Chapter 69 - 66: A Hidden World Within the Maze

Chapter 69: Chapter 66: A Hidden World Within the Maze

Zhao Han was suddenly very embarrassed.

He seemed to have realized he’d taken a wrong turn.

They’d only passed a few forks in the path, so why couldn’t he even remember the first two?

’This shouldn’t be happening.’

His memory wasn’t this bad.

In fact, it wasn’t just him; Wei Yuan, Lin Mengxi, and the others were in the same boat.

Even though Zhao Han was leading the way, the others were also trying to secretly memorize the route.

Unfortunately, after just a few turns, they had already forgotten the path they’d committed to memory.

"This one... we should take this fork!" Zhao Han could only brace himself and lead the group down one of the paths.

Zhang Lin smiled when he saw this.

He knew Director Zhao was surely feeling the effects of the "Exploration Dumbing Down +1" attribute.

’So, he’s already mixed up the turns. At this rate, forget about memorizing the path—he won’t even be able to reorient himself. All he can do now is wander aimlessly and hope for the best.’

After taking three more turns, the group realized their surroundings looked exactly the same as a place they’d been before.

"Haven’t we been here before?" Zhao Han asked, stunned. The scene before him was all too familiar.

Lin Mengxi immediately nodded. "I think so. It’s the same three-way fork, and the cobblestones on the middle path are arranged in a curve."

"I knew it. Going left was a mistake. So this time, we’ll go right!" Zhao Han said, and led the group to the right.

Zhang Lin followed silently behind them. ’The influence of this Exploration Dumbing Down +1 attribute is really insidious,’ he thought.

’Director Zhao and the others haven’t even considered that this identical scenery might be intentional. That there isn’t just one spot like this, but several, and the fork they’re at now isn’t the same one from before.’

And that was, in fact, the case.

They had never been to this fork before.

Unfortunately, under the influence of the Dumbing Down attribute, the group didn’t give it a second thought. This ingenious design, combined with a [Confusion +1] effect, made the misdirection even more potent.

Finally, after leading them through a few more forks, Zhao Han was completely lost. Turning left and right, he realized he was running around like a headless chicken.

"Well... that was a mistake," Zhao Han finally said with a sigh.

Wei Yuan, however, laughed. "Boss Zhang, it looks like there’s more to this Bamboo Maze of yours than meets the eye. Zhao, you wiped out so quickly."

"I said it was a mistake!" Zhao Han repeated, then hurriedly said to Zhang Lin, "Let’s take the safe path out and start over!"

"Director Zhao, it’s not that complicated. Just follow me back," Zhang Lin said with a smile. He glanced at the map in his mind, then turned and started walking.

Seeing this, Zhao Han and the others followed him.

But after just three turns, he was dumbfounded. The entrance had appeared right before his eyes.

In other words, after all that time spent turning left and right, he hadn’t made any real progress. Instead, he’d circled back to the third fork, nearly ending up right back at the entrance.

This...

"Let’s go in one more time. I won’t get it wrong again." Zhao Han was a little crushed by the outcome, yet he felt an eager, intense desire to keep exploring.

Wei Yuan, Lin Mengxi, and the others from the Agriculture Bureau all nodded in unison.

They felt the same way. Their desire to explore was intense; they just wanted to go back in and give it another try, feeling an impulsive urge to play.

This was, of course, the [Desire to Explore +1] attribute at work.

Zhang Lin once again followed Zhao Han into the Bamboo Maze.

"I definitely won’t mess up this time," Zhao Han said with grim determination. He focused his mind, concentrating fully as he successfully navigated more than a dozen forks.

This time, Wei Yuan, Lin Mengxi, and the others thought Zhao Han was finally on his game and hadn’t fumbled.

Then, they reached another fork, and he suddenly stopped.

This fork only had two paths: one leading left, and one leading right.

Wei Yuan asked, "Zhao, which way now?"

Zhao Han, however, turned back and said sheepishly, "Um, I think I’m lost again."

"???" Wei Yuan was stunned for a moment, then retorted, "Zhao, didn’t you say you were a professional? Didn’t you say you were good at these kinds of maze games? This is what you call being good?"

Zhao Han had no rebuttal, so he could only resort to praising the Bamboo Maze. "I really am good at this! It’s just that the Bamboo Maze Boss Zhang built is too incredible. Every fork is extremely misleading, and the environment creates a sense of pressure. It’s easy to get nervous under that kind of pressure, and once you’re nervous, your performance drops."

He had clearly found the perfect excuse for himself. He reiterated, "Anyway, it’s not that I suck. I did plenty of these maze challenges when I was younger, and they were all a piece of cake. Nothing like this."

Hearing this, Wei Yuan gave Zhao Han a skeptical look, as if to say, ’I’m just going to sit here and watch you put on a show.’

"Don’t look at me like that! This maze is just really hard." Zhao Han’s composure started to crack. "Never mind me—even Boss Zhang, the guy who built the maze, would have a tough time getting through it!"

Hearing this, Wei Yuan, Lin Mengxi, and the others all looked at Zhang Lin.

"Boss Zhang, is that true?" Lin Mengxi asked, her face full of curiosity.

"The Bamboo Maze is indeed very difficult; after all, it was designed to surpass the Miao Clan’s maze. However, I’m the one who designed it, so I’m not about to get stumped by my own creation. Let me take you somewhere first!" Zhang Lin said, gesturing for them to follow as he started down one of the paths.

"..." Zhao Han fell silent.

’Is Boss Zhang low-key flexing on me?’ he wondered.

’Twice in a row... This Bamboo Maze really is difficult. I can’t believe Boss Zhang could have memorized all the paths inside, can he?’

’A 1,000-mu Bamboo Maze... even for the designer, that can’t be easy, right?’

"Feeling crushed, Zhao?" Wei Yuan asked teasingly.

"I’m not that fragile!" Zhao Han shot Wei Yuan a look, speechless. "But," he continued, "a project like this—the kind you suck at but can’t stop playing—will absolutely be a huge hit if you market it!"

"I agree with that!" Wei Yuan nodded.

At their age, and with their positions, they weren’t the type to get obsessed with trivial amusements—unless something was genuinely interesting.

If they all had such a strong desire to explore this Bamboo Maze, then other tourists, especially the young ones, would definitely be even more drawn to it.

Maybe discussion threads about strategies for the Bamboo Maze would even start popping up online.

"This Bamboo Maze was built with financial support from our Tourism Bureau. I really do have foresight," Zhao Han said, unable to keep a look of accomplishment from his face.

"Hah!" Wei Yuan said dismissively. "As if our Agriculture Bureau didn’t grant this project a year of free rent on the land."

"Then that just means we both have foresight!" Zhao Han said with a smile.

This time, Wei Yuan finally agreed. "Zhao, now that’s a statement I can get behind!"

Zhang Lin heard the conversation between the two directors and also smiled.

’These two are actually pretty interesting,’ he thought. ’Bureaucrats with personalities like theirs are much easier to get along with.’

Zhang Lin kept his eyes on the game map in his mind as he walked them through several more forks.

Zhao Han and the others followed behind him. Suddenly, they came upon a very different-looking junction. A bamboo archway stood over it, entwined with vines, and wildflowers were planted along both sides of the path.

After seeing so many similar-looking forks and paths, the sudden appearance of this junction was a refreshing and pleasant surprise.

They watched Zhang Lin walk through the archway and followed him. But when they passed through the entrance and saw what was inside, they all stared in astonishment.

’There’s a constructed area like this in here?’ Compared to the endless paths and forks from before, this was like a whole other world.

’If any tourists find their way here, they’ll be in for a huge surprise.’