Chapter 142 - 140: Greatly Relieved

Chapter 142: Chapter 140: Greatly Relieved

She still had many questions, but for the moment, she didn’t know where to start. Her mind was completely preoccupied with a single thought: the Inspection Bureau’s strongest warrior might have already become a Pollution Body.

She needed to think it over and straighten things out in her mind.

"How are you planning to escape?" she asked Li Qing.

"I stole the keycard for the freight elevator. I plan to disguise myself as an orderly transporting medical waste and take the freight elevator to the second basement level. Then, I’ll hide in a garbage truck. At 5 a.m., someone will drive the truck out of the Inspection Bureau, and I’ll jump out partway," Li Qing replied with a straight face.

It seemed that while Feng Ling was in her meeting, he had done a lot of reconnaissance in this building.

"Well... good luck, then," Feng Ling encouraged him.

Li Qing: "..."

He had very mixed feelings.

It was like a master leashing a pet dog while telling it to run its heart out—utterly ridiculous and absurd.

"Oh, right..." Feng Ling thought for a moment, then said to him, "You probably don’t have anywhere to go, right? The RV I rented is still in the parking lot of the Sanqing Mountain Scenic Area. The window isn’t locked, so you can climb in and sleep. I’ll transfer a few hundred to you with my phone in a bit, so you’ll have money for the trip back to Sanqing Mountain."

Li Qing’s expression darkened. He opened the door to his room and left, seething with an unspeakable bitterness.

Feng Ling also returned to her room, her mind heavy with worries.

The downpour was relentless.

The rain was torrential, the wind a mournful wail.

The roar of the rain made it hard for Feng Ling to fall asleep.

She had always thought she was strong, and after coming out of the Maze, she had become terrifyingly so. But the sudden appearance of the "Squirrel" made her feel a threat lurking in the shadows.

Su Yuqing once said something—

It’s not about having more Cards; combination is more important than quantity.

The synergy of a deck trumps all else, and a Squirrel can easily destroy a deck’s balance. It’s like a pot of exquisite soup being forcibly seasoned with all sorts of spices, until the fine soup turns into kitchen scraps, fit only for the drain.

It was an utterly disgusting method of attack.

And it was nearly impossible to defend against.

If she were to encounter such a kamikaze-style attack, her fate would likely be the same as that Pollution Body in the underground cavern.

Feng Ling thought of Li Qing again.

A Maze Administrator could view player information. It was like being able to inspect another player’s equipment panel in a game—a very useful ability.

If she kept Li Qing with her, she could check for nearby players and see what Cards they held at any time. The moment she spotted a Squirrel, she could strike first.

’...I’ll let him run for now. I’ll just catch him and bring him back after sunrise.’

At this thought, Feng Ling felt much more at ease and soon fell asleep.

...

...

The next day, the rain had passed and the sky was clear.

A rainbow hung in the azure sky, as if heralding the arrival of good news.

After waking up, Feng Ling went downstairs to the buffet restaurant to eat.

The energy from the purple fruit had been mostly depleted, and today, she finally felt a distinct sense of hunger.

She got a bowl of beef noodle soup, a bowl of three-delicacy rice noodle soup, a bowl of fermented rice soup with egg, two steamers of soup dumplings, two plates of pan-fried dumplings, three plates of pan-fried pork buns with sesame, and a few fermented rice cakes.

She scrolled through her phone while eating breakfast.

News of the Sanqing Mountain Maze being conquered still dominated the top trending lists. Below the Sanqing Mountain news, Feng Ling was surprised to see a story about the safe return of the Northern Maze expedition team.

She clicked on it to see the details.

The news article said that the Supervision Bureau had made contact with the expedition team. The expedition had been a complete success, with the team acquiring a large amount of detailed Maze data that would be of great help to future Maze research, its significance was profound, and so on.

Feng Ling read the entire article over two or three times, but she didn’t see any mention of casualties.

