Chapter 462 - 404: Mai Mingle: The More You’re Online, the More ’Online’ You Become—An Inevitable Principle

Chapter 462: Chapter 404: Mai Mingle: The More You’re Online, the More ’Online’ You Become—An Inevitable Principle

At first glance, no one would have mistaken the dark figure for a human.

It was about as tall as Mai Mingle and spoke with perfect clarity, not a single drop of spittle escaping its lips.

It had ears, hands, and even a cell phone—wait a minute.

In the murky, rainy night, Mai Mingle squinted hard.

’Is... is that a cell phone?’

The resident had lowered its arms. They now hung loosely at its sides, its hands pinching the hem of its long robe. It swayed the robe in circles around its body, like a shy little girl twirling her skirt.

But the phone remained attached to its ear.

A sliver of white light from the screen illuminated half of its face—a face Mai Mingle wished had remained in the dark.

Below a single, high, protruding eye was a lower eyelid, just like a human’s.

A curved slit split open in the skin of that lower eyelid, revealing half of a second eyeball.

Below the second eyeball was another lower eyelid. Within that second eyelid, another slit opened, revealing half of a third eyeball... The eyeballs, each half-sheathed in an eyelid, were stacked one on top of the other, a cascading tower of them that reached all the way to its jaw.

It was as if its facial bones were studded with eyeballs, then hastily covered with a sheet of skin. Slits had been cut into the skin to allow each eyeball a chance to breathe.

The sight was enough to make any human want to die.

Mai Mingle, at least, managed to suppress her terror and disgust, forcing down a mouthful of bile.

"You—" Mercury had already sprung back several steps, clearly startled. "How did you get in? When did you—"

"Hm?"

The resident tucked its chin, rolling its eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes at her in a coy display.

"Mercury, so you do get flustered sometimes. Oh, or are you just overjoyed? We’re partners, after all."

As it spoke, it put its hands on its hips and looked around.

The phone was loosely stuck to its ear. As it shook its head, a small gap appeared—only then did Mai Mingle see that under the phone, inside its ear, was another eyeball.

"Didn’t I rush right over to solve your problem the moment I got your call? I’m so reliable. A dependable, mature vibe, very Daddy, am I right?"

Mai Mingle didn’t understand modern slang, but she could guess the general meaning. The realization made her stomach turn.

Mercury seemed to have long been accustomed to the resident’s way of speaking, her expression unchanging. "I’ll ask again. How did you get in?"

The resident sighed. "I walked in myself, of course. You didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for me."

The eyes on its face slowly swept around, finally turning one by one to Mai Mingle. "Is that your enemy? I don’t see any other targets around besides her. Oh my, you’re not competing with her over that man, are you? But I’ll always accept you unconditionally—"

Mercury cut it off. "She’s not. Didn’t you see that man? He’s the target."

The resident looked at the driver.

"Well, well! A compatriot!" the resident exclaimed, clapping its hands as if it had just recalled the phrase. "This isn’t a target, you’ve made a mistake."

’The resident’s "compatriot"...’ Mai Mingle couldn’t help but look at the Black Abyss Belt on the driver’s head.

’The driver was human just a moment ago, but now the resident is calling him a compatriot. Did he turn into a resident, or...’

’She recalled how Chaisi and Han Liuyue had both been pulled back, bit by bit, and had walked out of the Black Abyss Belt. So... could other residents do the same?’

’No, that’s not right. If residents could cross the Black Abyss Belt, why haven’t they come through before now?’

’Did something drastic happen tonight?’

"How did you find me?"

Just from the sound of Mercury’s voice, it was hard to tell she had just been shot in the shoulder. The earlier sense of urgency and anxiety was immediately suppressed when she saw the resident. Her tone was almost casual, without even a tremor of pain.

"Is it possible that I’ve always known your location? Otherwise, how could I have enveloped the Nest network as you requested?"

"Oh? Do tell," Mercury said, almost lightly.

"Didn’t you memorize my phone number?" The resident couldn’t help but sound smug. "That memory containing my phone number is wherever you are, of course!"

The resident threw its head back and laughed heartily—but rain fell into its mouth, and it started to choke and cough, bending over with its hands on its knees, coughing with great difficulty.

’The Nest always insisted on adhering to human logic and common sense in the most inexplicable ways.’

Mai Mingle had noticed this long ago, but thinking of it again now, standing here in Blackmoor City, she felt that everything was wrong.

’She shouldn’t be seeing this in Blackmoor City.’

