[Stage Two]

[Translator: Let’s remove the numbers from the IDs, since the author didn’t include them and it creates inconsistency for the Wonder Zoo team.]

At the far end of the long forest, players stood scattered at the forest’s exit.

Due to the isolation mechanic that severed contact with the outside world, players who entered the event couldn’t rely on external help or guides. Each had to charge forward using only their own wits and skills. But very few teams had figured out the mechanics of the dungeon’s lighting and mist-based teleportation points.

The first stage, the forest, had trapped countless players.

Out of nearly 10,000 teams in the lower-level zone, only a handful remained after hours of competition. Everyone’s face showed the exhaustion of long-distance running. Some simply sat down to rest—this first stage had already cost them their one-time-use items.

On the display panel, the countdown for Stage One was still ticking. The number of teams that had cleared the level stood at:

High-Level Zone: 14 out of 2,589

Low-Level Zone: 8 out of 9,564

“Damn, this stage eliminated that many people?”

“Yeah, I brute-forced my way through with items. Thank god they were usable.”

“Our team had a crowd-control item. We locked the enemies and then chased the light through.”

At the entrance of the forest, several leaderboard teams from the high-level Tiankong Tree region looked around at the surrounding players. Compared to the messy and varied strategies used in the low-level zone, players from the high-level region passed through with much more composure.

The fastest team to clear the stage now stood at the forest’s edge. Most of them were from [Sanctum], currently ranked #8 on the Talent Squad Leaderboard. Standing not far from them was a group of alt accounts from the low-level zone. The two teams were already deep in discussion.

As soon as the system-wide announcement appeared, these leaderboard teams had immediately gleaned crucial info from it—and had already partnered with teams from the beginner zones before entering the forest.

Sanctum was one such team. The group they partnered with came from the novice server #3, and every single member was among the top-ranked players in the newbie zone. All of them were level 39—just one level shy of ascending to level 40—and each name was a frequent sight in the system announcements, well-known across the game world.

With the two teams standing side by side, other players who had cleared the stage couldn’t help but glance over, impressed by their powerful lineup, yet also wary of them as future opponents.

The dungeon [Mirror Maze Town] was clearly designed with a stage-based progression. With such a brutal elimination rate in just the first round, it was obvious that the coming rounds would be even more unforgiving.

“Isn’t that team over there from Wonder Zoo…? Can’t believe two top-10 leaderboard teams showed up right away.”

“Wonder Zoo’s ranking dropped pretty hard recently—they missed that Tiandi Temple event and slipped to fourth place.”

“But I think Wonder Zoo only has one team, right?”

Turnover was fast among the top 10 ranked squads. Sanctum was one of the rising stars, and they had close ties to Griffin, the team currently ranked #2.

As soon as they saw the gameplay mechanic triggered by Wonder Zoo’s captain Haba Dog, they led their team over without hesitation.

This time, the elite team from Griffin didn’t participate because they were clearing another mode. It was clear that Sanctum had arrived together with Team #3 specifically to target Wonder Zoo. After all, Wonder Zoo and Griffin had been neck and neck on points. During the recent Tiandi Temple event, Griffin had trampled Wonder Zoo underfoot—there was no way they’d let Wonder Zoo catch up now.

As they chatted, Sanctum players kept glancing toward Wonder Zoo in the distance.

They noticed that the team Wonder Zoo had partnered with still hadn’t shown up.

—-

Wonder Zoo’s players weren’t standing with the other leaderboard teams, seemingly unaware of the brewing storm of attention between them and Sanctum.

A bunch of them were crouching nearby, with their own captain, Haba Dog, wearing an overly serious expression, tapping away at the message panel persistently. Having left the communication-restricted zone, their captain was now even more fervently trying to reach someone.

Ragdoll Cat rubbed their temples, holding back the words they were about to say.

Forget it. If the captain wants to spam messages, let him.

