Those three keys — no telling how long they had been clutched in those hands — were coated in dried blood and grime, perhaps sweat too. Even without touching them, Bai Youwei could see how grimy and sticky they were.

Shen Mo, Leonid, and Du Lai — the three men — positioned themselves in front of Bai Youwei to prevent these people of unknown identity from approaching further.

The man holding the keys visibly flinched and slowly backed away. As he retreated, he spoke in a small voice: “We really are human… We mean no harm… As long as you’re willing to take us with you when you leave, these keys — you can have all of them…”

The way he spoke was careful and cautious, tinged with a humble, pleading quality, as though he greatly feared the physical strength of Shen Mo and the others, yet was unwilling to let slip this possible chance at survival.

Shen Mo shone the flashlight around the room — in this stone chamber, apart from the three emaciated men before them, there was nothing and no one else.

Suspicious, he looked at them again and asked: “How long have you been trapped here?”

“I… I can’t remember…” the man holding the keys answered. “Our flashlights ran out of battery a long time ago. There’s no light in here — it’s impossible to gauge time…”

Shen Mo furrowed his brow, his gaze sweeping across their hair. “If you had short hair before, judging by how long your hair is now, you’ve been trapped here for at least three months or more.”

Three months ago, the maze war had not yet begun. The maze had not been locked, and it was entirely plausible that ordinary people could have gotten trapped inside.

Chen Hui couldn’t help asking: “For that long, what did you eat? What did you drink? There’s nothing here at all — not even…”

She trailed off, not finishing the thought.

What she had actually wanted to say was: there wasn’t even a used piece of tissue paper anywhere. Months of eating, drinking, and bodily functions — how could there be absolutely no trace? Unless they were robots, or NPCs with no biological needs!

With that thought, Chen Hui’s gaze at these three grew increasingly suspicious. She didn’t believe any living person could hold out in a maze for this long.

At this moment, the other man stirred, unclipped a leather pouch from his waist, and stammered an explanation: “We have this item… it can produce an endless supply of bread and spring water.”

As he spoke, he demonstrated for them.

He untied the cord at the mouth of the leather pouch, then pulled out a long loaf of bread, followed by a bottle of spring water.

“Please, I beg you… please take us out of here…” The man prostrated himself on the ground. His body, whether from cold or hunger, trembled continuously. “As long as we can get out, this bread… no, this leather pouch — please, take it, all of it! As long as we can leave this place, we’ll give you anything!…”

Everyone exchanged glances, all struck by disbelief.

They had entered the maze before, but had never encountered survivors who had held on for this long. And this maze was dark and airless — even with ample food, enduring such an extended period in complete darkness was… nearly impossible to imagine.

The man set the leather pouch on the ground, bowed his head, and pushed it across the floor toward their feet.

Leonid picked it up, his expression shifting slightly, and passed it to Bai Youwei: “It’s genuinely an item.”

Bai Youwei took it. The instant she touched the leather pouch, information about the item surfaced in her mind.

【Forest Spirit’s Magic Pouch: A pouch enchanted with a curse that contains an inexhaustible supply of bread and spring water that never runs dry. However, if the pouch is damaged, the enchantment instantly disappears.】

The item was real.

On this basis, Bai Youwei chose to believe what these people said — at least three parts out of ten.

Bai Youwei asked: “After you finish the water, how did you deal with the empty bottles?”

The man kneeling on the ground said: “We… we used them to hold urine. When they were full, we… we tossed them into the adjacent rooms.”

No wonder this place was so clean — not at all like somewhere that had been inhabited for three months. It turned out all the filthy things had been discarded by them.

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