dmims Chapter 694 The Ball of Thread
Chapter 694 The Ball of Thread
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Joker, Naib, and Percy, the three adults, stared at each other with their eyes closed, clearly lost in the maze and unsure of which way to go.
No one can say for sure how these two couples ended up together.
Even though the paths were far apart at first, the maze seemed to have its own consciousness. The bushes that looked exactly the same kept changing positions, and the corner that was just in front of us disappeared in the blink of an eye.
They wandered aimlessly, sometimes hearing faint footsteps in the distance, sometimes catching each other's panicked eyes at a fork in the road, and finally gathering together in this most secluded area. But no one had the mind to ponder the "coincidence of their meeting" now; everyone was preoccupied with the same thing: if they couldn't find a way out, they would probably be driven to the point of nausea by this endless series of forks in the road.
"Ouch!"
A childish exclamation suddenly broke the silence; it came from Matthias in Percy's arms.
A child held securely by an adult should be protected from all bumps and bruises, but somehow a sharp thorn had somehow become entangled in the branches of the bushes that made up the maze, and it was tightly hooking the long scarf around Matthias's neck.
The scarf was put on him by the manor owner himself before the game started. At the time, the manor owner smiled and said, "It's getting cold, don't let the little guy get cold." The gentleness in his tone now seems a bit eerie.
Matthias looked down and tugged at his scarf, only to find that it was ridiculously long—after wrapping around his slender neck two or three times, the remaining length still reached his ankles, causing it to constantly sweep across the ground as he walked.
It seems the estate owner simply gave him his own scarf without considering the child's size.
That's why, when Percy turned around, the end of his scarf accidentally drifted onto a bush and got caught on a thorn. As Percy walked, it pulled tighter and tighter, causing Matthias to groan.
Fortunately, Percy reacted very quickly. As soon as he felt a slight resistance in his arms, he stopped immediately.
He looked down and saw that Matthias's face was slightly flushed and his hands were frantically clutching the scarf around his neck. He quickly and carefully adjusted his posture, supporting the child's waist and gently lifting him up so that the scarf was no longer under pressure.
Joker and Naib immediately rushed over. One reached out and pressed down on the swaying bushes, while the other carefully parted the tangled branches. The three of them worked together for a while before finally managing to pull the thorn that was hooking the scarf out of the fabric and untangle the scarf completely.
Just as Matthias was rubbing his neck in frustration, Joker suddenly stared at the scarf lying in Percy's palm, his fingertips gently twisting the thick wool, and muttered softly, "The labyrinth of the Minotaur."
"What?" Naib, standing next to him, immediately perked up his ears. As a Nepalese, Naib had grown up hearing legends of snow mountain gods and knew nothing about Greek mythology. He only felt that the name sounded both unfamiliar and strange.
Joker raised his chin, his gaze sweeping over the crisscrossing bushes around him, his voice lowered even further:
"It's a monster from Greek mythology. It was born from Pasiphaë, the wife of Minos, the King of Crete, and a Cretan bull—a half-man, half-bull monster that looked extremely ferocious. Minos disliked it and feared it would harm people, so he commissioned craftsmen to build a labyrinth on the island of Crete and imprisoned it inside. The labyrinth was so complex that no one who went in could come out until Theseus, the hero of Athens, went there, killed it, and even walked out of the labyrinth."
“But what does this have to do with our current situation?” Naib asked, frowning. He knew Joker and Percy too well; they would never tell unrelated stories for no reason at a time like this. They must have discovered some crucial clue.
Percy suddenly chimed in, tapping Matthias's scarf lightly with his fingers, his eyes lighting up: "That's right, Theseus was able to get out of the labyrinth not because he was smarter than others, nor because he had a better sense of direction—he relied on the ball of thread."
"A ball of yarn?" Naib and Matthias asked in unison, the former expressing doubt and the latter curiosity.
“Yes, a ball of thread.” Joker squatted down, picked up one end of the scarf and twirled it in his hand. “Minos’ daughter Ariadne helped him by giving him a ball of thread. Theseus tied one end of the thread to the entrance of the labyrinth, and then let the thread out as he walked. No matter how far he went or how many turns he made, as long as he followed the thread back, he could find the exit.”
"Ah!" (｀Δ′)!
Matthias was the first to react, patting Percy's shoulder and pointing at his scarf as he shouted.
Naib instantly understood—no wonder the manor owner gave Matthias such a long and thick scarf! This wasn't "warmth," it was clearly a "ball of yarn" for them! The "too long" scarf that had just given them a headache had now become their only hope of getting out of the maze, and light finally rekindled in everyone's eyes.