Girl in the Box: Please tell me why I was reincarnated as a mimic monster!

His good friend Hayes smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said a few words of comfort.

"Hey, you said it yourself." Victor immediately chimed in, having gotten the better deal. "There are so many witnesses here. If you dare to go back on your word, Sister Ning won't let you off the hook."

Ning's attention was diverted from her book when she was suddenly called upon. After listening, she didn't speak, but frowned unhappily and looked at Victor. Victor knew that he had probably done something he shouldn't have. Hayes quickly moved away from him, maintaining an outsider's demeanor, and Victor could only force a smile and look away.

"Alright, Sister Ning, don't be angry." Sen smiled wryly to help Victor out of the predicament. "Victor just felt that it would be more reliable if Sister Ning were to testify."

"I know... but please don't drag me into this all of a sudden." Ning sighed. "It's not that I can't testify for you, but please don't do it so abruptly."

"Haha, sorry, sorry," Victor apologized honestly.

"Do you all like desserts that much?" Ning put away her book and started chatting with them.

“Yes, that’s right,” Sodol said with a smile. “We rarely get to eat desserts. Sugar is very expensive, and being able to eat one is a luxury. Akihabara Three Colors Fantasy’s desserts are famous among us adventurers. They’re cheap and delicious.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Sen chimed in, “Every time I went there before, there were so many people. If you went late, they would be sold out. They have baked cream, crème brûlée, macarons, and they are really delicious.”

"Yeah……"

Ning didn't really feel anything about it, probably because it was so close to Earth's culture; she generally didn't have any particular reaction to things from Earth. Plus, Li occasionally made some desserts herself, so she often got to eat them. Speaking of which, wasn't the Three-Colored Fantasy Li's masterpiece? Did she finish the recipe and hand it over to someone else?

"Well, if possible, I'll treat you guys to a meal once we meet up with the others," Ning suggested.

"Eh? Sister Ning also brought the Three Colors Fantasy dessert?!"

The eyes of the five people suddenly lit up. Ning felt that she might have said something terrible that aroused their desire, but there shouldn't be any problem.

"I don't have any desserts." Ning spread her arms wide. "As you can see, I only brought one book, nothing else."

"Why do you say that?"

When it comes to desserts, this group of people become relentless in their pursuit. Are desserts really that appealing?

“If it’s about the recipe, she probably has it with her…” Ning thought for a moment, “Even if she doesn’t, she’s actually the one who provides recipes for Three Colors Fantasy, so making these desserts is no problem for her.”

"Really?! It's an ambassador?!"

"Long live Akihabara!!"

"Coming along this time was such a great deal!!!"

"Then let's hurry on our way!"

"Baked butter! There's hope!"

The five of them became excited when they heard Ning's last sentence. Ning thought that it might be better to use desserts as rewards in the future. She decided to make a note of this...

The journey quickened considerably due to their sudden excitement, and they soon arrived at their final destination: the cave where she and Li had once lived. It was still the same, blocked by a huge rock, but what lay inside was what they needed to be careful about. Speaking of which… what they saw last time they came back…

Ning recalled the incident that happened the last time she and Li returned here. Come to think of it, that man was Savi... Damn it, maybe that bastard was connected to them from that time on. No wonder they ran into him later... Maybe she should find a chance to study some magic to sever ties...

"Get out of the way."

Ning didn't explain much, just told them to move aside. Sen and the others obediently retreated far away. Ning then snapped his fingers, causing the boulder blocking their way to shatter on the spot. A dark cave was then revealed, but the entrance seemed small because they were monsters at the time. Ning used magic to enlarge the door, and then they all went inside.

"……I'm back."

Looking at the familiar scene before her, she was overwhelmed with thoughts and unconsciously murmured something.

It seems they haven't arrived yet... Let's wait for them here...

Chapter 15 Maze Exploration/Convergence

About an hour later, Li's team finally arrived at their agreed destination. When they arrived, they were all a little confused by the scene before them, because it was exactly the same place they had explored before. There was nothing there, and they did not see Ning and the others. But Li knew that Ning and the others were indeed here.

