If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

The mineral water was unscrewed, and the clean pure water was carefully poured into the bottle cap. Lin Nian watched as Li Qing fed the water from the bottle cap little by little into the girl who was leaning against the vending machine. Her age and Li Qing is about the same age and both are young people, but the degree of hunger and weight loss can be regarded as the most serious on the entire platform. Lying in Li Qing's arms, he is like a light paper man. The skin was dented and shattered to the bone.

Lin Nian circled around the hot and hungry gazes from the platform. Those gazes were all glued to the mineral water in Li Qing's hand. Every change of the water line in the plastic bottle under the fluorescent lamp made countless throats squirm. However, due to the previous Shuwei, no one dared to take a step closer, and even took the initiative to avoid Lin Nian's turned gaze.

"They are all victims. There are people who came in with a purpose, and there are also innocent people who were implicated. There is no need to vent your anger on them." Li Qing's voice drew Lin Nian's attention back, and he drank two or three bottles of water. The young girl's originally inaudible breathing gradually became stronger. At least she could barely open her eyes and glance at Li Qing, who was feeding her water, and Lin Nian, who was standing beside her.

"Is she also an orthodox person?" Lin Nian had never seen this girl before.

"Well, he can be regarded as my senior. He came to the Nibelungen a few shifts before me and was taken care of by others in Langjuxu in the early years." Li Qing lowered his head and wanted to give the girl some water, but the girl refused. He motioned for him to drink some himself, "Are you the only one who comes to Nibelung?"

"Do you still recognize me?" Lin Nian asked.

"We met at Apple Orchard Station. You followed the people around Yue. You were the only one who came in. Where is Yue?" Li Qing looked at Lin Nian with a trace of hope deep in his eyes.

"They have also entered the Nibelungen. It seems they came here a step later than me." Young Lin nodded lightly in response to his expectations, giving the young man some hope for life.

"It may be that they were assigned to different starting points." Li Qing murmured to himself.

Lin Nian was quiet for a moment and then spoke again, "I won't say any more nonsense. What is the situation here? Why are everyone gathered here to wait to die?"

"Because staying on the platform and waiting for death is probably the best outcome." Li Qing sat on the ground and took a sip of mineral water. He drank very sparingly, only wetting his chapped lips with water, and sipping off the water bit by bit. "What you see now are the eliminated ones who failed to enter the maze."

"maze?"

"Did you see the entrance over there?" Li Qing gestured to Lin Nian to look at the only aisle entrance at the deepest point of the Line 3 platform. "That entrance leads to a huge underground maze."

"Maze?" Lin Nian frowned slightly.

"Have you ever experienced getting lost in those branching tunnels when changing stations on the subway?" Li Qing asked.

"No, I have a good memory and I usually don't go the wrong way, but I roughly understand what you want to express. You can continue."

“The entire Line 3 is a huge maze. On the way from the starting platform to the transfer platform of Line 4, there are countless long tunnels as the main body, and there are countless branching roads. There are no maps and no guide signs. You can only follow the Only by clearing this maze can you escape, otherwise you will be trapped here forever." Li Qing looked at the lifeless passengers on the surrounding platform, "Those who stay here have failed to clear the maze and chose the original choice. The man whose road goes back.”

"Is the maze complicated?"

Li Qing took out a notebook from his pocket and handed it to Lin Nian to open. After taking it, Lin Nian glanced at the map drawn on it, and then frowned deeply. It was more like a ball of yarn than a map. balls, and these yarn balls are specially painted with a perspective effect when they shuttle between each other, and lines of different colors are used to distinguish the layers.

He just took one look at the map and didn't want to look at it a second time. Compared with the map, it looked more like graffiti on the wall by a psychopath holding a crayon to vent his anger.

"The maze is three-dimensional." Li Qing said, "It is not so much exploring forward as it is exploring downward. You can imagine that thousands of wool balls are placed on the same parallel surface, and all the thread ends are falling downward due to gravity. , and then blown by a gust of wind, they were chaotically interwoven into a three-dimensional grid. Those lines were thousands of aisles, and the entire grid was the map of the maze."

"How big is the maze?"

