Chapter 48 - 46: The Heavenly Fire of Snake Month

Chapter 48: Chapter 46: The Heavenly Fire of Snake Month

Feng Ling sat in the car, her expression as dark as it could get.

’The traffic is awful...’

A journey of less than ten kilometers had taken a full hour due to the gridlock.

She watched helplessly as the sun sank lower and lower, finally disappearing completely. At 8:00 PM, the city’s streetlights flickered on, illuminating the gradually clearing roads.

But what was the point?

The sky was already pitch-black. Once they were on the bridge, all she could see was the road illuminated by the headlights. The river on both sides was as black as ink, merging seamlessly with the night sky. She couldn’t see a thing.

No frogs, no White Birds. She couldn’t—see—anything!

Zhou Diao said languidly from inside the car, "This road is always congested. There was a traffic accident today, which made it even worse. Anyway, it’s already dark. Let’s just drive across the bridge and head back."

"Let’s head back," Feng Ling said, disappointed. "We’ll come check again tomorrow."

"If we find the White Bird tomorrow, does that mean we’ll find the Maze entrance?" Zhou Diao asked her.

Feng Ling shot him a glance. "There are three lines to the riddle. The last one is, ’The Heavenly Fire of Snake Month burns to reveal the gate in the ashes.’"

Zhou Diao said cheerfully, "It’s only three lines. We already have clues for the first two. The third one will definitely be quick to figure out. There’s no need to rush at all~"

Feng Ling closed her eyes and leaned against the back of her seat, replying irritably, "29%."

Zhou Diao: "..."

’Okay, maybe we do need to rush.’

A strange silence fell over the car.

Half a minute later, Zhou Diao rallied his spirits and said to Feng Ling, "Well, we shouldn’t just sit around. Even if it’s too dark to see the White Bird, we can use this time to figure out the third line. Let me think... ’The Heavenly Fire of Snake Month...’ Hmm..."

Zhou Diao racked his brain, glancing out the car window. "Can’t see the moon, either..."

"It couldn’t be that literal, could it?" Feng Ling frowned. "Is Snake Month a moon that looks like a snake? And Heavenly Fire is just fire from the sky?"

Huangfu Miaomiao was also thinking hard. "Fire from the sky... either the sun or a Meteor?"

Feng Ling grew annoyed. "The sun is a daytime thing, and you have to wait for night for a Meteor! Why make a Maze so complicated? Do they even want people to get in or not?!"

Zhou Diao thought to himself, ’Mazes were never meant for humans in the first place.’

Before he could voice his cynical thought, he saw Huangfu Miaomiao in the rearview mirror, shaking her head at him nervously. Her mouth moved slowly, and from her lip movements, it looked like she was saying—

Don’t... provoke... her?

Zhou Diao: "..."

’Maybe I should just convince Feng Ling to go into the gas chamber after all. This pressure, the risk of her exploding at any moment, is just too terrifying.’

No one in the car spoke. Feng Ling was in no mood for small talk either.

She irritably opened her phone and was surprised to see a message from the Daoist.

[Li Daoist has transferred ¥650.00 to you. Please accept.]

[Li Daoist: Have you found a safe place to stay? Do you have enough food and water?]

Feng Ling’s face visibly brightened.

’How could she not brighten up after getting money?’

She clicked "Accept" without a second thought, happily pocketing the 650 yuan. Her entire demeanor became pleasant and cheerful, leaving Huangfu Miaomiao and Zhou Diao dumbfounded.

"Who messaged you?" Zhou Diao couldn’t contain his curiosity.

"A good person," Feng Ling said, her eyes curving into crescents as she looked down to reply.

[Aisha: Found one! ~(^w^)~]

[Aisha: Daoist, want to come over? My treat~]

[Li Daoist: Don’t tell me your address. Don’t tell anyone. They’ll be here soon.]

’They’ll be here soon?’

Feng Ling narrowed her eyes slightly.

[Aisha: But I already said on the forums that I was going to Yunhai City.]

