Chapter 5

Lin Qing and the two others, supporting each other, rushed forward in the torrential rain.

Mrs. Li was seriously ill, Lin Qing was injured and dizzy, and the three of them struggled through the rain, unable to even determine their direction.

Lin Qing's temples throbbed with intense pain, and his vision was filled with stars.

Fang Lingcheng was indeed formidable.

He must have practiced martial arts; despite being ambushed and severely injured, his hasty counterattack almost cost him his life. Thinking about it, Lin Qing felt a wave of fear.

What if the ambush had failed? What if Fang Lingcheng hadn't taken off his equipment? What if he hadn't sent away his lackeys?

All of this, he owed to Mrs. Li.

This woman, full of charm yet with a heart of wisdom.

"My mother has a high fever!" Yan Ran said, her voice trembling with tears. "This rain will kill her."

Lin Qing came to his senses, feeling Mrs. Li's forehead, which was burning hot. He cursed himself for being careless, but with the pursuers close behind, every moment was precious. How could he handle this properly?

Mrs. Li's cheeks were flushed from the fever, and she leaned weakly on Lin Qing's shoulder, smiling bitterly. "I can't make it. You must take Yan Ran and run. I will be grateful even in death."

Yan Ran burst into tears. "Mom, I won't leave! If I die, I'll die with you!"

Mrs. Li stroked Yan Ran's face and sighed. "Indeed. This entire southern city is the territory of the Brotherhood. Where can we run to?"

Suddenly, Lin Qing's mind cleared, and he remembered Fang Lingcheng's words.

"No one dares to enter the maze, and even fewer come out alive."

"Since we can't find a place to hide where there are people, let's find a place where there are no people!"

"Where is the maze?" Lin Qing asked urgently.

"You want to go to the maze?" Mrs. Li's beautiful eyes, which had been sickly, suddenly widened. Her usually composed face, which remained calm even in the face of blood and death, showed a flash of fear for the first time. "No! Don't go!"

"Why?" Lin Qing asked, puzzled. "We have no way out now, why shouldn't we go?"

"Because once you enter, you're as good as dead." Mrs. Li panted, her voice weak. "The people here... all go in groups... at least ten people... fully armed... the Brotherhood sends hundreds, cough, cough... and only a few come back."

"But..." Lin Qing said, depressed. "If we don't go, we'll be found soon, and our fate will be worse than death."

"The key is to have a map..." Mrs. Li's eyes gradually closed, looking at Yan Ran with affection. "Follow him..."

Her head suddenly drooped.

"Mom!" Yan Ran cried out in anguish.

Lin Qing felt Mrs. Li's breath, which was faint and weak. "Stop crying! Your mother still has a breath left. Hurry up and go!"

He picked up the unconscious Mrs. Li and ran out.

Because he had already heard the chaotic footsteps in the distance.

The Brotherhood was still chasing them like mad dogs.

Lin Qing, carrying Mrs. Li, was running out of strength. He had been through a series of dramatic events: imprisonment, escape, killing, and more escape. His mind was already stretched to the breaking point. A moment of weakness, and he would collapse in the mud.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes sharp, and carried Mrs. Li into the darkness.

Yan Ran also hid.

Lin Qing was their only hope, their only savior.

Soon, they heard the chaotic footsteps and a series of curses outside.

"Damn, Captain Fang was killed. It must be that slut and the new guy."

"If it weren't for Old Niu's nose, which smelled the blood, we would have thought Captain Fang was enjoying his conquest alone. Damn!"

"I've enhanced my olfactory gene skill. Damn, the heavy rain washed away all the scents. Otherwise, I would have tracked them down long ago."

"No one on the street, no one to ask, nothing to see."

"Damn, Captain Fang... damn, Fang Lingcheng lost his life to a woman. Why are we still chasing like mad dogs?"

"Fang Lingcheng, as the captain of the second group, has a lot of good stuff. Killing him and looting his treasures, you don't want a share?"

"Right! Damn! The adulterers can't have gone far. Split up and chase!"

A dozen people split up and chased.

Lin Qing now understood that these mad dogs were mainly chasing for Fang Lingcheng's inheritance.

He smiled bitterly.

Yan Ran, holding Mrs. Li, was sobbing quietly.

Lin Qing racked his brain, trying to find a way out.

In the crisis, his mind had never been so clear.

"The key is to have a map..."

Mrs. Li's words before she fainted, like a bolt of lightning, illuminated his eyes.

Lin Qing asked Yan Ran, "How do we get Fang Lingcheng's legacy?"

Yan Ran, with red eyes, said, "Use your mind to check your storage space, take out his key, and use it. Half of his valuable equipment, weapons, and items will randomly go to you, and the map will automatically be added to your map."

