A couple of minutes had already passed as Xinya and Melting Snow rushed through the maze when they heard the sound of a gunshot. Xinya checked the party interface, certain that Wandering Sound would be dead, only to be surprised to find that he wasn't.
He was in critical condition but he was still alive, Xinya did wonder how he was, but when he saw that he was in a stunned state, he could figure out why. Wei in her madness, was probably too far gone, that when she saw that he wasn't moving, just assumed that he was dead.
Xinya was glad about that, no matter how much a fool he thought Wandering Sound to be, he would blame himself if he did die. He was the one who just left him there, while he was in that state of mind, but between him and Wei, he would choose Wei every time.
Checked his map, only to see that she was closing in on them fast, he knew they had to pick up the pace. While also making sure to pay attention to rather the hands were open on the wall, he begins to quicken the running speed even more.
"Do you think we are almost there, Drifting Cloud?" Melting Snow asked. He was worried that Roaming Wind would catch up to them before they made it to the center.
Knowing what Melting Snow worries were, he tried to console him, "Don't worry as long as we keep to this speed, we will make it there soon."
Melting Snow wanted to believe in Drifting Cloud's optimism, he really did, but doubt kept seeping inside of his brain. This maze seemed like it was endless, there was barely enough light and everywhere he turned there were bodies everywhere.
He was starting to feel a little claustrophobic, the maze was seriously starting to get to him. He could handle a lot of things, blood, monsters and the like, but this was different Even he could see that, with how Roaming Wind got cursed.
It really shook him up, he didn't know things like this could happen. Melting Snow knew that if it was Drifting Cloud who had gotten cursed, he wouldn't be taking it as well as he was. That's why he could understand what Drifting Cloud and Wandering Sound were going through.
That didn't mean, he didn't think how Wandering Sound acted wasn't stupid, because it was. If Drifting Cloud was the one cursed he wouldn't be pussyfooting around, he would be looking for the center to cure him.
When he had asked Drifting Cloud why he was being like that, he told him that when someone likes some as much as Wandering Sound did Roaming Wind they can become muddleheaded. Melting Snow's only thought about that was, 'If that's how a person acts when they like someone, I will hold off on finding a girlfriend for a long time'
He would also make sure to study this game more if this happened once it could happen again. If there was a next time he doesn't want it to catch him unguarded like it did this time. That was the main reason it was affecting him so much, and now all he wanted to do was find the center and get out of here.
Half an hour had passed, and they still haven't yet found the center of the maze. From the first moment, they arrived Xinya realized that this maze was huge, but he didn't think it would be this gigantic. As they ran through the long twisty passageways, Xinya begins to question the possibility if there was actually an end.
He knew he shouldn't be thinking these types of thoughts, this dungeon was already a literal mind fuck, and he wouldn't let it have it's way with him anymore. He just needed to focus on finding that damn spring, so he could cure Wei.
As he thought of her, he checked the map again. They already had a couple of close calls with her already. Just 10 minutes ago she had almost caught up to them, it was Melting Snow's smart thinking that gave them an escape.
Melting Snow used one of the intact corpses on the wall as a distraction. He had propped it up on the wall where they knew Wei would come from, with the thought that in her madness, she would think it was a living person and try to kill it.
This worked brilliantly and brought them time to get farther away from her. They heard the sound of her gunshots echo throughout the passageways for a long time before it came to an end.
Seeing as she was still far away, Xinya brought his attention back to the walls only to see something had changed. The walls a few feet away from them were bare, no bodies in sight. Xinya knew that this meant that they were coming to the center of the maze.
Melting Snow looked at Drifting Cloud, with a giant smile on his face, "Look, there are no bodies up ahead! I think we are almost there!"
"Me, too. See I told you we would make it." Xinya almost couldn't contain his happiness. He couldn't wait for this to be finally over, so they could get out of this maze.
After running ten more minutes through various passageways, Xinya and Melting Snow had finally reached the center of the maze. As they walked inside, Xinya let out a gasp, It wasn't anything at all like what he was expecting.
With the walls of bodies, and semi-dark passageways, he was expecting a tomb of some kind, or a mass grave, but definitely not what he was seeing. It was as if they were transported to a museum.
There was multiple artifacts display all around them, each of them looking more valuable than the last, but Xinya knew that they were just for show and paid them no mind. What he wanted was the spring, which he found in the middle of the room, gushing water.
"We made it," Xinya said, happily. "We just need to Roaming Wind to get here."
As soon as Xinya spoke, Wei rushed into the room, guns blazing, "Did you call me because here I am. Prepare to..."
Before she could even finish her sentence, Xinya threw a floral attack potion at her binding her. "Melting Snow, find something to put the spring water in so we can throw it on her."
Melting Snow rushed around the room, look everywhere until he found a large glass pitcher near the spring. Quickly he filled it with water and brought it over to where Xinya was standing and handed it to him.
Taking the pitcher from Melting Snow, Xinya waited a few seconds for the effects of his potion attack to wear off. Once it did, he threw the spring water onto Wei before she could even think about moving. The water worked its magic swiftly before Xinya could even blink, Wei was writhing on the ground screaming.
After a few moments passed a dark black smoke escaped her lips and proceeded to dissipate into the air. Leaving a gasping Wei laying confused on the floor.
Rushing to her side, Xinya helped her up, all the while checking to see if she was alright. When a notification popped up:
[The curse on Roaming Wind has been lifted!!]
"What's going on?" Wei asked confused while looking around the room. "How did I get here?"
Melting Snow and Xinya gave each other a look, before turning back to Wei. "You don't remember anything?"
"No, the last thing I remember was walking with you guys, everything else is a blur." She told them while wondering what the hell was going on.
"It's good that you don't remember," Melting Snow said. "This is probably the best outcome."
As Xinya was nodding along with what Melting Snow was saying, Wandering Sound finally arrived. When he saw the Wei wasn't under the curse anymore, he rushed over to her and grabbed her.
"You're alright! I'm so happy your, you now!" Wandering Sound said happily, giving her a big hug.
While Wandering Sound hugged her, she looked at Xinya and Melting Snow who faces held similar relieved expressions and wondered what happened to make them look that way.