“What reward?” Bai Youwei blurted out. “If it’s some useless piece of equipment, I’m not interested.”

The rabbit-headed Inspector smiled: “It will naturally be something you need.”

Bai Youwei regarded it with suspicion.

Was it really being this generous?

A game with only rewards and no penalties?… Hadn’t it always been emphasizing balance?

The Inspector raised a hand and gave the air a light tap. A glowing square appeared before them.

“If you’re willing, come in.”

The rabbit-headed figure smiled at her, tipped its hat, and walked ahead into the glowing square.

Bai Youwei hesitated, glancing around.

It really was strange — a glowing square this large, and yet the other people around them seemed completely unable to see it, with no reaction at all.

Was it some kind of rabbit illusion trick?

She looked again at the glowing square directly in front of her.

The Inspector oversaw the maze war — it wouldn’t deliberately try to harm her. It said they’d play a game, but what exactly did that mean…

Bai Youwei slowly rose to her feet and finally stepped inside —

……

The world within was a structure resembling a great cathedral.

The rabbit-headed Inspector stood at the center of the building, hands clasped behind its back. Seeing Bai Youwei enter, it gave a slight smile and said:

“This is an abandoned game instance, so you may explore it freely — no need to worry about system penalties.”

“An abandoned… game?” Bai Youwei murmured, curiously taking in her surroundings.

It looked both like a cathedral and like a pagoda. The surrounding walls were uneven, and if you looked closely, you could see that everything here was actually built from building blocks.

The rabbit-headed Inspector said: “The rules are simple — reach the highest point, retrieve the game prize, and you win.”

The Inspector lifted its gaze upward.

Bai Youwei followed its eyes and looked up.

At the very top of the tower hung a chandelier.

It was a Gothic-style wrought-iron vintage chandelier. At its crown was a hook-shaped metal piece connecting eight iron chains; hanging below was a circular disc, around the outer rim of which sat individual candleholders, each bearing one of sixteen thick white pillar candles.

The rabbit-headed Inspector said: “From where we’re standing, we can’t see it yet — but once you climb a bit higher, you’ll be able to see a gift box resting in the disc. Take the gift box, and the game is cleared.”

Bai Youwei tilted her head back, studying the chandelier, her expression thoughtful.

“How much weight can the disc support?” she asked.

“It can bear the weight of three adult men,” the Inspector replied.

So the chandelier itself wasn’t a trap. That meant the difficulty lay elsewhere…

Bai Youwei’s gaze slowly shifted to the area surrounding the chandelier.

Judging by eye alone, the highest point was roughly fifty meters above the ground. The uneven walls all around offered plenty of crevices and protrusions that could serve as footholds for climbing — but at the top, the structure curved inward in a smooth bowl-like arc with no grip points whatsoever.

If she were to climb straight up along one of the walls, she’d very likely find herself at an impasse just as she neared the top — unable to go further up, but also unable to climb back down.

Unless she had some item that let her scale sheer walls, her only option would be to make a desperate leap toward the chandelier with everything she had.

But the chandelier’s position was quite high up. Accounting for gravity and other factors, a player who jumped for it would likely fall about a quarter of the way below the chandelier.

Then again, even going back the way she came risked a fatal fall. This kind of steep climbing route was always easier to ascend than to descend safely.

So… how was she supposed to reach the highest point and retrieve the gift box hanging from the chandelier?

Bai Youwei looked at the Inspector, her expression unfriendly.

The rabbit-headed Inspector smiled benignly, as though it were being entirely thoughtful: “Now that your legs have recovered, a game like this should suit you perfectly.”

“Ha…” Bai Youwei let out a cold laugh. “Suit me? The way I see it… my legs just got better, and you want to break them again?”

—