Three days later.
In the dim underground palace, a green lamp illuminated a corner.
Ji Xun was still buried in organizing the documents in his hands, muttering occasionally, "In Talon language, '⊰' represents space, '†' represents mechanisms, '☍' represents secret passages, 'ϡ' represents cursed seals, and 'ↅ' is either a corridor or a deceptive passage... This '☾' seems to indicate some kind of supreme existence?"
Not only was he reading the documents, but he was also making detailed notes. Over the past two days, he had memorized all the hundreds of thousands of characters in the stack of documents. In reality, excluding repetitions, there were less than a thousand unique characters, with only a few hundred commonly used ones. Whether it was hieroglyphs or alphabetic scripts, single symbols represented specific meanings. By analyzing the context in which frequently occurring symbols appeared, he could gradually decode their meanings. The higher the frequency, the greater the likelihood of decoding them. This applies to any writing system.
The content Ji Xun had remembered from the 407 space provided the most direct assistance. When he asked Chu Jiu, she also remembered some details. Combining their knowledge, they were able to translate many sentences directly. For three whole days, Ji Xun had been focused on translating the Talon language in the documents whenever he wasn't meditating.
With his exceptional comprehension and photographic memory, he was indeed well-suited for learning languages. His focus also significantly boosted the efficiency of his translation work. Although he hadn't deciphered much and couldn't guarantee complete accuracy, he had grasped the general meaning of over a hundred Talon characters. Even if there were unfamiliar symbols, the context often allowed him to infer their meanings.
Ji Xun felt he was ready.
Three days had passed, and the maze corridors were now silent, indicating that there were probably no survivors left. Any remaining monsters had likely been cleared out by the governor's forces. At this point, Ji Xun organized the documents and stood up, saying, "Let's go. The governor's group should be mostly dead by now. Let's find a way out."
"Finally, we're leaving?"
Upon hearing this, Nan Jing jumped up with excitement. For her lively personality, these days of sitting idly had been torture. She couldn't understand why Chu Jiu trusted this guy so much, waiting as he suggested, and for three whole days.
"Yes," Ji Xun nodded. He and Chu Jiu were both quiet people; he was translating ancient texts while she was healing. Over the three days, there had been little interaction, leaving Nan Jing quite bored. She spent her time tinkering with her summoning cards, using materials from the maze to make some small skeleton cards.
Chu Jiu, hearing Ji Xun, stood up from her meditation. One of the main reasons for acting now was her recovery. Her silver hair had returned to its original color, indicating significant healing. Taking care of the team's "strongest fighter" and "human radar" was crucial to minimize risks.
The three set off through the maze. With experience, Chu Jiu and Nan Jing could now suppress their fear and emotional fluctuations, avoiding most monsters unless they encountered elites. Originally, avoiding monsters in this maze with hundreds of thousands of skeletons seemed impossible, but the governor's forces had cleared a path through brute force. Although the thirty thousand skeletons were numerous, their low rank meant they posed little threat to the elite troops, which greatly facilitated Ji Xun's group's progress. With most of the governor's forces likely dead, there was no fear of running into them unexpectedly.
With Chu Jiu's exceptional perception, the risks were minimized.
As they walked, Ji Xun kept an eye out for something among the skeleton piles. Soon, they encountered a second Frost Knight's corpse. Seeing the drained state of the body, Chu Jiu murmured, "Curse techniques?"
Nan Jing, equally serious, added, "Seems so. The flesh and soul have been extracted."
Having already examined the corpses, Ji Xun collected the storage rings and equipment from the body without hesitation.
The three continued along the bone-littered corridors into the maze's depths, with Nan Jing leaving marks along the way, saving Ji Xun some effort. They found three more Frost Knight corpses, bringing the total to five. The loot included five sets of armor, five ice swords, five storage rings, and various potions, supplies, and armor pieces—quite a haul for a spell card apprentice like Ji Xun. However, they didn't find the main Frost Knight army, which was expected. Governor Cao likely died last, surrounded by the most guards, but also heavily guarded by the Secrecy Keepers.
