Published at 14th of July 2022 7:29 am

Chapter 76 Maze (NPC)

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Zhuo Lan took a deep breath but felt that she had never been so tired in her life. She already doesn't know how to move her hands and feet and is completely powerless. Just now, she could only mechanically run with the group. At this moment, she looked back and saw that except for the 6 members of the intermediate team, there are only 3 of them left. The rest of the junior and newcomer team is nowhere to be seen.

"The other 3 people..." Zhuo Lan hesitated and asked timidly. She already has the answer in her heart, but she can't believe it.

"If they run fast enough, then they are probably resting somewhere. If they are unlucky..." Wen Lang's voice lightly sounded in Zhuo Lan’s ear, as if it is spoken from a long distance.

At the same time, Zhuo Lan fell down to the ground with a THUMP and lay motionless, startling everyone. Jiang Dong checked immediately and waved his hand, "She’s okay. She is just too tired and a little dehydrated."

Qin Tan nodded, "Then, let's rest for a while. There is still more than 3 hours before the Guard Patrol started again, so hurry up and rest."

It's fine if Zhuo Lan is okay. They wouldn't want to carry someone on their back while running in this maze. But it would be a bit unkind to leave her behind.

Lou Fan glanced at his watch. Before he knew it, the current time is already early morning. Thinking that he would have to work hard in 4 hours, the most important thing right now is to rest. From the moment they entered the maze, they have been moving non-stop like a spinning top, even people made of iron can't stand the intensity. Thinking that there are still a few days to go through this cycle, Lou Fan felt that he had to speed up.

Though Lou Fan said to rest, his tense nerves couldn't relax, so he simply started a discussion with everyone. "What do you think is the most important thing about this mission world?"

After a few seconds of silence, the other 5 said in unison, "Clear the levels."

Lou Fan praised his team's tacit understanding and nodded with a chuckle, "I also think so, the biggest point of this mission should be clearing the levels. We passed the 2nd level and started the Guard Patrol mode. But now what I'm worried about is, that if we cleared this level later, other modes will be opened. However, all of this is based on general level clearing knowledge. Once we clear more levels, it means we are getting closer to the exit. Of course, this is my current guess.”

Lou Fan’s guess made sense.

"That is to say, we need to find checkpoints to clear the levels as soon as possible," Jiang Dong said.

Speaking of which, he and Wen Lang both shivered.

Lou Fan nodded, "While dodging the guards, we have to look for checkpoints. I think the previous 2 levels are actually easy to pass, right?"

As soon as Lou Fan said these words, he saw Qin Tan's face darken while Wen Lang and Jiang Dong's expression is indescribable beyond words.

Qin Tan squeezed his eyebrows, "It shouldn't be difficult with you here."

Wen Lang and Jiang Dong: The difficulty is, facing those without you.

The corridor is quiet. After everyone casually ate something to pad their stomach, they closed their eyes and rested, holding their weapons in their arms.

When Lou Fan wakes up, he is lying on Qin Tan's lap. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Qin Tan with his eyes closed and his chin[1] is a little blue/green. He stretched out his hand to touch it, but the man opened his eyes and looked down at him.

"Awake?" Qin Tan rubbed Lou Fan’s head.

Lou Fan sat up and looked around, inexplicably feeling a little strange. Chen Shuyang is sleeping soundly against Nie Feng's shoulders. What is stranger is that Wen Lang and Jiang Dong are sleeping sweetly with their heads touching, the atmosphere is very harmonious.

"What happened to these two people while I was away?" Lou Fan asked Qin Tan in a low voice, with a gossipy expression on his face.

Qin Tan has a smile in his eyes as he replied, "Probably just opening up to each other?"

"Huh?" Lou Fan is stunned, "That explosive? What the hell did you guys encounter?"

As soon as Lou Fan asked the question, Qin Tan stopped talking and randomly shifted his gaze elsewhere, not meeting Lou Fan’s eyes. And at this moment, the others also woke up.

Zhuo Lan rubbed her head and sat up, only to feel pain in her head. When she touched it, there is a sore bump.

Lou Fan stood up and clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. He glanced at the time on his watch, and said quickly, "The time is almost up, the patrol mode will be turned on immediately. Everyone, get ready."

"Zhuo Lan, are you okay?"

Suddenly being called, Zhuo Lan is stunned for a moment. She nodded and said, "It's fine, I can do it." She pursed her lips and said, "Thank you, everyone."

[Ding dong! Now the Guard Patrol mode has started. The guard patrol time limit is 1 hour, and the location is random. Please hurry up and escape. Be careful, don't get caught by the guards, otherwise, there will only be a dead end yo!]

A nightmarish voice sounded, and everyone sighed involuntarily. Just as they are about to run, Lou Fan suddenly stopped everyone.

"Wait a minute. Let's run after the guards appeared. Running around randomly will only waste our energy."

Everyone: It makes sense, so why did they take the initiative to show up in front of the guards before this?

10 minutes later, a guard appeared in the distance. This time, there is no need to say anything and everyone tacitly ran away. But they already learned their lesson. This time, the remaining 2 people from the Level 1 team and Zhuo Lan followed the group closely, afraid to go the wrong way. Song Ye has separated with them from the 1st Guard Patrol, and they don't know how he is right now. They can only pray that he is still alive.

