Chapter 313: Long Live Freedom (2/15, October Subscription)

Leaving the complex in a foul mood, Chen Xiaomiao hurried home at a sprint.

Once home, she finally felt a little safe. Today's experience had been too surreal—kicking an iron plate and nearly losing her life for it.

Sure enough, being a Bounty Hunter wasn't easy either. Next time she'd better take small jobs like finding cats and dogs…

Raw water down the gullet, laxatives, slapping her belly, handstands and jumps…

After trying every method she could think of, she still couldn't get the 【Sweetheart Bug】 out of her stomach. Chen Xiaomiao finally sighed—the only option left she could think of was surgical removal.

However…

"What are you thinking? With the Sweetheart Bug's detection level, the instant you cut yourself open, your whole body would explode!"

"Boo hoo! Liu Zong, I'm still so young, I'm still so pretty, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

Listening to the noisy voice on the phone, Liu Zong's forehead bulged with veins of anger.

He laid into Chen Xiaomiao with a torrent of abuse.

Only after finishing the scolding did he remember the real business.

"Right, that game you mentioned earlier—what game was it again?"

"Game?"

Chen Xiaomiao was dumbfounded. They were facing a life-or-death crisis right now—who cared about games!

Seeing Chen Xiaomiao hadn't understood his meaning, Liu Zong's temper flared up again, but he still pressed down his anger as he spoke.

"The Sweetheart Bug is in our stomach, monitoring everything our eyes see and our ears hear. So I'm planning to arrange a meeting with someone inside a game—this is our last chance to survive."

"Ahhh? Doesn't that mean when I bathe they all…"

Liu Zong's face darkened: "It's the Sweetheart Bug doing the monitoring, not them. The Sweetheart Bug is just a program. Unless it's running at the highest clearance level, all it handles is triggering on specific keywords—at least according to what I've learned.

Just as that fellow said, the information leaked outside is already an old version. I have no idea what effects the Sweetheart Bug has now—we can only gamble!"

"Then can't we just sit here and do nothing?"

"You're so stupid! Are you going to sit and wait for death? I still have a contact who can save our lives. If this route doesn't work, I don't need you to tell me—I'd crawl into my shell like a turtle myself."

A contact?

Hope lit up in Chen Xiaomiao's heart, but then a hint of doubt crept in.

"If talking inside a game can block the Sweetheart Bug's monitoring, wouldn't any other game work the same? Why do we have to go into 'Blue Sea'?"

"Because the mechanisms are different. Game helmet tech and equipment are too mature—she… the company behind that young lady has long since infiltrated that technology. Old games simply aren't safe.

Only Tengli Group's Game Watch, this newest product, uses a special encryption mechanism exclusive to Tengli Group's internal systems—it's the most likely to evade the Sweetheart Bug's monitoring!"

Wow, so complicated…

Chen Xiaomiao listened in a fog, but she still understood Liu Zong's meaning.

The problem was… 'Blue Sea' was an extremely special game. The starting spawn point couldn't be controlled, making it quite difficult to make contact with a specific person.

"There's such a thing?"

Liu Zong was stunned for a moment. As far as he knew, only Tengli Group's encryption technology could hold off the Sweetheart Bug. Now, learning that making contact inside the game was extremely difficult, his expression inevitably fell.

But he quickly pulled himself together.

"No matter what, we have to try!"

Liu Zong's contact entries used a 【Name】 + 【Position】 format.

Opening his phone, he quickly found his target.

Luo Shuang—member of 【Shadow Society】.

Once the call connected, he immediately brought up the request to meet, and offered to pay any price, even his entire fortune.

"Your little bit of money doesn't interest me. But the fact that you can only talk business after entering a game has piqued my curiosity a little. What matter could force someone to only negotiate inside a game? Hehehehehe, must be quite interesting."

It was only a voice call, but in Liu Zong's mind, there seemed to appear the image of a woman shaking her big chest, fluttering about coquettishly.

Her words… her words should hold some weight, right? Help me deal with this trouble?

……

Qing Shui Xiao Qu.

After tidying up the mess in the room, Fang Yue sat down across from Bai Xiaoya.

"Speak—who exactly are you, and who have you offended?"

Bai Xiaoya thought for a moment, then said: "Mr. Fang saved my life—twice no less. By all rights, I should tell you the truth. But this matter is truly of great importance, involving not only my own life but the lives of many others. So please forgive me for not being able to say just yet. Just as I've never asked you about the parchment, I hope Mr. Fang will grant me a little privacy in return."

…Fine, today's incident really had nothing to do with her. The other side was after me; she was just caught in the crossfire.

If Bai Xiaoya wouldn't talk, there was nothing more for Fang Yue to ask. Tomorrow they'd go find Chen Yang, and even Qiu Dugu, to settle this matter!

As he rose to head back to his room, Bai Xiaoya behind him suddenly said: "If… if tomorrow's trip to Jiangyun Temple goes smoothly, I will tell Mr. Fang the whole truth, everything."

"…Fine."

Waving a hand to show he understood, Fang Yue went back to his room and lay down.

"Parchment."

【Here!!】

"Was Chen Yang your previous master?"

【No!】

"…Then what about Qiu Dugu?"

【Also no!】

"Then who was your previous master?"

【That old witch is sleeping!】

Sleeping?

Fang Yue was taken aback—he hadn't expected to hear that word from the parchment.

Calculating the time, it was now midnight; sleeping didn't seem wrong, but Fang Yue felt something was off.

I asked you who your last master was, and you told me she's asleep—what even is that?

As Fang Yue was about to press further in frustration, the parchment's text reappeared in his mind.

【She has been sleeping for a long, long time!】

【She made the great and noble Parchment Lord suffer terribly!】

【So the great and noble Parchment Lord escaped!】

【Freedom forever!!】

Fang Yue:???

So your last master was a vegetative patient?

Fang Yue grew frustrated—was the vegetative patient waking up and coming to reclaim the Parchment?

After thinking for a moment, Fang Yue asked, "Little Sheep, could it be your former master has awakened and come to take you back? But now, in the real world, you have no physical form—how could they possibly take you away from me?"

【Absolutely impossible! She has seen my prophecy—she will awaken only at that most special moment; it has not come yet, not by a long shot.】

A special moment?

Fang Yue asked again, but the Parchment, as if having slipped up, refused to reveal more and changed the subject.

【Besides, to take away the great and noble Parchment Lord is actually very simple—I'll give you an example.】

(End of Chapter)