Player Forum

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

Huangfu Miaomiao anxiously scrolled through the replies. "No one has stated their position yet, but they might be messaging each other privately."

Feng Ling thought for a moment. "I'm going to take a shower. Keep an eye on the Forum and translate every reply for me. I want to read them when I get out."

Huangfu Miaomiao nodded.

After organizing Forum materials for Feng Ling last time, Huangfu Miaomiao had become much more proficient at this sort of thing. She had learned how to make headings and align text.

As she read the Forum replies and used voice input to organize the document, she saw the Players clamoring to kill Feng Ling. She felt both the security of having chosen the right powerhouse to follow and the anxiety of being implicated. Her feelings were incredibly complicated.

Chit-Chat | What did it mean that the Hidden Boss had appeared in two System Announcements?

Party Up | Any Hidden Boss hunting parties? Forming a group

Intel | Master post collecting all information on the Hive Card

Chit-Chat | Come discuss this: what Boss Level was the Hidden Boss, exactly?

"Seriously, there are more and more posts. This is such a pain to organize. If these people have time to browse the Forum, why aren't they looking for Mazes? Maze Points are worth way more than fighting Bosses..." Huangfu Miaomiao couldn't help complaining.

Then she realized her complaint had also been recorded in the document by the voice input, and hurriedly deleted the text in a fluster.

She couldn't get distracted. She had to finish this quickly, or Feng Ling would come out of the shower with nothing to read. She might even lose her temper.

Huangfu Miaomiao remembered that 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 she had on and stuffed them, along with the sheets, pillowcases, and blanket she had slept with the night before, into the laundry hamper.

After fighting Contaminants in the underground cave, she had gotten quite a bit of blood and slime on herself. She had been too sleepy to wash up when she returned yesterday. Now that she was awake, she felt as though she had practically been pickled in the stench.

Feng Ling stood beneath the showerhead and let the water wash over her body, the light foam flowing down with the water to gather around her feet.

The fresh scent of shampoo lingered beneath her nose, slightly easing the faint restlessness in her heart.

She remembered seeing a post online about aromatherapy. It said fragrances could heal the mind and relieve irritability, depression, and anxiety. It seemed to be somewhat effective after all.

Feng Ling filled the bathtub with slightly hot water and decided to completely relax with a nice, fragrant soak.

This bathtub really was great. It even had a water-jet massage function. It felt so good.

Feng Ling happily lay back in the water and closed her eyes. What a wonderful place. The renovations were already done, and the furniture and appliances were all here. The longer I stay, the more I like it. Maybe I should just buy this apartment from Su Yuqing. He doesn't live here anyway, so leaving it empty is such a waste. At worst, I'll offer a little above market price. Su Yuqing definitely won't lose out.

She still had three million in prize money that had yet to arrive, so she was feeling quite confident.

Feng Ling reached for the phone on the Bathroom shelf and searched online for housing prices at Xiuyuan Mansion.

For the same layout, an unfinished unit cost 5.98 million in total.

Feng Ling: "..."

Forget it.

Actually, living under someone else's roof wasn't so bad.

Knock, knock—

There was a light knock on the Bathroom door, followed by half of Huangfu Miaomiao's head peeking in.

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

Feng Ling beckoned to her. "Bring it over. You can take a shower too while you're at it."

Huangfu Miaomiao hesitated. "Oh..."

She handed the tablet to Feng Ling, then went to the side and slowly began undressing. A distinct surgical scar ran across her underdeveloped little body.

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

"I'm not really sure either. When a Player logs in, they only gain the right to use the body. They don't get its memories..." Huangfu Miaomiao thought back. "I only know that the body's original owner had cancer. It seemed treatment hadn't helped even after several years. When I first logged in, I didn't even have any hair. It had all been shaved off."

Feng Ling tugged at the corner of her mouth. "When you log in, don't you get to choose your character?"

"It costs Points." Huangfu Miaomiao frowned seriously. "After connecting to the system, the system randomly draws a character from the character database, then randomly gives out a Card. It all depends on luck! If a Player isn't satisfied with the character or Card, they have to spend Points to draw again. The first time costs 100 Points, the second costs 500, the third costs 2,000..."

"Alright, I get it." Feng Ling smiled mockingly. "Same thing as your grid bag."

"Yes."

Huangfu Miaomiao turned on the showerhead and said with satisfaction, "Actually, I've been pretty lucky. Although my character was weak at the start, I drew a high-tier Card. And when I did my first mission, the reward I got was a powerful healing Potion that happened to cure my body. I also happened to get a Maze clue. I was incredibly lucky!"

"Then you got kidnapped and lost an arm," Feng Ling added.

The smile on Huangfu Miaomiao's face froze, and she pouted unhappily.

Actually, she wanted to say that being saved by Feng Ling counted as a kind of luck too. But then she quickly remembered that Feng Ling's Corruption Value had already exceeded 20%. Maybe one day, she would lose emotional control and kill her.

Her fate had been full of such wild ups and downs. Sigh, she was pretty lost too...

Neither of them spoke in the Bathroom.

Steam billowed through the air.

Water splashed and rushed.

One of them stood beneath the showerhead worrying about her fate, while the other browsed the translated Player Forum from the bathtub—

'※: There are so many Boss monsters in the world. Aside from the Abyss, I've never seen any Boss appear in a System Announcement. Could this Hidden Boss be on the same level as the Abyss?'

'※: Impossible. If it were on the same level as the Abyss, they could have simply designated it the thirteenth Abyss. Why create a separate Hidden Boss?'

'※: The Abyss all have special names, while the Hidden Boss doesn't. It probably isn't that strong. I'm guessing it's around Boss Level. And have you noticed? This is the first time we've seen the system directly reveal a Boss's Card. It's practically blatantly telling us this Boss's weakness. It's very targeted.'

'※: Exactly. From the two consecutive announcements, it looks like the system can't wait for us to eliminate it. That attitude is rather thought-provoking.'

'※: You're overthinking it. What kind of attitude could an artificial intelligence have? I think the system just feels everyone has been playing negatively lately, so it sent out an announcement to give us some stimulation.'

'※: We're already risking our lives every day for a few lousy Points. How much more proactive do you want us to be? Fuck it, if they push me too far someday, I'll just log out!'

Feng Ling couldn't help laughing when she saw that. This translation is great. It even translated the profanity.

As she continued reading, one reply caught her attention.

'※: Someone next door provided information on the Hive Card. I brought it over for you all. Take a look—doesn't this seem like the game has bugged out?'

'※: Hive possesses a robust physique and outstanding recovery abilities. It can store energy within its body and heal teammates by transferring that energy. Its powerful survivability makes the Card holder almost impossible to kill. It is the strongest support in a team, bringing stability and warmth to its teammates.'