Lin Qing was delighted.

He remembered Fang Lingcheng mentioning that he had entered the maze five times and a "plot world" twice. He must have a map of the maze, at least a partial one.

He visualized his storage space.

It was a one-cubic-meter personal space in a dimensional gap, accessible only by the owner's consciousness. It seemed to grow with the owner's strength.

He took out the key and thought about using it.

"You have killed Chief Adventurer No. 3636102. You now have control over his key."

"Do you want to use this key?"

"Yes!"

The white key spun rapidly in the air, releasing a beam of light. Only Lin Qing could see it; Yan Ran couldn't.

The white key disappeared.

A small box appeared in Lin Qing's hand.

He opened the box.

A bulletproof vest lay quietly inside. But the leather pants and machete were nowhere to be seen.

"Is that all?" Yan Ran, seeing only the bulletproof vest, grumbled, "Your luck is really bad. With Fang Lingcheng's wealth, at least two pieces of equipment should have appeared. The rest are gone."

Lin Qing remembered the extremely unlucky and negative fortune attribute of [Rebellious Hyena], and he smiled bitterly.

Fortunately, the [Tactical Bulletproof Vest] had good attributes.

[Tactical Bulletproof Vest]: White-grade armor, made in Wenzhou, medium quality, 3 points of defense. Doubles defense against bullets and other firearms, increases defense against daggers and other piercing weapons by 35%. Strength below 5 points cannot penetrate this armor in close combat, only wearing down durability. Durability: 50 points. Each defense wears down durability. The armor is scrapped when durability reaches 0 and can be repaired in any modern plot world.

Seeing these attributes, Lin Qing broke out in a cold sweat.

If Fang Lingcheng hadn't been tricked by Mrs. Li into taking off this tactical bulletproof vest, even with a sharp dagger, it would have been impossible to kill him from behind.

Just the fact that close combat with strength below 5 points wouldn't cause damage would have made it impossible for him.

Lin Qing, not giving up, continued to search.

His luck was indeed terrible, but Fang Lingcheng's collection was substantial.

Under the tactical bulletproof vest, there was a small syringe.

Lin Qing picked up the syringe, which displayed its attributes: [Emergency Antibiotics]: For suppressing wound infections on the battlefield, effective against first-level pathogenic bacterial infections.

"Found medicine?" Lin Qing was surprised. Mrs. Li's illness looked like pneumonia caused by a pathogen, and this medicine was just what she needed.

He handed the [Emergency Antibiotics] to Yan Ran.

Yan Ran was overjoyed, quickly taking the medicine and injecting it into her mother's vein.

Mrs. Li groaned, still unconscious, but her fever seemed to have subsided a bit.

Lin Qing's luck was really bad. Despite Fang Lingcheng's vast collection, he could only find one bulletproof vest. He continued to search.

When Lin Qing's fingers finally touched something cold, his eyes lit up.

"No wonder Fang Lingcheng's lackeys chased like mad dogs after he was killed. He had this thing on him!"

With this thing, Lin Qing felt satisfied.

His chances of survival had greatly increased.

But there was one last item in the treasure box, a rope box.

The rope looked like professional climbing equipment, stored in a box with its own fixing device. It was thick, long, and strong, but plain and unremarkable, not a treasure.

"Whatever, since Fang Lingcheng kept this, it might be useful in the maze. But we can't stay here in the rain."

Lin Qing put away the rope and checked his mind.

In his mind, a map had appeared at some point.

The map was vast and boundless, and the explored part was only a tiny fraction, less than one-thousandth.

Lin Qing's heart sank.

This meant that the world he was in was a vast region.

Zooming in on the map, he saw the area he was in, marked as "Sanctuary" in green.

Outside the sanctuary was a grand wall.

Lin Qing looked up and saw a dark, massive wall in the distance.

How tall and thick must the wall be to be visible from so far away?

It was unimaginable.

What kind of place was this? Why did everything seem so strange?

On the map, the outer areas were ring-shaped.

"Have you seen the world we're in?" Mrs. Li, who had somehow woken up, said, her hair wet from the rain, her lips pale, and her body trembling, but she had some strength. "We are in the Sanctuary. It is the only safe area in this world. Outside are the Chief Ring, General Ring, Emperor Ring, Saint Ring, and God Ring..."

"What kind of place is this?" Lin Qing asked urgently, eager to understand.

"It's a maze," Mrs. Li said, a bitter smile on her pale face. "We are in a huge maze!"

"Ah?" Lin Qing was shocked.

"Everything you see on your map is the maze, an endless maze," Mrs. Li said, as if she had known this for a long time, panting. "My daughter and I arrived a week before you and learned some things. Since you saved me twice, I'll tell you everything."