secret dice.

Chapter 508 Black and White

After running for an hour, the effect of the portable map finally ended and the few people finally stopped.

"Finally it's over..." Ma Qiao stepped on the brake, stood on the ground with his legs apart, and panted heavily, "Even riding a bicycle is tiring enough... How far did we run?"

"My electric bike has a mileage display," Sun Xiaowei said. "I started to switch to an electric bike about half an hour later, and I have ridden 88 kilometers since then."

"Almost 90 kilometers in half an hour?" Ma Qiao smacked his lips in surprise. "In that hour, we ran a total of 170 to 180 kilometers?"

"Not that much..." Elder Yuan shook his head. "After you and Xiaowei started riding, our speed increased. The total distance should be only about 150 kilometers."

"That's far enough." Ma Qiao said in amazement: "Luo Jun, aren't you an elementalist? How come you run so fast?"

"Who says that elementalists must be slow?" Luo Jun pouted and said, "Senior Xiaowei can ride an electric bike, so why can't I use the wind element?"

"So it's the wind element..." Ma Qiao believed it and finally felt better.

"Next, let's sort out what we found on the map." Yuan Lao said, "For the past 150 kilometers, we tried to run in one direction. Even if we encountered a wall, we used the map to find a way around it and tried to stay in the original direction. Even so, we still didn't touch the edge of the endless maze. This place is bigger than we imagined."

"It's also thanks to the fact that this maze is big enough and the corridors are as wide as the roads, with a corner every few hundred meters. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep up the speed..." Sun Xiaowei recalled the speeding moment just now. Although her foundation was weak, her physical fitness and reaction speed were far beyond that of ordinary people. She was able to ride a special small electric scooter faster than a professional racing driver. Even so, she had to concentrate fully in the second half to barely keep up.

"It seems we have to prepare for a protracted war." Luo Jun took out a video recorder and began to replay the previous video: "If I remember correctly, we saw two shops along the way. I specially noted the time. One was about thirteen minutes and forty seconds, and the other was about forty-eight minutes and fifteen seconds... There were more relics. I noticed six of them, and I remember the time..."

As he spoke, Luo Jun began to adjust the video to verify his memory.

"In addition to relics and shops, there are three treasure points. We have never encountered a treasure point before, so we don't know what's inside. Will there be any traps or monsters guarding it? There is a special room that will appear after about 50 minutes. It should be similar to the Hall of Decision... Apart from these, it's basically all monsters and traps. You can see these almost every minute..."

Old Yuan nodded and said, "Even if there is one every minute, at our speed, these monsters and traps are still two or three kilometers apart. This is the straight-line distance in the maze. In fact, to walk these two kilometers, you may have to go several times longer according to the map. If you wander around without a guide, it is really difficult to encounter monsters."

"Now we have instructions. Let's fight back according to this video!" Luo Jun looked at the screen: "Come on, let's go this way and find the first monster first!"

After wandering around in the maze for a while, they soon came to an empty intersection with a tall knight in armor standing in the center.

As if sensing someone approaching, the armor trembled slightly, stretched its body and came alive, rushing forward with the huge sword in hand.

As usual, he started with a long-range attack. Ma Qiao picked up the shotgun and fired a shot at the enemy's head. With a loud bang, the armor was shattered into pieces, the parts scattered all over the ground, and a handful of copper coins scattered.

"So easy?" Ma Qiao was a little surprised. It was Elder Yuan who had to deal with the skinny monster before...

"It seems that what Caroline said is right." Yuan Lao checked the surrounding energy fluctuations and confirmed that the monster was dead. "The monsters in the endless maze are not very strong. In fact, because of the existence of the store, the lack of monsters is even more troublesome. The one we defeated before dropped gold ingots, but this one only dropped a handful of copper coins. It seems that the strength and value of the two monsters are very different."

"No matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat." Luo Jun stepped forward and said, "Let's take the money first. Everything else is fake."

Several people hurriedly picked up the copper coins, a total of 200 pieces, and Luo Jun put them into the smart equipment bag. Then he continued to look back along the video and soon came to a mechanism point.

It was the first time for the few of them to see a mechanism. It was more of a challenge than a mechanism.

