Chapter 207 - 206: The Trail of the Gu Insect Master

Chapter 207: Chapter 206: The Trail of the Gu Insect Master

The orphanage was called the Big Windmill Children’s Welfare Institute, and all the orphans there had the surname Feng.

The man before her, Feng Shao, was a year older than Feng Ling. They often fought as children, and Feng Ling won more often than she lost.

Although they hadn’t gotten along well in their childhood, seeing each other again now couldn’t help but evoke a sense of nostalgia, like meeting someone from one’s hometown.

Feng Ling’s expression softened. She smiled as she sized him up. "What a coincidence. I never expected to run into you here."

Feng Shao’s face flushed red. "I didn’t think it was really you, either. Feifei and I saw the Hunter list online and almost thought it was just someone with the same name."

"Feifei? You mean Feng Fei?" Feng Ling was both surprised and amused. "You and Feng Fei got together?"

Feng Shao’s face grew even redder, but a happy smile appeared. "Yeah... But she doesn’t go by Feng Fei anymore. After she was adopted, her adoptive parents named her Ling Yuexuan. The year before last, she changed her name again... uh, she goes by Ling Feiran now." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Feng Ling listened intently.

’All those name changes probably meant she hadn’t gotten along with her adoptive parents.’

She still thought Feng Fei was a better-sounding name.

Feng Shao glanced at Han Xu in the distance and seemed a bit flustered. Looking back at Feng Ling, he said, "I have to get back to work. Hey... let’s exchange numbers. Feifei and I can treat you to dinner sometime. She would be thrilled to see you."

"Sure." Feng Ling took out her phone and saved Feng Shao’s number.

Feng Shao smiled, waved at her, and went back to his work.

Feng Ling also boarded the truck.

The driver, arranged by Han Xu, was about to take her, Xu Yiming, and the others to their resting place for the night.

But Feng Ling couldn’t rest yet.

After the brief interlude of meeting her childhood friend, she sat down against the wall of the truck, closed her eyes, and began to use "Mother’s Thoughts" to search for the Gu Insect Master’s trail.

A ribbon of mist stretched forward—

Judging by its trajectory, the Gu Insect Master was extremely agile. It fled by hugging the base of the walls, frequently using external pipes, outdoor air conditioning units, and window security bars to change its escape route, avoiding surveillance cameras and night patrols.

Even so, the red mist—darting up and down, twisting and turning—still betrayed the panic in its escape.

This was something Feng Ling didn’t understand.

’She thought the tall, thin woman was a better escape artist than the Gu Insect Master. Why would she give the chance to escape to someone else?’

Feng Ling didn’t believe in camaraderie between Alien Species.

During the slaughter just now, many of the Alien Species on the ground had only been wounded, not killed. All they needed was a recovery potion to find a chance to escape. But instead, they were all infested by the Gu Insect Master, becoming shields for its getaway.

This showed just how ruthless Alien Species were, even to their own kind.

’So, was it because the two of them had different statuses in their organization? Was the Gu Insect Master considered more important, and that’s why the tall, thin woman protected it?’

Feng Ling mused silently to herself as she continued to follow the red mist.

...

In a pitch-black alley, a teenage boy was sprinting for his life.

He kicked over trash lining the street, his shoes and socks getting soaked with sewage, but he paid it no mind. While running, he summoned a virtual screen, his fingers flying across its surface.

He was drenched in sweat, his eyes were bloodshot, and the corners of his eyes were wet—it was hard to tell if it was from sweat or tears.

He wiped at them fiercely, then quickly scrambled up a metal pipe on the side of a building, clamping his legs around it. He took a breath, pulled a small stone from his pocket, aimed at the surveillance camera high above, and threw it with all his might!

CRACK!

The camera was shattered.

The boy jumped down from the pipe, steadied his breathing, and ran under the now-broken camera, entering a residential building on the street ahead.

He struggled to control his emotions, checked his head covering, and then, as if he were just a normal person coming home, calmly walked into the elevator and pressed the floor button.

Upon reaching his floor, he found the door ajar, as if the occupant had known exactly when he would arrive.

The boy subconsciously touched the eye between his collarbones.

’It was to be expected.’

’Under the eye’s watch, none of his actions could be hidden from Xing Guang.’

Overcome with emotion, the boy’s eyes misted over. He walked into the apartment with his head bowed and shut the door behind him.

"Xing Guang..." He choked on the name as soon as he spoke it. His knees buckled, and he fell to the floor with a thud, breaking down in tears. "Everyone’s dead! Madman, Ms. Snake... everyone, they’re all dead! WAAAAAAAAH!"

Now in a safe place, the boy no longer held back, letting out all his helpless grief.

A soft, creaking sound came from within the room.

After a moment, a man in an electric wheelchair slowly rolled up beside him.

"I saw," the man called Xing Guang said.

"It was all because of that Maze Administrator! And that hidden Boss!" The boy looked up, his face full of resentment and stained with tears. "I’ll make them pay! They have to die!"

"You want revenge?" Xing Guang asked from his wheelchair, his expression cold. "There’s no chance. Tonight, not only will you die, but so will I."

The boy kneeling on the floor stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"I saw it," Xing Guang repeated, his gaze softening with a hint of pity. "You’ve been marked by her. She’ll find this place soon."

"How could this happen..." The boy forgot to cry, on the verge of a breakdown. "No, it can’t end like this!"

He suddenly shot to his feet, grabbing the arms of the man in the wheelchair. "Xing Guang," he pleaded desperately, "give me another Squirrel! Just one more!"

Xing Guang remained unmoved. "We collect Squirrels to strengthen our members, not for revenge. We already wasted too many Cards just to eliminate one Ye Zheng. It’ll be nearly impossible to gather enough Cards to deal with the hidden Boss on such short notice. And besides..."

He raised his other arm and patted the boy’s shoulder gently. "I may hate the system, but the information it provides is rarely wrong. The system announcement told us to stay away from the hidden Boss. That means among the current player base, almost no one can deal with her."

"Are we supposed to just let it go?! I refuse to accept this! I refuse!!!" the boy roared, fresh tears welling in his eyes.

Xing Guang said calmly, "At the end of the day, she’s just a game Boss. There’s no need to get so angry. Back when we were raiding the Abyss Maze, the Abyss Boss killed plenty of our people, too. Are we supposed to get revenge on the Abyss itself? Our mission right now is to liberate the Maze as quickly as possible and accelerate its fusion with this world. Fisherman, you need to learn to prioritize."

The boy lowered his head, sobbing. "I know..."

Xing Guang gazed out the window into the night. "Escape while you still can, before she arrives. Run to the docks and find a boat. You might make it out. If you can’t, just log off and create a new login."

He then muttered, "But the risks of logging in with a new account are much greater than they used to be. You need to be prepared."

In the past, humans didn’t understand Alien Species. If they noticed someone close to them undergo a sudden, drastic personality change, they would just assume that person had been dumped, lost a lot of money gambling, or fallen ill.

Things are different now. With information about Alien Species spreading across the internet, as soon as people notice a change in their friends or family, their first instinct is to suspect they’ve been taken over by an Alien Species and report it to the Inspection Bureau.