Ren Yifei didn't leave. He waited for a while, figuring that fifteen minutes wouldn't make a difference.
The cold light from the glowing flowers and plants on the wall shone on his face, making time seem to pass very slowly. He would occasionally look up, wondering: How is it? Why is there still no movement? Is there some problem inside?
However, in less than fifteen minutes, just five minutes, the sounds of a baby crying and a new mother crying as she relaxed came from inside.
"Ha!" Ren Yifei couldn't help but slap the wall, then straightened his face, trying to appear calm, rational, mature and composed.
"Hmm, cough, not bad, Grandma Chunzhi's appearance wasn't wasted," Ren Yifei said reservedly.
"Thank you," the newlywed mother inside said, her voice choked with emotion. "I thought I was going to die."
Mother and child are safe and sound, and the other pregnant women who were watching also smiled.
"You just gave birth, you can't cry, it will hurt your eyes," Grandma Chunzhi's voice came through.
Other women around them walked over curiously, ignoring the smell of blood inside, and peeked out from the doorway. They had never seen a baby under three years old before.
In the anthill, all the ants are taken away as soon as they leave the mother's body, and the mother never sees them again. It is said that this way the ants will not miss their mothers, and the mothers will not miss their ants, so both sides can live in peace.
Women who have given birth can only comfort themselves by saying that their children are doing well.
In fact, they didn't know whether the child was alive or dead.
The people who made this rule probably thought that this kind of separation was a simple matter. They didn't know that humans are different from ants. Humans have unbreakable blood ties and family bonds.
The pregnant women all gathered around the house. They didn't want to do anything; they just wanted to take a look, as if it were a glimpse for themselves a few days later, pretending that they had already seen what their newborn child would look like.
"She's so cute." The small room was filled with tenderness, and the child slept so peacefully.
Only Ren Yifei, along with Granny Chunzhi who had once again turned into a card, quietly left the place and headed towards the laboratory on the fourth floor.
We were almost on the fourth floor when a wall suddenly appeared in front of us. When we touched it, we found it was carved from a single piece of stone, and it made a metallic sound when we tapped it.
"I still have some strength left, Xiao Fei, stand further away so that the debris doesn't hit you."
"Okay." Knowing his own abilities, Ren Yifei immediately took a dozen steps back, trying not to hold him back.
Grandma Chunzhi stretched out her hand, and two special hemp ropes flew out of her sleeve, disappearing into the gaps between the stone wall and the four walls like living creatures.
Grandma Chunzhi grabbed the hemp rope with both hands and gently pulled. The stone wall, which hadn't budgeed no matter how much she pushed, collapsed as easily as if it were a plasterboard.
The heavy stone slab slid towards Ren Yifei under the force of gravity.
"Whoa!" Ren Yifei jumped up.
"Xiao Fei, don't panic." Granny Chunzhi stood steadily. She watched as the stone slab, which was about 30 or 40 centimeters thick, slid rapidly several meters down the sloping stairs. Before it could even get close to Ren Yifei, Granny Chunzhi kicked it with her small foot, and the stone slab shattered into several pieces.
The rubble tumbled and rolled down the stairs. Ren Yifei stood there, still somewhat shaken; it was the first time he had ever seen Granny Chunzhi display such power.
So the Ghost Card is such a powerful existence?
"Enemy attack—" Finally, there was movement in the laboratory on the fourth floor, and a group of people ran out with weapons.
"Ah—" Two more hemp ropes flew out from Granny Chunzhi's sleeve, wrapped around the necks of the soldiers and civilians, and then quickly extended backward.
When these soldiers and civilians got within ten meters, they were strung together with hemp ropes, and it looked like their necks were about to be snapped.
"Knock him out," Ren Yifei said. He didn't have a penchant for killing people at the drop of a hat.
Grandma Chunzhi readily accepted good advice.
Two groups of soldiers and civilians fell to the ground. They didn't die, but they probably won't be able to get up for a while.