This is an open area of ​​50 meters squared, with black and white grids about one meter long on the ground, interlaced with each other. At the entrance of the mechanism, there is a sign with the rules of the game written on it.

The requirements are very simple. You have to walk through all the white grids, but you cannot step on or cross the black grids. Once a white grid is stepped on, it will automatically turn into a black grid, so you cannot go back. You only have one chance. If you succeed in the challenge, you will be given 500 coins. If you fail, once you step on or cross the black grid, you will be randomly teleported to other places in the maze.

"I know how to do this!" Sun Xiaowei volunteered: "As long as you plan the route well, success is not difficult."

As she spoke, she stood outside the venue, carefully observing the grids, and used her fingers to gesture and plan the route.

But as time passed, the expression on Sun Xiaowei's face changed from eager to try to doubt, then to irritability, and finally to complete collapse.

"Something's wrong. There's no solution to this. I can't get through this unless I go back the way I came!"

Sun Xiaowei pointed at the ground and said, "Look, there are several white grids here. There is only one way to step on them. However, it is easy to get in, but to get out you have to go back the same way. It is impossible not to step over the black grids..."

The problem she mentioned was also discovered by others. It seemed to be an unsolvable problem...

"Let me try!" Luo Jun suddenly stood up.

"Don't do that. What if you get teleported away?" Sun Xiaowei advised, "Then if you encounter a monster, you won't even have a chance to ask for help!"

"Don't worry, I found a way." With that, Luo Jun jumped directly into the venue.

As he stepped over a white grid, it immediately turned black and he could no longer step on it or cross it. Luo Jun did not even look behind him, but walked straight forward and soon came to a fork in the road.

Turning right here, there are two forks in the road. One is to continue forward, and the other is a straight line consisting of four white squares, which is sandwiched by black squares on both sides and leads to a dead end. If you want to step on all four squares, there is only this one way to go. But if you want to go back, you must step on the white squares that have turned black.

"See, there's no solution to this." Sun Xiaowei spread her hands. "Now the path you took to get in has turned dark, and you can't get out. You can only accept your fate and be transported away... You said you..."

Sun Xiaowei was very worried about Luo Jun, but before she could finish her words, she saw Luo Jun raise his leg and jump directly over the three white squares and step on the innermost white square. "Huh?" Sun Xiaowei was stunned, and then she saw Luo Jun turn around and step on the white square he just stepped over and walked back...

Yes, the rules say you can't cross the black squares, but they don't say you can't cross the white squares. As long as you have enough jumping ability, it doesn't matter how many white squares you cross in one step!
In this way, all the dead ends that were previously thought to be unreachable were easily solved.

Luo Jun was seen jumping left and right on the map, and finally stepped on all the white squares. The ground suddenly changed color and became the appearance of ordinary floor tiles in a maze. Then a brick rose from the ground, with a large string of copper coins on it.

A rough count shows that there are about five hundred of them.

"It seems that this copper coin represents one dollar." Luo Jun put the copper coin away: "I just don't know how many copper coins that gold ingot can be exchanged for."

After cracking the mechanism, everyone continued to walk back, killing monsters and completing challenges along the way, having a lot of fun.

As Yuan Lao said before, most of the monsters in the maze are not very strong, and they are basically free points. Killing one usually only gives a few hundred copper coins, and the traps are similar, most of them are 300 to 500 yuan. Occasionally, you will encounter silver ingots. According to calculations, one silver ingot should be equivalent to one thousand copper coins... So, that gold ingot should not be worth ten thousand yuan, right?
Could it be that they killed the hidden boss in this maze?
Luo Jun thought about it carefully, it was not impossible. Old Yuan was a top-level fighter, and the Eight Trigrams Fingers were a mythical treasure. With such a configuration, he could create a world of his own in the special mission. This was just a Class A, so shouldn't he just kill them randomly? The fact that the monster could withstand the burning of the Eight Trigrams Fingers for more than ten seconds had already proved its strength!
Thinking about it this way, this task doesn't seem as difficult as imagined...

As long as you kill monsters all the way back, by the time you get to the store, you will have saved up a lot of money. Even if it is not enough to exchange for the exit indicator, you can buy a portable map. Then if you come a few more waves like this, it won’t take long for you to save up 100,000 yuan.

