165. Receiving the News
"What's wrong with you?" Yun Ling looked at Susannah, who was cautiously moving away from him, with a puzzled expression.
He shouldn't have done anything to scare her, right?
Susannah trembled when Yun Ling called out to her, then covered her head.
"Ah~! Boss Yun Ling, I'm not tasty! My meat is scarce and tough!! Please let me go and find someone else!!!"
Susannah looked at Yun Ling with a mournful face and fear.
Yun Ling's face darkened. What was wrong with this stupid bear now?
However, judging from her words, she seemed to recognize him. He could ask her about things in real life.
So Yun Ling pretended to be fierce.
"Since you've found out, you're not getting away!"
"Waaa~ I'll do anything, please, don't eat me!" Susannah closed her eyes and shrank back in fear.
"Stop crying! Answer my question, or I'll eat you!" Yun Ling shouted, feigning seriousness.
"Please ask, please ask!" Susannah immediately fell silent, barely daring to breathe.
"What happened to the BRN team after the Seventh League?" Yun Ling inquired.
This was his biggest concern at the moment.
"Well... according to the mission report at the time, a hidden honkai event may have occurred in the area where the BRN team was located..."
Susannah recounted what happened after the BRN team's victory.
That night, Yun Ling's sudden disappearance didn't attract anyone's attention; they all assumed he had gone back to his room to rest alone.
It wasn't until the next morning's training session that Bronya discovered Yun Ling hadn't returned to his room at all.
She hurriedly reviewed the previous night's surveillance footage and discovered that Yun Ling had silently vanished while lying on the sofa...
And they hadn't even sensed anything unusual.
Because this was highly likely a Honkai event, Schicksal dispatched several Valkyrie squads to the surrounding area to search for the source of the anomaly.
However, they found nothing...
Yun Ling completely vanished in that 'Honkai event'.
Bronya led a search team for months, but to no avail...
Ultimately, he was declared 'dead'.
As for how Susannah knew, it was because she was one of those stationed there at the time.
"Bronya blamed herself for a long time, feeling that her carelessness led to your disappearance. She often said that if she hadn't let you drink that night, perhaps none of this would have happened..."
Susannah's expression was downcast, seemingly recalling Bronya's remorseful look.
After that, Bronya disbanded the BRN team and devoted herself to game development.
Regarding Yun Ling, Bronya always treated him like a younger brother, just like she had cared for the children at the Cocolia Orphanage.
So Yun Ling's sudden disappearance dealt a heavy blow to Bronya.
Even though the incident had nothing to do with her.
"So you didn't find my 'body' afterward?"
After learning everything, Yun Ling didn't show much grief; instead, he felt a sense of relief.
"No..." Susannah shook her head, seemingly because her grief had lessened her fear considerably.
"So this game was also created by Captain Bronya?" Yun Ling pressed on.
"Yes, but the game was hacked by an unknown hacker. They've completely locked down the administrator privileges. I could only enter the game using the only helmet I had to carry out this mission and ask Bronya if she had a way to break it," Susannah explained.
"So you had a way to contact the outside world?" Yun Ling seized on a key point.
"Only one chance..." Susannah didn't hide anything.
"...Perfect. If the creator is Captain Bronya, I also have something I want to ask her." Yun Ling stood up and continued towards the tower.
"Wait for me!" Susannah hurriedly caught up.
"Aren't you afraid of me anymore?" Yun Ling raised an eyebrow.
"Hehe, if Boss Yun Ling wanted to harm me, why did you save me in the first place?"
Susannah figured it out with her single-core CPU.
"Maybe I am only bringing you along because you're useful. Never underestimate the wickedness of human nature," Yun Ling warned.
"Got it!" Susannah responded enthusiastically.
The two resumed their tower-climbing journey.
With a goal in mind, Yun Ling suddenly felt much more energetic.
After the tenth floor, the monsters' health and attack power increased significantly, but it still couldn't stop their progress.
They turned an extremely difficult game into a hack-and-slash game.
The two progressed at a rate of three floors a day, catching up with the main group on the fourth day.
At this moment, they were discussing how to clear the twentieth floor.
The twentieth floor is another major leap, requiring thorough preparation beforehand.
Yun Ling and Susannah encountered the main force at the tavern.
"Hello, excuse me, do you know 'Cloth Wolf Fang'?" Yun Ling stopped them and asked.
"'Cloth Wolf Fang'? What do you want with her?"
The leader's eyes flashed with a hint of doubt and a strange light.
Seeing that there were only two people, a slight desire to recruit them arose in his heart.
After all, for two people to reach this place at this time of day, they were definitely not ordinary people.
"We have something to discuss with her," Yun Ling casually offered as an excuse.
"Regarding 'Cloth Wolf Fang,' we only have some inside information. If you're willing to join us, we wouldn't mind sharing it with you."
"Sorry, we have no intention of joining any other team. Let's make a deal. How many gold coins would you give us for the information you mentioned?" Yun Ling shook his head, decisively refusing.
"...3000 gold coins." The leader narrowed his eyes, quoting an extremely high price.
"Three thousand? Here, take this." Susannah handed him a money pouch.
The leader was stunned. When did gold coins become so worthless? Had he underestimated them?
However, seeing the large crowd of onlookers, he didn't dare to change his mind.
"Can you tell me the news now?" Yun Ling asked, frowning.
The leader privately sent the message to Yun Ling. Upon receiving it, Yun Ling immediately left the tavern with Susannah.
"Idiot, you'll get into trouble like this." Yun Ling couldn't help but scold Susannah.
"Huh?" The idiotic little bear was still a bit confused.
"Sigh, three thousand gold coins isn't much to us, but it's a huge sum outside. Just casually handing it out like that is telling them we're rich!"
Yun Ling poked her head.
"What...what do we do now?" Susannah glanced nervously around, as if countless people would rush at them at any moment.
"Sigh, let's push the tower upwards. The information we just received is from three days ago. Captain Bronya might already be above floor 30. We need to hurry."
"Yes!"
Susannah hurriedly followed Yun Ling to push the tower. Seeing Yun Ling heading into the tower, many were excited, but many others felt fear.
After all, two people who could clear the nineteenth floor were definitely not someone they could mess with.
Yun Ling didn't care what they thought and directly led Susannah towards the BOSS's room.
He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't ready to kill.
With their significant advantages in equipment and level, Yun Ling and Susannah would be in serious trouble if anyone tried to take advantage of them.
...