Player Forum

Feng Ling asked Huangfu Miaomiao, "Did anyone believe it?"

Huangfu Miaomiao scrolled through the replies with a worried expression. "No one's spoken up yet, but that doesn't rule out them sending private messages to talk one-on-one."

Feng Ling thought for a moment. "I'm going to take a shower. You keep an eye on the forum and translate every single reply for me. I want to see it when I'm done."

Huangfu Miaomiao nodded.

After last time, when she'd organized the forum materials for Feng Ling, she'd gotten much better at this kind of task—she'd learned to add headers and align the text.

As she read through the forum replies and used voice input to compile the document, watching the players call for Feng Ling's head, she felt a mix of security from having chosen the right big shot and anxiety over being dragged into it. It was a complicated feeling.

"Seriously, more and more threads. Such a pain to organize. These people have time to browse the forum but not to go find the maze? Maze Points are way higher than boss hunting..." Huangfu Miaomiao couldn't help complaining.

Then she realized her complaint had been voice-recorded into the document and scrambled to delete the text.

She couldn't afford to get distracted. She had to finish the work quickly, or when Feng Ling got out of the shower with nothing to read, she might lose her temper.

Huangfu Miaomiao remembered—Feng Ling's Corruption Value had already exceeded 20%. She couldn't be provoked!

In the bathroom, Feng Ling stripped off every piece of clothing, along with the bedsheets, pillowcases, and blanket she'd slept on the night before, and shoved them all into the laundry basket.

After fighting the Contaminants in the underground cave, she'd gotten blood and slime all over herself. She'd been too tired to clean up when she got back yesterday, and now that she'd slept, she felt like she was practically marinating in it.

Feng Ling stood under the showerhead, letting the water wash over her body as light foam flowed down to her feet.

The scent of shampoo lingered around her nose, slightly easing the restless irritation deep in her heart.

She remembered seeing a post online about aromatherapy—how fragrances could heal the mind and soothe agitation and anxiety. It seemed to work a little.

Feng Ling filled the tub with scalding hot water and decided to fully relax with a fragrant bath.

Honestly, this bathtub was really nice. It even had a water massage function. So comfortable.

Feng Ling sank into the water with satisfaction, closed her eyes, and thought, What a great place. Ready-made decor, ready-made furniture and appliances. The more I live here, the more I like it. Why not just buy this apartment from Su Yuqing? He doesn't live here anyway, and it's a waste sitting empty. I'll even add a bit extra on top of the market price—definitely won't let him take a loss.

She still had three million in prize money that hadn't arrived yet. She had the confidence.

Feng Ling reached for her phone from the bathroom shelf and searched for the price of Xiuyuan Mansion.

Same floor plan, bare unit—total price: 5.98 million.

Feng Ling: "..."

Never mind.

Living under someone else's roof wasn't so bad.

Thump, thump—

A soft knock on the bathroom door, followed by Huangfu Miaomiao's half-hidden head.

She asked cautiously, "I've finished organizing it. Do you want to see it now?"

Feng Ling waved her over. "Bring it here. And you might as well take a shower too."

Huangfu Miaomiao hesitated. "Oh..."

She handed the tablet to Feng Ling, then walked to the side and slowly started undressing. On her underdeveloped little body was a clear surgical scar.

Feng Ling glanced at it curiously and asked, "You've had surgery?"

"I'm not really sure. Player Log-in only gives us control of the body, not its memories..." Huangfu Miaomiao thought back. "All I know is that the original owner of this body had cancer. It seemed like they treated it for years with no improvement. When I first logged in, I didn't even have hair—it was all shaved off."

Feng Ling twitched the corner of her mouth. "When you guys log in, don't you get to pick your character?"

"It costs Points." Huangfu Miaomiao frowned seriously. "After connecting to the system, it randomly grabs a character from the database, then randomly gives you a card—all luck! If a player isn't satisfied with the character or card, they have to spend Points to reroll. First time costs 100, second time 500, third time 2000..."

"Alright, I get it." Feng Ling gave a sarcastic smile. "Same idea as your grid bag."

"Yeah."

Huangfu Miaomiao turned on the showerhead and said contentedly, "Actually, I've been pretty lucky. Even though my character started weak, I drew a high-tier card. And when I did my first mission, the reward was a powerful healing potion, which just happened to fix my body. I even stumbled onto a maze clue. I was so lucky!"

"And then you got tricked and lost an arm," Feng Ling added.

The smile froze on Huangfu Miaomiao's face. She pouted unhappily.

Actually, she wanted to say that being saved by Feng Ling counted as luck too, but then she remembered that Feng Ling's Corruption Value had already exceeded 20%. Who knew if she might lose control and kill her one day?

This fate of hers was full of ups and downs. Sigh. She was pretty lost too...

Neither of them spoke in the bathroom.

Steam billowed.

Water splashed.

One was worrying about her fate under the showerhead, while the other was browsing the translated Player Forum from the bathtub—

'※: With all the Boss monsters across the world, aside from the Abyss, I've never seen any Boss get a system announcement. Is this Hidden Boss on the same level as the Abyss?'

'※: Impossible. If it were on the same level as the Abyss, they'd just make it the 13th Abyss monster. Why bother making a separate Hidden Boss?'

'※: Abyss monsters all have special names. This Hidden Boss doesn't have one, so it probably won't be that strong. My guess is it's around Boss Level. And have you noticed? This is the first time the system has directly exposed a Boss's card. It's practically telling us its weakness outright—very targeted.'

'※: Exactly. From the two consecutive announcements, it's clear the system can't wait for us to destroy it. The attitude is suspicious.'

'※: You're overthinking it. What attitude could an AI have? I think the system just noticed everyone slacking off in the game, so it sent out an announcement to stir us up.'

'※: We're fighting tooth and nail every day for a few measly points, and you want us to be more proactive? Damn it, if they push me too far, I'll just log off and be done with it!'

Feng Ling couldn't help but laugh at this point, thinking the translation was good—it even translated the swear words.

Her eyes continued downward, and a reply caught her attention.

'※: Someone from another thread provided information on the Hive card. I've copied it over for you all. Take a look—doesn't it seem like the game has a bug?'

'※: The Hive possesses a robust physique and outstanding recovery ability. It can store energy within its body and transfer that energy to heal teammates. Its powerful survivability makes the card holder nearly impossible to kill. It is the strongest backbone of any team, bringing stability and warmth to its allies.'