Translator: 549690339
The exit was getting closer, the number of puppets behind them increasingly numerous.
Hundreds of Shen MO, hundreds of Bai Youwei, hundreds of Tan Xiao, Chang Weicai, Zhang Tianyang, Chen Hui, Yang Yi…
Another poster was torn off, revealing his puppet’s face in the mirror. Zhang Tianyang quickly balled up the torn poster and tossed it. His face was numb with routine.
Upon finishing, he glanced back.
Followed by so many… so many puppets, it was an impressive sight.
Chen Hui asked Bai Youwei, “The puppets seem to have stopped attacking us, but why do they keep following us?”
“Because they also want to get out…” Bai Youwei scribbled on paper, mapping out routes, “The maze traps us, it traps them too.”
Her voice paused, then she looked up and added, “They are us, just another version of us. So, if we want to get out, we must plot a path to the exit for them as well.”
“I see.” Chen Hui nodded, “By using the reflection and refraction in the mirror to move the puppets within, only the doors with mirrors would be the real exits.”
Bai Youwei didn’t respond, scratching out another path on paper before wheeling herself towards it.
Chen Hui caught up and asked, “When did you find out?”
“Hmm.” Bai Youwei nodded, “This morning we went to the exit and confirmed that the mirrors on either side of the door couldn’t reflect us. Surprisingly, the mirrors on the outside of the exit corridor couldn’t reflect us either. As I was reverse engineering on our way back, I found that some mirrors could reflect, while some couldn’t. If the exit is accurate, the issue must lie in the path we’re taking.”
She paused for a moment, looking ahead, and then added, “Once we reach the exit and the mirrors reflect us successfully, that means our current path is correct. ”
“What if they still can’t reflect us?” Zhang Tianyang asked.
Bai Youwei paused, glanced at him, and said:
“Then we wait for death.’
Tan Xiao sympathetically patted his shoulder, giving him a silent look that said: cheer up!
Teacher Chang sighed on the side, “People have always revered mazes, believing that the entire life of a person is akin to a maze. Only through a difficult and circuitous search can one leave deception and sin behind, finding their true self. In this way, this maze game has been reminding us from the very beginning that we must face the light and darkness of ourselves correctly to avoid being consumed by inner demons.”
“It’s just a pretentious game, how can it possibly contain such profound truths?” Bai Youwei scoffed, “Even if it did, it’s just the maze adorning itself.”
She walked alone at the front of the group, her cold tone filled with scorn, .
Furthermore, whether to leave behind deception and sin, whether to find one’s true self, that’s my business, not the maze’s!”
Everyone was left feeling conflicted upon hearing her words.
They look back again at the puppets behind them.
Those puppets, with faces identical to theirs, followed at just the right distance, crying, laughing, angry, disgusted, seemingly always present…
They were the puppets, the puppets were they.
In the maze, they were all mere puppets manipulated by the rules of the game.
The girl in the wheelchair in front of them stopped, giving them a temperature-less smile, “We’re here.”
Everyone hesitantly moved forward, turned the corner, and saw the door leading to the exit.
They also saw the mirrors on either side of the door.
The mirrors reflected their images—this time, they were real, living and breathing people.
Shen MO, sensing something, suddenly turned around.
The others quickly followed suit.
The puppets that had been following them, filling the entire road, had all disappeared..