[Li Daoist: Not all players pay attention to posts on the human forums.]

[Li Daoist: Some of them form alliances to hunt lone, high-point prey. Pollution Bodies and Bosses are their targets. You need to be careful.]

[Aisha: How many of them are there? Are they strong?]

The Daoist didn’t reply for a long time.

Feng Ling waited a moment before sending a question mark.

There was still no response from the other side. Maybe he was busy.

Feng Ling scrolled up through the chat history, savoring the 650 yuan transfer again, then turned off her phone.

yuan wasn’t a lot, but the sender was clearly very knowledgeable about Alien Species. This fact pleased Feng Ling immensely, strengthening her resolve to find this person.

Seeing her calm demeanor, Huangfu Miaomiao and Zhou Diao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

...

It was 9:00 PM by the time they got back to the apartment. Feng Ling opened the chat window again, but there was still no message from the Daoist.

She didn’t dwell on it, habitually opening a food delivery app to order dinner.

—The two nests in her body were constantly absorbing energy. She had to keep eating large amounts of food to meet her body’s needs. Otherwise, she worried she wouldn’t just fail to feed the nests, but would starve to the point of collapse herself.

Pathetically few restaurants were open at night, delivery drivers were scarce, and the delivery fees were shockingly high.

After all, with Alien Species more active at night, everyone was risking their lives to make a living.

Feng Ling didn’t have many options. She found a Shaxian Snacks that hadn’t closed yet and ordered one of everything on the menu.

Worried it still wouldn’t be enough, she even went to the kitchen to boil some frozen wontons.

Zhou Diao was in awe of her appetite, and even a little envious. He remarked, "If you eat like this every day for a few days, will you not have to eat for the next year?"

"It’s a special time for me, so I’m eating more," Feng Ling said between bites.

"A special time?" Zhou Diao asked, sitting across from her. "What kind of special time?"

"It’s a little hard to describe..." Feng Ling thought for a moment, swallowed the food in her mouth, and explained, "You can think of it as me being pregnant with twins right now. I need a lot of nutrients."

Zhou Diao froze. "You’re... pregnant?"

"It’s just a metaphor," Feng Ling said, continuing to eat. "If you don’t get it, just forget it. It’s not important."

Zhou Diao was initially confused, but after hearing her response, he couldn’t help but get angry. "What do you mean I don’t get it? You’re the one who didn’t explain it clearly! What kind of woman uses her own pregnancy as a metaphor!"

Beside them, Huangfu Miaomiao silently raised her perfume bottle.

Zhou Diao: "..."

He suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

Zhou Diao cautiously observed Feng Ling’s reaction. Seeing that she was still eating calmly with no signs of anger, he relaxed a little.

"So..." he asked hesitantly, "when are you, uh, due?"

"Any time," Feng Ling replied.

Zhou Diao was silent for a long time.

’What does she mean, ’any time’?’

’Does she mean it in the way I think she does?’

He silently sized up Feng Ling. No matter how he looked at her, she didn’t seem like she was about to go into labor...

Zhou Diao had always considered himself fearless, but the thought of Feng Ling getting pregnant and giving birth somehow terrified him. It made his blood run cold.

"Tonight? Will it be tonight?" Zhou Diao mustered his courage and asked.

Feng Ling shook her head. She seemed to have given the matter some serious thought. "Alien Species could show up at any moment, we haven’t found the Maze, and the Pollution Value issue isn’t resolved. There’s a pile of things I need to do right now. The timing is wrong. It’s not the right time to raise kids."

As she spoke, she flicked her left wrist.

The two silver bracelets on her wrist suddenly transformed into two silver Cards, hovering beside her.

Unlike ordinary silver Cards, these two seemed to be nested. There was a pattern on an inner layer, and an outer layer was etched with a large eye.

"Holy shit..." Zhou Diao exclaimed, unable to stop himself from reaching out. "What is this thing?"

"Don’t touch it," Feng Ling said. "Or you’ll be what I give birth to."