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

[Congratulations on killing 6 level 8 centipedes. You have obtained 72 beast cores and a certain amount of life essence. Your life level has increased to level 11 (37%). Kabu has obtained a certain amount of maze essence and his life level has increased to level 11 (49%).]

Level 8 dungeon creatures are considered difficult because the level difference is too great, and the experience points given are increasingly insufficient to meet the requirements.

However, Lin Mo was already far ahead. Others would get even less experience if they killed monsters that were 3 levels lower than themselves, even if they were ordinary level monsters.

Another point Lin Mo made was correct: he didn't choose shortcuts to frantically descend to higher levels. He's only at level 2 now, completely crushing the monsters, and has enough time to improve his soft skills, such as his swordsmanship level and Kabu's ancestral reversion.

By the way, I don't know when the difficulty level can be increased to a higher level. Lin Mo asked the system and was told that he needed to obtain the item "Nightmare's Choice".

"Then let me ask you, how do you obtain the 'Nightmare Choice'? Answer me!"

[Gold chests and higher-level chests can be opened, and there is a 1% drop rate from defeating dungeon bosses.]

Kill the boss? Lin Mo looked at Kabu next to him.

Kabu stared at Lin Mo with his beady green eyes. "What? Trying to roast me again?"

"You'd better not have a lucky talent, it would be better if it were useful."

"Good luck can't increase the drop rate from 1% to 100%, damn it!" Kabu jumped up and down.

"What's the difference between that and a useless talent!" Lin Mo curled his lip. "System, after choosing Nightmare difficulty to Nightmare, how much does the reward increase?"

[A 100% increase, double the difficulty of normal.]

"Oh my, this is good, this is good." Lin Mo rubbed his hands together, then returned the resources and used all the beast cores.

You have successfully returned 462 million high-quality potatoes (half a pound each).

[You have successfully used 72 beast cores to raise your swordsmanship to LV18 (48.1%).]

I'm level 18 now, and consuming a beast core only increases my level by 0.8%. Damn system.

You can learn new moves at level 20; I'm already looking forward to it.

At the same time, Moonlit Slash becomes stronger as his life level and swordsmanship level increase.

[Moonlight Slash: Unleashes a crescent-shaped blade of light with a 4-meter radius (currently 70 meters) to damage targets at range. The power of this blade is comparable to your full-force strike. Moonlight Slash requires the gathering of life force and has a cooldown period after each use. The current cooldown is 6 seconds. (Moonlight Slash's range and cooldown will positively change with increases in health level and swordsmanship level.)]

Damn it, when will I be able to tear this maze apart with a single blow?

Lin Mo looked in the four barely visible directions with burning eyes.

Once you clear this terrain, you can kill the boss on the second floor. What if you get the Nightmare option? Then you'll be on a roll! Plus, killing the maze boss also gives you national fortune points.

According to the system, a normal maze boss is worth 1 national fortune point, a difficult one is worth 2 points, and a nightmare one is worth 3 points.

[You are directly ahead of an ice cave, where five level 8 ice crystal insects are sealed. They have been asleep for 100 years. If you wake them, their 100-year-old morning grumpiness might be a bit much. 4000 ml of drinking water can be extracted from the ice cave.]

100 years? This maze seems to have some history.

The passage behind you leads to an abandoned amusement park. The original inhabitants have been wiped out, and only five giant vultures, level 8, roam here, waiting for a destined person.

There is a silver treasure chest near the carousel in the amusement park. It contains the following items: 1000 ml of water, 5 catties of high-quality flour, 2 fire elements, 2 refined iron pieces, and 2 pieces of wood.

Lin Mo sensed something was amiss. An abandoned amusement park? Extinct indigenous people? What had this maze done? Had they wiped out other civilizations?

Is it Earth's turn again? Lin Mo couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it.

It discovered that flour had appeared in the silver treasure chest for the first time, indicating that supplies were becoming more abundant. This stuff would make noodle lovers in the north of the Dragon Kingdom ecstatic, as many people in the Dragon Kingdom relied on noodles as their staple food.

If we have the chance, we can enrich the menu in China. Our goal is not to struggle to survive, but to live well!

[To your left lies an abandoned overpass. The bridge is broken, the cars are rotten, and ten level 7 cheetahs roam it, reminiscing about Advent Day, when walking carcasses of meat were everywhere. Those good days are gone forever. Under the overpass, in a cargo truck, you can find a carton of 24 eggs and a 10-pound bag of high-quality flour.]

Descent Day? Lin Mo understood it less and less, but it didn't matter. He could understand eggs and flour.

This was almost the most abundant supplies he had encountered since entering the maze. There must be over 10 kilograms of supplies, plus eggs.

Countless children, elderly people, and women in China have never tasted the flavor of eggs.

The right-hand passage was clearly less profitable than the left, so Lin Mo focused his attention on the left-hand passage.

[Congratulations on reaching a new milestone! You have earned 2 maze points, bringing your current total to 12. Your exploration progress on the second level of the maze is 100%. Once you reach 100%, you will enter the third level.]

The scene shifts, and Lin Mo finds himself on a dilapidated overpass. The bridge is broken into several sections, and there are bullet holes and even craters left from bomb explosions on the surface.

There was a main battle tank lying upside down on the ground under the bridge, and there were large craters on the concrete road from when it fell. Lin Mo guessed that it must have been thrown down the bridge by some enormous force.

Various vehicles collided on the bridge, while some vehicles remained intact, with even the doors open, suggesting that the occupants had abandoned their vehicles and fled when the disaster occurred.

Lin Mo walked up to an abandoned car and saw black dried blood inside. So... this hasn't been going on for very long?

The interior of the car was relatively enclosed, and the plush toys in the back seat were still intact. These plush toys were strange animal figures, like lions, with two heads.

Lin Mo opened the storage box inside the car. Inside were some documents, but they were neither in Blue Star language nor Chinese. However, Lin Mo saw a family photo.

"Humans! Humans!" In the photo, a family of four with yellow skin is smiling happily.

Humans who speak different languages ​​often have similar technological paths, a fact Lin Mo deduced from technological products such as tanks and cars.

It descended, but ultimately destroyed this place.

One or two monster invasions may not be enough to shake human technological society, but what about... an endless stream of monsters?

They will eventually exhaust humanity's will to resist and its weaponry.

Human society lacks food and water, and to survive, they must explore the maze, which in turn attracts monsters, creating an unsolvable vicious cycle.

"Woo woo woo..." The roar of a wild beast came from behind. The giant cheetah that had been lingering here had spotted Lin Mo and Kabu.

Lin Mo held the family photo in his hand. He was already in a bad mood, and he didn't want such a tragedy to happen again.

"Woo-woo-woo..." The beastly roars drew closer, irritating Lin Mo. "Kabu, tear their mouths apart!"