Chapter 170 - 169: The Closest Truth

Chapter 170: Chapter 169: The Closest Truth

Huangfu Miaomiao and Li Qing, long accustomed to Feng Ling’s pace, followed her lead and jumped down from the log cabin.

Wen Xiuyan, Wu Wei, and Liang Jiaqin jumped down next.

"Thank goodness, the snow stopped!" Wen Xiuyan said happily. "It would be great if it stayed this way."

Without the blizzard, their vision became incredibly clear.

"The weather in the Maze usually follows a pattern. If it snowed continuously, it would eventually bury the log cabin, so I figured it would snow for a bit and then stop for a bit."

Feng Ling spoke as she headed downhill. "Let’s go to the place where they found the phone first. We’ll see if we can find any clues."

It was only a few dozen meters away, so it didn’t take them long to arrive.

The deep snow covered everything. The snowmen on the hillside were the only landmarks.

"What kind of clues are we looking for?" Liang Jiaqin asked Feng Ling.

Feng Ling scanned her surroundings, casually brushed the snow off the head of a nearby snowman, and said, "Look for any signs of a fight."

At her word, the group dispersed to search for clues.

’If a fierce battle really took place here, it should have left something behind—spent shell casings, blood from an injury, gashes from a blade or an axe.’

Feng Ling thought, ’The Inspectors on the exploration team are all top-tier experts. Using their Card Abilities must create a huge commotion. In a life-or-death battle, logically, half the hillside should have been torn to shreds.’

But here, the snowmen were all standing, completely undamaged. It seemed far too peaceful.

’Could some of the snowmen have been destroyed? Did they melt into the snow, making them impossible to see?’

She crouched down and plunged her hand into a snowdrift, casually turning over a chunk of snow to see if anything was underneath.

The chunks of snow came up one after another like blocks of white sorbet, pristine and without a single speck of dust.

Feng Ling felt a pang of disappointment.

This didn’t make sense.

The phone’s back casing was almost completely shattered, with obvious scratch marks from a sharp object. It had to have been a monster attack, so how could there be no trace of a fight? Not even a single drop of blood.

This snow was so frustrating. If the ground weren’t covered, she could have followed the tracks to deduce which way the victim had fled, instead of being completely stumped.

Feng Ling stood up and kicked at the snow, annoyed.

A flash of inconspicuous blue caught her eye.

She froze for a moment, her eyes focusing on the tiny blue dot. After a second, she slowly walked over and cautiously picked it up.

A small blue pill.

The back casing of every Hunter’s phone contained one such pill.

Su Yuqing had once told her that if your Pollution Value became uncontrollable, you could take it before losing your sanity completely. It was a way out.

Feng Ling stared at the blue pill in her palm, lost in thought.

She suspected her theory was completely and utterly wrong...

’The phone wasn’t necessarily damaged in an attack. Maybe... Ye Zheng destroyed it herself.’

Feng Ling raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the distant hills and forests.

’Ye Zheng... She must have encountered the Squirrel in Zone D. To avoid harming her teammates, she had to leave the group.’

’The "Squirrel" message sent to Su Yuqing was, in effect, her last words.’

’It’s like in a mystery movie, where the victim always manages to leave behind the killer’s name at the scene just before they die.’

’Ye Zheng’s mind must have been in chaos, unable to form a complex sentence. That’s why she only sent the one word: "Squirrel."’

’Feng Ling guessed she hadn’t completely lost her mind then, because she later sent Su Yuqing two more messages. Though their meaning was unclear, they showed she hadn’t given up on herself; she was still trying to send a message to the outside world.’

’What was she doing during that time?’

Feng Ling tried to put herself in Ye Zheng’s shoes. ’You know you’ve been contaminated by an Alien Species. You know your Pollution Value has exceeded the safe threshold. How do you save yourself?’

’...The Divine Statue?’

’Yes! Ye Zheng was looking for a Divine Statue!’

She went from Zone D to Zone B. During that time, her teammates were also looking for her, and they followed her all the way to Zone B, where they fired a signal flare.

As for why the phone was dropped so close to the log cabin, that was also easy to explain.

’Hunger and cold accelerated her loss of control. She developed a bloodthirsty appetite for the living, so she wandered near the log cabin. At some point, she must have had a moment of clarity, realizing she had become a monster. In her despair, she decided to end it all, but her mutated hands... or claws... couldn’t work the mechanism on the back of the phone. So, in a fit of rage and desperation, she smashed it.’

’The pill fell into the snow. The frantic monster couldn’t find it. Worried she would lose her mind and attack the people in the cabin, she fled. Ran far, far away.’

This had to be the truth.

Feng Ling stared out at the vast, snowy expanse.

If that was true, where could she possibly go to find Ye Zheng?

Perhaps, just as Li Qing had said, even if she did find Ye Zheng, she wouldn’t be able to recognize her.

"Ms. Ling, we’ve searched all the snow over here. Nothing," Wu Wei said, running over to Feng Ling while catching his breath.

Feng Ling snapped out of her thoughts and slipped the pill from her palm into the pocket of her winter gear. "Got it. Let’s go. I’ll escort you all out of here while the snow has stopped."

"Are we still going to look for Ms. Ye?" Wen Xiuyan asked. She was one of Ye Zheng’s loyal fans.

"We are," Feng Ling nodded. "First, I’ll get the other four out of here. Then, we’ll take our time and search. We need to find her, dead or alive."

Her hand, inside the pocket of her winter gear, gently rubbed the blue pill.

’If Ye Zheng has really turned into a Pollution Body, I’ll be the one to feed this pill to her.’

...

After daybreak, the temperature climbed steadily, and the snow began to melt.

Meltwater trickled down the rugged slopes, gathering in ravines to form streams that washed over the wet rocks.

The path under Feng Ling’s feet gradually changed from clean snow to slushy mud.

Those familiar Ice Cones once again appeared in their line of sight.

The moment they saw the Ice Cones, everyone tensed up, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

Feng Ling took out her phone and checked the map.

The Ice Cones were spread over a large area, but the densest concentration was right here, at the intersection of Zone D and Zone B.

Feng Ling guessed this was a regular hunting ground for the Snow Women, and that their nest might be nearby.

"Something’s up ahead," Liang Jiaqin warned.

Feng Ling saw it too. It was a corpse, lying in a bloody heap on the ground.

She moved closer for a better look. It was the corpse of a Pollution Body—

It was about 160cm tall, with a humanoid shape, pale skin, and long, slender limbs. It had voluminous, long white hair; seen from the back, it looked like a frail woman with a full head of white hair.

However, the body’s front revealed an oval belly like an insect’s abdomen. And its face... its face bore a curled, siphoning proboscis, like a butterfly’s.

It was utterly vile.

"There’s another one over there!" Wu Wei shouted, spotting a second corpse.