141: Chapter 141 Dimensional Maze: How come the paths here are "alive"?
The second stage entrance of the Myriad Worlds Civilization Race—The Dimensional Maze.
If the first stage, the Sea of Cognition, was a profound test of a civilization's depth of thought, then this second stage was the ultimate torture for a civilization's spatial technology and perception abilities.
Stretching out before them, the starry sky was no longer a dark curtain but had transformed into a kaleidoscope made of countless shattered mirrors.
Each mirror reflected a different galaxy, a different flow of time, and even different physical constants.
These mirrors continuously rotated, folded, and stitched together, forming a four-dimensional spatial maze that seemed infinitely vast yet offered no escape.
"Attention all surviving contestants!" The cold broadcast voice of the Star Alliance sounded again, carrying a hint of schadenfreude.
"Congratulations on passing the screening of the Sea of Cognition."
"Second Stage: Dimensional Maze. The rules for this stage are: Find the 'True Path' hidden within the four-dimensional spatial folds.
Please note, the space here is alive; it will change based on your observation.
One wrong step, and you will be trapped in a Mobius strip until the Universe reaches heat death."
"Friendly reminder: Do not trust your radar, and definitely do not trust your eyes."
Boom—!
As the signal light turned green, the few hundred remaining civilizations (most of whom had been assimilated by the Void Realm in the first stage) started again.
The Titan Race's battleship activated 'Spatial Anchoring,' moving step-by-step with painstaking steadiness, like driving in nails.
The Zerg adopted the most brutal 'human wave tactic,' splitting off billions of scout bugs in an attempt to brute-force every possible path.
Meanwhile, the Light Spirit Race directly transformed into a high-dimensional wave state, attempting to survey the maze from a five-dimensional perspective.
pangu-003, Tianhe Command Bridge.
"A living maze?" Li Mo held his teacup, gazing at the dazzling scene outside the window.
What was a straight shipping lane just a moment ago had instantly become a dead end; the star that was clearly on the left had moved above his head in the next second.
The entire space was like a lump of clay being casually kneaded by a mischievous child.
"Captain! The radar is malfunctioning!" Star Spirit Navigator Lumina was currently clutching her forehead, her face pale.
Her eyes, capable of seeing through the starry sky, were now streaming two lines of silver tears.
"The gravitational waves here are chaotic! One second it's attraction, the next it's repulsion! My spatial perception is completely jammed!"
"And... and I feel like these paths are 'dodging' us!"
"Dodging us?" Li Mo's eyebrows shot up.
He looked towards the holographic screen next to him. The spatial mirrors around the pangu-003 were flickering wildly.
Whenever the pangu-003 attempted to approach a path that looked like an exit, that path would instantly twist, fracture, and teleport light-years away.
"Warning! Targeted spatial Law interference detected!"
"Source: Maze Core Control Center."
T-9 Robot's electronic eye flashed red wildly, "This maze is targeting us! It doesn't want us to pass!"
"Interesting," Li Mo put down his teacup and adjusted his glasses.
"It seems my excellent performance in the first stage earned us 'special attention' from the organizers (Star Alliance)."
"They want to trap me with this kind of phantom maze?"
Li Mo stood up and walked to the command console.
His gaze pierced through the layers of mirrors, seeming to see the controller hidden deep within the maze.
"Since the path is alive, this is easy to handle."
"I usually only have two methods to deal with living things."
"Either beat it into submission, or... 'pin' it down."
"Director Lei, prepare a 'Sea Calming Divine Needle' for me."
Li Mo turned and said to Lei Wanjun.
"Sea Calming Divine Needle?" Lei Wanjun was stunned for a moment, then rubbed his hands excitedly, "Do you mean... the 'Anti-Gravity Keel' dismantled from the ship Kunlun?"
"That's right. The bronze pillar that is three thousand zhang long and inscribed with the 'Suppress' mantra."
Li Mo nodded, "Load it into the main cannon. No need to charge it, just give it some 'counterweights'."
"Counterweights?"
"Yes." Li Mo pulled out the 'Abyssal Foundation Stone' (brick) from the System space, along with a thick ancient book whose cover read 'Euclidean Geometry (Cultivation Demonic Modification Edition)'.
"Tie these two things onto the Keel."
"Then... fire it out for me."
"The target?" General Gu (Corpse Soldier Commander) excitedly gripped the firing lever.
"No target."
Li Mo pointed at the chaotic maze.
"Fire towards the most chaotic, most flashy, and fastest-changing area."
"This is called... Physical Anchoring."
"Fire the cannon!!!!"
Boom————!!!!
The Tianhe Peak main cannon roared again.
This time, what shot out was not an energy beam, but a massive bronze pillar accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder.
This pillar did not fly in a straight line like a normal projectile; the moment it left the muzzle, Li Mo imbued it with the Law Term 'Absolute Straight Line'.
[Term: Absolute Straight Line.]
[Effect: Between two points, the straight line is the shortest. Any action attempting to bend, fold, or play tricks with space is ineffective in the presence of this object.]
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The bronze pillar pierced through the mirror-like space attempting to twist the path like a red-hot iron rod plunged into butter.
The spatial mirrors that tried to warp the path shattered like broken glass the moment they contacted the pillar.
The inherent suppression attribute of the 'Anti-Gravity Keel,' combined with the Karma weight of the 'Abyssal Brick,' and the logical correction of the 'Geometry Book'—a three-pronged attack.
Buzz—!!!
The bronze pillar finally slammed hard into a seemingly empty node.
At that instant, the entire Dimensional Maze vibrated violently.
It was like a crumpled piece of paper being forcefully flattened by a thumbtack hammered into its center.
"Fix!" Li Mo commanded softly.
A miracle occurred.
The maze, which had been spinning crazily and changing unpredictably, suddenly stopped operating.
The twisted paths were forcibly straightened.
The shattered mirrors were forcibly pieced together.
A straight, wide avenue, even paved with bluestone slabs (an illusion), extended directly from beneath the pangu-003 to the exit of the maze.
"What... what kind of move is this?!" Lumina was stunned.
As a member of the Light Spirit Race, she had spent her entire life studying how to conform to spatial Laws and how to find gaps within complex gravitational waves.
But this person before her... he didn't conform to the Laws at all.
He directly 'nailed down' the Laws!
"This isn't science! This isn't magic either! This is simply... bullying!"
"Bullying?" Li Mo smiled and sat back in his chair.
"This is called 'Standardized Construction.'"
"If the road isn't easy to travel, then we straighten the road."
"Full speed ahead!"
Rumble—
The pangu-003 started moving again, speeding along this forcibly carved 'straight passage.'
On both sides of the passage, the alien civilizations still struggling to calculate spatial coordinates or looping endlessly in Mobius strips watched the blue planet swagger past them, falling into deep self-doubt.
"Are we playing the wrong game?"
"Why are they playing 'Need for Speed' while we're playing 'Monument Valley'?"
...
Deep within the maze, in the control center.
Several Star Alliance observers were sweating profusely while staring at the monitoring screens.
"Report to the Chief Referee! The second stage... has also been cracked by that civilization!"
"Cracked? Is that cracking? That's demolition!"
"That pillar is jammed into our spatial node; we can't even pull it out! The entire maze System is frozen!"
The Chief Referee took a deep breath and, trembling, wrote a line on the evaluation form:
[pangu-003 Civilization.]
[Evaluation: Spatial Destroyer.]
[Suggestion: Increase the difficulty in the third stage. Real difficulty.]