Qiao Ming’s smug grin froze on his face.
“I’ve got eyes, hands, feet, hearts, lungs—you name it, I’ve got plenty of them ready. At the end of the day, this ability of yours isn’t all that impressive, is it?” Jing Pei said.
Qiao Ming began to shake all over.
Jing Pei looked proudly at Qiu Fa, leaning in close to whisper, as if they were old friends: “Who did he think he was dealing with?”
Qiu Fa’s breath caught slightly: “…Are you expecting me to praise you? Information… broker!”
“Go ahead, give it a try,” Jing Pei took the invitation, studying him with amusement. Her beautiful eyes held a warm, teasing spark, and the tiny mole on her chin added a captivating charm.
Qiu Fa stared at her, suddenly at a loss for words. After a moment, he let out a cold snort and asked out of nowhere: “How old are you?”
Jing Pei blinked, caught off guard. “What? Why are you suddenly asking about my age?”
“Forget it then.” Qiu Fa wasn’t even sure why he had asked.
“Almost twenty-eight,” Jing Pei said. Long Jin’s body was a few months away from turning eighteen, but with ten years added to it, she was indeed close to twenty-eight. As for her mental age, that went without saying; that was the age she had died in her past life.
“Oh. Same as me.”
“So why did you ask—”
“Shut up! Do you two think this is a matchmaking corner?!” Qiao Ming’s furious roar cut them off. “How dare you humiliate me! I won’t let you get away with this. You’re dead!”
After his scream, his eyes turned dark and menacing, cold like a ghost crawling out of hell. His voice dropped low. “So you think my ability is no big deal? Let’s see if you really have everything figured out.”
Although his voice was no longer loud, it felt far more terrifying. Qiu Fa grew even more alert.
The space of the sixth stage began to warp.
The surrounding stone walls dissolved. A heavy, sticky black fog took their place, a mist so dense it seemed to swallow the light itself. The fog slowly crept over them. Only the massive door with the relief remained standing, towering over them, larger than before.
Amidst a distant, beautiful yet eerie chant that sounded as if it rose from the deep ocean, new words materialized on the door.
[Hidden Stage: Give me a smile free of any pain.]
[Failure Penalty: Die while tasting the most agonizing pain.]
The clear condition of this hidden stage was a massive departure from the previous bloody demands for hearts and kidneys. Even the failure penalty seemed far more complex.
“You were supposed to clear ten stages, but let’s skip the boring parts and jump to the end. Not everyone gets to reach this stage. You two are really lucky,” Qiao Ming murmured. His face didn’t change, but a second mouth opened on his throat, its lips moving as it sang that strange, beautiful song.
Normally, his stages demanded body parts based on the number of intruders. He designed it that way because ordinary humans would die from such losses, and even the strongest Atavists couldn’t regrow whole organs. Losing them would leave them weak and easy to kill.
But asking for organs was useless against someone as ready as Jing Pei. Twenty years ago, when he was just fourteen, he thought his power was unbeatable—a perfect creation no one could beat. He never expected to face that squad—especially that woman, who almost killed him even when her body was broken.
So, he spent years designing this ultimate hidden stage.
“No one can clear this,” Qiao Ming laughed, his eyes cold and lifeless. “Smiling is far harder than crying. Welcome to your execution.”
The second mouth on his neck kept singing, sending the eerie melody echoing through the maze, as if countless tiny, invisible tentacles were reaching out from all directions.
Wu Ying and the head of the Wu family had already left their estate, racing toward Bubble 109.
By the time they arrived, representatives from the other Atavist families had already gathered. Long Yiming was there too, frantically pacing and making phone calls, trying to reach Jing Pei, though it seemed he couldn’t get through.
Everyone stood outside the barrier of wind, waiting in tense anxiety.
The storm wall created by Qiu Fa’s Atavist power was simply too dangerous. No one was confident they could cross it safely. More importantly, this wall was clearly meant to keep the enemies inside from escaping while blocking outsiders from entering. They weren’t sure if they should force their way in.
“Shi Gang’s Atavist power has dispersed. He must have lost. But there seem to be other enemies inside.”
“It’s better if we don’t act rashly. If we interfere and the target escapes, that bastard Qiu Fa will make us pay,” someone muttered.
“But Bubble 109 is our treasure trove.”
“What do you mean ‘interfere and let them escape’? Are you saying we’re not as good as that traitor Qiu Fa?!”
“…”
While the Atavist families found time to bicker, the military officers stared up at their new fighter jets flying overhead.
Such a massive disturbance was impossible to ignore, especially right before the 8.20 Conference. Knowing there were one hundred thousand lives inside the bubble, a terrifying possibility immediately crossed their minds.