As they moved, Chu Jiu's radar-like perception allowed them to avoid strong monsters. Despite the Secrecy Keepers' longer detection range, they managed to escape each time, using prepared obstacles.
The journey continued, their path littered with bones, leading them further into the unknown depths of the maze.
Using this method, the three of them encountered several "Secrecy Keepers" in the maze but never had a direct confrontation.
With this greatest deadly threat avoided, the remaining challenge was to solve the maze itself. Nan Jing had previously been to the maze to collect skeleton materials and was familiar with the paths known to the Hunter Guild. However, the entrance stone had fallen, blocking the original exit. They had to find another way out. Ji Xun had found an adventurer's journal, but it did not contain the correct path.
The three of them wandered the maze for another three days.
...
The maze was enormous. They had to avoid some monsters, took many detours, and wasted a lot of time. The complexity of this great cemetery maze was notorious, with only about 40% explored by the Hunter Guild. The remaining 60% had likely been traversed, but those explorers never made it out.
A common fatal threat in any maze-like other-dimensional space is the lack of food and water. Although they had storage rings, the supplies Ji Xun's group carried would last only about half a month. Six days had already passed. In a few more days, if they couldn't find a way out, they would starve, even without encountering any monsters.
In the dim corridor, the three walked at a steady pace. Ji Xun's expression remained calm as he observed their surroundings. Chu Jiu quietly followed, focusing on sensing their environment. However, the young spiritualist lady seemed increasingly anxious.
...
Anyone would become restless after walking for three days in such an oppressive, seemingly endless underground palace. Oh, not that guy! Nan Jing even suspected he was a zombie with no emotions. She had initially trusted Chu Jiu's claim that this Ji Xun was a master at solving puzzles. But over the past two days, her confidence waned. He didn't seem like a master. He didn't know much and chose only paths others had taken, without even making marks.
This made her doubt whether Chu Jiu had been deceived.
Finally, they arrived at another fork in the path. Nan Jing saw her mark on the corner wall for the third time and couldn't help but grumble, "Ah... are we just going to keep walking?"
Ji Xun responded blandly, "Yes."
Chu Jiu glanced at the mark, understanding Nan Jing's frustration but remained silent. Nan Jing, however, couldn't hold back her impatience. "But this is the third time we've come to this passage. We're stuck in a loop. Continuing like this will just waste our food and water. Shouldn't we look for other routes we haven't tried?"
Her tone grew increasingly resentful, doubting Ji Xun's ability to solve the maze.
Ji Xun looked at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. He hadn't shared his thought process early on. One reason was that it felt unnecessary. Another was that many of his thoughts were too complex to explain at the moment.
Chu Jiu understood his silence and said nothing. But Nan Jing did not. She asked, "Mr. Ji Xun, can you tell me why we're repeating this path?"
Ji Xun shrugged, "I don't know."
He truly didn't know. The maze's complexity exceeded anything he had encountered. His photographic memory had created a "QR code" map in his mind, but now this map had many bugs. The more they walked, the more bugs appeared.
They had indeed come to this passage three times. Ji Xun remembered clearly:
↑←↓←↑→↓←...
This was their fixed path each time. Even in a loop, the path and marks should be identical. But strangely, while most corridors were the same, some were different each time they passed. This discrepancy was the key point Ji Xun had noticed. His intuition told him that understanding why these corridors changed would unlock the maze's secret. So they had to keep walking to find the differences.
Although their repeated walks hadn't been fruitless. Their senses hadn't been misled, and their memories hadn't been altered. Ji Xun was almost certain the maze's "confusion" was a physical obstacle, not a mystical one. But these findings were still speculative, and he didn't want to explain prematurely.
...
Nan Jing's face darkened at his "I don't know." Were they going to be trapped here? She glanced at Chu Jiu, "Sister Chu Jiu?"
Chu Jiu's voice was calm, "I trust Mr. Ji Xun's judgment."
Her consistent composure was reassuring. Chu Jiu had observed the maze's complexity and understood the situation. If they were on their own, they would have no ideas either.
Nan Jing grumbled anxiously, "But..."
