Gu Mian squatted here, wearing the little girl's clothes, purely for the off-chance he might run into other players.

The odds of encountering other players on a bustling street were, after all, higher than in a desolate forest.

However, he had been squatting here for the better part of a day without any success.

He must be a psychopathic killer!

By this time, 007 had already sprinted far away.

The psychopathic killer Gu Mian, oblivious to the player rapidly distancing herself from him, watched the passersby with little interest. Feeling bored, he tugged at the rags he wore, then, thinking better of it, lifted them slightly. This gesture of suggestively adjusting his clothes was strikingly similar to how a bare-shouldered prostitute might solicit customers outside a brothel. However, in broad daylight, no one paused to observe Gu Mian's preening.

Not that Gu Mian had any intention of actually attracting customers.

After noticing something amiss with Princes Heitang and the Little Dwarf, he had formed a bold theory, but it still needed to be confirmed.

After a moment's hesitation, Gu Mian stepped onto the main street, basket in hand.

The street was crowded, but no one seemed to pay him any mind.

Gu Mian tried to stop a passing man. "Sir, buy a lighter?"

The man looked annoyed, yanked his sleeve free from Gu Mian's grasp, and promptly walked off in the opposite direction.

Gu Mian stared thoughtfully at the man's retreating back.

He tried this with several other people, but without exception, they all left impatiently, ignoring him completely.

Gu Mian figured that even if he resorted to a public striptease, people would still walk past without a second glance.

Truly a crowd unmoved by physical charms.

After trying to engage a few more people, he completely abandoned the idea of getting any information from these passersby. They might hold important clues, but he clearly couldn't coax anything out of them.

"I still need to find the other players... Finding Chu Changge and Fatty is the priority right now," Gu Mian muttered to himself.

Lost in thought, he habitually lifted the little girl's tattered clothes draped over him again. He didn't actually want to run around in these ill-fitting garments, but if his suspicions were correct, he'd be done for without them.

Gu Mian resumed his wandering through the crowded streets.

No one paid any heed to this strangely dressed Doctor, who looked as if he had robbed a little girl of her only belongings.

Everyone was absorbed in their own tasks—which seemed to consist only of walking, staring straight ahead.

Since he wasn't getting anywhere here, Gu Mian decided not to linger.

Looks like to find the other players, I'll have to go back to last night's forest. Or maybe visiting Little Red Riding Hood's house will yield some clues?

The damned thing was, Gu Mian had no idea where Little Red Riding Hood's house was, and grabbing a random person on the street wouldn't get him an answer.

Got to hurry...

Gu Mian glanced up at the sun, high in the sky.

The daytime in this instance was very short, while the nights were comparatively long.

Although Fatty had forcibly stuffed a flashlight into his guitar case, allowing him to see at night, finding people was still best done during the day.

Meanwhile, 007 had reached the edge of the forest.

She paused for a moment, slowly recalling what had just transpired.

That person just now... their clothes didn't look like an NPC's. More like a player's.

But a player carrying a chainsaw... and one hidden in a guitar case at that? Anyone would instinctively keep their distance, right?

Just then, 007 suddenly heard voices conversing somewhere in the nearby forest.

The voices weren't too loud, nor too soft, just audible enough to reach her ears.

After a brief moment of consideration, 007 decided to head in the direction of the voices.

Before the instance evaluation system was revised, she had always prioritized survival. After all, just surviving until the end, even by doing nothing, would still grant rewards. Being too proactive, on the other hand, greatly increased the risk of death and losing items.

But things were different now.

If she wasn't proactive now, she might not even be able to afford food later on.

The path to the little girl selling lighters was now blocked by that bizarre, chainsaw-wielding Doctor. She had no choice but to take on quests from other NPCs.

With this in mind, she quickened her pace. Completing tasks for other NPCs should also provide clues on how to leave Fairy Tale City...

Soon, she reached the source of the voices.

Two people were talking a short distance ahead.

Catching sight of them from a distance, 007 frowned slightly and darted behind a nearby tree. She peeked out, revealing only half her face, as she carefully observed the pair.

The reason was simple: one of the two figures looked decidedly odd.

Having experienced countless instances, she had long since mastered the skill of instantly finding cover at the slightest hint of anything unusual.

It was a hunched woman, completely enveloped in a cloak. She sat on the dry grass with her head bowed low, her face obscured by shadows. Only a sharp nose poked out from under her hood, giving her an uncanny resemblance to a wicked witch.

Although it was broad daylight with the sun high overhead, the area around the woman seemed strangely dim. 007 couldn't tell if it was an illusion or simply the shade from the trees...

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