"Ye Ningchen died in exactly the same way as He Yu. Both of them were actually tainted by the abnormal color, or brought their color into rooms they shouldn't have gone to," Mi Wei analyzed. "Could we infer that those who are contaminated by the color won't have their bodies dragged away, but will be executed on the spot?"
Ke Xun suddenly said, "Perhaps what was dragged away by the others wasn't corpses, but living bodies—Xin Beibei might still be alive."
Everyone simultaneously thought of the coins in the pool—when Zhang Tianwei was found submerged in the large glass jar, there were still coins with his moon pattern in the pool.
According to speculation, Zhang Tianwei was not dead at that time.
In that case, Xin Beibei might also not be dead.
Shi Zhendong wanted to go upstairs: "I'm going to go to that circular building to see if Beibei has been put into the glass jar yet!"
No one was in the mood for breakfast at the moment, so they all followed Shi Zhendong upstairs.
When they arrived at the familiar open-air corridor on the fourth floor, the door of the circular building was still open, and the red door inside was also open, but the glass jar that had once submerged Zhang Tianwei had disappeared without a trace.
The floor was spotless, as if the red liquid had never been there.
"Which floor might Xin Beibei be on?" Mi Wei looked up at the copper staircase leading to the fifth and sixth floors.
"How about this, I'll climb up and check first," Ke Xun suggested, which was indeed his plan yesterday.
The copper staircase was sturdy, and Ke Xun quickly reached the fifth floor. Looking back, he saw Mu Yiran following closely behind.
Ke Xun smiled slightly: "Are you worried about me or not?"
Mu Yiran nimbly climbed to the fifth floor: "I just don't want anyone to be alone."
The two pushed open the wooden door to the fifth-floor lobby and were quickly drawn to the striking blue clock on the wall.
"It should be here." Ke Xun glanced at the half-open blue door and immediately shouted to the group waiting on the fourth-floor corridor, "On the fifth floor!"
Shi Zhendong and Zhu Haowen quickly climbed up as well. Seeing Qin Ci about to come up as well, Ke Xun hurriedly shouted, "Not too many people, try not to be alone!"
Qin Ci understood that, based on Mu Yiran's analysis today, being alone, or even in very small groups, was very dangerous.
Future operations should ideally maintain at least three people to avoid being swayed by some terrible temptation.
The group on the fifth floor used yesterday's method to force the blue door open by "creating wind"—although
everyone had already imagined the scene inside, they still couldn't help but back away when they saw the large blue glass jar with their own eyes.
The glass jar, about two meters tall, was more than half full of blue liquid. Xin Beibei's entire body was submerged in the liquid, with only her head floating on the surface.
Seeing his girlfriend's condition, Shi Zhendong could no longer hold back and began to tremble violently: "Is this person... still Beibei—Beibei, Beibei! Can you hear me?!"
Xin Beibei's eyes were open, but her gaze was vacant, like a stone statue.
"I'll call Sister Guo to come up and help!" Ke Xun said, then went back up the ladder to the fourth floor.
"Sister Guo? Xiao Guo?" Shi Zhendong was somewhat bewildered.
Zhu Haowen: "Sister Guo and Ke Xun are both from the Blue Group, they should be qualified to enter this room."
A moment later, Guo Lixia, "protected" by Wei Dong and Ke Xun, came up: "That girl isn't dead? How do we rescue her? We..."
Guo Lixia's words were quickly interrupted by the scene before her. This was the first time Sister Guo had seen a glass jar containing a person. Although she didn't scream, she couldn't help but exclaim, "My God..."
Mu Yiran looked at Ke Xun: "What are you planning to do?"
"Sister Guo might have to suffer," Ke Xun said without hesitation as he walked into the Blue Room, examining the glass jar, which was almost as tall as him. "Sister Guo, hold me up from below, I'll climb up and see if I can pull the person out."
The glass jar was slippery, with no footholds; it would be too difficult for one person to climb up directly.
Guo Lixia didn't hesitate much, simply saying, "I'll be down here, you can step on my shoulders to get up, no problem! I'm just worried, this glass tank is too big, what if you, the team leader, fall in!"
"Damn, Sister Guo, you're not kidding me!" Ke Xun smiled, noticing a hint of concern in Mu Yiran's gaze, and smiled again.
"Alright, I'll try my best to hold your feet." Guo Lixia was a decisive person, and quickly followed Ke Xun into the room.
"Wait a minute," Mu Yiran spoke, a bundle of rope appearing in his hand, "I found this behind the wooden door earlier, tie this around your waist, it'll be safer."
"That's a good idea!" Guo Lixia was the first to give a thumbs up, "Even if the team leader really slips in, we can all work together to pull him out! Brother Mu, you'd better hold on tight!"
Mu Yiran nodded almost imperceptibly, and Wei Dong quickly grabbed the rope, afraid that Ke Xun might slip.
Shi Zhendong also came over: "Everyone hold on together, it's safe!"
So, Ke Xun, with a rope tied around his waist, climbed onto Guo Lixia's shoulders and grabbed the mouth of the glass bottle, sticking his head inside.
