The Author Is Panicking Now

Of course, Gu Mian had only been idly thinking about robbing someone.

The Evolution Game had only just begun. Things hadn't yet descended into chaos, and order was still barely holding.

They might get shot if they tried to rob someone now!

There was nothing for it. The three of them had to keep walking along the road. The fatty even suggested looking for some tree bark to peel off and eat.

He was obviously joking. They weren't desperate enough to eat just anything yet.

Gu Mian looked ahead. "I remember there are a lot of breakfast shops near our hospital, but I doubt anyone's selling anything now. There are quite a few supermarkets over there, though. Want to check them out?"

They had nothing better to do, so Chu Changge and the fatty both agreed.

It didn't take long for the three of them to reach the area around Lianhua Hospital.

It was still as miserable as it had been yesterday. But yesterday, at least, the place had felt somewhat alive. They'd seen players scurrying around like headless chickens.

Now, there wasn't a single player in sight—not even a fly.

The two ticket halls next to the hospital were also desolate. No one was going inside.

The north wind swept past, lending the place the air of a family slaughtered and its home ransacked.

Gu Mian's gaze passed over the cars strewn haphazardly across the road before settling on an electric tricycle.

This wasn't an ordinary tricycle. It had a cargo compartment, tightly enclosed and painted white, with blue lettering sprayed across it:

"Shunfeng Express"

The delivery driver was long gone, leaving behind a truck with its cargo door ajar and a compartment full of packages.

"Is it kind of unethical to raid a delivery truck?" Gu Mian rubbed his hands together.

Chu Changge replied shamelessly, "Even if you don't take them, those packages aren't going to reach their buyers."

That put Gu Mian's mind at ease. He opened the cargo door without a second thought.

The lock hadn't been sturdy to begin with, and another car had slammed into it from behind. The hasp had fallen right off, so it opened easily.

Gu Mian looked at the compartment packed full of boxes. "There should be plenty of snacks in here."

A lot of businesses ran promotions over New Year's, so there'd been a real surge in deliveries lately.

The shipping labels on most of the packages said what was inside, so they didn't have to open them just to check.

He pulled out the big box nearest him and looked down at it. At once, he recognized the delivery address:

"Lianhua Hospital, underground morgue, turn left at the entrance, seventh level, ninth refrigerated corpse cabinet from the left"

Now that was an absurd delivery address.

It looked like the package contained a quilt.

Gu Mian wasn't interested in quilts. He tossed the big box aside and reached for another package.

The next few packages were much more ordinary.

The three of them found plenty of food in the delivery truck: a deluxe nut gift set, molten mochi, hand-torn beef jerky, and even a whole box of instant noodles.

Before leaving home, the fatty had made sure to bring three of the biggest plastic shopping bags from the supermarket.

He cheerfully opened the packages with a rusty fruit knife, then dumped all the snacks into the bags, saying it would save space.

After they'd cleared out the truck, all three bags were practically full. Each of them took one and headed back.

The sun had risen halfway into the sky.

It was a little warmer than it had been at dawn, and there were finally more people out on the streets.

Gu Mian had been rather worried that someone might jump out and rob them. With his luck, it wouldn't have been surprising if anything happened.

But his worries were unfounded. No robbers suddenly appeared. Something else did.

As they passed the Hearse Driver Examination Center, their panels suddenly appeared out of thin air.

[Special instance triggered: "Hearse Driver Examination Center"]

"What the heck!" The fatty's eyes widened.

They'd already been told that special instances could match them at any time, anywhere, and were extremely dangerous.

Gu Mian opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a flash of white light filled his vision. By the time he came to, everything around him had completely changed.

The panel was still displaying the instance details.

[Players: 5–10]

[Insufficient players detected. Random teammates will be added. Loading...]

[Teammates matched successfully. Current player count: 7]

In an instant, four dazed-looking people appeared beside Gu Mian and the others. They didn't seem to understand what was going on yet.

[Instance objective: Obtain a driver's license. Fail the exam, and you will be eliminated]

[Instance reward: Spirit Car Driving License]

[Instance difficulty: ★★★★★★☆]

Gu Mian stared at the string of stars, which looked like candied hawthorn, and fell into thought.