The other Wonder Zoo members, some standing and some squatting, stared anxiously at the forest entrance. Would they really meet up?

No one knew how long they’d waited when suddenly, an odd noise came from inside the forest.

The sudden sound immediately put all the veteran players on high alert. Those closest to the forest edge clutched their skills, ready to act. At this moment, something seemed to surge from the mist. A vaguely human silhouette burst out of the mist and, unable to stop, crashed straight into the players at the edge.

With a loud bang, the skill triggered on impact blasted a nearby player to half health.

Players: “!!!” What just happened?!

The surrounding crowd scattered like startled birds. The dense mist finally parted, and a familiar server number shimmered faintly in the mist.

3145—the digits glimmered faintly as a five-person team emerged at the forest’s edge.

Wonder Zoo’s player Fierce Tiger instantly recognized them and stepped forward to say hello—only for the leading assassin, still dragging a rope behind him, to collapse to his knees with a thud, lurching toward Fierce Tiger and dry-heaving dramatically, nearly prostrating himself.

The assassin shouted hoarsely: “We! Fucking! Made it!”

The Wonder Zoo players, receiving this bizarre “grand greeting”: “?”

Fierce Tiger: “…”

The hell—who is this guy?!

It wasn’t just Frog—even Slack Bro, who was usually best at running, was leaning against a tree, while RichBrostaggered beside him like a drunk, finally feeling the solid ground beneath his feet. His hand, still twitching from skill spamming, trembled as he clung to the tree.

All three of them looked like they were about to die. They couldn’t even bother reacting to the stares from the surrounding elite teams. The overwhelming nausea and dizziness had them genuinely feeling what it meant to be motion-sick from a game.

Frog couldn’t straighten his back for a long time—it felt like his spine was about to snap.

They’d run for a full hour!

Was the mainframe out of its mind, placing teleportation points continuously for a full hour? Even a donkey would collapse!

Little Bunny then reached out and unfastened the Retractable Claw from the three people, who were unable to stand up. He then handed this tool—which had been used to strangle the three of them to death—to the weapon master standing nearby.

Zhou Sui carefully tucked his Retractable Claw away into his inventory. When he turned around, he found a crowd of players standing behind them, eyes locked on their group. They had become the center of attention, gazes shifting from the three vomiting wrecks to him, as if trying to see through them.

“…” Why are they all staring?

Fierce Tiger sidestepped the collapsed assassin. After all this time, he finally had a chance to speak to Cycle of Eternity face-to-face. He gathered his words and strode confidently forward.

“Hello, Cycle of Eternity. This isn’t our first meeting. I was on an alt account before. Ah—whatever, forget the alt. The name’s Fierce Tiger.”

“I know,” Zhou Sui looked up. “Your ID says so.”

Fierce Tiger: “…?”

Wonder Zoo’s players burst out laughing.

The voices on their side seemed to have been overheard by nearby players. Faint murmurs drifted through the crowd.

Zhou Sui was highly sensitive to sound. Now that they had exited the mist zone and nothing was obscuring their vision, the player IDs above everyone’s heads gradually came into clear view.

For players from the newbie servers, their IDs were preceded by their server numbers. In contrast, players from the high-level zone Tiankong Tree displayed only their IDs. Each of them wore drastically different gear and wielded different weapons. Zhou Sui only had to glance around to immediately sense that the gap between him and these level-40-and-above players wasn’t just in skill points and stat distributions—there were other differences too, visible in their gear and presence.

Wonder Zoo had brought 12 players total, forming a team made up of two sub-groups.

Noticing this, Zhou Sui looked around and observed the other player groups standing together. Each team had at least nine or ten members. Among all the players who cleared the stage, only their team had just five people. No wonder everyone had stared at them when they exited the forest earlier.

Zhou Sui turned to Little Bunny and asked, “Are we short on people?”

