Surviving the Maze of National Destiny: Hints from the Chinese Characters I Understand

The live streams from various countries are all projected from the sky, so there is no secrecy involved, and everyone can watch each other's streams.

Instead of reviving Lin Xiaoxue from the 15th floor, the Dragon Kingdom decided to select a newcomer named Lin Mo to enter the maze world.

Maze research teams from various countries have taken notice of this, especially since Lin Mo obtained supplies on his first attempt, prompting them to immediately begin their research.

Among these countries, the Free Country, India, Great Cold Country, and Rising Sun Country have established a joint research center to concentrate their efforts on in-depth research on divine script.

The divine inscriptions on the direction Lin Mo chose to enter have been recorded by them, and they have begun to study them.

"Please look, everyone. The above is the clue Lin Mo received: [There is a bear trap inside the room on the right. Don't be a phone addict. Go past it and you'll find two potatoes. There's some water on the ground that you can drink.] We've deciphered some of the divine text in this clue, but we're still far from obtaining precise information. What do you think?" The researcher from the Free Nation pointed to the clue with a laser pointer and began his analysis.

"The three divine characters for 'beast trap' have appeared together multiple times, and we know it's a dangerous item. The word 'potato' appears frequently, and we know it's an edible resource, as does 'water.' But how did he pinpoint the exact location of the 'beast trap'? How did he leap up, avoid the danger, and obtain the supplies?" The researcher from the Rising Sun Kingdom raised this question.

"Based on the context of the divine message, I think it should be the word 'mouth,' which indicates that the animal trap is located near the door," the researcher from the Great Han Kingdom said, offering his guess.

"Clearly, if the hint contains a 'mouth', it indicates the location of the doorway. Update this to our top-secret explorer's manual, and our explorers will become even stronger!" The Indian Research Institute made the final decision.

"It seems that the Dragon Kingdom has made a breakthrough in divine script recently, otherwise this newcomer would not have been so decisive or successful. This person must have obtained the latest divine script research results from the Dragon Kingdom. They have made such rapid progress," the Free Kingdom Research Institute said with concern.

"I think you're overthinking it. He's still on the first level, and as he goes deeper into higher levels, he'll likely encounter some of our stronger opponents. Do you really think a newcomer like him can handle so many of our experienced experts?" The Indian researcher said confidently.

"Haha! You're right! I was overthinking it."

…………

In live stream room number 66, tension immediately rose as Lin Mo entered the mine.

[A netizen from the Rising Sun Kingdom: Oh my god, I thought it was something special, hahaha, turns out it was just luck. As everyone knows, one of the most dangerous areas in the maze is the mine, which is almost always inhabited by sleeping creatures.]

[Chinese netizens: Shut up! My brother Lin stayed in the previous room for so long and was so well-prepared, I don't think he lacked confidence.]

[A Chinese netizen's comment: My assessment: Not even worth a hair of Sister Xue's.]

[Chinese netizens: Aren't you annoying? She's already been deprived of her right to share Lin Ge's supplies, yet she's still unrepentant, always talking about a single hair. Does she even have hair? What do you know!]

[Chinese netizens: Holy crap! Stop arguing, look at Brother Lin, that smooth little combo is amazing!]

Through the live stream, viewers saw that after Lin Mo landed, he first looked around, guessing that he was looking at the instructions. Then he opened the animal trap in his hand, fixed it in a passage, and carefully covered it with soil.

At this moment, Lin Mo was already confident: It's a sure thing!

Because he had already found a safe way out; the mine has five passages.

[There's a giant worm with a dream 50 meters ahead. Don't ask me what its dream is; it's just dreaming.]

[Behind is a large room, inside which is a level 2 green-striped creature. You know, anyone with tattoos is a dangerous opponent. If you go in, you only have a 20% chance of survival; to put it another way: 80% chance of dying.]

[The path to the left leads to a meadow. A meadow is auspicious; it's the perfect burial site. Beneath the meadow lie about ten level-1 sandworms, waiting for their destined occupant.]

[On the right is a small room, only 20 square meters. It's not dangerous, but there's nothing of value in it.]

Below is a basement containing some good stuff. A bronze treasure chest awaits its owner, containing 1 jin of rice, 500 ml of water (1 jin), and 2 units of firewood. However, this chest has been used as a pillow by a level 2 neutral creature, a giant mammoth. It's a devout vegetarian and doesn't eat people, but if pushed too far, its bite can be quite painful. You'll have to trade something valuable for the chest. Roasted sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, and pumpkins are among its favorites.

Lin Mo understood. If he couldn't win the fight, he would run to the basement, where a neutral creature would not attack him.

Maybe we can even use potatoes to trade for a treasure chest to open, that would be interesting.

