Chapter 224 - 223: Where Is the Logic?

Chapter 224: Chapter 223: Where Is the Logic?

The overcast sky turned the sea a grayish black.

Floating on the vast, boundless expanse of gray-black was an immense head of inestimable size. It had a woman’s face, with thick, long hair and flawless skin. Its eyes were half-closed, its drooping lashes so distinct that each one looked large enough for a seagull to perch on. The torso was submerged beneath the water, disappearing into the deep sea.

The oppressive presence of the colossal thing assaulted them even through the phone screen, plunging the four people watching into silence.

Feng Ling glanced sideways at Li Qing and asked haltingly, "This... couldn’t be... the Maze Master, could it?"

Li Qing’s speech was just as slow. "Probably... not, right?"

Xu Yiming stared dumbfounded at the two of them. "Then... what is it?"

Huangfu Miaomiao frowned. "Whatever it is, there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s in the sea, so far away, and we can’t get to it."

Xu Yiming said dazedly, "I’m just afraid it’ll come over here."

After a moment of awe, Feng Ling’s brain resumed its normal function. She said seriously, "I don’t think it can move. A body that big... its own weight would be astronomical. It must be incredibly difficult for it to move. I doubt it can even lift its eyelids."

Li Qing agreed with this point. "Human eyelids are just thin membranes. Scaled up to this size, it would probably need to grow skeletal tissue just to support the weight of its own eyelids."

Xu Yiming was a little lost. "So you’re saying... this giant head just stays there and doesn’t go anywhere? Then what’s the point of it even existing?"

’I’ve never been in a Maze before, I don’t know much. You guys better not be messing with me.’

Feng Ling shared her experience: "We saw a giant python in a Maze before. It didn’t have much of a purpose either. It was pure set dressing."

The corner of Li Qing’s mouth twitched. "The game system doesn’t care about atmosphere. There are many variables in genetic mutation. I’m guessing this Maze’s genetic field probably has tags like ’goddess,’ ’giant,’ ’holy,’ ’sea,’ and ’beautiful,’ which is why the Maze produced a creature like this."

Xu Yiming hesitated. "You mean... Ma Zu?"

Li Qing froze for a second, then it clicked. He immediately looked at Feng Ling, his voice rising slightly. "That’s definitely a possibility. The local culture of god-worship is very strong, so this Maze must have absorbed elements from various gods and buddhas. If the thing in the sea is Ma Zu, then other gods might have been created too."

He paused, then added with a frown, "Of course, what the Maze creates are just Pseudo-God creatures that resemble deities. They can’t possibly have any real divine powers. Still, we need to be vigilant, because the Maze Master is likely among them."

’They’d better be Pseudo-Gods,’ Feng Ling thought. ’Otherwise, making me fight an actual Immortal would be the Maze cheating way too hard.’

She continued to pilot the drone. "I’ll keep looking around..."

The drone circled the coast, then turned back toward the city, flying slowly over the low rooftops.

One building passed, then another; one street, then another. The scenery seemed to repeat itself, but a closer look revealed subtle differences.

The drone flew for a long time without capturing any living things, not even a single one of the Mouse Monsters from last night.

It was like a dead city that had stopped breathing.

"Everywhere looks pretty much the same..." Feng Ling frowned. "This makes it hard to find a safe house."

Based on her limited Maze experience, a safe house should be located in a unique place. For example, the Three Pure Ones Palace on Sanqing Mountain was very unique.

But here, every street looked nearly identical.

"Should we try searching in a different direction?" Li Qing also felt something was off. "Safe houses usually aren’t too far from the Maze entrance, and the drone has already flown a long way."

As independent game instances, Mazes exist to enhance the player experience. Therefore, safe houses are always placed near the entrance to allow players to rest and regroup quickly, increasing their survival rate. Otherwise, if players ran into powerful enemies right after entering and couldn’t earn any points, who would be willing to enter a Maze?

Piloting the drone, Feng Ling said, "We’ve already come this far. Might as well fly to the end and see how big this place is."

Li Qing thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

The drone flew for a while longer, and Feng Ling had a vague feeling they had reached the central area of the Maze.

She got this feeling because the streets in the camera’s view were now hung with red lanterns, circle after circle of them. From a bird’s-eye view, it looked like a shooting target with many rings.

Flying past these rings of lanterns, they arrived at the bullseye.

Here, there was an extremely wide-open plaza. In the middle of it was a... hard-to-describe mountain of corpses.

"Mountain of corpses" didn’t seem quite right, because this "mountain" was slowly rising and falling as if it were breathing. Its form, however, looked as though it were pieced together from countless body parts. All sorts of creatures’ hands, feet, and tails, as well as featureless heads and swollen, tumor-like growths, protruded from its building-sized body.

Feng Ling immediately thought of last night’s Mouse Monsters.

The resemblance was uncanny. The thing before them looked exactly like a giant monster stitched together from thousands upon thousands of Mouse Monsters!

"Has this Maze’s genetic code collapsed or something?" Feng Ling was at a loss for words. She asked Li Qing, "What could something like this possibly have to do with local folklore?"

Li Qing was also puzzled. Although the Maze’s creations were Pollution Bodies, they all followed an internal logic.

’The Minotaur on Sanqing Mountain couldn’t capture souls, but it did have a bull’s head. The Fox Demon couldn’t transform into a beautiful woman, but it did have the ability to charm. But this ’mountain’... where was the logic?’

’Could it be, just as Feng Ling said, that the genetic code has collapsed?’

Li Qing remained silent, and Feng Ling knew she wouldn’t get an answer. She pursed her lips, turned the drone around to fly back, and said, "This is either a huge boss or a key location. Let’s look for the safe house in this direction."

As she spoke, she looked at Huangfu Miaomiao. "You go search on the rooftops. If you see any place that’s glowing or has a prompt, let us know."

Huangfu Miaomiao was apprehensive. "By myself?"

Feng Ling shouted to Ye Zheng, who was keeping watch nearby, "Zhengzheng, you go with Little Skeleton to the roof."

Ye Zheng frowned, not quite used to the new, doubled-syllable nickname. Then, he flapped his wings twice, easily reached the eaves of a nearby building, and used his slender, grappling-hook-like feet to effortlessly climb to the top and vault onto the roof.

Seeing this, Huangfu Miaomiao also transformed into her Ghost Shadow Form and quickly scaled the building’s outer wall.

Feng Ling then looked at Xu Yiming and Li Qing, giving orders. "Xu Yiming, get down and drive. Daoist, get back in the truck. It’s safer."

"What about you?" Xu Yiming asked.

Feng Ling sat perfectly still on the roof of the truck, her expression calm. "I’m staying right here."

This was a great spot. The view was much wider than inside the truck.

Suddenly, with a loud CRASH, a glass window on the side wall of the building was shattered!

Huangfu Miaomiao let out a high-pitched scream, yelling, "Feng Ling! Rats!"