Shekh watched them grow tall and strong, saw the little princess develop girlish feelings, saw her no longer able to hide her joy, then fell in love with her chief guard, and finally insisted on marrying him despite the king's objections.

If things had only progressed to this point, everything would have been as she wished, and it would have been wonderful.

Unfortunately, no one's journey is ever smooth sailing.

The year after their marriage, the head guard, who had grown up with her as a childhood sweetheart, passed away.

Dark clouds hung low, and raindrops fell intermittently. This time, she was all alone, holding an umbrella for Shekh.

Although she died of illness, the little princess's silent kneeling before the stone statue did not seem like she was grieving.

Her hands, resting on her lap, were clenched tightly, her thin knuckles turning white as if they could burst through her skin.

"It's my fault. I should have listened to them."

As she spoke, she crawled down, her forehead touching the cold ground. "I was so stupid."

How could death from illness breed resentment and regret? This princess's innocent and carefree heart died overnight.

Shekh waited for her to speak, for her to ask for something, but from sunrise to sunset, she made no wish.

The little princess only looked up at herself when someone came to find her.

"I'm leaving here for Frozen Harbor."

She spoke expressionlessly, as if she were talking about something that didn't concern her.

"I married into the frozen harbor, to an old duke who was fifty years older than me."

The little princess looked up, behaving obediently in front of the visitor, and asked softly, "Will you bless me?"

Shekh did not respond, remaining an observer as usual.

The stone statues couldn't speak, and the little princess was already used to it, so she didn't ask for an answer.

After kneeling and worshipping the statue that had accompanied her throughout her childhood, she turned and left.

The tall, black stone statue receded into the distance behind her, gradually blurring into a dot in the rain.

May all your wishes come true.

Amidst the torrential rain, the little princess paused, turning around in disbelief.

The image shattered before her wide eyes, and the memory ended there.

Shekh looked up and saw that the stone wall his fingers were touching was cracking little by little, and the entire high wall was showing signs of collapsing.

She took a step back, and her back snapped when she hit it.

He patted Shekh steady, "It seems you've remembered quite a bit."

“There are quite a few.” Shekh followed him to a safe position.

After the entire wall turned to dust, a perfectly intact marble maze appeared before the two of them.

Shi Jinzhe: "Pusheng previously said that the teleportation array is like a transit space in the game. If the game has intervened in this world, then it makes sense that the destroyed maze has been restored."

Shekh: "But in my memories, I am a black stone statue, without a temple." Otherwise, the little princess wouldn't often hold an umbrella for her.

"Could there be two identical mazes? Since you can have two sides to one, there could also be two mazes." Shi Jinzhe asked her, "Do you remember a player named Shen Shu in the Jigsaw City dungeon? One of the skill cards he stole was a skill that could copy. Since the game can use skill cards and dungeon boss skills, it can copy mazes."

"Hmm...that's possible."

Fearing the sound of the high wall collapsing would attract the guards, the two stepped over the obstacle and immediately entered the maze.

Before leaving, Shi Jinzhe tossed three gold leaves to Ji Hui, instructing him to focus on gathering information and to immediately retreat with the other two if any trouble arose. He told Ji Hui not to linger in battle or be greedy.

Inside the maze.

Shekh randomly chose a wall to break, and in a way that Shi Jinzhe was very familiar with—walking in a straight line—he headed towards the very center of the maze.

"The maze was my third dungeon. I stayed in it for eleven days. I remember there were seven floors, and I found you on the seventh floor."

Shech looked up at the sky, but her view became much narrower against the backdrop of the high walls.

"There's only one layer of the maze here, the one where you found me. The seven layers might be a dungeon setting created by the game, like the horror lover, not entirely based on reality."

"That instance..." Shi Jinzhe drawled, a broken instance that tried to sow discord between them, which he disliked very much.

Shekh: "We previously guessed that your entry into the game was a special arrangement made by the system to unlock me. So since it is an intentionally set dungeon, the first six levels are very likely to be a test for you. If you can't reach the seventh level, nothing can proceed."

"They asked me for a favor, and then they set up obstacles for me that almost killed me in the maze." Shi Jinzhe couldn't find the right words to curse this lousy game.

He had truly witnessed firsthand the saying that those who owe money are the most imposing.

"What do you think would have happened if I had actually died back then?"

Shekh turned his head slightly, meeting Shi Jinzhe's deep and unspeakable gaze, and gave him the answer that both of them knew.

"Your heart will turn into a skill card, which the game will take over. Mu Bai, Bai Weishuang, and you will all die."

Shi Jinzhe then said the second half of the sentence: "And you will still be successfully unsealed by it."

Fortunately, he managed to get through the first six floors on his own.

In the nick of time, the stone earring hidden deep in his arm wound absorbed his blood and awakened Shekh with its meager life force, which led to the beginning of everything.

Sheh said knowingly, "So this temporary change of instance is the game trying to do something to you and me again."

She used the simplest and most direct method to reach the center of the maze.

Only the base of the statue remained; the sculpture itself had been removed. Fortunately, the two could tell from the color that the little princess in Shekh's memory worshipped the black god of war and glory.

“I sensed my own energy on the base. I really did stay here for a long time. If I absorb that energy, I should still be able to remember a lot.”

Sher squatted down, trying to find more memories from the remaining energy.

Suddenly, a white halo appeared above the base, and an incredibly powerful suction force pulled her in and carried her away in the blink of an eye.

Shi Jinzhe didn't have time to stop her. Fortunately, her [Order Reconstruction] effect with Sheh was triggered, and a golden thread grabbed his wrist, pulling him into the suddenly tightening light circle.

Just then, a gust of wind struck his body, and a system notification sound appeared in Shi Jinzhe's ear.

[When the item [Longevity Lock] locks a player, it will break. At the end of the game, all healing effects will be terminated, and a continuous health loss status will be triggered, which cannot be reversed.]

He turned around abruptly and saw Zhou Qiyu, who had appeared out of nowhere, and Li Huaizhen, who had taken off his black-rimmed glasses, outside the white halo.

"We'll still make this yellow bird."

"That's not necessarily true."

Two sharp fangs appeared in Shi Jinzhe's hand. He silently recited the effect of the "Cursed Fangs" and threw them directly at the two people.

Li Huaizhen pulled Zhou Qiyu away, but the next second two golden threads wrapped around their wrists, and the two of them were pulled together into the closing white light circle by Shi Jinzhe.