Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

"Ah, we're in."

Lin Xiaolu poked her head out from the bushes and then brought out her whole body. Her feet stepped on the slightly damp ground as she looked around and made some rather meaningless remarks.

What she saw at this moment was no longer the campus scene in Silver Corridor but a long passage. The corridor was entirely made up of shrubs and flowers, from ceiling to walls, filling the surrounding environment with a faint fragrance.

The process of entering this maze from the Silver Corridor was somewhat subtle. Lin Xiaolu and others lined up to enter the back garden of the Silver Corridor, following the candidates ahead along the only path, walking a certain distance, passing the only corner, and then arriving at a "dead-end" surrounded by shrubs. The examiner on-site told them to go straight through the "dead-end" in front of them, dive through the bushes, and they would be in the maze, which Lin Xiaolu did.

And then she was in.

After she made that uninspiring remark, rustling sounds came from behind her. Shortly after, Mint and Bai Jingxuan also entered this place in the same manner.

"Oh, we're in."

Mint also made a similarly uninspiring remark.

"So what should we do next, start looking for the exit this way?"

Lin Xiaolu surveyed around before turning to her two teammates: "Theoretically, we can now either move forward or backward, which direction is better?"

"Hmm… don't rush."

Mint looked pensive as she slowly walked to the bush wall, stretching out her hand to lay her palm onto it: "Can you feel it? The passage inside the maze, be it walls or the floor or the ceiling, has very faint magical power fluctuations."

"I can sort of feel it."

Lin Xiaolu looked indifferent: "But this maze is built using magic technique, so it's normal for there to be magical power fluctuations. Right?"

"No."

Mint closed her eyes as if sensing something, then opened them after a while, speaking again: "Yeah, I thought so, let's go backward."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lin Xiaolu widened her eyes.

"Explaining it through words is a bit complicated. You two, put your hands on the wall and then use magical power perception."

Mint gestured to Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan like she was calling some kittens or puppies: "If your perception is strong, you can sense it right where you are."

"Really useful?"

Lin Xiaolu hesitated but walked to Mint's spot, following suit and laying her hand onto the wall. As she started using her magical power perception, almost instantly, she felt her sensing range seemed to be forcefully torn open, and everything around her clearly appeared in her mind.

She felt like her soul was suddenly out of her body, able to observe the maze she was in from a god's perspective: Centered at her current standing position, the maze map within a twenty-meter radius emerged in her mind. Just as Mint had previously mentioned, if they had chosen to move forward earlier, about fifteen meters ahead they'd encounter the first bend, which leads to a dead end.

"Holy crap."

That was Lin Xiaolu's immediate reaction.

"Amazing!"

Bai Jingxuan behind her also exclaimed similarly, though it was visibly more civilized for her current composure.

"The magic technique within this maze is clearly not just to maintain its existence."

After confirming the two had seen this "radar-like" image, Mint began explaining her earlier actions: "Also, I don't think the Research Institute's level of magic technique would be so poor that it only keeps the maze's existence. Its magical power fluctuations could totally have been concealed, no need to be so obvious in flaunting its presence. Coupling it with the tips the examiner mentioned previously…"

"What tips?" Lin Xiaolu interrupted somewhat quizzically: "I don't remember hearing anything."

"She said, 'Please strive to explore within the maze to achieve higher scores.'"

Mint removed her hand from the wall: "Don't you find this phrasing a bit odd?"

"Odd… is it? Maybe she was just saying something formal and standard." Lin Xiaolu pondered.

"Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but I keep feeling that this phrase is actually a clue."

Mint explained: "Because if we go with the 'clear rules' she published earlier, this assessment should solely be a racing competition. What's compared is everyone's carpet search speed in finding the exit. Is it truly necessary to term it as 'exploration'?"

"Could be, right? Explore, and then find the exit or something." Lin Xiaolu herself felt uncertain.

"But now, this magic technique proves my theory to be correct."

Mint patted the wall: "Such conspicuous magical power fluctuations are practically screaming at us to 'check it out'. If this were a video game, this cue would simply be 'highlight display' in the game. This magic technique amplifies the magical girl's perception, serving a 'mini-map' function to some extent, implying that—within this maze—there are likely many other exploitable elements to expedite the assessment progress."

Ending her magical power perception of the surroundings, Lin Xiaolu looked at Mint: "So, what do you mean?"

"I mean, perhaps we don't need to rush to find the exit. Instead, at this stage, we should focus on investigating those seemingly 'hidden' things."

Mint continued explaining to Lin Xiaolu, but, for reasons unknown, Lin Xiaolu could sense her gaze deviating to Bai Jingxuan nearby.

That gaze seemed peculiar, not possessing goodwill or malice, nor curiosity or exploration; merely seeing something that drew attention, featuring a mix of calmness and contemplation.

Meanwhile, Bai Jingxuan remained absorbed, eyes closed, perceiving the surrounding 'mini-map,' unaware of Mint's gaze.

Soon enough, Mint reverted her gaze.

As if that brief observation was but an illusion, she casually turned to Lin Xiaolu, carrying on with her conjecture:

"Since this is a 'maze', it's highly probable there's a 'treasure' too. Compared to the 'exit,' after all, a treasure seems more enticing, right?"

"...Then what about the scores?"

Lin Xiaolu's heartbeat accelerated slightly; the fleeting look Mint directed towards Bai Jingxuan just now made her almost feel something on their side had been exposed. After all, the residual beast magic remnant in Bai Jingxuan was a definite ticking bomb. If detected during the assessment, the consequences would be unimaginable. Luckily, Mint just lost interest after a few glances, allowing Lin Xiaolu to regain some composure:

"If it drags on too long and places too low, won't the scores be meager?"

"Oh, that, I think it won't be an issue."

Mint laughed pleasantly:

——"If I'm correct, at this point, the 'exit' simply wouldn't exist."