The minotaur collapsed again.

Du Lai and Leonid went to the eastern and northern doors respectively, trying to open them — but the doors remained locked shut.

“Last time it only took fifteen seconds to revive!” Du Lai kicked the door furiously, then ran back in agitation and frustration. “We’re almost out of time!”

Chen Hui held the flashlight with gently trembling hands. She worked hard to keep herself calm and said, “…Does anyone have rope? Tying it up might buy some time… Aah! What are you doing?!”

At some point, Slade had appeared behind her. Without warning, he grabbed her and began gnawing frantically at her shoulder.

Chen Hui screamed in panic.

Leonid seized him and hurled him to the ground.

Slade let out a sharp, agonized shriek. Even though he’d barely been touched, he screamed as though he were dying — wailing in despair and torment, over and over:

“I need to eat! Let me eat! We’re all going to die anyway, none of us can escape… I need to eat!… I can’t take it… I’m so hungry!”

Everyone was struck with horror. Just then Du Lai shouted from across the room: “Over here! Throw him to me!”

Du Lai was standing beside the minotaur, which had already opened its eyes. It was pressing both hands against the floor, about to rise from the pool of blood.

Leonid didn’t stop to think — he grabbed Slade and flung him.

Du Lai caught him and slung him forward, sending him crashing right in front of the minotaur.

“AAAAAAH!”

Slade’s face contorted in absolute terror, as though he could foresee his own fate. He tried to flee, but the creature caught him with ease.

The next second, those massive jaws opened wide. *Crunch* — they snapped through his spine.

“The door’s open!” Du Lai shouted. “Move!”

Bai Youwei called out immediately, “East door! Go!”

They poured out through the eastern door and kept moving east. Strangely, the minotaur did not give chase. It remained in the stone chamber where it was, busy gorging itself — chewing even the bones with relish.

…

Bai Youwei pressed on through seven or eight stone chambers before finally stopping.

This time, they found another key — graphite black.

But no one was in the mood to feel pleased. Everyone’s emotions were still caught in the tension and fear the minotaur had left behind.

Du Lai strode up to Mark and drove his boot into him.

“You didn’t say it could revive!”

Mark wailed, “I didn’t know you could kill it!”

“And what was that whole business with Slade?!” Du Lai sneered. “Don’t tell me you people actually come from a tribe of cannibals!”

Mark answered, “I don’t know…”

Du Lai raised his foot and kicked him again.

Mark kept his mouth clamped shut and only replied, “I genuinely don’t know! I don’t know why Slade became like that!”

Bai Youwei held the rabbit, a heaviness settling in her chest.

That first lightning strike had clearly been effective — she just hadn’t anticipated that the minotaur could revive.

And until a sacrifice appeared, all the surrounding doors locked shut, trapping everyone inside. That was far too unfavorable for them.

“We can’t go any further today.” Bai Youwei looked toward Shen Mo. “We need time to let the rabbit recharge first.”

Shen Mo scanned the surroundings and nodded. “We do need to rest. Everyone’s been badly shaken.”

Bai Youwei blinked. She thought she glimpsed something dark on Shen Mo — tiny things, like small flying insects, crawling across him.

The chamber was so dim that she almost convinced herself she’d imagined it, but a moment later she spotted another one.

“What’s this?” Bai Youwei pointed at his arm in surprise.

Shen Mo hadn’t noticed at all. He looked down and discovered several tiny black insects, barely two millimeters long, sitting on his clothing.

“Sir! How did you get so many bugs on you?!”

On the other side of the room, Chen Hui had noticed something was off too. “There are several on your beard!” she called out.

Du Lai and Ashalina heard and immediately checked themselves for insects, quickly finding two or three each.

Even Bai Youwei found two on her skirt.

As everyone stared in uneasy bewilderment, Mark said, “Those are lice… Whenever you spend time in the same chamber as the minotaur, you pick up a few. We… we have them too…”

—