Gong Baoding took the pickled vegetables, a faint smile appearing on his face as he replied warmly, "Yeah, caught a Shadowglue Mother."
When Containment Officers moved around inside the facility, they all wore specially tailored black robes designed by Wen Wen.
These robes concealed their identities, preventing others from recognizing who they truly were.
Each robe had a unique emblem on the chest to distinguish its wearer.
Gong Baoding’s robe bore a messy, inkblot-like stain, so his codename within the facility was **"The Slob."**
The person beside him was, naturally, **Miao Miaomiao**. Her robe featured a pink cat paw print, earning her the codename **"Kitty."**
The early Containment Officers had all grown familiar with one another. But no matter how close they were privately, inside the facility, they had to address each other by their codenames.
"You don’t look too happy. Something wrong?" Miao Miaomiao asked curiously.
Gong Baoding shrugged helplessly. "My strength has hit a bottleneck. What I need now are fights against worthy opponents, not the minor gains from capturing monsters. But I can’t find suitable challengers."
Miao Miaomiao’s eyes lit up. Leaning in conspiratorially, she whispered, "I’ve had the same problem! But I found a place that’ll solve it—somewhere you can fight to your heart’s content!"
"Where?" Gong Baoding asked, intrigued.
He knew Miao Miaomiao was different from the other officers. She spent most of her free time mooching food and perks in the facility, so she often had insider info on its latest developments.
Miao Miaomiao pointed at a mirror inside the Shadowglue Mother’s cell. "Haven’t you noticed? Every cell now has a mirror. The secret lies in them."
"Mirrors…"
Gong Baoding recalled the strange behavior of the monsters he’d passed earlier and nodded thoughtfully.
"What’s the secret, then?"
"Follow me, and you’ll see."
Grabbing Gong Baoding’s arm, Miao Miaomiao took off at a sprint. Gong Baoding flapped behind her like a kite, nearly getting shaken apart before they finally skidded to a stop in the left corner of the Disaster Zone’s central hub.
Once his feet touched the ground, Gong Baoding winced, rubbing his sore shoulders and arms.
Though Miao Miaomiao’s strength was on par with his, her combat style was close-quarters. Physically, she could outmatch him eight times over.
After catching his breath, Gong Baoding looked up—and saw a massive mirror towering before him.
It stood over seven meters tall and five meters wide, its frame forged from some silvery metal engraved with cryptic runes, each emitting a faint blue glow.
Beneath the mirror, a colossal circular runic array spanned ten meters in diameter. Its complexity was mind-boggling—enough to give even a rune master a headache.
In truth, both the runes on the frame and the array on the ground were just **nonsense scribbles** by Wen Wen, meant to **look impressive**.
He didn’t know what the runes meant, nor could he decipher the array himself. But their sheer presence made the mirror seem **mysterious and important**, discouraging skepticism.
In reality, this was just a big mirror created by **Gilderoy** using a Mirror Demon’s power. Linked to the door in the facility’s depths, it served as an entrance to the **Mirror Labyrinth**.
"Uncle Gold told me this mirror is a new facility feature—the **Labyrinth of Slaughter**," Miao Miaomiao explained. "Containment Officers can enter and battle monsters of similar strength. Dying inside doesn’t affect the real body."
"At the next officer meeting, everyone will be informed about the labyrinth."
"From then on, every officer will have to train here periodically. We’re just getting an early preview."
After coming clean to Wen Wen, **Gold-Clad Suit Man’s** name had been disclosed to all officers, so it was no longer a secret.
Hearing this was a new facility function, Gong Baoding’s interest surged. If this place truly offered **endless, evenly matched battles**, he might even find the breakthrough he needed to reach **Upper-Sequence**.
Just as the two prepared to enter, a man stumbled out of the mirror, glaring at it furiously.
"I refuse to believe I can’t beat you! If I don’t see you dead today, I’ll—I’ll go comfort **middle-aged women in distress**!"
The man’s robe bore a golden talisman emblem.
He was **Lin Huan**, a superhuman whose ability was crafting **horrifying illusions**. Under his robe, his face was strikingly handsome—if he really went to "comfort" those women, they might pay *him* instead.
Once, Lin Huan had been a weakling who relied on trickery to deal with vengeful spirits. Now, he was just one step from **Assimilation-Level**, with a side talent for crafting **legitimate talismans**.
Unlike his earlier scams, these talismans could **genuinely save lives**, blocking a single **Disaster-Level** attack.
Today, after making a batch of talismans to sell at the facility shop, Lin Huan had stumbled upon the giant mirror. After asking Gold-Clad Suit Man about it, he couldn’t resist trying it out.
But he hadn’t gotten far before an **amorphous monster** targeted him. His illusions were useless against it. Before he could counter, the creature killed him, ejecting him from the mirror in disgrace.
Lin Huan wasn’t one to back down. Since joining the facility, he hadn’t suffered such humiliation.
Fuming, he charged back in—only to realize, to his horror, that he’d respawned **right where he died**, with the monster **still waiting**…
One death, two deaths… After **seven or eight failures**, Lin Huan kept throwing himself at the challenge, his eyes bloodshot, teetering on the edge of a breakdown.
Seeing his state, Miao Miaomiao grabbed his arm. "Hey, Talisman Guy, even though dying here doesn’t matter, dying too much in a short time can still mess with your head, right?"
Lin Huan stubbornly retorted, "Heh. I’m not giving up until I watch that thing die. Otherwise, I won’t sleep tonight."
"Even if you don’t care about yourself, what about your **Containment Points**? Wasting them like this is just stupid." Miao Miaomiao pointed at his officer badge.
That’s right—entering the **Labyrinth of Slaughter** cost **Containment Points (CP)**, the facility’s primary currency for shopping.
The first two weekly entries were **free**. After that, each attempt deducted CP.
Though the fee was low, Lin Huan’s reckless deaths had already burned through a painful amount.
Clutching his badge, Lin Huan hesitated—then brightened upon spotting Gong Baoding.
"Slob! Newbies get free guided tours of the labyrinth. Let me tag along with you!"
Gong Baoding blinked, then glanced at Miao Miaomiao.
Now he understood why she’d been so eager to bring him here—**she wanted to freeload off his "newbie" status.**