Chapter 2449: Chapter 2449
Before entering the labyrinth, Ye Liuyun took a careful look at its structure.
"Based on the timing of those rats reappearing, I should spot them within five or six steps," he muttered to himself.
Cautiously, he advanced a few paces into the maze. Nothing seemed amiss, and he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
But the moment he extended his spiritual senses, his blood ran cold.
To his shock, he found himself deep within the labyrinth’s core.
Even more unsettling was the fact that his companions—the venomous serpent and the spirit cat—hadn’t noticed the shift at all. It wasn’t until Ye Liuyun pointed it out that they realized their predicament. By then, they were already alarmingly close to the three rats.
"Fall back, now!"
Sensing danger, Ye Liuyun immediately signaled for retreat while using his spiritual awareness to scout an escape route.
Yet after backtracking several steps, he froze—somehow, the maze’s exit had grown even farther away.
"Damn it, we’re trapped! There’s something unnatural about this place!" A flicker of panic surged through him.
"If we can’t get out, then we’ll deal with those rats first!"
Steeling himself, Ye Liuyun quickly regained composure. He directed the serpent and the cat to confront the rodents while he gripped his silent dagger, poised for any sudden ambush.
The three rats weren’t far off, and Ye Liuyun soon mapped a path for his companions to approach them.
But then, the impossible happened—midway through their advance, the serpent and the spirit cat vanished into thin air.
After a while, the two creatures reappeared within Ye Liuyun’s detection range, but they had already moved far away from him.
What surprised Ye Liuyun even more was that when three rats passed through the same spot, they didn’t vanish. Instead, they seemed to have picked up the scent of the venomous snake and the spirit cat, circling the area and sniffing intently. Suddenly, the lead rat let out a sharp, piercing squeak.
The underground space was enclosed, amplifying the echoes. The rat’s cry wasn’t just an ordinary sound—it carried both sonic and soul attacks. Fortunately, Ye Liuyun was familiar with such assaults and had strong spiritual defenses, so he remained unaffected. But one thing was clear: these were no ordinary rats.
Glancing over, Ye Liuyun saw that the venomous snake and spirit cat he had released were now cowering on the ground, paralyzed with fear. Strangely, the gecko he had spotted earlier showed no reaction at all.
As for the assassin, not only did he show no signs of discomfort, but he suddenly activated some stealth technique and vanished from sight. The killer was too far away to have directly detected Ye Liuyun—he must have been alerted by the rats.
Once the assassin concealed himself, Ye Liuyun could no longer sense him with his divine consciousness. His golden pupils couldn’t penetrate so many layers of walls from this distance, so the assassin’s trail was completely lost.
Meanwhile, the three rats swiftly followed the scent of the snake and cat, scurrying straight toward Ye Liuyun. Without hesitation, he unleashed a soul-shock wave at them.
But instead of being stunned, the rats’ eyes turned blood-red, glowing ominously. A sense of foreboding crept into Ye Liuyun’s heart—this labyrinth was proving far stranger than he had anticipated.
Through the walls, his golden pupils remained fixed on the three eerie rodents.
"Even after their eyes turned red, they don’t seem any different," Ye Liuyun thought to himself.
But the next moment, the rats let out savage roars. Their bodies swelled rapidly as if being inflated, instantly growing larger than Ye Liuyun himself.
"ROAR!"
Then, one after another, the three monstrous rats charged toward him.
Now that their size had increased, the two trailing rats could no longer run side by side. Whenever the path narrowed, they had to squeeze through single file.
"Holy hell, what kind of freaks are these?!"
Ye Liuyun was horrified by the grotesque transformation of the rats. Judging by their aura, he wasn’t even sure he could take them on. Without hesitation, he turned and fled, hoping to lose them in the maze’s winding passages.
But as he sprinted, the scenery before him suddenly shifted—he nearly slammed face-first into a stone wall that hadn’t been there a second ago.
When he skidded to a stop, he realized his location had changed again. Now, he was far away from the three monstrous rats.
"ROAR! ROAR!"
The rats reached the spot where Ye Liuyun had vanished and bellowed in frustration, as if aware of his sudden disappearance.
Eventually, their rage subsided. The crimson glow in their eyes faded, and their bodies shrank back to their original size.
"What the hell just happened?" Ye Liuyun was completely baffled. He immediately summoned Qiong Qi, explained the situation, and asked him to check if there was some kind of hidden formation at work.
He even took Qiong Qi along to experience the bizarre sensation of being abruptly transported elsewhere.
Even Qiong Qi was stunned. During the displacement, he hadn’t detected the slightest trace of any formation.
At that very moment, Ye Liuyun suddenly noticed that both his spirit cat and venomous snake had been cleanly severed in half.
"That assassin has made his move!"
Ye Liuyun warned the Qiong Qi beast, swiftly recalling it into his spatial realm. Gripping his noiseless blade, he began wandering aimlessly through the labyrinthine corridors. He wanted to see whether this random movement might lead him to encounter the hidden killer.
"That assassin’s stealth technique is formidable indeed. How can I possibly detect him?"
Ye Liuyun pondered silently as he walked. Yet after some time, neither the assassin nor the three rats he’d been tracking appeared. Everyone kept shifting positions unpredictably, teleporting abruptly to different locations—making chance encounters nearly impossible.
As he moved haphazardly through the maze, no discernible pattern emerged to him.
"What kind of godforsaken place is this?" Ye Liuyun muttered impatiently, coming to an abrupt halt.
"Keep walking—there is a pattern. I estimate you’ll encounter those rats within five more moves," the Book Demon in Ye Liuyun’s consciousness suddenly advised.
"What pattern?" A spark of interest flickered in Ye Liuyun’s eyes.
"Every three movements you and those rats make, the distance between you decreases," the Book Demon explained.
"But what’s causing these sudden teleportations?" Ye Liuyun frowned in confusion.
"It’s similar to your spatial overlap ability—the same principle applies. Only here, it’s the maze creating these overlapping spaces. And these spatial layers keep shifting constantly."
The Book Demon continued analyzing, "But if you all keep moving forward, you’re bound to cross paths eventually. I believe the maze’s design intentionally draws you closer together."
"What if I keep retreating?" Ye Liuyun countered.
"You’d just be putting more distance between you. But you’d have to outrun those rats. My guess is the assassin moves even faster—by the time you encounter the rodents, he’ll likely be right on your heels," the Book Demon speculated.
"That assassin’s invisibility technique seems formidable. How can I possibly detect him?" Ye Liuyun had no choice but to seek the Book Demon’s advice.
"Go with your gut! I suggest you don an invisibility cloak yourself and use shadow concealment. Then rely on your spiritual senses—when you feel danger, that’s probably the assassin closing in," the Book Demon proposed.
"..." Ye Liuyun wasn’t convinced that gut instinct alone could help him defeat a professional killer.
