Chapter 178 - 177: Another Phone Call

Chapter 178: Chapter 177: Another Phone Call

When Feng Ling transformed into her second form earlier, her clothes were torn to shreds. Her phone was obviously no longer on her, and she had to count on Huangfu Miaomiao to pick it up.

The call was from Xu Yiming.

As soon as Feng Ling answered, she heard a long sigh of relief from the other end.

"It went through, it went through. If you can answer the phone, that means the problem isn’t too serious..." Xu Yiming mumbled into his phone.

"What about you? Is everything okay over there?" Feng Ling asked, showing her concern.

"No problem, no problem! Everything’s fine over here," Xu Yiming said hurriedly. "Wen Xiuyan and the others went to get protective suits. They should be back in about two hours. Oh, right! Old Su’s fever broke too!"

"Good," Feng Ling said. "I’m finished over here, too. I’ll be back at the cabin in a bit."

Xu Yiming asked, "Should I come meet you? You must have used up a lot of energy just now killing a Pollution Body. If you run into another monster on the way, I could help."

"No need." Feng Ling looked up at the sky, then suddenly changed her mind. "The snow is getting heavier. There’ll probably be another blizzard soon. My current location is closer to Zone D, so I won’t go back to the cabin. I’ll head directly back to the camp in town. Let Su Yuqing know for me."

Xu Yiming was startled and quickly asked, "Are you hurt? Are you in a hurry to get back for treatment? Is it serious?"

’It’s better if he misunderstands like this,’ Feng Ling thought. ’Saves me the trouble of making up a reason.’

"You take care of Su Yuqing. There aren’t many Pollution Bodies left in this area, so it’s relatively safe. I’m pulling out now." Feng Ling hung up after saying this.

She helped Ye Zheng up from the ground, then wrapped her tightly in a blanket from head to toe. After checking her over again, her gaze landed on Ye Zheng’s face.

Although her facial features hadn’t changed, the color of her pupils was still a bit frightening.

Feng Ling got a skull mask from Huangfu Miaomiao and put it on Ye Zheng, finally showing a satisfied expression.

"You shouldn’t be recognized now." Feng Ling let go and said encouragingly to Ye Zheng, "Walk a couple of steps for me. Let me see."

Feng Ling had just ruthlessly hacked off several of Ye Zheng’s legs, so now she could only move forward in small steps. The slightest carelessness would pull at her wounds, making her break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

This frail and vulnerable posture, ironically, was very pleasing to Feng Ling.

Feng Ling said, "I’m taking you away from here now. After we get back to Qingjiang, I’ll call a friend who specializes in Spiritual Control to help. Once we’ve ensured your emotional stability, we will exchange information. I’ll tell you what I know about the Alien Species, the Star Association, and the Squirrel. In return, you’ll have to tell me what you know."

At the mention of the Squirrel, Ye Zheng’s breathing clearly quickened.

"Relax, relax—" Feng Ling said hurriedly. "Deep breaths, stay calm! Once we’re back in Qingjiang City, you can go as crazy as you want, but not here! The area outside the Maze is crawling with soldiers. You don’t want to be shot full of holes, right?"

Ye Zheng nodded slowly, trying her best to control her emotions with deep breaths.

’I can’t lose control. I can’t let the Alien Species win! Even if I’ve become a monster, I must get my revenge first!’

Seeing that Ye Zheng seemed to have calmed down, Feng Ling felt relieved.

"Wait for me for another two minutes." She turned and walked a few steps to the Divine Statue, brushed a thin layer of fresh snow off the stone bench, and sat down, saying, "It’s rare to come across a Divine Statue. I’m gonna draw a Card~"

She needed to sort out her Card deck.

Ye Zheng’s original deck was Blazing Angel, Heavenly Horse, and Knight—all High-level Cards.

’And then there’s my deck, a pile of bugs. Thank goodness for The Queen Mother of the West, a High-grade Rare Card, which raises my class just a little bit.’

