Chapter 270: Magnetic Cube Maze
Casually setting the map aside, Xu Huo asked Yan Jiayu about her taste preferences, flipped open the menu to order dishes, and when the bunny rabbit delivered the meal, he inquired whether they could tour the castle.
After accepting a handful of candy from him, the bunny rabbit cheerfully agreed to take him on a tour.
"I'll go take a look around." After eating, Xu Huo informed Yan Jiayu and followed the bunny rabbit out.
Roughly only a third of the rooms in the castle were occupied. Due to the instance rules, many players were moving about inside the castle without interfering with one another.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!" A bell tolled from above the castle, and the little rabbit excitedly shouted, "It's nine o'clock! Time to watch the fireworks show!"
"Wasn't it raining outside?" Xu Huo turned back and noticed that the dense curtain of rain from earlier had suddenly diminished. He glanced at his personal panel, which showed eight o'clock. "Is this clock inaccurate?"
"How could it be inaccurate?" The little rabbit turned to look at him. "The big clock in the castle is exactly the same time as the clock tower at the C9 wormhole point. It's the most accurate time in the game."
Xu Huo paused, then said, "I've never been to the C9 wormhole point, nor have I seen the clock tower. Is the tower very big?"
"Of course it's huge! The clock tower is the most famous place in C9. Lots of people go there to calibrate their time—it's even more crowded than an amusement park." The little rabbit said longingly, "I hear there are plenty of delicious candies there too."
"Better than jar candies?" Xu Huo asked.
"Jar candies are still a bit tastier... but how can a kid refuse candy?" the little rabbit said matter-of-factly.
Just then, fireworks burst open in the sky outside the castle. The little rabbit happily clapped its front paws, then tugged Xu Huo's hand to lead him to the window to watch. It sat down on the windowsill, swinging its feet and occasionally letting out an exclamation of wonder.
After watching various plush toy and dessert-shaped fireworks for a while, Xu Huo returned to the room.
Yan Jiayu was already asleep, so he went over to the sofa.
After resting for a night, the two got up the next morning and headed straight for the third game point.
The games in the amusement park weren't difficult, so they cleared three game points in one morning and arrived at the second quiz location by noon—the Cube Maze.
The Cube Maze camp was much larger than the previous mirror tent. Looking out, the wide grassy area was covered with large cubes. Some of these cubes were on the ground, some floated in midair, and their shapes varied. Some lay flat, some balanced on their corners, and there were even cube-built ladders for plush toys to climb up and down.
"The cubes really are floating." Yan Jiayu stood beneath a giant cube and reached out to touch a spinning corner, but this angered the plush pig inside the cube. It shouted, "Don't you know you're not supposed to touch floating things casually?"
No sooner had it spoken than the cube tilted and toppled over due to its forward lean, and the plush pig fell flat on its face. At the same time, a cube on the ground not far away slowly rose into the air, hovering diagonally two meters above the ground.
The plush pig scrambled up and grabbed Yan Jiayu's leg. "I don't care! You're paying compensation!"
Yan Jiayu said apologetically, "I didn't mean to, but why did the cube fall just because I touched it? Can you get it to rise again after it fell?"
"Because you blocked the magnetic point!" The plush pig stomped its foot. "Without the magnetic force here, how can it rise again? Pay up!"
Xu Huo crouched down and picked up a small metal cube that had fallen out. He gently placed it forward, and the small cube wobbled twice before actually floating up.
"This is magnetic levitation."
Magnetic levitation wasn't anything mysterious in District 014 either. Magnetic levitation trains had been in use for several years already. The cubes on this campsite rose and fell, covering a wide area and unstable, which seemed naturally formed. But such a regular eruption in one direction was quite a spectacle.
Glancing at the trembling needle on his watch, he set the cube down and stood up, turning to the plush pig. "Give us a discount. Your stuff isn't damaged."
The plush toy clinging to Yan Jiayu finally relented. After taking the money, it gave each of them a metal cube. "Here, play with these."
Yan Jiayu squeezed the cube, staring at the plush pig. "I think I overpaid."
The plush pig abandoned its stall and ran off without looking back.
"Even plush toys in the amusement park pull scams!" Yan Jiayu angrily picked up the small cubes scattered all over the ground and carried them away in a bag—if the big cube hadn't been so heavy, she would have taken the whole stall.
"Those are useless." Xu Huo said with amusement.
"They're fine to use as stones." She grabbed one, weighed it, and threw it toward an empty space. But just then, a large cube rose up ahead, and her throw hit it, knocking it sideways into another cube. Several large cubes all tumbled to the ground. That wasn't all—the ricocheting small cube flew off in another direction, and with a couple of thuds, a few more cubes fell. Cube hitting cube, the chain reaction seemed unstoppable!
Yan Jiayu stared in shock. Seeing a large swath of cubes falling, she abandoned her bag and frantically waved at Xu Huo. "We're in trouble! Run, run!"
Helplessly, Xu Huo had to follow her toward the center of the maze. Before long, a giant cube appeared ahead.
"That should be the quiz location." He called out to Yan Jiayu, signaling her to stop running.
Yan Jiayu looked back and saw a horde of plush toys charging furiously in their direction. She kept her feet moving while scanning the giant cube. "Where's the entrance?"
The map had recorded this cube maze. Xu Huo was about to speak when a section of cubes at the bottom right corner of the giant cube began to rotate. Yan Jiayu slipped through the opening as it appeared, startling two players who were coming out from inside.
Seeing the two players assume combat stances, Xu Huo waved his hand dismissively, then pushed the cube section and followed her in.
Yan Jiayu was hiding right by the door, nervously asking, "Are those plush toys coming?"
Xu Huo glanced at her. "You can't escape anyway. You'll still have to pay when you go out."
Yan Jiayu grimaced. "How do they know it was me? None of the plush toys saw me... I'm out of money."
"All the plush toys belong to the amusement park. If one of them saw you, the rest know too." Xu Huo said.
Yan Jiayu paused slightly. "You mean the plush toys in the amusement park can share vision?"
"Maybe the same person is wearing all the plush suits." Xu Huo had suspected this before, and now he was more certain. The rabbit, bear, and pig they'd seen yesterday seemed to have different personalities on the surface, but their little movements and habits were very similar—including the rabbit that told him about the clock tower last night.
If this was the ability of the amusement park instance boss, and shared vision was real, then some of the instance's rules could be exploited.
"Let's get through the quiz game first," he said.
(Chapter End)