53: Chapter 53 Devastating News! [Clifftop Plague Hospital - Top Secret]

"Brother Hong! You're finally here! Have you eaten yet? My mom even prepared breakfast specially for you!"

When Chu Hong arrived at Wang Suming's home, Wang Suming had already prepared everything early on.

Wearing a full set of armor, he sat at the doorway of his home, and right beside him was that unremarkable hundred-slot large gold bag, the [profiteering goblins cargo box].

Wang Suming saw Song Jiaojiao stepping down from the carriage behind Chu Hong.

His expression froze visibly.

His puzzled gaze involuntarily turned toward Chu Hong. He knew very well that his Brother Hong was not someone blinded by lust, having already stumbled over that woman Liu Yanyan earlier and learned his lesson well enough.

"From now on, classmate Song Jiaojiao will team up with us to enter the secret realm together, serving as the assistant main attacker in the team."

Wang Suming nodded blankly, somewhat dazed as he led the two of them into the house.

"Brother Hong..."

"To your room!" Chu Hong said, taking the lead as if returning to his own home, walking upstairs toward Wang Suming's room.

Leaving Song Jiaojiao downstairs to chat idly with Wang's mother.

Wang's mother smiled warmly. That kid Wang Suming hadn't noticed, but she had immediately spotted the abnormality on Chu Hong—why was this kid wearing a ring today whose style was almost identical to the ring on Song Jiaojiao's hand?

The fire of gossip began to burn fiercely.

Meanwhile, upstairs,

Chu Hong recounted today's events. Upon hearing that Song Jiaojiao had handed over a gold-quality weapon and even prepared "wedding rings" just to team up with them,

a gossipy smile identical to Wang's mother's downstairs couldn't help but surface on Wang Suming's face.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Brother Hong, your romantic luck is coming around again! This is Song Jiaojiao we're talking about. If you marry her, wouldn't the Rubiks Chamber of Commerce belong to you in the future?"

"Scram, scram, scram! In your eyes, am I really that worthless?"

"Brother Hong, if you have backbone, why are you still holding this weapon up to now? Actually, I think classmate Song Jiaojiao is pretty good too. I was originally worried that her joining us would expose your secret, Brother Hong, but now it's great—isn't this a strong alliance?"

"Hehe, next time we go to the Rubiks Chamber of Commerce for purchases, won't they have to give us rock-bottom discounts?"

That brat Wang Suming chuckled with a crafty look on his face,

leaving Chu Hong utterly speechless.

"Alright, pack up, same old rules."

Chu Hong fished out a tube of [Mutated Beast Serum (Purple)], and Wang Suming's eyes instantly lit up.

"Holy shit! Brother Hong, you actually managed to get this stuff again?"

...

Chu Hong came out from upstairs,

and happened to see Song Jiaojiao being held by the hand by Wang's mother, sitting downstairs chatting with a distinct blush on her face.

Seeing him appear, although she tried hard to maintain her composure, her ears were dyed with a blush. One had to admit, it was truly pleasing to the eye.

"Wang Suming will be ready in a moment, and then we'll set off directly, still going to the [Thunder-Horned Lizardman Tribe]."

Chu Hong said calmly.

Wang's mother looked at Song Jiaojiao, who was nodding obediently like a young daughter-in-law, and the more she looked, the more satisfied she became.

As for when she'd ever get to drink her own rascal's wedding wine in the future, she had long given up hope on that.

But if this half-son Chu Hong were to marry in the future, could he possibly not let her attend?

Just as Wang's mother was pulling Chu Hong along to chat more, while not forgetting to berate her own biological son's faults, the protagonist Wang Suming finally ran down quickly from upstairs looking refreshed.

"Hahaha! Brother Hong! All right, let's set off!"

Song Jiaojiao raised her head, and immediately, her expression drastically changed.

Qiyuan Realm Stage Two?!

She suddenly turned her head to look at Chu Hong, who wore a calm expression and was currently standing up to bid farewell to Wang's mother.

In just this short while, Wang Suming, whom she had been certain was only at Stage One of the Qiyuan Realm when she was at the doorway earlier, had actually advanced by a stage and reached Stage Two?

You must know that she, Song Jiaojiao, had the resource support of the Rubiks Chamber of Commerce, as well as escorts capable of bringing her into secret realms multiple times.

Yet even now, she was only barely at Stage Three of the Qiyuan Realm!

On the way to the base city gates, Song Jiaojiao's eyes never left Chu Hong's body. That stubborn look, as if she desperately wanted to see right through the person in front of her, made even Chu Hong somewhat uncomfortable as he turned his gaze out the window.

Instead, Wang Suming at the side swept his small eyes back and forth between the two of them,

the smile on his face as ambiguous as could be.

Arriving at the base city gates,

this time, Chu Hong and the others no longer needed to take the base city's armored vehicle.

However,

when they saw the situation at the city gates, the expressions of the three people in the carriage inevitably changed.

Armored vehicles stamped with the emblems of famous Pioneer Squads from Huangshan Base City were driving back from outside. Among them, Chu Hong even saw the markers of the Crossing River Dragon Team and the Rose Squad.

However, the atmosphere at the entire city gate at this moment was extremely terrible,

as if a mountain storm was about to arrive.

Chu Hong suddenly saw an acquaintance.

"Director Wang!"