The entire blue surface of the water looked like a small sea, and Xin Beibei's long black hair floated on the surface like some kind of seaweed.
"Xin Beibei? Can you hear me?" Ke Xun called tentatively.
But there was no answer.
Ke Xun had almost half his body inside the glass bottle, stretched out his long arm, and finally touched the other's hair. The cool, wet feeling was uncomfortable.
Without thinking, Ke Xun grabbed Xin Beibei's hair and tried to lift her up.
Ke Xun's strength wasn't very great, and at first it felt a little difficult, but then suddenly it felt easy.
A loud scream came from outside the room, and soon there was an even sharper scream, from Guo Lixia at his feet.
The people outside the blue door witnessed a scene they would never forget: Xin Beibei's head was easily ripped off, a pillar of blue liquid gushing from the severed neck, and blue liquid suddenly spurting from the head's facial features…
"Splash—" The head returned to the water, floating freely on the surface.
Ke Xun let go in a daze.
"Ke Xun! Get out quickly!" Mu Yiran tugged at the rope in his hand, finally bringing the dazed Ke Xun back to his senses.
Guo Lixia, overwhelmed with shock, collapsed to the ground, causing Ke Xun to fall as well.
Ke Xun's legs were also weak, but he still had to support Guo Lixia as the two staggered out of the terrifying blue room, neither of them looking back at the scene that had unfolded there.
Everyone stared at each other in silence. Ke Xun looked at Shi Zhendong, whose face was ashen, and finally managed to squeeze out three words: "I'm sorry..."
Shi Zhendong was like a puppet with its strings cut. It took him a while to raise his head and look at Ke Xun: "It's not your fault..."
Zhu Haowen was relatively calm. He looked at the blue liquid on Ke Xun's hands: "You need to wash your hands quickly."
"Okay…" Ke Xun walked listlessly into the lobby restroom and washed his hands thoroughly.
Guo Lixia, to avoid suspicion, also went to the restroom and washed her hands carefully.
When Ke Xun came out of the restroom, he found Zhu Haowen standing at the door, still expressionless as ever: "If she hadn't died just now, then you could say you relieved her suffering."
"I wish she were dead." Ke Xun felt like he had killed someone.
"You did your best," Mu Yiran spoke, "You must have tried your best to save her last night, but unfortunately, the opponent's power was too strong."
Ke Xun glanced at Mu Yiran: "Last night, what dragged her away was her own shadow; I couldn't fight it. Her neck seemed to be tightly gripped by an invisible hand."
Mu Yiran frowned, unable to understand the cause and effect.
Everyone went back up the stairs to the fourth floor. Seeing everyone's expressions, no one asked any questions.
The group returned to their building along the corridor, and Ke Xun washed his hands again in the fourth-floor restroom.
"What exactly happened?" Mi Wei asked Wei Dong softly.
Wei Dong sighed, "Xin Beibei is dead."
"Like Zhang Tianwei?"
"Pretty much."
Shi Zhendong stumbled downstairs. Guo Lixia, being his peer, also felt deep sympathy: "I'll go down and check on him, just in case something happened."
Familiar music started playing, and the NPC's voice was still sweet: "A new day has arrived~ The castle has prepared a delicious breakfast for everyone. Welcome to the first-floor hall to enjoy it! Our task today is still storing three large bottles of berries! Remember not to contaminate the color!"
Miao Zipei looked up at the clock on the wall, still covered in indigo patterns: "Let's go downstairs, we still have a lot of work to do today."
Indeed, although the workload hadn't changed, the number of members was slowly decreasing, which meant the workload was gradually increasing, while the time available for finding signatures was decreasing.
"Xin Beibei actually gave us some inspiration," Zhu Haowen suddenly said.
"You mean the maze?" Mu Yiran asked.
"She showed great interest in the maze and really wanted to go there herself," Zhu Haowen analyzed. "I think this isn't entirely her true intention; there's a lot of manipulation involved."
Qin Ci nodded: "Let's go back and eat first, then assign tasks to the others. The rest of us can focus on searching the maze. According to yesterday's plan," Qin Ci looked out the window at the maze below, "we can look down at the maze from here and draw its route."
Ke Xun's expression improved slightly: "We can also use ropes."
Mu Yiran looked at the bundle of rope in his hand: "Theseus used a ball of thread when he solved the Minotaur's maze."
Wei Dong, listening from the side, was completely confused: "What are all those things?"
"That's the world's earliest maze, built around 1600 BC, dating back to the Mycenaean period. The maze is located on the ancient Greek island of Crete," Mu Yiran said.
Ke Xun recalled what he had seen last night: "Regarding labyrinths, is there always a guardian?"
"Perhaps. King Milos built the labyrinth for the Minotaur, and the guardian should have been the Minotaur himself."
Ke Xun frowned: "Last night I saw someone standing in the northeast corner of the labyrinth from the window. Xin Beibei had just been dragged away by the shadow. That person stood there for a few minutes before going inside."