Chapter 276: Making an Appearance

When Su Yuqing mentioned a motorcade escort decorated with flowers, Feng Ling’s first reaction was amusement. She loved a good spectacle.

But when she realized *she* was the spectacle, she couldn’t laugh anymore.

“…Whose idea was this?” she asked.

Beside her, Ye Zheng let out a soft snort.

On the other end of the line, Su Yuqing fell silent.

A few seconds later, he cleared his throat and explained, “Many citizens have spontaneously gathered on the streets to welcome you, and the media is staked out as well. They don’t know which route you’ll be taking, or what kind of vehicle you’re in. Right now, they’re swarming every large truck they see, which has caused several of the city’s main roads to become completely packed with people. The transportation department reached out to me, asking if we could confirm your route to make their jobs easier. I figured that since it’s come to this, we might as well clear a dedicated road and decorate it with ribbons and flowers. It will be much easier for us to maintain order that way.”

After a pause, Su Yuqing added, “Of course, to protect your privacy, the truck will first pull into the Inspection Bureau’s parking lot. Once the crowd outside has dispersed, we’ll discreetly escort you back to the Central Building.”

Feng Ling thought, ‘So I have to stop by the Inspection Bureau before I can even go home? Are you sure you don’t have some ulterior motive?’

She silently glanced at Ye Zheng beside her, then said into the phone, “Got it. What do you need me to do?”

“Try not to frighten the citizens there. Your current appearance is… unusual. We don’t want this to have any negative repercussions,” Su Yuqing said.

Feng Ling suddenly perked up. ‘Well, if they want a spectacle,’ she thought, ‘why not give them a really big one?’

“The citizens came all this way for a show. Won’t they be bored if all they see is a regular person? I absorbed a massive black Jiao Long in the Maze this time. I could transform and show them,” she proposed.

Su Yuqing: “Absolutely not.”

Li Qing also disapproved. “Captain Su arranged this motorcade to maintain traffic order, not to give the citizens a show. If you transform on the spot, maintaining order will be even harder.”

Ye Zheng scoffed, “Sick sense of humor.”

“I’m just giving the public a heads-up. What if one day I have to fight on the street in my second form and some citizen mistakes me for a Pollution Body and calls the cops on me?” Feng Ling retorted, flatly denying she was just looking for a good time.

After she spoke, her expression suddenly grew serious. She said, thoughtfully, “…Actually, they do need to make an appearance. I just remembered, Old Three needs to go out and search for Xing Guang. They’re ugly and have no way to defend themselves. People could easily mistake them for mutated sparrows and kill them.”

Ye Zheng faltered for a moment. “Where is Old Three now?” she asked.

Feng Ling pointed up. “Flying outside. They’re too big when they’re all together; they wouldn’t fit in the truck. So they’ve scattered and are flying above us.”

Ye Zheng walked to the door of the truck’s cargo bay and looked up. A vast, dark flock of crow-like birds filled the sky above, like a dark cloud following them. Occasionally, a dozen or so smaller ones would fly down to rest on the truck’s roof.

“How many are there in total?” she asked, turning back to Feng Ling.

“The number isn’t fixed. They can merge and split. Only their total volume is constant.” Feng Ling thought for a moment. “If they split into their smallest units, I’d guess… a million of them?”

“A million…” A shimmer danced in Ye Zheng’s eyes as she grew visibly excited. “If we send them out as scouts, and each Little Third checks just one person, that’s a million people a day! We could screen the entirety of Qingjiang City in just a few days!”

Huangfu Miaomiao was struggling to keep up with their train of thought. She raised her hand. “But how would we do that, exactly? We don’t know which city Xing Guang is in, and Little Third can’t distinguish between regular humans and players.”

“It’s simple~” Feng Ling said with a smile. “Nearly all of Xing Guang’s accomplices have an eye right between their collarbones. All we have to do is have Little Third watch everyone’s collarbones while they’re scouting. If they spot anything, they come back and tell me. I can then go over and place a tracker, and from there we can follow the clues right to Xing Guang.”

Huangfu Miaomiao was in a bit of a daze. It sounded so simple. But then, she thought, the Star Association was such a formidable organization. Could they really be found that easily?

Ye Zheng said contemplatively, “Whether we can find Xing Guang or not, we have to start by screening Qingjiang. Qingjiang City is essentially our home base. Only when our base is secure can we afford to send a million flying cameras expanding outward. But that’s bound to generate a massive amount of information. Won’t that be a strain on your mind?”

“Hahaha, a million flying cameras…” The metaphor made Feng Ling laugh.

Ye Zheng glared at her in annoyance, finding her sense of humor completely baffling.

After a long silence, Su Yuqing spoke from the other end of the line. “I agree. Feng Ling can’t transform, but the ‘cameras’ can make an appearance.”

Realizing she was still on the call, Feng Ling leaned closer to the phone with a smile. “Any other orders, Captain Su?”

Su Yuqing let out a rare, lighthearted laugh. “No orders from me. I just wanted to ask what you guys want for dinner. After all, your appetite is… extraordinary. I need to make preparations in advance.”

“No need to prepare too much.” The corners of Feng Ling’s lips curved up slightly. “I’m not hungry right now. In fact, I won’t be hungry for the next few days.”

She had absorbed the leech’s energy, so she was currently quite “full.”

Now that she had the Skill of absorbing energy from fresh flesh and blood, she no longer had to treat eating as a chore she was forced to perform. She could simply enjoy her food.

Feng Ling felt incredibly relieved.

In stark contrast to her carefree mood—

Pei Xianjue was at her wit’s end.

Ever since Feng Ling had shown her face on the livestream, public opinion online had done a complete 180. The widespread doubt in the Hunters’ abilities and criticism of the Inspection Bureau had transformed into a nationwide celebration.

And this celebration included a wave of ridicule and suspicion directed at Pei Xianjue.

In just a few hours, the post Mrs. Pei had made earlier—”Professional matters should be left to the professionals”—had attracted tens of thousands of scathing comments.

Pei Xianjue posted a new status, joking, “I guess my mom sees me through some seriously thick filters.”

She added a cute emoji, trying to use humor to quell the storm, but it had little effect. With her own fans jumping into the fray and stirring the pot, the comment section only grew more vicious.

[RiceBall: So, is *this* professional enough for you?]

[Fixer Douzi: When your daughter is this accomplished, parents should really stop holding their own kid back.]

[PhoenixDance85: What does a rich socialite like her know? She probably just repeated what her family said. For all we know, what she posted is what Pei Xianjue actually thinks.]

[ChestnutChestnut: You’re just spouting nonsense! Pei Xianjue already clarified that it was her mom’s ‘thick filter’! Can’t people even praise their own kids these days without getting flamed?]

[TaoYuanmingsFavoriteThing: What did she clarify? That she and her mom are close? What she and her mom need to do right now is APOLOGIZE, got it?]

[MakkaPakka: The Hunter is fighting for her life in the Maze, and the rich wife is online gossiping.]

[ComeAtMeBro: Pei Xianjue and Feng Ling cleared the Sanqing Mountain Maze together. I thought they were friends, what’s with this?!]

[DontRunUpAhead: If they were really friends, would Pei Xianjue’s mom be saying stuff like that about Feng Ling online? Give me a break. Rich people don’t have friends, only connections.]

[LifetimeOfTears: I hope they aren’t friends. Otherwise, I feel so bad for Feng Ling. That’s a total backstab from a best friend.]