"What are you up to this time?" Lolo heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her follower. Afraid that he would run around again, she grabbed him by the collar. "Hurry up and come back with me. Don't let everyone worry."
"Ugh, if we don't solve our current predicament, everyone will be worried," Archmage said helplessly as he was held in the air by the girl like a little chick.
"Stop joking. Do you think we can catch him with just the two of us?"
"Why not?"
"Alright, let me ask you. Have you been here before?"
"Ugh, no."
"Do you have a map of this area? Which pipes lead to where, and where does it connect to? "
"I don't think so," Rob said honestly.
Lolo covered her face. "Then do you know that we won't be able to find him if we keep running around like a headless fly? We might even get lost here forever."
"That won't happen." The future Supreme Magister Your Honor shook his head. "The arrangement of the pipes in this underground sewage system is not random."
"What?"
"This … It might be a little complicated to explain. Say, can you put me down first?" Archmage asked cautiously.
Lolo sized him up suspiciously. She tilted her head and pondered for a moment before finally letting go.
"These networks may look complicated to outsiders, but in fact, they are not randomly arranged. Through observation along the way, I found that all the network pipes can be divided into 24 sizes according to their diameters, and the number of crossings on each pipe is 0 to 3. What do you think? Do these numbers remind you of something?"
"Ugh … Should I be thinking of something?" The newbie Hero was confused.
"If you put the numbers 0 to 3 in the four directions of east and west, southeast, northeast, and southwest, then you will get 24 permutations, so this is not a coincidence."
"Huh? What does that mean? "
"To put it simply, the number of forks in each type of pipe actually means the direction of the pipe. If you can find the pattern and match them one by one, you'll have the key to solving this underground maze. You'll never get lost here because every section of the pipe is like a compass to you. You can use them to determine the direction."
Lolo gasped. "Although I don't quite understand what you're talking about, did you do it?"
"Time is limited. Previously, I spent some time observing the surroundings, so I couldn't figure out all the arrangements. But now, I can roughly understand 16 of them, which is enough."
The rookie, The Brave, was really frightened this time. What kind of demon was this guy in front of him!?
Even if he had a good brain, there should be a limit to it. How long had it been since they had entered the underground sewage system? Previously, so many adventurers had only explored four routes into the inner city, but this guy had almost solved the entire maze with just a few glances.
Was there really such a big gap between people? This guy was a unique genius even among scholars. Why hadn't she heard of his name before?!
The doubts that she had suppressed with great difficulty surfaced again. Suspicion was written all over Lolo's face. "Are you really Mr. Tobias's disciple?"
"Yes, and I'm his last disciple. So it's normal that you haven't heard of my name. Honestly, don't you admire my intelligence now?" The young man's acting skills were getting better and better. When he said that, the smug expression on his face made the girl grit her teeth.
"Hmph, don't be so smug. I think you're just lucky this time." When Lolo said that, she felt a little guilty. In her heart, she actually thought that her little follower was really amazing this time. She just didn't want to admit it.
At that moment, the two of them heard the other members of the exploration team shouting. Hansen and Edward were shouting Lolo and Rob's names.
"Even if you have something up your sleeves, you should at least inform the others."
Rob shrugged. "Do you think I don't want to? But that guy probably hasn't gone far. He's probably hiding somewhere nearby and spying on us. So, this time, we have to act alone. Let's go. If everything goes well, we should be able to solve this problem in half a day."
"But didn't you hear him say that he has many companions? If it's just the two of us …" Lolo was a little worried.
"Hah, that kid is probably just bluffing. He's afraid that he'll be caught when he escapes. Although I don't know how he managed to untie the ropes on his hands, he's actually very afraid of Edward. That's why he deliberately said that before he escaped. Just like how he said that there's a large group of ghouls in front of us, he wanted us to accept his suggestion to take a detour."
"Huh? Didn't he? "
"Do you still remember the puddle of ghoul vomit?"
"Who do you think would be as crazy as you? Why would you memorize that kind of thing for no reason?" The girl was going crazy.
"From the freshness, it should be from ten days ago. Tsk, tsk. I have to admit that Grimm is quite smart. Whether it's the puddle of ghoul vomit or the two lively ghouls behind him, he put on a good show and strengthened our trust in him. Though we know that we shouldn't trust others in the Dungeon, even Captain Hansen was deceived and followed him out of the designated route."
"Wait, you were studying that puddle of … er, did you discover something wrong with it? Why didn't you tell Captain Hansen? "
"It's just my guess. The age of the puddle isn't right, so it might not be intentionally placed here. It could be explained as being left behind by a group of ghouls. I wasn't sure if the kid was lying or not." Rob smiled bitterly. "Also, the previous incident with Hilton allowed me to successfully reduce my reputation with Captain Hansen to a negative value. At that time, even if I spoke up, there was an 80% chance that he wouldn't listen, so I can only trouble you to come with me."
"Oh, you're saying that he hasn't gone far, and is secretly observing our team in the vicinity? Since you've identified the direction, we just have to search the surroundings and we'll be able to catch him? "Lolo thought of a possibility and said excitedly.
"It's not that simple. He wasn't lying about one thing. The environment here is more suitable for thieves and assassins. Even if we can find him, it'll be difficult to get close to him. Let me ask you, can you catch him when he realizes that we're approaching him and wants to run away?"
"Well …" The newbie The Brave counted on his fingers and carefully calculated how close he needed to get to a thief.
Rob sighed. "Don't count. Even if you can catch him, I won't be able to catch him with my second-class handicapped body. Without me, you'll be trapped here for the rest of your life."
"…"
"And to be honest, catching that guy isn't my main goal."
"Eh, why?"
"If it's just to lead the way back to the original route, I can barely do it now."
"Oh yeah, you can already tell the direction, so why did you drag me out?!"
The boy didn't answer the question. Instead, he smiled and asked, "Do you want to earn some extra money?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
