It’s a strange invasion, is it okay for me to fight back?

Chapter 693 A lengthy discourse
"What twin maze? What about stripping away the five senses?" Feng Ling frowned deeply. "Tell me slowly and clearly what exactly is going on."

Huangfu Miaomiao didn't know where to begin, so she simply grabbed Feng Ling's hand and pulled her towards the statue.

"It's right there, right there. There are stone steps leading to the underworld near the statue. They're huge and wide! Just go down the steps and you'll reach the bottom of the abyss. The Star Society told me that the maze boss is at the bottom of the abyss."

Feng Ling was extremely annoyed. "Does that mean I have to kill him again? Otherwise, I can't leave this place?"

Huangfu Miaomiao thought for a moment, then hesitated before replying, "If we entered the maze through normal means, players could leave by abandoning the quest. But we entered through the maze that was spreading pollution, and we didn't accept any maze quests, so... so..."

She couldn't help but look at Feng Ling awkwardly, "Oh dear, it seems you were right. We have to kill Death as well to leave the maze."

Feng Ling muttered speechlessly, "This stupid game has so many tricks up its sleeve. Fine, if you're going to kill, then hurry up and kill. Take me there."

"Hehehe~" Huangfu Miaomiao led the way enthusiastically, "This way, this way, the steps are right next to the statue."

Looking at the statue in the distance, Feng Ling felt her resentment lessen slightly. "Although it's a bit troublesome to fight the boss twice, there are two statues, so I can lower my pollution level a bit more."

Huangfu Miaomiao, who was walking in front, immediately waved her hand, turned her head and said, "You can't draw cards now. To go to the underworld, you have to go through seven gates. Each time you go through a gate, a card will be stripped off. If you don't have enough cards to strip off, you will start stripping off your five senses. So the more cards you have, the safer you are."

Lin Pengpeng blurted out in astonishment, "Then how do we get down to the bottom? It's impossible for an ordinary person to have seven cards. No, even if they did have seven cards, wouldn't they lose all their skills after stripping them all away? How would they fight the dungeon boss then?"

“That’s right,” Huangfu Miaomiao shrugged, “so no player has ever attacked this maze. As you can see, there isn’t even a single corrupted entity here. Coupled with the special card stripping mechanism, the Star Society has taken advantage of it and used it as a prison.”

At this point, Huangfu Miaomiao sighed heavily, "Meteor was locked up here for several months, and then it became me... Sigh, luckily I wasn't locked up for more than a few days, otherwise I would definitely have collapsed."

Ye Zheng asked with a serious face, "Among us, only Feng Ling has more than seven cards. Does this mean that only Feng Ling is qualified to challenge the dungeon boss?"

“That’s right.” Huangfu Miaomiao nodded, full of confidence in Feng Ling, and said in a relaxed tone, “Feng Ling can definitely do it.”

"Doesn't that mean we have to fight the Abyss Boss alone..." Pei Xianjue murmured softly. Although she trusted Feng Ling's strength, she was still a little worried.

The group had arrived near the smiling statue.

As Huangfu Miaomiao said, stone steps leading to the abyss appeared next to the statue.

The stone steps are very wide, more than enough for fifty students to run side by side. The material is flat gray rock, and there is nothing special about it.

The steps extend downwards, and in the distance, two stone statues can be seen standing on the platform at the transition point between the steps. Further away, they disappear into the mist, with no end in sight.

Ye Zheng asked Huangfu Miaomiao again, "Are you sure you haven't made a mistake? Only Feng Ling can go down alone?"

“Uh… I guess so,” Huangfu Miaomiao said with difficulty. “I also want to go down with Feng Ling, but I don’t have enough cards. I can only go down to the fifth floor at most. If I force myself to go down, I will only be a burden to Feng Ling.”

She already has a lot of cards; Ye Zheng, Pei Xianjue, Lin Pengpeng, and Ling Feiran would have even fewer.

Huangfu Miaomiao scratched her head, exchanged for a lot of jelly and syringes, and sighed: "Let Feng Ling take these with her. Hmm, she should also take some grenades and explosives. Daoist, take out all your weapons."

Instead of drawing a weapon, the weasel pulled out its phone, tapped around on it, and then held it up— [Take the artifact from the treasure chest.]

The treasure chest obtained from the Spring Maze was put into Huangfu Miaomiao's backpack.

Huangfu Miaomiao took out the treasure chest and asked curiously, "What's the use of bringing this?"

The weasel buried itself in typing.

Pei Xianjue, who was standing to the side, suddenly realized, "Ah! I understand now. There are seven pieces of jewelry in the treasure chest. You just mentioned that you have to pass through seven gates to reach the underworld, which matches up perfectly!"

Lin Pengpeng pondered seriously, "I think I've heard this myth before, although I can't quite remember it... In my memory, there was some kind of goddess who went to the underworld to rescue her lover, and she was stripped of a piece of clothing every time she passed through a door."

Pei Xianjue said happily, "According to this logic, as long as Feng Ling has the divine artifacts, she should not be stripped of her cards. The seven divine artifacts are just enough to allow her to safely pass through the seven gates."

Huangfu Miaomiao nodded vigorously upon hearing this, "No wonder. I found it strange before that the seven gates set up in the Underworld Maze prevented players from fighting the Boss. It turns out the order was wrong. You have to go through spring before you can see winter."

"Since the master died later, we've just gotten lucky," Pei Xianjue laughed. "Destroying two mazes at once is something that deserves to be recorded in history! Haha, we're going to be famous!"

Lin Pengpeng glanced at Pei Xianjue silently.

Since reuniting with Feng Ling and Ye Zheng, Pei Xianjue has gradually lost the seriousness and composure of a general. She is immersed in excitement and is completely unaware of her own changes.

At this moment, Qingyou finally finished typing and held the phone high.

Feng Ling bent down to pick up her phone, and everyone crowded around her to look at it together.

The mythological prototypes for the Spring Labyrinth and the Abyss of the Underworld are likely the Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent into the underworld. Legend has it that Inanna and Ereshkigal were sisters; one ruled over agriculture and fertility, while the other was the ruler of the underworld.

[Ereshkigal, jealous of Inanna's love for her husband, imprisoned him in the underworld. To rescue him, Inanna wore seven garments symbolizing divine power as she entered the underworld. With each gate she passed through, a garment was stripped away, ultimately stripping her of all divinity and leaving her naked to face the Queen of the Underworld's judgment.]

When Inanna entered the underworld, all things began to wither, the earth froze, forming a symbolic system of seasonal cycles.

There is another version of this myth. Scholars believe that the goddess Inanna was not so devoted. The so-called rescue of her husband was just an excuse. Inanna's journey to the underworld was driven by her own inflated desires and a thirst for dominion over the underworld. This is because she was not only the goddess of agriculture and fertility but also the goddess of war, often initiating conflicts.

A lengthy discourse.

Feng Ling was tired of watching.

“I haven’t seen this name Ereshkigal in the maze’s hints,” Huangfu Miaomiao said. “The information I received said that the god of winter and death is called Ishtar.”

The weasel shook its aching paws, typed again, and gave a brief explanation:
Ishtar is also the goddess of agriculture and fertility. In mythology, she and Inanna are the same person, just with different translations. When extracting elements, the game system probably designed the two sisters as the same character.

Feng Ling let out a breath. "I understand. It's like having a split personality. I killed half of them just now, and now I have to kill the other half. Ugh, what a hassle."

Kavenka: I want to have brain surgery and then have medicated oil poured into my skull.