Chapter 315: Exploration

"Sorry, I often unconsciously make certain movements when I'm thinking. I apologize for my rudeness."

After Senior Cuique's reminder, Senior Tu Dinggui belatedly lowered her hand, her face showing apology: "I often do this with my younger sister at home, so I just did it out of habit..."

"Hmm, it's fine."

Since the other party was willing to stop, Senior Cuique had no intention of pursuing the matter further; she simply replied to signal the issue was dropped, then continued walking forward.

The trio continued exploring the maze in silence.

The brightness in the maze was not high; one could even say it was somewhat dim. However, all three present were quite powerful magical girls, so their vision was no longer affected by simple light and dark, making it no problem to advance in the dark. Only, this conclusion seemed limited to Senior Cuique's own perspective, because after walking only a short distance, she felt the surrounding environment suddenly brighten.

Turning her head, she saw Senior Tu Dinggui raising her hand and releasing a supplementary illumination spell.

"There are stairs ahead; watch your step."

Probably because the unconscious act of touching Senior Cuique's head earlier made Senior Tu Dinggui feel a bit awkward and apologetic, she deliberately kept a few steps of distance from Senior Cuique, merely casting the spell beside her.

Seeing this, Senior Gouweicao on the side silently retracted the hand she had already extended.

Senior Cuique looked at the orb of light beside her, then at the stairs not far away, wanting to say something but not knowing what she could say.

She very much wanted to say this was over-caring, but then thought that "Gentian" was indeed seen as a child by others, so there was no reason to resist others' kindness so much. Explaining so much was no better than not explaining at all, so in the end she merely said "Thank you," then descended the stairs with the orb of light and the team.

Following the route Senior Tu Dinggui had described, the group first went down one floor, passed several turns, and after advancing steadily for about five minutes, faint human voices came from the darkness ahead.

Looking closely, it turned out to be another examinee team.

After approaching a bit closer, that team also noticed Senior Cuique and the others; thus, their previously cheerful state came to an abrupt halt, and they turned to cast somewhat wary glances.

Everyone had memorized the rules stated by the chief examiner before the exam; "attacks or interference against other examinees are not prohibited" meant that all teams could potentially be enemies to one another. If two teams met and one side was completely unguarded, they would not be far from elimination.

Of course, even with their wariness, the center of their gaze could only be Senior Tu Dinggui.

As a major celebrity among this year's examinees, most magical girls aiming for good results would have memorized Senior Tu Dinggui's appearance, so when they met on this narrow path, the other side immediately recognized Senior Tu Dinggui's identity.

This was probably the downside of having someone from the "Thigh List" in the team.

After all, the same rule of the assessment also stipulated that if an examinee lost the ability to move due to an attack by an opponent and was eliminated, then as long as she could identify the attacker's identity afterward, she could obtain all the opponent's points in this item.

Now, the two teams had merely exchanged glances, and the other side had already recognized Senior Tu Dinggui's identity; one could say they were all prepared—once eliminated by an attack from Senior Tu Dinggui here, they would report her name upon exiting.

In this strangely tense atmosphere, Senior Tu Dinggui stared at these magical girls expressionlessly for two seconds, then slowly spoke:

"Hello."

The atmosphere on the scene froze for a moment.

Hearing this simple greeting from the several magical girls opposite, the "show of force" or "threats" that had already risen to their throats all got stuck there. After a moment passed, the leader among them hesitantly said: "Hello?"

"Did you find anything on your way here?" Senior Tu Dinggui continued asking.

"Uh... probably not?" the other party replied after a brief recollection.

"Okay, thank you. We came up from the stairs on the rear right; we have also explored that area, and there was nothing there."

Senior Tu Dinggui nodded politely in thanks: "If you go forward to investigate, you can take the left side."

"Oh... okay." The other party nodded blankly.

"And in this maze, whether walls or ground, are all attached with a spell that can be utilized. Do you know that?" Senior Tu Dinggui asked again.

"Ah? What is that?" At this, besides the other party's leader, the other magical girls also spoke up.

So Senior Tu Dinggui explained the usage of the spells in the maze to the other party again.

After this explanation, the opposing team completely put aside their previous wary thoughts and began exchanging information with Senior Tu Dinggui: although they did not know of the existence of the maze spells, they had managed to find several dead ends by brute force, and now told all of this to Senior Tu Dinggui.

— "I was really scared; the first team I met in the maze was the fifth on the Thigh List."

After finishing these words, the opposing leader scratched her head and laughed: "At that moment, I felt like I saw my great-great-grandmother waving at me."

"Then you really are lame; I just felt a bit weak in the knees." Her teammate took the opportunity to tease her.

After the two teams briefly exchanged information, they bid each other farewell and continued exploring. The other team also resumed their laughter and chatter from when they arrived, and their figures disappeared from Senior Cuique's vision along with the sounds of their merriment.

She did not look much at the corridor that had become empty again; instead, she suddenly felt: was the atmosphere in her own team a bit too gloomy?

Judging from Senior Tu Dinggui's performance so far, she should not be considered a taciturn personality; her interactions with others were very natural. Senior Gouweicao was also not the type to resist communicating with others; currently, she was obviously just a bit shy.

Clearly, none of the three were averse to teammates in terms of personality, but due to various reasons, their relationships had made no progress so far. So much so that while other teams chatted and laughed all the way, they were like someone under a spell, always remaining silent for long periods.

Was it her problem?

Senior Cuique couldn't help but think this.

It had to be said that compared to the introverted Senior Gouweicao and the seemingly unaware Senior Tu Dinggui, she was indeed the most suitable person to carry out "team relationship ice-breaking."

In fact, precisely because she had made no moves so far, and even reacted quite coldly to Senior Tu Dinggui's earlier unconscious act of closeness, it caused the other party to feel awkward now as well.

If she were a bit more proactive in conversation, would it be more beneficial for team cohesion? For example, when Senior Tu Dinggui mentioned her sister earlier, if she had seized this opportunity to ask about Senior Tu Dinggui's daily life, would it not create another opportunity for internal communication within the team?

She indeed wanted to hide her skills, that was correct, but this did not mean she would wash her hands of all responsibilities as a team member. Simply put, she would not actively become that "Thigh," but she would not be a member who dragged the team down either.

Senior Tu Dinggui's personal ability was indeed very strong, so regardless, she should be able to pass the assessment. But "passing" and "ranking high" were two different concepts; if this team, due to her inaction, caused poor relationship cohesion and affected the subsequent rankings of the other two members, then it would instead become Senior Cuique's fault.

However, while she was calculating this matter, the team's exploration suddenly saw new progress.

— A shrub wall, for some unknown reason emitting flickering light and looking exceptionally eye-catching, appeared before the three of them.