Wang Qinghai, who was speaking with a grave expression to someone resembling a military officer at the city gate, heard the voice, turned around, and froze for a moment upon seeing that it was Chu Hong,

then walked over.

"Chu Hong? Are you... going out of the city to a secret realm again?"

Wang Qinghai glanced over the Rubiks Chamber of Commerce carriage that Chu Hong and the others were riding in, then cast a look at Uncle Fu driving the carriage in front, and nodded gently.

The two of them seemed to know each other.

"Yes, Director Wang. Today we are teaming up with classmate Song Jiaojiao to enter the Lizardman Tribe... Director Wang, has something happened here?"

Hearing this, Wang Qinghai hesitated for a moment. Thinking that Chu Hong was now hooked up with the eldest miss of the Rubiks Chamber of Commerce, it wouldn't take long for the other party to find out anyway,

so he nodded heavily with a gloomy expression.

"Didn't previous reports say that a new secret realm code-named [Cliffside Epidemic Hospital] appeared dozens of miles outside the city?"

Chu Hong's pupils constricted slightly, and the three illusionary gods he had encountered involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

Wang Qinghai sighed and gritted his teeth: "The Crossing River Dragon Team accepted a guild commission to go to the secret realm for Investigation, but... a full team of five went in, and only one person came out. Afterward, several squads were sent in successively, and then the Pioneers Guild made a judgment... The [Cliffside Epidemic Hospital] secret realm is Top Secret-level!"

"Top Secret?!" Song Jiaojiao covered her mouth in exclamation.

Her already delicate and fair face was frightened even paler by this news.

Wang Suming drew a sharp breath: "To—Top Secret-level?! The highest-level secret realm around our Huangshan Base City is only that Confidential-level [Murloc Ruins]. If a Top Secret-level one appears... can our Huangshan Base City withstand it?"

Wang Qinghai shook his head, his expression growing even uglier.

Secret realms were not simply opportunity instances that appeared out of thin air, but rather "pustules" on the body of Blue Star.

Once no Pioneers entered for a long time to bring back supplies or kill monsters, the barrier of the secret realm would gradually expand and weaken, and the monsters inside would gradually awaken independent new ways of thinking to recognize Blue Star.

The moment the secret realm shattered, what awaited Blue Star was a grand-scale invasion disaster.

The monsters currently still active in the wilderness...

Were simply the remnants left behind by the disaster after the secret realms shattered in the early years...

Coming out from the base city, along the way to the secret realm, the atmosphere among the three in the carriage grew noticeably colder.

Both Song Jiaojiao and Wang Suming had families in Huangshan Base City.

Once the top-secret [Cliffside Epidemic Hospital] dozens of miles away collapsed, the one bearing the brunt of the disaster would inevitably be Huangshan Base City where they lived.

However,

unlike their full hearts of anxiety,

Chu Hong frowned as he looked in the direction of the [Cliffside Epidemic Hospital] mentioned in the intelligence.

"Is the real secret realm's level Top Secret? Looking at it that way, the Normal-level [Cliffside Epidemic Hospital] inside my Special Service Department actually gave me quite a huge advantage..."

"The intelligence that real-life Pioneers need to trade their lives to collect, right here with me, instantly provides the secret realm's map, the general locations of high-value containers, and the number of extraction points the moment the Investigation area is logged in."

Chu Hong's thoughts kept spinning all the way.

The carriage also quickly arrived at the [Thunder-Horned Lizardman Tribe] secret realm camp.

Today, there were a lot fewer people at the secret realm camp.

"Miss, classmate Chu, classmate Wang, I will wait for you here. After entering the secret realm, please be careful with everything." Uncle Fu stepped down from the carriage.

"Rest assured, Uncle Fu, I still believe in the strength of Chu Hong and the others."

Song Jiaojiao looked at Chu Hong with a smiling expression,

extending a small hand, revealing a shining mithril ring on her slender finger.

Chu Hong took a deep breath and pulled out the gold-quality firearm weapon that Song Jiaojiao had given him.

[Item Name]: [quenched m14 marksman rifle]

[Item Level]: Gold

[Type]: Weapon Tool

[Weight]: 8.1 kg

[Backpack Slot Capacity]: 2 × 5

[Item Description]: Filled with the flames of war and gunpowder smoke, having witnessed enemies' clamor and deaths, the terrifying fifty-round large drum magazine brings the ultimate immersion and satisfaction. Note: The minimum requirement is that bullets no lower than blue quality must be used.

Its grayish-brown matte texture, resembling solidified volcanic rock, radiated clear heat waves that seemed to distort the air around the gun body. From time to time, sparks faintly flashed across the body of the gun.

Holding it in his hand, Chu Hong could even clearly catch a whiff of sulfur,

as if... this gun had been fished right out of magma.

Song Jiaojiao handed two ammunition boxes to Chu Hong. Even as the eldest miss of the Rubiks Chamber of Commerce, her face currently carried a clear look of heartache.

"You should use them sparingly. Shangcheng Base City exercises very strict controls over firearms and ammunition-type collectibles, and these bullets were also managed to be procured by my father after pulling many favors..."

Chu Hong's eyes instantly lit up, and the look he gave Song Jiaojiao was as if he were looking at a sparkling golden Buddha.

Holy shit!

When playing the ordinary Lizardman map, you bloody gave me gold bullets?!

PS: Today's urged updates reached 400, adding one more chapter. Begging for support. Thanks ♪ ( ･ ω ･ ) ﾉ