Every stone chamber had four doors. Bai Youwei passed through several in succession—all of them were exactly alike. Even deliberate attempts to leave marks didn’t change the stone chambers’ state of being, as if they were “duplicates.”

At this rate, there was no way to determine whether the stone chamber they were walking into was a new one they’d never been in before, or an old one they’d already passed through.

Bai Youwei crouched down in the middle of the stone chamber, reached out, and touched the spot where she’d placed the dead batteries. Hard stone tile—no mechanism to be felt.

So where had the batteries gone?

And why had the “Z” Shen Mo carved disappeared?

“Listen…” Ashalina pressed her ear to the door to the north. “No sound.”

The breathing and footsteps that had been closing in had vanished completely once they stepped into this stone chamber.

Simply having moved one more room away—why would it make such a large difference?

Bai Youwei reflected slowly. “There are two possibilities right now…

The first possibility: these stone chambers only appear to be connected. In reality, they each exist in separate spaces—like teleportation arrays. That’s why we can’t retreat back to the original room.

The second possibility: when the door to a stone chamber closes, the chamber’s state resets. No matter what changes we make to it, it reverts to its original condition.”

Bai Youwei felt a slight surge of frustration. This was the type of maze she hated most: going around in circles.

If there were unlimited time, going around like this wouldn’t matter—but inside the maze there was a creature that could draw near at any moment.

“What if… we don’t close the door?” Ashalina said hesitantly. “I can hold the door and keep it from closing. You all go in first, and then we can see what change, if any, the chamber undergoes.”

“Could that be dangerous?” Chen Hui was a little worried. “What if it’s the first situation—the chamber teleports—and we all get teleported away, leaving you alone? What then?”

Being left alone in the maze was obviously very dangerous.

Bai Youwei thought for a moment. “Chen Hui has a point—having you block the door is a bit risky. I’ll try using a rock.”

A rock?

Everyone looked at each other. This stone chamber had nothing inside it—where would they find a rock?

Only Shen Mo and Ashalina understood what Bai Youwei meant.

She lifted the gold key from around her neck and opened the Dollhouse. When Du Lai, Chen Hui, and Leonid gawked at her with wide eyes, she explained, “It’s nothing—just my item.”

Then she called toward the Dollhouse: “Xiao Xin! Help me carry a big rock over here!”

The Dollhouse was built on a mountaintop—rocks were the one thing it had no shortage of.

Pan Xiaoxin immediately scrambled down the mountain and pried up a large one, and together with Teacher Cheng hauled it out. It was a heavy mountain rock, still damp with soil on the underside.

“Weiwei jie, is this maze hard?” Pan Xiaoxin looked left and right; seeing the stone chamber was dim and oppressive, he couldn’t help rubbing his arms.

Teacher Cheng also felt uneasy. “The cold air in here is so heavy—let me brew some ginger soup for all of you… Are you coming back for lunch?”

Teacher Cheng meant well, but the words really broke the atmosphere.

Everyone wore complex expressions, feeling as though they had been yanked from the set of a horror film and plunged onto the set of a domestic drama.

Bai Youwei asked, “Where’s Tan Xiao?”

“Sleeping upstairs,” Pan Xiaoxin said, his tone helpless. “Not saying anything, not really responding to anyone. He wouldn’t even come eat breakfast when we called him.”

Bai Youwei’s brow creased. “Never mind him. Go back, both of you—I’ll call for you again if I need you.”

Pan Xiaoxin and Cheng Weicai did as she said and left. Bai Youwei closed the Dollhouse door and retrieved the key, then looked up to find everyone staring at her in a daze.

“Why are you all looking at me?” Bai Youwei touched her face, baffled. “Carry the rock.”

“What a remarkable item…” Leonid muttered, walked over, lifted the large rock, and asked, “Which door?”

Bai Youwei pointed to a door—south again.

Shen Mo pushed open the south door and shone his flashlight inside, then turned back to give them a slight nod. “Safe—same as before, identical room.”

Now they were about to find out: after they walked into another stone chamber, what change—if any—would occur in the one they had just left behind.