And so, the first group of soldiers and civilians who rushed down from upstairs were swept away by Granny Chunzhi's hemp rope. In the past, Ren Yifei rarely relied on the Ghost Card, and whenever he carried it, he would just randomly draw two cards. He never knew that the Ghost Card's true combat power was so terrifying.
Granny Chunzhi is only an R-rank Oni Card. Even with 100% favorability, her skills and innate abilities will still be slightly weaker. So, how powerful would a Fallen Angel with 100% favorability be?
Ren Yifei even suspected that if he brought a fallen angel with him, a couple of flaps of its wings would be enough to blow away an anthill.
No wonder players in the Wasteland Corner so highly regard Ghost Cards, with items and other things taking a backseat. High-level players even work hard to earn money to upgrade Ghost Cards, equip them, and increase their affinity with them.
The feeling of sending the enemy back to their hometown in one fell swoop... is so satisfying.
"Ah Fei, it's up to you now." Fifteen minutes were up. Even though Grandma Chunzhi tried her best to clear obstacles for Ren Yifei, people were still running ahead. But she couldn't stop any longer.
"Don't worry, Grandma, I'll take good care of myself." Ren Yifei took out his Black Eagle crossbow.
In fact, the laboratory was in complete chaos at that time.
Saman was informed that someone had shot and killed the nobleman who was in the wedding procession, and that the man had succeeded.
Caught off guard, the barrage of gunfire claimed the lives of more than a dozen nobles, with only two female nobles saved.
"Wasn't there a player among the nobles? He died so easily." Saman didn't know what to say. He had thought this player would bring some surprising plot twists.
The only player dressed as a noble, such a rare status, could obviously do many things.
After the nobleman was attacked, the soldiers and civilians below immediately sprang into action and found the person who had shot him. It was a group of laborers who had taken up arms and arrows and were hiding in the grass below.
When they were found, they offered no resistance whatsoever, and were even laughing gleefully.
This made Samantha realize that the attack was planned, and that there must be someone behind it, either a player or a ghost.
He was about to deal with this when another intruder came downstairs.
The players just can't seem to stop for a moment.
Intruders arrived at the laboratory entrance quickly, holding a hostage.
Familiar scenes, familiar tastes, and familiar people.
"We meet again." Saman said, watching the player approach step by step with a crossbow in hand.
He recognized the crossbow; the player had used it yesterday.
The Black Hawk Crossbow is something many people have; it seems Afei also has one, which he obtained from another player. It's an item that can be purchased with real money and has a wide range of applications.
Today, this player's face isn't burned, but rather their original appearance—it should be their original appearance, right?
The fact that the criminal has revealed his face indicates that he is no longer going to hide, and the fact that the player has revealed his face indicates that he will abandon the advantages of his character's identity. In this state, the player becomes extremely dangerous.
Ren Yifei approached step by step, stopping at the doorway.
He already knew from the NPC that the Black Cube would indeed be turned into supplies, but he wanted to come and confirm it. He also wanted to see an old friend and see if he had exposed it yet.
"It seems not." Ren Yifei noticed the way several soldiers and civilians instinctively stood protectively in front of the person in charge, and found it quite interesting.
In just one day, the large hole in the ceiling at the lab entrance has been patched up. Getting to the fifth floor from here will likely be difficult; we've miscalculated.
Ren Yifei looked up, still smiling: "There are always these disappointing surprises."
"I heard there was an accident during the breeding ant (noble)'s nuptial flight?" Ren Yifei said in a way that only players would understand.
He tossed aside the NPC he had already drained of clues from, smiled, and started walking towards the laboratory. The other soldiers and civilians tensed up, but Saman raised his hand to signal them not to make any rash moves.
Ren Yifei was truly audacious. Despite having used up both of his Ghost Cards, aside from his own Illusion and Devour abilities, the only cards left with offensive power were the Black Eagle Crossbow with five arrows and the Bomb Maniac. The rest were all support abilities.
But he was so confident, giving the impression that he had plenty of weapons.