The smiling stone statue across from her spoke: "Do you want to play a card-drawing game with me? I’m so happy, but I only draw once, okay?"

Feng Ling’s Card deck appeared on the virtual screen on the tabletop:

[Nest → Mantis, Killing Bee, Ghost Jellyfish, Red Ghost Centipede, Red Ghost Centipede, Red Ghost Centipede, Red Ghost Centipede, Red Ghost Centipede, Red Ghost Centipede, Red Ghost Centipede, Bat, The Queen Mother of the West.]

Feng Ling used to be quite satisfied with her deck, but ever since she assimilated The Queen Mother of the West, she felt that every Card had room for optimization.

She picked out two Cards without hesitation.

A Ghost Jellyfish with a 4% Pollution Value, and a Red Ghost Centipede with a 1% Pollution Value.

Her total Pollution Value was currently 18%. If she wanted to continue assimilating High-level Cards, she had to leave some room for that value to grow.

Otherwise, her Pollution Value would once again break the 20% safety threshold.

A flash of white light—

The Centipede Card disappeared. The Jellyfish Card remained.

[Deck slightly weakened. Pollution Value: 17%.]

Feng Ling twitched the corner of her mouth speechlessly, stood up, and said to Huangfu Miaomiao and Li Qing, "Let’s go. Back to camp."

’Looks like I’ll have to find another Divine Statue to get a chance to delete this useless Jellyfish Card.’

’This system’s 50% probability for card drawing is disgusting.’

...

The snow and wind grew stronger as the group made their way out of the Maze.

Because of Ye Zheng’s injuries, they walked slowly. It took them over an hour to leave Zone B.

Outside Zone B was Zone D.

No wind, no snow, and a pleasant temperature.

In a rare moment of humor, Feng Ling pointed to the vast, open grassland ahead and said to Ye Zheng, "Look, the empire you conquered."

Ye Zheng: "..."

Ye Zheng walked forward slowly in silence.

Feng Ling also walked slowly beside her, saying with a light, smiling tone, "You really can’t go crazy. There are forty more Mazes just like this one where pollution is spreading. If you go crazy and die just like that, would you be able to accept that?"

Ye Zheng stopped, looked at her with a blank expression, then averted her gaze and continued walking forward without a word.

A group of people approached from the distance—Hunters leaving Area A.

The two groups saw each other and waved in greeting.

The leader of the other group called out loudly, "We have someone injured, so we have to temporarily withdraw from the cleanup operation. What about you?"

Feng Ling nodded. "Us too. We have an injured person and need to withdraw."

She was also wrapped in a blanket, walking slowly alongside Ye Zheng. She really did look a bit like a casualty.

Because they held Cards, many Hunters faced the awkward situation of having no clothes to wear after their bodies transformed. Thus, Feng Ling’s and Ye Zheng’s attire didn’t arouse anyone’s suspicion.

On the way back, they encountered a few more groups of Hunters.

Some were injured, some had been separated from their teams and couldn’t operate alone, and others had simply consumed too much energy and couldn’t continue.

After everyone returned to the camp, they packed their bags, and the staff led them to the platform to board the Hunter Special Train.

Black Mountain Town had very limited medical facilities, so there was no need to wait for everyone. The Hunter Special Train would prioritize transporting this batch of injured Hunters to Yanjing City and Yunhai City.

As usual, Feng Ling was assigned her own private train car.

A train attendant came over to register their information. Feng Ling pointed at Ye Zheng and said, "Her throat is injured, so she can’t speak, and her phone was lost in the Maze. We can fill in her information after we get back."

The attendant nodded repeatedly, saying it was no problem. These Hunters who came to participate in the cleanup operation were all praiseworthy heroes; no one would give them a hard time.

After seeing the attendant off, Feng Ling closed the door between the cars and finally relaxed completely.

Just then, her phone started vibrating. Another call was coming in—