Chapter 243 - 242: Ultimately Not a True Immortal

Chapter 243: Chapter 242: Ultimately Not a True Immortal

Ye Zheng wanted to remind Feng Ling not to get carried away, but Feng Ling’s train of thought was on a completely different track.

"So weird. The Maze Master is supposed to be the strongest being in the entire Maze. How could it get buried alive by a pile of flesh?" Feng Ling’s mind wandered as she talked to herself. "...Oh, wait, not buried alive. Those eyes and mouths on the mountain are alive, and the mountain can stick other creatures to itself. This must be the Maze Master’s ability, so the mountain and the Maze Master are one and the same. Which means... that flesh is growing on the Maze Master’s body? Shared senses? A shared life?"

She turned to ask Li Qing, "Based on this, can we figure out the Maze Master’s Card?"

Li Qing shook his head. "The information is too vague. It’s difficult to find a match."

Xu Yiming couldn’t help but ask, "If they share senses, then bombing the mountain is basically the same as bombing the Maze Master, right?"

Feng Ling nodded. "Right. The mountain of flesh is definitely connected to the Maze Master. Otherwise, why would the Maze Master get mad just because we were planting explosives?~"

"Then that makes things simple," Xu Yiming said immediately. "Let’s just bomb it again! Since they’re one and the same, attacking the mountain is no different from attacking the Maze Master. It’s even safer. As long as we take the right precautions, the mountain won’t even fight back."

"But it did fight back," Huangfu Miaomiao raised her voice. "A ton of Mouse Monsters crawled out of the mountain! It was so scary!"

Xu Yiming laughed. "What’s there to fear from Mouse Monsters? At worst, a Mouse Monster is just a C-level Pollution Body. But the Maze Master is at least S-Class."

Huangfu Miaomiao blinked. "...You mean like mobs and a Lord, right?"

Xu Yiming was taken aback for a moment. His smile faded, and he nodded. "That’s right. It’s a consensus among the supervisory system and the Hunter community. Renaming the Levels, and even naming players as Alien Species... you could call it a form of linguistic resistance."

Huangfu Miaomiao blinked her eyes. "Language? Resistance?"

She didn’t understand.

Li Qing said in a low voice, "Language often has a profound, subliminal influence. Humanity’s first major hurdle in fighting us is a psychological one. Their warriors suffer severe trauma after killing their own kind. Because the accounts we use are human bodies, killing us feels like killing other humans. That’s why new names are needed. It lessens the discomfort during combat and creates a psychological suggestion, helping the warriors believe they are killing monsters, not people."

Hearing this, Ye Zheng couldn’t help but look at Li Qing and say sarcastically, "You certainly have studied us humans quite thoroughly."

Feng Ling laughed. "The Daoist is an avid student of human civilization."

Ye Zheng snorted softly and offered no comment.

"Alright, let’s not get sidetracked." Feng Ling walked to the supermarket entrance, leaned against the doorframe, and chewed on a piece of beef jerky. "...It’s getting dark, and the fog is getting thicker. We were lucky to find a safe house before nightfall. Otherwise, tonight would’ve been hell."

Huangfu Miaomiao also ran to the doorway and looked outside with Feng Ling.

She heard the distant sound of drums and music.

The sound was faint and ethereal, coming from far away. This made Huangfu Miaomiao feel a little relieved; she didn’t have to worry about dazedly following the Divine Travel Team again.

"Let’s lock the door tonight," Huangfu Miaomiao said, wanting to eliminate all potential risks. "Just in case we hear the Wandering God’s music in our sleep and end up sleepwalking after it."

Feng Ling glanced at her with a smile. "It’s useless even if we lock it. You can squeeze through cracks, you know~"

Li Qing said, "Most of the Wandering God’s activities take place during the day. I think we’ll be fine tonight."

"Hmm..." Feng Ling recalled. "We didn’t hear a peep from the Wandering Gods last night, that’s true. But the Mouse Monsters are rampant at night. If Little Skeleton wants to earn some points, you could go for a stroll."

Huangfu Miaomiao muttered under her breath, "No way..."

If Feng Ling wasn’t going out at night, she didn’t want to go out either. Even though the Mouse Monsters were easy to kill one-on-one, a whole swarm of them pouncing at once was still terrifying to her.

Feng Ling reached out and ruffled her hair. "Then we’ll stay in. We’ll make our move after daybreak."

At the mention of their plans for the morning, Xu Yiming was itching for action.

"Feng Ling..." Xu Yiming began, a bit sheepishly. "About tomorrow’s plan... do you think you could take me with you? I want to see the Maze Master for myself, too."

Stuck in the safe house all this time, he felt like he was slacking off.

"Of course you can." Feng Ling nodded. "But we might not see the Maze Master tomorrow. I want to check out some other places first and look for a Divine Statue."

Xu Yiming grinned. "Sounds good. We’ll look together."

Feng Ling gazed out the door. The street ten meters away was almost invisible. A thick fog had descended with the night, submerging the entire Maze.

’In a little while, it’ll be pitch-black outside...’

’Ah, I almost forgot.’

’Before it gets completely dark, I have to find that Mouse Monster I marked earlier.’

Feng Ling closed her eyes. A red mist, like a silk ribbon, guided her vision along a path.

The evening fog made visibility extremely limited. After about ten minutes of pursuit, her view grew dimmer and dimmer, making Feng Ling consider giving up. ’Maybe I should wait until tomorrow to track it. Even if I catch up now, I probably won’t be able to see anything anyway.’

Just as she was thinking this, the Divine Travel Team suddenly appeared in her vision.

Feng Ling was slightly startled, her gaze freezing.

Every Mouse Monster in sight was kneeling neatly on the ground, their upper bodies prostrated, heads pressed tightly to the ground.

Her gaze continued forward, and she saw an empty sedan chair in the procession.

’Where’s the Immortal from the sedan chair?’

Filled with doubt, Feng Ling followed the misty ribbon with her gaze for another stretch until she saw a table leg. Looking up—

The Immortal, dressed in magnificent robes, was squatting on the table like a wild beast, gorging itself!

These Pseudo-Gods created by the Maze all had absurdly exaggerated head-to-body ratios. Their heads were nearly half their total size, which made their mouths seem especially large. When one opened, it revealed two rows of flat, snow-white teeth.

Teeth like that weren’t suited for tearing raw flesh, so the Pseudo-God had to use extra force with every bite. Bloody sinew stretched between its teeth, pulling apart like a blood-soaked rag and dripping incessantly.

Most of the Pseudo-God’s face was stained red, and the collar of its robes had darkened with blood. It didn’t bother to chew, simply wolfing down the corpse on the table before leaping down and staggering back to its sedan chair.

The kneeling Mouse Monsters got up one by one, lifted the sedan chair, and started back the way they came.

Feng Ling really wanted to follow them, but her vision could only follow the marked target’s path and couldn’t deviate, so she had to give up the idea.

Although she couldn’t follow them, she guessed that these Mouse Monsters and the Pseudo-God were probably returning to that mountain.

Feng Ling opened her eyes, lost in thought.

She felt this was a cycle.

"No wonder they’re called Pseudo-Gods. They’re not true Immortals, after all..." Feng Ling leaned against the doorframe. The sky outside was now completely dark.