It's so painful! So hard! So difficult!

She still had to lead her people out, so how could she possibly fall down in a place like this... But this place was indeed too dangerous. If she encountered a few more blows like this, she would definitely not be able to bear it and would fall down.

Recalling her brief journey with the other three, Ba still felt a little reluctant, but she suppressed her emotions. This time, she was ultimately in competition with them, and she had to do her utmost to avoid further punishment, leaving her no time to care about others.

Ba Xin was in a state of panic, while Katie, on the other side, experienced some subtle changes. She and Ba had suffered the same blow, but with her strength, she was naturally unscathed. Perhaps because she felt this strength, her side's duration was far less than Ba's.

Katie sensed something strange about the attack. It was a familiar feeling that shouldn't exist in this world, something she could sense from Bai Lin's memories...

It's the God of Dusk.

The moment she reached a conclusion, Katie immediately chanted a spell. Her eyes gradually filled with darkness, and the images in her mind rapidly shifted with the hands, attempting to reverse track their spatial coordinates. But soon, as if she had hit a wall, her consciousness returned to reality, and she rubbed her forehead with a phantom pain.

It is indeed possible to locate the person, but one cannot use teleportation spells to directly find the other person.

First, a teleportation spell requires a clear image as the target. For example, there could be countless similar rooms in different hotels, such as the one Katie is currently in. If you only want to teleport to one, you need to be able to achieve the desired effect with meticulous detail. Therefore, the clearer the image, the lower the chance of a teleportation error.

The images she had just tracked were a mess, and it was hard to guarantee that a portal wouldn't open up and take her to some corner of the world. Although there were theories about space that could be used to construct teleportation spells, Katie was confident she could teleport to the right location.

But secondly, due to Nancy's technique, the multi-dimensional space was combined to form a unique barrier, like a set of firewalls. A direct attack would take a long time. However, the opponent only needed to make a slight adjustment to allow the technique to re-combine, and then it would be another firewall that needed to be cracked from the beginning.

Katie, likewise, believed she could find a way to break through. But she felt a better strategy was needed. She closed her eyes and lightly tapped her toes, and a strange symbol was carved into her foot. She knelt on one knee, using her body as a ceremonial object, connecting heaven and earth, feeling everything that permeated the world. She resonated with the air, the magic, and with this magic, which was extremely thin due to its limitations, she tried to resonate with the positions of the remaining three people.

However, she only sensed a large amount of magical residue left by Bai Lin, and the remaining two had no clue. Presumably, they were also trapped behind the firewall.

Then, her train of thought became clear. She fished out the phone the other person had slipped into her, and immediately sensed the location of the other phone. So, her guess about giving the phones to herself and Bai Lin was correct. Then, she condensed the magic power in the air into a line, connecting directly to the other phone.

Suddenly, in the middle of a fierce battle, Bai Lin's phone rang. She was immersed in a dazzling, colorful fantasy world, enduring Nancy's customized bombardment. Although the phone was given by Nancy, it might be a trick. But Bai Lin still ran and jumped to avoid the fire, removing some of her armor and pulling the phone from her pocket. The name of the caller on it was even more confusing.

Oh my god, can this thing really make phone calls?

Bai Lin answered the call from Katie,

"Hey, what's going on?"

"You sound like you're in trouble."

"I'm fine, I just won't be back for a while. How are you?"

Hearing that it was really Katie's voice, Bai Lin also understood that Katie would contact her in this way, it was definitely not a sudden concern. So she also communicated with the other party very neatly, and at the same time jumped from the ground, dodging a burst of ground collapse spells from Nancy, and listened to the phone in the air.

"I have a little problem here. They're both trapped. Is the mastermind behind this with you?"

Katie looked sideways and listened attentively, as if she had already entered the state of talking to her girlfriend on the phone. Bai Lin also answered quickly,

"Yeah, I'm fighting with her. What do you mean?"

"Then let's take her down first."

Then, Katie hung up the phone. Bai Lin seemed to understand something, and she landed steadily on the intact ground. In this fantasy world that seemed to be painted with lines of oil paint, Nancy's figure floated out from the air.

"Are we going to use that? That would be so boring. Look, aren't we fighting fiercely here?"

