Chapter 215 - 214: The Tall Person

Chapter 215: Chapter 214: The Tall Person

The control measures they’re taking now are very simple—

They fence off the polluted area, cut off all traffic, and forbid anyone from approaching. Then, they have soldiers in hazmat suits patrol tirelessly day and night, using every method possible to eliminate all living things within the zone.

After Ye Zheng spoke, the pool hall fell silent.

Perhaps the topic was too heavy.

"How about a more appetizing topic?" Feng Ling said, opening a box of rice noodle rolls and exhaling. "If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. What’s there to be afraid of?"

Xu Yiming glanced at her silently, thinking, ’I mean... has it ever occurred to you that you *are* one of the tall people?’

Feng Ling shook it off and continued to chow down.

Nest-building consumed a lot of energy, so she needed to eat a ton. This breakfast wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy her hunger, and it was taking too long to eat anyway. She decided to go out later and buy a few bags of energy bars to chew on whenever.

"By the way, something else strange happened yesterday," Feng Ling said. "Last night, while I was chasing an Alien Species, I used Spiritual Suppression, but it had no effect. At first, I thought I wasn’t close enough, but it was still useless even after I caught up to it."

She asked Li Qing, "Is Spiritual Suppression ineffective against bugs?"

Li Qing’s brow furrowed. "Theoretically, that shouldn’t happen..."

"Was it much larger than you?" Ye Zheng asked.

Feng Ling paused, a piece of rice noodle roll still in her mouth. She looked at Ye Zheng, chewed, and swallowed. "...About two or three times my size, I guess."

"Spiritual Suppression’s effect is weaker against targets that are larger than you. The greater the size difference, the weaker the effect," Ye Zheng said. "When you encounter this situation, you can change into your second form to enhance your Spiritual Suppression."

Feng Ling thought for a moment. "Mm, got it."

No matter how strong an ant’s presence was, it would be useless against an elephant. In the natural world, with very few exceptions, size often determined strength.

’Then it occurred to Feng Ling that every single one of Ye Zheng’s abilities must have been tested countless times at the research institute. In a way, she could offer practical combat experience that Li Qing didn’t have.’

’Of course, that’s assuming Ye Zheng can remain in such a lucid state.’

Feng Ling’s phone buzzed lightly on the table.

Feng Ling picked up her phone and glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number.

She answered the call, and a gentle female voice came from the other end. "Is that Xiao Ling? It’s Feifei..."

Feng Ling’s eyes immediately crinkled. "Feifei! I just saw Feng Shao yesterday. He said you two are together now. It really surprised me, hahaha!"

The woman on the other end laughed too, a sound that filled Feng Ling with nostalgia.

"Look who’s talking! You suddenly becoming a Hunter gave us a shock, too, haha... Are you free today? Come over to our place for dinner. I’ll cook for you myself."

Feng Ling immediately agreed. "Sure, lunch or dinner?"

"Let’s make it dinner. Feng Shao was busy all night and didn’t get home until dawn. He’s still asleep and will probably be out until the afternoon... Oh, right, do you have any favorite dishes? I can prep ahead of time."

Feng Ling glanced at the empty takeout containers on the table and chuckled. "I’ll eat anything right now. Whatever you put on the table, I promise I’ll devour it all."

A crisp laugh came from the other end of the line.

They then settled on a time and place for dinner and added each other as contacts.

Huangfu Miaomiao listened to the entire conversation from beginning to end. After Feng Ling hung up, she asked in a small voice, "Are you going by yourself?"

"Yeah." Feng Ling got up to clear the trash from the table.

Huangfu Miaomiao followed behind her, helping to clean up, and asked plaintively, "Aren’t you taking me with you?"

Feng Ling shot her an amused glance. "And why would you go? They don’t know you. If I took you, I’d have to invent a reason to introduce you. Just go with the Daoist and look for the Maze entrance."

"Oh..." Huangfu Miaomiao agreed with a nod, but her bottom lip jutted out in an exaggerated pout.

Feng Ling added, "We’ll look together during the day."

Only then did Huangfu Miaomiao’s pout disappear.

After they finished cleaning the place and taking out the trash, they prepared to head out and find the Maze entrance.

It was broad daylight, and the streets were bustling with people. It wasn’t a good time for Pollution Bodies to be out, so the Cat Spider, the Cat Owl, and Ye Zheng had to stay behind in the underground pool hall.

As Feng Ling was about to leave, Ye Zheng called out to her.

Ye Zheng asked her to inject her with a sedative.

Feng Ling paused, looking Ye Zheng up and down. "Is that really necessary? You seem perfectly fine today."

Ye Zheng said expressionlessly, "You’re being too complacent. I could become delirious at any moment."

"I’ll lock the door. As long as you don’t run out, it won’t be a big problem," Feng Ling said. "Besides, I’m leaving two Pollution Bodies here. If you go crazy, I’ll know immediately."

She glanced at the pool hall’s roll-up door. "The pedestrian street isn’t far from here. It won’t take me more than a few minutes to get back."

"No..." Ye Zheng lowered her gaze, her voice low. "Just give me the sedative."

Feng Ling was puzzled. She studied Ye Zheng’s face.

’Every time she gets a dose of sedative, she becomes completely out of it. Does she really not mind that?’

"Give me the sedative," Ye Zheng said again.

"Fine..." Feng Ling pursed her lips, walking over to the medical kit. She opened it and took out the medicine. "To be honest, I don’t really want to give you this stuff. You need to get used to the presence of your Pollution Value to understand where your threshold for losing control is."

The sharp needle pierced her skin. Ye Zheng didn’t move a muscle.

"Staying lucid is too painful..." Ye Zheng murmured in a low voice. "When I’m facing an Alien Species, I can vent my resentment. But when there are no Alien Species, I can only face myself... I can only hate myself..."

Her voice faded, her eyes went vacant, and she slowly became as unresponsive as a block of wood, impervious to any external stimuli.

Feng Ling withdrew the syringe, looked at Ye Zheng, and sighed softly.

"It’s alright. You’ll get used to it someday."

Time would smooth everything over.

Feng Ling turned and left.

...

Finding the Maze entrance was, in a way, both difficult and easy.

Since they hadn’t gotten any clues from the Alien Species, their only option was to mark all suspicious locations and test them one by one.

Testing the locations was the easy part. The real trouble was the timing.

Some Mazes needed to be opened at specific times. For example, the riddle for the Sanqing Mountain Maze hinted at dusk. Unfortunately, the opening condition for the Maze here also had a time requirement.

This meant that even if they were in the correct location, Huangfu Miaomiao wouldn’t see the exclamation point quest marker above the administrator’s head as long as the timing was off.

And so, Feng Ling spent the entire day running all over the place, birdcage in hand.

She was a constant sight on the pedestrian street.

Evening came before they knew it, and they still had nothing to show for their efforts.

Li Qing said, "There’s still midnight and sunrise. We haven’t tried those two key times yet. Let’s just hang in there a bit longer."

Feng Ling glanced at the time and, without hesitation, handed the birdcage containing the Crow to Huangfu Miaomiao. "You guys keep at it. I’m off to dinner."