It was now 12:03 AM.
Gu Mian and his three companions had long since handed in their papers and were waiting at the door. However, the road test did not commence immediately. The coach first waited at the door for a while for other participants.
It wasn't until after 12:00 AM, and he had confirmed that no one else would appear, that he turned towards Gu Mian's group. A faint smile touched his lips.
"To be honest, this is the first time this instance has admitted players. I hadn't foreseen that the survival rate would be so high. It seems the difficulty is too low."
Fatty murmured, "I don't think this has much to do with the difficulty..."
"Next, you four players will undertake the road test. You must randomly select one of these three cars and drive three laps on this road. As your coach, I will sit in the passenger seat and evaluate your performance."
"Remember, if the car stalls or stops for any other reason during the road test, it will be considered a failure. You must complete three uninterrupted laps."
With everything said, it was clear that Evil Ghosts might appear to obstruct the driving test.
As he spoke, the coach consulted a piece of paper that looked like a form. "Now, the order will be determined by player game IDs. Let's see... the first player up should be…"
"Gu Mian, ID... ID... 1?"
The coach's expression faltered slightly.
He stared intently at the form in his hand, seemingly looking for a number after 1. However, there was only a glaring blank space behind it.
He raised his head. "Who is Gu Mian?"
Gu Mian raised his hand, looking like a student eager to answer a teacher's question. "That's me."
The coach glanced at the player information in his hand, then looked up at Gu Mian. "Your game ID is..."
Gu Mian replied straightforwardly, "Yes, I've confirmed it. My ID is only one digit, and the gender isn't very clear."
The coach frowned slightly, his face clearly showing his thought: How could such an ID exist?
Without further delay, he pointed to the three cars parked by the roadside. "Three cars. Choose one."
Gu Mian also turned to look at the three cars parked by the roadside.
A Spirit Car, an ambulance, and a prison van.
None of them seemed to be fuel-efficient.
He decisively chose the ambulance. "I'm more familiar with the ghost in that car."
The coach gave him a suspicious look. "Enough nonsense. Get in. I'll be in the passenger seat to evaluate you the entire time."
Chu Changge and the others retreated slightly, moving away from the edge of the road to watch Gu Mian get into the car.
"Brother Chu," Fatty asked Chu Changge worriedly, "will the Doctor have any problems this time?"
Chu Changge took several more steps back. "If he didn't run into problems, he wouldn't be Gu Mian. Besides, if he has an accident, people nearby usually suffer along with him…"
As he spoke, he glanced at the nattily dressed coach.
At this point, Gu Mian and the coach were already seated in the car.
It was midnight. Only two dim streetlights stood by the road, and the ambulance's headlights seemed to be broken.
The road surface was very indistinct. Conducting a road test under these conditions was highly unfavorable for the candidates.
Without much hesitation, Gu Mian started the car.
The sound of an engine starting broke the night's silence. A few seconds later, the blood-stained ambulance drifted into the middle of the road.
That's right, drifted.
The coach, caught off guard by the drift, nearly slammed his head into the window. "What are you doing?!"
Gu Mian had obtained his driver's license in college, but despite passing the test, he hadn't driven much since.
It wasn't because he couldn't afford a car. Rather, due to his peculiar constitution, driving was extremely prone to accidents for him.
For his own safety, Gu Mian had never even considered buying a car.
Consequently, Gu Mian's driving skills were naturally unpracticed.
"Don't worry, Coach," Gu Mian said, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. "This is nothing."
Hearing his words, a sense of foreboding suddenly washed over the coach.
In the pitch-black night, sparrows occasionally landed on the streetlights, only to be startled and fly off again.
The dilapidated ambulance crawled along the dim road, seeming to merge with the darkness, an eerie sight.
One lap…
The first lap passed without incident.
The coach in the passenger seat frowned slightly. He seemed to be waiting for something, but his expression indicated it hadn't appeared.
Amidst the coach's peculiar expression, Gu Mian began the second lap.
The car accelerated slightly, the engine emitting a soft RUMBLE.
Halfway through the second lap, the coach's expression grew increasingly odd.
He appeared extremely puzzled, so much so that he seemed on the verge of blurting something out.
Gu Mian heard him mutter very softly, "Not here yet?"
"What are you waiting for?" A smile spread across Gu Mian's face.
Waiting for a ghost?
It might not show up.
The coach immediately shot Gu Mian a suspicious glance. "Did you do something?"
But he quickly dismissed his own thought.
What could a player do?
This was his instance. He knew it best. The three ghosts in the building were unkillable; encountering them meant fleeing. Running was the only option.
Just an ordinary player, what could he possibly do?
It should appear suddenly on the last lap… the coach thought, turning his head back.
Soon, the ambulance began its third lap.
Still perfectly smooth. No incidents whatsoever, not even a slight jolt. It only sped up a bit more.
Halfway through the third lap, the coach's composure finally started to crack.
What's going on? He looked ahead anxiously. Just a little further and the three laps would be over. Yet, the obstacles that should have appeared during the road test still hadn't materialized.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down the coach's forehead. Could it be... that the ghost in this car has vanished?
The vehicle moved forward steadily, eventually crossing the finish line.
Gu Mian's voice came from beside him, "Coach, three laps are up. I've passed, right?"
The coach snapped back to reality and looked ahead, only to realize with a start that the car wasn't stopping. It was starting a fourth lap.
He stared at the driver in shock. "Why aren't you stopping?"
Gu Mian tilted his head slightly. "I tried to stop it just now, but the brakes seem to have failed. And the car is accelerating on its own."
That was to be expected.
With his kind of luck, it would be stranger if the car *didn't* malfunction.
Gu Mian himself had weathered over twenty years of storms, so he could face this calmly.
But the coach sitting next to him was a different story.
The coach's face first went blank with shock. A few seconds later, astonishment flooded his expression, followed by his entire face contorting. He then opened his mouth, his voice laced with disbelief:
"Impossible!"
"This kind of malfunction absolutely cannot happen in the instance!"