Chapter 930: Maze

"The mark on your face."

Heimu lifted his chin, his gaze fixed on Wei Er Wei's left cheek, "What's going on?"

"Oh, this—"

The chibi Wei Er Wei lifted her hand to touch the green pattern on her face; as her fingertip brushed the surface, a faint green glimmer rose. She glanced at her fingertip, lowered her hand, her wicked grin unchanged, "It doesn't hinder anything, doesn't affect function; it's just a skin change, I don't even feel it. Compared to that—"

Her gaze drifted back to Hua, this time landing on Hua's waist and abdominal muscles; violet pupils filled with admiration and curiosity, her fingers unconsciously rubbing her own chin.

Then she snapped her head back, pulling her attention to Heimu again, cleared her throat, thrust her staff forward, pointing straight at Heimu's nose.

"Alright, no more idle talk! I've been waiting here an unknown amount of time, finally a living person passed by, and it's an acquaintance—though they've grown several sizes larger—but it doesn't affect my execution of today's Script!"

She retracted her staff, held it horizontally across her chest, closed her left eye, let her right eye look over the staff, the wicked grin at the corner of her mouth spreading across her whole face.

The edge of the Top Hat seemed to press down half an inch at that instant, casting a small shadow above her eyes; together with the green‑glowing Corrosion patterns, the scene's drama was so intense one wanted to spotlight her.

"The theme of this stage is crystal clear, simple and direct, fair to young and old—"

She jabbed the staff toward the ceiling; the gear ornament at its tip began to spin rapidly, emitting a clacking mechanical sound.

On the walls flanking the corridor, the previously silent teal light strips all brightened at once, jumping from dark green to a dazzling fluorescent green, bathing the corridor like a surgery room with no shadows.

"That means—let's have a thrilling, exciting grand adventure!"

As soon as the words fell, she pulled something out of the Top Hat.

The object was about the size of her head, entirely jet‑black, its surface covered with concentric silver‑gray spirals, and a tiny red indicator lamp perched on top, flashing at an ever‑increasing rate.

Bomb!

Ying drew her blade in the same instant.

The pink blade streaked through the green light, leaving a blur too fast to see, the edge cleaving precisely at the bomb's exact center.

"Bang—!!"

It erupted white smoke directly.

Thick, cotton‑wet white smoke spewed from the bomb's fissure, flooding the corridor's cross‑section at an unnaturally rapid pace; within a fraction of a second the view shifted from bright green to pure white.

Heimu felt the smoke sweep past both sides of her cheeks, dry and icy, carrying a faint vanilla scent.

She snapped her fingers.

A violet‑black ripple burst from her fingertips, expanding outward as a spherical shockwave; wherever it passed, the white smoke was instantly shattered and vanished, restoring clear sight.

Then Heimu saw the scene before her, her eyebrows lifting.

The corridor vanished.

The teal light strip overhead disappeared.

The walls and ceiling were gone.

In its place stood a pure black wall so tall its top was almost invisible, its surface smooth as a mirror with a cold, matte sheen, rising straight from the floor at her feet to the edge of her sight.

Heimu looked up, her dark‑purple eyes narrowing slightly in the darkness; about twenty meters above, the black wall continued upward, no ceiling, no sky, only layer upon layer of black partitions slicing countless intersecting lines against the dim green backdrop, like a massive grid dropped from mid‑air.

Maze.

Heimu stood rooted, first scanning the surroundings.

She now stood in the middle of a passage about three meters wide, with smooth black high walls on both sides, their surfaces lacking any climbable ridges or textures.

The floor was the same black material; stepping on it produced a faint hollow echo, indicating void beneath.

The green glow overhead came from light strips embedded at the wall tops, the same hue as before but dimmer, casting a faint dark‑green sheen on the black walls, making the passage resemble a sunken shipwreck.

She tilted her ear to listen.

From beyond two walls to the left, Kaluoer's voice drifted faintly; despite the walls' superb soundproofing, a few syllables were audible, indicating Kaluoer was shouting with all her lung power—"Hey hey hey, anyone there—what is this place—Heimu teacher—Hua sister—Ge Lei Xiu—Kesi Mo big brother and big sister—Ying sister—cute little person—anyone answer me!!!"

The echo reverberated several layers above the maze before fading into a muddled hum.

Hua's shout of "Ge Lei Xiu" was fragmented, bouncing between walls several times before drifting into her ear.

Then those voices were swiftly drawn away, as if the distance between everyone and her was expanding at a visibly frantic rate, multiplying each second.

Heimu glanced toward the sound's source, then silently estimated the distance: roughly three walls away, about thirty meters deep—not too far—but given the maze's walls likely shift, the distance could easily stretch from thirty to three hundred meters.

She took two steps forward, the echo beneath her feet unusually clear in the narrow passage.

Suddenly, a deep rumble emanated from deep within the wall, like massive gears meshing, the floor beneath her trembling slightly, the motion modest but steady, occurring once every three seconds.

Heimu halted, turning her head toward the left wall.

On that wall, the once‑smooth surface began to reveal silver‑gray patterns, lighting up line by line, sketching the spiral design she had seen on Wei Er Wei's dress against the matte black background.

The pattern spread upward from the wall's base, its direction clear, the entire wall being awakened by some preset mechanical program.

She lowered her gaze to her feet.

The floor had, at some unknown moment, acquired a thin silver‑gray line, extending straight from in front of her toe, turning into the left‑hand fork at the far end of the passage.

The line was only a third of a fingernail's width, emitting a faint cold glow, strikingly visible on the black floor.

Heimu stared at the line for a second, then looked up at the layered black high walls overhead, raising an eyebrow again.

"Wei Er Wei."

She muttered to herself, a hint of helplessness in her tone, "You really are something—you can set up a stage anywhere."