[Announcement (February 14th, 16:49)]

[The source of danger in the 'Horror Taxi' instance has disappeared. This instance has been permanently locked and can no longer be matched.]

[Compensated players: Yuwen Hao, Meteor Princess]

Gu Mian looked at the compensation list; there was another familiar name.

"Look," Fatty didn't recognize Yuwen Hao, "Our Doctor, after his feats of crashing an ongoing instance and then an instance he hadn't even entered, has now unlocked a new 'achievement'—crashing an instance he had entered before, one that had actually survived him! What a truly world-shocking, grand maneuver!"

"Well, that settles that," Fatty sighed. "Not even an instance that survived him is spared now."

Too terrifying.

"Speaking of which," Fatty mused, "wasn't the original purpose of this special item, the Archive Device, to help players survive?"

If you rewind when you're about to die, you return to your peak state. Truly a divine tool.

Fatty paused, then continued, "But Doctor, you discovered another use for it…"

If this thing were used to screw people over, it could really get them killed.

Gu Mian tossed the Archive Device aside. "I actually just wanted to see if instance characters could use this thing…"

As he said this, he seemed to recall something. "I remember this Archive Device was pried off Mr. Green. Do you remember Mr. Green? The host of Crazy Guessing Words."

Fatty looked up. "I definitely can't forget that one. After all, you forcibly carried him out."

"This Archive Device was his item. At the time, I was wondering if characters in instances could also use special items?" Gu Mian stroked his chin. "It seems now that they indeed can."

"Quite strange, isn't it?" Chu Changge adjusted his glasses. "They seem no different from us."

Gu Mian recalled what the ticket seller had said to Mr. Green when he brought him out of the instance—"Unfortunately, Mr. Green, it seems you have landed ahead of schedule."

What does "landed ahead of schedule" mean?

Could it be that a large number of NPCs will arrive in the real world much later?

"I'm telling you, Doctor, stop worrying about the future. We have a pile of messes to deal with right now. By the way, when are we going to the advanced ticket booth to get the event tickets?" Fatty said, closing the game announcement.

Gu Mian saw him open his mailbox.

Right, the 'Horror Taxi' instance had forcibly ejected them and given them compensation. Gu Mian hadn't yet seen what it was.

Seeing Fatty open his mailbox, Gu Mian opened his as well. "Let me see what the compensation is first."

Fatty was still muttering, "I hope it's not another lottery. Last time, I drew that 'Aggro-Drawing Huge Black Pot'. It's a shame to throw it away, but I don't dare equip it…"

Fortunately, it wasn't a lottery this time. Gu Mian's luck wasn't good. Last time, he directly drew a Killing Order, and now there was an Assassin lurking in some unknown corner, waiting to kill him.

"I hope it's something good this time," he said, looking at his email.

But then he immediately understood a truth—never harbor illusions about your own luck.

[A Massive IOU]

When he saw this name, Gu Mian's heart lurched.

Did I really draw something that's going to cost me money instead?

[Introduction: A massive IOU. It reads: 'The player holding this IOU owes the Nine-headed Baby 10,000 Game Coins. Non-transferable.']

Gu Mian: "..."

This special item was certainly something else; it was non-transferable right from the get-go. You couldn't even throw it away.

And what on earth was a Nine-headed Baby?

[Function: Due to the player owing a large sum of Game Coins, the Nine-headed Baby is very displeased. Before the debt is cleared, the player may face the Nine-headed Baby's wrath at any time. If the player repays the debt, they will receive 'Nine-headed Baby's Appreciation.']

Gu Mian: "..."

So now, not only am I being hunted by an Assassin, but I'm also 10,000 Game Coins in debt?

As he thought this, he opened the bounty list. His name was still hanging at the top, and the bounty amount had, at some unknown point, increased from 10,000 Game Coins to 15,000 Game Coins.

The price went up. That's an affirmation of his abilities.

Gu Mian thought, I might as well just kill myself and pay off the debts.

At this moment, Fatty leaned over. "Yo, Doctor, you got an IOU, huh? This Nine-headed Baby sounds like an Evil Ghost, right? Does this mean you owe an Evil Ghost 10,000 Game Coins, and if you don't repay it, it might show up anytime to cause trouble? But how would you even repay this money…?"

Gu Mian touched the IOU in his hand. "It seems you can directly deposit money into this IOU."

Fatty looked amazed. "Isn't this another form of pay-to-win, then?"

To spend 10,000 Game Coins to buy 'Nine-headed Baby's Appreciation'...

God knows what that is; it might not even be as powerful as the chainsaw in Gu Mian's hand.

"But Doctor," Fatty spoke up, "haven't you noticed that the things you've been getting lately are increasingly unreliable?"

Starting with that Killing Order, all the special items Gu Mian obtained seemed designed to get him killed.

"My life has always been this unreliable; I'm used to it," Gu Mian said, turning his head. "Are your compensations also special items?"

Only then did Fatty turn back to look at his own mailbox.

「Meanwhile」

Yuwen Hao had already exited the instance, greeted by the ticket seller's large, bronze-bell-like eyes. It seemed this ticket seller also knew that the 'Horror Taxi' instance had ceased operations.

Yuwen Hao stood in the ticket hall for a good while, still dazed.

Even now, he hadn't figured out whether the driver who had died in front of him was human or ghost.

In the 'Horror Taxi' instance, it was difficult to distinguish between humans and ghosts, which troubled him greatly.

Since that driver died and the instance's source of danger disappeared, he must have been a ghost, right? How could a human be that dangerous... Good thing I'm smart and ran fast, otherwise he might have slashed me!

Yuwen Hao touched his chest. But can ghosts die from excessive blood loss?

Thinking of this, he recalled the female ghost whose head Gu Mian had sawed off several instances ago. If ghosts can die from having their heads severed, then they can probably die from excessive blood loss too, right?

Yuwen Hao felt his mind was a complete mess. Forget it, I'll just go home first…

At the same time, Fatty and Chu Changge had also figured out their compensation: two special items.

[Strange Camera]

[Mail from Hell]

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