Captain Feng snatched the megaphone from the man and kicked him far away. He watched the man walk away slowly before turning back.
By then, Gu Mian had already approached him.
"Ah, Xiao Gu?" Seeing Gu Mian, Captain Feng was somewhat surprised. "What are you doing here?"
While speaking, he glanced in the direction Gu Mian had come from, seeing a large ticket booth.
"You didn’t just come out of the instance, did you..."
Gu Mian nodded, looking in the direction the man had left. "Captain Feng, this isn’t easy for you, maintaining order on the streets at this hour."
Captain Feng gave a bitter smile. "What maintaining order? It’s just persuading people not to court death at this time."
Gu Mian turned back. "I heard you say earlier that the station was bombed?"
Why hadn’t he heard the explosion?
At his words, Captain Feng’s expression became hard to describe, then he nodded. "We don’t know which bastard did it. It happened this morning. Fortunately, no one was hurt because we were scattered when the game started, so basically, no one was at the station."
"We can’t communicate with the higher-ups or the lower levels. We can reach plenty of local colleagues, but they aren’t willing to return to the station, and I can understand why."
"Those of us still willing to maintain order have just gathered, but we’re at a loss for what to do. So, we had a couple of guys note down our game IDs and nicknames and sent one of them to relay the message to the provincial capital."
"Hopefully, this way we can contact the others. I know it’s not a good method, but it’s all we can do for now to reach the higher-ups."
Gu Mian stroked his chin. "That must take a lot of time, right?"
The current road conditions don’t allow for vehicles. Messages can only be delivered on foot.
Passing messages up through the ranks would probably take a lot of effort.
Captain Feng looked somewhat helpless. "We have to get the message up, after all. This is a time when humanity worldwide is being reshaped, and the power balance of all countries is being reset. If we fall behind and others invade, wouldn’t it be too late even for tears?"
Previously, nations relied on technological strength. Now, technology is obsolete, and a game that allows humans to evolve has emerged.
Even if the government can maintain order now, it definitely won’t stop players from entering instances.
Otherwise, if people from other countries are progressing while our own people stagnate, the outcome is predictable.
Captain Feng continued, "The military will probably need to reorganize too. After all, the game now controls people’s livelihoods. It’s hard to say how many people are still willing to serve the country..."
The current universal currency is Game Coin, and the government has no control over its distribution.
Besides, serving the country at this juncture is quite dangerous; you might get hit by a rocket launcher. So, inevitably, a large portion of those on the public payroll will break away from government control.
Thinking of this, Gu Mian patted Captain Feng on the shoulder. "Captain Feng, you’d better not wander around in your police uniform. Change your clothes, or you might be targeted."
Plenty of people bear ill will toward the police.
Previously, people feared the law. But now, with order collapsing and many individuals possessing highly destructive weapons, they might just target police officers.
However, Gu Mian believed that even if Captain Feng changed his clothes, it would be useless, because his nickname was "Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng."
It seemed he chose this nickname to make it easier for his colleagues to find him.
Captain Feng nodded. "You take care too. We can’t maintain order temporarily, and social conditions will only worsen for a while. Boys need to learn to protect themselves."
Gu Mian was speechless.
"By the way," Captain Feng said as if recalling something, "it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. Has your luck improved since the game started?"
Gu Mian was known to the East City and West City Police Stations as the Tiansha Lonely Star; his unprecedented and unmatched bad luck had astounded many police officers.
"I’ve run into some bad luck again recently," Gu Mian began. "I might not be a boy anymore."
After all, his gender was still listed as three question marks. Gu Mian had even checked himself; luckily, everything that should be there was still there.
At this, Captain Feng was stunned. What on earth did that mean?
Gu Mian coughed. "By the way, Captain Feng, I’m going to Hengdian for the Lantern Festival event soon. Could you give me the game ID numbers for your police team and the higher-ups? If I run into anyone from the government, I can pass on your contact information to help you connect."
Captain Feng’s eyes widened. "You’re going to participate in that event? On foot?"
Walking to Hengdian would be absurd.
"No," Gu Mian shook his head slightly. "Don’t worry about that. Just give me the ID numbers."
Captain Feng nodded. "Alright, I’ll add you as a friend and send them to you. What’s your game ID?"
Gu Mian paused for a moment before slowly uttering a single digit, "1..."
Captain Feng entered the number into the friend search. "And then?"
Captain Feng was speechless.
After adding Captain Feng as a friend, the two parted ways. Gu Mian finally had a chance to check his compensation in his mailbox.
It was now 12:30 PM, and the weather was gloomy.
Sitting on the steps by the roadside, Gu Mian checked his compensation.
[The Doomed Curse instance is temporarily suspended due to special reasons.]
[Due to the destruction of the sole curse origin, the instance cannot proceed normally. This instance will undergo long-term maintenance and reconstruction.]
[We apologize for the inconvenience caused to all players. Affected players will be considered to have cleared this instance and will be compensated with 1,000 Game Coins.]
Below this was a compensation list, and Gu Mian saw his name at the very top.
Further down were the instance clearance rewards and the compensation details.
The clearance rewards were 100 Game Coins, 1 Lottery Draw, and 2 Free Attribute Points. Adding the 1,000 Game Coins from the compensation, Gu Mian received a total of 1,100 Game Coins this time.
The Attribute Points were useless, as he couldn’t allocate them.
Knowing his luck had always been bad, Gu Mian held out no hope and immediately used the lottery draw.
The panel began to flash again. Strange items flickered past, each vanishing in an instant. After several seconds, the flashing panel finally slowed to a stop.
Gu Mian stared at the item on the panel, lost in thought.
[Long-neglected Pulley]
[When used, it can hoist the user and move them in a specified direction. However, due to long-term disrepair, it may break at any time. Please use with caution.]