Boss Level

Chapter 20: Boss Level

Feng Ling immediately sat up straight and asked, "Where?"

"I-I don't know..." Huangfu Miaomiao stammered. "It's a quest prompt. It won't tell Players the exact location, only give them a range to explore on their own."

Feng Ling asked, "Did the quest prompt say anything else? Read it to me."

Huangfu Miaomiao looked at the Virtual Screen before her and read it aloud to Feng Ling, word by word:

"In the depths of the pitch-black cave, the monster is already starving. You will need excellent judgment and astonishing courage to face it. Silence is the Overture to Death; Light is the Prelude to Victory. Those who overcome their fear shall receive generous rewards—accept the A-Rank Subjugation Task?"

After reading it, Huangfu Miaomiao's face turned extremely ugly. "An A-Rank Subjugation Task... If it's A-Rank, that means the target includes a Boss-Level Contaminant."

Feng Ling listened intently and asked, "How powerful is Boss Level?"

Huangfu Miaomiao looked troubled. "I don't know..."

She had never encountered an A-Rank Contaminant. How could she know how powerful one was? Even B-Rank Elite Monsters were enough to scare her out of her wits.

Huangfu Miaomiao explained, "In the game, all targets that can be killed are divided into five ranks: minor monsters, Elite Monsters, Bosses, Lord Bosses, and Abyss Bosses."

Feng Ling asked, "Bosses are in the middle. Does that mean they're relatively average in strength?"

Huangfu Miaomiao immediately shook her head like a rattle drum. "You can't calculate it like that! Of the five ranks, Abyss Bosses are the strongest Bosses directly generated by the system. Their numbers are fixed—there are only twelve in the entire world. It's almost impossible to encounter one, and even if you do, you can't beat it. They usually aren't within Players' scope of concern, so Boss Level is actually very powerful! Even the weakest Boss has high-tier Cards and has completed at least three digestions!"

Feng Ling quietly considered it—her Card was very unusual, most likely a high-tier Card, and she had also completed three digestions. By that reasoning, was the strength of her Hidden Boss comparable to a Boss?

No, that wasn't rigorous enough.

Huangfu Miaomiao had used the word "at least."

Three times was the minimum. Perhaps this Contaminant had already completed five, eight, or even more than a dozen digestions.

It must have digested many times. Otherwise, its Corruption Value would not have exceeded the limit and caused it to become a Contaminant.

"Super Strong Super discovered Xenomorphs in the Tunnel, and you received a quest notification about a Contaminant. That probably isn't a coincidence." After thinking for a moment, Feng Ling asked Huangfu Miaomiao, "Can only you see this quest, or can all Xenomorphs see it?"

"This is a Zone Quest. As long as Players are within the zone, they'll receive the message," Huangfu Miaomiao said.

The corners of Feng Ling's lips curled up slightly. "In other words, not only will we have to face the Contaminant later, we may also be attacked by Xenomorphs."

Huangfu Miaomiao fell silent.

She knew there were many Madmen among the Players. They pursued the thrill of killing and the exhilaration of violence, showing no mercy even to their own kind, much less to Earth's native inhabitants.

Feng Ling took out her phone and typed, feeling it was necessary to share this information with the group.

Feng Ling: Little Skeleton just received a quest prompt. There's an A-Rank Contaminant nearby. I reasonably suspect that the Contaminant is connected to Super Strong Super's report of a large number of injured Xenomorphs in the Tunnel.

Zhou Diao: Holy shit!

Su Yuqing: Can you determine the Contaminant's location?

Feng Ling: No. The quest information only gives an exploration range.

Su Yuqing: @Feng Ling, share the exploration range with the group. I'll have technical staff analyze the terrain.

Feng Ling opened the map app on her phone and handed it to Huangfu Miaomiao. "Mark out the range. I'll send it to them."

Huangfu Miaomiao accepted the phone, feeling somewhat conflicted.

She thought her name sounded quite nice. Why did Feng Ling call her Little Skeleton instead of using her name?

And everyone in the group immediately knew that "Little Skeleton" referred to her. They didn't even need a few seconds to process it...

"I've marked it." Huangfu Miaomiao returned the phone to Feng Ling.

Feng Ling took a look. The range was quite large, covering not only the shopping mall, but also the surrounding residential areas and park.

She took a screenshot and sent it to the group.

Su Yuqing: Received.

Su Yuqing: I'll be responsible for organizing and coordinating the residents' evacuation. Continue with the plan.

Zhou Diao: I want rocket launchers!!!

Su Yuqing: Heavy weapons are Plan B. If your operation does not go smoothly, I will apply for special-action authorization and bombard the area in an emergency.

Feng Ling: If you collapse the Tunnel, won't we be buried alive?

No one spoke.

The group had gone cold again.

However, Feng Ling noticed an interesting detail. When she mentioned "Contaminant" in the group, neither Su Yuqing nor Zhou Diao asked what a Contaminant was.

It seemed the Supervision Bureau possessed more information about Xenomorphs than she had imagined.

Su Yuqing sent her a private message.

Su Yuqing: After this operation ends, I hope you'll consider becoming one of us.

Feng Ling: (^_^) Hehe, we'll talk about it later.

6:00 a.m.

Super Strong Super sent a location in the group, asking everyone to gather at the shopping mall.

When the group arrived at the mall, Super Strong Super sent a second message, narrowing the location down to Zone C of the Parking Lot on the second basement level.

After they reached Zone C, they lost contact with Super Strong Super.

There was no reply to messages, and no one answered the phone.

If Huangfu Miaomiao had not told her there was a Contaminant nearby, Feng Ling would have almost thought Super Strong Super was playing a prank.

Thump, thump, thump—

A strange sound echoed through the empty underground Parking Lot.

Zhou Diao's hearing was sharp, and he immediately discovered that the sound came from a nearby rolling shutter door.

They went to inspect the shutter door. It was not locked, and the ground before it was covered in chaotic shoeprints, as though something disorderly had happened.

Zhou Diao did not open the door. Cautiously, he first reported the situation to Su Yuqing.

Huangfu Miaomiao was tense, pressed close to Feng Ling's side, and asked in a low voice, "What's behind the door?"

Feng Ling looked it over. "This is a privately purchased garage used for parking vehicles. It probably also stores things like car-washing tools."

Before she had finished speaking, the shutter door gave another thump!

Huangfu Miaomiao jolted in fright. Her little face turned deathly pale, and her hand tightly clutched the corner of Feng Ling's clothes.

Feng Ling turned and asked Zhou Diao, "When do we open it?"

Compared with before, Zhou Diao seemed like a different person once he entered search mode. All his impatience and arrogance had been suppressed.

With a calm expression, he gestured to the team members.

Everyone retreated to either side and raised their guns.

Zhou Diao stepped forward alone, gripping the shutter handle with one hand while using the other to signal the team behind him: one, two, three—

He yanked the door upward!

All the gun barrels aimed behind the door, ready to suppress any sudden danger.

The rolling shutter rattled upward, revealing a huge pit inside!

Zhou Diao froze for a moment. He had imagined every possible situation behind the door, but never expected there to be a pit!

The pit was nearly vertical, around three or four meters deep. Two men stood at the bottom, laboriously holding two bound-together, extended shovels.

The sounds from earlier had been made by them striking the shutter door with the shovels.

The men at the bottom of the pit were disheveled and filthy. When they saw Zhou Diao, their eyes lit up frighteningly bright. In hoarse voices, they said, "You're here? Hurry and come down."