Little Bunny ignored the hundreds of pop-up messages flooding his screen. Upon hearing Zhou Sui’s voice, he dismissed them all and said, “That means the challenge quota can stack.”

The mysterious letter they received allowed a full team of six to join. But if a team had multiple letters, then the allowed team size could be increased accordingly. It was clear that many teams here had access to more detailed information. And due to Wonder Zoo getting screwed over by the central AI, which unintentionally exposed the cross-region linkage, now all players were essentially starting from the same line.

Wonder Zoo’s players proactively approached Zhou Sui’s group. Zhou Sui recognized the two leads from Wonder Zoo: one was Haba Dog, whose voice he’d heard earlier. Though Haba Dog’s name sounded silly, he was actually a warrior from Sui Xing City. The other, slightly more refined in demeanor, was the vice-captain Ragdoll Cat, a Tian Wu Bastion class.

[Player Haba Dog has requested to merge teams. Accept?]

Zhou Sui clicked “Accept,” and all their team members were immediately added into Haba Dog’s group.

The newly displayed ID list now showed, alongside Haba Dog, Ragdoll Cat, and Fierce Tiger, a roster of names that were all animal-themed.

Zhou Sui glanced at their professions and discovered that Fierce Tiger wasn’t actually a formation master as he’d assumed—he was a Daoist Mage.

Zhou Sui couldn’t help but glance at the player nearest to him, whose ID read [Black Bear]. The man’s burly physique formed a stark contrast with Ragdoll Cat. His class: Qi Ling Village.

Having spent so much time with training equipment, Zhou Sui could tell at a glance—this man’s muscles weren’t just data-generated. He had clearly trained well in real life.

Black Bear noticed Zhou Sui’s gaze and took the initiative to say, “Hi, just call me Big Bear. I’m the healer for Wonder Zoo.”

Zhou Sui replied, “Hello.”

Right after speaking, he realized that Black Bear was looking down at him.

The healer’s typically elegant gear looked like it was about to burst at the seams on this guy.

Wonder Zoo’s Big Bear—a rare player ranked in the top twenty for the Qi Ling Village class. Just as Slack Bro finally snapped out of his daze, he saw their Brother Zhou standing face-to-face with Wonder Zoo’s burly giant. The man was two meters tall, and the pressure from his presence was intense.

Unable to resist, Slack Bro stepped forward and asked if he could touch the muscles.

Big Bear was more than happy to show off. He even rolled up his sleeve, and his muscles drew rounds of astonished gasps from nearby players.

Zhou Sui took two steps back. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Little Bunny and Haba Dog talking.

The two stood several paces apart. Little Bunny’s face was expressionless, only the faint glow from his screen showing he was currently exchanging dungeon intel with Wonder Zoo. Perhaps because of Black Bear’s physique just now, Zhou Sui instinctively sized Little Bunny up. But after barely half a second, Little Bunny suddenly lifted his head, having sensed the scrutiny.

Their eyes met. Zhou Sui quickly looked away.

Meanwhile, Rich Bro and Frog still hadn’t recovered. They sat on the ground resting, watching Slack Bro touch muscles and feeling the itch to join in.

Zhou Sui noticed and said, “Close your eyes. When you open them, look at something still.”

Rich Bro perked up. “Like this?”

Seeing how twisted and slumped he was sitting, Zhou Sui hesitated for a few seconds, then stepped forward to adjust his posture, helping him sit properly against a tree. “Avoid looking at anything moving for now.”

Frog imitated him and found it really did help. “Boss, you don’t get dizzy?”

“No,” Zhou Sui said. “I’m used to it.”

—-

Little Bunny watched Zhou Sui walk into the crowd, seemingly chatting with teammates.

While still talking to Haba Dog, his gaze followed Zhou Sui and paused on the way he helped Rich Bro sit up. For a moment, Zhou Sui’s silhouette overlapped with another figure from years ago—until it was blown away by the mist and became the present version.

