Translated by juurensha
Edited by Noks
The winning camp is…
“What?” Shang Sirui, with a completely panic-stricken look on his face, looked at Pei Tingsong who wasn’t far away. “Xiao Pei is dead? Why kill Xiao Pei ah?”
Fang Juexia looked over just to see Pei Tingsong laughing as he joked, “This program is really unfriendly towards new people.”
The narration from the program group rang out again—”The dead player has lost all rights to speak. Please head to the execution area and wait to leave the room.”
So he stood up and followed the instructions, heading towards the red circle on the floor of the reception hall, which was the only way by which a dead player could leave the escape room.
Fang Juexia stared at Pei Tingsong, and as if due to some tacit understanding between them, he also looked over at the same time.
He gave a rare smile, one that seemed to signal that he was admitting defeat as he fell down from the execution area.
With the floor closing up again, the first player had officially exited the escape room. The remaining people were all immersed in different moods; some were surprised, while others adjusted their thinking after taking this new reality into account.
Pei Tingsong’s death had come so suddenly that everyone was caught off guard.
Zhou Ziheng frowned and took a look at the time. “There are only 15 minutes left before the next round of voting to oust the killer.”
Fang Juexia looked at the handkerchief on the cupboard again. “Shouldn’t we figure this out first?”
“We can leave it here and figure it out at any time.” After saying that, Zhou Ziheng looked at Fang Juexia and said, “You can rest assured, this main gate definitely contains more than just this one simple lock.”
Zhou Ziheng then headed towards the sofa and called everyone to gather around for a discussion before the second round of voting.
Fang Juexia took one last look, then followed him to the coffee table.
“Let’s sort out the clues and elements we have in our hands first.” Zhou Ziheng seemed to have taken the position of the leader. “In the last round, I believe everyone’s focus was on Xiqing and Xiao Pei, but it’s not realistic to verify everyone’s vote from the last round right now, since after all, the program group has deliberately adopted the anonymous voting method. Both of them survived the voting round, but the killer then killed Xiao Pei. This is very strange, and is worth analyzing.”
Shang Sirui was still shocked by Pei Tingsong’s death. “Wait, let me straighten things out in my head, I’m really confused right now.”
After holding his head for a long time, he suddenly said, “Just before Xiao Pei died, he stood up and said that he wanted to go back to Zhai Ying’s room to take a look, but he died just as he took two steps in that direction. It couldn’t be that there is something in Zhai Ying’s room?”
Zhai Ying said, “What he’s saying, I also heard it, it’s true. At that time, I also wanted to go look again at my room, but I didn’t expect the program to suddenly announce that he was dead. In addition, when Xiqing Ge and Pei Tingsong confronted each other before, they both said that they were white knights. Now that Xiao Pei is dead, is it possible that the killer killed off the one he thought was the real white knight?”
Shang Sirui suddenly looked at Xia Xiqing.
“Why are you looking at me ma?” Xia Xiqing’s expression didn’t change at all, and he even laughed. “Do you think I killed him? If you just think about it a little bit, you’ll know that that’s impossible. How could there be a killer who put on a knight’s clothing and then immediately after that, kill off the person who is jumping out and declaring that they’re the real knight? Now that Xiao Pei has died, everyone will doubt me. Do you think I would use such a trick, one that would inevitably draw fire upon myself?”
Zhou Ziheng laughed as he said, “It’s not impossible.”
Fang Juexia looked at him.
“Because we all know that you are good at playing this game and wouldn’t use such a trick. However, once you did use it, you could actually clear yourself of all suspicion by making everyone think that it is a cheap trick deliberately orchestrated by someone to frame you.”
Xia Xiqing almost started menacing Zhou Ziheng right then and there, but an announcement from the program group suddenly rang out—
“Players, please note that we are now announcing the double-faced knight’s chosen camp.”
Hearing this, Fang Juexia quietly unscrewed the water bottle kept near the sofa and drank some water.
“They chose the dark camp.”
All the players had different expressions after hearing that. Fang Juexia tightened the cap on the water bottle cap, set it on the coffee table, and sighed, “A black knight…”
Zhou Ziheng took the lead in analyzing. “In fact, I said before at the start that when Xiqing and Xiao Pei were both jumping out at each other, that I felt that the real knight was off to the sides. Because I believe that regardless of whether they belong to the dark or light camp, the knight wouldn’t reveal their card this easily. Of course, this rule becomes invalid when it comes to Xiqing, because he is a player who likes to explosively reveal himself. That’s the only reason why everyone’s view of the situation was so unclear.”
“Now that the knight’s camp has been revealed, it just adds more evidence towards my idea; the real knight chose a black card, and he knows that his camp will be revealed sooner or later, so he wouldn’t jump out and reveal himself easily. So, in that case, what roles are the two people who did jump out playing? Either they’re an ordinary player who mistakenly thought that the knight was a white knight and jumped out to block a stab for the knight, or they’re the killer.”
After saying that, he looked at Xia Xiqing. “This just verified my previous logic. The first time, you used your identity as a player who explosively reveals himself to let everyone think that you may be the real knight. The second time, you used the assumption that a player belonging to the good camp wouldn’t kill off the only person who had jumped out with the knight identity to clear all suspicion off your head. As for why you killed Xiao Pei? Maybe it was because you really thought that he was a white knight, but I’m more inclined to think that you discovered that Xiao Pei had found evidence that pointed towards your identity.”
His words were forceful and lofty, and the logic he stated was perfectly coherent. After he abruptly stopped speaking, the rest of the players could only consider things according to the pace he had spoken with, and they pretty much didn’t discover any flaws in his reasoning.
There was a moment of silence, and even Xia Xiqing just smiled.
Fang Juexia folded his hands in front of him and asked, “According to this reasoning, we really can analyze the situation where both of them had jumped out, and Xiao Pei’s death just now. However, the killer’s identity is linked to the plot. I don’t think it’s good to judge on such things so quickly when the plotline isn’t so clear to us yet.”
“At last, there’s someone who understands.” Xia Xiqing laughed grimly. “Being a logical computer is your strong point after all, Zhou Ziheng. Let’s put that aside first, and sort out the plot this time.”
He leaned back against the sofa and pointed to the picture on the display wall. “See the middle painting there? A man who died in a bathtub. This painting is ‘The Death of Marat’—it shows Marat, a cruel leader of the French Revolution, who was assassinated in a bathtub.” Saying this, he smiled and added, “But there is something wrong with this painting.”
“In the original painting’s composition, Marat and the bathtub are on the left side of the picture, but this painting has these things reversed, and they’re on the opposite side. When I saw this painting, I knew that this was a clue the program group had set up. So I took the painting down and found this hidden between the canvas and the frame.” He took out a piece of paper, and Fang Juexia recognized it at a glance. It was the same kind of graph paper that was used for the female high school student’s suicide note from before.