The fatty didn't look too happy. To be precise, he looked very unhappy.

Gu Mian heard him mumbling something under his breath. He had to lean closer to make it out. "One, two, three... six. Difficulty six and a half stars?"

Instance difficulty ranged from one to ten stars. The higher it was, the harder the instance.

Getting matched with a six-and-a-half-star instance right off the bat made Gu Mian think he'd dragged the fatty into trouble.

Just then, an excited voice suddenly rang out nearby—

"Qiao Chu?"

The speaker was a thin, sharp-faced young man. He was now looking excitedly at another player.

Gu Mian had heard of Qiao Chu. She was a popular rising idol, adorably blank-faced, who'd debuted in a girl group before moving into film and television. People in the industry called her "Xiao Qiao."

And yet she had absolutely no acting ability. She was just pretty. Even standing perfectly still on a screen, she could be stunning at first glance.

No one knew how powerful her connections were. Online criticism had poured down on her enough to drown her hundreds of times over, but she never learned her lesson. Her acting never improved, yet the roles kept coming, nearly driving her haters mad.

In short, she was a bizarre new star on the Chinese entertainment scene.

Gu Mian followed the thin young man's gaze and sure enough, recognized the familiar face.

The actress, who was usually rather blank, looked just as blank today. She didn't seem aloof so much as confused about what was happening.

Taking the opportunity, Gu Mian looked through the other players' profiles.

The thin young man, who was gazing at Xiao Qiao with shining eyes, was called "Yan Hua Yi Leng."

The square-faced man beside him looked very kind. He was a middle-aged man called "Hao Laoshi."

Besides them, there was also a short, timid girl with a face full of freckles. Her name was "Liu Xing Gong Zhu."

As for Qiao Chu, she'd simply named herself "Xiao Qiao." Gu Mian had no idea how she'd managed to get that name.

Soon, a new figure appeared before them.

He wasn't a player, but an NPC.

He had the word "NPC" floating above his head, after all.

He was a man, tall and around forty or fifty years old, standing over six feet tall. He wore a neat suit, and his lined face was solemn.

"I'm your instructor," the older man said.

Of course there were instructors when you learned to drive, but every instructor Gu Mian had seen wore slippers and shorts. The slightly more respectable ones wore loose tracksuits.

This was the first time Gu Mian had seen an instructor dressed so slickly.

But they were in an instance, so he wasn't surprised.

The fatty beside him opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something, but the instructor didn't give him a chance.

"You've all taken the driver's license exam before, right? Unfortunately, this is different from an ordinary driving test."

"Although I'm your instructor, I won't teach you anything. I'll only grade you. You'll have to do the practice questions and complete the exams on your own."

"But remember, there are evil spirits in this exam. They will definitely interfere with you, and may even put your lives at risk."

Gu Mian looked around.

A large building stood nearby, shaped like a flattened cylinder. A sign hung above its revolving door: "Written Test Center."

The instructor continued, "Your exam has two parts."

Two? Gu Mian remembered there being four parts when he learned to drive.

The others exchanged glances, seemingly trying to guess how this instance differed from a regular driving test.

"The two parts are the written exam and the road test."

"The written exam is, as the name suggests, a test on paper. I'll give each of you a set of questions in a moment. But remember, you can only write your answers between ten at night and midnight. You won't be able to answer the questions at any other time, though you can think about them."

"You need a score above 80 to pass. Anything lower counts as failing. Only those who pass can take the next part."

"You can only take the road test after passing the written exam. Each of you will choose one of those three vehicles. Drive around this road three times, and you'll pass."

As he spoke, the instructor turned his gaze in a particular direction.

The others followed his gaze.

Three vehicles had appeared there at some point.

The moment Gu Mian saw them, he finally understood how this exam differed from an ordinary driving test.

There was—

"A hearse, commonly known as a spirit car. It's used to transport ashes or corpses. The front of the vehicle even says 'Funeral Services,' and there's a loudspeaker too, probably for playing funeral music."

"An ambulance covered in blood. Sick patients often die inside it. Most of its windows are smashed, and its body is smeared with blood."

"A prison transport van. Its iron bars have been twisted out of shape by something, and a prison uniform is snagged on them. But the prisoner is long gone."