Chapter 1 After Negotiation

After agreeing on a plan, the players began to act, entering the stone cave in batches.

Upon entering the cave, a team of players would be transported to a simple, crude, square stone chamber.

The stone chamber contained only simple furnishings like tables, chairs, and benches. On the table was a white candle, emitting a faint light.

Each of the four walls had an open door, leading to the next, almost identical room.

After exploration, the players confirmed that the rooms in the stone cave were somewhat like Schrödinger's cat.

Without an observer, the room would constantly change.

But when an observer appeared, the room would become fixed.

And as long as a mark was left behind, the room would remain fixed.

That is to say, the rooms would not change randomly, and there would be no infinite loop.

The players' primary mission was to find and eliminate King Shipi.

To achieve this, they needed to quickly confirm the locations of the other teams and piece together a complete map by matching their respective routes.

Electronic devices and GPS positioning systems were prohibited in the stone cave, and the players had no idea of their bearing or direction.

The several teams that entered the cave communicated with each other via walkie-talkies.

Each team had someone drawing maps and recording their route.

Furthermore, each time they entered a stone chamber, they would leave a mark in the stone room,

labeling their team number, the current time, the current stone chamber number, and their previous map.

In order to discover traces of other teams as soon as possible,

the player teams all took the starting point as the center and walked one hundred rooms in one direction.

They turned left at the hundredth, two hundredth, and three hundredth rooms to form a huge square.

If the players could see the marks left by other teams during their journey, it would mean that they knew the other team's location.

And if they didn't see any marks, then they would continue to increase the side length of the next square.

If they couldn't find each other for a long time, then they would have to consider other possibilities,

such as the stone cave having divided them into different layers.

"So, your Clock Tower doesn't use owls to deliver acceptance letters to new students' homes?"

Li Ang, wearing a white lab coat with a dragon emblem, walked through the stone cave labyrinth, asking casually.

Twenty minutes had passed since the players entered the stone cave in batches.

After ten minutes, almost all five player teams had seen the marks left by others.

After piecing together the maps, the players confirmed that the distance between them was not far.

Everyone was within a square area of 600x600 rooms.

The stone cave mystic lock itself was definitely more than that size; moving randomly could lead them further and further away.

The players discussed it for a while.

To avoid attracting the stone cave's abnormalities by gathering too many people together,

they decided not to merge for now, and continue acting according to their original groups, continuing to walk in different directions,

planning to find the boundaries of the stone cave before slowly searching for King Shipi's location.

"Owls? Of course not,"

Hohenheim shook his head with a wry smile. "Our Clock Tower doesn't have any Sorting Hat or Triwizard Tournament either.

That J.K. Rowling wasn't a student who graduated from our Clock Tower and recorded her mage stories in the form of a novel.

Before the Killing Game started, our Clock Tower was short of talents and manpower, and it was already difficult enough to maintain it, so we didn't have that much energy to select talents from the public.

Now, our living environment is a little better—the British government will assist us in our work and help us find people with innate magic circuits and the qualifications to become mages among the public.

In the future, we will expand the search range and set up mobile monitoring stations in all cities across the country.

All children and adults of the right age can measure their magic circuit qualifications by touching the crystal ball in the mobile monitoring station."

"Wow, there really is a crystal ball project to test children's qualifications."

Li Ang啧啧remarked in amazement, "I wonder if there will be peerless geniuses with [full affinity for the nine major magical elements] by then,

and good-for-nothings with [zero affinity for the nine major magical elements]."

"What is that?"

Hohenheim didn't understand the reference. Just as he was about to ask, his brow furrowed instantly, and his mage robe moved without wind. In the void behind him, several crystal-shaped spell turrets emerged.

His hostility was not directed at Li Ang, but at the stone cave itself—

A gust of nameless, ghostly wind blew head-on, instantly extinguishing the white candle on the table in the stone room.

The four doors in front, behind, left, and right of the stone room slammed shut with a "bang," and the entire room plunged into darkness.

The players in the room were all elites among elites. Faced with the sudden darkness, they didn't panic at all,

either casting defensive barriers on themselves and their companions,

or releasing spells to give everyone the ability to see in the dark.

