Chapter 129

So this was what the Treasure Hunt Maze meant.

The air was filled with the fresh fragrance of plants. Li Zhi liked this scent very much. Walking through this maze, she was in an unusually pleasant mood. It was just that the plant walls on both sides were too tall. Walking between them made a person feel very small.

Li Zhi released the balloon in her hand. Watching it rise into the air, held aloft by its string and floating above the maze, she then walked toward the golden treasure chest.

At the end of this path, which was less than ten meters long, sat the treasure chest. In the middle of the road, paths branched off to the left and right, forming a crossroads. The two side paths led in different directions. Every path looked exactly the same, and there was no visible difference just by looking. Li Zhi stood at the intersection for a couple of seconds before withdrawing her gaze.

She walked straight toward the treasure chest at the end of the path.

The chest looked a bit like the glittering golden treasure chests found in video games. It was inlaid with a circle of red gemstones, looking especially exquisite and luxurious, radiating an air of noble confidence that practically proclaimed, "I'm a treasure! Hurry up and open me!"

Li Zhi crouched in front of the treasure chest and reached out to knock on it.

The sound was dull. The walls of the chest were thick, and nothing inside could be heard. At the lock was a perfectly intact paper seal bearing the word "Seal."

While Li Zhi was examining it, the audience was also dazzled by the shining golden treasure chest.

【Holy crap! There really is a treasure chest!】

【It looks just like the kind of treasure chest in those "If we're brothers, come slash me once" games that drops equipment!】

【The system must have been a game developer in its previous life. These amusement attractions are so interesting! I want to open blind-box treasure chests too!】

【Where is there a maze like this? I could play in it all day! Holy crap, this is the first time I've envied the players. I want to go in and play too!】

【This maze is so entertaining! This is the first round that really feels like an amusement park.】

【Let's see what Lychee ends up opening! Whether she's lucky or unlucky will all depend on this!】

...

There was nothing she could determine just by looking from the outside, so Li Zhi decided to test her luck.

She had originally wanted to put on the Mysterious Headphones she had obtained after clearing the previous instance. The item description said it allowed the wearer to hear mysterious voices at night. If this treasure chest contained a ghost, then after putting on the headphones she should be able to hear it, right?

However, the instructions stated that wearing the headphones would require paying a corresponding price. She had no idea what that price would be. She also had no teammates by her side at the moment, and the balloon in her hand still needed to provide directions for her teammates. If the price caused her to lose her mobility, this round would become dangerous.

After weighing the pros and cons, Li Zhi decided not to use the headphones and instead gamble on her luck.

Even if there really was a ghost inside, at worst she'd just beat it up. Before entering, the staff hadn't said anything about not being allowed to beat up NPCs.

Thinking this, Li Zhi stepped back a couple of paces, keeping what she considered a relatively safe distance from the chest before suddenly flipping open the lid.

The paper seal over the lock split into two. The instant the lid opened, a black skull sprang out of the chest. Its eyes flashed with red light, its mouth emitted terrifying sound effects, and bursts of white smoke billowed out. It looked exactly like one of those prank props.

Li Zhi, whose entire body had been tense and on guard: "..."

Damn it. It looked like she'd been pranked!

It wasn't a ghost.

It wasn't a clue either.

It was actually a prank prop!

Not only was Li Zhi speechless, but so were the audience members who had been watching with tense anticipation.

Li Zhi stood there waiting for a while. Once the skull, which was attached to a spring and wobbling back and forth, stopped spewing white smoke, she slowly approached it. She looked inside.

Other than the prank skull, the chest was completely empty.

She sighed and was about to leave when the red lights flashing inside the skull's hollow eye sockets suddenly began scanning her like lasers. She heard it repeatedly chant in an evil voice,

"Shrink! Shrink! Shrink!"

It was already too late to dodge.

Everything around her suddenly became enormous. The treasure chest, which had originally been normal-sized, expanded infinitely before her eyes until it was as huge as a mountain.

In the blink of an eye, Li Zhi had shrunk to the size of a thumb and plopped onto the ground covered with fallen leaves.

Li Zhi: ???!!!

The audience: ???!!!

The camera perspective enlarged along with Li Zhi's point of view. The already towering plant walls lining both sides of the path now resembled mountain cliffs piercing straight into the clouds after she had shrunk. She was like an ant trapped at the bottom of an abyss, unable to see the top even when looking up.

For the first time since entering the instance, the audience saw such a wonderfully expressive look on Li Zhi's face.

【Hahahahahahaha! It's so satisfying seeing the boss get humbled!】

【I'm dying of laughter!!! Didn't expect this, did you, Lychee? Even you have a day when you get tricked!】

【Lychee: I was all ready to fight a ghost, and you give me a shrinking buff instead? Are you seriously that shameless?】

【Thumbelina... hehe... slurp... let me lick...】

【You're such a pervert upstairs! Put your tongue away!】

【Collectively suspecting that Zhizhi is being deliberately targeted by the system!】

【Ahhhhhh! My megalophobia is acting up! This scene looks so terrifying!!!】

...

Li Zhi stood on a fallen leaf on the ground. A leaf that had previously been smaller than her palm was now as large as a bed. Even if two more of her lay down on it, there would still be enough room.

Looking back, the path she had come from had become like a road stretching all the way to the heavens, with no end in sight.

Fortunately, the balloon in her hand had shrunk along with her. Otherwise, who knew where the balloon might have carried her off to.

Sigh. She had still been too careless.

But now she roughly understood the nature of this maze.

Besides clues and ghosts, it definitely contained plenty of entertaining props as well as beneficial buffs and harmful debuffs. With so many different types of items that could be opened, the maze's gameplay had become much more exciting and interesting.

