Chapter 969 "Intricate Reversal"

"Are you sure we want to go into this ghost place now?" Bai Xue pouted and looked down at the map in her hand with a frown. "It's clearly marked on this map that this is a 'ghost maze'. If you let me in, what if I run into an old man or a ghost kitten?"

Zhang Meng looked extremely relaxed as he flipped through the equipment bag in his hand. "Don't worry, I have already eliminated all ghosts one by one. This maze is just an 'advanced' version of a jigsaw puzzle game. It's a bit more difficult, but if we work together, it's no problem at all."

"Oh, 'jigsaw puzzle'?" Bai Xue rolled her eyes. "I want to see how difficult this puzzle is. However, I still don't quite understand what the 'ghost' you mentioned last time is."

"Haha, ghosts are just spirits, they have no entity at all, not even a shadow." Zhang Meng looked relaxed, "But don't worry, ghosts won't come to us if we don't take the initiative to cause trouble."

"How did you know?" Bai Xue glanced at him suspiciously, "What if they are hungry and come to ask for food?"

"Hungry?" Zhang Meng almost laughed out loud, "How could they be hungry? Ghosts feed on fear. If you dare to be afraid, they will be more likely to come and chat with you."

"Chatting?" Snow White muttered in a low voice, "I've never heard of this before. Do ghosts like to 'chat'?"

"Hehe, don't believe me? You'll know in a moment." Zhang Meng walked forward with a joking look on his face, "Let's go, don't hesitate here, enter the maze, solve the puzzle, and get the final reward. In this way, your 'sense of accomplishment' will be even stronger than before!"

"Reward?" Bai Xue's eyes lit up. "You mean... there's a prize at the end of this maze?!"

"Of course." Zhang Meng smiled confidently, "But the reward is not just material. The 'reward' here is more about 'wisdom'."

"Oh?" Bai Xue bit her lip and followed him. "That sounds a bit hypocritical, but I guess you might mean spiritual rewards? For example, solving a puzzle and achieving spiritual sublimation?"

"Right! In short, you have to go through pain in order to grow." Zhang Meng looked back at her with a mysterious smile, "But no matter what, the temptation of rewards is definitely there."

"Hearing you say that, I'm a little bit looking forward to it." Bai Xue thought, "But, what does this 'maze' look like? How do you know it?"

"Well, I won't tell you the secret." Zhang Meng lowered his head and smiled, "You still have to explore it yourself, but I can guarantee that this place must be more interesting than you think."

"Interesting?" Bai Xue couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Do you know where this road leads to?"

"Where? Of course it's... 'unknown'." Zhang Meng spread his hands, "But, it's precisely because it's unknown that it's more challenging. Look, the stone door in front of us has started to move. Get ready to enter!"

"Wait! Aren't you going to tell me what I'll encounter after entering the maze?" Bai Xue frowned, "Don't tell me you don't plan to prepare a strategy for me!"

"Strategy?" Zhang Meng smiled confidently again. "You see, everything depends on you. How can I tell you the strategy in advance? You are already used to fighting monsters. Next, you need to get used to solving these 'IQ puzzles'."

"'IQ test'?" Bai Xue sneered. "I don't really like playing these kinds of brain teasers. Give me some substantive clues instead of just talking."

Zhang Meng did not answer, but raised his eyebrows, walked to the huge stone door, stretched out his hand and pushed it gently.

"boom--"

The stone door slowly opened, and a gust of cold wind blew out from the crack of the door, carrying a thick dampness and a strange smell. Bai Xue couldn't help shivering, standing at the door and looking into the dark maze.

"Okay, get ready to enter." Zhang Meng walked straight in as if it was a matter of course.

"Wait, Zhang Meng!" Bai Xue quickly chased after him, "Are you so fearless? How dare you go into such a huge black hole?"

"Scared?" Zhang Meng laughed. "What the hell! Don't you think this is the best time? Isn't a maze a challenge in the dark? As long as you dare to go in, the difficulty has been reduced by half!"

"Yes, you are right..." Bai Xue began to frown, "But I still think that we should be mentally prepared. What if we encounter some 'unexpected' enemies?"

"Enemy?" Zhang Meng was stunned for a moment. "There are no 'enemies' in this maze, only 'puzzles'. As long as you solve the puzzles, it will be easy to pass the level."

"'Puzzle'?" Bai Xue looked around carefully. "Why do I feel that this place is becoming more and more like a 'maze'? Are you sure there are only puzzles here and no mischievous ghosts appearing?"

"A mischievous ghost?" Zhang Meng looked at her with amusement, "You are too worried. Even if there are ghosts here, they are just some 'spiritual' beings. They can't hurt us at all."

"Well, you have the final say on this one." Bai Xue shrugged, indicating that she accepted the answer. "But I still want to know, what exactly is this 'puzzle'? How do you know its pattern?"

Zhang Meng turned around and smiled. "Patterns? You think a maze has patterns? The real challenge is to find traces of 'order' in 'disorder'."

"Disorder?" Bai Xue bit her lower lip and thought, "So, are we going to piece together the final answer from seemingly unrelated fragments?"

"Yeah, almost." Zhang Meng said slowly as he walked, "However, you can't be impatient when it comes to puzzles. Each piece has its own unique meaning. You don't need to rush for success. Think slowly and you may find something unexpected."

Bai Xue suddenly felt depressed. "When you say that, aren't you telling me that there are no clues here? We have to rely on luck and guess blindly?"

"No." Zhang Meng stopped and patted her shoulder. "What's luck? You should trust your intuition. Often, the real answer to the puzzle lies in the way you think."

"Way of thinking?" Bai Xue raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I can see some 'deep meaning' from the maze?"

"You can do it, Bai Xue." Zhang Meng encouraged her with a smile, "You are so smart, you are fully capable of solving these puzzles. Don't worry, the answers are not complicated, as long as you don't be scared by the apparent difficulties."

"Okay, I'll try first." Bai Xue took a deep breath and began to slowly observe the surrounding environment. "From now on, I will go all out."

At this moment, the wall of the maze suddenly made a strange sound, and the stone slabs began to rotate, revealing a bright passage.

"Zhang Meng, look!" Bai Xue saw the new passage at a glance, "Should we take this road?"

"Let's go." Zhang Meng nodded, still with a confident smile on his face, "That's right, follow your feelings, if you go the right way, you will pass the level."

The two embarked on a new journey, with a slowly closing stone door behind them and unknown challenges ahead. The puzzles were still unsolved, and what awaited them were more complex puzzles and more surprises. But no matter what, they knew that every step was a step closer to the answer.