Transform into a magical girl after getting off work-Chapter 648 - 206: Xia Liang’s Dilemma

As the assessment draws closer to its end and most teams are striving for final points, Xia Liang is deep in thought.

It's not because there's nothing to do or she's cramming last minute, but because her magic power is depleted.

Yes, earlier she used her magic armor to intercept the magic technique on the wall and found she could briefly dismantle the wall's structure. This led to a highly improper idea: to crawl through the opening directly and run all the way to the finish.

After all, it's an unchallenged fact that her team's progress is lagging. While the majority have begun attempting to conquer nodes, they remain clueless even about the second puzzle. Continuing to proceed steadily by the book will likely net them only a middle to lower score.

Burrowing through walls towards the maze's exterior — whether unethical or unfair — isn't what Xia Liang should be dwelling on right now. What she must consider is that her actions haven't been deemed a violation, thus the loophole is exploitable, and perhaps exclusively by her.

She refuses to exit the stage defeated.

So, the remaining tasks hold no suspense.

Repeatedly using her magic armor's ability to intercept and relocate magic techniques on the maze walls expended much mental energy and rapidly drained her magic. After traversing dozens of walls with her team members, she finally couldn't hold out any longer.

"Ah, finally a break; rushing here made me dizzy. This maze is just too large."

Meanwhile, as Xia Liang meditatively restores her magic, Shan Dan can only keep watch beside her with her sister Juan Dan, chatting aimlessly: "Hey, since the maze 'has no exit,' could space be infinite too? Meaning no matter how far we go outward, we won't reach an end?"

"Doesn't feel like it."

Juan Dan earnestly probes their surroundings with magic while answering: "Since the maze's puzzles seem devised by examiners, even if it's an endless maze, the puzzles are limited. Using this logic in reverse, the maze's size should be limited too."

"So it's just that we haven't run out of bounds yet?" Shan Dan, somewhat bored, blew air onto her forehead, lifting her bangs: "What a shame Jin has no magic left; we can't assist, and who knows if we're running out of time."

"I'm worried if our approach is actually considered cheating…"

Juan Dan expressed slight concern: "But since we're this far and haven't been judged as failing and teleported away, we can only forge ahead."

"Haha, this thrill of skirting the rules feels even more exhilarating than skipping classes."

Shan Dan, however, seemed less concerned: "I suppose we should worry about two things now. Firstly, time; we need to hurry out before all nodes are conquered. Secondly, avoid being seen on the way; that would be troublesome."

Her words are precisely why they're standing guard here.

The "completion method" their team discovered — regardless of its legitimacy — mustn't be seen. If encountered, they'd face major trouble. Unlike Drunken Fish Grass and others just chasing notoriety, they can't deal with encountered candidates nor accept bringing more along. If their ability to "traverse walls" is exposed, it would undoubtedly become a mess.

"Luckily, nothing felt yet… huh?"

Just as Juan Dan followed her sister's thought to speak, she suddenly gasped, seemingly noticing something: "This magical power fluctuation, seems like another team is heading our way?"

"Really coming?"

Shan Dan widened her eyes: "What should we do?"

"To ask what should be done… apparently, there's no need to avoid them?"

Juan Dan pondered while analyzing: "After all, we're just resting by the roadside now; even if seen, it's nothing, right?"

"You say that, but it's better to avoid contact with others, isn't it?"

Shan Dan glanced at Xia Liang: "What do you think, Jin?"

"…Let's move."

Opening her eyes, Xia Liang, looking fatigued, responded: "No one can guarantee the arriving team isn't like Drunken Fish Grass, here to cause trouble. Even if the chance is small, we don't need to take that risk."

"We can, but are you able to move normally now?" Juan Dan expressed concern: "If it affects your state, maybe rest a bit longer."

"Ah, it's fine, I've recovered quite a bit."

Looking seemingly casual, Xia Liang smiled: "Let's set out before they get too close."

"Alright then." Juan Dan nodded skeptically. Despite suspecting Xia Liang might be forcing herself, she couldn't insist on further rest.

Thus, the trio swiftly acted, evading the approaching team and hiding in another fork of the path.

However, they hadn't anticipated that this seemingly "casually passing" team was actually just a part of their impending interference.

For just as they stopped to rest again, another team passed by. Then another, then the third… soon enough, within this area, Xia Liang and her teammates encountered no less than five teams.