As Fang Juexia had expected, Xia Xiqing had really opened the painting, so there would be a gap there.
Shang Sirui leaned over and asked, “What’s written on it?”
Xia Xiqing replied, “This is a diary entry written by Zaozao.”
He then read it out, “Help me, I don’t want to be controlled. I feel broken and split, and I’m in great pain. Why didn’t the treatment make any progress, but made me instead sink into the mire and can’t extricate myself. I have a premonition that I’m about to die. The doctor said that all of this is just my fantasy, he said that my neighbor is an old lady, and that there is no college student at all, and he said that that band also doesn’t exist, why does he want to deceive me, no, these are all fake.”
“Xiao Wen Gege from next door said he would help me. He will help tutor me, chat with me, and let me feel that there is still hope in the world. The pain I feel right now is just short-lived, and I just need to relax. I have already bought tickets to go see Together’s concert, and I miss Zoe very much. Teacher Yan, right, Teacher Yan will help me. Dr. Tian said that I’ll get better, and I will. It’s very sunny today, isn’t it?”
He finished reading the diary entry on this piece of paper and put it on the table. “Are you guys still not clear on what is going on now? This whole clinic is filled with hints, like Van Gogh’s paintings; as you all know, Van Gogh suffered from schizophrenia in the end, and there’s also that multiverse stuff in Zhou Ziheng’s school bag, and all the grid problems. All the clues are pointing to Zaozao; all of them are implying that no matter who it is, whether it is Zoe, Teacher Yan, or the big Gege from next door, they’re all actually the secondary personalities that Zaozao created for self-protection after being violated. She was an abused child, who has even attempted suicide once.” Xia Xiqing looked at everyone and asked, “Do you really think that she had been set up as the killer by the program team?”
Shang Sirui’s current expression revealed that he had suddenly seen the light. “Then what about the detective? Is the detective another one of her secondary personalities?”
“I’m not sure.” Xia Xiqing said, “I am leaning towards thinking that the detective is real, but Zaozao can’t be the criminal she’s chasing after.”
“I agree with the plotline of there being a split personality disorder. When I saw the multiverse thing, I had a vague feeling. However,” Zhai Ying shook her head before pointing out, “according to this logic, all of you are Zaozao, with the doctor and I being independent people, and if Zaozao isn’t the criminal, then the only option left is the doctor? But the doctor is already dead, and besides, how could a famous doctor like that be a fugitive? That letter also said that the last time they saw the fugitive was when they were in the clinic. It doesn’t make sense no matter how you say it that the doctor is a fugitive. Then if it’s like this, then isn’t no one here a fugitive?”
Fang Juexia, after listening to these words in silence, inevitably had some admiration for her sprout in his heart. All the flaws that he had found before in Xia Xiqing’s reasoning were accurately pointed out by her.
“No, there is another possibility.” Xia Xiqing continued, “The main personality is Zaozao, which doesn’t mean that the fugitive is Zaozao, but that it’s very likely that the crime was committed when a secondary personality was dominating her body, so the fugitive is likely to be a secondary personality.”
“If so, the knight is someone who can both protect Zaozao and persecute Zaozao…” Fang Juexia laughed before saying, “Then aren’t me and Ziheng the most suspicious characters? After all, Zoe is an idol, and there should be some distance between them ba.”
Shang Sirui quickly brought up the question, “Can’t the detective be an evil detective? It’s possible for the detective to play such an ambiguous role.”
Fang Juexia secretly admired the screenwriter in his heart. He could bury two sides into so many different roles.
Zhai Ying put forward a point, “I used to like to read European history, and previously, I didn’t know that the painting featured Marat, but after Xiqing Ge pointed it out, I thought of something. Marat was a doctor before the revolution, and he was assassinated by a vengeful girl. So does that mean something?”
Xia Xiqing seemed to have thought of this point a long time ago and quickly countered, “This painting is reversed, so can I also say that it was actually the girl who was killed here?”
Fang Juexia looked them in the eyes, gently scuffed his fingers against the sofa, and then said casually, “Whatever the story is behind this painting, maybe its connection to the plot isn’t that big. What’s important is the letter that was hidden behind it, that’s what I personally think.”
Zhou Ziheng, who had been silent and listening this the entire time, picked up the piece of paper, looked at it, and then opened his mouth to suggest, “All our inferences just now were based on Xiqing’s assumption—his assumption that Zaozao really is the victim.”
He leaned back on the sofa and continued to analyze, “I accept that the plot centers on multiple personalities or schizophrenia, because there are too many things that don’t make sense. Me, Zaozao, Zoe, and Teacher Yan all know each other, and all of these characters just happen to be patients of Dr. Tian. The probability of that actually happening is too small. The most likely explanation is that all of us are actually just one person, and that’s the only patient.”
“But there is a problem with this hypothesis.” Zhou Ziheng looked at Xia Xiqing. “Why is it that Zaozao asking for help definitely clears her of any suspicion of being the killer? A storyline where the one who seems to be the weakest turns out to, in fact, be the big boss at the end—we’ve all heard this kind of story too many times before. Do you guys know what I felt after listening to that diary entry?”
Having said that, he looked at everyone and pointed to the diary. “You see, clearly, Zaozao had already been told by the doctor that she is schizophrenic, but she still had to go find Zoe, go find Xiao Xi and Teacher Yan. Why? If she wanted to help herself, shouldn’t she accept the result of her diagnosis and be active in getting it treated? Why look for her other personalities? What is her purpose there?”
“If you look at the second sentence of the diary, she feels split and wants to be saved. This shows that she is no longer satisfied with sharing the same body with the other personalities. Only by removing the other personalities can she truly feel saved.”
Zhou Ziheng raised his eyebrows. “There may be more than one victim, but there is only one killer.”
He was implying that the girl Zaozao went to find her other personalities in order to eliminate them all.
The two men were at loggerheads, diametrically opposed to one another. However, Fang Juexia just stared at the diary that was facing Xia Xiqing; he was sitting on the side of the sofa and could only look at it from the side. Fang Juexia tilted his head, carefully reading out each sentence in his heart. He looked back and reexamined the reversed ‘The Death of Marat.”
Reversed….
Shang Sirui was confused. “I think what both of you said is all reasonable. It’s clearly two different sets of logic, but now I feel that both of them work.”
Zhai Ying suddenly thought of the scratch paper she had given Fang Juexia before. “By the way, Juexia Ge, have you solved the double integral problem on the paper from just now?”
“Oh, yes.” Fang Juexia also thought of it, so he took out the scratch paper and the paper where he had also calculated out the problem. “I’ve calculated it, and it’s right.”
Just as he took it out, he suddenly realized something and looked at a string of numbers on the scratch paper.
His heart pounded in his chest.
