Chapter 346 Rule 5
——[Additional notification, additional notification]
[Since Team 277 was the first to break through the first "maze node" and received extra points, we hereby announce Rule 5, which is also the last hidden rule of this assessment.]
[Rule 5: After some puzzles are solved, the shortcuts and secret passages that are released contain paths leading to "maze nodes". Each "maze node" has at least five accessible secret passages, and once all the secret passages leading to the maze nodes are opened, the remnant beasts hidden in the nodes will appear. Candidates can break through the nodes and get bonus points by defeating the remnant beasts. Each node is worth 100 points, which will be evenly distributed to the candidates who participated in breaking through the node after the results of the assessment are settled.]
[When all the "maze nodes" are broken, the exit of the maze will appear. At that time, all candidates who have retained their mobility can leave through the exit. When all candidates leave the examination room, the examination ends. ]
[Repeat again, since Team 277 took the lead...]
"Team 277...it's this team again."
Listening to the announcement that echoed throughout the maze, Xia Liang ran around and solved the puzzles at hand, while sighing: "It's great that I can successfully find the puzzles and get the subsequent bonus items."
Her emotion was not without reason. The main reason was that their team's luck seemed to be really bad.
Soon after the assessment began, they encountered the difficult Buddleja team, and it took them a lot of magic power to finally get rid of them; and after that, they always encountered large and small fights along the way, which prevented them from exploring properly; they even found nothing for a long time in the process of searching for puzzles, and it was not until the assessment had lasted for more than half a day that they finally found the first puzzle.
This progress is not to say that it is the last, but it is definitely behind most of the strong teams.
Xia Liang still wanted to "get a good score", but there was always a gap between ideal and reality. She had just found her first puzzle, but the fastest team had already found the fifth rule. Even if Xia Liang had a good mentality, such a huge progress gap made her feel a little powerless.
However, no matter how depressed he was, he could not neglect the task of solving the puzzle, so Xia Liang could only continue running with his head down and try hard to solve the puzzle.
The puzzle their team found was a "Rubik's Cube" puzzle. The principle behind it was very similar to that of an ordinary Rubik's Cube toy, which was to balance the magic concentration in a 3x3 square area to ensure that the magic concentration on each face of the square area was consistent.
The difficulty of this puzzle is not high. After all, a Rubik's Cube, especially a 3x3 Rubik's Cube, is not a "difficult problem" for people who have studied it. But even so, it still takes a lot of time for three people to solve this puzzle - because the Rubik's Cube is embedded in the wall of the maze, with only two sides exposed to the outside.
This not only means that most of the time they can only see two sides of the Rubik's Cube and need to turn them over and over to confirm the progress of the restoration; it also means that in order to rotate the Rubik's Cube, they have to constantly send people to run back and forth on both sides of the wall.
At this moment, Xia Liang had just finished sorting out the magic power of the Rubik's Cube at the other end of the wall and was on his way back to exchange information with his two teammates.
This level of physical exercise is certainly not a problem for magical girls, but the time consumed is indeed worrying. Xia Liang has considered using magic combined with flying ability to travel quickly, but the maze passages in this area are narrow and small, with many bends, and flying fast can easily cause collisions with walls. In comparison, running is more stable.
When she ran to the location of the Rubik's Cube with a look of despair on her face, the sisters Shandan and Juandan had been waiting for a long time.
"Ah, you're back, Senior Xiaojin. Do you need to take a rest first?" Juandan greeted politely.
"You look so tired, are you okay?" Even Shandan could see that Xia Liang looked a little bad.
After showing their prowess in the previous battle with Buddleja, the two sisters discovered that Xia Liang was a Leaf-level, and therefore, Juandan readily changed her address and began to call her Senior. Shandan's attitude also changed, and there was an inexplicable sense of confidence in her words, "I was lucky to be randomly assigned a Leaf-level teammate, and the three of us are really strong."
"...Ahahaha, no need to rest, let's continue."
Although she was a little depressed, Xia Liang chose to put on a smile again. After all, since the two sisters recognized her strength, she had essentially become the leader of the team. Now that they were still in the assessment, she had no reason to be more negative than her teammates.
As for why she took over the command of the team, there was no complicated reason. After all, everyone wanted to achieve better results, so it was always right to let someone with better abilities command the team. However, Xia Liang did not act like a senior because of this, and was still friendly to the two of them. Rather, because she got the command of the team, she began to communicate more actively with the two teammates, because she had to make sure that Shandan could keep up with her and Juandan's thinking rhythm in order to keep the team's actions consistent.
"However, if you two continue at this pace, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get a good score in this assessment."
So, at this moment, Xia Liang spoke out his thoughts bluntly: "Most of the teams that are ahead in progress should have monopolized the rewards for at least two or three puzzles. There are even teams that have explored to the next stage as mentioned in the notice just now. The progress gap between us and them is too big, and it is difficult to catch up with this score difference."
