Inventory Slots

By evening, Huangfu Miaomiao had finally woken up.

She sat up groggily and looked at the glow outside the window, too dazed to tell whether it was sunrise or sunset.

"You really can sleep." Feng Ling rested her chin on one hand as she watched her. "You slept for a full twelve hours."

Huangfu Miaomiao was stunned for a moment.

Ever since logging in, how long had it been since she had gotten a proper night's sleep?

She could no longer remember...

It seemed that every day, every day, she had lived in fear—afraid of being caught by the Supervision Bureau, afraid of losing her Card, afraid of failing her missions, afraid of so many things...

Later, she had thought she could find help on the Forum, only to fall into another disaster.

If they had not been driven into a corner, who would willingly risk cooperating with a Boss?

Huangfu Miaomiao's mind gradually cleared, and her gaze slowly focused. She saw new clothes, new shoes, and a cartoon watch beside her.

"Is this for me?" she asked curiously, picking it up.

Feng Ling narrowed her eyes with a smile. "Yes, it's a phone watch I bought for you. The SIM card is already inside. I set it to silent so it won't suddenly ring and affect our actions after we enter the Tunnel."

Huangfu Miaomiao: "..."

It seemed the Boss was determined to make the trip to the Tunnel.

"I bought some other things too. I'll carry half, and you'll carry the other half." Feng Ling dragged over two heavy hiking backpacks, lifted the smaller one, and placed it before Huangfu Miaomiao in a manner that allowed no refusal.

Huangfu Miaomiao opened the backpack—

There was food and water inside, along with rope, a shovel, and a flashlight. A particularly heavy long-handled hammer hung from the outside.

Huangfu Miaomiao was not truly a human little girl. Though she looked small and thin, her physical condition was somewhat better than that of an ordinary person.

She silently picked up the iron hammer and weighed it in her hand, then looked at Feng Ling with mixed feelings.

"Want to try it?" Feng Ling held another Alloy Steel Battle Axe that had cost eighteen hundred yuan. Her gaze toward Huangfu Miaomiao was especially gentle. "The hammer and axe came from the same store. They offered same-day delivery within the city, so I don't know how good the quality is."

Huangfu Miaomiao: "..."

Clearly, Feng Ling had not given her a weapon because she trusted her. She simply wanted some excitement.

And she would not give Feng Ling that opportunity.

Huangfu Miaomiao pressed her lips together, lowered her head, zipped up the backpack, and put it away. Then she put away the hammer as well.

Feng Ling froze.

Right before her eyes, the backpack and hammer that had just been placed in front of Huangfu Miaomiao suddenly vanished.

"How did you do that?" Feng Ling could not help reaching out to feel the spot where the backpack and hammer had been. It was indeed completely empty. "What kind of ability is this?"

"It's not an ability." Huangfu Miaomiao explained, "It's the Player Inventory Function. Every Player starts with two Inventory Slots."

"Starting state?" Feng Ling was greatly intrigued. "So Inventory Slots can be increased?"

"Mm." Huangfu Miaomiao counted on her fingers. "I started with two Inventory Slots after logging in. I got one as a mission reward, then spent 10 Points to buy another one. I have four slots now. Each slot can store items weighing up to 10 kilograms."

Feng Ling smiled. "This ability is more useful than a Card Ability. Why not buy more slots?"

Huangfu Miaomiao pursed her lips and said in a muffled voice, "They're too expensive... The first one only cost 10 Points, but the second costs 50, the third costs 200, and the fourth costs 1,000... By the fifth, it'll cost 5,000 Points."

What a pity...

Feng Ling thought that if this had been a Card Ability, she definitely would not have been able to resist killing a few more Xenomorphs to steal their slots.

Huangfu Miaomiao looked at her somewhat ingratiatingly. "Do you need me to put your backpack away for you?"

"No." Feng Ling put on her backpack and gripped the axe in her hand. "Putting everything away too neatly would only make people suspicious. Take out your hammer too. Otherwise, people will find it strange where you pulled something that big from."

That made sense.

Huangfu Miaomiao nodded, and a hammer instantly appeared in her hand.

Feng Ling checked the time and asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Hungy." Huangfu Miaomiao nodded obediently again.

Feng Ling carried the axe and said, "Go change your clothes. I'll take you out for dinner, and once we're full, we'll go to Jiangkou City."

Huangfu Miaomiao's heart warmed at her words.

As long as she did not think about that last part—"go to Jiangkou City"—having new clothes to wear and a full meal was simply wonderful!

The two went to the city's highest-rated buffet restaurant.

The place used to be packed, and at mealtimes, people had to take a number and wait in line for a long time. Now, business had declined considerably.

Feng Ling walked into the restaurant and lowered her head to ask Huangfu Miaomiao, "Are there any Xenomorphs here?"

Huangfu Miaomiao carefully looked around and shook her head. "No."

"No, huh..." Feng Ling raised a hand and patted Huangfu Miaomiao's head. "Let's eat."

After filling their stomachs, Feng Ling drove toward Jiangkou City.

Traffic flowed endlessly along the road. She asked Huangfu Miaomiao again, "Any Xenomorphs?"

Huangfu Miaomiao stared for a while. "...No."

Feng Ling slumped over the steering wheel and sighed. "There are so many cars. How come there isn't a single Xenomorph?"

Huangfu, the human Detector, Miaomiao silently opened the Blue Light Virtual Screen. Looking at the number in the upper-left corner that occasionally changed, she hesitated for a moment before finally speaking. "There are currently 97,681 Online Players. If they're spread evenly around the world, there should be fewer than ten Players in each city. It's normal not to run into any, right?"

Feng Ling perked up and stared into her eyes. "You can see the number of Online Players?"

"Mm." Huangfu Miaomiao looked again. "It's 97,679 now. Two died..."

There was an imperceptible stiffness in her voice.

Huangfu Miaomiao did not dare reveal even the slightest sorrow of shared vulnerability.

Though she had lost two compatriots, this log-in count also meant Feng Ling had lost more than ninety thousand compatriots.

They belonged to two naturally hostile camps. Even if they were currently at peace, sooner or later...

She'll kill me sooner or later, Huangfu Miaomiao thought.

"That doesn't make sense." Feng Ling spoke while driving. "Xenomorph attacks happen in Qingjiang City every few days. I feel like there are quite a lot of Xenomorphs."

"I don't know..." Huangfu Miaomiao thought seriously. "Maybe... maybe it has something to do with the system's Deployment Mechanism. Your world has games too, so you should understand. Players are usually deployed in villages, not out in Monster Camps in the wilderness. So, looking at the entire map, it makes sense that some places have fewer people while others have more."

"Monster Camps... Heh, interesting." Feng Ling's lips curved upward. "You are the Players, while we are the Monsters. How interesting."

She freed one hand, pulled out a tablet from beside the seat, and tossed it onto Huangfu Miaomiao's lap. "Write it down. This information is interesting too. Write all of it down."

Huangfu Miaomiao: "Okay..."

The night grew deeper.

The number of vehicles on the road visibly decreased.

When Feng Ling drove to the Train Station in Jiangkou City, there was not a single person in sight nearby. Tall streetlights shone over the empty roads, silent and deserted.

"Look ahead." Feng Ling turned on the high beams, illuminating a minivan in front of them.

Her lips curled up. "There are people in that car. Still wandering around outside at this hour—very suspicious~"

Huangfu Miaomiao saw the vehicle clearly from dozens of meters away and immediately widened her eyes in shock. "It's..."