Mark stuttered: “Probably… after three or four days, when the body starts to decompose, it disappears.”

“I see…” Bai Youwei pondered for a moment, then said to everyone: “When we release the chicks in a bit, let’s mark them somehow — for example, when tying the thread, use a specific type of knot.”

Du Lai asked her: “Do we keep heading south?”

“Mm — let’s see how many rooms we have to pass before we reach the end.” Bai Youwei said.

They pressed on.

In the next room, they made a new discovery —

A dark teal key.

Mark and the others were elated upon seeing the key. “Four now! We didn’t expect this room to have one — wonderful!”

In truth, it was only four. They were still very far from the required 12 keys. But the three men all showed expressions of joy — clearly, they desperately wanted to leave this place.

Mark eagerly scooped up the key and reverently held it out to Bai Youwei.

Bai Youwei, deeply reluctant to touch it, refused to take it and had him hand it to Shen Mo instead.

At this moment, a vague something flickered through the back of her mind. She concentrated and tried to chase the thought, but couldn’t pinpoint where that faint sense of incongruity was coming from.

She looked around. Du Lai, Chen Hui, and the others were taking the chicks to probe the surrounding rooms.

In truth, the current stone chamber they were standing in had also been probed with a chick — it was just that each stone chamber covered more than two hundred square meters, and the flashlight at the time had only been illuminating the chick, so the key lying on the ground had gone unnoticed.

Finding it now wasn’t too late.

Chen Hui waved toward Bai Youwei. “Wei-jie, the south room is clear — do we keep heading south?”

“Mm, let’s continue.”

Forward again, one more room to the south.

A beast’s roar suddenly erupted from behind them!

Everyone was startled and spun around to look at the closed door — the Minotaur sounded as though it was right on the other side of the stone wall! It bellowed, it roared, it paced back and forth in frenzied agitation, as though it wanted to devour every last one of them!

Mark, Dylan, and Slade reacted to the sound with particular ferocity.

All three of them practically collapsed to the ground on the spot, their legs shaking without cease, unable even to stand.

“What’s going on?” Leonid couldn’t make sense of it. “By the sound of it, it seems very close — but how did this thing just materialize out of nowhere?!”

Bai Youwei’s expression grew grave. “It’s the teleportation point from just now.”

Leonid was taken aback. “That room where the chick disappeared?”

“This is trouble…” Bai Youwei said, brow deeply furrowed. “It seems the Minotaur not only knows our exact position, it also uses teleportation points to swiftly reach the room closest to us.”

“If it was that teleportation point, then it’s currently only two rooms away from us.” Shen Mo released the paper doll figure from his body, shifting it into a blade that he held in his hand. “Let’s keep moving.”

Bai Youwei pressed her lips together. “Keep heading south.”

Du Lai pushed against the south door — it wouldn’t budge. “…The south is blocked. Dead end.”

Mark, Dylan, and Slade were trembling without stop, and haltingly said: “Maybe… maybe we just… stay put… as long as we don’t move, the Minotaur won’t move either…”

Bai Youwei ignored them, pointed toward a door, and took the lead: “West! We go west!”

She entered the western stone chamber, then went to push the next western door — it didn’t move an inch. Completely stuck. The west couldn’t be taken either!

Dead end!

This time, Bai Youwei’s expression truly changed.

And from behind them, the low growling drew closer.

Leonid said: “South and west are blocked — go north!”

But Bai Youwei shook her head. “Too late. No matter which way we go, we’ll run directly into the Minotaur head-on.”

Leonid wasn’t slow-witted — he mulled it over carefully for a moment and immediately understood.

Suppose there were nine stone chambers, numbered 1 through 9. Bai Youwei was currently at position 7, and the Minotaur was currently at position 3. If Bai Youwei headed north, she would be caught by the Minotaur at room 1. If she headed east, she would be caught at room 9.

No matter which direction she went — she would collide with that man-eating monster.