The group retreated, pulling back to the previous stone chamber.

“Keep going,” Bai Youwei said.

Ashalina said, “If we go back any further, we should be back at the murals.”

Bai Youwei nodded. “Let’s go back then.”

They continued to retrace their steps. This time, however, there were no murals to be seen—no iron door, no 12 locks, no column. There was nothing at all, only an empty stone chamber.

Everyone realized something was wrong. They had clearly retraced their steps, yet where they ended up was not where they had started.

Had their sense of direction been scrambled? Or was there some trick within the stone chambers themselves?

Du Lai held his flashlight and carefully examined every stone tile, tapping them lightly, testing for hidden mechanisms.

Shen Mo tilted his head and pressed it against the stone wall. His brow furrowed; he listened for a while, then signaled Du Lai to stop: “Nearby… it sounds like there’s something here.”

Everyone went quiet, pressing themselves against the walls, holding their breath and listening carefully.

It sounded like the breathing of some beast… huff, huff—heavy, deep, accompanied by ponderous footsteps, one after another, traveling through the cold stone walls…

In that instant, the image of a massive bull-headed, human-bodied creature surfaced in everyone’s mind.

“There wasn’t any sound just now,” Du Lai said, looking at Bai Youwei. “Does this mean… the creature is looking for us?”

Everyone’s nerves snapped taut at once.

When they had first entered the maze, they had stayed a long time in the room with the murals and had also listened carefully at all four doors—there hadn’t been a single sound. Now that a sound had appeared, did it mean the creature was approaching?

Bai Youwei thought for a moment. “…In the myth, the bull-headed monster would eat the humans offered to it as tribute. Perhaps, as we search for the keys, the bull-headed monster is also searching for us—we need to avoid it as much as possible.”

She looked again at the door they had retreated through. “But for now, the more important thing is to establish our bearings.”

If they couldn’t determine their direction, they would likely keep going in circles in this place.

Shen Mo took out a compass and looked at it. If the compass was working correctly, the door they had retreated from—corresponding to the direction of the third mural—was due east.

“Should we change direction?” Du Lai asked.

Both stone chambers to the east had been identical, very likely a dead end.

Bai Youwei looked at Shen Mo and asked, “Try and see if you can carve a mark into the wall.”

Shen Mo nodded, unfastened the paper doll from his wrist, transformed it into a dagger, found a spot on the wall, and carved a “Z.”

Then they opened the door to the south—again, an empty stone chamber.

Bai Youwei dug two dead batteries from her bag, stood them upright in the middle of the stone chamber, then asked everyone to retreat back to the previous room.

The breathing sounds grew more and more distinct—as if they had drawn terrifyingly close. Without even pressing an ear to the wall, they could be heard perfectly clearly.

The breath carried a low rumbling growl—huff… huff…

The footsteps were agitated and heavy—thud, thud… thud, thud…

Chen Hui couldn’t help edging toward Leonid, her small face tense as she stared at the door to the north and muttered, “It sounds like… it’s getting closer and closer…”

Bai Youwei asked Shen Mo, “Is the mark still there?”

Shen Mo shook his head, his expression grave. “The mark is gone.”

Du Lai carefully examined the grain of each door. “These stone chambers are all exactly identical—there’s no distinction whatsoever. It’s like… duplicates.”

Ashalina gripped a knife and listened to the sounds coming from beyond the north door for a moment, then asked Bai Youwei, “That thing is very close. Should we leave here first?”

“Let’s take the south door,” Bai Youwei said.

The six of them passed through the south door. Outside it was another stone chamber. Bai Youwei was the first to reach the middle of the room, and found that the two batteries she had left there—just like Shen Mo’s mark—were nowhere to be seen.

Bai Youwei’s brow knitted. “This is a bit of a problem…”

—