Xia Xiqing glanced at it and roughly checked over the calculations. There are also some sets written on the paper, like {1,2,3,4,2,5,2,2,2,2} {3,2,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1}… There were a lot of these, but he didn’t really pay attention to them. “I thought the killer was Xiao Pei before, but now that I think about it, from the beginning to the end, it wasn’t him who directly and constantly kept shoving me into the dark camp, but rather, that was Zhou Ziheng. Then, when I look at all the cards in my hand, naturally, I will suspect you.”
Zhou Ziheng replied with a smile, “My reasoning has been consistent and coherent from the beginning to the end, without any problems. What’s more, you don’t have ample reasons to deny that you are a killer.”
Fang Juexia thought for a moment, and then said, “I’m still inclined towards thinking that Xiqing Ge isn’t the killer. If he is the killer, then killing Xiao Pei in exchange for trust is very risky. And I’ve always been curious about why, whenever the situation is completely uncertain, Ziheng points to Xiqing Ge. This doesn’t seem like how an ordinary player would play this game, because ordinary players are afraid that if their perspective isn’t made clear, they may misunderstand someone’s identity or draw the killer’s attention towards themselves. “
“So now you’re standing on Xiqing’s side?” Zhou Ziheng laughed. “You don’t speak much while on the field, but almost all of your words are neutral or are secretly protecting him. Can I reasonably suspect that there is some kind of relationship between you two?”
Xia Xiqing suddenly laughed, raised his eyebrows at Zhou Ziheng, and teased in a frivolous tone, “Even if there was a relationship, what do you want to do about it?”
Fang Juexia felt that he was being forced into getting drawn into a bloody battlefield again, which made him feel awkward.
“I accept all doubts.” Saying that, Fang Juexia looked at Zhou Ziheng directly. “I just think that your diametric opposition came on too suddenly, but that doesn’t mean that I’m certain you’re the killer. And there’s still another point, I’m not sure how the killer kills people, whether it’s through using the cellphone or not. I’m just wondering, but when Xiao Pei died, you had just taken out your cellphone, right?”
Zhou Ziheng defended himself, “I just unlocked the screen, and in such a short while, I can’t type out ‘Pei Tingsong’ and then click send.”
Zhai Ying asked at this time, “But what if you had already opened up the killer’s input screen in advance, and had gone ahead and entered Pei Tingsong’s name? In that case, seeing you holding your cellphone becomes a prepared alibi.”
As time passed, the program group’s narration reappeared.
“Players, the last round of voting for the killer’s identity will start in 30 seconds, and the executed players will be kicked out. The countdown has begun.”
“You’ll all regret it if you throw me out,” Zhou Ziheng warned.
Xia Xiqing shrugged, his fingers stroking his chin for a second, and then got up from the sofa.
The remaining five people also scattered, and Fang Juexia walked a few steps towards the two doors of the clinic. The other people also went towards other doors or walls, everyone keeping their backs to each other as they took out their cellphones.
Fang Juexia took a deep breath, quickly entered a name, and then, while still pretending to hold the cellphone, stretched his other hand out to the front of his shirt.
Even at this moment, he could still feel the aftershock he had experienced when Pei Tingsong had patted his chest, and remembered the rustling sound he had heard in his front pocket vividly.
He took out this piece of paper the same way he had taken out the poem Pei Tingsong had given him when they were at the magazine shoot.
An English word was written on this piece of paper.
[Ukulele]
The ukulele.
He turned the paper over and saw another line of words on it, the handwriting careless and open.
He didn’t know why, but just seeing this line made his heart beat violently.
“Voting time is over. The results will be made public soon.”
Fang Juexia turned back around calmly and stuffed both the piece of paper and cellphone into his pocket as he waited for the moment of sentencing to arrive.
“In this round of voting, the executed player is…”
“Zhou Ziheng. Please go to the execution area by yourself.”
Everyone looked at Zhou Ziheng just to see him as he twisted his eyebrows, after which he shook his head. Without saying a word, he entered the bright red circle.
After watching him fall down, Fang Juexia glanced at the final gate.
Xia Xiqing seemed to be very satisfied with the result. “Now that the killer is dead, the program group must give us some information on the black knight.”
Shang Sirui felt a little scared. “Last season, we’d managed to escape before having to execute this many people.”
Zhai Ying glanced at him and asked, “What are you afraid of? It’s not like it’s real.”
Fang Juexia leaned against the door and used it to support his waist as he opened his mouth, “By the way, we’ve been talking about the killer this whole time, so much so that I almost forgot.” He pointed to the cabinet by the door and looked at Xia Xiqing as he continued, “Didn’t we see a 36-grid square array on the display screen on that door just now? I just unraveled the drawer mechanism in the cabinet to the side, and there was a plaid handkerchief inside it. Ziheng just put some water on it, and we saw a cipher there.”
He walked over, and the others followed. Xia Xiqing looked down at the square array printed on the handkerchief, and Fang Juexia explained, “There are also numbers on the handkerchief.”
“This is a chessboard cipher.” Xia Xiqing said, “There was a period of time when I read a lot of books on decryption, and this is the most classical of classical ciphers.”
___1__ 2__ 3__ 4__ 5
1__ q__ w__ e__ r__ t
2__ y__ u_ i/j_ o__ p
3__ a__ s__ d__ f__ g
4__ h__ k__l__z__ x
5__ c__ v__ b__ n__ m
“You really found the key clue.” Xia Xiqing pointed to the number on the handkerchief and explained, “The first line with 15.41.23.14.33, actually denotes a coordinate. The first number is the row, and the second number is the column, corresponding to the chessboard just now. 15 is t, 41 is h, 23 is i or j, 14 is r, and 33 is d.”
Shang Sirui immediately realized what was going on. “Third! Number three!”
Xia Xiqing nodded, and then went on to explain further. Fang Juexia didn’t speak up, and everyone’s attention was focused on that cipher.
He walked away in silence. Zhai Ying discovered him, and she turned her head and asked him, “Where are you going, Juexia Ge?”
Fang Juexia looked back with some doubts on his face. “I think it’s very strange that only I don’t have a medical record. Could it be that I haven’t found it yet? I’d like to go back to the clinic, and maybe there’s still a key clue hiding there.”
Xia Xiqing also looked back and thought for a moment. “We really do not have yours.”
“Anyway, the most important thing is to unlock the main gate. I’ll look for it first, and you guys can come over later.”
Shang Sirui said, “The third line is it? I’ll try.” Xia Xiqing immediately stopped him and said, “First let’s finish solving it, if we type in the wrong answer, we’ll have to wait an hour!”
Fang Juexia silently entered the clinic by himself. Only after checking to see that no one was following did he walk quickly to the bookshelf and take down the ukulele.
As he took it down, he noticed that a book had also been pulled out and placed next to the ukulele; it was a book on astronomy. There was a magnifying glass on the book. He had noticed this astronomy book before, but had this magnifying glass also been in the psychiatrist’s room from the start?
