Chapter 65: The Boss Has a Dirty Heart
A Level 2 vehicle like that was nothing to fear—a single cannon shot would reduce it to scrap. Lin Huai did not even consider fighting it; her mind was completely focused on gambling on the high-risk, unknown path in the middle.
Just then, the pink sports car abruptly slowed down a few meters away and matched her speed, driving side by side. A young woman with a short ponytail leaned out of the driver’s side window. She looked quite young, like a recent college graduate, with clear, innocent eyes. “Big Shot, are you Boss Bone Ash?”
“I… my username is Iron Egg… Can we please not duel? I’m only Level 2. I could never beat you…”
Lin Huai paused. “Cancel target lock. Stand down from attack!”
She lowered her window. Both vehicles cruised at the same pace, traveling neck and neck. Lin Huai gave the young woman a nod and pointed toward the branch on the far right. “In that case, I won’t fight you. Just surrender directly and take the path on the far right. That road is completely safe.”
“Also, choosing to surrender automatically deducts ten random items from your backpack. Make sure to remove any rare or special items from your inventory before you confirm the surrender. I have business to take care of, so I’m heading out first!”
The girl’s bright expression remained pleasant. She smiled and nodded warmly. “Thank you so much, Big Shot! Bye-bye!”
Lin Huai checked her side mirror as she pulled ahead. Whether it was the glare off the glass or just her imagination, the sweet smile on the girl’s face seemed strangely forced.
She frowned slightly, but quickly brushed the thought aside. Rolling up her window, she settled back into the driver’s seat and gave her orders to the navigation system.
“Straight ahead. Enter the middle path!”
“Warning: the middle route carries unknown hazards and cannot be scanned. Player, please proceed with extreme caution!”
The Yellow Springs Road Guide faithfully repeated its alert, but Lin Huai had already made up her mind.
High risks brought high rewards. If she shrank back from danger and refused to take chances, what was the point of getting a second shot at life?
“Yellow Springs, I’ve decided to go straight. Back me up on this. Thanks for your hard work!”
The synthesized female voice paused for a brief second. When it spoke again, the mechanical tone carried a subtle touch of warmth and resolve:
“It is an honor to stand beside you in battle. The Yellow Springs Road Guide will continue to guide your way, fighting until the final chapter!”
“Alert: entering high-threat unknown sector. The Green Jade Evil-Suppressing Coffin’s Yin barrier remains fully deployed. The vehicle’s Yang energy shield has engaged. All defensive turrets armed. Golden Light Cannon charged and locked. The vehicle is combat-ready. Confirm entry?”
Lin Huai answered firmly, “Confirm entry!”
With the green jade coffin resting high on its roof, the armored hearse rolled steadily into the pitch-black mist choking the central lane.
Watching from a distance, Iron Egg hesitated for a long while before finally turning her pink sports car onto the safe right-hand path.
However, she had been so absorbed in watching Lin Huai vanish into the dark fog that she completely forgot the warning Lin Huai had given her. She simply said “I surrender” out loud and drove down the right branch without moving a single valuable item out of her bag.
As a result, when the system rolled its random deduction penalty, it stripped away two of her absolute rarest possessions: one was the crafting workbench she had only just acquired and barely even used!
The other was a blueprint for crafting high-tier talisman paper!
When the penalty took her general resources, it cleared out every single Yin energy crystal and Yang energy crystal in her pockets, leaving her with a pathetic balance of just ten underworld coins.
Iron Egg froze in disbelief. “Why?! Why did it take my most valuable treasures?!”
A dark thought crossed her mind, and her shock instantly curdled into bitter rage. She cursed aloud, “It has to be that vile bitch Bone Ash! She was definitely jealous of my Lamborghini and couldn’t stand seeing me do well! It has to be!”
“She wasn’t trying to help me at all! If she was, why did she charge into the middle while sending me off to the right? She set a trap on purpose to ruin me! That right lane must be rigged by the system to steal a player’s best gear! Vile, spiteful bitch—I swear she did this on purpose!”
Fuming with fury, she pulled up her screen and posted directly to the general chat.
[Iron Egg]: Everyone, I just hit a crossroads intersection! Guess who I ran into?
[Flying Dog Hair]: ??? Did you find a secret encounter?
[Sounds Good Is a Good Head]: How did it go? I heard crossroads force a mandatory duel. Did you win?
[Read and Reply Randomly]: Don’t tell me you ran into one of the top experts from the Elite Group?
[Iron Egg]: I ran straight into Boss Bone Ash herself! Bet you didn’t see that coming!
[Flying Dog Hair]: Tsk, tsk. Well, then you definitely lost.
[Sounds Good Is a Good Head]: Wait, Boss Bone Ash actually let you walk away alive? Sounds like she’s pretty soft-hearted after all…
[Iron Egg]: I don’t know about soft-hearted, but I can tell you her heart is completely rotten and dirty.
[Read and Reply Randomly]: Huh? Did you slice her open to check? How dirty are we talking—covered in ash or caked in mud?
[Sounds Good Is a Good Head]: Oho, smells like drama! Spill it, quick! I love hearing the tea.
[Iron Egg]: You’re forced to duel when you meet at a crossroads, right? But the big boss looked down on me and wouldn’t even bother fighting me directly. She told me to surrender straight away, pointed to the right path, and told me to go that way.
[Read and Reply Randomly]: And then? Did you refuse to back down and try to rush her instead?
[Iron Egg]: And then Bone Ash took the middle path herself! As a small, weak player, I had no way of fighting her, so I had no choice but to follow her directions and take the right lane. And guess what? Surrendering triggers a massive penalty!
[Iron Egg]: My crafting table, my rare blueprints, my crystals, and all my underworld coins—every single valuable thing I owned got wiped out! Tell me her heart isn’t black! She deliberately pointed me down a path designed to steal my best items! She’s already the server’s top player, so why would she target a nobody like me? What does she even gain from screwing me over?!
[Read and Reply Randomly]: Wait, you said it yourself—what would a top-tier player gain from targeting you? Why would she bother sabotaging a random stranger? Your story doesn’t make any logical sense. It sounds pretty hard to believe.
[Flying Dog Hair]: Tsk, tsk. Survival in this game comes down to luck. Sounds like you just had terrible luck with the system roll.
[Peace and Violence]: @Iron Egg, what exactly happened? Send me a private message and explain everything in detail.
After Peace and Violence upgraded his mobile communications van to Level 3, it gained the ability to monitor public channel logs in real time.
He had set up automatic tracking filters for every member of the Elite Squad. The second anyone mentioned their names in the public chat, his system pinged an alert.
Seeing this Iron Egg slander Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice in the main lobby, he tagged her immediately to get the facts straight.
At the same time, he sent an alert to Lin Huai and the rest of the squad. Lin Huai was occupied inside the mist and didn’t respond, but several well-known usernames quickly appeared in the public chat.
[Dragon Emerging from the Sea]: @Iron Egg, bring proof before you start throwing accusations around. As far as I know, if the Boss points you down a path, she’s giving you a way out. She never bullies ordinary survivors.
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: Exactly. Don’t tell half a story to stir up pity. If you have something to say, spit out every detail.
[Old Wang from Building Materials]: The Boss told you to take the right while she went down the middle herself? What’s in the middle lane? If you were so convinced she was tricking you, why didn’t you grow some guts and follow her into the middle instead?
