The corners of Nero's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smug little expression.
Getting a psychologist for his factory put him in a good mood.
Although he didn't think rift monsters needed psychological counseling, that didn't stop him from being happy right now.
Then Nero flicked his wrist and lightly tossed Cirrus into the air.
The next moment, Cirrus's giant eyeball seemed to swell by a whole circle. Countless ropes woven from inscriptions were tied around him, stretching downward before finally ending in Nero's hand.
At this moment, Cirrus looked just like a balloon.
"Not bad, not bad." Nero nodded, seemingly very satisfied with his work.
The next moment, a door beside them suddenly let out a harsh creak and swung open on its own.
Huohuo jumped in fright at the sudden noise. "Wuaaah! The door over there opened by itself!"
"Let's go take a look." As he spoke, Nero pulled out another storytelling script from a nearby box and quickly read through the story written on it.
No one objected to Nero's decision. As they walked, Huohuo said, "It feels much safer with everyone together... I can barely stay standing anymore... May the Reignbow Arbiter protect us! May the Reignbow Arbiter protect us!"
After looking around the new room, they found it was another puzzle section. Nero only glanced at it before leaving immediately and returning to the previous area to find the unopened door.
Using the same old method, he walked up and kicked it.
Accompanied by the door's miserable scream before it fell over, the group continued forward and arrived at a new courtyard.
Directly ahead stood a huge mirror, identical to the one Stelle and Nero had encountered when they first entered this maze.
"Look, behind the door... there's a mirror."
"Looks like that's the exit. Stelle and I saw the same mirror when we came in. But we still haven't found Guinaifen and March..." Nero frowned.
Just then, a somewhat familiar female voice came from inside the mirror, "That... voice... Huohuo, Nero... come over here."
Huohuo blinked at the mirror. "What's going on...? The mirror... the mirror seems to be talking?"
"It sounds familiar. Let's go in and take a look." Nero made the decision immediately.
The group walked up to the mirror, and the female voice came from it again, "Huohuo, are you inside the mirror? I've finally locked onto your location."
"Lady Xueyi?" Huohuo sounded surprised.
"That way of speaking... it's definitely Xueyi." Stelle muttered quietly.
"This place has been swallowed by a force of unknown origin... You must be careful." Xueyi's voice came again.
"...Since you can lock onto our location... Sister Xueyi, can you locate Guinaifen and March too? We still haven't found them since coming here," Nero asked through the mirror.
But Xueyi replied, "The priority is rescuing you all from this maze. Come. Pass through the mirror and come over here."
Nero turned and exchanged glances with his companions.
"Let's go. Since there's a way to locate people, finding them won't be difficult." At this point, Nero narrowed his eyes. "Besides, I have a feeling March might already be out."
"Huh? What are you talking about? How could an ordinary person possibly get out of this illusion maze?" Cirrus said.
"That's different. Fools have fool's luck." Nero replied.
Cirrus, "...?"
Stelle had originally wanted to say something, but after hearing Nero's words, "fools have fool's luck," she froze.
Then she realized she couldn't really argue with it. Nero might actually be right.
It was obviously just a joking phrase, but when Nero said it, Stelle felt it carried an incredible amount of weight, as if it had become something tangible... evidence that March had already escaped the illusion.
The sentence possessed a power it shouldn't have had.
"Alright, no need to worry now."
Tail suddenly said something out of nowhere.
Based on his past impression of Nero, Tail felt that the girl called March might have been in some danger in this maze before, but now that wasn't necessarily the case.
Perhaps, just like the changes that might happen to Huohuo, that girl named March might also be affected in some way at this moment.
Although it sounded absurd, Tail thought Nero himself was that absurd. In fact, after experiencing it so many times, he had gradually become used to it and now felt that this kind of absurdity on Nero's part was perfectly reasonable.
Since the Ten-Lords Commission had a new method of finding people, the group didn't stay in the illusion any longer. Following Xueyi's instructions, they stepped into the mirror before them.
The next moment, their field of vision suddenly widened as they left the narrow, cramped maze.
"This is... above the garden?" Huohuo looked at the floating islands below in surprise.
The next moment, the group slowly drifted down through the air and finally landed on one of the islands.
As soon as they landed, everyone immediately examined their surroundings. Strange plants grew here, and large numbers of bronze mirrors were placed all around.
"Oh my, there are so many bronze mirrors here. Could it be..." Looking at the surroundings, Cirrus deliberately dragged out his words as though trying to build suspense, but stopped right at the important part.
"I hate people who don't finish what they're saying." Nero frowned.
He yanked hard on the rope made from inscriptions. The force traveled along it, pulling Cirrus down and slamming him into the ground.
Logically speaking, a Heliobus shouldn't be afraid of a fall like this. Yet at this moment, Cirrus bounced off the ground like a round rubber ball.
After squashing out of shape, he sprang back upward, his burning eyeball displaying remarkable elasticity.
Seeing Cirrus cry out in pain after hitting the ground, Tail grinned. Then he said, "This place is constantly changing, trying to stop us from escaping."
"But among these mirrors, there must be an exit," Huohuo said. "Let's check them one by one."
Among the mirrors around them, Xueyi's voice would come from each one. Some were real, some were fake.
Relying on Huohuo's understanding of the Ten-Lords Commission and Xueyi, the group successfully passed through two correct mirrors.
However, when they reached the third round...
"Even though I don't have much confidence in my judgment... these three mirrors..." Huohuo said quietly.
Tail picked up where she left off.
"Not a single one is real."
"None of these mirrors matches the Lady Xueyi I know..." Huohuo said softly.
"That puppet judge never thought highly of me, but she never let her guard down either." Tail spoke with a hint of disdain, clearly scoffing at this place's attempt to interfere with people's choices.
"I've been with Lady Xueyi for a long time. She's always known how timid and fearful I am, but she's never blamed me for it," Huohuo said.
Tail shook his head.
"Tch. The Ten-Lords Commission doesn't care at all. You're the only one who cares so much.
"As long as you don't hold me back, be as cowardly as you want. I don't care."
Hearing that, Huohuo immediately looked toward the Heliobus that had accompanied her for so long and said emotionally,
"Taiiill..."
But Tail hurriedly backed away.
"No, no, no. Stay over there."
"I knew it. You two actually get along pretty well." Stelle spoke from the side.
Tail immediately turned around.
"What the hell do you know? Sigh... why are we even talking about this? What do we do now?"
"The illusion wants to delay us, but it can't hide its boundaries forever. I think there must be a fourth mirror here."
Huohuo's idea was straightforward. As long as they found the fourth mirror, their current problem would be solved.
But Nero shook his head.
"Why make it so complicated? Just leave it to me."
After speaking, Nero stuffed the Cirrus Balloon into Huohuo's hands, walked forward a few steps to create some distance, then stretched out his hand and shouted, "Black Cutter, come!"