Chapter 45 Chapter 45: Clues to Crack the Code

According to the time on Thomas' watch, it was around ten o'clock in the morning, and he and Minho returned to the glade through the west gate.Thomas was so tired that he just wanted to lie down and sleep. They had spent almost twenty-four hours in the maze. Surprisingly, except for the dead light and mess, the new day in the glade went on as usual—plowing, planting, sweeping.It didn't take long for some boys to notice them.Newt was notified and came too. "You were the first ones back," he said, coming up to them. "What's the matter?" The look of childish hope on his face broke Thomas' heart—he obviously thought they'd found something useful, "Tell me you have brought good news."

Minho looked indifferently at the distance under the gray sky. "Nothing was found," he said. "The labyrinth is like a nasty joke." Newt looked at Thomas and asked puzzledly, "What is he talking about?" "He's just a little frustrated," Thomas shrugged wearily. "We haven't noticed any changes. The walls haven't moved, there's no exits, nothing. Did the Griever come last night?" Newt hesitated, a gloomy look on his face.Finally, he nodded. "Yes, they took Adam." Thomas was not familiar with the name, and he felt guilty for his indifference.Another person, he thought, and maybe Gary was right.

Newt was about to say something when Minho exploded, startling Thomas. "I'm tired of all this!" Minho spat at Ivy, the veins on his neck bulging, "I'm tired of all this! It's all over! It's all over!" He took off his backpack and threw it on the ground, "There's no exit, there never was, there never will be, we're all screwed." Thomas looked at him, feeling his throat dry.Minho strode towards the big house.He was worried that if Minho gave up, it would be a problem for everyone. Newt didn't say a word, he didn't care about Thomas who was stunned, and he stood there in a daze.Desperation spread across the open space, like smoke wafting from the map room, thick and irritating.

The other walkers also came back within an hour. Judging from what Thomas heard, they also found nothing and had to give up in the end.There were gloomy faces all over the clearing, and most of the workers put down their daily work. Thomas understood that the code of the maze was now their only hope, what it must reveal, what it must reveal.After wandering aimlessly up and down the glade and hearing the stories told by other walkers, he shook off his depression. Teresa?He closed his eyes and said in his heart, it seems that only by closing his eyes can he do it, where are you?Did you find anything?

After a long silence, he almost gave up, thinking he hadn't succeeded. What?Tom, what did you say? Yes, he said, he was thrilled to reconnect, can you hear me?Am I doing it right? Some intermittent, but it works.Kind of unpredictable, right? Thomas pondered this—in fact, he was getting used to this kind of communication.Not too bad.Are you still in the basement?I saw Newt just now, but now it's gone again. Still here, with Newt and three or four other Gladers helping us draw the map, I think we've cracked all the codes. Thomas' heart rose to his throat.really? come down quickly.

Here we go.Before he finished speaking, he was already taking action, and his body was suddenly no longer so tired. Newt let him in. "Minho still hasn't come," he said, walking down the basement stairs with Thomas. "Sometimes he gets a little irritable." What Thomas couldn't understand was that Minho wasted his time getting angry, especially when the code still had the potential to solve the problem.He put the thought aside for a moment and walked into the room.A few Gladiators he didn't know stood around the table, all tired and sunken-eyed.Stacks of maps were scattered around the room, including on the floor, as if a tornado had just swept through the center of the room.

Teresa leaned against a stack of shelves, reading a piece of paper.When he entered the room, she looked up, then looked down again and continued to focus on the things in her hands.It frustrates him a little - he'd hoped seeing him would make her happy, but he immediately felt stupid for thinking that, she was clearly busy trying to crack the code. You must come and see it.After Newt dismissed a few helpers, Teresa said to him.Several people walked up the wooden stairs with a thud, complaining about the futility all the way. For a brief moment, Thomas worries that Newt will guess what happened between him and Teresa.Don't talk in my head when Newt's around, I don't want him to know about our... abilities.

"Look at this," she said aloud, not trying to hide the smug look on her face. "If I could crack it, I'd kneel and kiss your feet," Newt said. Thomas walked over to Teresa, eager to see what they got.She held up the paper and raised her eyebrows. "There's no doubt that those words are right," she said, "it's just not clear what it means." Thomas took the paper and scanned it quickly.There are several circled numbers on the left, from one to six, with a word written in bold black letters next to each number. ①FLOAT (floating) ②CATCH (catch)

③BLEED (bleeding) ④ DEATH (death) ⑤ STIFF (hard) ⑥PUSH (push) That's all, six words. Disappointment hit Thomas, who had been convinced that once they cracked the code, its purpose would be obvious.He looked at Teresa with a heavy heart: "Is that all? Are you sure the order is correct?" She took the paper from his hand. "For several months, the maze kept repeating these words - when it all became clear, we stopped working. Every time the word PUSH appeared, there was a full week of blanking, and then restarted from FLOAT , so we judge that it is the first word, and the order is as it is now."

Thomas folded his arms and leaned against the shelf next to Teresa.Without even thinking about it, he memorized these six words and seared them into his heart. Float Catch Bleed Death Stiff Push, doesn't sound like it makes any sense. "Don't you feel inspired?" Newt said.These words revealed the loss in his heart. "Yeah," Thomas complained disappointedly, "we need to find Minho, maybe he knows something we don't know. If we can have more clues—" Suddenly dizziness hit him, he froze Living.If he hadn't been leaning against the shelf, he might have fallen to the ground.A thought had just popped into his mind: a terrible, horrible, bad thought, the most terrible, most horrible, worst thought.

But his intuition told him that he was right.He has to do something. "Tommy?" Newt called to him, his wrinkled brow revealing his concern, and he stepped forward. "What's wrong with you? You're frighteningly pale." Thomas shook his head, trying to calm himself down. "Oh... nothing, sorry. My eyes hurt a little, I think I need sleep." He rubbed his temples deliberately. Are you OK?Teresa asked in his mind.Thomas was pleased to see that she was as worried as Newt. It's okay, I'm really tired.I just need to rest. "Okay," Newt said, reaching out and squeezing Thomas' shoulder, "you've been in the maze all night—go to sleep." Thomas looked from Theresa to Newt.He wanted to say what was on his mind, but decided not to.He nodded and headed for the stairs. Anyway, Thomas had a plan.However lame, he had a plan. They need more clues to crack the code, they need memory. Therefore, he had to be stung by the ghost fire beast and go through a period of painful transformation, and he planned to do this on purpose.