A Gathering of Heroes!

Fatty scrambled to his feet, watching Chu Changge standing on the balcony taking the first breath of the morning smog.

"Brother Chu, do you know?" Fatty looked at Chu Changge's back. "There was an old man who lived next door to me before. He used to go to the rooftop every morning to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Later, he got smog poisoning."

Hearing this, Chu Changge silently took two steps back, away from the balcony.

Gu Mian's balcony was open-air, the kind where you could look up and see the sky.

He could see that the weather was bad today, a bit gloomy, as if it were going to snow.

Fatty's gaze passed over Chu Changge and looked beyond the balcony. "Where did Doctor Gu go?"

Chu Changge replied concisely, "He went to make money."

Fatty was slightly taken aback. "The doctor went by himself?"

"Yeah, he told us to air-dry the meat we bought last night at home so it would be easier to carry on the road."

At this moment, Gu Mian had already bought his ticket and was queuing for a Dungeon.

Perhaps because the game had just started, there weren't many players participating in the Dungeon, so his matchmaking took a while.

After waiting for a long time in the darkness, that long-lost sense of weightlessness finally returned.

Gu Mian fell for a while in the darkness before his body touched something solid. He felt like he had landed on a bed.

At the same time, the darkness quickly receded, revealing the scene before him.

He was now in a room.

Information about this Dungeon was popping up on the panel.

[Dungeon: Desperate Curse]

[Content: Have you ever felt a strange gaze upon you? Do you always hear faint noises from under your bed? Do you always feel like someone is behind you?

You are all cursed by vengeful spirits. Please do your best to survive the curse!

Please remember, "it" will get closer and closer to you!]

[Number of Players: 5]

[Main Quest: Survive in the Dungeon for 10 days]

[Difficulty: ★★★★☆]

[Dungeon Reward: Game Currency*100, Lottery Chances*1, Free Attribute Points*2]

"The rewards for this Dungeon have improved by more than just one level." Gu Mian muttered to himself as he looked around.

This was a small room, looking a bit old, but still tidy.

A bed took up half the space in the room, covered with a gray-blue bedsheet and a quilt of the same color. There was a writing desk next to the door.

The bed was against the window. Gu Mian looked out and found that it was the first floor.

Outside were some dilapidated-looking buildings. Not far away was an open space with a giant statue of a person.

The sun was slowly setting in the west, and the afterglow of the sunset shone into the room, making Gu Mian feel warm.

His chainsaw, disguised as a guitar case, had also landed successfully without any damage.

Gu Mian then turned to look outside the room door. Outside was a small living room, which could be seen at a glance.

A CRT television sat on a solid wood cabinet. Not far from the TV was a glass coffee table and a set of dark red small sofas. It was evident that the sofas were quite old, the leather worn through.

Next to the sofa was a nightstand-like cabinet, on which sat a landline telephone. Next to the phone, there seemed to be a phone book.

This was a one-bedroom, one-living room single apartment, and it seemed to be an apartment from many years ago.

Indeed, Gu Mian discovered through a calendar hanging in the living room that it was October 2002.

Who knew how the time in the Dungeon was arranged? He didn't have time to consider it and was rushing to find clues.

"This is a five-player Dungeon, but now there's no one here except me and the chainsaw?" Gu Mian thought seriously.

This Dungeon was different from the previous two.

In the previous two, his teammates were clearly placed in front of him, but this time, he seemed to have to find his teammates himself.

"Actually, it's not a big problem if I don't find teammates," Gu Mian muttered to himself. "This Dungeon seems to be similar to The Ring."

In The Ring, anyone who watched the videotape would die seven days later.

In this Dungeon, players were cursed from the start, and during this time, "it" would get closer and closer to the players.

When "it" reached the player, it was time for the player to die.

"We have five players, so there should be at least five ghosts in this Dungeon, otherwise, wouldn't one ghost get tired killing five players?"

Gu Mian was thinking very seriously.

But just as he was deep in thought, the phone on the cabinet next to the sofa suddenly rang.

"Ring ring ring--"

"Ring ring ring--"

It was still dusk, and Gu Mian wasn't worried about the The Ring scenario. He reached out and answered the phone.

Next, a young man's voice came from the other side: "Hello, is... Gu Mian?"

Gu Mian paused slightly: "You are..."

The other side seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing, "You're a player too, right?"

I didn't go looking for teammates, but a teammate found me. But how did he find me?

While deep in thought, Gu Mian reached out and flipped through the phone book next to the phone. As expected, the phone book only listed four phone numbers, which should be those of the other four teammates.

This person must have called based on the phone book too.

Gu Mian readily admitted, "Yes."

As he answered, he looked at the display screen of the landline phone. The screen showed the other party's number, which he then matched with the names in the phone book.

"Are you Yuwen Hao?"

Yuwen Hao? What kind of weird name is that.

The other side seemed a little excited: "It's me! You're really the teammate I've had the most comfortable communication with here."

Gu Mian understood how to infer, and could guess many things without the other person needing to say them.

It seemed Yuwen Hao had already called the other teammates, which was why he could compare Gu Mian's understanding nature.

"I also called some other people just now. They were either incoherent or kept asking questions, like 'How did you get my number?' or 'Which one are you?' You really are the teammate who makes me feel the most comfortable."

Gu Mian didn't waste any more time chatting with Yuwen Hao.

He looked at the other names in the phone book: "You called because you want us to gather, right?"

The person on the other side choked: "Uh... yes, that's right. From what I understand, all five of us were separated individually and are in our own rooms, so I wanted to get everyone together first."

"Where should we gather?"

"...Actually, I'm not really sure where everyone is. Can you see if there's any distinctive building outside your window?"

Gu Mian looked out the window: "There's a large full-body statue... Actually, I'm quite distinctive too. You should be able to recognize me immediately after one look."

"What?" The other side made a strange sound.

Gu Mian slung the chainsaw onto his back: "A doctor carrying a large guitar. I'm the doctor carrying a large guitar."

Fortunately, the Dungeon was somewhat humane and didn't separate the five players too far apart.

When Yuwen Hao arrived at the statue Gu Mian mentioned with the other three people, they immediately spotted the figure that was even more distinctive than the statue.

A doctor stood there, wearing a white coat.

The white coat was already a bit worn, its edges even stained with some reddish-brown substance that fluttered in the wind.

He carried a large guitar on his back, which was highly unsuited for the profession of a doctor. The guitar was a bit too big, fitting snugly on the doctor's back.

The incongruous attire gave him a strange aura, but the doctor didn't seem to mind at all.

"Good heavens," Yuwen Hao sighed inwardly, "What kind of bizarre teammate did I get matched with?"