The oppressive darkness slowly dissipated, giving way to a returning light.
‘Hmm?’ I murmured, realizing my surroundings were not my room. Instead, towering bushes formed a dense wall, reminiscent of an Earth-bound shrub maze.
I was still clad in the pink lace nightgown Liu Han had practically forced upon me the previous night. A small pink and white sleep cap adorned my head, and my bare feet felt the cool ground beneath them.
‘Tch,’ I scoffed. ‘A maze? Please. I am a god, capable of flight. How could a mere two-meter-tall hedge maze possibly contain me?’
Catching sight of my temple rising majestically beyond the numerous shrub walls, I unfurled my wings, ready to ascend.
‘Flap—’ My wings beat against the air with a resounding sound, yet I remained rooted to the spot. ‘Ah, it seems the order allowing flight cannot be accessed here,’ I mused.
Still, that was too naive of me. I possessed a terminal! A quick use of its positioning function would surely guide me out of this intricate maze…
My terminal? ‘Oh, it seems I removed it before bed last night,’ I realized with a groan. ‘In that case, I retract my earlier boast. Perhaps this maze’s ability to trap me isn’t so far-fetched after all…’
With a sigh of annoyance, I peeled off the sleep cap that had been forced onto my head the night before, rolling it into a tight ball in my hand. I then examined the surrounding bushes, giving them a tentative poke.
It appeared a direct breakthrough was out of the question. Suddenly, the sleep cap in my hand felt cumbersome, so I reluctantly placed it back on my head. While wearing it wasn’t ideal, carrying it proved equally inconvenient.
‘Well then, I’ll just wander,’ I decided. ‘Staying still certainly won’t get me anywhere. I might as well explore, try my luck. What if I stumble upon the exit by chance?’
The maze’s design was undeniably ingenious. Every single intersection seemed identical, and the only potential landmark—my temple—remained perpetually fixed at the forefront of my vision, like a painted backdrop. It offered absolutely no navigational aid whatsoever.
‘Ugh,’ I groaned. As someone utterly devoid of a sense of direction, I was now completely disoriented, unable to distinguish north from south. ‘Now, which way did I even come from…?’
Still, I wasn’t overly concerned. I was undoubtedly somewhere near my temple, behind which I knew a vast maze existed. From the temple, it had appeared enormous, shrouded in a hazy mist that obscured its details.
‘They’ll come looking for me, won’t they…?’
I meticulously scanned my surroundings, confirming that everything was, in fact, absolutely identical. This seemed impossible; even the most skilled artisan couldn’t create such a perfectly replicated environment.
After walking for a while longer, I fully confirmed my suspicion: this was akin to an infinitely looping corridor. The sensation was precisely that of being trapped in a ‘ghost wall,’ where one walks in circles without progress.
The key to breaking free from a ‘ghost wall,’ I knew, was to abandon the conventional path. To confine oneself to ordinary thinking would only lead deeper into the illusion, ultimately inducing self-inflicted terror.
The instant the scenery before me began to repeat, I halted. ‘This is it, then,’ I thought. ‘The anomaly undoubtedly lies here, but what technique is at play?’
Marking the precise spot, I continued onward, only to pause a single step before the repetition was about to occur.
I abruptly changed direction, striding directly toward the bushes at the edge. ‘This is it,’ I affirmed confidently. ‘This has to be the way.’
‘Ouch!’ A sharp cry escaped my lips. The bushes were real, painfully so! I had chosen incorrectly, and my attempt at a grand exit had ended in a rather ungraceful collision.
Scrambling to my feet, I gently retrieved the fallen sleep cap, settling it back onto my head and adjusting its position.
Turning in a different direction, I refrained from another showy charge. Instead, I carefully felt along the bushes until I finally discovered an open space. It was fortunate; had I walked straight ahead again, I surely would have suffered another painful collision.
‘I, the Big Dream Lord, am truly an unparalleled intellectual player,’ I thought with a smug grin. ‘These petty tricks were instantly transparent to me. If you truly wish to trap the Big Dream Lord, a simple, ordinary maze would be far more effective… ╥﹏╥’
I confidently stepped inside. ‘Pong—’ I instantly tumbled back out, crying, ‘Ow, ow, ow, ow…’ This designer clearly possessed a wicked sense of humor. There was a suspended barrier inside, almost imperceptible to the touch, and I had walked right into it, hitting my head.
Truthfully, I couldn’t entirely blame the designer. The barrier was originally positioned to strike an ordinary person’s chest, but…
Rising to my feet, I brushed the dust from my nightgown, gently rubbing my throbbing forehead. Then, I slowly pushed aside the barrier with my hand, finally exiting the maze.
Evidently, this was not the exit leading to my temple. I surmised that particular exit lay elsewhere; perhaps I hadn’t taken the wrong path earlier, but simply failed to activate it correctly.
Before me stretched an enormous lake, its sapphire waters shimmering with ripples. Coupled with the verdant lawns along its banks and the enclosing shrub walls, it painted a picturesque scene. At the heart of the lake stood a Western-style pavilion, accessible by a narrow stone path bordered by elegant stone railings.
Curiosity, being an inherent human trait, was something I shared. Glancing around, I recalled the God’s Agent mentioning that my fief extended for a considerable distance in this vicinity. ‘So, this must also be part of my domain, then?’
‘In that case, I should go investigate,’ I decided. ‘It appears quite beautiful over there.’
The moment my small feet touched the stone path, I instinctively recoiled. Unshod, I found the stone slabs shockingly cold, a frigid assault on my skin.
After a brief moment of adaptation, I planted my feet firmly on the path and dashed towards the pavilion. ‘So cold, so cold, so cold! I’m going to freeze, I’m going to freeze, I’m going to freeze!’
Several times I nearly lost my balance and plunged into the water. Fortunately, I reached the pavilion safely.
The pavilion’s floor felt remarkably warm, though that was only in contrast to the icy stone path I had just traversed. Its decorative style diverged significantly from that of my temple. Here, elegant, gentle pale cyan formed the primary color scheme, with noble, graceful silver patterns interwoven throughout. It was a stark contrast to the undeniably cute and whimsical aesthetic of my own divine abode.
If my temple resembled a princess’s boudoir, then this space was, without a doubt, a queen’s private chambers.
My attention was drawn to an ancient zither, positioned directly in the center of the pavilion.
Its body, a serene blue-green, was adorned with opulent silver-white patterns, and even its strings shimmered in silver. The zither and the pavilion’s aesthetic were seamlessly integrated—no, more than that. I realized the instrument was actually fused with the stone pedestal upon which it rested.
What exactly was this intriguing object—a zither seemingly rooted to the ground? Intrigued, I slowly approached the instrument.
Settling onto the stone platform that served as a seat before the zither, I first ran my fingers over its strings, then gently plucked them.
An ineffably beautiful and utterly exquisite note resonated through the air—a truly divine melody. Yet, upon hearing it, I was overcome with profound astonishment, bordering on disbelief. ‘This… this is the Divine Language!’