Another volley came. I only managed to see two shots coming straight at me at head level, so I dropped into a crouch. Luckily, the other two were also at shoulder height.

  I must have looked ridiculous. It reminded me of the first time I sparred in martial arts class. I had run out of the ring like a complete clown. I shook my head, trying to push those memories away, but that person’s words kept echoing in my mind.

  Never turn your back on your opponent. Only by facing them can you win.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

  The buzzing sounds of the machines moving grew clearer. Five distinct buzzes from five different directions. Then they suddenly stopped—and I knew exactly where they were aiming.

  The instant all five lasers fired, all I had to do was sidestep once, then sprint like crazy toward the keypad panel during the brief three-second cooldown.

  Everything after that felt like a slow-motion film. I ran toward the keypad during those three seconds, then stopped to listen as the machines powered up again. The sense of impending death tightened my mind, waves of pain surging toward my brain.

  It excited me.

  Damn it. It was happening again. That damned feeling.

  Five… four… three… two… and the last one. I had made it past all five machines blocking my path. The keypad was only two steps away—

  Suddenly, the buzzing of a machine sounded in the middle of the supposed three-second cooldown, and it aimed straight at me. From its angle, if I dodged, the blue beam would destroy the keypad.

  I had no choice but to stand my ground and raise my sword to block. The impact pushed me back against the keypad. I couldn’t dodge, and I couldn’t block everything. I had to enter the correct password.

  Six digits. It could be any six damn numbers in the world.

  Seven machines were now aiming straight at me. One more second and—boom—either I or the keypad would be finished.

  My mind raced wildly. In the end, I chose the first thing that came to mind.

  1-0-1-2-5-7.

  October 12th, 2057. Today’s date.

  One second passed. Then another few seconds. I hadn’t exploded.

  In the blink of an eye, the laser-filled chamber vanished. I was now standing in a corner. Around me were towering metal walls at least five meters high, leaving only a single pathway leading to another corner.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  How much crazier could this get?

  My sword had disappeared. Instead, a pair of protective goggles rested on my face. I shouted,

  “Is anyone here?”

  Only the eerie echoes of metal walls answered me.

  I reached up and touched the goggles. There were several buttons on the side. I pressed one randomly, the lenses turned green, and everything I saw was tinted green. I pressed another button, and the wall in front of me suddenly disappeared, replaced by another wall farther away.

  No, it hadn’t disappeared. I was seeing through it.

  These were X-ray goggles.

  Under normal circumstances, I would’ve been thrilled. But right now, they only made things stranger. No one in the world had ever created such perfect see-through glasses.

  I pressed the last button. A map suddenly appeared on the lenses.

  I was inside a maze of interwoven metal walls. However, it only displayed the small section where I was standing. When I took a step forward, the map expanded slightly. It seemed I had to explore this damn maze to reveal the full map.

  At that moment, two walls near me suddenly shifted closer together. The same thing seemed to be happening throughout the maze, creating a deafening screech of metal grinding against metal. The entire maze was shrinking. If I didn’t escape before the walls compressed into one solid block, I would be flattened.

  I ran through the corridors as fast as I could. The map expanded with every step, and the walls shifted every three minutes. I had been running for over fifteen minutes now. The walls were barely a meter apart, yet the map still seemed incomplete. My legs were burning, and my mind felt heavy in this unnaturally silent space. I was nearing my limit.

  The maze shifted again. The gap narrowed so much I couldn’t run properly anymore.

  Just then, a red dot appeared on the map displayed in my goggles. It was at least five minutes away at full sprint in a straight line - assuming I could even find the correct path to reach it. But was it the exit? I didn’t know. What if it was a trap? Why had it only appeared now?

  Somewhere in my rational mind, a voice told me it was a trap. But I leaned more toward believing it was the exit. If it wasn’t, I was dead. But if I kept wandering aimlessly, even with a complete map, I wouldn’t have enough time to find the way out anyway.

  I steadied myself and ran toward the red dot.

  Running while watching the map made it hard to judge the right path. Left, right, then left again—I didn’t pause for a second to think.

  And I slammed into a dead end.

  “Calm down, Bao Nguyen. You don’t want to die here.”

  I had taken three wrong turns already. No choice. I turned back and kept running. The maze walls were now brushing against my shoulders. At least ten more turns remained.

  The maze shifted again, forcing me to shuffle sideways like a crab. I had been right. The location of the red dot was an open space where the walls didn’t move. If I reached it in time, I could avoid being crushed to death.

  The walls slowly compressed my body as the exit was only a meter away. I forced one leg through the narrowing gap.

  Then, with the strength of someone fleeing death, I hurled myself forward.

  Most of my body escaped the maze before it ground shut.

  But only most.

  My left foot didn’t make it in time.

  I felt the bones in my toes shatter.

  That was the last thing I felt before I blacked out.

  “Nguyen…”

  “Bao Nguyen, save me…”

  I faintly heard something. Was I dreaming? I needed to wake up or I’d be late for school.

  “Nguyen, help me!”

  I jolted upright. It was Thanh’s voice.

  The moment my mind cleared, the pain from my left foot shot to my brain, and I screamed.

  Damn it, that kind of pain wasn’t a dream.

  At the same time, intense heat blasted against my face. The maze had vanished just like the laser room before it. Now I was in a pure white chamber, and in front of me countless holes on all four walls were continuously spewing fire.