Chapter 492 - 433: Mai Mingle: Of Course She Wants to Save People

Chapter 492: Chapter 433: Mai Mingle: Of Course She Wants to Save People

According to Brianna, Mai Mingle just had to find a nightclub called "Temptation," and she would find the Host and Chaisi there.

"I don’t know if you’re saying those things because you’re naive or hypocritical... but it doesn’t matter. I won’t count on you. I won’t count on anyone."

Brianna sneered. "I’d love to see what little chance you have of coming back. Even if you don’t die at the Host’s hands, you’ll give up once you realize your plan is a joke. You definitely will."

Mai Mingle didn’t rush to argue with her.

"How do you know so exactly where the Host went?" she asked. "Is it your ability as a resi— as a half-resident? Residents are incredible... Oh, or did you use an Illusion?"

Brianna looked at her like she was an idiot. ℯ

"Because he set the destination in the car’s GPS," she said dryly. "I was still in the car at the time. I saw it with my own eyes."

As she spoke, she pointed to the two deep holes in her face.

"Oh," Mai Mingle responded, then paused. After a moment, she asked, "What’s a GPS again?"

’It seemed like I’d heard the term somewhere after my rebirth. It sounded familiar, anyway. But as for what it actually was, I couldn’t remember—wait, what was Wi-Fi again?’

"You’re messing with me," Brianna’s face slowly elongated.

"I’m really not," Mai Mingle said, pointing to the screen in the car. "Jin Xueli was driving earlier. I don’t know how to use this screen. Is this the GPS? Can you help me set it up?"

"I see," Brianna said, almost calmly. "You’re not naive, and you’re not a hypocrite. You’re just a plain idiot."

’Forget it. Explaining my age now and getting her to believe me would be too much of a hassle. I can just tell her next time we meet.’

Brianna refused to help her set the GPS.

"Follow the Haisen River east. Don’t cross any bridges, don’t let it out of your sight, and you won’t get lost. When you see a nightclub called ’Temptation,’ you’re there." Brianna was losing her patience. "One more word of nonsense, and I’ll flatten you and this car right here."

’Just follow the river? That’s it?’

Mai Mingle wasn’t a suspicious person, but even she couldn’t help but have some doubts. ’Could Brianna be telling me to drive along the river because of the storm tonight, hoping I’ll get swept away by a flood?’

Of course, she didn’t ask this out loud. While Brianna’s human side was still in control, Mai Mingle quickly got in the car and drove away.

After she got on the road, the storm seemed to start letting up.

Mai Mingle couldn’t drive fast. She had to keep one eye on the dark, reflective surface of the river in the distance while trying to navigate. Sometimes she would take a wrong turn and have to double back.

After driving like this for twenty minutes, Mai Mingle’s back started to ache.

Since the river was on her right, she had to constantly lean over and crane her neck to look out the passenger-side window. It was a good thing there were no other cars on the road, or she definitely would have crashed—

With a muffled THUD, the car slammed hard into something. The impact threw Mai Mingle forward, and her head hit the display screen with a THUMP.

She slammed on the brakes and quickly sat up straight—the road ahead was completely empty.

A figure sprinted past the driver’s side window.

Startled, Mai Mingle quickly twisted around to look, but the figure was already running so fast it was nearly out of sight.

Her heart pounded. After a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed her machine gun, opened the door, and got out.

On the road, under the dark curtain of rain, a figure was sprinting away at full speed. Its limbs were swinging to their absolute limit; with every pump of its arms and every stride of its legs, it looked as if its limbs might fly right out of their sockets.

"Hey!" Mai Mingle shouted after it.

’Other than "Hey," she really didn’t know what else to shout. Should she really yell "Are you hurt?" at someone who was sprinting away?’

The figure ran incredibly fast and disappeared around a corner in no time.

Mai Mingle stood stunned for several seconds, then walked back to the front of the car to check—she had definitely hit something. The front bumper was bent.

’If what I hit was that figure just now, then it couldn’t have been human.’

’If it was a resident, it clearly wasn’t interested in me... So, does that mean I can just leave?’

’In all my eighty-six years, this is the first time I’ve ever known someone to hit a person and face no consequences whatsoever.’

Mai Mingle wiped the rain from her face.

The rain had indeed lightened considerably and was gradually stopping. Such a furious storm, yet it left without a trace of reluctance...

She slowly raised her head.

The Nest hung inverted over Blackmoor City, gazing back at her.

Mai Mingle sucked in a sharp breath.

’When...? Is this—is this the Host’s doing, too?’

’When a Nest invades the human world, it can descend from the sky?’

It pressed down heavily on Blackmoor City, so close it was terrifying. If someone were to jump from the roof of the Nest’s tallest building, they could probably fall into a river in Blackmoor City without getting hurt.

’Wait, does this mean residents can jump straight in?’

"Mai Mingle!"

Mai Mingle froze, almost suspecting she was hallucinating. But no, the shout had definitely come from the Nest in the sky, and the voice was familiar... ’Who was that again?’

