Desperate News

"You mean, after defeating that monster, Ling Jian suddenly underwent a strange change?"

Everyone gathered around the unconscious Ling Jian, listening to Old Yuan recount his previous experiences.

"That's right." Old Yuan nodded. "I had already gone up to collect the spoils when I suddenly heard an unusual sound behind me. When I turned around, I saw Ling Jian's body changing, but he was still conscious. He was trembling as he tried to control the mutated part of his body, and he was also shouting for me to get out of the way."

"Then, Ling Jian couldn't suppress these Chaos elements anymore and started attacking me. It took me a lot of effort to control him, and I channeled some of my vital energy into him to help him fight the infection, which stabilized him. This kid is probably currently struggling with the mutation within his body..."

"Old Yuan, are you alright?" Luo Jun asked with concern.

"I'm fine." Old Yuan waved his hand. "Before Ling Jian made his move, he used his last bit of consciousness to warn me, so I was on guard, and I blocked all his attacks with my internal energy."

Luo Jun breathed a sigh of relief, but still patted Old Yuan on the shoulder and concluded, "I've spotted Old Yuan who isn't infected."

"Ding, the cause of this incident is unclear and cannot be determined."

The direction is unclear?

Luo Jun immediately began to introspect, circulating his vital energy throughout his limbs and bones, but he did not detect anything unusual.

Is it that I haven't been infected, or that I'm unaware of it?

Just to be on the safe side, he tried to determine the outcome using dice, but no matter how he phrased it, the final result remained ambiguous...

This shows that the claim of infection is problematic.

Based on Luo Jun's experience, the dice-based judgment process isn't too literal; generally, as long as the meaning is conveyed, it's acceptable, and Luo Jun's interpretation will be the standard to a certain extent.

The statement that the direction is unclear indicates that the concept of becoming Chaos Creature differs from Luo Jun's understanding of infection.

As for other theories, such as whether it will turn into Chaos Creature, those are not relevant enough. After all, even if it is "infected," there will be a certain amount of time before it mutates, and dice cannot determine such non-instantaneous events.

If it's not an infection as he understands it, then what is the underlying principle behind this change?

Luo Jun then began to introspect, circulating his vital energy throughout his limbs and bones, but he did not detect anything unusual.

I can't feel it myself, and the dice can't determine anything... What exactly is this strange change?

The only clue he has now is that the person who has changed is no longer the same person. As for how this process happened, Luo Jun doesn't know, but without understanding this, he can't determine whether he, Old Yuan, or others have any problems!

No... let's calm down and analyze this...

Ling Jian was injured by the Chaos Creature a few hours ago. If he was indeed "infected" at that time, it means that it would take some time for him to transform into Chaos Creature, and there would be an uncontrollable mutation process in between.

In other words, there are no noticeable changes when you are first "infected," and it is difficult to verify the problem even with dice. After a period of time, there will be a violent reaction, which is Ling Jian's current state. At this time, the abnormality can be distinguished by the naked eye. After this violent state, it will completely turn into a stable Chaos Creature, just like Li Ying. It can fool most detection methods. Currently, it seems that only dice can accurately verify it.

So it seems that, apart from Ling Jian, everyone else is in a stable state. Among them, Old Yuan, Ma Qiao, and Sun Xiaowei have been with him the whole time, and it's certain that the three of them are currently fine. Even if they have been "infected" at some point in the future, they will likely experience a violent reaction at some point.

As for Zhuge Zi and Mao Xintong, who joined the team later, they had many days to act alone, and it is possible that they had already completed the "mutation" during this time, so we need to verify their issues first!

Thinking of this, Luo Jun took advantage of everyone's discussion about Ling Jian's condition and quietly went over to pat them on the shoulder. It turned out that both of them were fine.

Luo Jun breathed a sigh of relief.

In other words, there are currently no mutated members in the team... but it cannot be ruled out that some people have already been "infected" and have the seeds of mutation, including myself, of course.

"What do we do now?" Sun Xiaowei asked.

"We have absolutely no experience in this situation and have no idea how to solve it," Mao Xintong suggested. "It would be best to ask the businessman first; perhaps he knows something."

"But the nearest store is quite far away," Zhuge Zi said. "We can't just leave him here, can we?"