Haba Dog noticed Little Bunny trailing off mid-sentence. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just remembered something.”

Little Bunny packed up the dungeon intel and mass-sent a copy to Zhou Sui and the others. “Let’s wait and see what the second stage looks like.”

Unnoticed, time slipped by, and suddenly, a familiar system prompt sound rang out from all around.

Zhou Sui stood nearby, waiting for his teammates to recover. When he heard the sound, he looked toward the edge of the forest and saw the white mist swirling outside the forest begin to shift, gradually condensing until it suddenly exploded like a balloon—more like a festive cannon shot.

[Time’s up!]

[Congratulations to all players for passing the challenge of Mirror Maze Town: Forest of the Mirror Maze Town! All players who made it into the town before nightfall will receive: [Mysterious Treasure Chest] x1 and a bonus of +10 permanent attribute points. Those who failed the challenge will have 50% of their current EXP bar deducted and will be locked out of all special modes for 6 hours.]

As soon as the penalty appeared, the atmosphere among the players noticeably froze—they clearly hadn’t expected the punishment to be this harsh.

Losing 50% of their EXP bar might be fine for low-level players, but for high-level players, the higher the level, the steeper the loss. It could take days to earn it back.

“Fucking mainframe,” Fierce Tiger  couldn’t help but curse.

Haba Dog said, “A mysterious chest and 10 attribute points in exchange for that risk? That’s acceptable.”

“But it won’t be so simple going forward.”

Just as Little Bunny  finished speaking, another game prompt rang out:

[Now that you’ve cleared the challenge, you have two choices:
A. Proceed into the town.
B. Abandon the adventure.]

[Note: The risk-reward system still applies if you proceed—so make your choice wisely!]

Of course, few players who made it this far would back out. Most selected Option A.

As soon as the selection was made, Zhou Sui noticed a change on his personal interface—now both the high-level and low-level player teams were visible. Fourteen teams had cleared the challenge from the advanced zone, and from the beginner zone, there were ten—including theirs.

As the mainframe’s prompt finished, the mist at the forest’s edge fully dissipated. What had previously been obscured now came into focus: a faintly visible town. At its entrance stood a gate made of gray stone, the town’s name carved above it but now too faded to read. Through the gates, only dark, pitch-black streets could be seen. An old hunchbacked man stood at the entrance, and beside him was a young child carrying a lantern.

“Welcome, travelers from afar,” the old man raised his cloudy, glinting eyes and looked at all the players.

That look made everyone’s hair stand on end. The town itself had a strange, eerie feel. Was this holographic game really trying to go full horror? Even the NPCs were on par with full-blown horror titles.

“This place already sounds like a horror dungeon.”

“And the boss hasn’t even shown up yet. We have to go in.”

Slack Bro took a few steps forward but saw his teammates still frozen in place. “Come on.”

“Not going?”

Wonder Zoo’s players, still assessing the situation: “?”

Frog said, “Bro, it’s so creepy—you go ahead!”

The old man said nothing. Zhou Sui looked at him once, then stepped forward.

As he did, the old man’s gaze followed him, and then he turned around and walked straight into the town.

Little Bunny  frowned slightly at the sight of Zhou Sui walking ahead but chose to follow without a word.

Zhou Sui glanced sideways, a bit surprised to see him. He had just been about to offer to scout ahead when Little Bunny  said softly, “Watch your surroundings.”

The town path was pitch-dark, with only a few scattered candles offering any light to orient by.

Seeing Wonder Zoo’s players enter, the Sanctum and Team No. 3 players followed.

Little Bunny  stayed by Zhou Sui’s side. His half-lowered gaze flicked over the players who followed behind them, but he said nothing.

His eyes eventually returned to the front, focused on the old man and child walking ahead. Since entering the town, the NPCs had said nothing further.

“Why are those guys behind us staring at us?” Rich Bro asked as he walked, having noticed Little Bunny ’s glance. When he looked back, he saw another team.

