Ever since No.3 said, "Wise men don't fall in love," the meeting room fell into an eerie silence.
Zhuge An did not seem to want to waste his breath to explain. After he said that, he closed his eyes again and continued to lean against the wall silently. His back was straight like an evergreen pine tree that would never fall.
Zong Jiu raised his eyebrows and said, "Come on, briefly describe what your team encountered in the Death Maze."
At the mention of this topic, Xu Su, who had some hope earlier, lowered his head again. A trace of pity flashed across his face.
Even so, he told himself over and over again, forcing himself to listen.
Xu Sen could not just die like that. No matter how sad Xu Su was, he had to find out the cause of his death.
If he did not even have the courage to listen to the past, he would not be able to help Brother Jiu point his sword at No.1 and get the Universal Wishing Voucher.
Therefore, Zhuge An, who had just rested, spoke again after a moment of silence. He described their encounter in the Death Maze concisely and comprehensively.
The maze was located in a unique alternate dimension. The entire space was covered by a huge maze.
The maze was covered with a dense fog that was so thick that one could not see their own fingers. It was scattered all around and blocked all the prying eyes.
The main mission of this dungeon was to find the only way out of the Death Maze. If they could not find it on the seventh day, they would be annihilated.
The entire maze was similar to the Minos Labyrinth in ancient Greek mythology. However, unlike the Minos Labyrinth, the Death Maze only had one level and was unbelievably huge.
In the beginning, everyone was placed at the entrance. Behind them was a dead end and there were three forks in front, left, and right.
The maze required that only one person could enter at a time.
Some people recalled that in Greek mythology, Theseus had used the method of spinning to solve the Minos Labyrinth. Therefore, they began to learn how to put in a thread. Unfortunately, after they entered, they realized that the ghosts in the Death Maze could cut off or redirect the thread. After losing several trainees who had directly followed the spinning sheep into the tiger's den, they had no choice but to change their strategy. They could only use the most stupid method to measure the maze.
Thus, after losing a few people, they obtained the blue flame that could disperse the fog. They held it in their hands like a small lantern.
After obtaining the Blue Fire, the restrictions on the maze had been relaxed, allowing them to enter more than one person at a time.
However, no one expected that the blue fire would attract the wandering ghosts in the labyrinth. As a result, a few more teams that entered the labyrinth were wiped out.
It could be said that the path leading to the exit of this labyrinth was paved with the blood and flesh of the survivors.
Once, when they were halfway through their exploration, a group of survivors encountered shadowy monsters in the death maze.
Shadowspawn could hide in a person's shadow, so when the blue flame was raised, not only did they have to prevent the flame from extinguishing, they also had to prevent the Shadowspawn from ambushing them.
Xu Sen was holding the Book of the Black Hen in his hand. He had lowered his head to chant the spell and did not notice that the black magic book in his hand had drawn a black shadow on the wall of the labyrinth.
Originally, he was definitely going to die, but Zhuge An blocked the attack for him at the last moment. It hit him right in the heart and cost him an A-grade Substitute Doll. In the end, he was saved. It was a daunting experience but not dangerous.
Later on, Zhuge An deduced that this death maze was located in a mirror world based on the clues he had found along the way.
The part that they had explored was the first part. Next, they only had to follow the diagonal path of the mirror to find the exit that was opposite the folding mirror.
However, the center of this path was filled with the most terrifying ghosts, as well as countless terrifying existences that could not be seen.
Those who had survived with great difficulty died one after another on the path to the exit. In the end, only two people were left. However, in front of them was a group of malicious ghosts that needed fresh blood to lure away.
Zhuge An and Xu Sen both understood that if no one sacrificed themselves, both of them would die here.
On the other hand, the Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Disk had already been used to its limit in the previous levels.
Xu Sen was silent for a long time. "There is a forbidden spell in the Book of the Black Hen …"
Zhuge An, who was walking in front, was covered in blood and had messy black hair. He turned around and glanced at him.
This forbidden spell was the most powerful dark witchcraft in the Book of the Black Hen. It had the power of an S-grade attack.
However, since it was dark witchcraft, it was different from the mild white witchcraft. Although it had great power, there was a corresponding price to pay.
The price was one's life force.
Xu Sen had already paid the price once. In his last group dungeon, a scorched finger had allowed him to survive, and he had also obtained a good result of ascending to Level A.
He trembled as he opened the dark witchcraft book in his hand. His charred finger, which had lost all feeling, was trembling slightly.
Xu Sen knew very well what his decision meant.
It meant sacrifice, it meant death, and it meant that he would never … never see Xu Su again.
The young man whose smile could dispel the haze of others. Xu Sen tried so hard to hide his ugly hand behind his back, but he carefully touched his finger. The words that he never said, the confession that he could never say.
He would never see him again.
This time of contemplation seemed to have passed for a very long time. It was as long as a century, or perhaps it was only a second.