If it was really like this, the ideas in his head would only grow firmer.
Fang Juexia turned the ukulele over and shook it; there was something inside. He reached into it carefully with his fingers, for fear of making a noise.
Sweat had even gathered on his forehead.
Finally, Fang Juexia took out the thing that was inside it, which was a stack of thickly folded paper. He eased the ukulele down and unfolded the paper as he walked into Zaozao’s room.
The first piece of paper was his medical record, which clearly showed his illness—manic depression.
Seeing these words, Fang Juexia’s breath nearly stagnated.
Manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder.
Flipping to the second piece of paper, he found that it was a music score for a guitar; however, this score was scribbled on an old newspaper. When he flipped it over, he saw an item in the newspaper that was circled with a pen.
[At 5:52 this morning, a young man surnamed Tan, wearing a white coat and holding a knife, killed a middle-aged man on Yanghua road. The motive for the murder has not been discovered yet, and the police have stepped in to investigate the whereabouts of the fugitive. At present, according to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Tan was not a doctor. When he was 13 years old, he was sexually assaulted by his neighbor, and it caused quite a sensation at that time. Since then, he has suffered from delusions and multiple personality disorder, and has been receiving treatment in a private clinic in the city…]
5:52
Wasn’t this the first number puzzle he had solved?
In the news article, the character ‘Tan’ had also been marked, and beside it were a few scribbled words—
[Yan, Xi, Zao, north, Tian, together]
Fang Juexia suddenly thought of the number set on the previous piece of scratch paper, and abruptly woke up.
He hurried and flipped to the last piece of paper, which seemed to have been rolled up, with obvious signs of it curling. A few words were written on this piece of paper.
[A counterattack doesn’t really let you stand up again
Life is worth admitting your own smallness
The sand obeys the sea, just like the subordinates obey a lord
Only by knowing yourself can you obtain true rest
If you give up early ba, you will always be secondary]
“Juexia, have you found it? Your medical record.”
As soon as Fang Juexia heard Shang Sirui’s voice, he put the other papers away, held the medical record in his hand, and crouched at the side of the sofa. “Seem to have found it…”
Shang Sirui came into the room just in time to see Fang Juexia’s red face as he pulled out a piece of paper from the bottom of the sofa. Fang Juexia stood up and patted the dust off the paper. “It should be this one, no mistake.”
“What does Teacher Yan have?”
Fang Juexia directly handed the medical record over to him.
“What is manic depression…”
Fang Juexia didn’t pay any more attention to him and went out by himself. “Have you guys found the answer?”
“En.” Zhai Ying turned her head and explained, “It’s the third row and the first column, which solved the square array, but then another problem popped up on the screen. Xiqing Ge just entered the answer, but it wasn’t right. But the good thing here is that if you enter in this answer wrong, you don’t have to wait for another hour before trying again.”
Xia Xiqing had now sat back on the sofa, and was frowning and lowering his head as if deep in thought.
“What’s the problem?” Fang Juexia walked over and clicked on the screen on the door.
While thinking, Xia Xiqing subconsciously noticed that piece of scratch paper. Just now, when Fang Juexia had taken it out, he had just taken a cursory glance and had matched up the problem-solving process and the answers instead of paying attention to the random handwritten sets on the paper.
{1，2，3，4，2，5，2，2，2，2} {3，2，1，1，1，1，0，1，1}
Generally speaking, a set could not have duplicate elements, and must be unique.
He counted.
Fang Juexia stared at the question on the screen and heard Zhai Ying say, “That’s just the problem. Xiqing typed in Xiao Xi and Zaozao just down, but it wasn’t right.”
Two lines in English were displayed on the screen—
[Who is the main one？
Who are you？]
“I’ll try.”
Xia Xiqing, who had counted out the repeated elements in each set, suddenly realized and murmured, “It’s 6…”
Yes, six. Six players with five rooms, with only one room connected to two doors, six square hoods, and the square array on the display screen on the door was also a 6×6 grid.
All the details came together at once: Shang Sirui’s guitar in the waiting room, the ukulele in the consultation room, Zhou Ziheng’s physics textbook in the waiting room, the astronomy book in the consultation room, the art tools in his room, and the paintings in the consultation room.
Only two people had started in the clinic, corresponding to one black and one white door, and then the double integral on the scratch paper.
Xia Xiqing lowered his head, and the reversed painting appeared in his mind. He suddenly remembered something, and then immediately picked up that diary entry again.
No, it wasn’t.
The painting was reversed.
The characters were also reversed.
So, the diary entry should also be reversed. Diary entries always started with a statement about the weather….
[It’s very sunny today, isn’t it?
Dr. Tian said that I’ll get better, and I will.
Teacher Yan, right, Teacher Yan will help me. I have already bought tickets to see Together’s concert, and I miss Zoe very much. My pain right now is just short-lived, and I just need to relax. Xiao Wen Gege from next door said he would help me; he will help tutor me, chat with me, and let me feel that the world still has hope.
The doctor said that all of this is just my fantasy, he said that my neighbor is an old lady, and that there is no college student at all, and he said that that band also doesn’t exist, why does he want to deceive me, no, these are all fake.
I have a premonition that I’m about to die.
Why didn’t the treatment make any progress, but made me instead sink into the mire and can’t extricate myself.
I feel broken and split, and I’m in great pain.
Help me, I don’t want to be controlled.]
Wrong, all wrong.
He had just been feeling suspicious about why it had been ‘the main one’ instead of the ‘killer’ being asked in the display panel.
Because the main one was the killer.
After having inputted his answers, Fang Juexia looked at the questions and answers on the screen.
Who is the main one？ [Dr. Tian]
Who are you？ [Tan Ji]
“Everyone, please note that the first player of this season has successfully escaped with his life.”
With a bang, the gate opened.
The first person Fang Juexia saw was Pei Tingsong, who had been standing outside the gate and waiting for a long time. His smile was filled with victory and wild ambition, and underneath the colorful paper streamers and gold sparkles being sprayed by the staff, he opened both his arms and pulled Fang Juexia, who was keyed up to the fullest extent right now, into his arms.
“You worked hard.”
The narration announced the final result, “The winning camp is…”
Closing his eyes, that note hidden inside the ukulele appeared before Fang Juexia’s eyes. On the back of the note were written the last words Pei Tingsong had to say to Fang Juexia after he had quickly peeled off his golden cicada skin to escape a tricky situation.
[You need to let me win ah, Gege.]
“The dark camp! Congratulations to Black Knight Fang Juexia, and Killer Pei Tingsong!”
Fang Juexia raised his head and did away with his empty-looking disguise. “Other half.” The eyebrows on that naturally cold face were raised right now, and even the red birthmark at the corner of his eye grew fresh and alive as he uttered—
“We won.”
