Chapter 251 - The Unexpected Hint

"The final stage officially begins?" Wang GuiYing questioned as he looked at Li Ling who was constantly shaking his phone. 

Li Ling nodded his head as he confirmed it. 

"Were you the one that completed the mission?" Wang GuiYing questioned as he looked down at his phone screen that had turned black. 

Li Ling sighed as he shook his head, "It was not me." 

"Then what have you been typing on your phone all this while?" Wang GuiYing frowned as he asked with a bit of a hostile tone, "Don't tell me that you weren't able to do anything." 

Li Ling turned to face the man and held up his phone as he showed the blank screen, "I couldn't do much but..." 

"But?" Wang GuiYing repeated as he waited for the man to continue speaking.. 

Li Ling shook his head and sighed as he refused to say anything. 

"..." Wang GuiYing found it a bit suspicious so he snapped, "Don't leave me hanging here!" 

Li Ling chuckled as he once again refused to say anything, "What I did was something really small and I'm not even sure if it would be able to help us." 

Li Ling wasn't lying as he said this since the thing that he did was truly considered to be something really little and trivial that could either save them or do nothing at all. 

His speed to write with a phone wasn't exactly fast and he knew that he didn't have enough time to completely recode the system. He didn't have enough time to hack it back so after thinking a lot, he did the only thing that he could do considering the little time he had left. 

He went into the system codes and embedded a secret message for Zhihao's mother, Huang Zhi Juan, hoping that she finds it and does the work for him. 

When they had suddenly been thrown into this final level, Huang Zhi Juan had been with them and they had assigned her with the important task of trying to overhack the system. Since it was now speculated that this wasn't exactly real and all they saw was indeed virtual reality, Li Ling couldn't be sure if the one they talked to was really Huang Zhi Juan or not, but Li Ling still wanted to take a bet on it as he believed that even if it wasn't really her, she would have certainly went into the system to check what had gone wrong. 

This was also why he embedded the secret message in the codes since only a few people who were authorized could check and find it. Huang Zhi Juan just so happened to be one of those people. 

If everything went as Li Ling hoped for it to go, then the ending of this final stage could certainly be different from what the system had originally plan. 

If Huang Zhi Juan was able to find Li Ling's message than Li Ling would have a chance of survival even after this final stage has been cleared by the players. 

"Are we going to wait for Mastermo and the others?" Kaoru questioned as she looked at Li Ling. 

Li Ling nodded his head as he confirmed, "We'll find the arena together." 

"Do you have any idea?" It was Zhou Xinyi who had questioned as he looked at Li Ling as well. 

Li Ling shook his head as he responded, "I don't know but we'll figure it out. Didn't the system say that we have already been provided with the hints?" 

Wang GuiYing opened his mouth to say something more but they were suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice that called out to Li Ling as he ran towards them. 

"Li Ling!" 

Everyone immediately turned to look at Liang Feng who looked like he had run a marathon. 

Li Ling frowned immediately as he questioned in worry, "Where's A-Zhi? Didn't you go after him?" 

Liang Feng nodded his head as he tried to awkwardly explain, "I did go after him but he went ahead without me." 

"..." 

Li Ling certainly didn't look to be too pleased as he heard this. 

"But that's not important," Liang Feng breathed out as he took something out from his pocket and continued, "I went ahead and checked the security room. As expected, the ones who prepared everything wore a jacket with the name LHA on it." 

Li Ling looked at the folded piece of paper that the man held in hand with suspicious as he waited for Liang Feng to continue. 

"But that's not what I wanted to say," Liang Feng sighed as he handed over the piece of folded paper to Li Ling, "Take a look at this." 

Li Ling unfolded the paper curiously as he heard the man and what he saw inside was truly a bit confusing for him in the beginning. 

"What do you see?" Liang Feng asked as he looked at Li Ling. 

Li Ling took a deep breath in as his eyes narrowed down on the drawing that was scribbled on the paper. It took him more than a minute to look up at Liang Feng and instead of answering the man's question, he questioned the man back, "What do you see?" 

Liang Feng, "It's a map." 

"Of what- Oh..." Li Ling was about to ask the man for a more detailed explanation but stopped himself as he muttered in realization. 

"What is it?" Wang GuiYing stood up and walked over curiously as he glanced between the paper and Liang Feng's expressionless face. 

Li Ling didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he took a closer look at the hand-drawn map. 

To think that such an important hint fell into their hands by coincidence... It seemed that the heaven's above favoured these players a bit too much. 

"What do you think?" Liang Feng questioned sharply as he noticed the change in Li Ling's expression, "Am I guessing it right?" 

Li Ling gulped as he nodded his head and patted the man's back as he spoke, "You did a good job, Brother." 

Liang Feng's eyes seemed to have lit up with excitement as he heard this. 

"You were right if you thought that this was a map to the final stage," Li Ling confirmed with a chuckle. 

"Eh...?" Wang GuiYing's head processed this information a bit too slow as he blinked and exclaimed only after a minute, "Seriously?!" 

Li Ling and Liang Feng nodded their heads in unison as they confirmed it together. 

"Wow..." Wang GuiYing muttered in disbelief as he found it a bit too hard to believe. 

They were lucky... 

They were extremely lucky... 

"But why do I only see a child's scribble of a star?" When Wang GuiYing finally snapped out of the shock, his eyebrows creased together in confusion as he questioned. 

Li Ling chuckled as he heard this question, "Look closer." 

Wang GuiYing frowned as he took a closer look but there was still nothing out of the ordinary that he could see. 

No matter from which angle he looked at it, it still looked as if it was a star created by a child. 

"What are you trying to show me?" Wang GuiYing gave up trying to find it on his own and questioned cluelessly as he looked up at Li Ling. 

Li Ling sighed as he responded, "You saw it correct. It's a star." 

"..." 

"But take a closer look at the points on the star." 

Wang GuiYing took another look at the hand-drawn star and shrugged his shoulder as he asked, "What about it?" 

"How many ends does the star have?" Li Ling asked with a smirk. 

"Ends? Five." Wang GuiYing answered correctly but still could not understand what it was that he was missing. 

Li Ling sighed as he almost questioned his own mental sanity for thinking that Wang GuiYing would be able to get it. 

"Five ends. Five competitions," Liang Feng spoke up as he couldn't take it anymore, "This is an overview of the city and the ends indicate the competition arena. Each end is circled." 

Wang GuiYing's frown deepened as he shook his head and pointed out, "But there are six circles." 

Liang Feng and Li Ling looked at each other as they both mentally questioned why they were even bothering with Wang GuiYing. 

"I don't get it!" Wang GuiYing whined. 

"Then!" Kaoru suddenly exclaimed as she walked forward, "You said that it was a map to the final stage. Does that mean the sixth circle is the arena that we are supposed to be heading for?" 

Li Ling nodded with a bright smile on his face as he confirmed, "That's right!" 

"Woah!~" Kaoru was surprised as she took a closer look at the scribbled star. 

"This makes it easier for us," Liang Feng commented proudly. 

"Then we just head here now?" Wang GuiYing pouted as he asked. 

Li Ling nodded his head as he confirmed it, "That's right." 

"Isn't that... A bit too simple?" Wang GuiYing asked with suspicion. 

Li Ling blinked as he heard the man complaining because something was too simple.