The sentence felt eerily familiar.
With just a moment of thought, Yan Wei recalled the background introduction from when they first entered the instance. At the beginning of this instance, Lou had randomly thrown the players into the Jungle Maze outside the castle and, using the usual ethereal voice, narrated a story—or rather, the origin—of this castle.
The first sentence was, “He is a man of unknown birth.”
The sentence was written in an ancient script that Yan Wei and the others could automatically understand upon entering the instance, allowing them to read it. Each character was painted with blood on the wall formed by intertwined branches and leaves before them. The blood seemed to be from many years ago, darkened and browned. The faint yet pure light of the Moon Wheel shone upon it, intertwining with the bloody horror, creating a grotesque and eerie atmosphere.
Yan Wei felt as if a cold, sinister wind had begun to blow through the small maze.
“This Man in Black Robe is really creepy,” Lin Zhen stepped forward, raising his hand as if to touch it. “What’s with all these weird things? Is this his headquarters or something—”
“Don’t touch it randomly,” Yan Wei said.
Lin Zhen retracted his hand and shrugged. “I’m not afraid of this stuff.”
Yan Mingguang directly wrapped the tail of his Long Whip around Yan Wei’s wrist and said, “The atmosphere here is strange. We need to be cautious.”
Yan Wei blinked, his eyes shifting. He could actually sense Yan Mingguang’s constant attention and vigilance, but even though it was noticeable, it seemed to blend seamlessly into his actions, making it hard to overthink. Yan Wei felt a tickle in his heart, as if something was scratching at him, though he couldn’t quite put it into words.
He grabbed the whip and gave it a tug, saying nothing, tacitly accepting this “hand-holding” method.
As for Lin Zhen…
Yan Wei extended his other hand and said, “Point the other end of your bow toward me.”
Lin Zhen complied, holding one end of the longbow while Yan Wei held the other. Yan Wei stood in the middle, with the whip from Yan Mingguang wrapped around his wrist in one hand and the Moon Wheel cradled in his palm.
This way, all three of their weapons were interconnected, ensuring that no one would get lost in the dark, twisting maze, and allowing them to immediately know if a teammate acted, thus alerting each other to danger.
They were, after all, heading deep into the maze to find clues. Since it didn’t matter whether the Man in Black Robe knew or not, Lin Zhen didn’t bother lowering his voice and casually said, “It’s narrow, dark, and full of forks. Can we just chop down these trees?”
“…” Yan Wei sighed helplessly. “We couldn’t chop them in the Jungle Maze, so you can try here. Yan Mingguang and I will go ahead, and we’ll come back to pick you up after you’re done chopping.”
Lin Zhen: “…”
They arrived at a fork in the path.
Yan Wei tugged at Yan Mingguang’s arm and said, “Ice block, wait a moment. I’m going to make a mark.”
He slowly crouched down, his hands moving in the dim light—it seemed he was drawing a mark on the ground.
Afterward, Yan Wei stood up and said, “Let’s go. We’ll deal with things as they come. The dangers here are probably things that eat flesh or maybe some Puppets or something.”
Fourth Floor of the Castle, Stargazing Platform.
Xue Wan held his sword, his clothes splattered with blood, clearly from the earlier fight. The player from Morning Star, whose arm had been pierced by Lin Zhen’s arrow, was being bandaged, while others inspected the area around the Stargazing Platform. Before Xue Wan lay two players whose limbs had been severed—those left behind by Manjusaka to cover their retreat.
Not long after, someone approached Xue Wan and said, “All our players are accounted for. It seems Xu Miaomiao and her group only took the Man in Black Robe. We’ve gathered enough coins, but now that the Man in Black Robe is gone, these people can’t exchange their Points.”
“Xue Wan, should we still guard the Stargazing Platform?”
Xue Wan thought for a moment.
He said, “The Man in Black Robe, the coins, and the Meat Grinder—these three are inseparable. We’re still in first place, and the gap between us and Manjusaka has widened. It’s not us who should be worried. But doing nothing…”
Xue Wan smiled lazily, yawning before continuing, “That would be too boring and passive. Half of us will stay here and guard, while the other half will capture anyone they see and take any coins they can find.”
“Since the Man in Black Robe, the coins, and the Meat Grinder are inseparable, if Xu Miaomiao and her group can scheme against the Man in Black Robe, we can steal the coins.”
Second Floor of the Castle, Manjusaka’s Territory.
Xu Miaomiao and the remaining players from Manjusaka briefly discussed their next steps and decided to rest for the night. The nights in the castle were already perilous, and they had suffered heavy losses this time. Facing the Man in Black Robe, whose whereabouts were unknown, and Morning Star, led by Xue Wan, they needed to regroup.
Xu Miaomiao had a Manjusaka member watch “Yan Wei” in her room. After finishing discussions with the others, she finally returned to her room.