Translated by juurensha
Edited by Noks
The winning camp is…
“What?” Shang Sirui, with a completely panic-stricken look on his face, looked at Pei Tingsong who wasn’t far away. “Xiao Pei is dead? Why kill Xiao Pei ah?”
Fang Juexia looked over just to see Pei Tingsong laughing as he joked, “This program is really unfriendly towards new people.”
The narration from the program group rang out again—”The dead player has lost all rights to speak. Please head to the execution area and wait to leave the room.”
So he stood up and followed the instructions, heading towards the red circle on the floor of the reception hall, which was the only way by which a dead player could leave the escape room.
Fang Juexia stared at Pei Tingsong, and as if due to some tacit understanding between them, he also looked over at the same time.
He gave a rare smile, one that seemed to signal that he was admitting defeat as he fell down from the execution area.
With the floor closing up again, the first player had officially exited the escape room. The remaining people were all immersed in different moods; some were surprised, while others adjusted their thinking after taking this new reality into account.
Pei Tingsong’s death had come so suddenly that everyone was caught off guard.
Zhou Ziheng frowned and took a look at the time. “There are only 15 minutes left before the next round of voting to oust the killer.”
Fang Juexia looked at the handkerchief on the cupboard again. “Shouldn’t we figure this out first?”
“We can leave it here and figure it out at any time.” After saying that, Zhou Ziheng looked at Fang Juexia and said, “You can rest assured, this main gate definitely contains more than just this one simple lock.”
Zhou Ziheng then headed towards the sofa and called everyone to gather around for a discussion before the second round of voting.
Fang Juexia took one last look, then followed him to the coffee table.
“Let’s sort out the clues and elements we have in our hands first.” Zhou Ziheng seemed to have taken the position of the leader. “In the last round, I believe everyone’s focus was on Xiqing and Xiao Pei, but it’s not realistic to verify everyone’s vote from the last round right now, since after all, the program group has deliberately adopted the anonymous voting method. Both of them survived the voting round, but the killer then killed Xiao Pei. This is very strange, and is worth analyzing.”
Shang Sirui was still shocked by Pei Tingsong’s death. “Wait, let me straighten things out in my head, I’m really confused right now.”
After holding his head for a long time, he suddenly said, “Just before Xiao Pei died, he stood up and said that he wanted to go back to Zhai Ying’s room to take a look, but he died just as he took two steps in that direction. It couldn’t be that there is something in Zhai Ying’s room?”
Zhai Ying said, “What he’s saying, I also heard it, it’s true. At that time, I also wanted to go look again at my room, but I didn’t expect the program to suddenly announce that he was dead. In addition, when Xiqing Ge and Pei Tingsong confronted each other before, they both said that they were white knights. Now that Xiao Pei is dead, is it possible that the killer killed off the one he thought was the real white knight?”
Shang Sirui suddenly looked at Xia Xiqing.
“Why are you looking at me ma?” Xia Xiqing’s expression didn’t change at all, and he even laughed. “Do you think I killed him? If you just think about it a little bit, you’ll know that that’s impossible. How could there be a killer who put on a knight’s clothing and then immediately after that, kill off the person who is jumping out and declaring that they’re the real knight? Now that Xiao Pei has died, everyone will doubt me. Do you think I would use such a trick, one that would inevitably draw fire upon myself?”
Zhou Ziheng laughed as he said, “It’s not impossible.”
Fang Juexia looked at him.
“Because we all know that you are good at playing this game and wouldn’t use such a trick. However, once you did use it, you could actually clear yourself of all suspicion by making everyone think that it is a cheap trick deliberately orchestrated by someone to frame you.”
Xia Xiqing almost started menacing Zhou Ziheng right then and there, but an announcement from the program group suddenly rang out—
“Players, please note that we are now announcing the double-faced knight’s chosen camp.”
Hearing this, Fang Juexia quietly unscrewed the water bottle kept near the sofa and drank some water.
“They chose the dark camp.”
All the players had different expressions after hearing that. Fang Juexia tightened the cap on the water bottle cap, set it on the coffee table, and sighed, “A black knight…”
Zhou Ziheng took the lead in analyzing. “In fact, I said before at the start that when Xiqing and Xiao Pei were both jumping out at each other, that I felt that the real knight was off to the sides. Because I believe that regardless of whether they belong to the dark or light camp, the knight wouldn’t reveal their card this easily. Of course, this rule becomes invalid when it comes to Xiqing, because he is a player who likes to explosively reveal himself. That’s the only reason why everyone’s view of the situation was so unclear.”
“Now that the knight’s camp has been revealed, it just adds more evidence towards my idea; the real knight chose a black card, and he knows that his camp will be revealed sooner or later, so he wouldn’t jump out and reveal himself easily. So, in that case, what roles are the two people who did jump out playing? Either they’re an ordinary player who mistakenly thought that the knight was a white knight and jumped out to block a stab for the knight, or they’re the killer.”
After saying that, he looked at Xia Xiqing. “This just verified my previous logic. The first time, you used your identity as a player who explosively reveals himself to let everyone think that you may be the real knight. The second time, you used the assumption that a player belonging to the good camp wouldn’t kill off the only person who had jumped out with the knight identity to clear all suspicion off your head. As for why you killed Xiao Pei? Maybe it was because you really thought that he was a white knight, but I’m more inclined to think that you discovered that Xiao Pei had found evidence that pointed towards your identity.”
His words were forceful and lofty, and the logic he stated was perfectly coherent. After he abruptly stopped speaking, the rest of the players could only consider things according to the pace he had spoken with, and they pretty much didn’t discover any flaws in his reasoning.
There was a moment of silence, and even Xia Xiqing just smiled.
Fang Juexia folded his hands in front of him and asked, “According to this reasoning, we really can analyze the situation where both of them had jumped out, and Xiao Pei’s death just now. However, the killer’s identity is linked to the plot. I don’t think it’s good to judge on such things so quickly when the plotline isn’t so clear to us yet.”
“At last, there’s someone who understands.” Xia Xiqing laughed grimly. “Being a logical computer is your strong point after all, Zhou Ziheng. Let’s put that aside first, and sort out the plot this time.”
He leaned back against the sofa and pointed to the picture on the display wall. “See the middle painting there? A man who died in a bathtub. This painting is ‘The Death of Marat’—it shows Marat, a cruel leader of the French Revolution, who was assassinated in a bathtub.” Saying this, he smiled and added, “But there is something wrong with this painting.”
“In the original painting’s composition, Marat and the bathtub are on the left side of the picture, but this painting has these things reversed, and they’re on the opposite side. When I saw this painting, I knew that this was a clue the program group had set up. So I took the painting down and found this hidden between the canvas and the frame.” He took out a piece of paper, and Fang Juexia recognized it at a glance. It was the same kind of graph paper that was used for the female high school student’s suicide note from before.