After three days together, they had learned a bit about each other. Ji Xun knew the young spiritualist wasn't hostile, just anxious from wandering aimlessly. After three days in a maze without progress, any normal person would be on the verge of collapse.
Nan Jing had been quite patient. Ji Xun decided to share a bit of progress: "We're close to solving the puzzle. If nothing goes wrong, a few more rounds through the maze should do it."
Chu Jiu nodded, "Hmm."
Nan Jing, though still skeptical, didn't argue further, and the three continued through the maze.
Half a day passed...
...
After a couple more rounds in the dim corridors, they returned to the same crossroad. Although Nan Jing had been questioning their approach, she wasn't completely oblivious. After another two rounds, she began to understand Ji Xun's reason for repeating the path and noticed the changes in the corridor markings each time. However, she couldn't figure out why this happened.
This time was different. As they walked, Ji Xun suddenly stopped, deep in thought. Chu Jiu, seeing the intense look in his eyes, guessed what was happening. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Nan Jing looked at him curiously.
After a moment of contemplation, Ji Xun's eyes lit up. "I found the correct way through the maze," he announced calmly, as if he had expected this all along.
Chu Jiu and Nan Jing's expressions brightened: Really?
"Yes," Ji Xun nodded.
With enough information pieced together during their walk, Ji Xun had a sudden epiphany: "running." It all made sense now. He realized the key word left by the adventurer Yuri in the journal. Ji Xun, having solved the puzzle that had troubled him for days, breathed a long sigh of relief.
Nan Jing couldn't help but ask, "So, Mr. Ji Xun, what should we do now?"
Ji Xun told them, "In a moment, follow me and run as fast as you can."
"Run?" Nan Jing was puzzled.
Chu Jiu seemed thoughtful. The solution was now clear, and there was no reason to keep it to himself. Ji Xun explained, "This maze isn't as infinitely large as it seems. At least, not as large as it appears to our eyes."
Chu Jiu, used to Ji Xun's unconventional thinking, took this in stride, while Nan Jing was surprised and confused. "But... we haven't reached the end after all this time," she said.
Ji Xun explained, "If we think in two dimensions, we'll never solve this maze's mystery."
He paused and added, "These corridors aren't all on the same plane!"
Both women frowned, unable to grasp the full meaning of his words.
Ji Xun continued, "Have you ever played with a Rubik's Cube?"
Chu Jiu began to understand, while Nan Jing was still catching up.
Ji Xun said, "This maze is like a Rubik's Cube. It's not a flat maze but a three-dimensional, shifting one."
Without waiting for questions, he explained, "The exit might always be in a certain direction, like the top of a Rubik's Cube. But each time we get close to the exit, the maze shifts, leading us into wrong paths. This is why we've been stuck in a loop. Some corridors have sensors that trigger the maze to rotate when we enter, and because the distance is great, we can't perceive the movement."
This explanation made it clear. Nan Jing's face lit up with realization. "So, we need to run! Running will reduce the maze's shifting time, allowing us to reach the exit before it moves again?"
"Yes," Ji Xun smiled and nodded, adding, "and we need to run on the correct path."
With the solution revealed, all doubts vanished. Nan Jing now looked at Ji Xun with admiration, understanding why Chu Jiu had called him a master of puzzles.
Witnessing his reasoning and insight firsthand was impressive. The solution seemed simple once explained, but figuring it out under stress and with limited supplies was the real challenge. Ji Xun's ability to analyze the maze structure with absolute calmness was commendable. While others, like Nan Jing, grew increasingly anxious, Ji Xun had maintained his focus, leading to this breakthrough.
Nan Jing, realizing her previous misjudgment, apologized, "Mr. Ji Xun, I'm sorry for my earlier rudeness."
Ji Xun smiled and dismissed it lightly. He had a favorable impression of the young spiritualist. He added, "Finding the correct path doesn't mean we're out of danger. Once in that space, we might encounter many monsters. The situation is uncertain, and we need to prepare for any risks."
Chu Jiu and Nan Jing nodded. Finding the way out was the best news. Otherwise, they might have been doomed to die in the maze.