Chapter 343 Breaking the Ice
As the assessment progressed, when the maze project had been going on for half a day, most of the candidates had encountered at least one puzzle.
Of course, judging from the distribution density of these puzzles, not all teams are destined to have the opportunity to monopolize the puzzles. Many teams encounter other teams while discovering the puzzles.
Of course, there will be a very small number of young and reckless people who choose to rob and solve the problem with force; but after weighing the pros and cons of fighting each other, the vast majority of teams will choose to abide by the rule of first come, first served.
Of course, there are also more unconventional teams that choose to join forces.
Indeed, according to the description in the rules, the reward for each puzzle can only be distributed to one of the teams, even if two teams work together to solve the same puzzle, only one team can get the reward. In other words, when the two teams merge, the new 6-person team will only get half the profit from solving the puzzle.
But with the foundation of cooperation, the team of 6 people will have a combat advantage over the general 3-person team. Then, this merged team can directly snatch the puzzles of the other 3-person team. After snatching the puzzles, they can distribute them to each other. It is obviously more efficient to directly obtain other people's puzzles by "snatching" than to work hard to find puzzles that no one has found. In this way, even if the income is halved, it is worth it.
Not only that, as more and more teams solved at least one puzzle, they began to discover that the rewards represented by the so-called puzzles were not just points.
In fact, these puzzles distributed in the maze also have different levels of difficulty. The rewards provided by simpler puzzles are of course only points, but if the slightly more difficult puzzles are solved, new channels will be opened to the candidates.
These passages often have a lot of detours, allowing candidates to quickly travel between two areas, but they can only be entered with the number plate of the solver, and cannot be used by people who were not present when the puzzle was solved. In other words, these are not even ordinary passages, they are enough to be called "secret passages."
The points reward cannot be shared, but the secret passage can be used by participants together, which makes more teams tend to merge. After all, everyone knows that once the general direction of the exit is locked, being one step ahead means a better ranking.
Amidst the undercurrent, Team 277 led by Cuiqiao and others is still fighting alone.
Of course, although they were fighting alone, thanks to Tudinggui's extremely high personal ability and Gouweicao's very good auxiliary analysis, the three of them still solved the three puzzles within half a day.
The first maze puzzle they solved also had a secret passage reward. Behind the light wall with a map was the entrance to the secret passage. After solving the puzzle, the mechanism in the light wall was opened, and the secret behind it appeared in front of them. It was precisely because of the help of the secret passage that not only did Team 277 easily bypass a lot of detours and explore the surroundings with higher efficiency, but they also avoided many other teams, avoiding unnecessary stalemates and being able to concentrate on exploring the way.
When they found the second puzzle, they finally encountered other teams. Delphinium, who had been left aside as a mascot, thought it was finally her turn to work, but Delphinium's face was too famous, and few people were willing to confront her head-on, so they finally got the reward without any magic.
Team 277 had a very smooth journey, and even though Delphinium did nothing, the team still did not encounter any difficulties. It was not until they solved the third puzzle that the situation finally changed a little.
This was still a puzzle with a secret passage as a reward. After it was solved, the light curtain in front of the three people dissipated, revealing the entrance to the secret passage behind them. Then the three people observed at the same time that the scenery behind the secret passage had changed.
As the team walked along, they had become accustomed to the scenery in this maze. No matter where they went, there were shrubbery passages covered with green leaves and flowers. The scenery could be said to be unrecognizable at all.
However, the passage behind this puzzle is no longer a corridor made of shrubs, but dark-colored earth walls with almost no green visible, only some dry branches sticking out of the soil.
Even though there were no signboards around, the three of them could feel that the entrance to this passage exuded an aura of "No Trespassing".
However, no one showed any sign of retreat. Not only did Tudinggui walk in without changing his expression, but Dogtail Grass also just swallowed his saliva and continued to move forward. They all knew that there might be unknown risks if they went in, but this also meant that there was a high probability that some bigger secrets were hidden behind the secret passage.
They moved forward cautiously, exploring the surroundings to see if there was anything hidden. The osmanthus was in the lead, the foxtail grass was in the rear, and the delphinium was sandwiched in the middle by two people who acted like guards.
Naturally, Delphinium could not complain about this kind of "protective" behavior, but she felt helpless inside and a little embarrassed on the surface.
In addition, although the exploration process of the entire 277 team was smooth and there were no major problems in coordination, even after solving three puzzles, the three people in the team remained silent. As long as there was no problem, neither Tudinggui nor Coprinus would speak at all, just exploring blindly. If someone who didn't know the situation saw it, they would probably think that this team was fighting among themselves.
