The listening device had been placed by Du Lai.

Du Lai and Fu Miaoxue had long noticed that Yu Chaohui wasn’t as close with Bai Youwei as Tan Xiao and the others were. Today, they had happened to come across Yu Chaohui stopping Shen Mo and saying he had something he wanted to discuss — and they had guessed it might have something to do with Bai Youwei.

Du Lai had deliberately walked past the two of them, and in the moment their shoulders nearly brushed, the listening device found its way onto Yu Chaohui’s person. His hands were deft; everything was done without a soul noticing.

But Yu Chaohui hadn’t gone after Bai Youwei with the scathing criticism they’d expected. Instead, he had objectively acknowledged that Bai Youwei was indeed intelligent, then expressed his view that a young girl couldn’t shoulder such heavy responsibilities, urging Shen Mo to think carefully.

The words hadn’t been sharp enough, which Fu Miaoxue found a little disappointing.

Still, seeing the color drain from Bai Youwei’s face, Fu Miaoxue felt the goal had been accomplished — she had finally won a round.

……

When Shen Mo returned, he noticed Bai Youwei’s state was off. She seemed distracted, and her words kept wandering.

He asked what was wrong. She brushed it off, saying she was thinking about entering the Maze the next day. Her words were seven parts true, three parts false, and while Shen Mo was suspicious, he couldn’t quite see through her.

This state persisted all the way until evening.

The two of them lay in bed, neither able to sleep.

“If you’re tired… or feeling out of sorts, just rest for a few more days.” Shen Mo thought for a moment and said, “Entering the Maze a few days later won’t be a big problem.”

Bai Youwei immediately shot back: “Do you think I can’t manage it?”

Her sudden sharpness caught Shen Mo off guard.

And in that same instant, Bai Youwei’s heart lurched. What was she saying?! Why was she using this tone with him? The anger and resentment she felt — none of it had anything to do with him at all!

But… she didn’t know how to fix it.

After a pause, she simply gave in to the impulse, stiffly saying: “I… I’m tired. Going to sleep.”

No response came from Shen Mo. She didn’t want to dwell on it either, so she closed her eyes and forced herself to fall asleep as quickly as she could.

A strong arm draped around her waist, wrapping her in warm heat.

She still refused to open her eyes.

From beside her, she heard his low, quiet sigh.

That night passed in complete stillness.

……

The next day was the day they would head to the Maze.

Before going to the Maze, they first needed to go to the rest hall and have the Rabbit-Head Inspector unlock the access.

All one had to do was press the identity marker on their wrist, and they would be automatically transported to the rest hall. By the time Bai Youwei and Shen Mo arrived, nearly all twenty-four other Kings had already gathered.

Just like them, each King had brought along three to five companions, all of them looking around with curious, puzzled expressions.

The Inspector had clearly said that Maze access would be unlocked today — so why was nothing happening? Not even the Inspector was anywhere to be seen.

At that moment, someone noticed something unusual in the satellite map beneath their feet.

Near each territory, a haze of mist was slowly gathering. At first it was a pale white; little by little it thickened into swirling fog, and viewed from above, it looked like white clouds.

Someone said, “Could this be the Maze?”

One person tried walking onto the patch of “white cloud.” The map reacted — a flash of light, and the person who had just stepped in vanished in an instant.

The “white cloud” disappeared along with them.

Bai Youwei looked around. More and more Kings were entering the Maze; with every group that went in, another patch of white cloud disappeared.

It seemed that once access was unlocked, the Maze placed no limit on the number of subjects, but only one King was permitted to enter per Maze.

Yan Qingwen had chosen the mist near Changsha. Before leaving, he waved at them: “Good luck.”

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo looked at each other, then both, as if by unspoken agreement, turned their gaze toward the direction of Zhoushan.

There, too, was a patch of mist.

But they could not enter at the same time.

They would have to separate again…

—