Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Three Initiation and Termination Procedures

The two passed through the west gate, entered the eighth district, and passed through several passages.Minho flicked left and right, Thomas followed him closely without thinking, running all the way.The morning sun was shining brightly, making everything sharp and clear—the ivy, the cracked stone walls, the stones of the pavement.Although there were still a few hours before the sun rose to high noon, the light was bright enough.Thomas struggled to keep up with Minho, and now and then it took a quick run to catch up to him. They ran across a long stone wall to the north, and the place looked like a doorway without a door.Minho walked through it without stopping. "Here, from the eighth district, which is the square in the middle on the left, to the first district, the square in the upper left corner. As I said, this passage never changes position, but the route may be slightly different, because The walls are reassembling."

Thomas followed him, not expecting his breathing to become very heavy.He hoped it was just nervousness, that his breathing would calm down as soon as possible. They ran down a long corridor on the right and turned several turns to the left.Running to the end of the passage, Minho only slowed down briefly, reached behind his back and took out a notebook and a pencil from his side pocket.He jotted down a few words and put them back, never quite stopping.Thomas didn't know what he wrote, but before he could ask, Minho had already given the answer. "Most of the time... I rely on my memory," the guardian gasped, his voice finally revealing some fatigue, "but every five turns, I will record something to help me recall later. Mostly about yesterday—what changed today so I can use yesterday's map to draw today's map. Easy, man."

Thomas was curious. According to Minho, it was really easy. They ran for a while and came to an intersection.They had three possible choices, but Minho chose the right without hesitation.While running, he took out a knife from his pocket, calmly cut a large group of vines from the wall, threw it on the ground behind him, and continued to run forward. "Bread crumbs?" Thomas asked, old fairy tales bubbling up from the bottom of his heart.Strange flashes of past fragments no longer surprised him. "Breadcrumbs," Minho replied, "I am Hansel and you are Gretel."

The two continued to move forward, following the passage of the maze, sometimes turning right and sometimes turning left.At every turn, Minho cut off three feet of ivy and threw it on the road.Thomas wondered inwardly—Minho didn't even need to slow down when he did this. "Well," said the Guardian, breathing heavily now, "it's your turn." "What?" Thomas didn't expect that besides running and observing on the first day, he would be asked to do something. "Cut some ivy now, and you've got to get used to doing it around the bends. We pick them up on the way back, or kick them aside."

Thomas was more than happy to have something to do himself, but it took him some time to get used to it.The first two times, after cutting down the ivy, he had to sprint to catch up, and cut his finger once.But by the tenth attempt, he was almost on par with Minho. They keep running.After a while—Thomas didn't know how long or how far, but he guessed it was about three miles—Minho slowed down and started walking, and finally stopped completely. "Break time." He dropped his backpack and took out water and an apple. Without saying anything, Thomas imitated Minho's actions.He gulped down a few sips of water, and the water flowed through his thirsty throat, feeling extremely cool and comfortable.

"Slow down, idiot," Minho said, "I have to save some water to drink later." Thomas stopped, took a deep breath of satisfaction, and hiccupped.He took a bite of the apple and suddenly felt refreshed.For some reason, his thoughts flashed back to the day Minho and Alby went to check on the dead Griever - when things got out of hand. "You never told me what happened to Alby that day—why he got so haggard. No doubt the Griever woke up, but what happened?" Minho had already packed his backpack and was ready to start again. "Well, the thing wasn't dead. Alby kicked it a few times like an idiot, and the bad guy suddenly came to life, with spikes all over him. He was crushed by its huge body. But Well, there's something wrong with that thing, it's not as aggressive as it usually is, it just seems to want to get out of the place, and poor Alby happens to be in its way."

"It just escaped from your eyes like this?" From what Thomas knew a few days ago, he couldn't imagine all this. Minho shrugged. "I think so—maybe it needs charging or something. I don't know." "What could be wrong with it? Did you see it hurt or something?" Thomas didn't know what answer he was looking for, but he believed that there must be some kind of clue from what happened, or something. Get some lessons. Minho thought for a minute. "No, the thing was just dead on the outside—like a wax figure, and all of a sudden it came alive."

Thomas was racing with thoughts, trying to find answers, but he didn't even know where or which direction to start. "I'd love to know exactly where it went, where they usually go. Don't you want to know?" He was silent for a moment. "Have you ever thought about tracking them?" "Dude, you're looking for death, aren't you? Come on, we have to go." After speaking, Minho turned around and ran forward. Thomas followed, thinking hard about the questions that bothered him, about the resurrection of the Griever, and where it went after its resurrection...