When running through an intersection, Qin Tan paused, "There's a checkpoint there."

There is a guard in the back and a checkpoint in the front. If they missed this checkpoint, they don’t know if they can return to it later. This is really a dilemma.

There are still 5 minutes left so Lou Fan gritted his teeth and said, "Go, we’ll go to the checkpoint. If the guard arrived, let's try to last for 5 minutes." After he finished speaking, he took the lead and rushed into the checkpoint area. The few people behind him didn't say a word, they all followed and ran after him.

Zhuo Lan thinks this group of people is crazy. Didn't they hear that being caught by the guards means death? Now, they are rushing in like this, the checkpoint area is a dead end! She roared in her heart, but she didn't dare to run away by herself, so she could only follow the group to the checkpoint.

The guard at the back obviously saw them and followed them all the way. But when the group is about to prepare for a fight, the guard magically stopped at the entrance of the checkpoint area, as if not seeing them. It wandered there for a while and then turned around to leave.

The whole group saw the joy in each other's eyes. It turned out that the guards could not enter the checkpoint area!

Lou Fan pondered for a moment, "So that's the case. That is to say, the checkpoint area is a 'way of life'. Once we found the location of a checkpoint, we can avoid confronting the guards, which is much easier."

However, as soon as Lou Fan turned his head, he saw something on the wall and stood there dumbfounded - what is this pile of weird stuff?

There are a bunch of tubular things piled up in pieces on the wall. There are 6 valves in the front, and 6 colors of red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and purple in the back. Lou Fan stared at it for a long time, but he doesn't understand what it is.

> [Banana: Here's the example of the game - https://i.imgur.com/kl5XvAa.png ]

"I know this." Wen Lang said with a grin, "It’s a pipe connecting game. Just that this one looked a bit complicated, and... I don't know which color to choose."

Jiang Dong rubbed his brows and sighed, "Why do we have to choose again."

Chen Shuyang frowned and stared at it for a long time, then said aloud, "I know how to match the pipes, but which valve should I choose to match which color? Or are there requirements for both the valve and the color?"

Oh, that's a real question there.

The people who were standing beside Chen Shuyang suddenly took a step back. But Chen Shuyang only looked at them eagerly, waiting for their answer.

Lou Fan: "Why do you all step back? Let’s think about it together."

Wen Lang shrugged, "Brother Lou, don't make it hard for us. How can we think of anything out of this? You should just KO everything in seconds with your luck!"

Qin Tan, Jiang Dong, and Nie Feng nodded in agreement.

Lou Fan scratched his head, messing his hair, "How to KO this? You tell me how to KO it?"

"Overwhelm everything with your luck. You can do it, Brother Lou!" Wen Lang made a cheering gesture.

I C.A.N.N.O.T ——Lou Fan rolled his eyes, frowning at the mess.

There is no hint of what is on the wall at all. Lou Fan thought for a while, and said to Chen Shuyang, "Let's connect one and see what happens first."

"Okay." Chen Shuyang agreed and started rolling up his sleeves, "Which valve and color?" He then chose the 2nd valve and the purple counterpart.

The tube on the wall cannot be taken off. It can only turn in place, and be connected to other pipes by turning. Soon, Chen Shuyang connected the 2nd valve to purple. He stood up straight and stared at the wall. The other people behind them are also very nervous. 10 minutes later, nothing happened. Everyone is relieved and at the same time, their nervousness is raised again.

Chen Shuyang: "It seems that we need to connect all valves together."

Lou Fan walked around, rubbing his chin in thought, without a clue.

No one else could help, Wen Lang bumped Jiang Dong with his shoulder and asked, "Hey, what's your favorite color?"

Jiang Dong glanced at Wen Lang and replied with a raised tone at the end, "Yellow, color[2]."

Wen Lang: ...how come it sounds weird?

PA! Lou Fan clapped his hands and shouted excitedly, "I see!"

Qin Tan: "What?"

"Come on, tell me your favorite color."

Lou Fan took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. After filling it, the result is:

Qin Tan - blue

Lou Fan - green

Chen Shuyang - purple

Wen Lang - red

Jiang Dong - yellow

Nie Feng - purple

He handed the paper to Chen Shuyang, "Just follow this order[3]."

Wen Lang: "Brother Lou, your decisions are as flashy as ever. No one will ever think like this except you!"

Lou Fan helplessly replied, "I can't do anything either. I don't have any hints, so we’ll just do whatever we can."

Chen Shuyang arranged the order in the list without comments. Lou Fan stared at the pile of pipes with his chin up. Suddenly, he recalled the painting he saw before. He remembered in a trance that among the group of people standing below the figure, there seems to have these colors too. But Lou Fan shook his head, it might be just an illusion. It can’t be that coincidental.

This pipe puzzle is really a bit complicated. Chen Shuyang has to turn a few times at a time and stand far away to observe for a while. The rest of the people couldn't help, it gave them a headache from just looking at it. Hence, everyone could only try not to make noise to disturb Chen Shuyang.

With a click, as the last tubular pipe is connected, the valve spewed liquid, and the transparent water pipes are filled with colorful liquids, which looked kind of nice for a while.

The group of people gathered in front of the puzzle, and a huge bubble suddenly appeared and wrapped them in it. Then, they saw a large amount of water pouring out from all directions, and the bubble they are in is carried by the current as it began to roll and float.

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