Chapter 208 - Inventory Trick

"How much time is left?" Li Ling asked as he looked at his sister. 

Li Ying looked down at the timer on her screen before she answered, "Barely six minutes left." 

Li Ling gulped in worry, "Let's go. I'll drive." 

Li Ying and Liang Feng nodded in unison as they followed after Li Ling who had already turned to leave the place. 

"I don't know man, I'd prefer to use my own car but if you are that eager to drive me-" Tian Xifeng stopped as she saw that everyone had already left her behind, "Damn it... At least wait for me!" She shouted as she ran after him. 

Huang Zhi Juan sighed as she saw everyone leave.. She was the only one left behind with the rest of the staff who worked in this research facility. She looked around and felt hopeless. There were no computers or systems working properly in the place and she was sure that even if she went outside the research center, the condition would be the same.

Every connection, every system, and every gadget was currently under Alvi's control. A bot that was developed to be like a human. She was already made to be more powerful than them and hence there was absolutely no way anyone would be able to overwrite the system and gain back control. 

It might have been easy to make that plan but Huang Zhi Juan knew that she wouldn't be successful and she was sure that the others knew this as well. 

The only way they could stop Alvi now was if someone completed the final level and killed Li Ling, but as Zhihao's mother, that would naturally be an option that Huang Zhi Juan would never consider. 

There was no way any of the special team members would go through the original plan and try to kill Li Ling and the rest of the players that had the chance to try and kill him would naturally not be able to do it as well. 

Huang Zhi Juan felt a headache as she realized the amount of trust Li Ling had in her. He left her behind, in charge of the entire research facility. He entrusted her to find a way out of this mess and Huang Zhi Juan couldn't help but doubt herself. 

She could easily override the system if the system was responsive towards her, however, with no gadgets or methods of writing out the codes, how in the hell was she supposed to do it? There was just no way! 

She had to come up with another plan but she was under too much stress and her brain refused to function as she would have liked it too. 

She needed time and Li Ling was probably trying to buy her that time by keeping Alvi busy in the final level. 

Huang Zhi Juan walked towards a wall and softly banged her head against the wall with a sigh, "May God be with you, son." 

She prayed for Li Ling. 

The staff who stood around were clearly shocked as they saw her suddenly turning abusive towards herself. 

"Madam Huang, are you okay?" It was a young-looking girl wearing a white coat that walked up to Huang Zhi Juan and asked her. 

Huang Zhi Juan turned her head to look at the girl and smiled as she asked, "Is there a way out of this?" 

"Eh?" The girl was a bit taken back by the sudden question. She took a sharp breath in as she pondered over it and after a minute, she shook her head as she answered, "Madam Huang, there is no other way out until now but I'm sure you'll be able to do something. I trust you and I'm sure the gamemaster trusts you with his life as well." 

Huang Zhi Juan didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry as she heard that because what the girl said was actually true. At this moment, the gamemaster was literally trusting his life in the hands of Huang Zhi Juan. 

Huang Zhi Juan smiled even brightly as she nodded before turning her head back to face the wall as she banged her head on the wall and let out a cry of distress, "Damn it all!" 

The girl faltered a step back and gulped as she looked to be a bit concerned about the mental health of this woman who seemed to be having a breakdown. 

Li Ling, on the other side, looked to be much calmer than he was back inside the facility just a few minutes ago. He unlocked his car and everyone got in before Li Ling hopped in the driver's seat and checked to see if the other three were also there.

"Let's go," He announced as he hit the ignition and lifted his foot from the brake pedal. 

Li Ling was quite a good driver and out of the four people that were inside the car, although he was the most reckless driver, he was also the fastest among them. 

Li Ying shouted and screamed in fear whenever she saw the car getting anywhere near close to something else on the road. If there was anyone in this world that hated to sit in Li Ling's car, it was probably his own sister who believed that her brother would one day drive her to her death. 

"Would you quiet down already, Yingying?!" Tian Xifeng complained in annoyance. 

"Shut up! We are gonna die! We are gonna die!" Li Ying continued to yell out. 

Tian Xifeng rolled her eyes as she elbowed the girl, "Nobody is dying except for maybe your brother." 

Li Ling who sat in the driver's seat, "..." 

Li Ying, "Don't curse my brother like that, you stinky brat!" 

Tian Xifeng gasped and looked to be offended as her eyes widened and she glared at Li Ying, "You're the stinky brat! My perfume costs me more than your entire year of pocket money!" 

Li Ying gritted her teeth as she glared back at the woman, "Would you look at that? Your true face is finally showing and it's ugly!" 

Tian Xifeng rolled her eyes as she gritted her teeth, "Yingying, is this really the time for such a fruitless conversation?" 

"Do you have anything better to argue about?" Li Ying asked as she clicked her tongue. 

Liang Feng also grew annoyed as he snapped and for the first time since they had ever met this man, the two girls and Li Ling heard the man shout at them, "Just shut up! We have more important issues to worry about!" 

Tian Xifeng and Li Ying immediately shut up and looked at the man in shock and horror as they gulped in fear. 

Li Ling glanced at the man through the rear-view mirror and smirked before turning his eyes back to the road in front. 

"Li Ling, these green dots. Don't you think we should check them out?" 

Li Ling shook his head with a frown as he answered without bothering to look back, "We don't have the time. Maybe later." 

"What are they?" Li Ying questioned as she straightened her back and ignored the fuming girl sitting beside her. 

"That's the inventory. All the weapons we might need are in there," Liang Feng answered before adding, "Probably." 

"Then don't we need to go there before we go to the final arena?" Li Ying asked, looking a bit confused as she did. 

Liang Feng nodded his head as he answered, "We have no idea what the final game is so it would probably be a good idea to be prepared beforehand." 

Li Ling who heard this didn't seem to agree with the man as he spoke up, "Alvi told us that it was our next destination but she never said that it was the final arena." 

"Eh?" Li Ying muttered with a frown on her lips, "What do you mean, brother?" 

"If I'm guessing right, Alvi is trying to confuse us with that inventory option. A normal player would think that it would be best to pick up some things from the inventory before going to the final arena but it's a trick. Look carefully at the map. All the inventory places are far from each other and further away from the location where we are supposed to go." Li Ling answered patiently as he continued to recklessly drive fast on the road that was rather empty. 

"Then the game is trying to make us late?" Tian Xifeng questioned and Li Ling nodded in response as he continued to explain. 

"If a player goes after the inventory, they would definitely waste time and would no longer be able to get to the arena on time." 

"Instant elimination," Li Ying muttered as she immediately understood the man. 

Li Ling nodded as he confirmed, "It's already trying to kick us off the game. So the question remains: Why?" 

"..." 

It was clear that nobody else had thought about all of this till now so they naturally had no answer for Li Ling.

"It's trying to set up levels of elimination and this is the first one. We are not yet in the final level of the game. We are just at the entrance of it."