As Fang Juexia had expected, Xia Xiqing had really opened the painting, so there would be a gap there.
Shang Sirui leaned over and asked, “What’s written on it?”
Xia Xiqing replied, “This is a diary entry written by Zaozao.”
He then read it out, “Help me, I don’t want to be controlled. I feel broken and split, and I’m in great pain. Why didn’t the treatment make any progress, but made me instead sink into the mire and can’t extricate myself. I have a premonition that I’m about to die. The doctor said that all of this is just my fantasy, he said that my neighbor is an old lady, and that there is no college student at all, and he said that that band also doesn’t exist, why does he want to deceive me, no, these are all fake.”
“Xiao Wen Gege from next door said he would help me. He will help tutor me, chat with me, and let me feel that there is still hope in the world. The pain I feel right now is just short-lived, and I just need to relax. I have already bought tickets to go see Together’s concert, and I miss Zoe very much. Teacher Yan, right, Teacher Yan will help me. Dr. Tian said that I’ll get better, and I will. It’s very sunny today, isn’t it?”
He finished reading the diary entry on this piece of paper and put it on the table. “Are you guys still not clear on what is going on now? This whole clinic is filled with hints, like Van Gogh’s paintings; as you all know, Van Gogh suffered from schizophrenia in the end, and there’s also that multiverse stuff in Zhou Ziheng’s school bag, and all the grid problems. All the clues are pointing to Zaozao; all of them are implying that no matter who it is, whether it is Zoe, Teacher Yan, or the big Gege from next door, they’re all actually the secondary personalities that Zaozao created for self-protection after being violated. She was an abused child, who has even attempted suicide once.” Xia Xiqing looked at everyone and asked, “Do you really think that she had been set up as the killer by the program team?”
Shang Sirui’s current expression revealed that he had suddenly seen the light. “Then what about the detective? Is the detective another one of her secondary personalities?”
“I’m not sure.” Xia Xiqing said, “I am leaning towards thinking that the detective is real, but Zaozao can’t be the criminal she’s chasing after.”
“I agree with the plotline of there being a split personality disorder. When I saw the multiverse thing, I had a vague feeling. However,” Zhai Ying shook her head before pointing out, “according to this logic, all of you are Zaozao, with the doctor and I being independent people, and if Zaozao isn’t the criminal, then the only option left is the doctor? But the doctor is already dead, and besides, how could a famous doctor like that be a fugitive? That letter also said that the last time they saw the fugitive was when they were in the clinic. It doesn’t make sense no matter how you say it that the doctor is a fugitive. Then if it’s like this, then isn’t no one here a fugitive?”
Fang Juexia, after listening to these words in silence, inevitably had some admiration for her sprout in his heart. All the flaws that he had found before in Xia Xiqing’s reasoning were accurately pointed out by her.
“No, there is another possibility.” Xia Xiqing continued, “The main personality is Zaozao, which doesn’t mean that the fugitive is Zaozao, but that it’s very likely that the crime was committed when a secondary personality was dominating her body, so the fugitive is likely to be a secondary personality.”
“If so, the knight is someone who can both protect Zaozao and persecute Zaozao…” Fang Juexia laughed before saying, “Then aren’t me and Ziheng the most suspicious characters? After all, Zoe is an idol, and there should be some distance between them ba.”
Shang Sirui quickly brought up the question, “Can’t the detective be an evil detective? It’s possible for the detective to play such an ambiguous role.”
Fang Juexia secretly admired the screenwriter in his heart. He could bury two sides into so many different roles.
Zhai Ying put forward a point, “I used to like to read European history, and previously, I didn’t know that the painting featured Marat, but after Xiqing Ge pointed it out, I thought of something. Marat was a doctor before the revolution, and he was assassinated by a vengeful girl. So does that mean something?”
Xia Xiqing seemed to have thought of this point a long time ago and quickly countered, “This painting is reversed, so can I also say that it was actually the girl who was killed here?”
Fang Juexia looked them in the eyes, gently scuffed his fingers against the sofa, and then said casually, “Whatever the story is behind this painting, maybe its connection to the plot isn’t that big. What’s important is the letter that was hidden behind it, that’s what I personally think.”
Zhou Ziheng, who had been silent and listening this the entire time, picked up the piece of paper, looked at it, and then opened his mouth to suggest, “All our inferences just now were based on Xiqing’s assumption—his assumption that Zaozao really is the victim.”
He leaned back on the sofa and continued to analyze, “I accept that the plot centers on multiple personalities or schizophrenia, because there are too many things that don’t make sense. Me, Zaozao, Zoe, and Teacher Yan all know each other, and all of these characters just happen to be patients of Dr. Tian. The probability of that actually happening is too small. The most likely explanation is that all of us are actually just one person, and that’s the only patient.”
“But there is a problem with this hypothesis.” Zhou Ziheng looked at Xia Xiqing. “Why is it that Zaozao asking for help definitely clears her of any suspicion of being the killer? A storyline where the one who seems to be the weakest turns out to, in fact, be the big boss at the end—we’ve all heard this kind of story too many times before. Do you guys know what I felt after listening to that diary entry?”
Having said that, he looked at everyone and pointed to the diary. “You see, clearly, Zaozao had already been told by the doctor that she is schizophrenic, but she still had to go find Zoe, go find Xiao Xi and Teacher Yan. Why? If she wanted to help herself, shouldn’t she accept the result of her diagnosis and be active in getting it treated? Why look for her other personalities? What is her purpose there?”
“If you look at the second sentence of the diary, she feels split and wants to be saved. This shows that she is no longer satisfied with sharing the same body with the other personalities. Only by removing the other personalities can she truly feel saved.”
Zhou Ziheng raised his eyebrows. “There may be more than one victim, but there is only one killer.”
He was implying that the girl Zaozao went to find her other personalities in order to eliminate them all.
The two men were at loggerheads, diametrically opposed to one another. However, Fang Juexia just stared at the diary that was facing Xia Xiqing; he was sitting on the side of the sofa and could only look at it from the side. Fang Juexia tilted his head, carefully reading out each sentence in his heart. He looked back and reexamined the reversed ‘The Death of Marat.”
Reversed….
Shang Sirui was confused. “I think what both of you said is all reasonable. It’s clearly two different sets of logic, but now I feel that both of them work.”
Zhai Ying suddenly thought of the scratch paper she had given Fang Juexia before. “By the way, Juexia Ge, have you solved the double integral problem on the paper from just now?”
“Oh, yes.” Fang Juexia also thought of it, so he took out the scratch paper and the paper where he had also calculated out the problem. “I’ve calculated it, and it’s right.”
Just as he took it out, he suddenly realized something and looked at a string of numbers on the scratch paper.
His heart pounded in his chest.