"Ambassador? Have we come to the wrong place?" Sodom asked in confusion.

“No,” Li said with a wry smile, “It’s right here, just wait for me a moment.”

Li approached one of the rock walls, placed his hand on it, and channeled his magic to construct a magical circle. Silver magic spread across the rock wall, distorting space and leading directly inside. Inside was a rather large cave. The five of them surrounded it, observing the interior from the edge of the cave entrance. They then discovered various things inside, as well as a group of familiar faces.

"We've finally arrived." A girl came out from inside. "Hey, by the way, how did you open the cave... Miss Ning reinforced it with magic."

"Sister? You got here so quickly?!" Sodom looked at his sister Sodol in surprise.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Sodol put her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you guys a little slow? We’ve been waiting here for a long time.”

"Huh?!" Hek exclaimed in surprise, "You've been here for a long time? You've gotten so much stuff in such a short time?!"

Looking at the large amount of materials and props inside, an uninformed person would surely wonder how they found so much and brought it here in such a short time? The only possibility is...

"Were all these things originally here?" Shiokawa asked, offering his own thoughts.

“Hmm,” Li led the way inside. “This cave, including everything inside, was made by Ning and me. It was here a long time ago, probably before the maze was attacked… I didn’t expect it to be so intact.”

"My God... this is a treasure trove!"

The group followed Sodol and Ri into the cave. Ri casually dispelled her magic and then used light magic to summon a light source, illuminating the interior. Aside from being covered in a layer of dust, the items piled up here were basically the same as when they last visited. Only after truly entering the cave did Shiokawa and the others realize what kind of place it was, and their exclamations of surprise continued.

"These! Are they rune stones!? There are so many!?"

"Whoa!? Arcane Branches!? These are top-tier summoning materials!"

"Oh my gosh, there are so many things I've never seen before!"

The five people who came with Li were suddenly plunged into this treasure trove. Even Li herself couldn't quite remember how much she and her companion had collected, but there was no doubt that what they had gathered had become their lifeline. As for those who had arrived earlier, the three youths led by Victor had been exploring the cave for quite some time, while the studious Mori sat beside the pile of books, flipping through the ones she could understand. As for Sodol, she had just stepped forward as the one responsible for braving the danger.

Speaking of which, the group led by Ning all seemed to have a strange sense of composure. Was it because Ning had influenced them or something...? There was just something indescribable about it.

"rather."

Li walked deeper into the cave and found Ning sitting next to the blackboard. The content written on the blackboard was different from before, obviously it had been tampered with by someone. As for who it was, Li and Ning both knew, but it had nothing to do with them, and what was written on the blackboard before wasn't anything important.

"You're here? You're so slow." Ning turned her gaze away from the blackboard and complained, "We've been waiting for you for over an hour."

"Sorry, sorry, I wanted to explore as thoroughly as possible, hoping to discover something," Li explained to Ning Ting with a wry smile. "That's why we were a little slow."

"Ha, I understand how you feel." Ning sighed. "Seeing that nothing is left of the place you used to live in, doesn't it feel very disheartening?"

Li was silent for a moment, then, as if she had been struck by a truth, she said with mixed feelings, "...Is that so...maybe so..."

"Well, tell me, what did you find?" Ning asked to confirm.

“Ha... We encountered several monsters on the way, all of them level 300 or higher,” Ri sighed. “Although they weren’t a big problem for the two of us, considering the average level in this world, I’m afraid there are very few people outside of Akihabara who could withstand a large-scale attack from these monsters. Apart from that, we didn’t find anything else, not even a trap. We were really completely looted at that time.”

"It seems our results are pretty much the same on both sides," Ning said calmly. "We encountered a few monsters, just like you, but taking them down was quite easy. Other than that, we didn't find anything else."

"Ha... If we were to compare this world to a post-apocalyptic survival game, then the game's creator would definitely have something wrong with their head..."

The world is in such a terrible state that nothing is left. Just surviving is extremely difficult, and to survive, you have to fight monsters that are over level 300 or even close to 400. How outrageous is that? How can a newbie possibly beat them? What a piece of trash game!