"What if he hurts someone again if we take him with us?" Ma Qiao asked warily. "And who knows how he got infected? Even if he doesn't hurt anyone, what if people who have been in contact with him get infected?"

"Do you suspect that I'm also infected?" Old Yuan asked directly.

"That's not what I meant..." Ma Qiao quickly changed his tune, "Old Yuan's cultivation is profound, so he naturally isn't afraid of these Outer Dao, but we might not be able to withstand them..."

"How about this, I'll build a robot and carry him around!" Sun Xiaowei volunteered.

"Can you handle it?" Zhuge Zi asked. "You must be exhausted after each map scan. Maintaining an electric scooter and a bicycle is already so strenuous, let alone maintaining a robot capable of carrying a person for an extended period of time?"

"I can give it a try!" Sun Xiaowei gritted her teeth and said, "Grandmother always said that only by constantly pushing your Limit can you become stronger!"

"This is not a long-term solution," Old Yuan said, shaking his head. He then raised his hand, took out a ring, put it on, infused it with vital energy, and summoned a huge animal.

This animal looks somewhat like a cow, but it's bigger than a cow, about the size of an elephant. It has only one horn on its head, is bluish-black all over, and has a very strong and powerful body, but it looks very clumsy.

"What is this?" everyone asked curiously.

"This is the summoned beast of the Noble Unicorn Rhinoceros. It's very strong and can carry heavy things, but it's not fast. We can use it to help carry the Ling Jian during our normal exploration."

With this beast on its back, everyone no longer needed to contact Ling Jian. They managed to tie Ling Jian to the back of the Unicorn Rhinoceros and headed straight for the shop.

On the way, Old Yuan approached Luo Jun and asked in a low voice, "Li Ying, he..."

When he returned and didn't see Li Ying, he inquired about it, and everyone's response was the same story Luo Jun had fabricated. Of course, Old Yuan didn't believe it. Putting everything else aside, with Luo Jun's level, even without revealing his true strength, escaping from the Chaos Monster wouldn't be a problem at all; it was completely impossible for him to become a "burden" and cause Li Ying's death.

Luo Jun glanced at the people behind him, especially Mao Xintong from the Insight Faction, and sighed, "My senior brother was very brave; in the end, he didn't let you down."

While saying this, he started adjusting the camera's view, using his body to block the view, and played a short video clip.

This was a recording he made casually during his match with Li Ying. He knew that Old Yuan would definitely ask about it, so he kept it as evidence.

Looking at the half-human, half-monster Li Ying in the picture, Old Yuan sighed, "I understand, thank you..."

Luo Jun nodded, switched back to the map, and continued leading everyone forward.

Having skipped all other encounter points along the way, Luo Jun quickly arrived at the nearest shop. He stepped forward and knocked on the window. The Fat Merchant immediately beamed with smiles upon seeing him.

"You've come at just the right time, sir. We just happened to find a page in a diary, you..."

"No rush, take a look at this first." With that, Luo Jun pointed to Ling Jian, who was on the back of Unicorn Rhinoceros and whose body was already a third of its body had mutated. The merchant was fine at first, but when he saw it, he was shocked and immediately tried to close the window.

"Wait!" Luo Jun quickly blocked the window. "What are you afraid of? It's just that he's sick."

"That's not an illness, my guest!" The merchant glanced at him dismissively, seemingly not daring to look him in the eye. "I've seen people who end up like that, and they all meet a terrible end."

"He's the one who's in trouble, what are you afraid of?" Luo Jun frowned.

"Of course I'm scared!" the merchant stammered. "Anyone who's had contact with him might end up like that..." He then looked at Luo Jun warily. "Sir, you wouldn't happen to be like that too..."

"I didn't touch him." Luo Jun's words relieved the businessman. "That's good, that's good."

"But I've encountered pure Chaos Creature before, does that count?"

"Ah?!" Upon hearing this, the merchant immediately tried desperately to pull the door open, but how could he possibly overcome Luo Jun's strength? After struggling for a few moments, he realized it was futile and could only shrink back inside. "Sir, how long have you been in contact with him?"

"Not long, less than an hour, I guess." Luo Jun asked curiously, "When I brought the Gold Ingot earlier, didn't that mean I had already come into contact with the Chaos Monster? Why weren't you afraid then?"

