanging in the pitch-black sky. This moon offered little light, not even outshining the dilapidated streetlights by the roadside.
The streetlight overhead cast a dim glow, barely illuminating the roadside scene.
This seemed to be the outskirts of a town. The road was wide, flanked by greenery, with no prominent buildings in sight. Squinting, he could vaguely make out what looked like a factory in the distance, but it was too far away to see clearly.
A chilly wind blew fiercely. It didn't feel like a summer night. Gu Mian wrapped his white lab coat tighter around himself and surveyed his surroundings.
It was very dark here. The light from the streetlights was faint, reminiscent of the eerie illumination often used for female ghosts in horror films.
Not far away, a phone booth stood.
Gu Mian walked towards it.
The phone booth looked no different from those in the real world. It was enclosed by glass, with a device resembling a landline telephone inside.
Our task is to take a taxi home after midnight, but where is my home? And what time is it now...? Gu Mian mumbled to himself as he pulled open the glass door of the phone booth and stepped inside.
He soon found out where his home was and the current time.
The current time displayed on the phone was 0:57.
There was also a map in the phone booth, about the size of a handbill distributed on the street. The map lay on the phone, and Gu Mian picked it up.
A star was drawn in the top-left corner of the map, with a note below it: "My Location."
Next to the star was a factory labeled "Antarctic Chemical Factory."
He then noticed a small flag in the bottom-right corner of the map. Beneath it was a single word: "Home."
Upon closer inspection, Gu Mian found that this flag indicating "Home" was located within a residential area called "Rong'an Residential Area."
The meaning couldn't have been clearer. He now knew his current location and where "home" was. All that remained was to get a taxi.
As Gu Mian contemplated this, he looked out at the road. However, there wasn't a single car in sight, not even a ghostly shadow.
Chu Changge and Fatty were nowhere to be seen either.
Gu Mian furrowed his brow slightly. This instance is called Death Taxi, so the supernatural events must revolve around taxis. Their task is probably also to take a taxi home after midnight. That means there must be more than one taxi in this instance.
He looked at the phone not far from him.
This phone didn't look any different from those in ordinary phone booths. The dial and receiver all seemed normal. It probably won't suddenly transform into a ghost or something, he thought.
The only difference was a green button in the bottom-left corner. Gu Mian leaned in for a closer look and saw two words written on it: "Call Cab."
Gu Mian gazed at the button, lost in thought. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Is this instance a matter of luck? Does it depend on whether the cab I call has a ghost in it? If so, this instance would be utterly absurd.
Without overthinking it, Gu Mian picked up the receiver and pressed the "Call Cab" button in the bottom-left corner.