“Your analogy is really…” Ning smiled helplessly, “However, it is indeed as you described, there is almost nothing… I have also taken the opportunity to learn about the external situation, and it is all about the same, and the monsters outside are even higher level.”

"Ugh, what a piece of trash game this is!" Li was furious. "Even consolidating our internal defenses is becoming a huge problem, and the thought of us having to go out into the world later is giving me a real headache..."

"You'll get your comeuppance after this, so don't quit here."

"I know, but I'm still annoyed."

The two of them had encountered almost identical things along the way, whether it was encountering monsters or exploring various resources. Now, this Time Corridor was completely empty. No matter which room you went through, you couldn't find anything. Materials, props, mechanisms, traps—they hadn't seen a single one of these. Even every treasure chest they encountered had been looted and abandoned back then.

Naturally, Li was angry about this situation. Although it was a maze, everything inside was still part of Rielfa's legacy. If they hadn't been forced to escape, things wouldn't have turned out this way. Now, the maze was empty of treasure, gold coins, and equipment—it was as if the Japanese had invaded a village and looted it completely. Finding anything useful in this maze was practically impossible.

However, no matter how angry you are, it's useless, because these things may not come back. Since things have already turned out this way, why bother caring about them?

"Speaking of which, don't you find it a little strange?" Ning suddenly asked.

"Strange?" I couldn't understand what she meant. "For example?"

“The current state of the maze,” Ning said, pointing out what she felt was a bit off, “don’t you think that, as a maze, it seems a little too simplistic right now? Doesn’t it?”

"you mean……"

“Well, judging by your gaming mindset, this maze doesn’t seem quite right,” Ning explained. “If we consider this maze as a dungeon, adventurers would normally sneak into it to obtain items, sell them, and exchange them for gold coins to cover their daily expenses.”

"Hey...did you just say something sarcastic to me...?"

“Illusion. Let’s continue our previous topic,” Ning skillfully evaded Li’s questioning. “Adventurers earn their living by infiltrating dungeons, so the dungeons would normally have a very high flow of people. Normally, everything has an end, and the dungeons would eventually be exhausted, but that doesn’t happen in the game.”

“Eh…” Li understood. “You’re talking about this, right… the loop mechanism of the maze.”

“Yes, remember the cursed area we created before? That could actually be called a small maze.” Ning smiled, wiped the blackboard clean with magic, and continued to draw on it while speaking, “If you think about it that way, it does make a lot of sense. There should be some kind of cyclical mechanism inside the maze to maintain its state, but this maze has not shown any signs of recovery, and even the traps have not been restored.”

The cursed area they initially created is a place where undead monsters constantly appear, like a small maze, maintaining the original ecosystem.

"Ah! That's right! Some traps in dungeons reset automatically!" She suddenly realized, "So, you suspect this maze has this kind of looping mechanism, right?"

“That’s one way to understand it,” Ning nodded, then changed the subject, “but the problem is, we can’t confirm whether this cycle mechanism exists, because we’ve never seen anything related to it. Have Laelfa and Nao told you about it?”

“No, not at all…” Li shook his head. “Besides, the Demon Eye doesn’t seem to be able to find any relevant information either.”

“That’s why it’s so difficult,” Ning said with a sarcastic smile. “If this thing really exists, we’ll have to find a way to restart it and get this maze back to normal operation.”

"I see!" Rin immediately understood Ning's intention. "As long as the dungeon's cycle mechanism is restored, materials and monsters will start reappearing, right!?"

“Haa…that’s just an ideal scenario.” Ning finished drawing and sat down on the pile of books. “We know very little about this thing. We even doubt whether it exists. If it really exists, then why hasn’t this labyrinth started operating again?”

It's been almost half a year since they left the maze. If this cycle mechanism really exists, it should have been restored long ago, but it still looks like the maze at its last state.

"Is some crucial [part] missing?" Li stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps... something was missing after we left..."

“That’s the only way to put it…” Ning shrugged. “The master of this labyrinth is Raelfa, the Dragon King. If that’s the case, it should have something to do with your powers. Maybe there’s something like a control panel to manage the entire labyrinth.”