If that was the case, she probably wouldn't remain in this state for too long. These buffs should all have time limits. Otherwise, both the entertainment value and the viewing experience would decrease. In her current state, she couldn't even open treasure chests anymore. How could it still be called a treasure hunt?

Of course, if the system simply wanted to mess with her and get her killed, then she would just have to search for the exit while staying in this condition. Once she left the maze, the shrinking state should be removed.

She had been careless and fallen into the trap. There wasn't any other solution, so Li Zhi could only continue walking forward.

The few steps she had walked earlier now took her several minutes to cross before she finally reached the intersection. Just as she was about to head down the left path, a gust of wind suddenly rose overhead.

Li Zhi immediately sensed something was wrong. She hurriedly threw herself to one side, trying to grab onto the vines to steady herself.

But at her current size, she weighed about as much as a leaf. The wind easily swept her into the air. Li Zhi only managed to grab onto a leaf she had torn loose before she was instantly carried skyward by the gust.

Then the audience saw Li Zhi hugging the leaf's stem with both hands, lying flat on the leaf with an expression of peaceful acceptance as she soared through the air.

The comments exploded:

【???】

【Leaf... leaf-riding flight?】

【Case closed!!! Lychee really is Thumbelina!!!】

【Aaaaaah she's so adorable I'm dying!!!】

【Upon your leaf, freely soaring through the sky~~~】

【From this angle, this maze is freaking huge. You can't even see where it ends.】

...

No one knew how long she had been flying before the wind finally stopped, and Li Zhi drifted back to the ground together with the leaf beneath her.

The gust had carried her away from her previous location. At the corner ahead, another treasure chest appeared.

The glittering golden treasure chest stood there like a mountain of gold.

Li Zhi quickened her pace toward it. By the time she reached it, the treasure chest looked even more gigantic.

It was just like a tiny person from the Land of the Little People discovering a treasure chest in the Land of Giants.

Li Zhi tied the balloon securely around her wrist and began climbing upward along the grooves carved into the outside of the chest.

Although her body had become smaller, her strength remained unchanged. Climbing it was like scaling a simple rock wall. Before long, Li Zhi reached the lock where the paper bearing the word "Seal" was attached.

The latch she had previously opened with one hand had now become a handhold.

Standing on the raised part of the bronze lock, Li Zhi gripped the latch with both hands and pondered whether she should open this chest.

If a ghost came out, with her current size... she wouldn't be swallowed in a single bite, would she?

But then again, since she had become so tiny, when the ghost climbed out of the chest, it might not even notice her.

After weighing the pros and cons, Li Zhi still decided to open the treasure chest.

If it contained a clue, it would be too much of a shame to miss it.

Besides ghosts, it might also contain an item or a buff. Looking at it that way, the probability of getting a ghost was only one in four.

After thinking it over, just to be safe, Li Zhi took out the Teleportation Talisman from her item inventory, preparing to teleport away immediately if a ghost appeared.

Once everything was ready, she climbed a little higher. After tearing off the paper seal, she hugged the latch from above and pulled down with all her strength.

Click—

The treasure chest opened.

The lid automatically sprang upward. Li Zhi immediately hid herself inside one of the grooves. From this angle, she couldn't see what was happening above, and she assumed that whatever came out of the chest wouldn't be able to see her either.

The chest shifted slightly, as though something inside had stood up.

Li Zhi held her breath and concentrated.

She heard clear breathing above her.

It sounded... like a human's breathing.

The chest suddenly trembled. She quickly grabbed both sides to keep herself from falling.

A shadow descended from overhead.

A gigantic leg stepped out of the chest. When its foot landed on the ground, the wind it stirred up made Li Zhi shut her eyes involuntarily.

Then the other leg stepped out as well.

"It" stood there, apparently surveying its surroundings without moving for a while.

Hidden in the groove on the side of the chest, Li Zhi narrowed her eyes as she stared at the pair of legs before her.

Black pants.

She could even make out the texture of the fabric.

On its feet were a pair of white sneakers.

There was none of the sticky, slimy substance ghosts usually had on them.

They looked like human legs.

Just as Li Zhi was thinking of finding another position to determine whether she had released a human or a ghost, the enormous pair of legs in front of her suddenly moved.

"It" turned around to face the treasure chest.

Then its knees bent as it crouched down.

An enlarged handsome face appeared before her eyes.

From this angle and distance, his eyes resembled a bottomless icy lake, clearly reflecting her tiny figure.

For a moment, Li Zhi couldn't react.

After a long pause, he suddenly smiled.

The icy lake curved into a crescent-shaped spring.

A warm, broad hand reached toward her. The lines on his palm resembled the veins of the earth itself.

Li Zhi heard him say softly,

"Come up."

Li Zhi let go of the chest and walked along his fingertip into his palm.

Li Jianxi gently cupped his hand around her, suppressing the smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he slowly drew his hand back.

He remained half-crouched, lowering his gaze to the thumb-sized person resting in his palm.

His clear eyes were filled with barely restrained amusement.

"This angle is really something," Li Zhi couldn't help saying. "You look like a giant."

Li Jianxi wanted to laugh, but was afraid that even his breath would blow her over, so he held it back. He moved his hand a little farther away before asking,

"How did you end up so small?"

Li Zhi simply sat down in his palm, propped up her chin, and sighed.

"I got careless and fell into a trap. How did you end up coming out of a treasure chest?"

Li Jianxi blinked, and his eyelashes stirred up a tiny breeze that brushed across her face like a forest wind.

"I changed jobs."

He said with a smile.