Chapter 08: An SS-Level Instance Has Been Triggered

"Xiyan, you’ve won the first prize!" Qu Ya suddenly exclaimed in delight, gripping Xiyan’s shoulders with excitement.

Xiyan was jolted back to himself by the shaking. "I… Yes, I really did win the first prize. And there’s also an extra green core crystal that wasn’t even part of the rewards."

Xiyan’s calm demeanor dampened Qu Ya’s elation somewhat. "You don’t seem surprised?"

"Not exactly." Xiyan stood up and smiled. "I just thought of my ability. So, this must be the result of my power."

Hearing this, Qu Ya remembered Xiyan’s ability—the "almost" power. It really could pull off something like this.

Qu Ya could only feel helpless when it came to Xiyan’s power. He had never seen anything like it, nor even heard of such a passive ability.

Other people’s powers were all active, something they could wield with conscious intention. But Xiyan’s was passive, triggering outside of his awareness.

"Right, take a look at the card," Qu Ya urged, his fingers twitching with curiosity to know what kind of ability an S-level card would hold.

Xiyan pocketed the crystal and examined the card’s abilities.

"Puppet Machinist:
Effect: Allows the summoning of a puppet. The puppet can take the user’s form and possess all of the user’s abilities, though card abilities are halved. Once the user gives a command, the puppet will automatically execute it.
Level: S
Durability: 0% (Each use will likely consume 0.5% durability, but not always exactly this percentage.)
Belongs to: Xiyan"

After reading the card’s power, Qu Ya’s face lit up with excitement again. He seized Xiyan’s shoulders and said, "Xiyan! This is fantastic! You’ve gained another card you can use in combat! That means you have an extra measure of safety!"

Xiyan couldn’t help but feel that Qu Ya’s exhilaration was a little excessive.

"Qu Ya, I—"

Before Xiyan could finish, everything went black. When his vision cleared, the two of them were standing inside a sealed iron cage.

Inside the cage with them were a man and a woman—who seemed to be a couple, as the woman was huddled in the man’s arms at the edge of the cage, eyeing Xiyan and Qu Ya warily.

"Where are we?" Xiyan ignored the other pair and turned to Qu Ya, but Qu Ya only shook his head.

"I don’t know either, but I have a feeling this must be a dungeon…" Qu Ya said helplessly.

A dungeon? Xiyan looked around. The four of them were locked in this iron cage, and outside it was another cage, beyond which was utter darkness.

Crystals set into the cage provided light, clearly illuminating everything within.

As Xiyan was surveying their surroundings, a man dressed as a warden emerged from the darkness, appeared at the first cage, and let the four of them out of the second cage.

The warden smiled at them, holding a whip in his right hand and a ledger in his left.

"Ling Yue, Chen Xiao, Xiyan, Qu Ya—welcome to the Escape Room Game," the man said, his smile strange and unsettling.

"Where are we? Let us out!" the woman called Ling Yue suddenly shouted, leaping to her feet. The warden’s face darkened at her outburst, and he lashed out with his whip.

Struck by the whip, Ling Yue immediately shrank back into Chen Xiao’s embrace. Chen Xiao glared furiously at the warden. "Do you have a death wish?!"

The warden cracked his whip at him again. Xiyan saw Chen Xiao trying to unlock a card, but in the next moment, confusion and pain twisted his face.

His card couldn’t be used!

"You…" Chen Xiao wanted to lash out, but when he saw the whip, he lost his nerve.

"Listen carefully: here, you cannot use any cards, and your powers are completely nullified. You must escape my watch within one hour." The warden paused, then continued, "If you fail…"

Suddenly, the darkness around them lit up, revealing a labyrinth. In the visible parts of the maze, they could see bodies.

Both Chen Xiao and Ling Yue’s faces changed at once as the warden explained the rules: "You’ll end up just like them—dead from lack of oxygen."

He pointed at the bodies beside the maze. Ling Yue turned deathly pale.

"I… Can I leave this dungeon?" Ling Yue asked through gritted teeth, her voice trembling.

"Oh? Leave? You have no idea what kind of dungeon this is, do you? Well then, check in the game yourself." The warden’s voice fell silent.

He broke into a wide grin. "The game begins."

With that, the warden vanished before their eyes, and Chen Xiao and Ling Yue immediately began to curse.

Meanwhile, Xiyan and Qu Ya began to analyze the situation. Xiyan looked around once more: the maze surrounded them on all sides, and they were at its very center.

There were six exits to choose from, each marked by a stone tablet.

Xiyan approached one of the tablets and read the inscription:

"Briar Maze:
Game Duration: 1 hour
Objective: Find the exit and leave. Every ten minutes, the warden will appear to hunt players. If caught, you return to the maze’s center. At the end of one hour, anyone still inside will remain here forever, accompanying the warden in another form.
Dungeon Level: SS"

Seeing the dungeon’s level, Xiyan’s heart sank—an SS-level dungeon? Was this a joke?

Qu Ya saw the inscription too, and his expression grew grim as he joined Xiyan.

"I’m afraid we won’t be leaving alive so easily today."

"How did we end up in an SS-level dungeon? Wasn’t I supposed to level up more easily and clear dungeons in the Ninth Survival Territory?" Xiyan said with a wry smile.

Qu Ya only had to think a moment before he realized the reason. "Maybe it’s your power. Last time, I didn’t trigger anything like this in the welfare dungeon…"

He was helpless too. An SS-level dungeon wasn’t something two survivors under level twenty could clear.

Dungeons above S-level were generated at random. Maybe next time, this dungeon wouldn’t even be here. But usually, such difficult dungeons wouldn’t appear before the lords of the Nine Survival Territories.

So, barring some unexpected twist, it could only be blamed on Xiyan’s ability.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, Ling Yue screamed in terror behind them.