The other NPCs in the lab were wary of the crossbow in his hand, but Saman didn't care; he was only concerned about the identity he was playing this time.
It was only because this instance was special, with most items and skills unusable, that this common, unseen crossbow was able to swagger around in front of me.
"Who are you?...Gucheng?" A soldier recognized Ren Yifei's face.
Ren Yifei raised an eyebrow and just smiled: "Don't be nervous, I don't eat people."
He had a "I'm a good person" look on his face, but he held his weapon steadily in his hand, which was not as kind as he claimed.
"What is your purpose?" Saman said, standing behind two soldiers and civilians, gesturing with one hand for one of them to inform the other soldiers and civilians downstairs.
Ren Yifei noticed this little trick.
He came mainly to verify the importance of the queen to this ant colony and to see if he could destroy the ant colony by eliminating the two generations of queens.
However, the current news is that someone has already taken action and almost succeeded.
The reproductive ants that flew during the nuptial flight, which are the nobles, suffered heavy casualties. It is unknown whether this will lead to the direct disappearance of the next queen.
Now, he's more interested in the nobles flying around outside than in the laboratory on the fourth floor.
"No particular purpose." Suddenly, the crossbow in his hand made a sound, startling everyone. They thought he was going to kill someone, but unexpectedly, the three arrows he fired accurately hit a key part of the machine behind him.
With a hissing sound, sparks flew from the entire machine used to dissolve the black cube.
"Power off." Saman immediately shut off the power to those machines.
"Oh my, how long have you been using this? It's gotten so worn out. Looks like you're very busy, then I won't bother you any longer."
While the NPC was terrified and trying to salvage the machine, the intruder waved his hand and calmly retreated.
Saman finally understood the frustration of the disguise style. He could easily slap the bug, but because of the constraints of his persona, he could only watch him leave.
"Pursue," the word was squeezed out from between Saman's teeth, "regardless of life or death."
The soldiers and civilians split into two groups: one group was still trying to salvage the machine, while the other group went down the stairs to chase after the audacious intruder. But in the blink of an eye, the intruder had vanished.
The door to the third floor was locked and had not been damaged.
"He's definitely still here," the searchers said confidently.
After searching around and checking every room, they found no one, but they did find the hole that had been dug, leading to Gu Cheng's room downstairs.
But 'Gucheng' wasn't inside, and the guards on the second floor said they hadn't seen anyone come out.
After searching around again and finding no one, these people asked the pregnant woman in the corridor if they had seen any strangers.
"That's a dangerous person, he'll kill."
"No, I haven't seen any strangers," the pregnant woman said.
They then asked other pregnant women, who, instead of sleeping in the middle of the night, would leave their rooms and go in and out of the room of the woman who had already given birth, taking turns holding the baby.
"We're all here, we haven't seen any strangers," the heavily pregnant women all said.
The searchers looked at the large group of pregnant women with suspicion: "With so many of you, didn't you see a single one?"
"You're really something. None of us saw anything, yet you insist we see something. We can't make that up." The speaker was also a pregnant soldier, and she spoke with great confidence.
The searchers touched their noses, still unwilling to give up: "Where did the gatekeeper go?"
"Look, she was about to give birth, and he went to fetch a doctor," she scoffed. "But he couldn't get one no matter what he tried, and now the baby's been born, and he still hasn't come. Why don't you call him for us? We don't want to end up with a doorman instead of a doctor."
After being confronted and berated, the soldiers and civilians left sheepishly. He walked to the window and looked outside, where his colleagues were cleaning up the corpses of nobles.
These delicate and precious creatures are no longer human, and their radiance has vanished. It is said that only two remain alive, both of them women.
"Sigh." Bingmin sighed and turned his head away.
He didn't notice that a person was hiding in a recessed crevice in the left wall below the window. He was biting his finger tightly, trying to control this inexplicable change. His fingertips, accidentally illuminated by the moonlight, were gleaming.
Author's Note: Samantha: Where is Afei?
Saman: Pur
sue them, regardless of life or death!