"Is it a management platform like an administrator's platform?"

"Really... you grasp things really quickly when it comes to games..."

"I feel like you're being sarcastic towards me..."

"I told you you're overthinking it."

The two chatted for a while before sitting down to rest. They weren't superhuman; after exploring the maze with complete focus for most of the day, they needed a break. Shiokawa and the others couldn't understand a word of their conversation, so they simply rested and did their own thing, also starting to eat something. At this moment, Mori, Sodol, and the other four people who had been exploring with Ning all turned their gazes to Ning.

Ning was slightly puzzled for a moment, and after thinking for a while, she remembered that there was such a thing. Because she hadn't paid much attention to it, she told a few of them in advance to remind her if she forgot.

"Li." Ning simply rolled over and into Li's arms, then grabbed her hands and pressed her down into the pile of books, her watery eyes staring straight at her.

"W-What are you doing?"

Faced with Ning's sudden attack, Li, who was under control, panicked. Could this guy be planning to cause trouble here?

Upon witnessing this, the other girls present quickly knocked the boys unconscious and tossed them aside, pretending to know nothing. However, their gazes were unconsciously drifting towards Li and Ning. Li, on the other hand, desperately wanted them to help stop Ning, but they seemed to have agreed to ignore their plea for help.

"I want dessert," Ning said casually.

"So why did you pounce on me if you wanted dessert?!"

I feel cheated! Why do they always use such misleading methods to tell stories?

Ideal wanted to push Ning away with all its might, but it didn't expect to be fixed in place so tightly that it couldn't move at all.

“I’m telling you…” Li said weakly, “If you want dessert… at least let me go first so I can find it for you…”

"No, I want it freshly made. You should have the ingredients, right?"

They're so hard to please...

"But look at this environment... it's not very hygienic to do this..."

Li couldn't understand why Ning, who usually didn't like sweets, was suddenly so obsessed with them, but no matter what, cooking them in a place like this was just too unhygienic...

"I don't care," Ning commanded. "I'll handle the environment. You just need to do your job."

"Ah... I understand..."

So... when the boys woke up, they ate the sweets that Ning had forced Ri to make. Of course, the sweets were very well received, but after a while, the taste didn't seem to be as good... As for what happened in between, they had no idea.

What's wrong with Chapter 16?

Actually, although it was called a rest, the group didn't really rest much except when they were eating. In fact, the scene of fighting for desserts earlier was like a battle. This group suddenly unleashed unprecedented potential, giving people the illusion that the last war had been repeated. However, Ning, who found it annoying, stopped them. From then on, the food chain pyramid of the exploration team was fully formed.

First, at the very top are definitely Ning and Li, followed by the other three girls: Sodol, Shiokawa, and Mori. Then come the boys. Sorry to say this, but you guys really are at the bottom of this food chain…

Ning is undoubtedly at the top of the pyramid; in terms of combat power alone, she is stronger than Li, who is always the oppressed party in every aspect. But why is Li at the top, just like her? The answer is actually quite simple: Li can make desserts, and that alone is enough for this group to elevate her to a pedestal.

Therefore, Li and Ning are both at the same level in this team, and this ranking only applies to the composition of this squad.

After the meal, Li and Ning rested together, while the others, with Li's permission, searched the cave for useful items, hoping to find something to enhance their strength. Of course, their main purpose was to bring some things back, especially the pile of books behind the two of them, which should be the most precious thing in the cave.

Both the paper's quality and the book's content are unknown to the world. As the Chinese saying goes, knowledge creates everything. If you want to change a country, you have to start with its culture.

These books are naturally the ones we'll need to use when we build the school in the future, but we'll still need to do some translation work, compile a textbook, and then find a teacher... Speaking of which, does the profession of teacher even exist in this world?

“Hey, Ning,” Li chimed in, “what are we going to do if we start a school? We can’t just have the two of us in charge of teaching, can we?”

“…I thought you were going to say something…” Ning leaned against her shoulder, “Running a school…is that why you kept these books?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Li nodded. “If it’s possible, I’d like to take some of your books to the school for use…”