Mimi snapped back to the present before pushing through the plush spikes and squeezing herself out between the two false sponge-like walls of the maze.
As she pulled her last leg free, she drove forward with a straight burst of momentum. A quick sequence of jumps carried her ahead just in time.
The ground beneath her began to collapse.
She reacted instantly, catching the edge of the upper flooring with her grip strength and hanging on as the structure gave way behind her.
The section she had just stood on vanished.
A huge gaping hole opened beneath and behind her, dropping into endless darkness.
Mimi clung to the edge, fingers locked tight, stabilizing herself as she fought to pull her body back up. She strained upward in controlled motions, dragging herself onto solid ground again.
While doing so, she muttered curses at the maze itself, calling it cruel for not even allowing her a moment to recover.
Eventually, she got her body fully onto the surface.
She collapsed onto her back, sprawled out, staring at the ceiling.
For a few seconds, she simply lay there, catching her breath.
In that stillness, her thoughts drifted.
A memory surfaced.
She was younger then.
That version of her would not have believed what her life had become. She would not have believed she was still here, still working, still bound to the Piao Cooperation after everything she had gone through.
Back then, she had been at the barracks, already halfway out the door. She had been holding back anger, barely controlling it. She had been furious, because she had nearly died.
"This job is not for me. I'm good," she had thought at the time. She had taken the assignment only to avoid war, but in that moment, war had felt easier than this. Anything would have been better than the so-called guiding department work.
As she had stormed out, still burning with frustration, she noticed Madame Piao walking towards her direction.
Madame Piao was unmistakable. Poised, composed, carrying a controlled presence that shifted the space around her. She was surrounded by a few assistants, all moving with quiet authority.
She wore a gentle smile.
At the time, Mimi did not understand what that smile meant. Later, she would realize it was never harmless.
Now she understood.
When Madame Piao smiled like that, it meant one of two things. Either someone was about to be in serious trouble, or someone was about to receive an offer they could not refuse.
The younger Mimi had been naive.
She believed she could simply walk up and quit.
But before she could speak, Madame Piao turned away from her assistants and looked toward Angela.
She addressed her daughter in a calm, controlled voice.
So composed and precise that, without prior knowledge, Mimi would have assumed Angela was a subordinate rather than family.
That assumption alone would have conflicted with several internal rules and protocols.
"What is your final evaluation of this person?"
Madame Piao spoke calmly toward her daughter.
"She's not regular," Angela answered immediately. "She feels a little disjointed. Like her body is not fully prepared for what's currently happening around her."
Is this girl calling me weak? Mimi thought.
What?
No.
Actually, no.
She just needed to leave.
Before Mimi could properly make her way through the layers of assistants surrounding Madame Piao, she heard Madame Piao speak again.
"Conclude your final statement."
Angela tilted her head slightly.
"She's interesting."
There was a faint sparkle in her eyes when she said it.
"Oh?"
Madame Piao sounded amused.
And that single reaction made Mimi's stomach drop instantly.
As Mimi tried squeezing past the final assistant, someone stepped directly into her path.
Mimi looked up.
The woman standing there held a thick stack of papers against her chest.
Mimi's eyes drifted downward toward the front page.
Two words immediately made her blood pressure spike.
Guiding Contract
Mimi stared at it for two full seconds.
Then her eyes rolled back.
And she fainted.
Again.
When Mimi woke up, the outside world sounded distant and muffled.
A faint medical smell lingered in the air.
She slowly opened her eyes and found herself inside a nursing room.
A doctor was nearby organizing supplies.
And sitting calmly beside the bed was Madame Piao.
Leg crossed over leg.
Hands folded neatly.
Still wearing that same gentle smile.
Mimi immediately sat upright in panic.
"Madame Piao," she said sheepishly, "I really think this job is not for me."
Madame Piao listened quietly.
Then she picked up a folded stack of papers resting beside her.
Mimi immediately recognized the front page.
[Guiding Contract]
Her vision almost darkened again.
But before she could mentally prepare herself to faint a second time in the same conversation, Madame Piao spoke.
"Read the terms and conditions first," she said calmly. "If you still wish to leave afterward, you may do so. Nobody will stop you."
Mimi hesitantly accepted the papers.
Cautiously, she opened the contract.
And immediately froze.
The offer was absurdly tempting.
The document identified Party A as the Piao Cooperation and Party B as the employee entering the agreement.
The role itself was strangely light.
As a guider, Party B's primary responsibility would involve assisting individuals through the maze during designated meetings and operational events.
Because the guiding system was still relatively new, the projected work schedule ranged anywhere from zero hours a week to ten hours a week depending on demand.
Zero to ten.
Mimi reread that part three separate times just to make sure she was not hallucinating.
The contract continued.
Because Party B had originally been recruited for accounting-related abilities, additional clauses existed regarding temporary reassignment. If matters involving the Piao Cooperation required her assistance in a financial or organizational capacity, Party B could temporarily be transferred under standardized accounting employment conditions.
That secondary assignment would follow a normal nine-to-five schedule, five days a week, until the relevant matter was resolved.
Then Mimi reached the salary section.
And her breathing stopped briefly.
Even if her guiding schedule amounted to zero hours worked during a month, Party B would still receive the same monthly salary as a full assistant employee working a standard nine-to-five schedule five days a week.
Mimi stared silently at the paper.
Her survival instincts and her financial instincts immediately began fighting each other like two wild animals locked in a cage.