Chapter 1230: Maze Changes
Not long after the new passage appeared, players emerged at its end—four in total. After stepping forward and checking left and right, they chose to head in the direction the three had taken, which was also the way Xu Huo and Mu Yan had come from earlier.
Although backtracking wasn't necessarily a dead end in the maze, Mu Yan believed that direction wasn't the correct path.
Sure enough, the first group of three returned. Seeing the newly formed passage, they plunged into it without hesitation.
At that moment, the passage to Mu Yan's left closed up, while the maze wall behind her split apart to form a new passage.
"This is a bit strange..." She frowned and was about to step forward to investigate when the second group unexpectedly emerged from one side of this new passage. Their eyes met, and both sides were somewhat surprised.
The group of five walked over again. Seeing that the shelter's position hadn't changed, they exchanged glances. Then a short-haired, sharp-looking female player stepped forward to speak with Mu Yan, asking if the maze passages had changed.
"The passage to the left is gone, and one has been added both ahead and behind," Mu Yan told them truthfully.
"What's going on?" A player with a knife scar on his left cheek jabbed his blade twice into the maze wall. "We've circled back again."
"That shouldn't be," said the petite female player standing beside him. "We've been in the maze this long without this happening. Logically, the maze shouldn't block our path."
"Could the second half of the maze increase in difficulty?" guessed the player wearing a leather cap.
"Not necessarily." The remaining player, half his face covered, glanced meaningfully at Mu Yan.
His companions turned their heads one after another, their gazes landing on Mu Yan's cold expression.
"I don't have the ability to alter the maze passages," Mu Yan said with a hint of sarcasm. "If you want to fight, just fight. Why bother finding an excuse?"
The short-haired woman patted the masked man on the shoulder. "Relax. It's just getting lost. There was quite a commotion in the maze last night—maybe there have been other changes. Let's rest a bit first and set out again when the maze stops changing passages so frequently."
The others had no objections. In fact, there was no better option at the moment. So the five of them rested on the spot, sharing food and drink.
Mu Yan returned to the shelter's side and gently knocked on the slightly ajar door to alert Xu Huo.
"I know," Xu Huo replied but didn't come out again.
Still, Mu Yan felt much more relaxed because of it. After what happened last night, she realized Xu Huo was far stronger than he appeared. Since he could walk away unscathed from Xue Lang, dealing with these people would be no problem.
The group of five was also keeping an eye on the commotion. They knew there was another person in the shelter, but seeing the change in Mu Yan's demeanor, they exchanged glances and stopped their probing.
Soon, the group of three returned.
Having walked several detours in vain, they discovered the maze passages had changed again. One of them flopped directly onto the ground. "I'm done running! What the hell is this maze? I'm not going any further!"
His two companions could only stop helplessly as well. With people on both sides, they chose a spot to the right. No sooner had they sat down than the passage they had come from suddenly closed with a loud crash. Leaves shaken loose by the impact rustled down, scattering all over the ground.
The player lying on the ground brushed a fresh leaf off his face, then sprang up like a leaping carp. "See? I told you! The maze has changed its tricks. If we hadn't moved fast, we'd probably be squeezed into the walls as fertilizer by now!"
Although the maze walls had shifted before, it had been slow and gentle. Even inside the passages, players had enough time to retreat calmly. What just happened was clearly different—it was a blatant increase in difficulty!
All the players present stood up.
"Whoosh!" The maze made another sound. The plants on several nearby maze walls trembled violently, churning inside and out. The outer branches were constantly crushed, while from within, vine-like objects covered in sticky mucus were spat out!
The reason they said "vine-like" was because these vines were hung with pus-filled lumps of varying sizes. When they hit the ground and broke, dirty-colored liquid flowed out, highly corrosive. In just a few seconds, the floor of the passage the group of five had come from was melted into countless pits, accompanied by a hissing sound and white smoke.
The people directly in front of the passage were startled. As they stepped back, they also looked left and right. Although this passage hadn't spewed vines, the maze walls were still trembling. Fearing what might happen next, the short-haired woman shouted "Go!" and ran with her companions toward the only remaining passage.
The group of three naturally followed close behind. As he ran, the player who had been lying on the ground even called out to Mu Yan.
Hesitant and uncertain, Mu Yan took two steps before looking back at the shelter. She was about to call out when Xu Huo's voice came from inside first. "Don't go over there."
The words had barely left his mouth when the maze wall ahead closed in with lightning speed. The leather-capped player and the petite female player leading the charge were buried inside!
Those behind who hadn't entered yet quickly stopped outside, but the short-haired female player couldn't stop in time and crashed into the plant wall. In an instant, she was wrapped in the various plants surging out from within. By the time she struggled free, her protective suit was burned and tattered, and half her face was ruined!
"Xiao Qing!" The masked man rushed over to support her, but as soon as he grabbed her, he heard a cry of pain.
"Rib is broken..." The short-haired female player stiffened. "Stuck in my lung... Hurry and straighten the bone..."
The scar-faced man quickly went to help.
The group of three also retreated, looking at the maze walls with no end in sight ahead or behind. Their expressions were grim. "We're trapped."
All the passages were sealed, leaving only this twenty-meter-wide space for them to stand. And the trembling of the maze walls hadn't stopped—they had no idea whether corrosive vines or a collapse would come next!
Mu Yan stepped back to the shelter door and was about to open it when it swung open from inside. Xu Huo walked out, first observing the moving maze walls, then looking at the short-haired female player who was still crying out in pain. "She's been severely poisoned. Give her an antidote first."
The short-haired woman hadn't shown any signs of poisoning yet. The masked man tested her blood with a prop and found she was indeed poisoned. He quickly fed her an antidote.
"What exactly is going on?" Mu Yan followed behind Xu Huo. "I've never heard of maze passages sealing off completely."
"It's just a change in the maze. It should end soon." Xu Huo stopped at a corner, stared at the trembling leaves on the wall for a moment, then suddenly reached his hand inside.
The people watching him all twitched their eyelids, but to their surprise, the maze wall didn't react further. Xu Huo then pulled his hand out, holding a white fruit the size of a fist.
"The market in Card City seems to sell this kind of fruit." He brought it up to smell it. "This one looks even better quality."
With that, he took a bite.
Mu Yan had once been a mutant plant researcher and recognized the species at a glance. "It takes over ten years of growth for a vine to produce white jade fruit of this quality. There aren't many on the market either. One would probably sell for a thousand white notes."
Xu Huo reached in again with a rustle, picked another, and tossed it to her. "It's pretty sweet."
Mu Yan wiped it on her clothes before taking a bite and said, "White jade fruit vines require very careful tending to survive ten years. I didn't expect them to grow so well in the maze."
"Growing this well means someone must be taking care of them." Xu Huo smiled. "The maze owner probably wants to pick them and sell them for money, which is why they're reluctant to destroy this section of the wall."