The ship was rocking violently. Ashalina helped Bai Youwei up. “Are you alright?”

Bai Youwei shook her head. “Just took a tumble — nothing serious. Let’s all check out the surroundings first.”

The group spread out at her words, each heading to the bow or stern to assess the situation.

Bai Youwei settled back into her wheelchair, gripped the railing, and observed their environment.

— This was an old, small fishing boat. The wooden planks of the deck were slick and rotted. The outer iron hull was covered in rust. When she gripped the railing, her hand came away smeared with rust and grime.

There was no sail, and no rumble of an engine. The fishing boat rose and fell with the waves, driven forward by the tides.

The sky was dark and oppressive; churning black clouds blanketed the entire sky. In the dim light, she could make out a large, dark silhouette ahead — an island, which was presumably the location of this Maze.

Ashalina stepped out of the ship’s cabin and was immediately hit with a gust of cold air. She hurriedly pulled the zipper of her jacket up higher, sighing: “It’s a bit cold…”

“Let’s go inside first.” Bai Youwei turned her wheelchair around. “We can’t reach shore anytime soon. This ship looks like it’s heading toward that island up ahead.”

Ashalina nodded. “Most likely. I just poked around the helm — none of the controls are responding. This ship is running completely on autopilot.”

One of her underlings climbed up from below deck, calling out: “Boss — there are tons of fish down here!”

“It’s ‘Big Sis’!” Ashalina bellowed irritably. “Call me wrong again and see if I don’t cut your ear off!”

The underling immediately bobbed his head up and down: “Big Sis, Big Sis!”

Pan Xiaoxin came running over with a pile of life jackets in his arms: “Weiwei sis, there are life jackets on this ship — exactly five.”

Bai Youwei saw the life jackets in his hands, and her brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Pan Xiaoxin couldn’t understand why, looked down at the life jackets, then back up at Bai Youwei. “…Is something wrong, Weiwei sis?”

“We’ll talk about that in a bit. Let’s all head inside first.” Bai Youwei’s brow remained creased. “The wind and waves are too strong out here — let’s get inside and put the life jackets on in there.”

The ship’s cabin was not large. It had two rows of long benches, and if they squeezed together, about six people could sit. The very front was the helm, even narrower, fit for only one person.

With the sea so rough, they sat inside the swaying cabin as the sky outside grew darker and darker. The dim yellow ship lanterns let out a creaking groan, as if they might not withstand the rocking and flicker out at any moment.

Ashalina sniffed her life jacket and wrinkled her nose. “Reeks of fish. I wonder if this whole boatload of fish is meant to be our emergency rations.”

“The food we brought ourselves should last about two days…” one of her underlings said quietly.

Ashalina’s two underlings were roughly the same height and build — both stocky, with dark skin and close-cropped hair. Bai Youwei could never tell them apart; she only knew one was called A’Long and the other A’Qing.

Bai Youwei asked them: “Are you strong swimmers?”

Ashalina blinked. “What — you’re worried the ship might run into trouble?”

Bai Youwei nodded. “In the Mazes I’ve encountered before, the system never provided tools for free. If this Maze is truly set on that island, then the system has no reason to have prepared life jackets for us. We may be facing a situation where we have no choice but to enter the water.”

Everyone stiffened, and instinctively turned to look out through the mottled glass windows.

The sky was dark and visibility poor, but they could still make out the fishing boat advancing toward the island, drawing ever closer.

“You mean… something is going to go wrong on the way there? Or is there something wrong with this ship?” Ashalina stared out with a puzzled expression. “What kind of Maze even is this…”

—