Bai Youwei hadn’t slept at all.

What should have been the most reassuring of embraces now felt like blades against her back. She had no choice but to keep constant watch on Shen Mo’s condition.

The person behind her was perfectly still.

Outside was perfectly still too.

She didn’t know how the others were holding up. This change had crept in without anyone noticing. If she warned them, it might only make things harder to bear.

Looking at the state Mark and Dylan were in — they’d managed to endure it for months — that told her this transformation wasn’t fatal. Just physically and mentally agonizing. If you could hold on, you’d be fine.

Bai Youwei waited for a long time, until the breathing behind her gradually steadied into the slow rhythm of sleep.

…Good. Sleep was good.

In sleep, the hunger wouldn’t be felt.

She let out a quiet, relieved breath and closed her own eyes.

…

The next day, the atmosphere in the stone chamber was heavier, more oppressive.

The fire had long gone out. The air around them was cold and damp.

Mark and Dylan were huddled in the corner, listlessly gnawing on bread. Perhaps because Slade had already been exposed the day before, they no longer bothered to hide it — the way they looked at Bai Youwei and Chen Hui glinted like green light.

Bai Youwei paid them no attention and instead observed the rest of her companions.

She and Chen Hui seemed to be the least affected. Everyone else was eating noticeably more slowly than before.

Leonid was the most obvious — he spat out the first bite of bread and still didn’t understand why, complaining, “What’s wrong with this bread?! What’s that taste?!”

Chen Hui asked, “What taste? It tastes the same to me as yesterday.”

Leonid paused, then seemed to think of something and took another bite.

That bite made him want to spit it out too. He forced it down through sheer willpower, chewing like he was grinding through sawdust, swallowing bite by bite.

Du Lai sat nearby. He’d just finished his crackers, tipped his head back for a swig of water, and said:

“Your taste has already been affected. In that case, don’t overthink it — just close your eyes and eat until you’re full.”

Leonid frowned and asked him, “Is it the lice?”

“Not sure.” Du Lai turned to look at Bai Youwei and Shen Mo. “Either way… the longer we stay here, the worse it gets for us.”

Shen Mo’s expression was perfectly composed — he seemed entirely unaffected — and replied, “All the more reason to get out quickly.”

Ashalina asked, “What’s our next move?”

“Keep heading east,” Bai Youwei said. “We need to complete the map. We have to figure out at least where the teleport points are and how many there are — otherwise the minotaur can easily cut us off.”

At the mention of the minotaur, no one’s expression was particularly pleasant.

In truth, the combined fighting strength of their group was more than sufficient to handle the minotaur. The problem was that the minotaur kept reviving — and until someone was sacrificed, every door around them stayed locked shut.

It was deeply unfair.

Bai Youwei thought it over, and the more she thought, the more she felt she was missing something.

“What number do you think this maze is?” she asked suddenly. “Could it be Maze Number 1?”

“Unlikely.” Du Lai was the first to object. “No one could get through this maze alone. And I think Maze Number 1 should be something more distinctive.”

“But the only mazes we don’t know are Numbers 1, 4, and 5,” Bai Youwei said, thinking it through slowly. “If this is Number 4 or 5, then its difficulty should be lower than Numbers 2 and 3. But the way it feels to me, it’s far harder than 2 or 3 combined. That doesn’t make sense.”

Chen Hui asked, “Weiwei-jie, do you mean… this maze actually isn’t that hard?”

“There’s something we’ve overlooked,” Bai Youwei said with certainty. “The minotaur shouldn’t be able to revive indefinitely. There has to be a way to kill it permanently. We just haven’t found it yet.”

Everyone exchanged glances.

Then, almost simultaneously, they all thought of that mural.

“The sword in the painting…” Bai Youwei murmured. “The sword the hero used to slay the minotaur — where is it?”

“But the room with the mural — several of us searched it and found no weapon at all.”

—