Bai Lin casually strangled a fake Nancy that had sneaked up to her side, then casually threw the body far away, and a flower of ice exploded in the distance. Then, she leaned down again, dodging the opponent's large-scale bombardment. While doing so, she replied,

"Why are you talking about this now? If you want to fight, why not just go back to your own elves and fight them among your own people?"

"I just want to fight you."

"Go away, I don't want to waste my time with you."

Soon, Bai Lin's eyes were stained with a dark color. She clearly felt that something had been added to her body.

"I am coming."

Katie's voice rang out, and Bai Lin put on a serious attitude.

"Then let's finish this quickly."

A subtle feeling emanated from Bai Lin. It was as if her dark form was shrouded in a layer of gray mist. A mysterious shadow settled, enveloping her sharp edge and posing a heavier threat.

Chapter 1114: Admitting defeat

The heavy armor, accompanied by a free and effortless air like a mist, made Bai Lin appear even more composed, yet also more dynamic and unpredictable. Time had flowed, forging a body of steel through experience, compounded by an incalculable store of knowledge. The two, united as one, possessed a presence that transcended millennia.

"Uh... um."

The untimely sound made Kronos utter a somewhat silent sound. Because his soul witnessed with his own eyes a person who seemed to be able to wipe it out and with whom he had a myriad of emotional entanglements, appeared before him.

Katie ignored it. She gently caressed Miyu, whom she had just met, and then looked forward, her eyes fixed on him. Meanwhile, Bai Lin, who was outside, also easily moved away.

This was one of the tactics Katie had devised before she and Bai Lin set out together. By altering her body, she could achieve a degree of dissipation, redefining her own soul and temporarily inserting it into Bai Lin's body. This way, she could ensure Bai Lin's safety. After all, Bai Lin's body was much stronger than hers.

Of course, we all know that after Bai Lin's death, her soul will be preserved in her body. However, this is not so certain for Katie, a special existence. Katie claims that she will not have any problems in this regard. In order to convince Bai Lin, the latter died again in a safe place.

At the same time, Katie's presence compensated for many of Bai Lin's inability to cast spells. However, she couldn't achieve the same extraordinary power as Katie herself. Without her own physical body, she couldn't construct spells using herself as the core of the array as usual. Instead, she could only pre-construct them within Bai Lin's body or create them from thin air. This limited the power of her spells, effectively serving as a tactic to reduce the combined combat effectiveness of both.

But given the current situation, her spells were already limited within Nancy's maze. Compared to arriving in person, which would have worried Bai Lin, this option was clearly more stable and superior. After all, Nancy's current battle with Bai Lin was only possible due to her accumulated knowledge and the information gap she had developed to counter the tactics.

Then, with the arrival of another magic master who could also read minds to assist Bai Lin, the opponent's advantage could not be said to have been completely eliminated, but it could only be said to have been greatly reduced. So when Nancy sensed Katie's arrival, she said dejectedly,

"It's boring."

Because she knew that she was not far from losing.

"But can't she read your mind and teleport directly to you through the images she sees? I even set up a trap specifically to prevent that. So boring."

Nancy commented like this, and Bai Lin also felt that it was right. It seemed to be true. Katie replied in her heart,

"Didn't I tell you I wouldn't read your mind anymore?"

"This situation is worth reading. Saving people is like putting out a fire."

Bai Lin responded in agreement. Then he turned to Nancy in front of him and said,

"You've already admitted your cowardice, why don't you just admit defeat quickly."

"No, I'm not satisfied yet. I haven't had enough fun yet! Not only do I have to keep these cute little foxes captive, but I also have the fun of battling you. It's so disappointing that it ends like this."

Nancy laughed loudly and swam lightly on the ground as if dancing.

"What a disgusting and evil taste."

Bai Lin quickly gave up talking to the other party, and the second battle began!

-

Ba's eyes were glazed over as she fell to her knees helplessly. She was somewhat lost in thought, just like the topic she encountered this round: "Distracted and Devastated."

This was the third time she had been hit, and now she was covered in bruises. Her physical and mental condition was not fatal, but it was extremely bad.

Although she wanted to take this desperate game seriously, things seemed to be going awry from the second round onward. The once familiar scene, like her mental state, was gradually stripped away, leaving only the remains of a fragmented image.

Despite this, she tried her best to take photos that were in line with the theme, but all she got in return was another setback, even 0 points.