He put these thoughts aside in disappointment, and hurried up. Thomas ran behind Minho for another two hours, interspersed with several short breaks, each time getting shorter and shorter.Regardless of his physical condition, Thomas felt the pain. Finally, Minho stopped and took off his backpack again.The two sat on the ground, leaning against the soft ivy, and ate their lunch, neither of them talking much.Thomas savored every bite of the sandwich and vegetables, eating as slowly as possible.He knew that once the food was finished, Minho would get up and go, so he took his time. "Did anything change today?" Thomas asked curiously.

Minho bent down and patted his backpack, his notebook was in the bag. "The wall is just moving as usual, nothing to be concerned about." Thomas took a deep sip of water and looked up at the high ivy-covered wall opposite.He saw a flash of silver and red light that he had seen more than once that day. "What's the big deal about those blade beetles?" he asked.They seem to be everywhere.At this moment, Thomas recalled everything he had witnessed in the maze—many situations he had never had the chance to mention. "Why do they have the word catastrophe on their backs?"

"Never caught one," Minho finished his meal, pushing his lunchbox aside, "and we don't know what it means—maybe it's just something to scare us. They're definitely spies, though. We can only guess so much by scouting for them." "Who are they referring to?" Thomas asked, hoping for more answers.He hates the people behind the maze. "Who can guess?" "We don't know anything about the creator." Minho's face flushed slightly, and he squeezed his hands tightly together, as if he was trying to strangle someone, "I can't wait to tear their—" Before the guardian could finish speaking, Thomas stood up and walked across the passage. "What's that?" He interrupted Minho, and walked towards the dim gray light peeking out from behind the vines on the wall, which was about head level. "Oh, yes, that thing." Minho said, looking indifferent. Thomas reached out, parted the ivy, and stared in bewilderment at a square metal plaque fixed to the wall, on which a few words were engraved in large letters.He groped over it with his hands, unable to believe his eyes. He read the words aloud, then looked at Minho. "What is this?" He shuddered—it must have something to do with the creator. "I don't know, fool. It's all over the maze, it seems like they're labeling the great mazes they've created. I didn't bother to look at them a long time ago." Thomas stared back at the sign, trying to suppress the feeling of the end of the world rising inside him. "Nothing feels good. Apocalypse, Killzone, experiment. Great." "Yeah, great, rookie. Let's go." Thomas reluctantly let the ivy fall back to its original place, put the backpack on his shoulders, and the two set off, the words on the sign were deeply imprinted in his heart. An hour after lunch, Minho stopped at the end of a long corridor.The corridors are straight, with high walls and strong walls, without branches. "This is the end," he said to Thomas. "It's time to go back." Thomas took a deep breath, realizing that this was only halfway through the day. "Nothing new?" "There were only normal changes on the way here - half of the day has passed," Minho looked at his watch expressionlessly, "We have to go back." Before he could respond, the guardian had already turned around, facing the direction he came from. run away. Thomas followed him, somewhat annoyed that they hadn't had time to examine the walls and do some research.He strode up to Minho. "But……" "Stop it, man. Remember what I just said--don't take chances. Besides, think about it. Do you really think there's going to be an exit somewhere, a secret hatch or something?" "I don't know... Maybe, why do you ask?" Minho shook his head and vomited a large lump of disgusting stuff to the left. "There's no exit from this place, it's the same everywhere. A wall is a wall, strong." Thomas felt the weight of the truth press against him, but he pushed it back. "how do you know?" "Because whoever sent the Griever to chase us will never let us escape so easily." This makes Thomas doubt the meaning of all actions. "Then why are we making such an effort to get here?" Minho looked at him. "Why bother? Because the maze stands here - there must be a reason. But you're a complete fool if you think we can easily find a nice little door that will take us to Pleasureville .” Thomas looked forward, and the despair in his heart almost stopped him. "Damn it." "That's the smartest thing you've ever said, rookie." Minho breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to run, Thomas could only do the only thing he knew how to do, and followed. For Thomas, the rest of the day was but a hazy memory amid exhaustion.He and Minho returned to the glade, went into the map room, and recorded the route of the maze today, comparing it with the previous day.Next comes the closing of the gates and dinner time.Chuck tried to talk to him several times, but Thomas just nodded or shook his head, not listening, exhausted. Before dusk gave way to night, he was in his favorite spot in the corner of the woods, curled up under the ivy.He doesn't know if he can keep running, if he can do the same thing tomorrow, especially when it all seems pointless.Being a walker has lost its appeal -- after only one day. The sublime courage he felt inside, the desire to make a difference, the promise to reunite Chuck with his family—all of it was lost in a haze of exhaustion and hopelessness and utter ennui. When he was about to fall asleep, a voice suddenly sounded in his head.The beautiful female voice seemed to come from a fairy who lived in his head.The next morning, when everything was going crazy, he wasn't sure if the voice was real or a dream.However, he heard it clearly and wrote down every word: Tom, I just started the finalizer.