“It’s Team No. 3,” Slack Bro replied, glancing over. He was well-informed thanks to his time on the forums. “They’re the dark horse of Newbie Server 3, and their squad is literally called Team No. 3.”

“When Brother Zhou and Brother Bunny crushed it at the Tiandi Temple, they totally stole their spotlight. That team didn’t even clear the dungeon back then.”

Frog chimed in, “Makes sense. I’ve heard of them. They’re flashy.”

He often dealt with major players from various servers. Team No. 3 had been making waves in the rankings for the past month, unlike Cycle of Eternity, who had to rely on his little brothers watching the world channel to find a target.

As soon as all the players stepped into the town, a new prompt appeared!

[All player choices confirmed!]

[Stage Two (Nighttime Mirror Maze Town): The Gifted Ones have braved countless trials to reach the outskirts of the town and become special guests. Players from the High-Level Zone and Low-Level Zone must now pair up to form joint teams—cooperation will greatly increase your chances of surviving the night~ (Duration: 8 hours)]

[Currently: 14 High-Level Zone teams, 10 Low-Level Zone teams, 4/10 successful pairings]

The two zones had mismatched team numbers, and as soon as this was announced, the remaining six unpaired teams from the Low-Level Zone became highly sought after.

There was no time wasted in the mutual selection—those Low-Level teams were quickly snatched up, leaving four High-Level Zone teams who could only wait and see if any further instructions from the game would appear.

[All selections complete. The night is cold and heavy—please don’t wander aimlessly~]

Zhou Sui suddenly stopped walking and said, “They’re gone.”

The other players turned toward his voice—sure enough, the old man and the child who had been leading them earlier had vanished.

Only players remained on the street—there wasn’t a single sign of a townsperson.

It was clearly intentional on the part of the mainframe. The game’s prompt had been timed to trigger only after all players entered the town, then followed up with the team-pairing notice to divert attention.

With the disappearance of the old man and child, the entire town’s atmosphere grew even more eerie. The mood completely changed.

Mist thickened around them, and the howling of the wind drew closer. Haba Dog, Wonder Zoo’s leader, quickly switched their chat mode to team voice. Beside him, Ragdoll Cat immediately reacted, “Move—we can’t stay on the street.”

The moment the words left his mouth, wind carrying the dense mist rushed at the players.

As the mist swept in, all players were hit with a randomly assigned debuff—[Slow].

Little Bunny quickly flipped open his medicine box and cast a dispel skill on the team, instantly clearing the Slow effect. “Move.”

Wonder Zoo’s players took the lead, forging a path ahead. Ragdoll Cat swung his shield, dispersing the mist and revealing an uneven path of stone tiles. The streets were no longer safe—they needed to find shelter immediately.

At the end of the stone path were pitch-black houses. Some had lights on. Others did not.

Zhou Sui’s peripheral vision swept over the houses shrouded in mist. In just a glance, he noticed that within their visible range, houses with lights outnumbered those without. He immediately turned and looked toward one of the unlit houses.

He chose a house without a light.

“Which way?” Slack Bro asked.

Zhou Sui replied, “We split up.”

When the safety level is unknown, both lit and unlit houses pose equal risks—so the risk had to be distributed.

“One team to a lit house, second team to a dark one. Teams 3145—go as you like.”

Haba Dog added, “Pick the closest one. Don’t stray too far from each other!”

The players from Wonder Zoo had sharp awareness. As soon as they heard their team leader’s voice, they immediately split into three groups, all the while keeping close attention to one another’s positions.

The wind drew nearer and nearer. Just as Zhou Sui pushed open the door of the nearest dark house, a musty smell rushed out—dust that hadn’t been disturbed in ages, mixed with a damp, moldy chill that crept slowly into his senses. He immediately activated a skill. In the brief light from the skill’s glow, he caught a glimpse of the room’s layout.

