White Bird Left Alone

"Help look too," Feng Ling said eagerly. "The Maze clue is a riddle. The first line is, 'The Frog in a Top Hat charges toward the clouds.' The second is, 'A Salivating Kiss kisses the White Bird left alone.' We've already found the Frog in a Top Hat. Now we need to find the White Bird left alone."

"Huh?" Zhou Diao was completely baffled.

He looked around. Where was there a bird here?

And it specifically said a White Bird left alone—it definitely couldn't be a real bird from nature. It had to be a metaphor, right?

There were Big White Goose-shaped pedal boats on the lake, as well as little yellow ducks, but the problem was... they were miles apart. How were they supposed to "kiss"?

Zhou Diao felt it was unreliable, but he still pointed it out to Feng Ling. "Hey, could it be that boat?"

Feng Ling glanced over and asked Huangfu Miaomiao beside her, "Take a look. Does that boat resemble a White Bird?"

Huangfu Miaomiao was uncertain. She looked at the lake, then at Feng Ling. "...It does look like one, but... something feels off."

Feng Ling rested her chin on her hand and pondered. "It is a little lacking."

Huangfu Miaomiao hesitated. "Also, the riddle says it's a White Bird left alone. That boat... it, it isn't alone either."

There was more than one pedal boat on the lake. What exactly counted as being left alone?

Zhou Diao said, "Left alone doesn't necessarily mean it's the only boat. Maybe it means this type of boat is one of a kind."

"That makes sense~" Feng Ling nodded.

It seemed that the three of them, even as three cobblers, could still surpass Zhuge Liang.

"Once we get down, we'll ask someone. If there's only one white boat like that in the entire Amusement Park, then we've found the right one!" Feng Ling said.

Everything had gone smoothly. She felt she had already achieved 66% victory!

Keep it up!

The cabin reached the highest point of the Ferris Wheel.

Zhou Diao took in the view and did not spot anything else that looked like a "White Bird," but he unexpectedly saw the Supervision Bureau building.

"You can see the Supervision Bureau from here... Wow, you can even see Qingjiang Bridge No. 1."

Zhou Diao could not resist pulling out his phone and taking a few scenic photos. "This angle is really nice~"

Hearing that, Feng Ling also looked toward the distant bridge.

For transportation convenience, Qingjiang City had built many bridges. Bridge No. 1 was practically an antique.

Whenever she had passed Bridge No. 1 by car before, it had always felt old and worn-down. She had never expected it to look so beautiful from above, like a snow-white bird spreading its wings.

Huh...

A White Bird?

Feng Ling's heart skipped a beat, and she examined it carefully again.

But as they descended, the bridge seemed less and less like a bird.

Could it have been an illusion...

Feng Ling was not very sure.

If she wanted a definite answer, she would probably have to ride the Ferris Wheel once more.

The cabin slowly descended. Their vast field of view gradually narrowed as nearby buildings and trees surrounded them like giants, blocking the distant scenery.

After leaving the cabin, Feng Ling headed toward the Lake District.

It had seemed quite close to the lake from the Ferris Wheel, but only after walking there did she realize how far away it was. The route was winding too, and before she knew it, irritation began to rise within her.

As they passed the Candy House, she caught the sweet fragrance drifting out from inside. The frenzy in her heart eased somewhat, and Feng Ling immediately stopped in alertness when she noticed the shift in her emotions.

"Why did you stop walking?" Zhou Diao asked strangely from behind her.

Feng Ling took a deep breath of the scent and asked Huangfu Miaomiao beside her, "Where's the perfume?"

Huangfu Miaomiao quickly took off the little backpack on her back and unzipped it—she had bought five or six bottles, with floral, woody, tea, milky, and all sorts of other scents.

Feng Ling casually picked up a bottle and sprayed herself and Huangfu Miaomiao.

Zhou Diao, following behind the two of them, immediately covered his nose in disgust.

He was standing too close, and the scent was far too pungent for him.

"What's wrong with you two? We're handling serious business, why are you spraying perfume?" he protested.

Feng Ling ignored him and continued forward.

There was a small house by the shore of the Lake District, serving as the boat rental ticket booth.

As soon as Feng Ling arrived, she saw a park employee standing on the wooden boardwalk, using an iron hook to pull in a returning pedal boat.

More than a dozen empty boats were lined up neatly along the shore. At a glance, there were no fewer than four Big White Goose-shaped pedal boats, not even counting the one floating on the lake.

"No." Feng Ling frowned. "This thing isn't the White Bird left alone."

She decisively returned to the Ferris Wheel.

The others had no idea why, but they all followed her.

The Frog Cabin had already rotated upward. One full round took fifteen minutes.

Feng Ling calmed herself and patiently waited for the Frog Cabin to come back down.

Beside her, Huangfu Miaomiao watched Feng Ling anxiously. She held the perfume in her hand, uncertain whether to spray it or not, feeling both worried and nervous.

Never mind Feng Ling, whose Corruption Value had exceeded the limit—even Zhou Diao was getting annoyed. He stared at the cabin and cursed, "Fuck, can't it turn faster? It's like a turtle grinding a millstone."

After thinking for a moment, Huangfu Miaomiao quietly sprayed Zhou Diao twice with perfume.

"Fuck! What are you doing?!" Zhou Diao took a huge step backward, nearly jumping aside as his hackles rose. "Don't spray that stuff on me! It's so damn girly!"

Feng Ling stared intently at the cabin. "It's almost down. Come on, let's go over."

The three of them entered the frog-painted cabin once again.

This time, Feng Ling kept looking in the direction of Qingjiang Bridge, afraid of missing any detail.

"I thought Qingjiang Bridge looked a lot like a White Big Bird earlier. You two take a look too," Feng Ling said.

Zhou Diao rubbed at the spot where he had been sprayed with perfume, frowning in disgust. "The bridge has Triangular Cable Frames, one on each side. They do look a bit like wings, but there are several Qingjiang Bridges, and they all look similar. How can you be sure which bridge it is?"

Feng Ling thought seriously for a moment, then looked toward the river on the other side—

In truth, every bridge was very far from the others. But because of the Ferris Wheel's particular position, those distant bridges appeared close together, while Bridge No. 1, directly facing the Frog Cabin, stood all alone, fitting the metaphor of a "White Bird left alone."

Feng Ling felt she could more or less confirm it.

The White Bird left alone referred to Qingjiang Bridge No. 1.

But there was still one thing she could not understand. What did "Salivating Kiss" mean?

The frog was in the sky, while the White Bird was over the river. They had absolutely nothing to do with each other, so how could they kiss?

"Let's go take a look on Bridge No. 1," Feng Ling said.

"Are you sure?" Zhou Diao frowned. "It's rush hour on the bridge right now. There are lots of cars and people. An Xenomorph might spot you."

Xenomorphs might not come to the Amusement Park, but Bridge No. 1 was a route many people took to and from work every day. There might be Xenomorphs among them.

Feng Ling did not care. "I'll be in the car, so an Xenomorph might not see me. Besides, didn't we bring Little Skeleton? If there's an Xenomorph, she'll definitely be the first to notice."

She looked at Huangfu Miaomiao.

Huangfu Miaomiao immediately nodded hard, as though swearing loyalty. "Yes!"

Zhou Diao was speechless. He curled his lip and said, "Fine, then let's go to Bridge No. 1. I've warned you, anyway."

By the time they came down from the Ferris Wheel again, it was already seven in the evening.

The sun hung low in the west, and the afterglow draped the city in a veil of vivid pink.

On the road to Qingjiang Bridge No. 1, cars stretched like a long dragon, packed so tightly that traffic could not move.