Zhu Shi's tone was unwavering, as if she wasn’t voicing a hypothesis but stating something she had witnessed firsthand.

As a listener, I couldn’t help but be swayed by her confidence, instinctively believing her.

Even the enemy, now hidden somewhere unknown, seemed briefly stunned into silence.

After a pause, the Oddities voice returned, calm and composed: "Then, according to you, what is my true ability?"

"It's 'Damage Transfer,'" Zhu Shi replied calmly.

The Oddities said nothing.

"Your true ability is the power to transfer the damage you receive to your shadow clones," Zhu Shi continued.

"You must have set up many shadow clones in different locations. I can't determine exactly how many, but there must be quite a few. Whenever you take damage, you can transfer it to one of your clones.

"This is an ability that twists cause and effect, distorting reality. It doesn't just activate when you choose—it triggers passively even if you die, transferring the fact of your death to a clone, while you return to an unharmed state.

"But this power has a glaring weakness: your clones are finite. As an 'immortality' ability, it’s actually quite mediocre. Even if you can repeatedly summon clones to take your damage, if you're placed in an environment with continuous high damage—like being thrown into lava—your 'lives' would deplete rapidly.

"Moreover, if you're restrained, you can't escape through this ability. Once captured alive, the source of your power would leave you, and your self-destruct mechanism would activate. At that point, with your power already severed, you wouldn't be able to revive again. Am I wrong?"

It felt like she wasn't speaking to the Oddities but rather explaining everything to me so I could better understand our enemy.

After a brief silence, the Oddities asked, "…How did you know? If you had simply guessed correctly, I could understand. But how can you see so clearly without any clues? Is 'seeing through your opponent's abilities' your ability?"

"I'll leave that to your imagination," Zhu Shi replied indifferently.

"Hmph… No matter. You're both going to die here anyway," the Oddities said with an air of unshakable confidence.

"Since you can see through my ability, can you also see through the nature of this alternate space?"

This time, it was Zhu Shi's turn to fall silent.

She slowly closed her eyes.

"You'll realize soon enough where you are. But to speed up your despair, I'll tell you directly," the Oddities chuckled.

"This place is a labyrinth—an infinitely vast labyrinth."

"Infinite?"

I instinctively distrusted the idea of "infinite" being applied to anything in reality.

At the same time, I released over a dozen "fireflies" and sent them speeding into the depths of the corridor to scout ahead.

"Before your deaths, this space will never be undone; no matter how many centuries you wander here, you will never reach its boundary," the Oddities emphasized with two absolutes.

"You two must both be Wuchang of Mount Luo, right? This barrier was specifically designed to deal with Wuchang like you. How does it feel to be hunted by your prey and trapped in its cage instead?

"I will sit in the finest spectator seat and witness your final disgrace. You will die of thirst and hunger here, and your souls will become my nourishment."

"—The finest spectator seat?" Zhu Shi finally opened her eyes.

Once again, she revealed that piercing gaze, as though she could see through everything.

Not only that, but the irises of her eyes had changed color.

A cold, lake-blue radiance now shone in her eyes, exuding an aura of mystery.

What kind of transformation is this? I was extremely curious, but it wasn’t the right time to ask her in front of our enemy.

"You're not sitting there willingly. You can’t leave either, can you?" she said slowly.

"When this space was activated, you became one with it.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Furthermore, your claim that this space was specifically created to deal with Wuchang is also a lie. If it were truly your own ability, you would have used it from the beginning, instead of pulling it out as a last resort when you realized you couldn’t escape.

"This space was likely summoned using some kind of consumable artifact, and it wasn’t originally intended for us… That artifact might not even have belonged to you. Something that special isn’t something a nobody like you could casually acquire. It was most likely given to you by someone else. Who was it?"

As she spoke, it felt like her personality was shifting in an unsettling way.

The "Demon Hunter Zhu Shi" I knew already had an aura of a cold, lone warrior, but now she felt like an emotionless, unfeeling soldier.

"You really do talk a lot…" The Oddities seemed irritated by her aggressive demeanor.

"It seems you do have some kind of insight ability… but so what? The more you know, the deeper your despair will become.

"You're right. Until this space is undone, I can’t leave either. But there’s one key difference: as someone fused with this space, I don’t need to eat or drink. You, on the other hand, can’t say the same.

"As the price for breaking my agreement with the Creator of Oddities, I’ll take my time enjoying the sight of your descent into madness."

"Who is the Creator of Oddities?" I asked.

But the Oddities seemed to have decided not to answer anymore.

His voice faded entirely from our surroundings.

The Creator of Oddities…

As the name suggested, it must refer to someone who "Creates Oddities."

