Exo-Star Forum

Exo-Star Forum

Feng Ling arrived at Xiuyuan Mansion in the latter half of the night.

She wanted to run an experiment: to see exactly how much food she could eat.

So before coming to the apartment, she went home first, packed a few changes of clothes, took the necessary documents, and emptied the refrigerator and cupboards of their rice and food supplies.

Following the apartment number engraved on the key, Feng Ling found Su Yuqing's apartment. When she opened the door, she could not help but marvel:

"Being rich is great."

Huge floor-to-ceiling windows, gorgeous crystal light fixtures, soft cloud-like sofas, and solid wood flooring throughout the entire place.

The old, run-down place she used to live in was not even half the size of Su Yuqing's living room.

Still, this apartment really had not been occupied for a long time. The air inside was stuffy, and the furniture was coated in dust.

Feng Ling did not mind. She happily walked around the place, opened the windows to let in fresh air, then studied the smart appliances and the full set of high-end cookware in the kitchen.

Huangfu Miaomiao was not idle either.

Feng Ling found an unused tablet in the room, plugged it in to charge, and had Huangfu Miaomiao enter the forum materials she had organized into the memo app. If she could not type, she could use voice input.

Huangfu Miaomiao had already been made dizzy by the pile of materials in the car. She had not expected Feng Ling to have no intention of letting her rest. The moment they arrived at the apartment, she was put to work.

Considering this was an opportunity to earn the Boss's trust, Huangfu Miaomiao gritted her teeth and decided not to sleep that night—

At two in the morning, Huangfu Miaomiao enthusiastically entered information while Feng Ling washed rice and cooked it.

At three in the morning, Huangfu Miaomiao struggled to enter information while Feng Ling cooked frozen dumplings.

At four in the morning, Huangfu Miaomiao sleepily entered information while Feng Ling stuffed frozen Baozi into the microwave and boiled a huge kettle of water for instant noodles.

At five in the morning, dawn broke.

After eating until she was seventy percent full, Feng Ling went to brush her teeth and shower. Then, wrapped in a bathrobe, she came out of the bathroom, dried her dripping wet long hair, sat down beside Huangfu Miaomiao, and asked, "Are you done?"

"More or less..." Huangfu Miaomiao said, with two deep dark circles beneath her eyes. "There's too much information about Cards, and it's too scattered. It also changes according to the characteristics of the main Card. I'm not sure whether there might be inaccuracies in these materials, but I did my best to organize them..."

Feng Ling picked up the tablet and rapidly scanned through it. There were quite a few typos, but thankfully, they did not affect readability.

"Information asymmetry can sometimes lead to fatal consequences. If you deliberately falsified anything in these materials, distorted the facts, and misled me into making the wrong judgment, I might die because of it someday." Feng Ling smiled as she read.

"I didn't!" Huangfu Miaomiao's eyes widened at once, and she looked utterly aggrieved!

This was the result of an entire sleepless night of work. There was not the slightest bit of falsification in it!

"Why are you getting worked up? I was just saying it casually." Feng Ling smiled easily. "We humans have our own Forum too. There's plenty of information about Cards on it, so I can compare both sides. If I find any contradictions, that means you were dishonest, and I'll kill you. Of course, if you correct it now, I can pretend nothing happened."

"Go compare them!" Huangfu Miaomiao could not stand being wronged. "Even if there are contradictions, it must be the information on your Forum that's wrong! I never fabricated anything!"

Feng Ling gave her a half-smiling look. "Is that so? Then I'll take a look first. Go take a shower."

Huangfu Miaomiao went to the bathroom in a huff.

Feng Ling withdrew her gaze and looked once more at the complicated materials in the memo app.

The records seemed fairly comprehensive. Unfortunately, this little Xenomorph did not understand categorization or formatting. Everything was crammed together, making it a headache to read.

As she read, she divided the text into sections, corrected typos, added headings, and highlighted keywords in red...

—Cards were products of genetic technology.

—Genetic fusion could bring evolution, but it could also bring contamination.

—Low-level Cards were not necessarily weak, and high-level Cards were not necessarily strong. But the evolutionary ceiling of high-level Cards was definitely superior to that of Low-level and Intermediate Cards.

Before she knew it, she had read through more than half of it. She switched to the browser and logged into the Exo-Star Forum.

After showering, Huangfu Miaomiao returned to the living room wrapped in a bath towel and said awkwardly, "I don't have any clothes to change into."

"Wear mine for now. Go look in the suitcase yourself," Feng Ling replied without even raising her head.

Then she heard a scurrying set of footsteps. After a while, the footsteps came scurrying back. "Can I wear this one?"

Feng Ling looked up and immediately wanted to laugh.

Huangfu Miaomiao had chosen a loose gray T-shirt, but she was far too thin and small. The shirt hung on her like a huge sack, and she was still wearing the Skull Mask. The whole look was truly hilarious.

Feng Ling had already learned from the materials Huangfu Miaomiao provided that Players, or Xenomorphs, could be influenced by Cards to act in ways that conformed to the Cards' characteristics.

Huangfu Miaomiao's fondness for wearing the Skull Mask was a vivid example.

Demons were naturally fond of stirring up trouble, intimidation, mystery-mongering, and pranks. Huangfu Miaomiao was too cowardly; if anyone else held this Card, who knew what chaos they would be causing by now.

Feng Ling felt that she might have been influenced by her Card as well. Otherwise, why would the thought of raising it appear in her mind when she saw Huangfu Miaomiao's pitiful expression?

Truly worthy of the name "Mother Nest"~

"Could my Card be the Holy Mother?" Feng Ling rested her chin on her hand and imagined it, finding it even more amusing.

"What are you laughing at?" Huangfu Miaomiao was a little irritated, but because she feared Feng Ling, her tone lacked conviction. "I know how to do laundry. Once I wash my clothes tomorrow, I'll return this shirt to you."

Feng Ling continued browsing the Forum. "Keep it."

Just then, her eyes swept over a post with an eye-catching title: Looking for partners to wipe out Xenomorphs together! Card holders only!

Feng Ling clicked into it.

The poster's IP address was very close to hers. His username was "Super Strong Super," and he said he had accidentally discovered an underground tunnel containing many sick and injured Xenomorphs.

This Super Strong Super wanted to gather a team and wipe out all the Xenomorphs in the Tunnel to obtain a generous reward. He also said that his Card was Golden Grass, which could heal illnesses and save lives, and that he would ensure everyone's safety.

Feng Ling glanced at the materials Huangfu Miaomiao had recorded. "Cards are products of genetic technology. They can be divided into insect-type Low-level Cards, animal-type Intermediate Cards, and character-type high-level Cards... The materials you provided never mentioned plant-type Cards. Is this the inaccuracy you mentioned? Or did you deliberately conceal it?"

Huangfu Miaomiao's eyes widened. "...Plant-type? There are no plant-type Cards at all."

Feng Ling still wore a smile. "What should we do, then? Someone says his Card is Golden Grass and has rapid healing abilities."

"That's impossible!" Huangfu Miaomiao shot to her feet. "He's lying! The fusion of plant genes and the human body produces severe side effects. At present, only human gene trees have been achieved, but those trees are used as tombstones! They can't speak or think. They're just trees with human forms! There can't possibly be a Card like that in the game!"

"Is that so?" Feng Ling tilted her head and smiled at her. "But there's no helping it. I have to trust my own kind."

Huangfu Miaomiao froze at those words.

Bones burst from Feng Ling's shoulder like bamboo shoots breaking through the ground, then slowly unfolded. A nearly transparent, scythe-shaped Bone Blade hovered above Huangfu Miaomiao's head.