Xia Xiqing glanced at it and roughly checked over the calculations. There are also some sets written on the paper, like {1,2,3,4,2,5,2,2,2,2} {3,2,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1}… There were a lot of these, but he didn’t really pay attention to them. “I thought the killer was Xiao Pei before, but now that I think about it, from the beginning to the end, it wasn’t him who directly and constantly kept shoving me into the dark camp, but rather, that was Zhou Ziheng. Then, when I look at all the cards in my hand, naturally, I will suspect you.”
Zhou Ziheng replied with a smile, “My reasoning has been consistent and coherent from the beginning to the end, without any problems. What’s more, you don’t have ample reasons to deny that you are a killer.”
Fang Juexia thought for a moment, and then said, “I’m still inclined towards thinking that Xiqing Ge isn’t the killer. If he is the killer, then killing Xiao Pei in exchange for trust is very risky. And I’ve always been curious about why, whenever the situation is completely uncertain, Ziheng points to Xiqing Ge. This doesn’t seem like how an ordinary player would play this game, because ordinary players are afraid that if their perspective isn’t made clear, they may misunderstand someone’s identity or draw the killer’s attention towards themselves. “
“So now you’re standing on Xiqing’s side?” Zhou Ziheng laughed. “You don’t speak much while on the field, but almost all of your words are neutral or are secretly protecting him. Can I reasonably suspect that there is some kind of relationship between you two?”
Xia Xiqing suddenly laughed, raised his eyebrows at Zhou Ziheng, and teased in a frivolous tone, “Even if there was a relationship, what do you want to do about it?”
Fang Juexia felt that he was being forced into getting drawn into a bloody battlefield again, which made him feel awkward.
“I accept all doubts.” Saying that, Fang Juexia looked at Zhou Ziheng directly. “I just think that your diametric opposition came on too suddenly, but that doesn’t mean that I’m certain you’re the killer. And there’s still another point, I’m not sure how the killer kills people, whether it’s through using the cellphone or not. I’m just wondering, but when Xiao Pei died, you had just taken out your cellphone, right?”
Zhou Ziheng defended himself, “I just unlocked the screen, and in such a short while, I can’t type out ‘Pei Tingsong’ and then click send.”
Zhai Ying asked at this time, “But what if you had already opened up the killer’s input screen in advance, and had gone ahead and entered Pei Tingsong’s name? In that case, seeing you holding your cellphone becomes a prepared alibi.”
As time passed, the program group’s narration reappeared.
“Players, the last round of voting for the killer’s identity will start in 30 seconds, and the executed players will be kicked out. The countdown has begun.”
“You’ll all regret it if you throw me out,” Zhou Ziheng warned.
Xia Xiqing shrugged, his fingers stroking his chin for a second, and then got up from the sofa.
The remaining five people also scattered, and Fang Juexia walked a few steps towards the two doors of the clinic. The other people also went towards other doors or walls, everyone keeping their backs to each other as they took out their cellphones.
Fang Juexia took a deep breath, quickly entered a name, and then, while still pretending to hold the cellphone, stretched his other hand out to the front of his shirt.
Even at this moment, he could still feel the aftershock he had experienced when Pei Tingsong had patted his chest, and remembered the rustling sound he had heard in his front pocket vividly.
He took out this piece of paper the same way he had taken out the poem Pei Tingsong had given him when they were at the magazine shoot.
An English word was written on this piece of paper.
[Ukulele]
The ukulele.
He turned the paper over and saw another line of words on it, the handwriting careless and open.
He didn’t know why, but just seeing this line made his heart beat violently.
“Voting time is over. The results will be made public soon.”
Fang Juexia turned back around calmly and stuffed both the piece of paper and cellphone into his pocket as he waited for the moment of sentencing to arrive.
“In this round of voting, the executed player is…”
“Zhou Ziheng. Please go to the execution area by yourself.”
Everyone looked at Zhou Ziheng just to see him as he twisted his eyebrows, after which he shook his head. Without saying a word, he entered the bright red circle.
After watching him fall down, Fang Juexia glanced at the final gate.
Xia Xiqing seemed to be very satisfied with the result. “Now that the killer is dead, the program group must give us some information on the black knight.”
Shang Sirui felt a little scared. “Last season, we’d managed to escape before having to execute this many people.”
Zhai Ying glanced at him and asked, “What are you afraid of? It’s not like it’s real.”
Fang Juexia leaned against the door and used it to support his waist as he opened his mouth, “By the way, we’ve been talking about the killer this whole time, so much so that I almost forgot.” He pointed to the cabinet by the door and looked at Xia Xiqing as he continued, “Didn’t we see a 36-grid square array on the display screen on that door just now? I just unraveled the drawer mechanism in the cabinet to the side, and there was a plaid handkerchief inside it. Ziheng just put some water on it, and we saw a cipher there.”
He walked over, and the others followed. Xia Xiqing looked down at the square array printed on the handkerchief, and Fang Juexia explained, “There are also numbers on the handkerchief.”
“This is a chessboard cipher.” Xia Xiqing said, “There was a period of time when I read a lot of books on decryption, and this is the most classical of classical ciphers.”
___1__ 2__ 3__ 4__ 5
1__ q__ w__ e__ r__ t
2__ y__ u_ i/j_ o__ p
3__ a__ s__ d__ f__ g
4__ h__ k__l__z__ x
5__ c__ v__ b__ n__ m
“You really found the key clue.” Xia Xiqing pointed to the number on the handkerchief and explained, “The first line with 15.41.23.14.33, actually denotes a coordinate. The first number is the row, and the second number is the column, corresponding to the chessboard just now. 15 is t, 41 is h, 23 is i or j, 14 is r, and 33 is d.”
Shang Sirui immediately realized what was going on. “Third! Number three!”
Xia Xiqing nodded, and then went on to explain further. Fang Juexia didn’t speak up, and everyone’s attention was focused on that cipher.
He walked away in silence. Zhai Ying discovered him, and she turned her head and asked him, “Where are you going, Juexia Ge?”
Fang Juexia looked back with some doubts on his face. “I think it’s very strange that only I don’t have a medical record. Could it be that I haven’t found it yet? I’d like to go back to the clinic, and maybe there’s still a key clue hiding there.”
Xia Xiqing also looked back and thought for a moment. “We really do not have yours.”
“Anyway, the most important thing is to unlock the main gate. I’ll look for it first, and you guys can come over later.”
Shang Sirui said, “The third line is it? I’ll try.” Xia Xiqing immediately stopped him and said, “First let’s finish solving it, if we type in the wrong answer, we’ll have to wait an hour!”
Fang Juexia silently entered the clinic by himself. Only after checking to see that no one was following did he walk quickly to the bookshelf and take down the ukulele.
As he took it down, he noticed that a book had also been pulled out and placed next to the ukulele; it was a book on astronomy. There was a magnifying glass on the book. He had noticed this astronomy book before, but had this magnifying glass also been in the psychiatrist’s room from the start?
