The dense rope hanging from the corridor ceiling coiled around Li Ang’s neck like a python, quickly tightening.

Li Ang was suspended mid-air, the crackling sound of neck bones reverberating clearly in his ears.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suppressive gunfire resounded continuously from the second-floor platform,

Wang Congshan emptied the entire pistol magazine, the enchanted bullets spiraling out, hitting and breaking some of the ropes coiled around Li Ang’s neck and wrists.

Boom!

Taking advantage of the brief respite, Li Ang kicked the wall hard, his body crashing towards the right side of the corridor wall,

while simultaneously releasing the Level-One Superpower of the Mental Ability Self-molding System [Shrinking]— the effect of which compressed his skin, muscles, and bones with Spiritual Energy, proportionally reducing the size of his body.

Unlike other factions, the Lingneng Self-molding System primarily impacts oneself,

Psychics of the Self-sculpting System could modify their own bodies at will,

both strengthening their physical form to subdue dragons and tigers like a Martial Monk with a thousand pounds of force in one punch,

and casting peculiar spells to transform into unimaginable things, like steel, wood, stones, shadows, a Giant Dragon,

even achieving a permanent fasting state, slowing down metabolism to an unobservable extent during seclusion, extending life to a civilization-level scale.

Of course, this is only the theoretical limit of Self-sculpting System’s Spiritual Energy.

The Self-sculpting System isn’t Li Ang’s forte, and his learning progress in the real world lags far behind the Enchantment System,

but it’s still usable.

After releasing [Shrinking], his Spiritual Energy from the Ocean of Consciousness quickly diminished,

correspondingly, his body shrank by about 15%, making him about 1.5 meters tall.

Since [Shrinking] proportionally shrinks all body parts, his neck also became relatively thinner,

the noose around his neck leaving a small gap.

This gap allowed Li Ang, by swinging to the right, to press his chin down, making the rope trap sweep past his face, freeing his head from the noose.

At this moment, the rope, like a swarm of snakes, belatedly reacted, attempting to tighten around him,

however, Li Ang already freed his hands as well, landing on the ground, using his toes to flick up the Heart Monkey Staff that had fallen earlier, catching it with both hands,

and swung it heavily towards the mid-air ropes.

At the same time, towards the Golden Hoop at one end of the Heart Monkey Staff, he released the Level-One Superpower of the Transformation System, [Matter Ignition], effecting heating of an object or creature.

With the blessing of [Matter Ignition], the Golden Hoop at the end of the Heart Monkey Staff rapidly heated up,

the ropes in mid-air instinctively coiling towards Li Ang and his weapon, but upon contacting the scorching hot surface of the Golden Hoop, they began to smoke immediately.

Some ropes were even scorched black, retreating as if electrocuted upon contact with the Heart Monkey Staff.

The majority of ropes that came to pursue retreated,

Li Ang immediately backed out of the corridor, stepping back onto the second-floor platform, canceling the effect of [Matter Ignition].

Wang Congshan had arrived by this time as well,

She ejected the empty magazine from her right-hand pistol, replacing it with a fresh one from her tactical belt,

and with her left hand, she grasped the narrow kitchen knife scavenged from the Fujimura Family kitchen, slicing through the last rope twining Li Ang’s hand. After some effort, she cut the rope, and they both quickly retreated to the back of the second-floor platform.

"Are you okay?"

Wang Congshan sighed in relief, throwing the severed rope corner heavily onto the second-floor platform.

"I’m fine."

Li Ang shook his head, reaching to touch the shallow rope marks left on his neck.

It was a narrow escape; the ropes in the corridor were troublesome but not lethal, with strength akin to an adult strangling with all their might,

Li Ang had over a dozen ways to escape the corridor trap if he didn’t mind the Spiritual Energy cost.

However...

He looked up at the rope-laden corridor,

This L-shaped corridor calmed down, the ropes hanging quietly,

The ropes destroyed in the battle just moments ago regrew, as if nothing had ever happened.

Those ropes seemed to grow out of the ceiling, right?

Li Ang frowned slightly, the humanoid figure covered in black hair surely disappeared at the end of the L-shaped corridor, yet the ropes did not attack him.

Could it be the black-haired figure set the traps in the corridor, intentionally luring Li Ang in,

or are the traps innate to the Hiratsuka Family Residence, possessing some special mechanism that allows passage without triggering an attack?

Li Ang pondered with furrowed brows and was interrupted by Wang Congshan’s enigmatic laughter.

"What’s so funny?"

Li Ang turned to look at Wang Congshan, only to see her smirking mischievously, pressing her hand to Li Ang’s forehead, comparing their height difference.

At this moment [Shrinking] was still in effect, Li Ang remaining at 1.5 meters, shorter than Wang Congshan.

"How nice."

Wang Congshan remarked as she looked at Li Ang in his 1.5-meter state, patting his shoulder mockingly, bringing her face closer with a grin: "Angie, call me sister, won’t you?"

"Get lost."

Li Ang rolled his eyes, swatting away Wang Congshan’s arm, "As if calling you sister would get me a New Year’s red envelope."

The effect of [Shrinking] is passively active, but can be canceled voluntarily,

though to save Spiritual Energy, it’s better to let the effect wear off naturally at the end of its duration.

"Strange, this L-shaped corridor has no doors on either side,

If it’s not an anomaly changing the terrain, it must have been intentionally set by the Builder Hiratsuka Family.

The corridor leads to the right, but to which room...?"

Li Ang stood on the second-floor platform, observing the rope corridor carefully, suddenly noticing a heavily faded piece of paper hanging near the corridor entrance, almost color-matched to the wooden paneling.

"Hmm?"

He squinted, crouching, slowly approaching the corridor,

cautiously nudging the paper with the Heart Monkey Staff, without provoking an attack from the corridor ropes.

Wang Congshan furrowed her brows, warning: "Be careful."

"Mm."

Li Ang responded, standing up, using the Heart Monkey Staff to nudge the paper gently from the ground, flipping it over without using his hands directly.

The rectangular sheet bore basic lines resembling a fallen page from a notepad,

on its front, densely written in Japanese, still legible despite fading.

[...A Study on the Legends of Yuan Shan]

Li Ang and Wang Congshan exchanged a puzzled glance, then scrutinized further, realizing the author seemed to be a folklore scholar,

the paper’s content dwelled on mythical stories centered around Yuan Shan, and legends about the founding of Fate Carving Village.