Hu Lei felt a little frustrated about the new obstacle because she had been planning on exploring the secret realm a little and kill off a few people before Zhong Feng caught up. Even though she did not care about the car, she did not like losing. If there was a game, she wanted to be the winner.
She looked at the beams of light with focus. She had sneaked into a lot of high security places in the past. But for some reason, she had never actually encountered a laser matrix in any of those buildings. However, she could not admit defeat in the face of an interesting challenge.
She tracked the movement of the laser beams and started humming lightly. Even with her keen eyes, she could not memorise the position of each ray of light. But she could determine the best path to avoid death and memorise it using a song.
She had picked up this technique from her teacher when she was training in Japan. At first, she would constantly fall into traps because she could time her movements properly to ensure that she would avoid booby-traps. Then, her teacher had told her that avoiding traps was like dancing. 'If you hear a song, your body will move along.'
After a moment, Hu Lei dived into the laser matrix with small and slow steps, posing, bending, skipping and turning with minimal movements. She looked like she was waltzing. If she was in her body suit, she could have probably cleared the area in a few seconds. But with the robe, she had to be careful.
Behind her, the red group was looking at her in shock. Her movements were beautiful, and she had almost finished that section of the trap successfully. However, that was not the problem.
"She knows that the traps are supposed to be deactivated first, right?" One of the men in the group asked with twitching lips.
"Humph, she is just trying to show off." Shishi responded with a sneer.
The other people wanted to agree. However, Zhong Feng glanced at them with a sharp and freezing look. They did not dare speak more.
"There is no rule that says that traps have to be deactivated." Wang Che said as he touched the wall.
On the surface, there was a subtle bump which might have been mistaken as part of the décor. He pressed on it and the floor lit up. Some sections were blue while others were white. Judging from Hu Lei's ordeal, the white ones had to be the safe ones.
The entire group crossed without much incidence. Unfortunately, the laser trap activated by Hu Lei had not been turned off.
"She is the one who made this trap activate. Why do we have to deal with it?" Shishi did not give up on badmouthing Hu Lei.
This time there was a murmur of assent. Zhong Feng did not respond. He found the deactivation point which was a panel with a traditional logic puzzle. He handled it with ease before walking on purposefully from the group. It seemed that the partnership was short-lived.
In another part of the structure, Hu Lei discovered that it was truly a maze. Only the initial opening corridor was straight path. The rest of the area had multiple paths and crossroads at each turning point. In the end, she decided to choose her route randomly. She did not believe that she would be trapped with her good sense of direction.
Then, she realised the reason the maze was called a labyrinth. The dividing panels making up this part of the secret realm structure could move. Simply speaking, the composite walls were modular and could be repositioned, opening new paths and closing off old ones.
Either way, she was not daunted, and after almost falling in a few more dangerous situations, she eventually learnt how to identify potential traps. She also discovered that the traps could be deactivated. This discovery made her hit her own face in embarrassment. Of course, there had to be method for turning off traps. Not everyone was athletic.
As she kept walking, she heard two female voices. These voices were not per se familiar, but she had a hunch on their identity. After all, they were speaking quite loudly. She concealed herself subtly because she was interested in hearing more before killing them off.
"Did you see her? How could she even have the face to show herself? Does she think that she could ever become part of our social circle?" The loud and angry voice did not carry far, but Hu Lei could hear it clearly.
"Don't speak so loudly. Walls have ears." The other woman responded calmly.
"Ugh, I just can't bear it. Even her own mother does not want her. Why does she have the confidence to strut about like she owns the place?" The voice became a little lower.
"Yue, you should know that right now we are in a delicate situation. Uncle might be in a tough situation, but he is definitely going to look for a way to retaliate. You cannot give anyone a chance by being careless." The voice was stern.
"I know. I am also worried. I think dad might be thinking of an arranged marriage for me. I don't know what he is thinking. Didn't you all say that we could depend on that useless brat for success? Why do I have to pay the price when he has been freeloading for years?" Murong Yue had an edge to her voice.
As they came closer, Hu Lei had a cold flash in her eyes.
"You should also do your part for the family. What is wrong with an arranged marriage? I feel that it is not a bad idea." Murong Yan responded evenly.
"Of course, you wouldn't understand." Murong Yue sighed.
Murong Yan stopped just before they reached the turn behind which Hu Lei was hiding. She looked at her sister with blazing anger in her eyes. Murong Yue was startled. Though her sister was not nice and charming, she never showed anger so openly.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Murong Yan asked with a piercing voice.
Hu Lei felt that the moment for her appearance had come.
"I think she's implying that you are ugly." She said with amusement before directly shooting them in the blue-robed chest with her crossbow without hesitation.
Game over. The two women lifted their weapons to retaliate, but it was already too late. Once a person was killed off, their crossbows would power off immediately.
"How can you be so shameless?" Murong Yan, who had been shot in the back asked.
Hu Lei shrugged.
"Why are you mad at me? I am just playing the game. Anyway, I am not the one who called you ugly." Her voice was casual, and there was a smile on her face.
Immediately, Murong Yan was inflamed. Even though Hu Lei had killed her off, it was a game. How could this compare to Murong Yue's insult? Yan had always been insecure about her appearance because of this sister. When this matter was mentioned out aloud, she felt like she could really kill.
"Yan, don't listen to the b*tch. She is just trying to turn us against each other." Murong Yue said, looking angrily at Hu Lei who was watching the show.
"So what did you mean?" Of course, she knew that Hu Lei was trying to sow discord. However, this did not make the insult less real.
"I…" Murong Yue stammered, but she could not come up with anything immediately. In truth, she had really been implying that her sister was not pretty enough to realise the shame of being set up on blind dates. As someone who had been praised for her beauty, she could not accept that it was not in her power to choose any man she wanted.
"You think that you are all that great? Let me tell you, dad and Lu Liang consulted me on your marriage, and I asked them to wait a little longer because of our sibling bond. It seems that I was overthinking things. I will make sure to recommend a good man, my dear sister." Murong Yan said venomously.
Murong Yue's face became pale in fear. She knew that her sister could be very vengeful. If it wasn't for this little b*tch…
Hu Lei felt that her work was done. She walked away with a happy hum. Since she was so preoccupied, she did not realise that some distance and a few turns away, a woman in white was eavesdropping on the conversation.