Chapter 102 - 100: The Second Night

Chapter 102: Chapter 100: The Second Night

Huangfu Miaomiao’s face went pale. She quickly explained, "I was hallucinating! There was someone right behind me, talking to me. He looked exactly like the Daoist!"

Li Qing lowered his gaze and said in a low voice, "It seems those Fox Demons still haven’t given up."

Feng Ling chuckled. "We killed so many of their kind. It’s only normal they haven’t given up. When Pei Xianjue gets back, we’ll have her burn this whole area down. That should quiet those foxes a bit."

Thinking of Pei Xianjue, Feng Ling looked around. "...She’s not back yet. Could something have happened to her?"

"Should we go look for her?" Li Qing asked.

Feng Ling thought for a moment. "She can’t be that weak... Even someone like Zhou Diao, a mere Deputy Captain, calls himself the god of Qingjiang City. I figured the Deputy Captain from Yuquan City would be pretty impressive, too."

Just as they were talking, the sound of footsteps drifted from the distance.

The footsteps were halting and unsteady, yet they stood out clearly in the deep darkness of the night.

Feng Ling looked toward the sound and saw Pei Xianjue’s figure gradually emerge from the fog.

Her leg was injured. She was leaning on a branch for support, painstakingly dragging her wounded leg forward.

Feng Ling raised an eyebrow slightly, watching her without a word.

This place was rife with illusions. She wasn’t sure if the person before her was the real Pei Xianjue; she needed to observe her more closely.

Pei Xianjue stopped when she saw her, gave a little wave, and then continued toward them. Her face was etched with exhaustion, and she was too tired to even speak a word.

"Little Skeleton, give her a shot of recovery potion," Feng Ling said to Huangfu Miaomiao.

’It’s probably her. A Fox Demon couldn’t act this half-dead.’

Huangfu Miaomiao put down the branches she was holding, redeemed a potion with her points, and gave Pei Xianjue an injection in her bloody leg.

"Thank you," Pei Xianjue said softly, catching her breath.

She had lost so much blood that even those two simple words sounded weak and breathless. A normal person probably would have already died from excessive bleeding from a major artery.

In a rare show of thoughtfulness, Feng Ling helped Pei Xianjue lie down to rest and asked her, "Did Liang Haohan go crazy?"

Pei Xianjue gave a bitter smile. "How did you guess?"

"A fox’s fangs couldn’t have bitten through your leg," Feng Ling replied.

Pei Xianjue looked down at her injured leg, her expression growing even more bitter. "...He might have stayed in the village too long and completely lost his mind. He actually tried to kill me. I had to fight back to protect myself..."

She looked up and asked Feng Ling, "Do you have an empty box?"

Feng Ling paused for a moment, then asked Huangfu Miaomiao, "Got an empty box?"

"Yeah..." Huangfu Miaomiao produced a sturdy-looking metal case. "We brought four cases of grenades. We just used up this one. What do you need it for?"

"To hold his ashes," Pei Xianjue said with profound loyalty. "I can’t leave him all alone in this Maze. Even in death, I have to bring him back to the human world."

Feng Ling: "..."

’How ominous...’

Six people had entered the Maze. Apart from Li Qing and Huangfu Miaomiao, there were four humans. She had brought exactly four cases of grenades—one for each human, a perfect set.

"When morning comes, I’ll have to trouble you to accompany me back to the woods," Pei Xianjue said. "I haven’t recovered Liang Zhou’s Cards yet. He had one High-level Card and had assimilated three other Cards, so four Cards should drop now that he’s dead. But my phone can only recover two at most, so I’ll need to borrow yours."

Feng Ling asked, "Do we have to wait for morning? What if those foxes absorb the Cards in the meantime?"

"I started a fire in the woods. It won’t burn out for a few hours, so they can’t get in," Pei Xianjue said with a faint smile.

Hearing this, Li Qing reminded her, "If his Pollution Value had already exceeded the safe threshold, his genes would be chaotic. He might not drop four Cards after death. Only genetically stable Cards will drop completely."

Many Pollution Bodies only drop one or two Cards when killed because their internal genes are highly unstable.

The Pollution Body that Feng Ling encountered in the cave last time was a special case.

Feng Ling checked the time and said, "I’ll take the first watch. You guys get some rest."

’I’m not sleeping tonight. I don’t want to have those dreams again.’

Pei Xianjue was about to make a polite refusal, but the fight with Liang Zhou had drained too much of her energy. She closed her eyes and, nestling by the fire, fell asleep almost instantly.

This was their second night in the Maze.

Having left the safe house, they were now in the illusion-shrouded Fox Village. While there was no great danger, they were still on edge, spending the entire night wracked with paranoia and suspicion...

...

「The next day.」

Pei Xianjue’s leg was much better. She had also eaten a pouch of Little Jelly from Huangfu Miaomiao, and her mental state was fully restored.

The daytime fog had also mostly dissipated, clearing up the view and lifting everyone’s spirits.

The group returned to the tangled woods, which had been burned to ash, and began recovering Liang Zhou’s Cards from the scorched earth.

Four Cards in total.

"The genes of his Cards are very stable," Li Qing remarked coolly.

"Then his Pollution Value shouldn’t have been high, right?" Feng Ling found it strange. "Why did he go crazy?"

Li Qing shook his head. "I don’t know."

Pei Xianjue listened to their conversation as she knelt on one knee, silently scooping up handful after handful of ashes from the cremated body and placing them into the metal case.

One case certainly couldn’t hold all the ashes; she could only fill it as a memorial gesture.

Pei Xianjue spread her palm and reached into the ashes, feeling the residual warmth left by the flames. It felt like the warmth of a human body.

But it would eventually grow cold, just like the bonds between people, which are destined to break at some point.

She scooped a few more handfuls of ash, then picked out teeth and bone fragments, placing them in the case as well.

"Alright, let’s leave this place," Pei Xianjue said, lifting the metal case.

Feng Ling glanced at the case in her hand, said nothing, and turned to leave.

They had expected to have to deal with the Fox Demons for a while longer, but to their surprise, as they walked, they found they had unknowingly left the village.

The process was so smooth and natural that the four of them were all a bit stunned when they found themselves back on the mountain path.

Feng Ling was shocked. "Did the illusion fail?"

Pei Xianjue joked, "We blew up houses, burned down the woods, and killed so many ’villagers.’ They probably couldn’t take it anymore."

Huangfu Miaomiao heaved a sigh of relief and said repeatedly, "It’s good that we’re out, it’s good that we’re out... Let’s just go find the Maze Master. That Fox Village was too annoying."

’Annoying as it was,’ Feng Ling thought, ’the trip wasn’t a total waste.’

At least she found the Divine Statue, and Pei Xianjue got her ashes.

They had both gotten something out of it.

It was just that they still hadn’t seen the Maze Master...

Feng Ling couldn’t help but wonder.

Walking along the mountain path, she couldn’t help but look back toward Fox Village.

The fog was light today, so she could clearly see the collapsed houses in the village and the woods that were still emitting black smoke.

Not far from the village was a lake, and in the water, a colossal creature broke the surface, leaving behind astonishingly large ripples.

Feng Ling’s eyes flew wide open. She immediately grabbed Huangfu Miaomiao and asked, "Is that the Maze Master?!"

"The Maze Master? Where? Where is it?!" Huangfu Miaomiao cried out in alarm.

Li Qing frowned as he looked over, asking with hesitation, "...Why would there be a lake in this location?"