One second, two seconds...

No further changes occurred, and the room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"The candle cannot be lit with fire."

Li Ang checked the candle on the table in the darkness with unusual calmness, and said to Hohenheim, "Ask the others what's going on."

"Okay."

Hohenheim nodded, casting a light spell to illuminate the room,

while picking up the walkie-talkie and asking about the situation of the other teams.

"It's the same on our side. A gust of wind blew over, the four doors closed automatically, and the candle went out naturally."

Xing Yun of the third team said on the walkie-talkie channel, "It's the same for David and the others."

Xing Hechou of the second team asked, "When we teleported in, the stone cave entrance showed different shapes of doors,

but after we teleported in, everyone was on the same map, all in the same stone rooms.

Now that the candle is out, what does that mean?"

"People can think and set up conspiracies, but mystic locks won't."

Zhen Li Zhi Ce of the fourth team said in a hoarse voice on the walkie-talkie channel, "Mystic locks have a certain level of intelligence, but this intelligence is relative.

Without an operator, all actions of the mystic lock follow a set of basic logic.

Every cause has an effect. Everything in the mystic lock barrier has its meaning.

The closing of the doors and the extinguishing of the candle are likely to be a signal with special meaning.

It indicates that the mystic lock barrier has entered the next stage from now on."

"Like the air raid siren in *Silent Hill*?"

Xing Hechou thought for a moment, and just as he was about to ask further, he heard a miserable, inhuman wail from the walkie-talkie channel, "Ga wu—"

Xing Hechou was startled, "What sound is that?!"

"Uh... it's Li Risheng. He's playing with that rubber toy, the screaming chicken."

Hohenheim's eyes twitched, and he handed the walkie-talkie to Li Ang.

"Hello everyone, good afternoon, this is Li Risheng."

Li Ang pinched the screaming chicken in one hand and took the walkie-talkie in the other, saying lazily, "Old Xing, others may not know, but don't you know?

It's the old rule of our tomb raiding business,

'People light candles, ghosts blow out the lights, and if the chicken crows and the lights go out, don't raid the tomb.'

This time, our ancestors are giving us a hint, reminding us that we should stop and retreat."

???

Are you filming *Ghost Blows Out the Light* here?

And the chicken crows and the lights go out—how can you cheat by squeezing a screaming chicken yourself?

Xing Hechou couldn't utter a word of retort. His eyes twitched a few times, and he had no choice but to sigh and say, "Brother Li, just tell me what you want to do."

"My method is very simple: Heaven, Earth, Human, Ghost, God, Buddha, Demon, Beast, Subdue, Suppress, Escape, Object, Transform, Yin, Yang, Void."

Li Ang said with righteousness, "This sixteen-word secret technique of Yin-Yang Fengshui steals the secrets of heaven and earth, gathers the wisdom of the sages, and can observe celestial phenomena and know fate above, and extend earth veins and derive myriad changes below.

Unfortunately, I don't have a compass, live chicken, black donkey hoof, Vajra umbrella, or tomb-raiding talisman on me, and this is India, so Fengshui techniques may not work."

Then what are you talking so much about?

Xing Hechou's mouth twitched again.

Li Ang waved his hand carelessly and said, "But I do agree with what Zhen Li Zhi Ce just said. The closing of the doors and the extinguishing of the candles are signals that the mystic lock barrier has entered the next stage.

You've all been staying in the original room since just now and haven't moved, right?"

Xing Hechou replied, "Yes, why?"

"Stay where you are, don't move."

Li Ang said, "I'll go to the next room and see. If there are no problems, I'll call you."

Hohenheim frowned and said, "Are you okay on your own?"

"I'm fine."

Li Ang shook his head without explaining too much.

The mystic lock barrier has a certain suppressive effect on foreign players.

But his spirit energy is now full, the Swamp God's power is full, he can transform into a withered wood titan at any time, and he also has the [Shining Dice of Destiny] as a guarantee, so he's not afraid at all.

It's easier to act alone without so many concerns.

He threw the walkie-talkie to Hohenheim and walked toward the front of the room himself.

The four stone doors in the stone room were not sealed shut and felt like they could be pushed open.