Could it be that these Oddities were all created by this so-called Creator of Oddities through some method?

Was Agent Kong also a product of this?

This was an incredibly important clue, something even Patrol Lu and Zhu Shi hadn’t mentioned before.

Clearly, the Oddities shouldn’t have revealed this in front of us, which suggested that he truly believed we were doomed to die here.

The cold, lake-blue glow in Zhu Shi's eyes gradually faded, and her irises returned to their usual deep brown hue.

"I'm sorry, Senior Brother Zhuang. I dragged you into this mission." Zhu Shi sighed softly, but her gaze quickly turned resolute.

"But don’t worry, I’ll definitely get you out of here."

"You don’t need to worry about me…"

In truth, I could already escape this space using the flames I had left in the real world.

Unfortunately, flame teleportation only works for me—I can’t bring Zhu Shi along.

If I told her about this, she might start overthinking, so it’s probably better to keep it to myself.

However, in the worst-case scenario, she wouldn’t end up dying of thirst or starvation like the Oddities claimed.

I could leave flames here and use them to travel back and forth between this space and the real world, bringing food and water with me.

The so-called deadlock described by the Oddities was fundamentally flawed from the start.

Meanwhile, the "fireflies" I had sent out had roughly mapped the surrounding terrain.

As the Oddities said, this place was indeed a labyrinth.

Around every corner was yet another identical gray hallway, stretching endlessly with frequent branching paths.

Whether it was truly infinitely large remained to be seen.

Zhu Shi once again revealed her piercing, all-seeing gaze, carefully observing the space around us.

Perhaps she really did have the ability to "see through" her opponents, and now she was using that ability on this space itself.

However, she seemed to encounter difficulties almost immediately, her brows furrowing deeply in frustration.

I decided not to remain idle.

I conjured a fireball in my palm and aimed it forward.

The fireball shot out at a speed far exceeding that of sound.

I had given the fireball a command: "Follow one side of the wall as you move."

I recalled seeing something online—most mazes, if you stick to one wall and follow it persistently, you’ll eventually find an exit.

While this place might not have an "exit" in the conventional sense, it was worth a try.

At the same time, I directed flames to blast through the walls beside me, curious about what lay on the other side.

The result wasn’t particularly surprising—the other side of the wall was just another identical hallway.

I then launched fireballs upward and downward, blasting through the ceiling and floor.

I didn’t even need to inspect the molten holes directly; the information returned through the fireballs told me that both above and below us were the same monotonous hallways.

In fact, above the upper hallway and below the lower hallway were… more hallways.

It was as if this space extended infinitely in every possible direction.

I could feel my heart gradually growing hot.

Though it might not be the most appropriate thing to say given the situation, I couldn’t suppress the excitement bubbling up within me—the thrill of exploring this unknown labyrinth.

I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of "spaces that don’t belong to reality."

Whether it was the underground basement in Room 15 or the shadow world Agent Kong once showed me, they all stirred an irresistible longing within me.

And now, this labyrinth in the alternate dimension was provoking that same sense of challenge and adventure.

Did that Oddities really claim this was a place with no escape and no boundaries?

Well then, I won’t resort to my "flame teleportation"—that ungentlemanly "cheat move"—just yet.

Let’s see if I can crack this "level" from the inside first!

To be honest, if it weren’t for the heavy weight of "Finding Ma Zao" pressing on my mind and the presence of a companion by my side, I would have approached this entire encounter with a challenger’s mindset—enjoying the battle with the Oddities, slowly unraveling the mystery behind his ability.

Instead of earlier, when my mind was solely fixated on "take his head first, ask questions later," driven entirely by purpose.

I focused on the fireball I had launched earlier, sensing its trajectory and surroundings.

Based on tests I conducted long ago, a fireball I launch with full focus in my normal state can easily exceed Mach 4—over 1,300 meters per second.

As for how fast it’s traveling now, I’m not exactly sure, but it’s definitely very fast.

In just this short amount of time, the fireball must have traveled an immense distance, yet the surroundings remained unchanged—endlessly repeating hallways.

Could this place really be infinite?

Come to think of it, judging from the way the Oddities spoke with Zhu Shi earlier, this space was originally supposed to have some kind of "purpose."

Even if it wasn’t meant to trap Mount Luo Wuchang, it might have been designed to trap someone else... In that case, isn’t the "labyrinth" theme a bit odd?

If this really were an infinitely large space, there would be no need for these winding maze-like corridors in the first place.

An infinite space, by its very nature, would already be an inescapable labyrinth.

I felt like I had just grasped the first thread of a clue—a direction for Zhu Shi and me to break free from this space.