"If there are Gold Ingot, doesn't that mean the monster is completely dead?" the merchant whispered. "Then you won't mutate..."

The error-free version can be read at 69 Book Bar! 6=9+shuba is the first site to publish this novel.

"Oh?" Luo Jun's eyes lit up. "There's such a saying?"

As he spoke, he took out another Gold Ingot: "This is the one I came into contact with."

Seeing this, the merchant breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good, that's good... but the one behind you is obviously not dead yet."

"He hasn't completely mutated yet; he still retains human consciousness," Luo Jun said. "I came to you to ask if there's any way to resolve this."

"I don't know either..." the merchant sighed. "The Black Shop is more knowledgeable about matters concerning Chaos Creature. We only have a vague understanding of it. Why don't you go and ask them?"

"Black Shop?" Luo Jun's eyes darted around. "Do you know anything else?"

As he said this, he secretly rolled the dice, and the result was the Mandatory Event...

"That's all I know. This mutation is contagious through contact. If the monster dies and drops Gold Ingot, then you don't need to worry about contagion... As for the rest, you'll really have to ask the Black Shop."

It seems that no more information can be obtained, but at least Luo Jun has ruled out the possibility that he was "infected".

"Alright, then let me see the diaries you've collected."

The merchant nodded and hurriedly handed over the diary. Luo Jun took the diary and read it with the others.

"We succeeded! We finally got the Exit Indicator!"

"This is our only hope of getting out of this maze... No, not just hope, we will definitely get out of here!"

"Upon obtaining it, we immediately activated the treasure. After a period of shaking, the pointer accurately pointed to a direction, and we immediately set off, heading in that direction as far as possible."

"The maze is so big and so complex that it's hard for us to stay in one direction. And whenever we're forced to change direction, we find that even after going a long way, the pointers hardly change direction."

"This means the exit is very far away from us. It's impossible to get there in an hour."

"Chen Jin and Ling Yue both seemed a bit disheartened, but A Liang comforted them, saying that even if time had passed, as long as they remembered this location and kept walking in that direction, they would eventually get closer to the exit. Then, if they could exchange for another Exit Indicator, there would be a great chance they could get out."

"A Liang's words gave us hope, but that hope was quickly shattered."

"After we had walked for about fifty minutes, the pointer suddenly moved!"

"The exit pointer suddenly changed direction drastically!"

"When we were heading towards the exit before, even taking a long detour, the pointer didn't change much. This time, the change is clearly not because we're getting closer to the exit, but because... the exit's location has changed!"

"And it's a rather huge change!"

"Realizing this almost broke us..."

"The exit location can change? Doesn't that make the Exit Indicator meaningless?"

"Has all our effort these past few days been completely wasted...?"

"When will we finally be able to leave this awful place...?"

After reading the diary, everyone fell silent.

Does the location of the export route change?

This is such a huge, seemingly endless maze, with an exit that can change location at any moment? How are people supposed to find it?

If you don't want me to pass the game, just say so! This is just messing with me!

"Merchant, explain yourself." Luo Jun looked at the Fat Merchant, his eyes blazing with anger. "You didn't mention before that the maze's exit could change."

The Fat Merchant chuckled awkwardly, "You didn't ask before..."

"Now I'll ask," Luo Jun said, resting his elbow on the windowsill. "How does the location of the exit change? Is there any pattern?"

"This is a bit difficult for me," the Fat Merchant said hesitantly. "Although I have the Exit Indicator, I'm reluctant to use it myself. To be honest, I only learned about the exit changing many years ago from a customer; otherwise, I wouldn't have known about it..."

"Are you telling the truth?" As Luo Jun asked this question, he activated the dice in his mind and received a genuine answer.

"Absolutely true!" The merchant was not lying.

The clues about the exit have come to an end again. There are just too many mysteries in this Endless Maze. Just trying to get information from the merchants has already taken two more dice rolls, and we still haven't gotten anything substantial out of them.

As Luo Jun watched the number of dice rolls dwindle, he sighed inwardly. Just then, his vision blurred, and he suddenly realized that the dice roll count had been refreshed!

Refreshing... means it's past midnight!

After exploring this maze for almost twenty days, in the real world, it has finally arrived at the First Day of the Lunar New Year!

(End of this chapter)