Empty. Uninhabited. A few faint pieces of furniture.

Rich Bro and the others followed him inside, staring into the pitch-black room, unable to tell whether it was scarier outside or in here. Before they could even curse aloud, a louder, more terrifying gust of wind roared from outside, as if something was quickly approaching.

Little Bunny, the last one in, immediately sensed something was wrong and slammed the door shut behind him.

The moment the door shut, something outside crashed violently into a wooden window.

*Bang—!*

In the darkness, something collided with Zhou Sui’s short scythe, producing a sharp, high-pitched screech. Little Bunny, unable to see, blindly cast a dispel skill in Zhou Sui’s direction and quickly warned in team voice: “Something got in—find a place to hide!”

Teams 3145 and Wonder Zoo’s squad, who had entered dark houses, were all under attack.

Zhou Sui couldn’t see what the thing in the dark was. After clashing with his weapon, the entity tried to draw closer again. Zhou Sui swiftly shifted to the side, pulled back, and threw out a scatter of flying needles. The needles fanned out in front of him and embedded themselves straight into the wall—passing through something, but showing no sign of a hit or hostile target.

No hit confirmed. No enemy detected.

“Over here,” came a voice from behind him.

Zhou Sui immediately retreated. Just as the thing lunged toward him again, a hand grabbed his wrist and yanked him into a nearby cabinet. The cabinet door slammed shut just in time. The unknown creature smashed into it with a loud bang, then started slapping and pounding against it violently.

In the darkness, Zhou Sui fumbled around and touched another person’s hand.

They were both standing inside. Zhou Sui’s hand froze briefly. As the rush of battle subsided, he realized he and someone else were now hiding in a cramped cabinet—any small movement would brush against the other’s legs.

“Here,” the other person said, reaching out with one hand and guiding Zhou Sui’s wrist to a foothold inside the cabinet.

Zhou Sui gripped the protruding wooden ledge. “Thanks.”

His fingers tightened around the edge, anchoring himself. As he shifted to ready his weapon with his other hand, it accidentally brushed against the other person’s waist.

Little Bunny suddenly asked, “What are you touching?”

Zhou Sui hesitated, then could only say, “Move further in.”

Little Bunny looked down at him—though in the darkness, neither of them could see the other’s face clearly. “?”

“If something comes, I can fight it,” Zhou Sui explained, his back pressed against the cabinet wall—he couldn’t draw his weapon otherwise. “You stand behind me.”

Zhou Sui noticed the other person was silent for a bit too long. But after a moment, he sensed Little Bunny shift slightly, making just enough room for him.

They were so close, inside the cabinet, they could hear each other breathing.

Zhou Sui felt a little warm—he hadn’t been this physically close to someone in a long time, and it felt unfamiliar. He stayed silent, listening closely to sounds outside. Then he noticed a faint light filtering in from the outside.

“It’s getting brighter out there,” Little Bunny said.

Zhou Sui thought aloud, “Hiding won’t work forever.”

“There’s no way to test the mechanics…”

Just then, a scream suddenly broke the silence in the team voice channel.

Rich Bro, who was huddled under a bed with his pets and Slack Bro, whispered, “Who was that?”

Slack Bro: “Where’s our assassin buddy?”

Those hiding behind makeshift cover inside the house cautiously peeked out. Through narrow cracks, they saw the brightly lit street. At some point, the moon had risen high, casting light over everything. In that light, a few humanoid figures formed from mist were dragging chains—chains that trailed behind them, dragging a player along with loud clanking sounds like a dragged object…

Little Bunny: “Someone’s testing the mechanics.”

Zhou Sui rested a hand on the cabinet door. In the darkness, he exchanged a glance with Little Bunny and gave a nod.

“HELP MEEEE!!!” Frog’s voice boomed, “MY BUTT—MY BUTT’S GONNA GET GROUND OFF!!!”