In this lonely environment, all she could hear was the cold sound of machinery. She had very little to trust in, and she didn't know how to get any points. She had clearly filmed, following the theme the other party had given her, but she was still being abused.

She also remembered Bai Lin, the one who had first invited her into this final room. She was... an elf. And if she was not mistaken, the person communicating with Bai Lin, who was probably the mastermind behind the scenes, was also an elf.

She must have wanted to play with me, to kill me, that's why she took such good care of me along the way and brought me to this place. Ba couldn't help but think so.

El... That girl was very kind, and perhaps she had deceived him. He must be in a deeper crisis now. This is completely like the work of someone who can open a place like this.

The rules of this place were completely different from before. They were so vague that she couldn't even figure out how she lost; it seemed like everything was determined by the organizers. So, it seemed like Tomoe would continue to be beaten no matter what. She had given up trying to cope with the competition and instead focused on finding a way to deal with the incoming attacks.

Meanwhile, a sudden scream from the other side startled the uncle. It was vague, like an auditory hallucination, but he could almost make out it was the voice of one of the girls he was traveling with, Tomoe.

Since the place he was in seemed like a constant space, with the doors and windows seemingly connected to it, motionless, he had reason to suspect that this might not be a real space. The uncle also tried calling out loudly, but received no response. So...

This should have been revealed to me intentionally by the organizer.

He speculated like this, looking a little embarrassed. First of all, he was not sure whether the other party was in a bad situation. Even if it was true, someone like Nappa was "punished" like that, wouldn't he be dead? To put it bluntly, what could a person like him do? He could only become a little anxious, tapping his camera, thinking to himself,

"If the situation is true, it's not too late to make your own plans."

Just at this moment, a cold mechanical sound rang out at the right time.

"Because there are only two contestants left on the field, they are allowed to see each other to ensure the authenticity of the competition."

Suddenly, the wall next to the uncle turned into a glass.

Chapter 1115 Theme

The scene he saw from behind the glass was shocking. He saw Ba Zheng kneeling on the ground, limp and powerless, covered in wounds. He couldn't even lift his head to look forward, like a dying man, gasping for breath in an extremely unstable manner. This made the uncle rush to the glass wall, slapping it loudly and shouting,

"Little girl, how are you?"

Then he remembered that the previous scream was probably deliberately made for him to hear by the organizer. In other words, whether his voice could be transmitted was also determined by the other party. Perhaps for this reason, Ba did not respond immediately. She only raised her eyebrows reluctantly, as if she felt something moving in front of her.

"Uncle? I'm glad you're okay."

Sincere wishes, even at this point, the words that came out of Ba's mouth still carried instinctive kindness. Obviously, the uncle had heard these words, and his heart was immediately touched. Then, he thought about it as much as he could.

Judging from Ba's attire and behavior, this world wasn't particularly advanced. Given the nature of the competition, since he was a time traveler, photography was catastrophically difficult for the remaining three girls. Putting the white-haired girl aside, she seemed to know a lot, but judging by the current situation, it seemed they, too, had met with misfortune.

He looked around the other person's environment and found that it was pitch black except for Ba himself. So he had no guidance on photography, and all the directions he could think of were dead ends. He was a little angry, but he could only care about the situation.

"I haven't lost a round yet, so I haven't received any punishment... So, what is it? Did they both die from the punishment as well?"

Recalling her previous thoughts, Ba looked at the uncle in front of her and gave him a very unpleasant smile. Yes, in the eyes of this clueless uncle, the three of them probably weren't that different. Judging by the rounds, even if Bai Lin took all the punishment, given her strength, it wouldn't be fatal. But in the current situation, she didn't think it was necessary to explain to him.

Thousands of words merged into an ugly expression.

"I don't know. They... I don't know what's going on with them. I don't have the energy to care about you, uncle. This isn't a game we can complete together."

With a staggering step, Ba staggered to her feet. She looked like a small boat on a stormy night, helplessly tossed by the wind and rain, threatened to capsize at any moment. Unable to choose where to sail, and even less knowing where to sail.

I think I want to live. There are still people in the maze waiting for her to save, and there are many people waiting for her to return. But...

Even if I made it back to the maze alive, what good would that do? If the final level was all this kind of game, then there was no way I could get my entire clan out. Ultimately, the right of interpretation lay with the organizers. Thinking carefully, it seemed like there was no way out from the start.

