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“In its design phase, the labyrinth utilised a rather deceptive technique.
At every corner and intersection, where people assume a right, ninety-degree angle, there is instead, more or less, a very slight deviation in angle.
Humans would be unable to perceive this slight difference through vision and intuition alone. They would all be fooled into thinking it’s right angles.
Of course, the confusing nature of the aesthetics also helps.
When the differences add up enough, the people who end up in this labyrinth will become gradually lost without knowing.
This labyrinth also made sure nothing that could identify a particular path – stars above, or a blade of grass on the ground – is present.
From the ceiling to the ground, and the walls around, are all made to confuse. To summarise, entering this labyrinth and navigating using our human minds alone would be a terrible idea.
Of course, all the tools we have technologically available to help were also considered. During its construction, means were employed to obstruct and eliminate any possible usage from our perspective.
As a side effect, it means that the effectiveness of this sensual sabotage cannot be measured empirically using tools, which will all fail.
Human testers are off the table as well, as they are expected to invariably end up lost and dead.
While it would appear this building would serve its function well, to trap whatever──Humans, at least──within,
What I just said meant it was also massively exploitable.”
Here, XĂŒ Beijin pauses for a moment.
He looks over at Chen Simiao, who is also looking back at him with a rather terrified expression, as if what he’s going to say next, will sentence him to death.
To be tortured by the fear and madness until actual release of death.
He cannot snap out of the state either, because it was
 it was what he deserved to be tortured and punished by.
By fate. He thinks of this as, fate’s punishment for him.
A glorious first half of life, until he fell from grace and became covered in the ashes of the fallout. Everyone despised him. Everyone hated him.
It’s like his fate was sealed, the moment he was put in charge of the design.
But, Chen Simiao thinks, it wasn’t
 wasn’t even his fault
 His only failing
 was being unable to discern honesty from deceit.
He believed in who he should not have.
XĂŒ Beijin looks at him, and takes a breather before continuing, “ultimately, it’s because ‘they’ are different. The target the labyrinth is designed for, operate fundamentally differently to humans.
‘They’ are different – and will not lose their sense of direction or be driven insane by such a construct. They would not be trapped.”
XĂŒ Beijin can’t help but pause slightly and look over at Lin Qin.
Lin Qin fails to realise why XĂŒ Beijin is glancing at him, and shows a rather inquisitive expression.
XĂŒ Beijin is thinking about how Lin Qin also doesn’t lose his sense of direction here somehow
 Not that it would prove anything, and merely adds to the countless mysteries already surrounding the young man.
Then XĂŒ Beijin shakes his head slightly at Lin Qin to reassure him, and continues once more, “but the nail in the coffin, is the defect left behind in the labyrinth for ‘them.’”
“What kind of defect?” Lin Qin wonders aloud, “is the direction actually correct there or something?”
“No
 The direction is still wrong,” XĂŒ Beijin explains, “but, the construction of that part was deliberately off by about a millimetre. The numerical data in the design paper was faulty. Put more simply, under the list of dimensions to use to construct this labyrinth, one typical angle was manually adjusted very slightly.
So slightly it could have been argued to have been an oversight or a typo, but it was also avoidable if more robust mathematical double-checking was employed.
Anyway, it meant that, constructed at the wrong angle supplied for the two pieces of walls, they would not snap together firmly enough. Instead, it leaves a gap
 a millimetre wide.”
Lin Qin is certainly surprised.
While A-Two, his jaw already on the floor, says, “what?!” Then he gasps and asks, “that
 wasn’t discovered during the construction or quality checks?”
XĂŒ Beijin’s expression is cold; it’s hard to tell if he’s smiling. He says, “it’s because Professor Chen’s student is also part of the quality assurance team. Our folly
 lies in too much trust placed in a single point of failure.”
The student of the decorated professor Chen Simiao. A traitor of humanity.
His name has already been lost to the long march of time since. Possibly because, when it was apparent the plan failed so dramatically, the chaos already engulfing humanity prevented any meaningful investigation from taking place;
Or possibly, because the student was careful to ensure no traces were left behind.
A millimetre. That’s the width of the gap that made the ‘impregnable prison’ a shaky brick wall ready to collapse.
Well, to be fair, even if the betrayal never happened, humanity would probably not have escaped this fate either.
But he did, making the poignant tragedy into an absurd comedy.
No one else faltered. Everyone agreed to fight on, even in a fight destined to lose, destined to hopelessness or comparable to suicide. No one thought of simply surrendering.
But the central figure they placed an inordinate amount of trust in, failed them.
Ah. The horror. The pain. When nothing was clear yet, when no victories nor defeats have been announced yet.
They needed to try at least once
 An attempt, an effort
 But some have given up before even putting a foot forward.
And the one to sell out the sellout, that informed XĂŒ Beijin of this traitor’s existence and who they are, wasn’t even human.
Humanity at large wasn’t even aware of the betrayal of the professor’s student either. They might not even know someone was partly to blame for their resistance to have failed.
Not that it mattered if they knew or not, if anyone came forward to speak or not, because humanity was at wit’s end at this point. No one needs more news of hopelessness again.
But that aside, the one who sold out the traitor, is the enemy of humanity instead – who the traitor was trying to defect to.
What do ‘they’ make of the traitor?
Perhaps disdain, or even apathy. They might have utilised the defect that was given to them, but they turned around to look at the traitor from on high, and laugh. at them.
No one would like a soldier that deserts on the battlefield. While selfishness is understandable, it is not excusable.
So ultimately, XĂŒ Beijin ended up learning about this ‘defect,’ that might be the key to their escape from the Tower
 from humanity’s enemies.