Xu Sen gritted his teeth and suddenly raised his head. He said in a hoarse voice, "Give me two minutes."
There were only ten minutes left before the dungeon would close.
Zhuge An had saved him once. Xu Sen had to repay this life.
If he didn't do anything, both of them would die here with no survivors.
He was a man of honor. He could not die without owing a favor.
Xu Sen opened the pen cap with his teeth and squatted by the wall. He opened the magic book in his hand and quickly wrote on the first page.
In the year since he entered the infinite loop, he had almost never cried. This was an exception. His eyes were hazy with tears, and he trembled with every word he wrote.
After he finished writing those few paragraphs, he tore out the forbidden spell on the last page of the Book of the Black Hen and handed the thick black book to Zhuge An.
"Please help me … pass this book to Xu Su, the C-grade trainee, Xu Su from Brother Jiu's team."
The black-haired man stared at the A-grade item in his hand and nodded. "I'll pass it to him."
For some unknown reason, Zhuge An, who had always been taciturn, suddenly asked, "Is there anything else you want to say?"
"No. Thank you for taking care of me before, Senior Zhuge An. Please live on."
Xu Sen wiped his tears and chanted a string of difficult incantations. He clutched the torn page and rushed into the fog without looking back.
The ghostly shadow whistled and disappeared, swallowing the body that was gradually turning into a charred corpse.
This narration was tantamount to death by a thousand cuts.
Xu Su's eyes, which were red from crying, burst open again. He trembled as he flipped open the last page of the Book of the Black Hen.
Sure enough, in the corner between the page and the spine of the book, there was a trace of a torn page that had obviously been forcefully torn open.
He stared at the mark for a long time and gently brushed it with his hand, crying and laughing at the same time.
Xu Sen knew the danger of this forbidden spell, so he would rather tear it down than let Xu Su try to use it or know how to use it.
After Zhuge An finished speaking, the conference room fell into silence again.
The white-haired youth suddenly looked up and glanced at the black-haired man's sharp face and chin. He had some strange guesses in his heart.
They had some kind of tacit understanding between them.
Now, in front of Xu Su, Zong Jiu did not mention that Zhuge An deliberately led the team into the Dimension Door. Therefore, Zhuge An also kept his mouth shut and pretended that nothing had happened.
However, if one followed this line of reasoning, the reason why Zhuge An vomited blood in the middle of the dungeon was very likely because he used the Tai Chi Eight Trigrams to predict part of the future.
If Zhuge An could predict the danger of the next dungeon, could he also predict Xu Sen's death? Could he guess that he would come back from this dungeon safely?
After all, to put it bluntly, Zhuge An's ability to judge people was definitely not bad. At that time, not only did he see through Zong Jiu's cold exterior, he even saw the chains on his body. Therefore, it was impossible for him not to know Xu Sen's personality. Although the latter was a little boring, he was definitely the kind of person who would repay kindness.
Moreover, he suddenly blocked a knife for Xu Sen and even used up a precious A-grade item. This was not Zhuge An's style. Normally, as long as there was a possibility, Zhuge An would think twice before taking action. Like a control freak, he would not allow any possibility to go beyond his control.
Everything else aside, forgive Zong Jiu for speaking bluntly. Although they had reached a temporary cooperation and he could see the sincerity from Zhuge An, it was not necessary to say that No.3 was someone who would sacrifice himself for others and was brave enough to block a knife for others.
Based on this reasoning, Zhuge An knew that this dungeon was very dangerous for Zong Jiu. Therefore, after guessing that he would definitely come back alive, he rushed in without hesitation.
If he had even predicted Xu Sen's reaction, according to his personality, he would have beaten Xu Sen at his own game and achieved his final goal.
Needless to say, this idea was more in line with Zong Jiu's understanding of Zhuge An.
At that moment, Zong Jiu thought of a lot of things.
He thought of the untimely Moon Card that represented deception, which he had never been able to find the source of.
Zhuge An was hiding something from him.
What was it?
At that moment, the black-haired man who had his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes and looked directly at Zong Jiu in the air.
His dark eyes were extremely deep. It was as if there was a small whirlpool spinning inside, capturing all of Zong Jiu's line of sight.
Zhuge An's gaze was very calm, but the moment their eyes met, Zong Jiu knew that the two of them should be thinking about the same thing.
Even though Zong Jiu suspected that he had been caught red-handed, he did not panic at all. Instead, he calmly looked back at Zhuge An without hiding the suspicion in his eyes.
After they looked at each other for a while, Zong Jiu felt that Zhuge An was about to open his mouth and teach Liu Chan a lesson. However, the black-haired man suddenly retracted his gaze slowly and continued to close his eyes calmly. He didn't have the slightest intention to explain. It was as if he had already formed an alliance and there were demons outside eyeing him covetously. It was up to Zong Jiu to believe it or not.
Zong Jiu was speechless.
As expected of you, Zhuge An.