Chapter 165: The Pattern

Bai Li Pang Pang's eyes immediately lit up when he saw Mo Li, nodding eagerly.

Another female soldier took Mo Li's hand, and Mo Li grasped Bai Li Pang Pang's, the three of them silently retreating toward the wall. A ripple spread across the surface, and their figures disappeared within it.

Passing through the wall, Bai Li Pang Pang found himself on a dormitory balcony. He was about to speak when Mo Li quickly covered his mouth, shaking her head at him.

Creeeek—creeeek—creeeek!

On the other side of the wall, heavy footsteps and the sound of something being dragged grew closer. The figure stopped just in front of the wall where they were hiding, seemingly sensing something.

Bai Li Pang Pang seemed to realize something, holding his breath and standing still. Mo Li and the other female soldier did the same.

After a moment, the sound faded, moving further away…

Only when they were certain it had gone did Mo Li slowly remove her hand from Bai Li Pang Pang's mouth. He blinked, looking somewhat regretful and thoughtful.

"You shouted so loudly. Do you want to die?" Mo Li glared at him, recalling his foolish behavior earlier, and whispered angrily.

Bai Li Pang Pang, feeling wronged, replied, "How was I supposed to know not to make a sound…? By the way, what was that thing?"

"A mysterious entity, a Chuan Realm one," Mo Li's expression grew serious. "We call it the [Sound Hunter]."

"[Sound Hunter]?"

"It hunts sound sources, automatically tracing the origin of any noise. The louder the surroundings, the stronger it gets."

"How do you know so much about it?"

Mo Li glanced at him, remaining silent for a moment before answering slowly, "This information was obtained at the cost of over ten sisters' lives…"

Bai Li Pang Pang froze.

"We didn't know when this entity first appeared. Most of us were still asleep. Someone noticed it first and screamed, but was immediately bisected by the Sound Hunter. The scream woke others, and that's when we realized what we were facing. We rushed at it without understanding its mechanism, and after losing over ten sisters, we finally understood how it killed.

Luckily, a girl named Zhang Xiao Xiao has a Forbidden Ruin that allows her to link multiple minds together. Using this, we were able to stay quiet and communicate telepathically.

That's when we discovered that the quieter we were, the weaker it became. Just as we were planning to use this to kill it, the surrounding space began to distort, and we were forcibly separated."

Bai Li Pang Pang's face turned pale. "You're saying… over ten recruits really died? But didn't they say this was just an exercise?"

"An exercise?" Mo Li sneered. "When you witness a mysterious entity kill with your own eyes, when you see a familiar comrade get bisected, will you still think it's just an exercise? What kind of exercise costs over ten lives?"

Killer intent flared in Mo Li's eyes. "I will kill that entity with my own hands!"

Bai Li Pang Pang fell silent for a moment. "So, what do we do now?"

"Follow me," Mo Li grabbed his wrist again, nodding to the other female soldier. The three of them moved through several walls, finally arriving at a hot water room.

This was the largest room in the entire building, originally located at the far right of the first floor and intended for the recruits to fetch hot water. It was the size of three rooms combined.

Inside, dozens of female soldiers sat on the floor, divided into three groups. Each group had a drawing board, seemingly recording something. They moved silently, as though communicating with just their eyes.

Bai Li Pang Pang stood frozen in place, watching the strange scene.

Mo Li made a hand gesture toward one of the women. In the next moment, a faint glow appeared at the woman's fingertip, and suddenly, a loud clamor filled Bai Li Pang Pang's mind, as though an earphone had been placed directly into his brain. The voices were incredibly clear.

"No, no, no. Mo Li said earlier that the room next to Room 46 isn't a dorm, but a hallway rotated 90 degrees."

"Ling Jie, I'm almost done with the layout for Area 5. Can you check if it fits with Area 4?"

"Show me the map from ten minutes ago. I think I'm starting to understand something..."

"Yes! This is a 90-degree rotation! The original section there has been rotated 270 degrees, so it's upside down..."

"…"

Even though none of the women in the room made a sound, Bai Li Pang Pang could clearly hear their conversation. The sensation was incredibly surreal.

"This is Zhang Xiao Xiao's mental link. She can communicate telepathically, but her Forbidden Ruin's range is small, only covering two rooms around her," Mo Li's voice echoed in Bai Li Pang Pang's mind.

"What are they doing?"

"They're drawing real-time maps of the building," Mo Li's gaze rested on the busy women. "The entity controlling space and the Sound Hunter have teamed up. We've tried to kill the Sound Hunter several times, but each time we were about to succeed, the space would distort, and we were forced to separate. So we're trying to find the pattern of the space distortions.

Xiao Ling's Forbidden Ruin allows her to ignore terrain, so she and I act as scouts, moving through all the rooms, then returning to give them room numbers. They handle the mapping and data collection."

Bai Li Pang Pang's eyes widened. "That's so bold? How did you think of this?"

"Everyone has their strengths," Mo Li's gaze shifted to the girl in the center of the room, carefully studying the multiple maps in front of her. A hint of pride flickered in Mo Li's eyes.

"Thanks to A Zi, who has been leading us. She was the first to figure out the Sound Hunter's killing mechanism and also found this place. It was her idea to find the pattern in the spatial distortions."

"But while Lin QiYe is good at both reasoning and combat, A Zi can only be a strategist," Mo Li added.

"Have you found it?" Bai Li Pang Pang asked curiously.

A Zi, sitting in the center of the maps, was comparing two distribution maps from different time periods. Her eyes were growing brighter with each passing moment.

Suddenly, as though she had had a breakthrough, she leaped to her feet.

"I got it!" A Zi tightly gripped the map in her hands, her eyes filled with excitement. "I've figured out the pattern of the space distortions!"