Of course, Luo Jun also knew that he had a lot of luck in getting to this point. According to Yuan Lao, Caroline stayed in the maze for more than a month and didn't find a store until she starved to death. It can only be said that the dice are really awesome...

The group swiped their way back like this, and finally, when they returned to the first store, they had more than 5,000 copper coins, three silver ingots and one gold ingot!

It feels so good to be rich!
Luo Jun raised his neck and knocked on the shop window, and the familiar fat man stuck his head out again.

"Welcome... Hey, aren't you a regular customer? Why are you here again so soon?"

"You still remember me?" Luo Jun was a little surprised: "Do you own all the stores?"

"Hehe, yes and no..." The fat businessman did not give a direct answer to this question. He just smiled and asked, "What do you want to buy this time? After opening, my store can only exist for one hour."

"Don't rush to buy things. Please help me check these first to see if they can be exchanged for money." As he said this, Luo Jun took out all the gold ingots and copper coins he had accumulated.

"Oh, you've gained a lot, little brother... These silver ingots and copper coins are the same as the banknotes I issued, and can be used directly as currency. Of course, if you want to make it easier to carry, I can help you change them into banknotes."

"Let's change it." Luo Jun was not afraid of carrying it, mainly because copper coins were too scattered and not as easy to count as paper money.

Soon, the merchant exchanged more than 8,000 yuan for him.

"Eh? Can't this be exchanged?" Seeing that the merchant did not accept the gold ingots, Luo Jun asked in confusion.

"Oh, this gold ingot is different from the silver ingot..." The merchant explained: "This is dropped by special creatures, we don't accept it here..."

"You don't accept it..." Luo Jun heard the businessman's implication: "Then where should I hand it in?"

"Shops like ours with white plaques don't accept them." The merchant pointed to the tattered plaque on the window. "But occasionally you'll come across a shop with a black plaque, and they'll accept this kind of stuff... But the price they give isn't very fair, and this special monster is hard to fight, so I don't recommend that you go out of your way to hunt it."

"Black plaque?" Luo Jun frowned and asked, "Are the things they sell different from yours?"

"Not exactly the same..." The businessman shook his head. "Some of them have similar functions, but they are completely different things. We haven't had much contact with them, and I don't know much about them. But I don't recommend that you have too much contact with them."

"Why?" Luo Jun asked, "What will happen if we come into contact with them?"

The merchant swallowed his saliva and whispered, "It's dangerous to trade with them. If you don't handle it properly, you might get eaten... literally!"

"Eat it?" Luo Jun raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect that there were hidden elements in this maze?
He wanted to ask more about the black-sign shop, but the fat businessman would not say any more no matter what.

In desperation, Luo Jun could only use the badge to withdraw another 3,000 yuan, and then combine it with the previous 8,000 yuan to exchange for two portable maps.

With a portable map, you have the capital for sustainable development. After bidding farewell to the store, Luo Jun left with the remaining more than 1,000 yuan, and also talked to Yuan Lao and others about the black plaque store.

"This may be important information..." Yuan Lao analyzed: "The store with the black plaque is obviously not in the same camp as the one with the white plaque..." Then he looked at the fat businessman in the depths of the connection: "What he said may not be true."

"I think so too." Luo Jun nodded: "But now, we have no other sources of information. For now, we can still communicate with white shops in a friendly manner. Since they are so hostile to black shops, we should at least be more careful."

"Let's share this news with other groups first." Sun Xiaowei said, "Allow them to be reminded as well."

Old Yuan nodded, took out the talisman paper and lit it, then briefly explained the news about the black and white shop and reminded everyone to be careful.

…Somewhere in the maze, leaning against the wall, Li Ying, covered in blood, took out the talisman paper and played Yuan Lao’s message.

"Black shops may be dangerous? Teacher Yuan, you reminded me too late..." Li Ying almost cried out. At this moment, his waist was broken, and blood and internal organs were scattered all over the corridor. Not far from him, half of a bloody head could be seen, as if it had been bitten by some beast. If you look closely, you can see that it was Zheng Yu who walked with him!
At this time, a terrifying roar was heard, and a thick tentacle stretched out from the depths of the alley, wrapped around the dying Li Ying, and dragged him into a dilapidated door. Above the door, there was a huge black plaque...

Endless Shop!

(End of this chapter)