The idea that "I should do some work" became stronger and stronger in Delphinium's mind.
Since the team did not encounter many difficulties in exploration, it seems that it is time to give a try to the method she had previously thought of, which was to smooth the team relationships and liven up the atmosphere.
So, when the three of them passed a corner again, Tudinggui still naturally protected the front of Cuique with one hand and held the wall with the other hand to explore the way. Cuique said half sincerely and half intentionally:
——"Your sister should be a very happy child."
"Oh?" This sentence made Tudinggui in front of him turn around slightly in surprise: "Are you talking to me?"
"Well, is it too sudden?" Delphinium nodded.
"A little bit, but it's not annoying." Tu Dinggui shook his head, and then asked with some confusion: "So about my sister...why did you say this?"
"I just suddenly felt a little emotional."
Delphinium didn't make herself appear too enthusiastic, because she just wanted to start a conversation: "Although we have only been a team for a short time, I can already feel your protection of me on the road. Thank you, you are really good at taking care of people."
"Ah." Tu Dinggui sighed a little belatedly, then covered his mouth with his hand: "I'm sorry, I subconsciously put you in the position of that child again..."
"I'm not accusing you in a sarcastic way."
Delphinium said bluntly: "I just feel a little surprised."
"Accident?"
"Because you are famous, I know you are very strong, so when I first saw you always looked calm, I thought you were a bit arrogant and hard to get close to."
Delphinium bowed her head slightly, and said as if she was really apologizing, "So when you touched my head earlier, my attitude was a little bad. I'm sorry."
"ah."
Tu Dinggui blinked a little flattered: "No need to apologize, it was my behavior that offended you first. I was worried that you might find me annoying because of this."
"No, I think you're a pretty good teammate."
After saying this, Delphinium turned back to look at Foxtail Grass and said, "And you too, thank you."
"It's nothing. After all, we agreed on this when we formed a team. I'm just repaying you for your guidance, Senior Longdan."
Being thanked so seriously, Dogtail Grass also seemed embarrassed: "Also, similar to her, I actually have a younger brother, so I usually act like a sister at home..."
"Brother?" This topic obviously aroused some interest in Tu Dinggui.
"Ah, uh..."
Obviously, Goosetail Grass was still not used to being talked to by Tudinggui, so she instantly became speechless, but at the same time, she also felt that it would be rude if she didn't answer the other party. So after being frozen for a while, she still tried hard to squeeze out the words from her throat:
"Yes."
"That's great. I've always wanted a younger brother."
Tu Dinggui nodded gently: "Unfortunately, my parents divorced shortly after my sister was born, so I was unable to fulfill my wish."
"Oh, sorry for reminding you of this..." said Dogtail Grass dryly.
"I brought it up on my own initiative. I hope you don't find such words discouraging."
Tu Dinggui, however, did not seem to intend to expand on this topic: "Let's go back to what we talked about before. What does it feel like to have a younger brother?"
"Well, this...that..."
Although Dogtail Grass hesitated, he still answered honestly: "Because he always steals my things, so sometimes I am a little annoying. But most of the time he is very cute and often plays with me, so I am quite happy..."
She stammered as she shared some things about herself and her brother, and gradually, perhaps as she got used to it, her speech became much more fluent.
Tu Dinggui obviously didn't care about the confusion and unsmoothness in her expression. Perhaps because she was really interested in this topic, she kept responding to Goosetail Grass and expressing her own opinions from time to time.
Delphinium would take advantage of every opportunity to add a few words when the conversation might become dull, ensuring that the atmosphere was lively enough.
This should help them open up... right? She thought to herself.
To be honest, she didn't expect the process to be so smooth. If they hadn't found a common topic so easily, she would have planned to talk about it more. But it was a good thing that things turned out this way. At least it didn't require her, an adult, to continue pretending to talk. She didn't have the confidence to act cute like a real child.
Anyway, one of her goals was achieved.
The three of them chatted in this way, each with their own thoughts, but at least on the surface the atmosphere was much more lively than when they came. It was not until they had been deep in the maze for a long time and the topic began to slowly diverge, that an inexplicable magical fluctuation appeared, causing Delphinium to suddenly narrow his eyes.
It wasn't just her. After Delphinium showed a strange look on her face, Osmanthus fragrans and Setaria viridis also seemed to have noticed something. They suddenly stopped talking and looked around: - There seemed to be something nearby.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
