The Zhan'g Maze

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Being lost was never a good sign, especially when you were in the belly of a dangerous mountain with no apparent right path. They head to the tunnel that Xiaoge had found, but it turned out to be another exit to some a river with a small waterfall that only seems to come out of the mountain and not enter it.

While looking for another way, they found that apart from the way they had come, there was something behind the waterfall where there was another cave that led to a dark tunnel. They followed that path next and walked by torchlight for who knows how long finding more tunnels on their way like in a dark maze.

At that moment, most of the people with them thought that Xiaoge had no idea where they were going and that they were walking in circles, even when Xiaoge told them that the place they were in was not wrong. Fairy Huo also insisted that Xiaoge knew that place best and that they would eventually find the right path to Zhang's Pavilion following his direction.

However, both Wu Xie and Pagnzi knew better than anyone else about Xiaoge's memory loss problem, and while Xiaoge's instincts were usually keen, they didn't always lead them on the right path. Still, they keep walking and passing tunnels without finding any traps, which somehow makes Wu Xie anxious. The Zhang's were known to keep their secrets deep, so why didn't they find anything until now?

It was unnatural in many ways and confused Wu Xie to no end as he walked behind Xiaoge in silence. He was no longer as confident as he was in the beginning, so he analyzed the things they had found so far, just to avoid really doubting Xiaoge's instincts. However, that was before they entered a larger cave filled with pools of water, holes and a bad smell.

Seeing that this place was different from the endless tunnels they had walked through before, they thought that they had finally reached the point where they could find the right path to the Zhang Pavilion. The key to advance was probably hidden somewhere within the pools of water, so they carefully explored them one by one. Then, while they were doing it, two things happen at the same time.

One, Fairy Huo began to feel unwell and her nose was bleeding heavily. Second, they hear a loud sound coming from the tunnels, while a greenish mist begins to rise from the pools.

"Dammit!! That's poison gas!! The masks!! Wear the masks!!" Pangzi yelled, and even though they did, it turned out to be useless in the end, since the gas that was released was just as corrosive as the one used in the cave with the miloutuo, so the only way out was to go back to the tunnels where they had come. entered, but even that turned out to be impossible.

The tunnels seem to have changed as they explored the holes and even if they were able to escape the poisonous gas, they couldn't find their way out, they only returned to the cave with the pools, no matter which path they took.

"I guess this is the real trap we overlooked, thinking there was nothing." Pangzi said as they have a rest in one of the tunnels.

"Yeah... we fooled ourselves into thinking that there was no trap, apart from these endless tunnels. Honestly, this is a maze and the cave with the pools can be said to be the center. We have two chances to get out of the maze and on our third attempt to find the right path, the trap was triggered, making it impossible to escape from this maze. The pools are full of poisonous gas that we don't know how it was triggered and that sound... it was so loud, like something wanted to cross the rock wall to catch us, but couldn't." Wu Xie said as he rested next to Xiaoge.

"Well, it could be anything from blood zombies trying to reach us to a mass of miloutuos waiting to tear us apart somewhere in this darkness." Pangzi added.

"None of them are particular good for us." Wu Xie said as he sighed.

"What can we do now, then? Fairy Huo is not in good condition and the others are not too far behind. That poisonous gas is something else and it will come out each time we try to explore the holes. Are we really trap in here with no way out?" Pangzi asked as he looked at Xiaoge with a hint of hope in his heart.

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