"Mai Mingle!" The voice rose again, the urgency and desperation almost palpable. "It’s me! Please, you have to get me out of here!"

Mai Mingle found it.

That apartment building, along with the entire city block around it, had replaced the sky over Blackmoor City, as if it were slowly probing its way into the human world.

Even though it was upside down and Mai Mingle was looking at its roof, she recognized it instantly—it was the same apartment building she had entered with Hai Luwei, where they later ran into Fu Tailan. Every floor of the building was a different level.

"Cynthia!"

Mai Mingle had never expected to see that apartment building again under such circumstances. A mix of shock, joy, and doubt washed over her as she tilted her head back and shouted, "Cynthia, you—you’re still alive? You’ve held on all this time?"

Back then, Cynthia had been trapped behind an apartment door on the first floor. No matter what the three of them tried, they couldn’t open the door to rescue her.

By the time Mai Mingle had to leave, Cynthia was still trapped in the narrow gap between the "trap" and the "outside world," unable to move forward or back, like a tightrope walker.

’Even though Cynthia was just a Hunter I’d met by chance, the failure to rescue her had always stuck in my heart like an ancient, fossilized fish bone—no, no, I have no right to say that. Even I wouldn’t believe it.’

’After all, I’ve been completely obsessed with the Nest Dominance Game lately, haven’t I? I haven’t once thought about going back to save Cynthia.’

’When did I become so cold?’

"I kept crawling along the gap and made it to the top-floor apartment. That’s how I was finally able to see outside, and see you..."

’So she’s still trapped in the gap. No wonder I can’t see her.’

Cynthia’s distant voice continued to drift down from the cluster of Nest buildings in the sky. "But I can’t get out on my own. Please, can you find a way to pull me back into the human world? I want to go home."

The word "Okay" was about to leap from her throat, but Mai Mingle forced it back down.

"I—the day I met you in the apartment... it was November 19th..."

She didn’t know if her voice could reach the Nest, because Mai Mingle’s voice was a little weak right now. "Today is already December 5th."

She hadn’t checked a watch. If it was past midnight, it would be the 6th. In any case, it had been far more than seven days.

"Aren’t humans only supposed to be able to survive in a Nest for seven days?"

"What are you talking about? It hasn’t been seven days! I have a watch, today is only the fourth day!" Cynthia sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "Please help me! Outside this gap, things pass by every now and then—"

She stopped abruptly, halfway through her sentence.

Mai Mingle didn’t understand why. She tilted her head back, squinting, and paced a few steps on the road before she finally saw it clearly.

A long, enormous black shadow was slowly crawling up the apartment building. Like a vine sprouting from the sidewalk, it climbed higher and higher, coiling around the building. For a moment, it reminded Mai Mingle of the Snake Belt coiling around her own body.

"Who is it... Where..."

The black shadow spoke, its voice muffled and its speech slow and slurred, as if it wasn’t yet used to human language.

"Where is it... so annoying... Someone’s here, but I can’t find them..."

Mai Mingle clenched her jaw, not daring to make a sound. Her ears were filled with the sound of her own heartbeat. If that black shadow were to plunge into the human world right now, it would land right next to her.

’I shouldn’t keep standing here. I have to find Chaisi and the Host as soon as possible.’

But the memory of having to abandon Cynthia was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday, gripping Mai Mingle’s mind and rooting her to the spot.

Mai Mingle stared intently at the black shadow until it receded from the building and vanished without a trace. Only then did she slowly let out a breath.

"Cynthia!" she called out. "I saw that thing! Are you okay?"

Several seconds passed before Cynthia dared to respond.

"For the past few days, it’s been looking for me," she said, her voice much lower this time. Mai Mingle could only just make out the gist of her words. "I have to get out of this gap before it finds me..."

A thought struck Mai Mingle.

Cynthia was trapped in a gap between a trap and the outside world, in what was almost an independent space. Back then, unable to refuse Mai Mingle’s insistence, Fu Tailan had entered the apartment trap with them, only to find they couldn’t see Cynthia from inside the trap. And after they left the trap, they couldn’t see her from the main hall, either.

’Could it be that the flow of time in the gap is different from the outside world?’

’If only four days have passed for Cynthia, then it’s really possible she’s still alive...’

"Mai Mingle,"

Cynthia called down from the sky again. "I think I know how to get out. But without you, I can’t test this theory... Can you help me?"

Mai Mingle swallowed. "...How can I help you?"

"It’s not hard, and it’s not dangerous, don’t worry!" Cynthia said hurriedly. "I just... I just can’t remember at all how I got stuck in this gap. I remember you, and I remember you trying to save me, but that whole memory is really fuzzy. I think... if I can just remember, I can find a way out."

Mai Mingle let out a subconscious sigh of relief.

For a moment there, she thought Cynthia was going to beg her to enter the Nest—or to find a way to connect the Nest’s apartment building to the human world.

"The part about how I got trapped... did I ever tell you? Can you help me remember?"