The treasure chest contained a lot of supplies, and little by little, they would add up. In the future, I could trade for anything I needed through the maze trading platform. As for maze points, I hadn't cleared a single node yet, so I didn't have any points.

The "ordinary steel knife blueprint" is hidden in the crack in the rock; take it.

It's so great to have a hint; Lin Mo got his hands on the blueprints without much effort.

Congratulations! You have obtained the "Standard Steel Knife Blueprint". Would you like to study it?

"study!"

[You have learned the blueprint. You can use 1 unit of Fire Element and 2 units of Refined Iron to forge a regular steel sword. (Insufficient resources detected)]

With this ordinary quality steel knife, you'll at least have a fighting chance against level 1 creatures in the future.

However, Lin Mo wouldn't take risks easily. He could understand the warning, so why rush? What was the difference between a 1% risk and certain death? He had to play it safe!

Stop looking. There's a pile of iron ore just 6 meters to your left; you can extract 1 unit of refined iron from it.

Following the prompts, Lin Mo quickly located a pile of iron ore and then obtained 1 unit of refined iron through the system's extraction function.

The only supplies that can be returned to Earth are food and water, because Earth is currently lacking only food and drink, which is quite surreal.

Lin Mo was very inefficient. The iron ore was buried in the soil, and the game system was unfair. It only counted as his own and could be extracted if he dug it out himself.

If only I had a tool, a shovel or a steel knife would do.

At the same time, he dared not make too much noise, for fear that he would awaken the giant worm before he had even dealt with the supplies.

There's a pile of iron ore 7 meters behind us, hurry up!

Again, they carefully dug the soil little by little with their hands and slowly extracted the iron ore.

Finally, the two units of refined iron were successfully extracted. Lin Mo didn't hesitate at all and immediately used two units of refined iron and one fire element to forge a steel knife. Anyway, maze items can be disassembled and brought back if they are no longer needed, as long as you don't damage them.

[All items complete, crafting successful. Your "Ordinary Steel Knife" is now stored in your personal space.]

Lin Mo took out the steel knife, held it in his hand and swung it a couple of times; it was quite handy.

The moment he gripped the steel knife, a voice followed.

You have learned the skill: Swordsmanship LV1 (1%)

Huh? There's a skill too? Lin Mo discovered that a new skill item had appeared in his attribute panel: Swordsmanship LV1 (1%)

Skills learned can be improved through daily practice or by consuming beast cores. (PS: Useless skills can be forgotten, and the beast cores consumed will be returned, but skill proficiency gained through training cannot be refunded.)

It's quite user-friendly, which is good. This maze game is much more fun than the one-hit-kill-999 game before I time-traveled.

This steel knife is 70 centimeters long and looks a bit like a watermelon knife. It has a single blade and is not very heavy, weighing about 2 kilograms. Its main killing method is slashing, but it can also be used for stabbing because the tip is quite sharp.

With this steel knife, Lin Mo planned to give it a try against the giant worm.

The crude animal trap is described in the system as having a powerful effect on level 1 creatures, so a regular steel knife of a higher quality should be able to kill an insect quite easily, but I still need to be careful.

If things go wrong, run away immediately; you can even throw away that animal trap.

Everything is ready except for the final push!

Lin Mo looked at the dark passage 50 meters away, picked up a stone, and threw it inside.

"Da da da..."

The stones struck the stone wall of the passage with a series of crisp sounds, an action that astonished many netizens.

[Chinese netizens: Holy crap, Brother Lin already has a steel knife? It looks pretty sharp.]

[Chinese netizens: I wonder if you guys remember when the maze game first launched, how many explorers were resurrected on their first try?]

[A netizen from China commented: Yeah, we all suffered because we lacked experience back then. Lin Ge was the first one to have it so smoothly.]

[Chinese netizens: Huh? Why did Brother Lin throw stones? Isn't he afraid there are monsters inside?]

[A netizen from the Rising Sun Kingdom commented: What else could it be? Because he's an idiot, right? He's taken so many benefits and still isn't leaving. What is he waiting for? To die?]

[A netizen from China: If you're not smart enough, shut up. Didn't you see Brother Lin has a steel knife and has set up animal traps? I feel like Brother Lin is about to go on his first hunt.]

[A Chinese netizen asked: But how does Brother Lin determine if he can defeat the monsters inside? What if they are level 2 creatures?]

"Huff, huff..." The sound of something scraping against the ground came from the passageway.

A group of netizens stared at the dark passageway in the live broadcast room, their hearts in their throats.

Without saying a word, Lin Mo stood by the entrance to the basement with a steel knife in his hand, ready to run away as soon as the trap failed.