It’s a strange invasion, is it okay for me to fight back?

Chapter 576 Take a break
The helicopter landed at a military airfield in Lisa.

Huang Yi's team needs to rest here for a while. In addition, they also need to assist the country of Lisa in formulating and deploying prevention and control measures for the spread of contamination from the maze, which can also be considered international aid.

The Lut Desert has a harsh natural environment with temperatures consistently above 50 degrees Celsius and historical highs exceeding 70 degrees Celsius. It is uninhabitable, and even cockroaches cannot survive there. Consequently, no one noticed that pollution had spread to almost the entire desert.

Although the maze has been breached, the contaminated area will not disappear, and the country of Lisa faces a heavy task in its prevention and control efforts.

……

Feng Ling rested in the VIP room, waiting to have a video call with No. 77.

She thought it would be as simple as borrowing a phone, but she waited for most of the day and still couldn't connect to the video call. She was getting sleepy from waiting.

Huang Yi explained that a special server needed to be set up to prevent the video call content from being leaked.

Feng Ling lay on the sofa in the VIP room and said helplessly, "It can't be that bad, can it? Most of the alien species are illiterate and can't even figure out how to use a computer. They can't do hacking."

“It’s not about preventing alien species,” Huang Yi said. “Many countries are overly concerned about our scientific research progress. In short, it’s just in case.”

"Alright then." Feng Ling closed her eyes and accepted the reason.

"By the way, is your face all better?" Huang Yi asked.

Feng Ling immediately sat up and ripped off the gauze from her head. "Fine, why are you concerned about my face too?!"

Huang Yi glanced at her injured half of her face and said calmly, "There's a press conference tonight that you need to attend. Try to be as neat and tidy as possible then."

He paused for a moment, his gaze falling on the loose T-shirt with exaggerated graffiti patterns on Feng Ling's body. "...I'll bring you a set of clothes later."

"Is it mandatory to attend? This is such a hassle!" Feng Ling felt a headache coming on whenever she heard about the press conference.

Huang Yi said, "It's not mandatory, but you'd better show up. After all, our mission this time is to capture the out-of-control hunter. Attending a press conference can prove that you are all normal and that the pollution level is not out of control."

"Then how do you explain the previous loss of control?" Feng Ling asked.

She caused quite a scene at the general's mansion in Ilanka.

The Kingdom of Ilanka retains a monarchy, and the dead general was a member of the royal family. To put it bluntly, Fengling's actions amounted to trampling on the dignity of the royal family.

“No need to explain,” Huang Yi said. “If anyone really asks, just blame it on the alien species, such as if an alien species used hallucinogenic skills on you, or something like that.”

Feng Ling thought for a moment and gave him an OK sign.

"Get some rest." Huang Yi got up and left; he still had many things to do.

Feng Ling, Ye Zheng, and Qing You, along with the captured bishop, remained in the VIP room.

Thinking about the press conference that evening, Feng Ling couldn't help but touch her face.

The bones and flesh have grown back, but the hair hasn't grown yet; there are no eyebrows or eyelashes. In addition, the newly grown left eyeball is bloodshot, which looks a bit scary.

"I wonder if I'll be fully recovered by tonight..." she muttered softly. "Honestly, it's making me anxious about my appearance."

Ye Zheng, who had been holding the tablet, suddenly spoke up: "It seems to be able to connect."

"Hmm?" Feng Ling leaned closer to take a look.

Ye Zheng handed over the tablet. "It shows a connection signal, give it a try." Feng Ling initiated a call request, expecting another long connection and a connection failure message. Unexpectedly, this time it only took two or three seconds before the other party's video feed appeared on the screen.

A green parrot.

The parrot is standing on a wooden perch, with a white wall in the background and a human shadow on the ground, so there should be someone off-camera.

The parrot was unusually lively, tilting its head to look at the camera. As soon as it saw Feng Ling's face in the video, it immediately greeted her in a drawn-out voice: "Wow—oh—hello, hidden boss! I am the administrator of maze number 77!"

Feng Ling: "…………"

It feels so greasy.

The parrot hopped around on its perch, shouting as it went, "I'm under special protection! Special protection~ Oh yeah~ Protected, protected!"

Feng Ling frowned. If she could, she would love to reach into the screen and twist the parrot's neck.

"Are you sure this thing can communicate normally?" She glanced sideways at the weasel next to her.

The weasel nodded vigorously.

Upon hearing Feng Ling's words, the parrot seemed hurt and stopped its noisy, meaningless squawking. It said to the camera, "I didn't want this either. When the keeper's brain is connected to the animals for a long time, it can cause assimilation side effects, affecting their personality and behavior."

"I see..." Feng Ling glanced at the green weasel. She thought the Taoist priest was alright; his personality didn't seem overtly animalistic.

“Using a human body, speaking, eating, walking, sleeping, and thinking like a human… can greatly mitigate this negative impact,” the parrot added.

Feng Ling thought it was talking about a Taoist priest, but the parrot continued, "So Xingxing will go to the trouble of using a transformation spell to turn the dwarf sheep into a human. The transformation spell only lasts for 24 hours, and he'll be a sheep again soon, hehehehe..."

At the end, the parrot laughed gleefully.

Upon hearing this, Ye Zheng immediately went to the boy, grabbed his head and forced him to lift it. He discovered that not only had the boy's pupils become the shape of a sheep's, but small horns had also grown on both sides of his forehead.

She was startled and turned to look at Feng Ling. "It's right, it really is turning into a sheep soon."

The parrot continued to gloat: "The dwarf sheep are not easy to take care of. They want to eat the freshest rye grass and sweet elephant grass, as well as the tender leaves of acacia trees. They throw a tantrum if they don't get them, which often drives the Star Club players crazy."

Feng Ling narrowed her eyes slightly. "It seems you know quite a bit about the stars."

“Of course!” the parrot said, swaying its body. “I was locked in that house, and they walked around right in front of me. Nothing could be hidden from me!”

“Then let me ask you,” Feng Ling recalled the scene she had seen and slowly inquired, “why do I hallucinate and see scenes from the Abyss Maze whenever I touch the maze administrator?”

The parrot paused, then craned its neck to look at the camera. "What kind of scene?"

"The scene of the mother hive being destroyed," Feng Ling replied.

The parrot tilted its head in thought. "I'm not quite sure. I've never heard of anything like this before. I guess it might be that there's a resonance between your card and the dungeon administrator. According to the game rules, dungeon administrators aren't allowed to go deep into the dungeons they're responsible for, let alone contact the dungeon's boss. This is to prevent administrators from prematurely revealing dungeon clues to players, which could easily lead to corruption... But the dungeon boss is already dead, oh wait, you're still alive... You inherited the card, inherited the position of the Abyss Boss, so you regained your memories from the Abyss era. Sigh, you never know..."

Feng Ling frowned and asked, "If your guess is correct, and I have regained my memories from the Abyss period, will this have any impact on me? You should understand what I'm asking—will becoming part of the Abyss cause me to lose my humanity?"

　The Lut Desert is based on the Lut Desert, and the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves originates from Persia. That area was Persia in ancient times, so I think it would be quite suitable to have a Persian-themed maze. However, the country is fictional, which is a sensitive issue, as several nearby countries have been quite turbulent in recent years.

　　(End of this chapter)