Catastrophe Containment Facility
Chapter 795: Slaughter Maze

Chapter 795: Chapter 795: Slaughter Maze

Gong Baoding received the pickled vegetables with a smile on his face and said in a gentle tone, "Hmm, I’ve captured a Sticky Shadow Beast Queen."

While walking around the Sanctuary, Containment Officers all wear black robes custom-made by Wen Wen.

These robes serve to conceal their identities so that no one can recognize who they really are.

On the chest of each person’s robe is a special symbol that identifies them.

The mark on Gong Baoding’s robe was a mess of stains, earning him the nickname Sloppy Ghost within the Sanctuary.

The person next to him was naturally Miao Miaomiao. Her robe bore a pink paw print, so her code name within the Sanctuary was Kitty.

Those who joined the Sanctuary early on were generally well acquainted with each other. Regardless of their personal relationships, however, they still addressed each other by their code names within the Sanctuary.

"Judging by your expression, you don’t seem very happy?" Miao Miaomiao asked, puzzled.

Gong Baoding shrugged helplessly, "My power has reached a bottleneck. What I need is a battle with an equal opponent, not the insignificant gains from capturing monsters, but I can’t find a suitable adversary."

Miao Miaomiao’s eyes lit up as she said with an air of mystery, "I’ve been having the same issue recently, but I found a great place that can solve this problem and let you fight to your heart’s content!"

"What place?" Gong Baoding asked curiously.

He knew that Miao Miaomiao was different from other Containment Officers—she mostly loafed around in the Sanctuary, eating and drinking for free, so she often had first-hand information about the changes within the Sanctuary.

Pointing to a mirror in the cell of the Sticky Shadow Beast Queen, Miao Miaomiao said, "Have you not noticed? There’s a new mirror in every cell in the Sanctuary. The secrets lie within these mirrors."

"Mirrors..."

Gong Baoding remembered the strange behavior of the monsters he had passed on his way there and nodded thoughtfully.

"What exactly is the secret?"

"Follow me, and you’ll find out."

Miao Miaomiao grabbed Gong Baoding’s arm and took off running, with Gong Baoding floating through the air like a kite, almost falling apart as he was dragged to a corner on the left side of the disaster core area.

After landing, Gong Baoding massaged his arm and shoulder with a wry face.

Miao Miaomiao was as strong as him, but her main mode of fighting was close combat, and her physical strength was leagues ahead of Gong Baoding’s.

After a short rest, Gong Baoding saw a huge mirror standing in front of him.

The mirror was over seven meters high and more than five meters wide. Its frame was made of some kind of silver metal, carved with a circle of incomprehensible runes, each emanating a faint blue glow.

On the ground beneath the mirror was a huge circular rune array with a diameter of ten meters. The array was so intricate that it would make even a Rune Master dizzy.

In fact, both the runes on the mirror frame and the array on the ground were hurriedly drawn by Wen Wen, intended merely to intimidate onlookers.

He didn’t know the meaning of the runes, nor could he decipher the array on the ground by himself, but having these two things on display made people feel that the place was full of class and thus diminished some of their skepticism about the mirror.

This was actually just a large mirror created by Jidro using the power of the Mirror Demon. The mirror was connected to the doors in the lower levels of the Sanctuary, allowing one to enter the Mirror Labyrinth through it.

"Uncle Jin Kela told me that this huge mirror is a new feature of the Sanctuary called Slaughter Maze. Containment Officers can enter and battle monsters of similar strength, and dying there has no impact on one’s actual body," Wen Wen explained.

"The existence of the Slaughter Maze will be announced to all Containment Officers at the next gathering," he added.

"Going forward, every Containment Officer must enter this mirror for training within a certain period. We’re getting a head start on the experience," Wen Wen told him with a sense of pride.

The identity of the man in the metallic suit was revealed to Wen Wen and then made public to all Containment Officers, so his name was no secret.

Upon learning that this was a new feature of the Sanctuary, Gong Baoding felt a new sense of expectation towards the mirror. If he could indeed engage in evenly matched battles frequently, he might find an opportunity to advance to the Upper Sequence.

As the two were preparing to enter the space, they saw a man run out of the mirror in a disheveled state, turning his head to glare fiercely at the huge mirror.

"I refuse to believe I can’t beat you! I won’t stop until I see you dead— if not, I’ll...I’ll go comfort middle-aged women who’ve lost their footing!" he declared defiantly.

The symbol on the man’s robe was a golden amulet.

He was Lin Huan, a superpower user capable of creating terrifying illusions. Beneath his long robe, his face was handsome. If he really went to comfort middle-aged downtrodden women, they might even pay him for it.

Originally, Lin Huan was a weak superpower user who had to rely on trickery to even deal with Resentful Spirits, but now he was just a step away from entering the Assimilation State and also possessed exceptional skills in crafting amulets.

The amulets he produced now weren’t the kind intended to deceive people, but authentic life-saving charms capable of withstanding a single attack at the Disaster Level strength.

Today, Lin Huan had prepared a dozen amulets like usual, intending to sell them at the Sanctuary’s shop. By chance, he stumbled upon the huge mirror and, after consulting with Jin Kela, couldn’t resist trying it out.

But he hadn’t wandered for long before an amorphous monster targeted him, his abilities utterly ineffective against it. Before he could react effectively, the monster killed him outright, leaving him to emerge from the mirror in a sorry state.

Lin Huan was not one to accept defeat easily. Since joining the Sanctuary, it had been a long time since he suffered such a setback.

So he re-entered the mirror, fuming with anger, only to sadly discover that he was back where he had died earlier, and the same monster was still there...

Once, twice, he died seven or eight times. Despite repeated failures, Lin Huan never gave up, his eyes now red with near madness.

Miao Miaomiao noticed his odd state and pulled him aside, cautioning, "Hey, talisman painter, even though dying here doesn’t really matter, dying too many times in a short period can still cause mental strain, right?"

Stubbornly, Lin Huan replied, "Hmph, I’ve marked that thing. If I don’t see it die, I won’t sleep well tonight."

"Even if you don’t care about yourself, think about your Containment Points. Dying over and over is a complete waste," Miao Miaomiao pointed at Lin Huan’s Custodian Badge.

That was right, entering the ’Slaughter Maze’ required spending Containment Points.

Containment Points were the main currency used for transactions in the Sanctuary’s shop. The first two entries each week were free, but any additional entry required a certain amount of Containment Points.

Although the charge for each entry wasn’t steep, someone like Lin Huan carelessly squandering seven or eight entries was quite painful.

Lin Huan clenched his badge, clearly undecided, but then his eyes lit up as he looked toward Gong Baoding.

"Slovenly Ghost, when you bring a newcomer to experience the Slaughter Maze, no Containment Points are consumed. Let’s go in together," he proposed.

Gong Baoding was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at Miao Miaomiao.

Now he understood why Miao Miaomiao was so eager to bring him here, she was planning to leech off his newbie status.