Chapter 353 Xia Liang's Dilemma
As the assessment progress was getting closer to the end and most of the teams were scrambling for the final extra points, Xia Liang was thinking.
It wasn't because she had nothing to do, or because she was cramming for an exam, but because her magic power was exhausted.
Yes, she had previously used her magic suit to intercept the spell on the wall, and found that she could temporarily disintegrate the structure of the wall. This gave her a very inappropriate idea: that is, to drill directly through this hole and run all the way to the end.
After all, it was an indisputable fact that their team was behind in progress. When the majority of the team had already started trying to conquer the node, they were at a loss as to even the trace of the second puzzle. If they continued to follow the routine, they would probably only get a mid-to-low-level result.
Directly passing through the wall to move out of the maze, whether this was immoral or unfair, was not something she should consider at this time. What she had to consider was that she had not been penalized for such behavior, so this loophole could be exploited, and even only she could exploit it.
She was unwilling to leave like this.
Then, there is no suspense about what is left to do.
Constantly using the power of the magic suit to repeatedly intercept and transfer the spells on the maze wall not only consumed a lot of her brain power, but also quickly reduced her magic power. After she and her team members passed through dozens of walls, they finally couldn't hold on any longer.
"Ah, finally I can take a break. Just traveling so fast makes me dizzy. This maze is really too big."
When Xia Liang closed her eyes to recover her magic power, Shandan and her sister Juandan could only stand guard for her while chatting idly: "You said, since this maze has no exit, then the space is infinite, right? Does it mean that no matter how far we go, we can't reach the end?"
“I don’t think so.”
Juandan carefully continued to use magic to explore the surroundings, and replied: "After all, the puzzles in the maze seem to be set by the examiners. Even if it is an endless maze, the puzzles are limited. Using this logic, the size of the maze should also be limited."
"So it's just that we're just naive and haven't run to the end yet?" Shandan, who was a little bored, blew a breath on his forehead, and the breath lifted his bangs: "It's a pity that Xiaojin has no magic power anymore, and we can't help her. I don't know if it's too late."
"I'm worried whether what we did was considered a foul..."
Juandan said with a slightly worried look: "But since it has come to this, and we haven't been judged as failing to be teleported out, we can only go this way to the end."
"Haha, this feeling of testing the edge of the rules is what I want. It's more exciting than skipping classes at school."
Shandan was obviously not that worried: "I think we only need to worry about two things now. The first thing is that we don't have enough time. We have to run out before all the nodes are captured. The second thing is not to be seen by others on the road, which would be troublesome."
What she said was exactly the reason why the two of them were keeping watch here.
The "way to pass" their team found was not legal or not, but it was definitely shameful. If they were seen on the road, they would be in big trouble. Because they could not deal with the candidates they met on the road like the Buddaria who went there for the ceremony, nor could they accept to take more people with them. So if the fact that they could "pass through the wall" was exposed to others, it would definitely become a bad debt.
"Luckily I haven't felt it yet... Huh?"
Juandan was about to continue what his sister said, but he suddenly exclaimed in surprise halfway through his words, as if he had discovered something: "This magical fluctuation seems to indicate that another team is coming in our direction?"
"Are you really coming?"
Shandan also widened his eyes: "What should we do then?"
"Speaking of what to do...it seems like there's no need for us to avoid it?"
Juandan thought and tried to analyze: "After all, we are just resting on the side of the road now, so it doesn't matter if we are seen?"
"That being said, it's better to avoid contact with others."
Shandan glanced at Xia Liang: "What do you think, Xiaojin?"
“… Let’s move.”
Opening his eyes, Xia Liang said with a tired look, "No one can guarantee that the team that appears at this time is not here to cause trouble like Buddleija. Even if the probability is very small, there is no need for us to take the risk."
"Of course you can, but can you move normally now?" Juandan said worriedly, "If it affects your condition, maybe it would be better to rest for a while..."
"Ah, it's okay. I've recovered a lot."
Xia Liang smiled as if nothing had happened and said, "Let's move first. It will be hard to say when the other party gets close."
"Okay then." Juandan nodded doubtfully. Although she felt that Xia Liang was being stubborn, she couldn't force him to rest.
So the three of them acted quickly, avoiding the small group that was about to pass by and hiding in another fork in the road.