"Why?"
Shandan was a little puzzled and said, "Didn't the notice say that once all the 'nodes' were breached, the exit would be opened? We just need to be the first to run out of the maze, and we'll still get a high score."
"elder sister……"
Juan Dan pulled her sleeve helplessly and said, "Don't say such unrealistic things. It's so difficult for us to even find the puzzles now, and there are many puzzles in the maze. There will only be one exit in the whole maze, you know?"
What she said now is actually what most candidates think nowadays. Instead of chasing after the only exit that may be very far away, it is better to honestly solve more puzzles to get bonus points. In this way, even if you are unlucky and cannot find the exit in time, you can still get a good score with the minimum score of escaping the maze normally plus the bonus points.
"Hehe, that's why I said your stupid sister has a bad brain."
However, after hearing Juandan's words, Shandan just sneered and shook his head: "Haven't you thought about the biggest advantage our team has yet?"
"…What is it?" Juandan knew very well what kind of person his sister was, and he knew even more clearly that she often could not come up with any valuable suggestions in such situations. However, considering the other party's feelings, he could only respond.
"Of course, it's because our exploration progress is lagging behind and we are still in the outer layer of the maze. So compared to those who have already entered the node, we are closer to the exit!"
Shandan opened his folding fan and analyzed proudly, "Although there are definitely more teams left in the outer layer than us, they are behind because of their lack of strength, while we are behind just because of bad luck. Compared to those mediocre teams, we can face the second-place team head-on!"
"So?" Juandan had probably guessed what conclusion his sister was going to come to, so his expression was subtle.
"So, we can set off now to find where the exit may be. As long as we can find it in advance, we can guard the gate and stop anyone who wants to snatch the exit from us. When the exit is opened, we will be the first to run out. Wouldn't we be the first?" Shandan said with certainty.
"really……"
Juandan sighed, "Hey, sister, let me ask you a question. Where do you think the exit might be? Even if we really get to the exit in advance, but the exit doesn't appear and there is no sign, how can you be sure that you have found the right place?"
"Oh? You've got me stumped by this."
Shandan paused after hearing this, his face showing a thoughtful expression. After a while, he closed the folding fan in his hand and said, "I don't know!"
"Then you said to stop them, but they definitely won't listen to us. They will definitely fight then, right?"
Juandan continued to ask, "Let's not talk about whether you can win or not. Even if you win, if you accidentally eliminate others, your ranking will all belong to others. What should you do?"
"I don't know that either!" Shandan closed his eyes in pain.
——"Since you don't know, just continue solving the puzzle."
Xia Liang, who had listened to the entire conversation, resisted the urge to roll his eyes and waved at Shandan: "Let's not talk about finding the exit yet. Just running along this wall is exhausting enough."
"Oh, okay."
Being embarrassed by his sister, Shandan immediately borrowed the donkey to go downhill and honestly put his attention back on the puzzle: "But, Xiaojin, why do you have to run along the wall? Can't you just use the magic suit to go directly to the other side of the wall?"
"It's not that easy."
Xia Liang observed the Rubik's Cube in front of him, thinking about the solution, and answered casually: "My magic suit can't teleport living people at this stage, so even if I put a mirror on the other side of the wall, I can't get through the mirror. In other words, if I could do this, I would have done it a long time ago."
"Then why not teleport the wall away?" Shandan asked for the sake of conversation.
"That's of course because my magic suit can only transmit magic power..."
Xia Liang got stuck in the middle of his speech.
Shandan's suggestion suddenly made her think about a question, that is, is the maze in this test considered a real object? Although from the perspective of its structure and material, this maze is definitely not a pure magical creation, but there is no doubt that this maze definitely relies on magic to maintain its existence.
So, thinking from this perspective, can I transmit the "ritual to maintain the maze"?
Thinking of this, Xia Liang's hands moved before her brain did. Before she could figure out what to do next, she had already pressed a small distraction mirror against the wall.
Because it was just a verification, she deliberately shrunk the mirror to a very small size, less than the size of a palm, in order to avoid having too much magic power drained away.
Then, after the mirror flashed briefly, Xia Liang looked at the scene in front of him and fell into deep thought.
The wall covered by the mirror has turned into a few sparse bush branches, and is no longer as solid as the green wall before.
Wouldn't this be considered destroying the maze?
She thought a little guilty and took down the mirror that was pressed against the wall again, but then she saw the branches slowly growing again and gradually filling the holes in the wall again.
After a few seconds, there was a complete wall in front of her.
Apart from this, there was no change in the surrounding environment, and there was no sudden broadcast telling her that this was an act of destroying the maze and she would be eliminated.
Xia Liang was stunned.
This dullness was not because she had stopped thinking, but because a turbulent wave had already set off in her mind:
——It seems like she has found a way to get high scores?
(End of this chapter)
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