Chapter 202 - 201: The Hiding Place

Chapter 202: Chapter 201: The Hiding Place

The tall, thin woman received the message, a suspicious look on her face.

As if to confirm something, she scanned her surroundings, leaping from one rooftop to another—

Each leap covered over twenty meters. Her jumping power was astonishing, and she landed so lightly it was nearly silent.

Huangfu Miaomiao was scared to death. She shrank her entire body into a crack in the brickwork, not daring to move a muscle.

The woman changed positions several times but found no one suspicious. She stood still, apparently thinking.

After a moment, Huangfu Miaomiao, still in the crack, received the other party’s message: Okay, let’s meet tomorrow.

Huangfu Miaomiao breathed a sigh of relief.

’I should have fooled her...’

The tall, thin woman on the roof seemed very disappointed and muttered to herself, "Can’t make the trade tonight. I guess I’ll head back."

Then, there was silence.

...

’Is she gone?’

Huangfu Miaomiao grew anxious. Her mission was to find the player’s hideout, and she couldn’t afford to lose her target.

However, just as she was about to emerge, she felt something was wrong.

’If she were really leaving, she would have just left. Why announce it?’

’Isn’t she afraid her voice would give away her position?’

Although the area seemed deserted and quiet, there were ordinary residences above some of the ground-floor businesses. The low hum of outdoor air conditioning units, the static from a TV seeping through a window crack, and even the distant sound of mahjong tiles clicking all indicated that people were everywhere.

’What if one of those residents happened to have their window open? Wouldn’t they have heard her?’

Huangfu Miaomiao froze.

’It must be a trap to lure me out.’

But if the woman had truly left, staying put meant she would definitely lose the trail.

So Huangfu Miaomiao focused on controlling her body, transforming a part of her Ghost Shadow into a black thread as thin as a strand of hair. She pressed it against the crack in the brick and slowly, carefully, extended the thread...

A black thread appearing on a black rooftop on a black night—unless the woman had fiery, piercing eyes, she would never notice it.

Huangfu Miaomiao held her breath, concentrating as she manipulated this tiny yet crucial part of her body onto the rooftop—

The rooftop was empty.

’Did the tall, thin woman really leave?’

’Which way did she go?’

The black thread rounded a corner along the concrete wall and abruptly stopped!

What had she seen?

The woman hadn’t left after all! Not only was she still there, but she was clinging to the building’s outer wall in a twisted posture, her neck stretched to an incredible length!

The head at the end of that neck was moving down past each floor’s windows, checking room by room for any suspicious targets!

If Huangfu Miaomiao were in her human form right now, she would be trembling uncontrollably in fear!

So terrifying!

’This is why I hate players! I hate how every single one of them is so insidious! So despicable!’

She would rather face a crazed Pollution Body than her own kind!

Huangfu Miaomiao quickly retracted the black thread, pressing every inch of her body deep into the brick crack.

The woman’s head and long neck passed by in front of Huangfu Miaomiao.

If the woman had pressed her eye to the opening and peered into the crack, she might have spotted something amiss, like a hairpin stuck inside the hole.

But the woman didn’t. She just checked the residents one by one, and after finding they were all just ordinary humans, she sullenly retracted her neck.

Her slender arms gripped the rooftop’s concrete railing, and she vaulted over it with ease. After a short running start, the woman leaped again, quickly leaving the neighborhood.

Huangfu Miaomiao extended the black thread again. Locking onto the woman’s direction of departure, she slid to the ground as fast as she could and gave chase!

The bad news was that chasing from ground level made it easy to lose the target.

The good news was that beyond this neighborhood, the path ahead was lined with skyscrapers. No matter how high the tall, thin woman could jump, she couldn’t possibly leap onto buildings hundreds of meters tall. Sooner or later, she would have to return to the ground.

While Huangfu Miaomiao was in pursuit, Feng Ling, Li Qing, and Xu Yiming were in the back of a van, watching the footage from the camera.

"That was so damn scary," Xu Yiming said, still shaken on Huangfu Miaomiao’s behalf. "When I was a kid, the ghost stories that scared me the most were the ones with long-necked ghosts like that."

Li Qing said in a low voice, "This player’s jumping power and neck-stretching ability probably come from two different Cards. If she’s also the one who picked the lock, then she has at least three Cards in her. She’s definitely a dangerous individual."

Feng Ling switched to a map application. After confirming Huangfu Miaomiao’s position, she switched back to the camera feed and said, "We should follow, too. We might miss our chance if we’re too far away. Drive the van to Green Square first."

"Okay." Xu Yiming went straight to the driver’s seat without another word.

Feng Ling continued to watch the video on her phone, her expression indifferent, a hint of coldness seeping into her eyes.

"The target is very cautious and cunning. She’s deliberately taking a roundabout path. But it’s fine, Little Skeleton hasn’t lost her," she said.

Li Qing said, "The more cautious she is, and the more she circles around, the more important her destination must be."

A faint smile touched Feng Ling’s lips. She glanced at Li Qing and said lightly, "You’re right."

Just then, Xu Yiming turned the van around to leave the construction site. A wheel hit a pothole, causing the vehicle to jolt slightly.

In the back of the van, Ye Zheng woke up. He opened his eyes and let out a low growl like a Tiger Beast from his throat.

The Cat Spider and Cat Owl also grew agitated to varying degrees.

For a Pollution Body, being confined in a sealed vehicle for an extended period was torture.

Feng Ling looked back at Ye Zheng. She didn’t plan to inject him with another sedative. She felt that for Ye Zheng, an Alien Species was the best sedative.

"What’s the rush? I’ll give you a present in a little while," she said to Ye Zheng with a smile.

Ye Zheng stared intently at her, his blood-red eyes gleaming from behind his disheveled hair. A wheezing, heavily suppressed sound came from his throat.

......

...

Huangfu Miaomiao lay prone in the grass of a roadside green belt.

She was well hidden. The tall, thin woman never discovered she was being followed and finally "led" her to the players’ hiding spot—

a KTV club with a dazzling display of colorful lights on its exterior.

Even with the curfew, certain commercial activities didn’t stop, such as hotels, internet cafes, and this... KTV club.

—Since patrons stayed indoors and weren’t loitering outside, patrol teams usually didn’t interfere with these types of businesses.

Huangfu Miaomiao stared at the KTV, stumped.

’...Should I go in?’

According to Feng Ling’s instructions, she only needed to find their hideout. But now that she was here, she didn’t know how many players were inside. ’Should I go in and investigate?’

The KTV had excellent soundproofing, and the rooms were all sealed. There probably weren’t any cracks she could slip through. ’How can I sneak in without anyone noticing?’

Then Huangfu Miaomiao had another thought. ’No matter how soundproof and sealed it is, they still have to breathe. Maybe I can find a ventilation duct.’

She hid in the grass, thinking for a long time and mentally preparing herself, before deciding to risk it and try to get inside.

After making this decision, she couldn’t help but feel a little happy.

She felt that she had become braver.

But infiltrating was still a huge risk. Wanting to ensure she did her best, Huangfu Miaomiao rustled in the bushes as she removed her butterfly hairpin, leaving only the miniature camera. Then, wrapping her form around the camera, she silently entered the KTV...