However, they did not expect that this team that seemed to be "passing by by chance" was actually just part of the interference they would face.
Because when they stopped to rest again, another team passed by. Then the second team, the third team... Soon, in this area, Xia Liang and his team encountered at least five teams.
Not only that, these candidates seemed to have some purpose in mind and were also avoiding each other. There was even one time when Xia Liang and his team were about to encounter another team, but the other team ran away first. The strange phenomenon made Xia Liang and the two sisters look at each other in bewilderment, and for a moment they were unsure of what to do next.
"There must be something nearby, right?" When it came to speculating on the purpose of these teams, Shandan expressed his opinion decisively.
"Could it be a node?" Juandan thought a little more: "If it was just a puzzle, it shouldn't be possible for so many teams to know about it at the same time and gather here, right?"
"Node?"
Shandan thought for a moment and felt that Juandan's words made sense: "Then should we follow them and take a look?"
"No, if it's a node, we should hide until they all leave."
Xia Liang shook his head and rejected it: "Our current situation does not support participating in the node strategy. What's more, there are so many people around here. In this case, the points that each person can get from the node will be very small. It is not worth it for us to give up our original plan and waste so much time."
"So what do you think we should do now?" Shandan spread his hands.
"If it's really just because there are nodes around, then avoid them and find a way to leave this area."
Xia Liang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "What I'm worried about is that so many people gathered here, most likely for other reasons."
"For example?" Shandan asked in confusion.
"Wait a moment while I confirm."
As Xia Liang said this, she suddenly took out a very small mirror from her sleeve. Judging from the magical fluctuations it emitted, it could be judged that this was also a part of her magic costume.
Because the magic power consumption has not yet recovered, Xia Liang can only maintain the operation of the magic suit to the minimum, resulting in the mirror being very small. The surface of this miniature mirror is somehow tied with something like a thread. If you look closely, you will find that this thread made of magic power extends into the mirror surface and seems to be connected to somewhere else.
Xia Liang put the mirror next to his ear, looked at Shandan, and suddenly said, "Have you heard of a megaphone?"
"I have heard of it..." Shandan still didn't understand what Xia Liang was up to: "But what does this have to do with us now?"
“It’s a megaphone.”
Xia Liang shook the mirror in his hand, with a proud look on his face: "I left another mirror on the way here, connected the two ends with magic thread, and made a sound transmission device imitating the structure of a megaphone."
She actually borrowed this idea from Cuiqiao, and she used it in the assessment before she even showed it to the Fangting City team.
"Ah, I see! Are you really a genius?"
Shandan, who understood Xia Liang's explanation, clapped his hands suddenly: "In other words, if another team passes by, we can eavesdrop on what they say here?"
"Shh." Xia Liang put a finger to his lips: "This device works in both directions. If our voices are too loud, the other side may also hear it, so please speak softly."
Shandan covered his mouth and nodded, but after a while, he couldn't resist his curiosity and asked in a low voice: "What are they talking about?"
"Don't worry, there's nothing going on right now, let's just rest here first."
Xia Liang once again put the mirror next to his ear, concentrated and held his breath, listening carefully to the sound on the other end.
At first, probably because no one had passed by, Xia Liang didn't hear any movement. But she was not in a hurry. She relaxed her mind secretly, waiting for the magic power to slowly recover, and silently hoped that someone would pass by the "trap" she set.
Soon, accompanied by the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer, Xia Liang really heard the words of other teams.
The team passed by very quickly, so Xia Liang could only hear fragments of their conversation, and the trivial conversation did not provide any useful information. Fortunately, not long after, another team passed by.
Just like what Xia Liang and the others had encountered before, new teams of magical girls kept passing through this area one after another. And because these teams would always talk about something, Xia Liang finally pieced together the common truth in their words.
However, after learning the truth, she couldn't help but take a breath.
"What's wrong?" Noticing Xia Liang's mood change, Juandan on the side asked.
"Hmm? Any results?" Shandan's attention was immediately diverted.
"Yes, but it's not a good result."
Xia Liang sighed: "It's better to say that this is the worst case scenario for us."
"The worst case scenario?" "What is that?" the two sisters asked one question each.
"Another team used some unknown method to determine the possible location of the maze exit in advance."
Xia Liang put down the mirror in his hand, his expression solemn:
——"And what's worse is that they sold the news."
(End of this chapter)
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