When Feng Bujue returned to the corridor, the Silkworm Queen had already disappeared, and Uncle Worthless was nowhere to be seen.
Lifting his head to look, the net that they had cut open earlier had been repaired. Upon closer inspection, he could see that … the broken parts had been replaced by new, lighter colored silk.
"What's going on?" Feng Bujue asked darkly. "Have they been captured?" He glanced at the game menu. In the team tab, Uncle Worthless's status was still Alive. "Or did he escape on his own?"
Brother Jue thought as he studied the details of his surroundings. His eyes first fell on the Blade Butterfly Queen's body, and he mumbled, "It hasn't moved at all …" Then, he raised his head to scan the nearby crystal pillars. "The damage on the pillars is the same as when we left …"
"Hmm … It doesn't look like there was an intense battle here." Feng Bujue scratched his chin. "So, they were controlled …"
Suddenly, Brother Jue saw something else. He took several steps forward and squatted down. "This cigarette …" He picked up one of the cigarette butts on the ground and studied it closely. "This is no doubt left behind by Uncle Worthless. Assuming … he lit up the cigarette once we left and then used words to communicate with the boss, then … based on the degree of combustion, about two minutes later, the cigarette fell to the ground."
"But …" Feng Bujue put down the cigarette butt and stood up. "The time when Hong Hu and the rest were 'controlled' was about five minutes after they started running. Could it be … "He raised his head to look at the net in the sky again." … Could it be that the boss' ability to control others through the silk will cause a delay due to the distance? "
"Hey! Are you okay? "Right then, Sky Steed's shout came.
Feng Bujue turned to look and saw Brother Ma, Atobe, and Hong Hu running over.
"Aren't you guys going to rest for a while?" Brother Jue asked calmly.
"How can a hero make someone in trouble wait?" Unconstrained Sky Steed replied in a clear voice.
He had to admit that this guy was really amazing. He had just faced the crisis of his Stamina Points reaching zero a few minutes ago, and now he was full of energy again.
"Ha … Ha …" Atobe was the same as always. Once he stopped, he would catch his breath. "Compared to running a long distance, I'd rather fight!"
"Has Uncle Worthless been taken away?" Hong Hu was sweating profusely, but he could still maintain his composure. His thinking ability was not affected, so he asked a more constructive question. "You've already observed the scene, right? Do you have any conclusions?"
"Most likely, the BOSS took them away." Feng Bujue shrugged. "Anyway, from the team column, 'death' is a situation that can be ruled out."
"Then there's another twenty percent chance …" Hong Hu adjusted his glasses and asked tentatively, "Uncle Worthless used his own strength to escape from the Boss' control, but we don't know where he is now?"
"Yes." Feng Bujue replied. "If this was anyone else, this twenty percent chance wouldn't exist, but Uncle Worthless … might have done it."
"Hmm … Hmm, that man with the sunglasses is unpredictable." Unconstrained Sky Steed nodded seriously.
"Phew … Then what should we do now?" Atobe finally caught his breath and asked, "Should we go and find him?"
"Of course," Unconstrained Sky Steed replied. "How can a hero of justice abandon his partner?"
"First, I'm not a hero." Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes. "Secondly, at least in the game, I belong to the evil faction …" He licked his lips. "But … considering the fact that the new main quest hasn't appeared, other than searching for Uncle Worthless, there doesn't seem to be anything else for us to do."
"Hmm …" Suddenly, Atobe was reminded of something and interrupted. "Do you think Uncle Worthless has escaped back into the corridor?"
Once that was said, everyone turned to look at the exit of the corridor.
"You don't say … In a moment of desperation, that might be possible," Hong Hu said.
"If that's the case, he shouldn't have run that far." Feng Bujue said as he walked toward the corridor. "Because the giant silkworm won't chase after him, Uncle Worthless only needs to stay close to the exit and wait for the boss to leave before he comes out."
"Warning, the area ahead is filled with energy from the defense circle."
Brother Jue had just reached the exit of the corridor, but before he could take a step, the system announcement came.
"Okay … Looks like we can eliminate that hypothesis." Feng Bujue immediately turned around to explain the situation to his teammates.
Everyone came over to give it a try, and they all heard the system announcement.
"This confirms our earlier speculation," Feng Bujue said. "This is why the previous main quest didn't mention anything about being wiped out. If we still haven't exited the corridor when the time limit is up, the defense circle will activate, and then we'll all be wiped out … "
"Oh well …" Hong Hu added. "At least we can confirm that Uncle Worthless is still inside this Crystal Maze, and we can confirm that … there's no turning back."
"Main quest updated.
"Side quest triggered."
Just as the four were discussing their next course of action, the system announcement came, and there were two of them at once.
They all opened the game menu to look at the quest tab. The new main quest and side quest were, "Reach the Cage of Despair" and "Before Uncle Worthless dies (or leaves the scenario due to other reasons), reach the Silkworm Mother's nest and rescue him."
"Hey, hey … This time, the main quest doesn't have any restrictions," Atobe said. "Not only is there no mention of being wiped out, there isn't even a 'time limit'."
"Hah … It does look a lot easier," Feng Bujue said with a bitter smile. "But now that I think about it … this is such a scam!"
"That's right, the time limit is not only a restriction but also a hint." Hong Hu added. "From the time limit given by the system … we can deduce the approximate distance between the mission target and ourselves and the average time needed to complete the mission." He paused for a second and swallowed. "But this main quest doesn't have any hint at all. It only has one simple sentence … and this is much harder than the previous ones."
"Let's not focus on the main quest for now," Flying Horse chimed in. "The most important thing now is to rescue our friends from justice!"
"Ah … You're right, let's focus on the side quest first." Feng Bujue said weakly. "Now that the system has told us about Uncle Worthless' situation, from the content of the quest, I'm afraid he won't be able to hold on for much longer …"
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