Li Ang pushed open the front door and found that the candle in the next room inexplicably went out the moment he pushed it open.

At the same time, the other three stone doors in the original room were all sealed shut and could no longer be pushed open.

"What does this mean? Can only choose one direction?"

Li Ang muttered, walking into the next room and checking it.

All the furnishings in the new room were unchanged, except that the candle had automatically gone out.

And when he tried to push open the door in the second room again, he found that all four doors in the second room were also sealed shut, unmoving.

"Hmm..."

Li Ang thought for a moment, walked back to the original room, closed the front door, and tried to open the left door.

He found that the left room could not be opened.

The back or the right door also could not be opened.

Only the front door could be opened, and after opening it, the candle in the second room would automatically go out.

So, Li Ang asked the players on the other teams to try through the walkie-talkie, and the others also encountered the same situation.

"What does this mean? Are all the rooms in a quantum state? Only when observed can they collapse and be fixed into a solid?"

Li Ang muttered, falling into thought.

After a moment, he tried again.

He asked the others in the room to enter the second room with him.

After everyone entered the room, the back door automatically closed and could not be returned to.

In the second room, only the left door could be opened.

Along the left door, they entered the third room and found that the candle automatically went out. This time, only the left door could be opened.

The same was true for the third room.

The same was true for the fourth room.

When everyone entered the fourth room, they were all confused.

Nothing had happened along the way, except that the candle kept going out.

According to the rule of constantly turning left, their next step would be to return to the initial room.

Could it be that they would loop infinitely?

Li Ang pushed open the left door of the fourth room with a glint in his eyes, and sure enough, he saw the initial room with the mark on the wall.

But this time, the candle in the room automatically lit up the moment the door was pushed open.

"The candle is burning by itself?"

Hohenheim frowned and walked into the initial room, casually releasing a dozen detection spells.

"The candle isn't *Boruto*, of course it's flammable."

Li Ang said casually, looking around the initial room.

Except for the candle lighting up, the furnishings in the room were unchanged.

The candle itself should also be part of the mystic lock, just emitting light and heat, without any signs of dripping candle wax or shortening.

"What does this mean?"

Hohenheim pondered, "Are they trying to trap us here forever?"

"It shouldn't be."

Li Ang said, "If they simply wanted to trap us in place, they could just seal the room. There's no need for us to go around in circles here.

Moreover, the mystic lock can't trap us—it originally relies on the power of faith provided by ordinary believers outside.

If they push us too hard, we'll ignore the life and death of ordinary people and dismantle it violently. The mystic lock definitely can't last.

The current situation is more like a delaying tactic."

Hohenheim frowned, "Tactic?"

"Delay, just delay hard."

Li Ang waved his hand and said, "The ultimate goal of the mystic lock is to protect King Shipi, the core of the mystic lock, that is, to make outsiders find him as late as possible.

But the mystic lock can't trap the players to death.

Any player team has the ability to violently dismantle it. They can dismantle one or several doors in a short time. If that doesn't work, there's still Michael outside to provide support.

That is to say, all the mystic lock barrier can do is to use the rules as much as possible to guide outsiders away from King Shipi.

And the strange phenomena that appear in these rooms now,

such as the candle automatically lighting up and going out, and the sealing of the doors, are the rules provided by the mystic lock barrier.

What we have to do now is to find the path that the mystic lock barrier originally wanted us to take,

and King Shipi himself is likely to be in the opposite direction of that path.

If I'm not mistaken, when we enter the initial room again, the rules here will have changed in some way..."

As he spoke, he tried to open the four doors in the four directions of the initial room.

Before, he had pushed open the front door to enter Room No. 2.

But this time, the front door of the initial room was locked,

while the back door could be opened instead.

If the initial room is taken as the coordinate axis, then they are now entering the (0, -1) room.

The fifth movement, entering the (0, -1) room, the candle changes from bright to dark, and the left door opens.

The sixth movement, entering the (1, -1) room, the candle changes from bright to dark, and the left door opens.

The seventh movement, entering the (1, 0) room, the candle changes from bright to dark, and the left door opens.

The eighth movement, entering (0, 0), returning to the initial room, the candle changes from dark to bright, and the right door opens.