If it was really like this, the ideas in his head would only grow firmer.
Fang Juexia turned the ukulele over and shook it; there was something inside. He reached into it carefully with his fingers, for fear of making a noise.
Sweat had even gathered on his forehead.
Finally, Fang Juexia took out the thing that was inside it, which was a stack of thickly folded paper. He eased the ukulele down and unfolded the paper as he walked into Zaozao’s room.
The first piece of paper was his medical record, which clearly showed his illness—manic depression.
Seeing these words, Fang Juexia’s breath nearly stagnated.
Manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder.
Flipping to the second piece of paper, he found that it was a music score for a guitar; however, this score was scribbled on an old newspaper. When he flipped it over, he saw an item in the newspaper that was circled with a pen.
[At 5:52 this morning, a young man surnamed Tan, wearing a white coat and holding a knife, killed a middle-aged man on Yanghua road. The motive for the murder has not been discovered yet, and the police have stepped in to investigate the whereabouts of the fugitive. At present, according to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Tan was not a doctor. When he was 13 years old, he was sexually assaulted by his neighbor, and it caused quite a sensation at that time. Since then, he has suffered from delusions and multiple personality disorder, and has been receiving treatment in a private clinic in the city…]
5:52
Wasn’t this the first number puzzle he had solved?
In the news article, the character ‘Tan’ had also been marked, and beside it were a few scribbled words—
[Yan, Xi, Zao, north, Tian, together]
Fang Juexia suddenly thought of the number set on the previous piece of scratch paper, and abruptly woke up.
He hurried and flipped to the last piece of paper, which seemed to have been rolled up, with obvious signs of it curling. A few words were written on this piece of paper.
[A counterattack doesn’t really let you stand up again
Life is worth admitting your own smallness
The sand obeys the sea, just like the subordinates obey a lord
Only by knowing yourself can you obtain true rest
If you give up early ba, you will always be secondary]
“Juexia, have you found it? Your medical record.”
As soon as Fang Juexia heard Shang Sirui’s voice, he put the other papers away, held the medical record in his hand, and crouched at the side of the sofa. “Seem to have found it…”
Shang Sirui came into the room just in time to see Fang Juexia’s red face as he pulled out a piece of paper from the bottom of the sofa. Fang Juexia stood up and patted the dust off the paper. “It should be this one, no mistake.”
“What does Teacher Yan have?”
Fang Juexia directly handed the medical record over to him.
“What is manic depression…”
Fang Juexia didn’t pay any more attention to him and went out by himself. “Have you guys found the answer?”
“En.” Zhai Ying turned her head and explained, “It’s the third row and the first column, which solved the square array, but then another problem popped up on the screen. Xiqing Ge just entered the answer, but it wasn’t right. But the good thing here is that if you enter in this answer wrong, you don’t have to wait for another hour before trying again.”
Xia Xiqing had now sat back on the sofa, and was frowning and lowering his head as if deep in thought.
“What’s the problem?” Fang Juexia walked over and clicked on the screen on the door.
While thinking, Xia Xiqing subconsciously noticed that piece of scratch paper. Just now, when Fang Juexia had taken it out, he had just taken a cursory glance and had matched up the problem-solving process and the answers instead of paying attention to the random handwritten sets on the paper.
{1，2，3，4，2，5，2，2，2，2} {3，2，1，1，1，1，0，1，1}
Generally speaking, a set could not have duplicate elements, and must be unique.
He counted.
Fang Juexia stared at the question on the screen and heard Zhai Ying say, “That’s just the problem. Xiqing typed in Xiao Xi and Zaozao just down, but it wasn’t right.”
Two lines in English were displayed on the screen—
[Who is the main one？
Who are you？]
“I’ll try.”
Xia Xiqing, who had counted out the repeated elements in each set, suddenly realized and murmured, “It’s 6…”
Yes, six. Six players with five rooms, with only one room connected to two doors, six square hoods, and the square array on the display screen on the door was also a 6×6 grid.
All the details came together at once: Shang Sirui’s guitar in the waiting room, the ukulele in the consultation room, Zhou Ziheng’s physics textbook in the waiting room, the astronomy book in the consultation room, the art tools in his room, and the paintings in the consultation room.
Only two people had started in the clinic, corresponding to one black and one white door, and then the double integral on the scratch paper.
Xia Xiqing lowered his head, and the reversed painting appeared in his mind. He suddenly remembered something, and then immediately picked up that diary entry again.
No, it wasn’t.
The painting was reversed.
The characters were also reversed.
So, the diary entry should also be reversed. Diary entries always started with a statement about the weather….
[It’s very sunny today, isn’t it?
Dr. Tian said that I’ll get better, and I will.
Teacher Yan, right, Teacher Yan will help me. I have already bought tickets to see Together’s concert, and I miss Zoe very much. My pain right now is just short-lived, and I just need to relax. Xiao Wen Gege from next door said he would help me; he will help tutor me, chat with me, and let me feel that the world still has hope.
The doctor said that all of this is just my fantasy, he said that my neighbor is an old lady, and that there is no college student at all, and he said that that band also doesn’t exist, why does he want to deceive me, no, these are all fake.
I have a premonition that I’m about to die.
Why didn’t the treatment make any progress, but made me instead sink into the mire and can’t extricate myself.
I feel broken and split, and I’m in great pain.
Help me, I don’t want to be controlled.]
Wrong, all wrong.
He had just been feeling suspicious about why it had been ‘the main one’ instead of the ‘killer’ being asked in the display panel.
Because the main one was the killer.
After having inputted his answers, Fang Juexia looked at the questions and answers on the screen.
Who is the main one？ [Dr. Tian]
Who are you？ [Tan Ji]
“Everyone, please note that the first player of this season has successfully escaped with his life.”
With a bang, the gate opened.
The first person Fang Juexia saw was Pei Tingsong, who had been standing outside the gate and waiting for a long time. His smile was filled with victory and wild ambition, and underneath the colorful paper streamers and gold sparkles being sprayed by the staff, he opened both his arms and pulled Fang Juexia, who was keyed up to the fullest extent right now, into his arms.
“You worked hard.”
The narration announced the final result, “The winning camp is…”
Closing his eyes, that note hidden inside the ukulele appeared before Fang Juexia’s eyes. On the back of the note were written the last words Pei Tingsong had to say to Fang Juexia after he had quickly peeled off his golden cicada skin to escape a tricky situation.
[You need to let me win ah, Gege.]
“The dark camp! Congratulations to Black Knight Fang Juexia, and Killer Pei Tingsong!”
Fang Juexia raised his head and did away with his empty-looking disguise. “Other half.” The eyebrows on that naturally cold face were raised right now, and even the red birthmark at the corner of his eye grew fresh and alive as he uttered—
“We won.”
