Fu Miaoxue was a doll — she didn’t tire.

One by one, everyone stepped into the painting. Along the winding paths among mountains and waters, more brushstroke figures appeared.

She glanced at the painting, confirmed that everyone had successfully entered the world within, then rolled it up and tucked herself away behind a small earth mound.

……

Inside the painting, Du Lai led the group up the mountain.

Yan Qingwen looked around — misty peaks, a few weathered pine trees, and halfway up the slope, a rustic rural cottage that faithfully recreated the scene from the ink-wash painting.

All of them were players who had been enhanced through the maze, so mountain paths posed no real difficulty. They reached the halfway point quickly and entered the mountain cottage.

Inside were tables and chairs; in the courtyard, a well.

The space couldn’t accommodate a large number of people, but for rest purposes it was more than adequate.

Yan Qingwen noticed a stack of sleeping mats piled in one corner of the room, along with instant noodles and a thermos — clearly modern items, which told him Du Lai and Fu Miaoxue had been stockpiling supplies in here for some time.

Du Lai distributed the sleeping mats and food, then checked the time.

“Rest as quickly as you can. The moment conditions change outside, we leave immediately.”

“If we’re inside, how do we know what’s happening out there?” one of the subjects asked.

Du Lai answered, “When something happens, you’ll know.”

Yan Qingwen then asked, “And if nothing happens — can we leave on our own?”

“When the scroll is rolled up, this becomes a sealed space. An exit only appears when the painting is unfurled.” Du Lai explained. “That’s why there must always be someone outside — to prevent someone from rolling up the painting and trapping us in here permanently.”

Yan Qingwen nodded in understanding.

Though both were spatial items, Bai Youwei’s dollhouse was clearly far more advanced than this painting. Still, for an ordinary player, a spatial item like this was already quite remarkable.

Everyone found a place to rest — some sitting, some lying down, no longer talking.

Chen Hui took out bandages and carefully wrapped Leonid’s wounds.

For the first hour, everyone rested quietly yet remained on edge, ready to respond to any sudden development at a moment’s notice. But as time slowly passed, unease began to set in…

“Why haven’t we been called out yet?” One subject couldn’t contain themselves anymore. “It’s been over an hour — what if something’s gone wrong out there?”

“Right — in a battle game like this, danger can come at any moment. How has there been nothing for this long?”

“Hey… what if something happened to the king? What if we can never get out?”

Du Lai stood up with a frown. “Everyone quiet. No news right now is good news. Miaoxue and I agreed — whether or not anything happens, she’ll open the scroll after two hours. Rest for another half hour, and I’ll have you out.”

That seemed to settle things somewhat, and the murmuring quieted. Everyone waited with somewhat more patience.

Du Lai swept his gaze over the subjects, inwardly puzzled. If Fu Miaoxue spotted anything, she would have unrolled the scroll at the first sign. So why still nothing?

Could it be… that the other king still hadn’t made a move?

That was deeply strange…

Du Lai walked out of the courtyard and stood at a high point, gazing down at the stone steps below.

……

At one hour and fifty minutes, a white glowing door appeared on the stone steps.

Du Lai felt a wave of relief wash through him. He led the somewhat-rested subjects down the mountain.

It seemed Fu Miaoxue had grown impatient as well — she let them out just before the two-hour mark — and she immediately grabbed Du Lai to complain: “I have no idea what the other side is up to. All this time, and not a single movement.”

Du Lai considered this for a moment, then asked her: “Did you go check the surrounding territories?”

Fu Miaoxue shook her head. “No — I was afraid of running into them, so I stayed hidden behind that earth mound the whole time. And would you believe it, they didn’t even come looking once!”

“Could they already be claiming territories?” Chen Hui couldn’t help asking.

Yan Qingwen suggested, “Since we’ve had enough rest, why don’t we go take a look around?”

Du Lai thought it over, then nodded. “Alright. Let’s go take a look.”

—