Chapter 42 Underground Maze

The instructor brought them to their destination. The mine here was set up differently from those on Earth. It was actually surrounded by a small hillside. At first glance, there were 20 holes surrounding the hillside. The excavated surface was smooth, and it was obvious that it was not man-made but created using interstellar high technology.

Twenty groups of students were assigned to enter through different entrances. Instructor Chen held up a loudspeaker and emphasized, "After you enter, the rules for which exit you can take will be announced later. If there are any emergencies in the mine—"

He waved his hand and the instructors gave each student a small yellow ball.

“Just crush it and call for help, we’ll get there in time, and make sure you keep your little yellow ball safe.

Xu Lingqu's team entered the fifth cave from the right and received an emergency ball for calling for help. On the way there, they also divided the team randomly according to how far away people were standing.

She was assigned to a group with Lin Xiaoliu, Zheng Wang Qihu and one of his friends. They went to get a piece of silver and Humi liquid.

As they entered the cave, a chill washed over them. This mine was unlike anything Xu Lingqu had known on Earth; it looked more like a karst cave. Three forks appeared upon entering, and the three groups split up. Xu Lingqu's group took the path on the right.

"These mines are all hollowed out from the mountain, and then different mines are dug deeper to search for raw stones deep in the mountains. Some raw stones must be specially processed inside before they can be taken out. This is why there is so much space, so this situation is normal." Lin Xiao swallowed nervously and continued to speak while emboldening himself. "Of course, I think the design of this place like a maze is also very likely intentional by the instructor..."

It can be basically confirmed that they did it on purpose.

Xu Lingqu was the last one walking, looking at the structure inside as she walked, and noticed that this road led them all the way down. With her at the rear, the others felt indescribably relieved. However, Lin Xiao, who was walking in the front because he needed to lead the way for analysis, felt a little uncomfortable.

She bravely led everyone to walk for a while, and finally saw a faint yellow light in front of them. They finally walked through the tunnel to a relatively open place, and in front of them was a large hole with a diameter of about three meters. This should be the other mine that Lin Xiao mentioned.

Lin Xiao took a deep breath, squatted down, and moved closer to the cave entrance to observe. "Based on this depth and width, this should be the entrance to a rare gold mine. Did we come to the wrong place?"

Their mission is not to get rare gold.

After she said this, everyone else wanted to retreat.

"Just because this is the entrance to a rare gold mine doesn't mean the material here is rare gold. Let's go and take a look first." Xu Lingqu, standing at the end of the team, stood still and pointed ahead. There was a small path next to the cave, leading to another area.

"Oh, you're right." Lin Xiao wiped her sweat. She was a little too nervous, and caused everyone else to do stupid things with her. Fortunately, Xu Lingqu was there.

They set off along the path. After a while, a white light appeared. Inside a small room, there were more than a dozen square, glass-like boxes. Inside, a green object appeared. Closer inspection revealed a metallic object, matching Natata's description of silver. Xu Lingqu approached and picked up the box. It was magnetically attached to the table, which was also fixed in place. It was a little difficult to lift at first, but she shook it in her hand and found it to be soft.

Lin Xiao let out a long sigh, a smile plastered on his face. "That's great... We were able to find what we needed right from the start. Now all that's left is the Humi Liquid..."

As soon as she finished speaking, the whole small house suddenly shook violently, and then everyone in the room clearly felt that the small house was moving at high speed. Xu Lingqu, who was holding the box in her hand, couldn't stand steadily for a moment. The box contained highly corrosive rhenium silver. Wang Qihu, who was closest to her, was so scared that he reached out to support her, but he saw that Xu Lingqu, who was about to fall, somehow got the strength and flexibility to adjust the angle of her body and stand firm.

The stunned Wang Qihu fell down hard.

He climbed up with the help of his friends, his face covered in dust and dirt, and patted the dust from his mouth. He had to change his habit of judging people by their appearance. This habit would always put him at a disadvantage, especially when facing Xu Lingqu.

As the sound like a mechanism being activated ended, the room became stable. It must have moved to another place and stabilized.

Xu Lingqu glanced at Wang Qihu, thought for a moment, and said, "Thank you."

She almost lost her balance just now, and she was holding a dangerous object in her hand. At the critical moment, she relied on her body coordination to stand firm. She also caught a glimpse of Wang Qihu who was leaning towards her and trying to support her.

No matter what the outcome, the fact that Wang Qihu was thinking about protecting his companions at this moment showed that he was indeed a pure good person.

When Wang Qihu, who was originally in despair, heard these two words, a strange fire of hope suddenly ignited in his heart. Xu Lingqu said thank you to him, this is Xu Lingqu.

"But next time, take care of yourself before saving others."

The second half of the sentence that followed completely extinguished the little hope that had been ignited in him. The corner of Wang Qihu's mouth twitched: "Okay, okay."

After Xu Lingqu glanced at everyone and confirmed that no one was hurt, he walked to the door first and opened it.

The path outside was no longer the one that led along the rare gold mine.

At this time, the others gathered at the door and saw the changes in the road.

"What... is going on? Are we seeing a ghost? Are we trapped in a wall?" Wang Qihu's friend rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what was happening.

At this time, Lin Xiao walked out with the support of Liu Zheng. Her leg had just hit the table and was injured. She walked out with a solemn expression, looked at the entire small room and sighed.

"The structure here... is exactly the same as a map Skynet once released during a military academy tournament." She said solemnly. "I really hope I'm wrong. Now that I think about it, the terrain has been very similar since I first entered. But I didn't react at first because I was so nervous. Now that the mechanism of this small house has appeared, I can be almost 100% sure that the instructors have transformed this place into a simulation of that map."

"And the name of that map is - Underground Labyrinth."