"The longest distance I walked was 10 kilometers on a non-repeating path. I still couldn't see the end, so I finally chose to return the same way. There were people who walked farther than me. I heard in the maze that there were people who walked from the starting point of other platforms. After 20 kilometers, there is still no trace of the exit of the maze." Li Qing looked deeply at the passage that no one dared to approach, "There may be people who have gone further than 20 kilometers, but those people are afraid They all died in the maze."

"What are the specific dangers in the maze?" Lin Nian continued to ask.

"The most noteworthy ones should be the Deadpools, the alien Deadpools." Li Qing said in a low voice, "Those Deadpools seem to have been genetically adjusted or surgically modified, and have the genetic characteristics of wild beasts in nature, making them quite difficult to deal with. These things like They hide in the dark places or corners of the maze and jump out unexpectedly to attack those who explore the maze.”

"Only Deadpool?"

"You came from Line 2. You should have encountered those dangerous hybrids who actively attacked you, right?" Li Qing suddenly asked.

"If you encounter him, kill him."

"There are also these guys with ulterior motives in the maze. They seem to have some mission and are dedicated to ambushing those of us who explore the maze. Compared to Deadpool, these guys may be more dangerous." Li Qing gave Lin Nian a deep look. , "Ours is not the only starting point of the maze. There are also people on other platforms. They are likely to attack people in the maze for food resources."

"There is a gap between people's hearts. I understand. Is there anything else I need to pay attention to?"

"Yes, and it's the most important point. Once you enter the maze, don't look back unless you have to. Even if you risk getting lost, never go back the same way." Li Qing stared into Lin Nian's eyes and said seriously, "This maze requires an 'entrance ticket'!"

"Ticket?"

Facing Lin Nian's questioning gaze, Li Qing said slowly, "I have entered the maze three times in total. I started to feel it from the first time. The first time I entered the maze, I only explored about a kilometer inward. , I chose to retreat after being attacked by an arthropod-like deadpool hiding in the dark area of ​​the ceiling. After leaving the maze and returning to the platform, I felt unusually hungry. My originally relatively abundant physical strength had almost bottomed out. Well, I brought some high-calorie food with me to replenish some energy to support my second exploration, and I didn’t feel anything unusual before that.”

"However, the second time I explored, this state became more serious. The second time I explored five thousand meters forward and met a senior who was also exploring the maze. When I saw her, I was shocked because I didn't recognize her right away! She was so hungry that she was skin and bones, but she communicated with me normally without any abnormality, was surprised to meet me, and wanted to find the exit of the maze with me as my companion. But in When I reminded her of the abnormal condition, she realized that something was wrong with her body." Li Qing looked at the weak girl resting next to the vending machine with her eyes closed and said in a deep voice,

"Then I quickly took her back to the platform. The moment she left the maze, she fell to the ground. She was so weak that she couldn't even open her eyes. Similarly, I almost lost my strength and couldn't stand up - a person exploring in the maze It is suspected that it will accelerate the consumption of physical strength at a high speed, but I will not notice any abnormalities. The self-perception of the person in the maze will be maintained at the moment of entering the maze. I suspect that if I find her later, she will probably Starved into a real skeleton in the maze, only to be easily dismantled by Deadpool did he discover the abnormality in his body!"

Only now did Lin Nian understand why everyone on the platform was so hungry, including why Li Qing, who had just entered the Nibelungen, had lost so much weight in the blink of an eye.

"On the third exploration, my senior and I ate up all the food. After building up our physical strength, the two of us teamed up to monitor each other's physical condition and went deep into the maze for nearly 10 kilometers until we were attacked by a group of arthropods. The characteristic Deadpool Siege suffered a lot of injuries and had to return to the platform to recuperate, but the moment we came out, we knew quite clearly that we had been 'eliminated' by the maze."

"You don't have the strength to enter the maze again. You are already so weak that self-protection is a problem. If you encounter any danger if you enter the maze again, you will die." Lin Nian nodded.

You can't see the end of the maze. The only thing you can see is your own way out. Every time you enter the maze, your physical strength will be burned at a high speed. After the physical strength is burned, fat will be consumed instead. Your physical strength and supplies are your "entrance." "Coupon", in the face of unknown terror and the threat of death, most people will choose to turn back and take the visible retreat back to the starting point. However, this is the biggest trap of this level.

