No one paid Tan Xiao any attention.

Hat Man instructed his companions: “There are no vines in the room, but these people have fallen asleep just like the soldiers outside. That means the cause of the sleeping may not be the vines alone. Everyone stay sharp. Split up and search for the sword—the faster the better. This is not a place to linger.”

After he finished speaking, they naturally broke into small groups of two or three and fanned out to search.

Tan Xiao stood alone beside the deeply slumbering minister, staring blankly for a moment, then scratched his hair and joined the search.

The mission required them to find the king’s sword, not discover sleeping people. Making a big fuss about it was pointless.

Tan Xiao rummaged through the banquet hall. Nothing.

Hat Man’s group had no progress either.

“The food on the tables has gone completely black. How long have these people been sleeping?” A young man picked up a wine jug from the table and gave it a gentle shake. “Tsk, there’s still wine in it.”

A tall man mocked him: “Give it a taste then. Could be a fine aged vintage.”

“Hey, take a look at this woman.” Someone else had already dragged a richly dressed woman off the table with a smirk. “Not bad looking. She’s sleeping so soundly she wouldn’t know if something happened to her.”

Laughter broke out.

“You’ve got some nerve—look at the dust on her. They’ve been asleep for at least a decade or more. A woman who hasn’t bathed in over ten years, and you’re actually interested?”

“Screw off!”

“Hahahahaha…!”

The silent banquet hall grew rowdy as the men traded crude jokes.

Some were above all that—Hat Man among them, along with a few of his companions.

“Are these people insane?” said a man wearing glasses. “We’re in a place where we could lose our heads at any moment, and they still have the energy for that kind of thing.”

“Never mind them.” Hat Man replied coldly. “All we need is the king’s sword. If some of them die, that’s fewer people to split the reward with later, isn’t it?”

Glasses Man smiled slightly. “Fair enough.”

Hat Man waved at the rest of his companions. “Hey! We’re going upstairs to look. Keep searching around here.”

Tan Xiao immediately shot his hand up high. “I’m going too!”

Glasses Man scoffed. “Haven’t you been enough of a nuisance following us around?”

Hat Man glanced at Tan Xiao. “Let him come. If something goes wrong, having him as a shield wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

Tan Xiao seemed not to hear a word of it—he was already dashing enthusiastically toward the staircase.

—

The castle was enormous with many rooms. Tan Xiao burst through one door after another, finding nothing resembling a sword. Either the rooms were empty or someone was asleep inside.

He finished the second floor and moved to the third.

Finished the third, then onto the fourth.

Floor after floor he searched upward. Every person he encountered was sunk in deep sleep. Thorns sealed doors and windows, sunlight filtered in through the gaps in fine beams, and tiny particles of dust danced in the light.

Whether from exhaustion or drowsiness, Hat Man and the others gradually began to feel drained.

Walking at the front, Tan Xiao pushed open yet another door and barged in brazenly, filling the air with his “oh!” and “whoa!” of exclamation.

Glasses Man watched with a mix of envy and contempt. “That kid really has boundless energy.”

Hat Man pressed his fingernails hard into his palm to keep himself as alert as possible. “…Maybe it’s not that he has more energy.”

“Hm?” Glasses Man looked at him questioningly.

Hat Man glanced at the marks he’d pressed into his palm and murmured, “Maybe…it’s because he’s entered the maze more times than the rest of us, so he has a higher resistance.”

Glasses Man was stunned. “Him, of all people?”

Bang!

Tan Xiao shoved the other half of the door fully open and called out to them excitedly: “Get over here! Hurry, hurry! There’s something incredible in here!”

Hat Man walked straight ahead. “Let’s go have a look.”

—