As soon as she pushed the door open, she saw “Yan Wei” sitting leisurely on the couch, his hands already untied, holding a glass of orange juice.
The Manjusaka player who was supposed to be watching him sat across from “Yan Wei,” his hands now bound with rope. The man struggled in confusion, furrowing his brow as he thought for a moment and said, “Strange, I can’t untie myself. How did you untie the rope? You said to let me try, but I did, and it didn’t work.”
Xu Miaomiao: “…”
The couch faced the door, which opened to a dark hallway. Inside the room, “Yan Wei” sat leisurely on the couch. Xu Miaomiao and another Xu Miaomiao stood at the doorway, not yet entering.
The Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei glanced at Xu Miaomiao, his expression still calm. He leaned forward, untied the rope from the Manjusaka player’s hands, and spread his hands, saying, “Let me teach you again.”
He was still wearing the trench coat that had been dirtied and torn in the earlier fight, but his eyes were bright, his face clean, and despite the disheveled clothing, he seemed immaculate.
He looked at the Manjusaka player, who said nothing and obediently tied the rope around the Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei’s hands.
Once tied, the Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei moved his wrists and fingers slightly, and within moments the rope loosened and fell from his wrists. He sighed, “Did you see that clearly this time?”
The Manjusaka player nodded.
The two Xu Miaomiao: “…”
The Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei then looked up at the doorway, a smile on his lips as he raised his hand and greeted Xu Miaomiao, “What are you standing at the door for? The hallway’s so cold. Aren’t you tired? Come in and sit.”
Xu Miaomiao: “???”
Whose room is this?
Yan Wei and the others walked through several forks in the path.
This maze was located on the fourth floor of the castle but was enclosed within a confined space, like a massive room. The walls of the maze were made of trees that nearly reached the ceiling, making it impossible to see far ahead. Even with a light, they could only see the path immediately before them.
Despite being indoors, a cold wind seemed to blow through the maze, and occasionally, the sound of rustling leaves could be heard…
As if something was moving along the walls of the maze.
Yan Wei stopped in his tracks.
Lin Zhen: “You heard it too?”
“More than hearing,” Yan Wei turned and looked down, his gaze landing on a mark he had left earlier. The Moon Wheel lowered slightly, illuminating the mark. “We’ve circled back.”
Lin Zhen shrugged it off. “It’s a maze, isn’t it? Circling back is normal. We’ll just take a different path this time.”
Yan Mingguang remained silent, only shaking his head slightly.
Yan Wei glanced at Lin Zhen and said, “Then why didn’t we just mark our paths on the first day in the Jungle Maze and avoid repeating them? If there are only a few forks, it’s manageable, but if there are dozens, the possibilities increase exponentially.”
If they marked the paths they had taken, once one path started to lead them astray, they would have to backtrack through all the routes, ensuring they didn’t repeat or misremember any paths. It wasn’t impossible, but it was the most brute-force and direct method. The worst-case scenario was that they would have to walk every path, with some paths being repeated. If there were dangers in the maze, it meant they might have to face every one of them.
“But this maze is different from the Jungle Maze. We could see the direction of the target on the mountain peak there. Our blood couldn’t open a path there,” Lin Zhen said. “So how are you going to proceed? What if the Man in Black Robe is just as bored as I am and made this maze for fun?”
“You admit you’re bored now?”
Lin Zhen: “…”
Yan Wei looked at the mark on the ground, his mind flashing through all the scenes from the moment they entered the instance until now. “He is a man of unknown birth,” the Virtuous and Malevolent Puppets that were similar to the players yet functionally different, the blurred lines between reality and illusion that invaded the players’ minds at night, the crows circling outside the castle and the maze, and the crows within the castle and the maze on the fourth floor…
He suddenly felt an idea flash through his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it.
The sound of rustling leaves came from nearby.
The hand holding Lin Zhen’s bow was tugged, and the bow slipped from his grasp. A swift wind rushed past his ear, and a black arrow shot forward.
A figure suddenly dodged ahead!
At the same time, an identical arrow shot toward Yan Wei, whose Body Index was clearly lower. Yan Mingguang reacted without hesitation, pulling Yan Wei backward. The tail of the Long Whip unwrapped from Yan Wei’s wrist and lashed forward with a whistling sound.
Due to the force, Yan Wei’s back slammed against the wall of the maze made of branches and leaves, while the figure ahead was struck by Yan Mingguang’s whip and was thrown forward, landing against the opposite wall of the maze.
The Moon Wheel emitted a faint light, illuminating the figure.
The figure was dressed in black, with short, neat hair and handsome yet slightly eerie features. His eyes, staring at Yan Wei, were a deep, dark red.
It was Lin Zhen’s face.
Yan Wei was stunned. “—Is the danger of this maze that it creates a copy of us to fight us!?”
The “Lin Zhen” before Yan Wei smiled and actually spoke, “No, not just one, little pet.”
The sound of arrows slicing through the air came from all directions.