It seems that everyone can explore the maze unlimited times until they figure out the map of the maze, but in fact, everyone's "ticket" is limited. When the last bit of fat on your body is burned away, you will either die. In the danger of the maze, you can either backtrack and bury yourself in a tomb called Line 3 Platform.

Lin Nian's feeling when he first landed on the platform of Line 3 was correct. The place was indeed lifeless. It was a mass grave composed of eliminated people who had already exhausted their "admission tickets". The biggest difference between them and the corpses was that They can still talk.

What is more terrifying than death is being unknowingly deprived of all hope. These people stand in front of the maze but are not qualified to enter the challenge. The entrance to escape is right in front of you, but your qualifications for admission have already been It's "0". Of course, you can ignore everything and give it a try, but everyone knows what will happen if you are so hungry that you can only crawl on the ground and meet any Deadpool in the maze.

Put hope in front of desperate people, and see that they don't even have the courage or qualifications to reach out, and can only sit there and enjoy the eternal pain that is no different from death.

This kind of bad game is really not something humans can do.

"Either wait for death on the platform, or clear the maze in one go." Lin Nian said, "I understand."

"Senior and I may not have a chance to pass this level again. Even if we do, the dangers on the next subway line could kill us." Li Qing said softly, "I'm afraid we'll have to leave the rest to Miss Yue and the others."

"One more question, have you ever met a man about my age on this platform before? He is wearing a white long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, and the white sneakers brand seems to be Nike. His hair is a little messy, but his eyes should be It will be great." Lin Nian asked one more question before getting up and leaving.

Li Qing was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly nodded, "I met him before, and I was very impressed. You must be talking about the lunatic who called on everyone to follow him on the platform, claiming that he had the maze map in his hand, right?"

Now it was Lin Nian's turn to be stunned. After a moment, he nodded gently, "It should be him. Did he say he had a map of the maze? Why, no one believed him and went with him?" After saying that, he felt again He asked a nonsense question. Even Li Qing was lying here. Naturally, no one would believe the "arrogance" of that ignorant boy.

"There are really two people, like a couple, mixed race. They seem to be willing to believe that man and go with him." Unexpectedly, there are actually people who are willing to believe Lu Mingfei's words and go into the maze together. Bet on your life.

"Is that so?" Maybe someone from the secret party who was trapped here recognized Lu Mingfei, right?

Lin Nian was not too surprised. Most orthodox people had only heard of the two "S"-level names of the Secret Party, but had never actually seen him in person. Therefore, Li Qing had no idea about Lin Nian until now. His impression of Lu Mingfei was just that of a follower of "Yue", and his impression of Lu Mingfei was just that of a brat who spoke arrogantly.

But if they were members of the secret party, they would probably cling to Lu Mingfei the moment they saw him. The "S" grade Feng Ping obtained was also an "S" grade, and in this specific environment, Lu Mingfei was probably Ming Fei was more reliable than Lin Nian. The maps of the complicated alchemy city Baidi City were all deciphered by Master Lu.

After confirming that Li Qing had nothing to say to him, Lin Nian touched his pocket and handed the last bag of Skittles to the other party. However, the other party waved his hand and refused, and also gave away half a bottle of mineral water. Come back.

He looked at Lin Nian seriously and said, "You need these things more than me. The speed of physical strength consumption in the maze increases exponentially, and it may become more so the deeper you go. Carrying these things will allow you to last longer. As for We just need to stay here and wait for rescue, I believe the clan will break through the Nibelungs and take us back!"

His eyes were full of determination and he showed no fear of being left behind.

But what he didn't expect was that Lin Nian still forced mineral water and candy into his hand, and asked him to close his palms to hold the food. In his doubtful eyes, the other party replied calmly,

"Didn't you say that there are many mutant deadpools in the maze? There is really no other way. I can just eat those things. Blood and fat are much better at replenishing physical strength than sugar and water. As for you and your seniors, you are trapped here. Eat more sweets when you are pregnant, and you will have more hope for survival."

While Li Qing was stunned, Lin Nian left all the food on his body, turned around and walked towards the unattended aisle deep in the Line 3 platform, and walked into the entrance of the maze amidst countless looks of ridicule or pity.

Can you eat something like Deadpool? Is that thing poisonous? Li Qing held the candies and water and looked at Lin Nian's leaving back with some confusion.