Chapter 152 - 150: Hospital

Chapter 152: Chapter 150: Hospital

She had originally planned to head south to find the administrator, but things didn’t go according to plan.

However, a trip north first probably wouldn’t delay her for more than a few days.

Feng Ling signed up on the recruitment notice.

But she had quite the entourage. Not only did she have to bring a child and an adult man, but she also had to handle the complicated process of arranging transport for her two Pets, which was very troublesome.

Feng Ling called customer service to explain the situation, thinking, ’Maybe I should just drive the RV there myself. At most, it’ll just cost a little gas money.’

To her surprise, the customer service representative was incredibly helpful. After a flurry of back-and-forth communication, they specially arranged a separate carriage for Feng Ling so she could stay with her Pets.

Feng Ling was pleasantly surprised. ’Did they really have to go to such lengths?’ she thought.

What she didn’t know was that from the moment her call connected, the caller information displayed on their end included her Hunter ranking and Contribution Points.

...

The special train departed at 10 PM and arrived at the station at 8 AM the next day.

The entire journey was ten hours, making for a long night.

The train had a few sleeper cars, but no one could sleep. After all, the passengers were the first batch of selected Hunters, and they were far more interested in exchanging intelligence than resting.

Most of the Hunters gathered in the dining car to talk, while some of the more solitary ones stood alone in the aisles.

Having satisfied her curiosity by strolling from the back of the train to the front, Feng Ling prepared to wander back the way she came.

A fierce wind howled relentlessly against the train.

The distinct vibration of the speeding train traveled up from the floor. Staring out the window at the inky blackness of the night, it was easy to feel a sense of dislocation, to wonder where this train was taking her.

The restroom door in the car ahead opened, and a familiar figure came into view.

Feng Ling froze. "...Su Yuqing?"

And it was a Su Yuqing with black hair, at that.

"Feng Ling?" Su Yuqing’s face lit up with pleasant surprise, and he smiled. "I was just wondering if you would be on the train. I didn’t expect to see you so soon."

Feng Ling was even more shocked than he was. "What are you doing here?"

Inspectors weren’t included in the recruitment.

Besides, Su Yuqing’s Cards had no combat abilities. He had no business being on this train.

"A friend of mine got me on board," Su Yuqing explained with a faint smile. "After the investigative mission in the northern Maze ended, there’s been no word from Ye Zheng. I wanted to go check on the situation. My ability is creating doubles, so sending an extra body out to act doesn’t affect me much anyway."

A sharp pang shot through Feng Ling’s temples as she was suddenly reminded of the Squirrel.

"I remember you said last time that Ye Zheng sent you a message and then went silent?" Feng Ling asked him.

Su Yuqing frowned. "Her phone probably malfunctioned. She sent me one word—’Squirrel’—and then I received two more messages from her before she went silent. I had technicians try to trace her phone’s signal, but they couldn’t find it. It was probably lost inside the Maze."

Su Yuqing looked at Feng Ling and said, "You probably know this, right? The Maze over by Daling Forest is heavily contaminated. The whole Maze is like a glass bottle shattered into several pieces. If Ye Zheng’s phone was dropped inside one of those pieces, we can’t trace its signal from the outside world."

"Yeah, I have a rough idea," Feng Ling said. "You explained it to me before. A Maze that’s spreading contamination is like a glass bottle full of holes. The water leaking out of the bottle is the contamination."

"We’ll know the specifics once we get there," Su Yuqing said with a slight smile. "Let me introduce you to my friend. He’s a very skilled Hunter, too."

"Sure," Feng Ling nodded.

She followed Su Yuqing into the next car, the smile slowly fading from her face.

Su Yuqing was a smart man. He couldn’t possibly be unaware of the risks involved when an Inspector goes completely silent after a mission ends.

A lost phone, an untraceable signal... These excuses could only offer temporary comfort.

She decided it was better not to burst his bubble.

...

Su Yuqing’s friend was a young man of about the same age. He had two other teammates, and since they were participating in the cleanup operation as a team, bringing along one extra person wasn’t a big deal.

Feng Ling absently exchanged a few pleasantries with them before returning to her own carriage to rest, not even bothering to remember their names.

Her mind was completely occupied by the Squirrel.

The threat posed by the Squirrel was so potent, she couldn’t help but silently set her own agenda for what to do next—

1. Find the eyes.

2. Eliminate the Squirrel.

She couldn’t allow the Squirrel to ruin everything when she was on the verge of completing a perfect deck of Cards.

...

Feng Ling didn’t sleep all night.

After entering the northern region, the train gradually began to slow.

As the sun rose again, chasing away the darkness, a scene of wind and snow in the distance became visible to everyone.

It was June. No matter how cool it was here, it was nowhere near cold enough for snow. What they were seeing wasn’t the real world, but the contamination caused by the Maze.

The train finally stopped at a very rudimentary station.

Staff in protective suits guarded the station exit. Once the passengers disembarked, they led them toward their accommodations.

Because she had her Cat Spider and Cat Owl with her, Feng Ling deliberately stayed at the back of the group.

She surveyed her surroundings as she walked.

Outside the station was a small town with low-slung houses and old concrete roads. It was empty... or more accurately, devoid of any residents. The only people she could see were those in protective suits.

Perhaps because the town was so small, they continued on foot. After walking for about a quarter of an hour, they began to hear crying.

All sorts of crying—from men, women, the elderly, children... It all mingled together, as if they had stumbled upon a funeral.

Finally, someone couldn’t help but ask, "Where is that crying coming from?"

The staff member leading the group turned back to explain, "It’s the infected residents. We’ve built a hospital here for quarantine and treatment."

Further ahead was an open area filled with hospital beds. The elderly and children sat or lay on them. Some were crying, while others were simply lifeless.

"There’s no equipment here at all! How are you supposed to treat them?!" one of the Hunters exclaimed indignantly.

"It’s being built, it’s being built..." The staff member’s voice was tinged with exhaustion. "Everyone is doing their best."

Feng Ling observed her surroundings.

She saw an old man lying on a bed, one of his exposed legs looking like a gnarled, blackened tree root.

Then she saw a little girl about Huangfu Miaomiao’s age sitting numbly on a bed. Tears streamed from the girl’s left eye, but her right eye was covered in a substance like snowflakes or ice crystals. As she wept, she whispered, "Mommy, my eye hurts so much... my eye hurts..."

An oppressive and sorrowful atmosphere fell over the group.

Someone muttered, "Those Alien Species really deserve to die."