Ambush

As Lin Xiaolu followed her instincts and crossed an intersection, a feeling of unease made her suddenly stop.

"Wait a moment!"

She yelled, almost instinctively standing on one leg, then retreating while conjuring a magic bullet and throwing it in front of her.

--"Thump!"

The sudden Explosion caused Mint and Bai Jingxuan, who were standing behind, to instinctively reach out to shield themselves from the blast.

"Huff... cough cough cough..."

Lin Xiaolu, who was closest to the Explosion, was naturally also badly hurt. She coughed twice after landing on the ground before frowning and standing up, her voice hoarse. "There were such dangerous traps in this assessment? That's too ruthless!"

"Are you alright, Sister Xiao Lu?" Bai Jingxuan walked behind Lin Xiaolu and gently patted her back, guessing, "Is it Hidden Rule?"

"Let me check," Mint volunteered, walking past the two of them and tiptoeing to the location of the Explosion. After searching briefly, she straightened up and said:

"No, it's probably not Hidden Rule, because this thing was probably not set up by the examiners."

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaolu, who was half-squatting, raised her head, her eyes suddenly becoming much sharper. "What's wrong?"

"If I'm not mistaken, this is probably a trap set up by another team here?"

Mint stroked her smooth chin, a thoughtful expression on her face. "So far in our exploration, although we haven't found what the examiners have truly hidden, I've pretty much figured out their testing strategy. That is, no matter what form the test takes, they will always provide clues. But this Explosion trap has no warning signs, no magical fluctuations, no highlights, no sounds... This kind of trap doesn't seem like the work of the examiners."

"Someone wants to harm us?" No one questioned Mint's analysis, because even Lin Xiaolu felt the timing of the trap was highly suspicious. She told Bai Jingxuan, "I'm fine," and then returned to the site of the Explosion: "So, there might be other teams lurking nearby?"

"They might still be ahead, but they shouldn't be nearby."

Mint shook her head. "If the other side wanted to launch a sneak attack, the best time would have been when the bomb Explosion, but no one showed up. Either they thought the trap was powerful enough to reduce our team's numbers, or they realized you weren't injured in the Explosion and chose to retreat."

Lin Xiaolu took a deep breath, then pursed her lips somewhat dejectedly.

She really wanted to curse these people for their despicable shamelessness, but now she realized that this was exactly what the test was about.

To be precise, the core ability of magical girls, which the entire project revolves around, is "Mana Perception."

Whether it's finding the exit of the maze, exploring the hidden objects within, or that Rule that seems to prohibit candidates from attacking each other but actually encourages sneak attacks... all of these things emphasize "perceptual ability".

Only magical girls with sufficiently strong perception can stand out from these rigorous tests.

The reason I almost got blown up by this trap was because my senses weren't sharp enough. If it were Larkspur here, he probably would have noticed something was wrong from a great distance.

"... So what should we do? Should we continue?"

After a moment of frustration, she spoke again, "Since they're ahead of us in this passage, it's very likely they're setting more traps, right?"

"High probability."

Mint nodded. "But precisely because of that, my suggestion is to keep going."

"Why?" Lin Xiaolu asked, puzzled.

"First, we need to assume that the leader and decision-maker of the opposing team are not fools, but normal people."

Mint looked at Lin Xiaolu: "If the other side has normal thinking ability, then why did they ambush our team?"

"Does it even need a reason? By eliminating us, they'll have fewer competitors."

Lin Xiaolu, with one hand on her hip, said, "Worried that the opponent will achieve better results than me, so I might as well strike first?"

"Please... think about it carefully, how many people are actually participating in this assessment?"

Mint sighed, "It's just eliminating one small team. There are still so many competitors. What's the point of doing this?"

"Of course it's because we're good!"

Lin Xiaolu blinked. "They wanted to get rid of their most threatening opponent or something... and then they came after us."

Mint shut up.

This time, she leaned back against the wall of bushes, her chest heaving, and it took her a while to speak, "My personal opinion is that they probably found something up ahead, but they can't get their hands on it right away, so they're blocking the way here."

"What did you find?" Bai Jingxuan asked from the side.

"... I have no idea."

Mint rolled her eyes. "Because I'm just guessing, I think there might be a secret in this maze, but as for what the secret is, we haven't found it yet."

"So there really wasn't any secret after all?" Lin Xiaolu asked suspiciously. "I searched for ages and didn't find anything. I think you're just overthinking it."

