Absolute Death Game

Wu Tao’s words didn’t give him any particular surprise, he knew without thinking that a labyrinth with such high difficulty wouldn’t be set up here without reason.

Moreover, according to his consistent gaming experience, since there were no monsters in the labyrinth, there wouldn’t be a BOSS waiting for him to fight at the end of it either.

Undoubtedly, what was hidden behind this labyrinth should be some good stuff, maybe a treasure chest that once opened, could grant super awesome equipment, or perhaps an apple tree laden with magical Golden Apples, eating one granting eternal life, eating two allowing one to ascend to immortality.

But it could also be something like a cursed Demon Sword, acquiring this sword would grant great Strength, yet one might be tempted and corrupted by the sword, lose their mind, Xiao Buli speculated all kinds of possibilities, and according to the nature of this game, it really wasn’t impossible.

However, no matter what was hidden behind the labyrinth, the prerequisite was that one had to get through the labyrinth to see it.

Seeing Xiao Buli deep in thought, Wu Tao couldn’t help but find it funny, "Boss, it seems like your gaming level has regressed, you don’t look like your old self now."

Xiao Buli glanced at Wu Tao, asking somewhat curiously, "What do you mean?"

"Back when you led us in games, you always had the demeanor of a sage from another world, as if you had everything under control, and when we asked you for advice on a tough problem in the game, you could always come up with all sorts of bizarre methods to solve it. Although sometimes the solutions you gave were really far-fetched, they always worked.

But now, you give off the feeling that you’re just like the old me when I encountered a problem, no more than an ordinary person."

Upon hearing Wu Tao’s words, Xiao Buli couldn’t help but want to laugh, thinking to himself that he didn’t even know when he had been regarded as an Immortal.

But gradually, he couldn’t laugh anymore, he figured out why Wu Tao felt that way.

In the past, when playing games, he always viewed the game as an outsider because, as a realist, he knew that everything in the game was fake. Naturally lacking immersion, he wouldn’t get sentimental over touching storylines, nor would he be frightened by horrifying scenes, and he wouldn’t be daunted by seemingly insoluble problems because he knew it was just a game.

As long as the game’s creators didn’t have some sort of brain glitch, there would definitely be a way to solve it. He was just a spectator, able to judge with absolute calmness how to proceed in the game, where to start in order to solve the problem at hand.

However, this game made him immerse himself into the game world for the first time. For someone who wanted to experience the game world, it might be a good thing, but for someone trying to survive in the game, it was not.

As the saying goes, concern leads to chaos. The more he cared about the life and death of his game character, the less he could analyze problems calmly. Thankfully, Wu Tao had pointed it out, or he might never have realized it.

"Thanks for the reminder, I owe you one," he said very seriously to Wu Tao. Wu Tao, seeing his reaction, felt somewhat embarrassed, "Don’t say that." After thinking for a moment, he asked, "But speaking of which, what do you plan to do?"

Xiao Buli smiled slightly, "Ask Baidu."

After finishing, he nodded to Wu Tao, and just as he stood up, suddenly a piercing pain shot through his leg, damn it! A chill went through his heart, it couldn’t be that the lame leg DEBUFF had taken effect, could it?

His bone felt as though it had broken, so painful.

"What’s wrong with you?" Wu Tao asked with concern.

"Nothing much, just thinking about some tough problems in the game," he replied.

"Oh, I see. Be careful when you’re exploring the maze, okay? Take it slow, and don’t worry about being a little late. Just don’t die, because if you die, there goes your job. The cost of death is just too great."

Xiao Buli merely smiled faintly at Wu Tao’s well-meaning advice. He knew all too well about the cost of dying in the game.

Standing up once again, Xiao Buli tried to act as if nothing was wrong as he made his way back to the dormitory. Sitting down, he couldn’t help but let out a long sigh— it was so painful. He rolled up his trousers to look, and saw no marks, but a gentle pinch brought a piercing pain.

(It seems that it’s not just death that leaves a mark on the body, pain does too, and like death, it shows up a few hours later.) This realization gave him a sense of urgency. It was clear that he needed to get out of this maze as soon as possible.

As he thought about this, he turned on his personal computer. The saying goes, "When stumped on internal affairs, ask Baidu; when confused about external matters, ask Sogou." Xiao Buli used to enjoy researching online, and this time he decided to see if the internet could help solve his dilemma.

He searched for ways to navigate a maze and did find a seemingly feasible method—exhaustive search.

To Xiao Buli, this exhaustive search seemed like a super dumb method, but it was absolutely effective.

This so-called exhaustive search involved sticking to one wall of the maze and following it wherever it led—whether you encountered a fork in the path or a dead end, you just had to keep following that one wall. This method was definitely effective against planar mazes, regardless of how ingeniously or deceptively they were designed, because it would surely lead you out.

Of course, it would be a different story for a three-dimensional maze, but fortunately, this particular maze had yet to present any situations involving stairs.

Another potential failure would be if the entrance and exit of the maze were both located in the center rather than on the edges, which would likely result in a tortuous loop using the exhaustive search. However, at least for now, he had confirmed that the entrance was definitely not in the center of the maze, so that wasn’t a concern.

The worst case would be if, after a long time, he ended up back at the entrance, but that was still better than being trapped and dying in the maze.

This method could be quite annoying to use, as it might require traversing all the branching paths before finding the way out. It would be manageable in a small maze, but in a large one, it was hard to predict how long it would take—hours were likely, and a day or two was possible.

But this was the only effective solution he could think of at the moment.

Enduring the pain in his leg, Xiao Buli returned to the gaming room. Li Jian and the others hadn’t come back yet, and the studio was quiet with just him there. He booted up the computer and logged into the game, staring thoughtfully at the figure standing in front of the stone stele.

He checked his inventory and saw that he had enough food to support him for another two days. Walking in this game also required Physical Strength, and even though it was used up slowly, if he ran out of food and Physical Strength before getting out, he would starve to death. Before that happened, however, Xiao Buli would log off in advance; he had no intention of starving to death in real life. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Two days wasn’t certain to be enough for him to find his way out of the maze with the exhaustive method, but now it was the only option he had left to try. Sticking to one wall, he set off once again. Navigating a maze with exhaustive search was truly frustrating; often, you could see a long dead end with one glance, yet you had to walk into it and back out again, multiplying the time spent.

Nevertheless, if it meant getting out of this damned maze, it was all worth it. But after more than an hour of walking, he found himself back at his starting point.