’This city was where her parents had settled after immigrating. It held her life, full of its regrets, and it was the last thing Lan Zhui had seen before his death.’

’So many human dreams, struggles, and desires... They had built this, the grandest and most prosperous metropolis on Earth, brick by brick. Whether it was a place of light or shadow, of lofty ambition or base materialism, it belonged only to humans.’

"Where did you get in?"

When Mai Mingle opened her mouth, she suddenly realized she was the one whose voice was trembling. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so angry. "Which street? Which sewer?"

"This old lady’s got a pretty foul mouth," the resident said, having caught its breath.

Mercury raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask anything.

"When you were bent over coughing just now, I saw a piece of a broken panel in your hair," Mai Mingle said.

She wasn’t lying. Even in the dim, rainy night, it was almost more than a person could bear to look at that face. But she didn’t dare look away, so her gaze had been hovering vaguely over the top of its head.

Its hair was dirty and tangled, but at least it was the most human-like part of it.

When the resident bent over coughing, Mercury shone her phone’s flashlight over it for a second, and Mai Mingle saw it—a fragment of a light blue panel, tangled in its matted, vagrant-like hair, not even washed away by the heavy rain.

"Hm?" The resident reached up, felt around, pulled it out, and glanced at it.

"I’ve seen it before," Mai Mingle said with inexplicable confidence. "I know where you came from."

Mercury gave her a look that seemed to say, ’Is that important?’ but ultimately didn’t interrupt her.

"The welfare housing construction site on Observation Point Street. You crawled out from there, didn’t you?"

’If the welfare housing site was built to let residents in, then it all makes—’

"Wrong!"

The resident was delighted, clapping its hands a few times. "I came in from the welfare housing site on Kaine Street. You were so close! What a shame, my rival! You have no idea, that residential building, Brianna tore it right down, CRASH, it fell all over the place, revealing a huge gaping hole... With her pulling the strings for me, wasn’t it easy to get in?"

...Brianna.

Hearing the name of another Nest Dominance Game contestant, Mai Mingle was slightly surprised, yet not entirely. She just wanted to let out a low sigh.

She was surprised because she hadn’t expected to hear the name "Brianna" from the resident’s mouth at this moment.

She glanced at the driver, who was still standing motionless. It wasn’t surprising because she already understood.

Every contestant in the Nest Dominance Game was following their own storyline.

As Mai Mingle followed her own storyline, unknown events had unfolded on the paths of Jin Xueli and Brianna. Their actions and the consequences had become the final two pieces of the puzzle that created this entire night.

’And who else?’

’What roles had she, Chaisi, and Fu Tailan played in all of this?’

’It was likely that everyone, in pursuing their own objectives, was inadvertently helping someone behind the scenes achieve theirs.’

’And that objective, it now seemed, was to bring the things from the Nest into the human world.’

It was at this moment that Mai Mingle made her decision.

"I’m going to find Brianna."

Mercury was stunned. "You know that person? You know what’s going on?"

"I don’t have time to explain, but I might need your help. I’ll explain on the way." Mai Mingle pointed at the resident. "It’s your... partner? Contracted resident? Can you make it take us to Brianna?"

Mercury let out a soft laugh—she hid it well. It took a second or two for Mai Mingle to realize it was a bitter laugh.

"I’m afraid I can’t do that."

As she spoke, she picked up her phone and ended the call. She seemed to be waiting for something, staring at the phone screen for a moment.

When Mercury raised her eyes again and saw the resident, she couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

"What’s the rush? I just got here," the resident said with feigned coyness. "Even when you meet up with an online friend, you don’t send them home this quickly."

Mercury’s voice was almost calm.

"According to the usual rules, when I hang up the phone, it and its Nest network should disappear from the human world."

As she spoke, she walked step-by-step toward the machine gun the driver had thrown aside, picking it up awkwardly with one hand.

The resident watched, unmoved.

"It didn’t disappear. I expected this, so I can’t say I’m disappointed... However, if it refuses to obey my command to leave, then we have another, more pressing problem."

The resident giggled.

"The terms of my contract with it were only that I would provide it a channel to attack targets in the human world. We both get what we want," Mercury said in a low voice. "It was never my slave."

"That’s right," the resident said, puffing out its chest proudly. "I’m not like those other residents who only signed with you because they were scared to death of you."

Mai Mingle was shocked and finally understood. "Wait, so that means—"

"Exactly," Mercury said slowly. "Now that it can enter the human world, it doesn’t need me anymore. There is nothing in our contract that can stop it from coming after you and me."