Gu Mian arrived at the foot of the employee apartment building, drawing on his memory. The complex, built about five or six years ago, was neither old nor new. Due to its poor location, few people lived there, and property prices were somewhat low.
Most of their companyâs workers were from out of town. Consequently, the boss had bought dozens of adjacent properties in the complex to serve as employee apartments, thereby attracting prospective employees.
But even these slightly lower-priced apartments were far better than the employee dormitories offered by other companies. Most employee dormitories were just thatâdorms, with bunk beds or a loft bed over a desk. Having a room to oneself was a luxury.
One could only say that this boss was young and had not yet fully grasped the system of exploitation in contemporary society...
Not dwelling on the young boss, Gu Mian stepped into the building entrance.
Everyone lives here. Even though theyâre dispersed when entering the instance, theyâre still likely to gather here. Moreover, since Zhao Shuang was found, she has been resting in the employee dormitory. The amnesiac theyâre referring to must be her... Wiser players will certainly go to Zhao Shuang first.
Considering the high bounty of one hundred thousand Game Coins on his head, Gu Mian decided to make some preparations before appearing in other playersâ sights.
Inside the entrance was an elevator. He stepped in and pressed the button for the fifth floor. Because "Gu Mian" had previously helped Zhao Shuang collect packages, he knew her apartment number.
The apartment building had seven floors and a basement parking garage on level negative one, directly accessible by the elevator.
In the cramped elevator, Gu Mian unzipped his guitar bag and pulled out a dangerously sharp chainsaw that glinted coldly.
After all, he was worth a lot. If other players were to attack him on sight, the scene wouldnât be pretty.
To prevent such a scenario, he decided to first pull out a more intimidating weapon for deterrence.
If any innocent bystander had tried to take the elevator at that moment, the sight inside would have scared them witless.
Fortunately, few people were using the elevator at this time. Gu Mian ascended safely to the fifth floor. The elevator stopped, and the fifth-floor button light went out.
Then, the elevator doors slid open. Gu Mian looked out onto a dim corridor that exuded an indescribable, eerie feeling.
Ignoring the peculiar corridor, he clutched his terrifyingly large chainsaw and hurried towards Zhao Shuangâs dormitory. This floor had a layout of six apartments. In no time, Gu Mian was knocking on the door of Room 504.
Cangyue Shisi and the others were preparing to discuss clues when they heard a knock on the door.
Keke immediately ran to the door and looked out through the peephole. A couple of seconds later, she turned back to the three others. "I think itâs another player."
The three exchanged uneasy glances.
Gu Mianâs name was infamous. The moment they heard it, they thought of the figure on the wanted list, though they werenât yet sure if this was *that* Gu Mian.
Wang Chuan doesnât want candy pondered for a moment before saying, "Letâs open the door. What do you all think?"
Since it might be the person on the wanted list, they had to consider his potential danger.
Keke did not object. "He doesnât look like a bad person, and he doesnât seem dangerous."
The others also nodded in agreement.
So Keke turned, gripped the handle, and twisted it down. SQUEAK. The door swung open.
The other three then saw Gu Mian standing outside.
He wore a white lab coat, the type doctors often wear, over a light gray, solid-colored shirt. The shirt fit smoothly, its hem tucked neatly into his trousers.
Of course, the most eye-catching thing was the enormous, orange-handled chainsaw he held.
So this is what Keke meant by ânot dangerousâ?
Cang Yue was dumbfounded.
Before they could react, Gu Mian stepped over the threshold, holding the door open with his foot. He wore a pleasant expression. "Ah, everyoneâs here. Looks like Iâm the last to arrive."
Muttering to himself, he strode into the living room. "Itâs all that taxi driverâs fault, going on and on about some story from his mountain climbing trip..."
Cang Yue and the other two instinctively took a step back, wanting to put distance between themselves and the bright orange chainsaw.
"Excuse me... sir..." Cang Yue began, clearly choosing her words carefully, "Are you..."
As she spoke, her eyes kept drifting to the menacing chainsaw in Gu Mianâs hand.
Now that death in the instance was real, although they wanted to make a move on Gu Mian, they had to ensure their own safety first.
Judging by this manâs aura, our schemes will probably get us killed before we even get started!
Taking a step forward, Gu Mian closed the door. "There are always villains trying to... I mean, Iâm just unlucky, always running into robbers and the like. A fortune-teller advised me to carry a saw. Sure enough, Iâve met fewer robbers since then."
As Gu Mian spoke, he took another step forward. The three people behind Keke simultaneously retreated a large step.
Their dream of obtaining one hundred thousand Game Coins shattered before it could even begin.
Ultimately, it was Keke who broke the strange silence, "Zhao Shuang is still asleep, and we donât know when sheâll wake up. We should share any useful clues we have now..."
After witnessing the deadly weapon in Gu Mianâs hands, their aggressive intentions had mostly subsided.
Forget about trying to kill Gu Mian; judging by his stance, theyâd be lucky if he didnât kill them first!
Their dreams of punishing evil and promoting good were shattered. They had no choice but to compose themselves and face the instance. The instanceâs death protection mechanism had been deactivated, and they now needed to focus with utmost concentration on finding a way to survive.
As the others were lost in these thoughts, Gu Mian glanced sideways at Zhao Shuang, asleep in the bedroom.
Sheâs the protagonist of âAmnesia,â and most likely the core of this instance.
Cang Yue and the other two had no objections to Kekeâs suggestion. The five players were temporarily in the same boat, having formed a precarious and shaky alliance.
Since Keke had made the suggestion, she spoke first, "Zhao Shuang is asleep in the room... Actually, before you three arrived, she woke up once."
Her voice was soft, as if afraid of waking Zhao Shuang in the bedroom. "Before you arrived, she woke up with a start. She said... she dreamt her deceased colleagues were resentful towards her. It wasnât just today; this has been happening for the past few days. Sheâs been waking up from such nightmares every day."
Xia Jianren and Wang Chuan nodded thoughtfully, deep in thought.
After a while, Xia Jianren also spoke up, "Actually, we found something in our rooms too. Wang Chuan and I are roommates. The reason we didnât go to the team-building event was because weâd had a conflict with Zhao Shuang not long ago and didnât want to see her and cause more trouble. But weâre still not clear on what the conflict was about."
As he spoke, he took out his phone to show the others; on the screen was the chat history with Zhao Shuang.
Gu Mian scanned it briefly. The chat log contained only a few messages, all initiated by Zhao Shuang.
Zhao Shuang: Xia Jianren, did you and Wang Chuan know about this all along?
Zhao Shuang: So, you were just hiding it from me, werenât you?
Zhao Shuang: Are you guys sick?
Zhao Shuang: So you donât dare to talk now, alright then, just wait and see.
There were only these few messages, and Xia Jianren hadnât replied to a single one, making it seem as if he indeed had something to feel guilty about.
Seeing this, Cang Yue couldnât help but wonder what Zhao Shuang had been kept in the dark about, and if she still remembered her conflict with Xia Jianren and Wang Chuan.
"This is the only clue weâve found. We still donât really know what happened..." Xia Jianrenâs voice grew quieter as he spoke. He then glanced at Gu Mian, his expression seeming to say,
Iâm done, now itâs your turn.
Gu Mian, who was quite good at reading people, understood Xia Jianrenâs meaning. Gripping the chainsaw handle with one hand and stroking his chin with the other, he said, "When I arrived, I was on a main road next to a mountain. That mountain is Fenshan Mountain, where the accident happened..."
He actually really wanted to complain about the name. Team building on Fenshan Mountain? Wasnât that like carrying a lantern into a latrineâcourting death?