’If it says "complete success," then everyone should be fine, right?’

’It was a false alarm.’

Feng Ling switched to her messaging app and sent Su Yuqing a single word: "Congratulations."

Su Yuqing quickly replied with a smiley face emoji, seeming to be in a good mood.

’Thankfully, I didn’t rashly tell Su Yuqing about the Squirrel last night. Otherwise, not only would he have worried all night for nothing, but the remaining black hair on his head probably wouldn’t have survived either.’

Feng Ling put down her phone and continued eating her breakfast.

Huangfu Miaomiao sat beside her, browsing a forum and chuckling to herself, letting out a few snickers from time to time.

"What are you looking at?" Feng Ling asked.

From her perspective, it looked as if Huangfu Miaomiao was grinning foolishly at thin air.

"I’m on the player forums~" Huangfu Miaomiao tapped her virtual screen a few times and said with a grin, "Everyone’s been talking about you on the forums since you advanced yesterday."

Feng Ling couldn’t help but retort, "I advanced, and you players seem to know more about it than I do."

She could only tell she had advanced by reading the description on her Nest Card. Each time she advanced, a sentence or two would be added to the text.

But the Alien Species got clear notifications. It was really unfair when you thought about it.

"Should I read some for you?" Huangfu Miaomiao asked eagerly. "Wanna hear? Huh? Huh?"

Feng Ling picked up a pan-fried dumpling, dipped it in vinegar, and said, "Go ahead."

Huangfu Miaomiao: "Hehe~"

She clicked on the most-discussed thread and, with barely suppressed glee in her voice, began to read:

"The Hidden Boss advanced to Sub-adult last time, and the system already made one announcement. This time, it sent another, followed immediately by an announcement for advancing to the adult stage! This means the Hidden Boss entered a Maze! And found a Divine Statue! It must have used the Divine Statue to lower its Pollution Value, weakening its Cards, then killed the Maze Master and took the Maze Master’s Card! Only if both of these conditions are met would the system send two consecutive announcements!"

Feng Ling was amused. "So there are some smart ones among the Alien Species."

"Hehe~" Huangfu Miaomiao continued reading, "I advise everyone to stop getting ideas about the Hidden Boss. This is an extremely high-risk Boss. Unless you have the strength to solo a Maze dungeon, you’d best stay far away!—Hahaha, they’re saying you need the strength to solo a Maze to beat you!"

Feng Ling, eating her pan-fried dumpling, asked, "Is there anything else? Something new?"

Huangfu Miaomiao scrolled down to the replies. "’Why can the Hidden Boss enter a Maze? We want to enter Mazes but don’t even know where the entrances are! On what grounds can the Hidden Boss get in? These Maze Administrators are useless, they should’ve all been killed off long ago...’"

As she read, Huangfu Miaomiao gradually trailed off, staring blankly at the virtual screen.

"What’s wrong?" Feng Ling asked. "Keep reading."

"Oh..." Huangfu Miaomiao hesitated before continuing, "’Have you seen the human news? The Maze at Three Pure Ones Palace was conquered. Five people came out, but you couldn’t see their faces under their raincoats. If the Hidden Boss also entered a Maze recently, then based on the timeline, it’s probably one of those five people, and right here in Yuquan City...’"

Huangfu Miaomiao looked up at Feng Ling, at a loss for words.

Feng Ling calmly finished her pan-fried dumpling and started drinking her fermented rice soup with egg. "Continue."

Huangfu Miaomiao pressed her lips together and forced herself to continue reading: "’The Maze is gone, so monsters won’t spawn on this map anymore. We can’t earn points. Who can swallow this insult? We should just team up and take down the Inspection Bureau in Yuquan City, show them what we’re made of...’"

Huangfu Miaomiao really didn’t dare to read any further.

’I’m scared, and I’m so regretful... I shouldn’t have been so smug earlier, WAAAAAH!’