"Maybe they're just playing us again," Bai Jingxuan wholeheartedly agreed.

"No, I think I've explained my thoughts clearly enough, sisters?"

Mint gasped, "Why is there no exit now? Why is there a high probability that there are secrets hidden in the maze? I've already explained it all clearly to you, and you all told me you understood, didn't you?"

"So you're saying it's all just your deduction? What if the examiner really didn't think that much about it?" Lin Xiaolu said matter-of-factly.

"I think she's just playing us, Sister Xiao Lu." Bai Jingxuan rubbed her hands together, eager to prove her point.

Mint looked at her two teammates, couldn't help but sigh again, and buried her face in her hands.

She leaned against the wall again, buried her head in her hands, and remained silent for a while. Then she tilted her head back, her mouth slightly open, as if emitting some kind of silent groan. Her pained appearance evoked sympathy.

Just as the three of them were reaching a stalemate, a voice came at just the right moment, interrupting Mint's utterly devastated state.

--[Additional notification, additional notification]

The voice echoed throughout the maze, and judging from the tone alone, it was clearly the examiner who had appeared before everyone before the exam, drawing the attention of all the candidates who were still exploring.

[Because Team 277 was the first to solve the first puzzle and received an extra points reward, Rule Four, the first Hidden Rule, is hereby announced.]

[Rule Four: Special puzzles are hidden in certain locations within the maze. Discovering and solving these puzzles will earn you bonus points and access to exclusive shortcuts available only to the solver. All puzzles and rewards are one-time consumables and cannot be transferred. Bonus points will be calculated before the second practical assessment, so they will not be reset to zero due to failing. We encourage all candidates to explore diligently.]

[To reiterate, because Team 277 went first...]

The voice lingered in the maze for a while, repeating the above twice, probably to make sure everyone could hear it clearly.

After the sound disappeared, many teams in the maze, including Lin Xiaolu and others, who were still clueless, were left looking at each other in bewilderment.

Lin Xiaolu glanced at Mint, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Bai Jingxuan glanced at Lin Xiaolu and Mint, then quietly hid behind Lin Xiaolu.

Mint crossed her arms and sneered, "Go on, keep talking. Why don't you just say I'm overthinking things?"

Lin Xiaolu really wanted to disappear into a crack in the ground, but she had no one else to rely on now, and even had to become Bai Jingxuan's support, so she could only bite the bullet and say, "Ah, so there really is."

"Hmm, so it really exists."

Mint stared at the two for a while, then finally lowered her hands. "Forget it, points are more important. Now you should believe me, that team ahead has probably already discovered the 'mystery.' They chose this method to block the road precisely because they didn't want others to interfere."

"... That makes sense."

Knowing she was in the wrong, Lin Xiaolu continued to respond, forcing herself to be defiant.

"So what we should do now is press our advantage. The best revenge against them is to seize that potential mystery."

Mint stepped back to the center of the intersection, facing forward. "The only problem is probably not knowing just how many traps they've set..."

Lin Xiaolu looked ahead at the passage and felt as if the bottomless depths were filled with bombs. "... But I actually have another question."

"Huh?" Mint squinted at her.

"So, since they've already ambushed us, they might already know what we look like, right?"

Although she still felt embarrassed, Lin Xiaolu still tried to express her opinion. "What if we steal their riddles and eliminate them, and then they identify us afterwards?"

"That's true... this really is a bit difficult to handle."

Mint nodded in agreement. "Now that they know our identities, even if we launch a surprise attack and finish the job quickly, they might still guess wrong when they identify us afterwards. There's a bit of a risk involved."

"Are there any other ways?" Lin Xiaolu pressed.

"Even if you ask me this now..." Mint scratched her head in frustration.

"Well, I think there's a way that might work," Bai Jingxuan interjected at this moment.

The other two then turned their attention to her.

"The trap that Explosion earlier actually blackened the surrounding walls a bit. Although it didn't damage the passage, I think that proves it was still somewhat useful."

Bai Jingxuan placed her hands on Lin Xiaolu's shoulders and peeked out from behind her. "Then, if we can find all the traps they've set, and then release more magic to detonate them simultaneously if possible..."

"Ah."

"Ah."

Lin Xiaolu and Mint simultaneously pointed at each other, then pointed at Bai Jingxuan.

"It might actually work!"