Alien Species Invasion? I Kill Them Back.

Chapter 39: Chapter 37: Player Forum

Feng Ling asked Huangfu Miaomiao, "Does anyone believe it?"

Huangfu Miaomiao scrolled through the replies, worried. "No one has said anything publicly yet, but we can’t rule out the possibility that they’re sending private messages to talk amongst themselves."

Feng Ling thought for a moment. "I’m going to take a shower. You keep an eye on the forums and translate every single reply for me. I’ll look at them later."

Huangfu Miaomiao nodded.

After organizing the forum data for Feng Ling last time, Huangfu Miaomiao had become much more proficient at this kind of work, even learning how to format headings and align text.

She sorted through the document using voice-to-text while reading the forum replies. Seeing the other players baying for Feng Ling’s blood gave her a complicated mix of feelings—the security of having sided with a powerful figure, and the anxiety of being implicated by association.

[Chat] What does it mean for the Hidden Boss to be in two system announcements?

[LFG] Anyone forming a team to take down the Hidden Boss?

[Intel] Info-gathering thread for the Nest Card.

[Chat] Come discuss: what Level is the Hidden Boss, really?

"Seriously, there are more and more posts. This is such a pain to organize. If these people have time to browse the forums, why don’t they go look for the Maze? The points from the Maze are way higher than from fighting a Boss..." Huangfu Miaomiao couldn’t help but complain.

Then she realized her complaint had also been recorded into the document by the voice-to-text, and she frantically deleted the words.

’I can’t get distracted. I have to finish this quickly, or Feng Ling might get angry if she comes out of the shower and has nothing to read.’

Huangfu Miaomiao remembered—Feng Ling’s Pollution Value was already over 20%. She couldn’t be provoked!

In the bathroom, Feng Ling stripped off all her clothes and shoved them into the laundry hamper, along with the sheets, pillowcase, and blanket she had slept on last night.

After fighting the Pollution Bodies in the tunnels, she was covered in blood and slime. She had been too exhausted to wash up when she got back yesterday, and now that she was awake, she felt like she had been marinating in it.

Feng Ling stood under the showerhead, letting the water rinse over her body as light foam washed down to her feet.

The clean scent of shampoo lingered in the air, slightly easing the restlessness simmering in her heart.

She recalled seeing a post online about aromatherapy—how pleasant scents could heal the spirit and alleviate agitation and anxiety. ’It seems there’s some truth to it,’ she thought.

Feng Ling filled the tub with steaming hot water, deciding to completely relax and have a nice, fragrant bath.

’This bathtub is actually really nice. It even has a water jet massage function. So comfortable.’

Feng Ling sank into the water with delight and closed her eyes. ’This place is great. The renovation is done, the furniture and appliances are all here... The more I live here, the more I like it. Maybe I should just buy this apartment from Su Yuqing. He’s not living here anyway, what a waste to leave it empty. I could even add a bit more on top of the market price; I definitely wouldn’t let Su Yuqing take a loss.’

She still had three million in prize money that hadn’t arrived yet, so she felt quite confident.

Feng Ling reached for her phone on the bathroom shelf and searched online for real estate prices in Brocade Garden Mansion.

An unfurnished unit with the same layout: 5.98 million.

Feng Ling: "..."

’Never mind.’

’Living under someone else’s roof is actually pretty good, too.’

KNOCK, KNOCK—

The bathroom door was knocked on gently, and Huangfu Miaomiao’s head peeked in.

She asked cautiously, "I’ve finished organizing it. Do you want to look at it now?"

Feng Ling beckoned to her. "Bring it over. You can come in and take a shower, too."

Huangfu Miaomiao hesitated. "Oh..."

She handed the tablet to Feng Ling, then walked to the side and slowly began to undress. There was a prominent surgical scar on her small, underdeveloped frame.

Feng Ling glanced over curiously and asked, "You had surgery?"

"I’m not too sure. When a player logs in, we just get the right to use the body; we don’t get its memories..." Huangfu Miaomiao recalled. "I only know that this body’s original owner had cancer. It seems they had treatment for a few years with no improvement. When I first logged in, the hair was all thin and patchy, almost all gone."

A corner of Feng Ling’s mouth twitched. "Don’t you guys get to pick your character when you log in?"

"It costs points." Huangfu Miaomiao frowned seriously. "After connecting to the system, it randomly assigns you a character from the character pool and then a random Card. It’s all up to luck! If a player isn’t satisfied with their character or Card, they have to spend points to redraw. The first time is 100 points, the second is 500, the third is 2000..."

"Alright, I get it," Feng Ling said with a sarcastic smile. "Same principle as your inventory slots."

"Yes."

Huangfu Miaomiao turned on the showerhead, her voice full of satisfaction. "Actually, my luck has been pretty good. Even though my character had a weak start, I drew a High-level Card. Plus, the reward I got from my first mission was a powerful Healing Potion, which was just what I needed to heal my body. And I even stumbled upon a clue to the Maze. I’ve been so lucky!"

"And then you got tricked by someone and lost an arm," Feng Ling added.

The smile on Huangfu Miaomiao’s face froze, and she pouted unhappily.

’Actually, I wanted to say that being saved by Feng Ling was also a kind of luck,’ she thought. ’But then I remembered her Pollution Value is already over 20%. She might lose control and kill me one day.’

’My fate is such a rollercoaster... Ugh, it’s so confusing...’

Neither of them spoke again in the bathroom.

The air grew thick with steam.

The water splashed continuously.

One of them worried about her fate under the showerhead, while the other browsed the translated player forums from the bathtub—

"Of all the Bosses in the world, besides the Abyss, I’ve never seen one get a system announcement. Could this Hidden Boss be on the same Level as the Abyss?"

"No way. If it were on the same Level as the Abyss, they would’ve just made it the 13th Abyss. Why create a separate Hidden Boss?"

"The Abyss all have special names, but the Hidden Boss doesn’t. It probably isn’t too strong. I’m guessing it’s about the same as a Boss Level monster. And have you guys noticed? This is the first time the system has directly revealed a Boss’s Card. It’s basically spelling out the Boss’s weakness for us. It feels very targeted."

"Exactly. Judging from the two back-to-back announcements, it’s like the system is desperate for us to eliminate it. Its attitude is pretty thought-provoking."

"You’re overthinking it. What kind of attitude can an AI have? I think the system just felt everyone was playing passively lately, so it sent out an announcement to rile us up."

"We risk our lives every day for a few measly points, and they want us to be more motivated? Fuck this. One of these days, if they push me too far, I’m just gonna log off and be done with it!"

Feng Ling couldn’t help but chuckle when she read this. ’Wow, this translation is great,’ she thought. ’It even translated the curse words.’

Her gaze continued down the page, and another reply caught her attention.

"Someone in another thread provided info on the Nest Card. I brought it over for you guys. Take a look. Doesn’t it seem like a game bug?"

"Nest: Possesses a robust physique and outstanding recovery ability. Can accumulate energy within its body and heal teammates by transferring that energy. This powerful survivability makes the Card Holder nearly impossible to kill. It is the strongest backbone of the team, bringing security and warmth to its allies."

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