Chapter 2750: Disappearance

“You’re right. We have been here.”

The guests gathered here were top-notch experts. Despite the difficulty in distinguishing the skerries, they still swiftly spotted the resemblance in their surroundings.

“No wonder these skerries look so weird. It’s a labyrinth.” The guests turned to Zu An, wondering if his key would provide them guidance once more.

Zu An shook his head as he waved the key around. “It’s not providing guidance anymore. Its purpose could be to guide us out of that fog, trigger the whirlpool, and bring us into this space.”

Another guest asked, “Miss Isabella, what about the East Fish?”

Isabella pulled out a fish tank from her bag. The East Fish was still lying belly-up in the water. She felt so embarrassed and awkward that she was tempted to smash the fish tank on the floor.

Yani suggested, “Why don’t we split up and explore the area? Those who reach a dead end can just return here.”

Zu An frowned. “It’s dangerous to split up in a labyrinth.”

He hadn’t watched so many horror movies in his previous life for nothing. It was always the same pattern. As soon as the protagonist’s party split up, the monster lurking in the shadows would tear them apart one by one.

Yani replied, “We can split into groups. With our cultivation, we can look out for one another as long as we don’t stray too far away.”

Isabella spent a moment in thought before pulling out a bunch of communication devices from her bag. “Each group will take one communicator. This will allow us to remain in contact and alert one another of danger right away. These communicators are resistant to interference, and each one has enough energy to last a decade in adverse environments.”

Yani took a communicator. “I’ll go alone and scout the way up front.” She had proven her strength. No one was opposed to her going solo.

Seeing that, Tingxue also said, “Then I’ll scout this path.” She grabbed a communicator and headed down another path.

Zu An wanted to go with Tingxue, but there were many other people remaining who needed to be grouped up. He could only put aside his personal feelings. In the end, he formed a group with Alfred and Isabella.

The other guests also formed groups of their own and began exploring the area. They remained in contact via the communicators, reporting their movements.

Zu An observed the surroundings along the way. He noticed that the skerries resembled formations, but they weren’t quite complete. Despite his high proficiency in formations, he was still unable to decipher them right away.

Just then, Isabella suddenly remarked, “Hasn’t it been a while since we last heard from big sister Tingxue?”

Zu An was startled.

Unlike the others, who were afraid of encountering danger and reported in every few steps, the reticent Tingxue only reported in once in a while. He had already gotten used to it and didn’t pay much attention to it anymore. It was only when Isabella pointed that out that it struck him that it had been a long while since he last heard from Tingxue.

So, he tried calling for Tingxue via the communicator, but the latter didn’t reply. His heart sank.

Tingxue might be cold, but she won’t ignore me under such circumstances. Something must have happened to her.

He quickly headed back and traced Tingxue’s footsteps to find her.

Isabella quickly chimed in, “Don’t worry, big brother Zu. The communicators are able to locate one another.”

She fiddled with the communicator, and a minimap appeared on screen. It indicated the locations of the other communicators. Two communicators were swiftly approaching them, whereas Tingxue’s remained still.

Zu An’s expression turned even more grim. He continuously used his continuous movements skill until he arrived at the location corresponding to Tingxue’s communicator.

It was a circular clearing surrounded by a wall made up of skerries. There was no way out of here aside from the path he'd entered through. Tingxue’s communicator was lying in front of the wall.

“What happened?”

“Is Miss Tingxue all right?”

The other groups arrived just then.

Zu An ignored them and headed up to the skerry wall to examine the area. Meanwhile, Isabella filled the others in about the situation.

“How could she disappear without any warning?” A guest was perplexed.

“We didn’t hear anything.”

Yani walked up to Zu An and asked, “Did you find anything?”

Zu An shook his head. “There don’t seem to be any mechanisms here.” So, he drew his sword, intending to blast open the skerry wall in front of him.

Yani stepped forward. “Let me do it instead.”

Having witnessed Yani’s strength, the others had no qualms with letting her do the work.

Yani took a breath so deep her chest puffed up, then hurled a fist. The force behind her punch appeared to vacuum away all the air in the area. The crowd narrowed their eyes in fear, knowing they couldn’t have survived this punch if it was directed at them.

But something even more shocking happened—the skerry wall didn’t budge! Instead, Yani’s arm fractured with a crack, and her fist turned bloody.

Isabella yelped in horror. She reached into her bag and pulled out a few pills. “Big sister Yani, take this!”

“Thank you.” Yani took the pills. Her arm was soon as good as new. She turned to the crowd and explained, “The wall is imbued with a mysterious power of high stature. It’s not limited to just this wall, but all the skerries we passed by along the way.”

None of the guests were fools. Why would they observe the rules of a labyrinth if they could have just smashed their way out of it? They had tried smashing the skerries, but couldn’t break them.

Zu An frowned. He inspected the other wall surfaces, but he couldn’t gather any clues from them.

Yani walked over and said, “Don’t worry too much. Miss Tingxue is strong. I’m sure she can protect herself.”

The other guests voiced their agreement. Even Isabella and Alfred nodded as well.

Tingxue’s feat of slashing open the nebula had been too astonishing. Even the strongest experts they had met were, at most, on par with her. It was unlikely anyone could corner her, unless she encountered a universal deity.

Zu An finally calmed down.

Yes, Tingxue isn’t Yan Xuehen. She’s an expert, even in the vast Myriad Worlds. She might be in a quandary right now, but that doesn’t mean she’s in danger. She’s a Nebula envoy. If it comes to that, she can just open the nebula and leave.

“We found something, and we believe it will lead us to the exit,” the guest with the golden compass said with a smile. “The way in reveals the way out. When we stepped back and took a second look at the skerries, we noticed their arrangement utilizes 256-bit encryption. We have ideas on how to decrypt it, but we rushed here after hearing your shouts. With more time, I’m sure we can find the way out.”