Without much time to think, the next round of photography topics was announced. She walked back to her SLR camera with unsteady steps.

"Hey, hello!"

No matter how the uncle yelled, Ba never turned back. Perhaps the sound had been blocked out by the screen again. And what lay before him was a desperate 15 minutes.

For a photography competition, this timeframe was already quite tight. While it would be fair if everyone had the same timeframe, it still didn't make sense. And now, he had more than just the competition to think about; these short fifteen minutes seemed even more limited.

After all, the situation in the game is constantly changing. The uncle quickly recalled his memories of the previous rounds of the game.

Before this round began, only two people remained, and the meeting time between the two sides began.

And in the last two rounds or so, I heard Ba's screams, which were deliberately caused by the organizers, no doubt.

So the total number of players in the competition is four, which means there are two changes in the rounds... If we calculate based on the reduction in the number of players, where are the changes in the other round?

Suddenly, he seemed to realize something.

Yes, it's a "theme." The theme seems to have changed since the first round. The initial nostalgic memories are a standard photographic theme. Without overly extreme emotions, it allows for a wide variety of photographs.

And the topics after that were almost all extremely negative, which was counterintuitive. Could this change also be due to a decrease in the number of participants? Did someone get eliminated in the first round, and so the competition subtly changed?

The uncle was a little frantic. The theoretical result was indeed like this, but what was the point of thinking about it? After all, as long as he kept taking pictures, the dog would definitely be punished. And he probably couldn't bear the punishment, so it seemed that there was nothing he could do.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance towards the glass door. He found that Ba was sitting on the ground weakly, leaning on her heavy sword, as if she had fainted. He approached the glass door and started clapping and shouting again.

"Little girl, wake up! You'll die if you keep going like this!"

A contradiction unfolded from this. A simple moral imperative, unwilling to see the person who had saved him die before his eyes, called upon others. But the more basic reality, the thought that "if Tomoe doesn't die, I will die," had already fully sunk into the uncle's mind. He recalled the rules, realizing this more clearly.

He stumbled two steps and fell back on the workstation behind him.

He understood it was the maze's fault. No matter what he did, he wasn't the murderer; it couldn't be considered cruelty. Yet, the organizers had given him the right to choose, a right that only became fully realized when they were the only two left. His fantasy of clearing the maze together was shattered, and only at this point did the cold reality smack him in the face.

Cold sweat broke out on his body. When he realized that his every move would affect the life and death of the person before him, as well as his own, everything changed. His career, the ways of the world, and his life experience were completely useless in the current situation.

How to do?

He couldn't die, he knew it, and he had a strong feeling that the person he was looking for was not far away. Perhaps if he could get through this, he would meet her soon.

At this moment, Tomoe suddenly moved. She glanced over here vaguely. Her every move at this moment startled the nervous uncle.

Chapter 1116 Let Go

Then, Ba picked up the SLR camera nearby and retracted her gaze. She was clearly moving, using her remaining strength to seemingly complete her shot. Her hand gradually rested on the shutter button, and in the next second, she was about to capture the picture.

By now, the uncle was fully aware. If he did nothing, he would undoubtedly die. Faced with such an imminent threat, all those complicated thoughts were instantly shattered. While you were still considering whether to shoot the other person, their gun was already pointed at you. In such a moment, even if it was just instinct, a person would be startled and make a choice.

When he came to, the uncle had already taken a photo. Then he gasped frantically, as if he had just escaped death after experiencing some terrible horror. His ears echoed with his own rapid heartbeat and a pounding tinnitus, and he realized what he had done.

What's the point of thinking so much? In the end, there's only one option left.

For so many years, he'd always worked diligently. He might have entertained some illicit thoughts, but he'd never acted on them. Even in his most destitute moments, he didn't attack the homeless on the street; he simply huddled under the cardboard boxes he'd chosen. This was the life the uncle had always lived. When a living person was about to die before him, it was impossible for him not to be moved.

Because this is human nature. Even if one has become numb from countless exhaustion and no longer angry, there will always be moments of hesitation. And this hesitation...

This is why he has always lived such a sad life.

Even if he truly possessed the courage to trample everyone underfoot, to tear apart countless people without hesitation and push them into the abyss, he wouldn't still be in such a lowly position today. He was an ordinary person, an ordinary person who couldn't abandon kindness. But in the end, he still had to make this decision himself.