Chapter 272: Gray Rat

BANG!—

The phone slammed against the edge of the marble-topped coffee table, bounced off, and landed on a dark, vintage-style rug.

The tempered glass screen protector cracked into a spiderweb pattern. On the screen, Feng Ling was gone, leaving behind a sky filled with lightning and thunder.

In the room, a young man roared, “I’m going to kill her! That bastard! I’m going to kill that damned hidden Boss!!!”

Still furious after throwing his phone, he kicked the coffee table over, sending cups and saucers shattering across the floor.

“There will be other opportunities,” said the other man in the room, the one with long hair.

“Opportunities, opportunities, opportunities! Xing Guang, you always say that!” the young man shouted resentfully. “Ms. Snake is dead, Fisherman is dead, and now something’s happened to Cangwu! Ever since this hidden Boss showed up, our people have either died or been forced to log off! Now she even dares to challenge us on a livestream, Xing Guang! How much longer are you going to put up with this?!”

The long-haired man lowered his gaze to his phone.

The number of viewers in the livestream had surged when Feng Ling appeared. All sorts of gifts bloomed across the screen, and the comment section was flooded with frantic adoration and cheers.

He exited the livestream, set down his phone, and looked up at his furious companion. “And if I don’t put up with it? Can you kill her, Gray Rat?”

The young man called Gray Rat froze, then gritted his teeth and lowered his head resentfully. “…If Bai Mao gives me a buff to immunize me against spiritual power, then I can kill her!”

“You can’t kill her,” Xing Guang said flatly. “The system announcement told players to stay away from the hidden Boss. That means in the system’s calculations, none of us players are her match. The game system might be malfunctioning now, but its judgment can still be trusted.”

Gray Rat retorted, “The system makes judgments based on individual ability! If one person can’t beat her, then we’ll send two! Three! Ten! I refuse to believe she can’t be killed!”

“Mm, a task like killing a hidden Boss does indeed require players to team up. But…” Xing Guang asked slowly, “is it worth it?”

He gave a sarcastic smile. “The last target we treated this way was Ye Zheng from the Inspection Bureau. And in the end, after mobilizing so many resources, what did we get? The Mazes we lost didn’t come back, the Inspection Bureau’s morale didn’t drop, and if we want to dismantle that organization, killing one Ye Zheng is far from enough.”

“So we’re just going to let it go? Just ignore the hidden Boss?” Gray Rat was indignant, almost ready to throw in the towel. “Then what’s the point of anything we do? We might as well just give her all the Mazes!”

“Of course we’re not just going to let it go,” Xing Guang said calmly. “But now is not the time to deal with her.”

“I know! You’re going to say ‘later’ again! ‘Later!'” Gray Rat kicked the sofa hard.

Suddenly, a phone rang.

Xing Guang answered the call.

A slightly hoarse female voice came from the phone. “It’s me, Cangwu.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” Xing Guang said. “After deducting the points required to log off, how many do you have left?”

“Less than a thousand,” the voice on the other end replied.

Xing Guang said, “Send me your new login identity and address. I’ll arrange for someone to take you to Paradise. In the meantime, don’t go out, and don’t get into any conflicts with Inspectors or Hunters.”

“Thank you.” The woman paused for a few seconds before saying in a low voice, “I’m sorry, the mission failed. Her Card can counter mine.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Xing Guang said coolly. “It was my misjudgment. I thought the hidden Boss would be at her most exhausted and weakest when she left the Maze. I forgot that the reason she could leave the Maze was because she killed the Maze Master and assimilated a new Card. Naturally, her Card Ability is different now.”

Gray Rat couldn’t help but say resentfully from the side, “Fisherman was right. We should have let her get a taste of Squirrel. She’s assimilated so many Cards; her Pollution Value must be incredibly high.”

Xing Guang’s indifferent tone became tinged with mockery. “You could try to buy a Card on the forums that counters the Nest’s attributes—if you have enough points.”

Gray Rat’s expression immediately soured.

He had just been forced to log off not long ago, and the system had deducted several thousand points. The number of points in his account now wasn’t much better than Cangwu’s.

Xing Guang hung up the phone, rose unhurriedly, and walked to the door. He turned the handle and opened it—

Outside was a spacious hallway with polished floor tiles and an ornate, carved banister. The luxurious decor was slightly dated, but it still reflected the owner’s impressive status.

He called for a maid to clean up the room that Gray Rat had trashed.

A driver hurried up the stairs and said to Xing Guang, “Mr. Cheng, the bodyguards you hired have arrived. They’re waiting downstairs.”

“I know. I’ll be down after I change,” Xing Guang replied.

He turned and walked toward the master bedroom. Gray Rat followed close behind, asking, “What do you need bodyguards for?”

Xing Guang entered his master bedroom and went straight into the walk-in closet.

“It’s the latest trend among the upper class. Anyone with a bit of wealth is trying every way they can to hire a few Hunter bodyguards from the Hunting Star Group.” Xing Guang selected a dark suit for himself, dressing to match the original owner’s style.

Gray Rat said sarcastically, “We’re players, hiring Hunters to protect us?”

“Is that a problem?” Xing Guang glanced at him. “Haven’t you been complaining that your Card isn’t strong enough? One of the two Hunters who came this time has a Card that would suit you very well.”

Gray Rat’s eyes instantly lit up. He lowered his voice. “So you had this planned all along. When do we make our move?”

“Whenever you please.” Xing Guang stood before the full-length mirror, putting on the suit. He tied his long, straight black hair into a ponytail. In the mirror, his figure was slender, his features delicate, and his entire aura was one of cold, androgynous grace.

He watched Gray Rat’s reflection in the mirror and said, “Just be smart about it when you make your move. Don’t cause any trouble for me. I have no desire to go through a relog.”

“I know!” Gray Rat said excitedly. “I’ll do it when no one’s around and disguise it as an attack by a Pollution Body. No one will suspect you.”

Then, looking a little worried, Gray Rat frowned slightly. “Will Hunting Star International get suspicious?”

A faint smile touched Xing Guang’s lips. “They’ll definitely get suspicious if it happens too often. But once or twice shouldn’t matter. Hunters aren’t like Inspectors. Hunters are business, and they’re also consumables. Not many people care whether they live or die.”

He finished adjusting his clothes, turned, and gave Gray Rat a slight smile. “Come on. Let’s go downstairs and see if the bodyguard I picked out for you is to your liking.”

A delighted smile spread across Gray Rat’s face, all his earlier fury gone.

The two of them went downstairs, one after the other.

The Hunters were sitting on the sofa. Seeing the two men on the stairs, they immediately stood up politely.

Gray Rat stopped short, his brow furrowed as some unpleasant memories surfaced.

“What is it?” Xing Guang asked him.

“What a coincidence. I see someone I know,” Gray Rat replied.

Xing Guang looked toward the two men downstairs. “Which one?”

“The one on the right,” Gray Rat said in a low voice. “A while ago, the young miss of the Pei Group was recruiting bodyguards. I saw him when I went to interview. I think his name is… Fang Ye.”