Chapter 99: Guardian No. 2
Lin Ye wandered alone in the maze.
Card creatures could not leave the shelter, but someone in the group had tried—pets could be brought into the Nighttime Activity.
Lin Ye considered bringing Little Black over to enjoy the buffet, but Little Black was too weak now and risked dying.
So Lin Ye had to explore the maze alone.
There was little change in the deeper parts of the maze. Today, Lin Ye was lucky; he opened several doors, and inside were only single first-tier mutation creatures.
For Lin Ye now, these mutation creatures were no longer a threat.
So he began to practice runes and various techniques using these mutation creatures.
After recent enhancements, Lin Ye’s mental energy had surpassed normal first-tier levels. By continuously drawing runes, his control over mental energy had not only not decreased but improved significantly. However, in terms of application, he had not developed new ways to use it.
He also wanted to casually produce an iced cola like Little Ye.
Of course, that was not a short-term goal. Currently, Lin Ye was trying to expand his attack range. As long as his mental energy was strong enough, he could even draw runes behind enemies to directly stab them in the back to death.
But the premise was that the enemy’s mental energy was low enough not to detect his subtle movements.
For example, this first-tier blood-corpse rushing out from the red room in front of him.
Lin Ye’s eyes flickered. A spiritual energy blade stabbed through the mutation organ behind the blood-corpse.
“How despicable.”
Putting away the mutation organ, Lin Ye muttered on behalf of the blood-corpse.
After tidying up the miscellaneous items in the treasure chest, Lin Ye continued searching for mutation creatures to practice backstabs, but he soon stopped because he found a red corridor without rooms.
This was the first time Lin Ye encountered a corridor leading to a special room after entering the deeper maze.
“Luck is on my side today.”
Lin Ye always believed luck existed.
Not the superstitious kind, but some unknown objective law—scientific knowledge humans had yet to understand.
Sometimes people just inexplicably have good luck, especially obvious when playing cards; sometimes people just keep drawing good hands in a row.
Lin Ye studied this phenomenon and applied it to his business of earning pocket money in game rooms. He believed it was likely related to mental energy.
But exactly how they related was beyond his current research capabilities.
‘Too bad Li Ji isn’t in the same area; otherwise, I could study her talent ability.’
Lin Ye pushed open the double red doors at the corridor’s end. The interior structure was similar to the maze’s surface layer, but a figure stood in the center of the hall.
It was not strange to have someone in the hall. Lin Ye had killed a Ring Organization idiot on the surface before, but this person looked out of place in the red maze.
“Uh, hello?”
A girl with blue-gray long hair spoke softly. Her delicate face and elegant pale soft long dress made her look like a noble lady from a story, not a brutal fighter in the red maze.
“Hello.”
Lin Ye temporarily restrained his urge to stab this noble lady in the back… he had almost done it just now.
“My name is Ayla. Nice to meet you. I am the system-assigned guardian and a second-year student at the Imperial Academy.”
Ayla was a bit nervous and quickly gave a full self-introduction.
“My name is Lin Ye, a survivor. Can we start?”
Since the other party was polite, Lin Ye did not attack immediately.
“Start?”
Ayla asked in confusion.
“I want to enter the store room over there. You should stop me, right?”
Seeing Ayla was a newbie, Lin Ye kindly reminded her.
He had been clumsy like her when he first started working… but got much better the next day.
However, Lin Ye wasn’t sure if he could give Ayla a second chance.
“Huh? I have to stop you?”
Ayla was a bit embarrassed.
“Aren’t you a guardian? What happens if you don’t stop me?”
This was the second guardian Lin Ye had met. The first guardian, though not very strong, loved the job and knew what to do.
This one was too much—Lin Ye even had to teach her how to work.
“There’s no real consequence, just that the rewards from this guardian task will be deducted and system points reduced.”
Ayla said carelessly.
“Suit yourself. If you don’t stop me, I don’t want to fight.”
Lin Ye took out a special key and opened the store room door.
The store room layout was the same as the surface, except the vending machine’s items were much more expensive; the cheapest required dozens of red coins, and the most expensive was a pure white leg bone costing 1,000 red coins.
But none of this concerned Lin Ye unless he found a store room every time he entered the red maze. Otherwise, red coins were just numbers to him.
Lin Ye emptied the vending machine immediately.
“Do you need these miscellaneous items? Too bad the system forbids me from using space items, or I could give you some.”
Ayla followed Lin Ye curiously, watching the vending machine.
“Don’t casually give strangers things. That’s impolite.”
After finishing shopping, Lin Ye happily left the store room.
“Sorry, I mean no harm... Why is giving things impolite?”
Ayla followed closely like a little tail.
“Because it requires a return gift, and I don’t like exchanging gifts with strangers.”
After the main business was done, Lin Ye decided to chat with Ayla to get some information that might be neither useful nor true.
It wasn’t that Lin Ye thought Ayla would lie; it was just that the information she had might not be accurate.
They had a pleasant conversation for a while, and Lin Ye finally understood why she was so inexperienced.
“So you stole the system cards from home and came here to work part-time?”
“Yes. I wanted to explore other dimensions, and the system was the safest way. Didn’t expect there’s no way out here at all...”
Ayla sighed.
“Safe? Although I don’t like killing, I can kill you anytime. Are you sure this is the safest way?”
Lin Ye’s mental energy was much higher than Ayla’s, so he could clearly sense her strength.
Ayla was a second-tier spiritual energy user. Her physical quality might be somewhat better than Lin Ye’s, but she was obviously not good at close combat. If it came to a real fight, Lin Ye was confident he could finish her in a few moves.
“I’m in the top ten of my grade… Am I really that weak?”
Ayla rarely fought, so she had little confidence.
“You’re probably not weak, or you wouldn’t have met me. But this place is really dangerous. You should return as soon as possible.”
Lin Ye advised.
“That’s unnecessary. This body is a replica generated by cards. Even if I die here, it’s fine, and I can exit anytime.”
Ayla explained.
“I see. Then I’ll take you around. I’m quite familiar here.”
Thinking of the previous guardian, Lin Ye couldn’t help but sigh at the world’s unevenness.