The smell of blood in the stone chamber finally dissipated.

The six of them sat gathered around the fire in silence, quietly warming themselves by the flames.

After some time, Du Lai spoke: “When do we leave?”

He was normally the most patient of them all, yet right now he was unbearably restless, desperate to get out as soon as possible.

“We wait for Marc to wake up,” Bai Youwei said quietly. “Or you could carry him.”

Du Lai gave a cold smile. “I’m afraid he’ll wake up midway and bite through my throat.”

Bai Youwei thought for a moment, then reached into her bag and pulled something out. She fastened it onto the unconscious Marc.

“What’s that?” Du Lai asked.

“A dog collar.” Bai Youwei kept her head down as she tightened the leather strap.

【Pet Collar: Wearing this collar won’t necessarily make the wearer obedient, but it will stop them from attacking. The effect lasts until the collar is removed.】

This was a tool she had obtained from White Gloves. The last time she had won against White Gloves, she had acquired a good number of tools — all sorts, with all manner of effects. Though the variety was wide, only by using each item at the right moment and in the right situation could its full potential be realized.

Du Lai asked her: “Can this thing be used on a Minotaur?”

“…Yes.” Bai Youwei looked up at him briefly. “But the prerequisite is that you can actually get it on the Minotaur, and guarantee that the Minotaur won’t rip the collar off.”

The collar could only guarantee that the wearer wouldn’t attack — it didn’t guarantee the wearer couldn’t damage the collar itself.

And besides, given the Minotaur’s build, it would be far from easy for Du Lai to smoothly fasten this little contraption around its neck. In contrast, someone like Marc — completely drained of strength — would find it nearly impossible to remove the collar once it was on.

Du Lai fell silent and said nothing more.

Bai Youwei finished fastening the collar on Marc and looked around at everyone. “We can set out. Shall we go now?”

“Let’s go. Sitting here waiting is just wasting time,” Leonid said, standing up and hoisting Marc off the ground simultaneously, slinging him over his back. “This little guy — I’ll carry him. Half-deranged as he is, he can still save lives at a critical moment.”

Everyone heard this and said nothing.

Frankly speaking, it was a rather despicable remark. Leonid was plainly suggesting they use Marc as a bargaining chip for everyone else’s survival.

Despicable, yet inescapable. Once the Minotaur was in pursuit, the door to the stone chamber could only be opened by someone dying — no matter what, someone had to die.

Bai Youwei said: “I’ll do my best to keep it from catching up to us. If we’re lucky… perhaps we’ll find that magic sword somewhere along the way.”

In the murals, the hero had slain the Minotaur with a magic sword.

But they had no idea where the sword was. Perhaps with luck, they’d find it in one of the stone chambers — or perhaps, with no luck at all, they would never find it.

Bai Youwei led the group away from the teleportation point.

She deliberately counted her steps as she moved, using the key to mark their path while winding through the maze in circles. Whenever they were nearly cornered, they would use the nearest teleportation point to put distance between themselves and the Minotaur.

They passed through sixty or seventy stone chambers this way, and the Minotaur never caught up with them. Bai Youwei’s hand-drawn map grew steadily more complete.

She also found several new keys along the way, but the sword remained nowhere to be found.

Could it be that the magic sword didn’t exist?

Bai Youwei couldn’t help but start to doubt it. But if there was no magic sword, how were they supposed to break the deadlock when they faced the Minotaur? Did someone really have to die? She couldn’t work it out.

Another door stood before them. Bai Youwei pushed it open gently and was about to toss the little chick inside to scout it out, when a faint glow seeped out from within the chamber.

Every other stone chamber had been pitch black.

Everyone paused, and after studying the room from the doorway for a moment, they realized — it was the chamber with the murals!

Four oil lamps hung from the pillar at the center of the stone chamber, casting that faint light!

“This is the room we were in when we first entered the maze!” A’Shalina’s voice couldn’t conceal her delight.

The others’ faces too broke into expressions of relief.

Because this room had an exit.

Even though they still hadn’t gathered all the keys and couldn’t open the iron door yet, the mere sight of it filled their hearts with hope.

—