The latest fighter jets soared high, carrying several officers from the Tribunal Division. Looking down over the storm wall, they saw nothing but dense black fog, like a deep well of dark smoke.
“Wait, what is that?” one Atavist officer used his ability to peer through the mist. “There seems to be some kind of structure… a palace?”
When the news reached the ground, the face of the general—a veteran with over twenty years of service—turned pale.
“It’s the Labyrinth of Mist!”
“Can you see the entrance to Bubble 109?”
“No. The whole area has vanished. It looks like everything is trapped inside the maze.”
“Still no contact with anyone inside?”
“None.”
“Qiao Ming!” The general spat the name through clenched teeth. If there was one wanted criminal they hated more than anyone, it was Qiao Ming. His cruelty and utter disregard for human life made even Shi Gang look merciful.
Thinking back to the disaster the labyrinth had caused twenty years ago, pain gripped his heart. The sole survivor of that squad was still locked in a psychiatric hospital. If not for Qiao Ming, she would have been an incredible pillar of their forces.
“A maze? Can we just blow it up? The gates of Bubble 109 are made of special materials anyway, so an explosion won’t hurt the workers inside. And with Director Qiu’s strength, he won’t be bothered by a few missiles!” an excited young officer suggested.
“You don’t know anything,” the general snapped.
The adjutant explained, “Do you know what a natural disaster is? Something human strength can never defeat. Highly pure Atavists like Qiao Ming are literally humanoid natural disasters.”
“So… weapons won’t work?”
“Fool! I told you to study more! Back then, we used every missile from the regional military base, short of nuclear warheads, and that maze didn’t even get a scratch!”
Otherwise, they would never have sent their rare and loyal Atavist squad to their deaths. This labyrinth could only be broken from the inside.
“What about the weapons we’ve developed over the years to target Atavists?” the youth asked weakly.
Afraid the general might pass out from anger, the adjutant quickly cut in, “They are both humanoid natural disasters. Weak weapons won’t do anything, and strong ones might hurt Director Qiu. Just keep quiet. Director Qiu is worth more than ten thousand of you. We cannot risk a single scratch on him.”
The youth finally shut his mouth. He could see his grandfather, the general, had no intention of correcting the adjutant. It was clear that if they had to trade his life for Qiu Fa’s, his grandfather wouldn’t hesitate to throw him in.
“So what do we do now?” he whispered anyway, glancing at the other Atavist families and the arriving members of the Tribunal Division.
They stood together, calm and serious, just watching the storm wall.
The wall, fueled by Qiu Fa’s Atavist power, remained very strong and stable. This proved Qiu Fa was still holding his ground and hadn’t even pushed his limits yet. They would wait until he reclaimed his power before taking action.
As they watched, the stable storm wall suddenly began to churn. The winds surged violently, like a rough ocean whipped up by a storm, putting everyone on high alert.
“Jing Pei!” A sharp voice rang out, followed by a piece of chalk bouncing off her head.
The classroom erupted into laughter.
The little girl rubbed her forehead. She looked at her angry teacher with confusion. Why hit her? She had been reading her book quietly.
The teacher scolded, “I told everyone to work on the test. What are you doing?!”
“I’m already done.”
“Oh, so you think you’re smart? Go stand in the hallway.”
The little girl stood up and walked out amidst the giggles of her classmates, taking her place in the hallway.
A figure walked up and looked down at her. Her face was very much like the little girl’s, especially the small mole on her chin. They looked exactly alike.
Jing Pei looked down at the child, her past self.
So that was it. Back when Qiu Fa was fighting Shi Gang, she had tried to ambush Qiao Ming, only to be stopped by his Guiding Voice. She had felt a brief moment of confusion then. Mental attacks were supposed to be completely useless against her. Now she understood.
Qiao Ming’s ability targeted both the mind and the body. Her immunity had blocked the mental assault and shielded her physical form, leaving her as an observer instead of forcing her to actually become the little girl.
The song of this hidden stage was designed to drag up a person’s deepest memories, even those they thought they had forgotten. It forced them to relive their past and experience the pain all over again.
Qiao Ming noticed Jing Pei was standing there merely as an observer. He frowned, but then let out a chilling, mocking laugh.
An observer? What did it matter? Even just watching would make her remember the agony. The moment even a tiny, fleeting trace of pain stirred in her heart, she would fail the stage.
Even normal adults had moments of sorrow and felt the weight of life. Re-experiencing their most painful memories would be unbearable.
That was why no one could ever clear this hidden stage. Its condition was simply too cruel; any living person would fail.
His gatekeeper could already smell the bitter memories inside her brain—very, very bitter memories.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the maze, Qiu Fa had also fallen into Qiao Ming’s trap. He woke up inside a warm, familiar home, greeted by his mother’s gentle voice.
