“The possibility is very low, but it can’t be ruled out.”
Chen Yanran trusted her instincts.
Someone was deliberately steering this.
If she had browsed the Dark Web and knew the full story, she could cross-reference and turn her speculation into certainty.
“How many steps do you think such steering would take, Miss?”
The Third Elder couldn’t very well tell her she was being fanciful.
Chen Yanran blinked.
“It must be quite complicated.
But Xiao Qing might be capable of it. She’s a smart child.”
“…”
The Third Elder was speechless.
The young miss had clearly never eaten anything Yang Liuqing made, so why did she seem as if she’d been dosed with knockout drops?
“Strange, why hasn’t Xiao Yuan arrived yet?”
Chen Yanran looked left and right but didn’t spot the familiar figure.
At that moment, the Lu Xueyuan she had been thinking of appeared in Huiyang District.
This place bordered the edge of Xiaoya Bay, quite far from West District Street.
“Have I been hexed?”
She looked at the unfamiliar street signs, cold sweat streaming down her face.
In the blink of an eye, it crystallized into ice and fell.
She was starting to panic.
No matter how bad one’s sense of direction was, it was impossible to take the wrong road several times in a row.
It seemed something was misleading her, yet within her Perception range, nothing strange could be found.
That made it even more hair-raising.
“An unstable factor can’t be allowed in for now.”
In the distance, atop a twenty-five-story building, stood a black figure.
The night wind blew past, tousling her black hair.
If Yang Liuqing were here, she would definitely recognize this girl dressed in head-to-toe black leather.
Wasn’t this the strange girl who had suddenly appeared last night and gotten her discovered by Huang Mao and the others?!
“I have to break out of this strange loop.”
Lu Xueyuan turned around, trying to find the culprit behind her inexplicable situation.
However, no matter how she perceived and inspected, nothing around her seemed off.
As if it was all just psychological.
It was downright eerie.
She decided to make a preliminary probe, drastically lowering the surrounding temperature.
Snow gradually began to fall from the sky.
In a place like Lingnan, real snow wouldn’t fall even once in several decades.
Yet now, it fell heavier and heavier.
Passing vehicles all pulled over one after another to admire the spectacle.
Lu Xueyuan’s Perception spread through the falling snow, trying to find suspicious places and suspicious people.
Regrettably, she found nothing.
She had no choice but to dismiss her ability and let out a light sigh.
Her opponent was even more formidable than she had imagined.
“Who exactly is this, and why are they doing this?”
Lu Xueyuan was puzzled.
The other party’s goal was strange.
They only misled her down the wrong path rather than capturing her.
By all logic, if they were truly that omnipotent, killing her wouldn’t be hard.
Why bother making it so complicated?
Unless…
“This was their real goal all along.”
A bolt of lightning flashed through her mind.
She immediately thought of the mini game that had started last night.
“Could it be they think I’m disrupting the balance, so I’m being excluded?”
The moment this possibility surfaced, Lu Xueyuan felt it was all but certain.
As a top-ranked expert on Water Blue Star, those at the same level definitely couldn’t touch her.
Only a higher, more mysterious existence could accomplish such a thing.
“So that’s how it is. I knew [God’s Gate] wasn’t that simple.”
A sharp glint flashed in Lu Xueyuan’s eyes.
For her, discovering this abnormal situation had actually accomplished an important objective.
The God’s Gate game was indeed being controlled by someone or some special existence.
If she forcibly broke this strange loop and headed to West District Street in Xiaoya Bay, she might suffer a terrible [Punishment].
“Fine, I’ll eat and drink my fill first, then go pick up an easy bargain.”
Having dropped the idea of a head-on clash, Lu Xueyuan turned and entered Huiyang District to find a place for dinner.
Meanwhile, the mysterious leather-clad girl also vanished without a trace.
“Almost time.”
On Yang Liuqing’s side, there was still a bit of time before the scheduled escape.
There was no need to rush.
But the tide on the Dark Web was already shifting.
After failing to find Yang Liuqing for a while, some began to doubt the accuracy of Dian Jing’s intelligence.
Others with wilder imaginations said Dian Jing had been bribed by Yang Liuqing and was spreading False Intelligence to mislead everyone.
That wild guess was very close to the truth.
Though by no means intentional, Dian Jing’s Credit Value was undoubtedly serving as a guarantee for Yang Liuqing’s False Intelligence.
“If we drag this out any longer, we’ll be in danger.”
There was not a trace of a smile on Ke Li’s face.
The earlier phone call was a major hidden danger.
“Master, there’s no time to lose.”
Ke Ling floated back from the window.
There weren’t many people outside now, perfect for slipping away.
Yang Liuqing nodded.
Even without that phone call, she didn’t want to stay too long.
Huang Mao and the others would realize something was wrong sooner or later.
Arriving at the stairwell on the third floor, Yang Liuqing checked on Daoba’s condition.
He was still alive, but his Perception and consciousness were completely sealed.
“Xiao Qingqing, there’s nothing wrong over here. You can come down.”
Ke Li, having finished scouting, poked half her body out from the parapet and waved at her.
“Coming.”
Yang Liuqing and Ke Ling quickly appeared at the edge of the rooftop.
Three floors up—not too high, not too low.
For an ordinary person jumping down, a lucky break meant a broken leg; bad luck meant instant death.
“Master, use Force Redirection when you’re about to reach the ground. There won’t be any problem.”
Ke Ling told her not to feel any psychological burden.
A body tempered by the Magic Potion wasn’t so easily injured.
“Mm.”
Yang Liuqing responded and looked down.
This height was manageable.
Without wasting words, she leapt, feeling a hint of freedom.
Just as she was about to hit the ground, a surge of Spiral Force spread outward.
Yang Liuqing landed safely, her face showing neither joy nor sorrow—clearly accustomed to such highly dangerous maneuvers.
It didn’t take long for her to retrieve the Hongda Motorcycle.
Hearing the engine start, she felt much more at ease.
Ke Ling sat at the front of the bike as always, condensing a Windbreak Shroud around the Hongda Motorcycle.
Ke Li sat at the back, holding tightly onto Yang Liuqing.
“Let’s go.”
The latter put on her helmet, shifted into gear, and gunned the throttle, streaking through the streets of the Urban Village like lightning.
It was past mealtime, so there weren’t many pedestrians on the road.
The Hongda Motorcycle was like a sharp sword, cutting its way out of the Urban Village.
Yang Liuqing was racing against the clock, her focus at its peak, becoming one with the motorcycle.
Hearing the powerful roar, many residents came out to curse.
These damn speed demons, all they knew all day was tearing around and disturbing the peace.
“Xiao Qingqing, once we get out of the Urban Village, head to the Eastern District. There are lots of abandoned factories there.”
Ke Li planned to hide in the Eastern District until the time was up.
After all, escaping Xiaoya Bay via the main roads was extremely risky.
They could only run from the west to the east, burn some time, hide for a while longer, and finally end the game.
“Understood.”
Yang Liuqing had no time to study maps; she left that to Ke Li.
Wherever she said to go, that’s where she’d go.
Ke Ling handled reconnaissance, predicting the surrounding situation in advance and avoiding potential risks.
After weaving through many small alleys in the Urban Village, they finally found a safe route.
Yang Liuqing, in one determined push, charged out of the Urban Village and sped toward the Eastern District.