Chapter 102 Mountain Climbing
Pei Xianjue and Huangfu Miaomiao looked at each other in silence.

Li Qing closed his eyes speechlessly.

Feng Ling looked at the lake in disbelief, completely dumbfounded.

She looked at Huangfu Miaomiao and Li Qing, and asked in an unbearable manner: "How did you design this game? What's the point of the special props? Are they just pure fodder? Once you feed them, it's over, and there's no plot?"

Huangfu Miaomiao and Li Qing were both silent.

Feng Ling asked Huangfu Miaomiao unwillingly: "Did you see any system prompts just now?"

Huangfu Miaomiao shook her head, "There is no clue at all... There is no mark of the maze boss on the python."

"No?" Feng Ling turned around and asked Li Qing, "If the giant python is not the boss of the maze, what other monsters on Sanqing Mountain can be the boss?"

Li Qing sighed, "I really don't know. I am only responsible for guarding the maze and I know nothing about its evolution."

Feng Ling's face turned extremely ugly, she felt annoyed as if she was being fooled!
Pei Xianjue whispered to comfort him when he saw this: "Think on the bright side... At least we don't have to worry about how to kill a giant python, right?"

"Yes, yes." Huangfu Miaomiao nodded quickly, afraid that Feng Ling would get angry.

Feng Ling was still unwilling to give up. He stared at the lake with a sinister look and whispered, "The existence of the giant python cannot be meaningless. The Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced Demons are responsible for patrolling the mountain, and the fox demon is responsible for confusing travelers going up the mountain. The monsters we have encountered so far are all trying to stop us from going up the mountain. The giant python must have a purpose that we don't know about yet."

She pondered, and suddenly turned around and asked Huangfu Miaomiao: "What is your exploration value now?"

Huangfu Miaomiao was stunned for a moment, "...51%."

Feng Ling frowned and asked: "When did it increase so much?"

Huangfu Miaomiao counted on her fingers for her: "13% was unlocked when I found the safe zone, 2% when I opened the treasure chest, 8% when I found the fox village, 10% when I found the lake, 2% when I opened the second treasure chest, and 10% when I found the python just now... I unlocked 5% when I killed the fox demon for the first time in the fox village, and I also killed the yellow demon once before, which unlocked 1%..."

Feng Ling quickly figured out what was going on. "When we discovered the Bull-Headed and Horse-Faced Monsters, you didn't increase your exploration value. But when you discovered the giant python, it was 10%?"

"Yes..." Huangfu Miaomiao replied hesitantly, "I also find it strange. Normally, when you encounter a new monster, you must kill it to increase your exploration value. For example, the exploration value of the yellow monster and the fox monster only increased after I successfully killed them."

"That is to say, the python is more like a location in this instance. Players don't need to kill it. Just finding it is enough," Feng Ling pondered carefully. "There are still 49% unknown areas, or unknown monsters, 49%... 49%..."

She muttered to herself, suddenly turned away from the plank road and strode towards the shore.

The remaining three hurried to follow her.

Coming to the mountain trail again——

Feng Ling climbed up without saying a word, his silence was frightening.

"Where are we going now?" Pei Xianjue couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know." Feng Ling answered without hesitation, "Anyway, just keep going up this mountain path, walk the entire way, and unlock the remaining 49%."

Everyone looked up and silently gazed at the distant and unreachable mountain shrouded in clouds and mist.

Except for Li Qing who looked relatively calm, Huangfu Miaomiao and Pei Xianjue both looked painful.

Climbing the mountain again...

climb mountains……

Mountain……

……

At first the team was quite tight, but as they climbed, they began to disperse. Only Li Qing, who was used to walking on mountain roads, could keep up with Feng Ling's speed.

Pei Xianjue was about a hundred or eighty meters behind, and Huangfu Miaomiao just crawled and cried. Her crying could be heard, but no figure could be seen.

Four hours later, Feng Ling arrived at the entrance of the maze.

Continuing up is Sanqing Palace, which is the safe area of ​​the maze.

The journey was smooth. We only encountered yellow monsters a few times, which were all dealt with by cat spiders and cat owls. The only obstacle was probably physical strength.

Li Qing glanced at Pei Xianjue, who was almost exhausted, and Huangfu Miaomiao, who was only heard but not seen. After hesitating for a moment, he said to Feng Ling, "Take a break. They can't keep up."

In his current state, let alone meeting the Lord of the Maze, he would probably get beaten even if he met a fox.

Feng Ling had no choice but to wait for them patiently.

After resting for 20 minutes, Huangfu Miaomiao and Pei Xianjue each sucked a bag of jelly. They finally recovered and inexplicably developed a feeling of mutual appreciation.

Pei Xianjue took the initiative to help Huangfu Miaomiao continue climbing up.

Huangfu Miaomiao exchanged the jelly and gave it to Pei Xianjue for free.

After arriving at the Sanqing Palace safety zone and meeting up with Baozi, Pei Xianjue re-checked his luggage and temporarily placed the overloaded food, water and metal box containing ashes in the safe zone.

Then they continued up the mountain path, including Baozi who had recovered his body.

"It is now June 6, 3 noon... After discussion, we all agree that the Lord of the Labyrinth is most likely at the end of the mountain path, which is the peak of Sanqing Mountain. There are currently no monsters blocking the way, which means that the previous reasoning is likely to be correct. The Minotaur only patrols the mountain at night. After the Horse-Faced Monster was eliminated yesterday, this mountain path can be said to be unobstructed..."

Pei Xianjue climbed and panted, insisting on her live filming.

"Although our team members have sacrificed their lives, we will not give up the goal of this trip. I believe that any inspector who enters the maze will hold the same belief as me. I will not give up... I will definitely persist until the last moment..."

Feng Ling in front of her felt a chill in her teeth and couldn't help but look back at her: "Didn't you drink the jelly? Why are you still so weak?"

Pei Xianjue quickly cut off the filming and returned to normal tone: "Then I have to capture the heaviness of the crisis. Otherwise, if our superiors retrieve this video, they might think we are taking it easy in the maze, which will affect our future evaluations and ratings."

He sighed and said, "Besides, I don't know if I can get out alive. What I filmed are my last words. A little sorrow fits the tone."

Huangfu Miaomiao followed behind and said, "It's better to be sad. Our journey has been so difficult!"

Pei Xianjue found resonance, held Huangfu Miaomiao's hand and nodded: "Yes! It's not easy!"

Feng Ling was speechless, thinking, how could you two develop a revolutionary friendship just by climbing a mountain?
At this moment, an owl in the sky suddenly landed on a nearby tree branch and cooed at her - it had grown several times larger, and the branch was shaking and almost broken.

Feng Ling became alert, frowned, and made a gesture of silence behind him.

Everyone walked up with light steps and held their breath. They could faintly hear heavy breathing coming from the top of the mountain.

Continuing to walk upwards, the huge monster gradually came into view - dark red skin, sturdy body, and a ferocious minotaur face with a pair of horns.

The monster was sleeping soundly under a big tree, holding a steel fork.

The big tree also looked extremely strange. Its bark was twisted like human faces, and purple fruits grew on the treetops, exactly the same as the "python feed" they found.

Feng Ling stopped cautiously, turned around to look at the others, and whispered, "Have you ever seen a movie where whenever the plot progresses to the point where a sleeping monster is discovered, the protagonists always accidentally wake the monster up due to various accidents? We... shouldn't encounter such a bloody plot, right?"

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