Moreover, those candidates all seemed to have a certain purpose, avoiding each other, and bizarrely, once when Xia Liang's group nearly encountered another team, the other side ran off first. The peculiar phenomenon left Xia Liang and the sisters exchanging baffled looks, unsure of their next move.

"There must be something around here, right?" When it came to speculating about the purpose of these teams, Shan Dan stated her opinion decisively.

"Could it be a node?" Juan Dan thought a bit more deeply, "If it's just a puzzle, it shouldn't have led so many teams to know about it simultaneously and gather here, right?"

"A node?"

Shan Dan pondered for a moment and thought Juan Dan's point made sense: "Should we follow them to take a look?"

"No, if it's a node, we should hide and wait for them to leave first."

Xia Liang shook her head in disagreement: "Our current state doesn't support participating in a node raid, not to mention the number of people here. In such cases, the points each person can gain from a node would be minimal. It's entirely not worth abandoning our original plan and wasting so much time."

"Then what do you think we should do now?" Shan Dan spread her hands.

"If it's really just because there's a node around here, we should avoid them and find a way to leave this area."

Xia Liang wiped the cold sweat from her forehead: "What worries me is that so many people gathered here might be due to another reason."

"Like what?" Shan Dan was puzzled.

"Give me a moment to confirm."

With that, Xia Liang suddenly pulled out a very small mirror from her sleeve. Judging from the magical power fluctuation it emitted, it was also a part of her Magic Armor.

Because her magic power consumption had not yet fully recovered, Xia Liang could only maintain the operation of her Magic Armor at the lowest level, resulting in the extremely small size of the mirror. Mysteriously, something like a silk thread was tied to the surface of this miniature mirror. Upon closer examination, it could be seen that this magic-formed thread stretched into the mirror, seemingly connected to somewhere else.

Xia Liang held the mirror to her ear, glanced at Shan Dan, and suddenly asked, "Have you heard of a speaking tube?"

"I've heard of it…" Shan Dan still couldn't make out what Xia Liang was getting at: "But what's its relation to us now?"

"This is a speaking tube."

Xia Liang shook the mirror with a proud expression: "I left another mirror on the way, connecting both ends with a Magic Silk Thread, mimicking the structure of a speaking tube to create a transmission device."

This idea was something she borrowed from Emerald Sparrow, and she had not even demonstrated it within the Fangting City team before using it during the assessment.

"Ah, I see! Are you truly a genius?"

Understanding Xia Liang's explanation, Shan Dan clapped her hands in realization: "Does that mean if other teams pass by, we can eavesdrop on their conversations here?"

"Shh." Xia Liang placed her finger on her lips: "This device works both ways; if we're too loud, the other side might hear us too, so keep it down."

Shan Dan covered her mouth and nodded, but after a while, she couldn't resist her curiosity and quietly asked, "What are they saying?"

"Don't rush; there's nothing happening right now. Let's rest here for now."

Once more, Xia Liang held the mirror to her ear, focused her mind, and listened intently to the sounds from the other end.

At first, probably because no one had passed by yet, Xia Liang heard no sounds. However, she wasn't anxious; she quietly relaxed her mind, waiting for her magic power to slowly recover while hoping someone would pass by her "trap."

And soon enough, as footsteps approached, Xia Liang indeed heard the voices of other teams.

The first team passed by quickly, so Xia Liang could only catch snippets of their conversation, and the fragmented dialogues didn't provide any useful information. But fortunately, not long after, another team passed by.

Just like Xia Liang and the others had previously encountered, this area was seeing a constant stream of new Magic Girl Teams pass through. It was precisely because these teams always talked about something amongst themselves that Xia Liang eventually pieced together the common truth in their words.

However, upon realizing this truth, she couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

"What's wrong?" Noticing Xia Liang's change in emotion, Juan Dan proactively asked. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Hmm? Is there a result?" Shan Dan's attention also instantly focused.

"Yes, but it's not a good result."

Xia Liang sighed: "In fact, it is, for us, the worst-case scenario."

"Worst-case scenario?" "What is it?" The sisters questioned one after another.

"Another team, somehow, has already determined the possible location of the labyrinth's exit."

Xia Liang put down the mirror, her expression grave:

— "And worse, they sold this information."