The lights in the corridor flickered unsteadily.
Mrs. Qin frowned her pretty eyebrows and apologized: "The villa's electrical system was just repaired a few days ago and is not very stable yet. Let me go downstairs and take a look."
"Don't trouble yourself, I can manage," Jian Jing waved her hand.
Mrs. Qin left rather hurriedly.
Jian Jing thought, since she was already out, she might as well use the bathroom first.
The villa's bathroom was built just like a five-star hotel's, with three fully enclosed wooden doors in the stalls, marble countertops on the sinks, and hand wash, fragrance, and hand cream placed on top.
A faint scent of luxury perfume lingered in the air.
All three stalls were empty. Jian Jing randomly chose one to enter which had a smart toilet.
Boom, another clap of thunder sounded.
The warm-colored ceiling light flickered unsteadily, darkened for several seconds before lighting up again.
The smart toilet started playing soft music, "Meow meow...", to mask unwanted noises.
Jian Jing: Quite fancy.
Sizzle, sizzle.
The light bulb made unpleasant crackling noises, then along with a huge thunderclap, all the lights in the bathroom went completely dark, plunging in an instant into blackness.
Jian Jing had assumed they would quickly turn back on, but after waiting half a minute, there was no change.
A power outage?
She hurried to finish up, wanting to push the door open and leave.
It wouldn't budge.
She pushed again.
The solid wooden door panel was firmly fixed in its original place, completely motionless.
Her fingers touched the touch screen behind the door panel, and a line of words popped up: [Security system restarting, please enter emergency password]
The bathroom lock was a smart induction lock. When no one was inside, it could be freely opened from the outside, but once someone entered, the door would automatically lock. It was designed to unlock itself automatically when it detected relevant motions signaling the person was leaving.
But now no matter how she poked the screen, the display didn't change.
When it rains, it pours. The system called out in distress before finally responding.
[System: New mission released]
[Mission name: Escape from Yu Hui Villa]
[Mission description: The thunderstorm caused circuit damage. Yu Hui Villa's security system has activated. You must escape before the villa releases lethal gas, countdown 10 hours]
[Mission reward and punishment: Success rewards 30 courage points, failure means death]
Release lethal gas?
What on earth? A private exhibition hall's security system could have something like this?
Jian Jing was incredulous. She didn't know whether the system malfunctioned or her own common knowledge was lacking. She sat dazedly on the toilet, doubting life itself.
To be honest, she thought this kind of escape mission could only happen during rebirth, who would have expected to encounter it again.
This was much more dire than a murder case mission.
To escape the villa, she first had to get out of the bathroom, and to get out of the bathroom, she had to leave the stall.
The problem was the password. She didn't know jackshit about the password!
Jian Jing had never encountered this situation before. At a loss, she could only randomly try 123456.
[Wrong password]
[9 tries left, all wrong will lock completely]
Damn, there was also a limited number of tries?
Jian Jing leaned her forehead on her palm: "System, I want to draw a card, normal card."
Last time she obtained 15 courage points and 10 contribution points, she could still draw 3+1 times. Saving money for a thousand days to spend in one day, it was time to rely on cash purchases to change her fate.
[Drawing normal card]
She drew a [Enhanced Card · Outburst (1 point)] and a [Enhanced Card · Agility (1 point)], which she immediately used.
So her personal data became:
Physique: 5 (The consequence of staying up late every day)
Strength: 4 (You can't lift a bucket of water)
Agility: 7 (You're slightly more nimble than average)
Outburst: 4 (You only know the suffering of escaping for your life)
Endurance: 5 (Your stamina is clearly not great)
This result undoubtedly made Jian Jing very worried. Fortunately, the next card drew well.
[Name: Knowledge Card · Basics of Cryptography (Beginner Level)]
[Content description: Using this card allows you to gain beginner-level password knowledge]
[Note: There are some who do not speak nicely, passwords, oh, damn passwords]
She immediately used this card.
Strangely, after using the password card, she vaguely grasped some ideas for deciphering the password.
Random guessing was definitely hopeless.
The security system set up by Mrs. Qin, could it be related to her?
Jian Jing unlocked her phone, wanting to search for her personal information. But the small grid at the top of the screen was missing, and the signal area only had a huge X.
No signal.
She silently cursed and racked her brains.
Could it be the opening date of the exhibition hall?
She quickly entered today's date 20200506.
[Wrong password]
Jian Jing sighed. Instead, she used her phone's light to illuminate her surroundings to see if there was any emergency number she could call for help.
There were very few things in the stall, a hook on each side, a trash can in the corner, and a small cabinet on the back partition wall, which contained some sanitary pads and tampons.
She searched very carefully, but did not find any valuable clues.
The only thing left was the toilet.
The toilet had lost power and could no longer be used. There were also no text instructions.
Could she really be trapped to death here?
No, think again.
She didn't know if it was an inspired flash from the password card or the subconscious awareness from the observation card, but at some moment, a melody flitted across her mind.
"Dang dang dang dang dang dang...." She unconsciously hummed it once, suddenly remembering this was the classic tune "Für Elise"!
The school used it as the dismissal bell in high school.
Could it be sheet music?
Jian Jing racked her brains: "Do re do re.... no, la re la re?"
She was stuck in a loop of "Ma Dongmei" "What's Ma's name?" "Ma Dongmei" "Ma something something?"
Three minutes later, 1212pass.
Two more minutes, 6262pass.
6 tries left.
6565 wrong.
8686 wrong.
Ten minutes later, 323237216.
The answer was: Meow la meow re do la.
[Correct password]
The bathroom door opened.
Jian Jing walked out with heavy steps, feeling like she would never forget "Für Elise" again.
At the door, she forcefully pulled on the women's restroom door.
Very good, it was also locked, with the same nine-digit password lock.
Was this for catching petty thieves or the phantom thief Kaito Kid??
Jian Jing had only prepared to solve a case, she never would have imagined running into this mess. Her emotions were a little out of control.
"System, is this world really so dangerous?" she asked. "If I can't escape, I'll die?"
[System: Please believe the system's judgment, focus on escaping]
She was helpless. Things had already reached this point, she could only continue looking for clues.
The whole women's restroom was much bigger in area. She checked each stall by pushing open the doors and also rummaged through the cabinet under the sink. Finally, she targeted the decorative painting hanging on the wall.
The painting depicted a woman sitting with crossed hands and a wreath made of leaves on her head.
It was a replica of the famous painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring".
Although there were no numbers on the painting itself, passwords didn't always have to be direct numbers.
Having grasped beginner-level knowledge, Jian Jing quickly thought of a keyboard password.
The nine-digit password pad was very similar to a nine-digit keyboard.
Girl with a Pearl Earring....first letters? She tried pressing 9(Z) 9(Z) 6(N) 5(L).
Error displayed.
Was it the full name "zhenzhunvlang"? A bit long, but she tried it anyway.
Wrong again.
Indeed incorrect. So could it be an older keyboard setting?
Z was the fourth letter on the 9 key, so 9999?
If so, then it would be 9999(Z) 9999(Z) 66(N) 555(L).
Still wrong.
Could her train of thought be wrong and it had nothing to do with the painting? Jian Jing couldn't help but doubt herself, but looking left and right, everything was just necessary bathroom supplies. Only the oil painting was most suspicious.
Perhaps the nine-digit pad couldn't be thought of as an input keyboard, but rather the keyboard's format deducing numbers.
Z wasn't 9999, but 94?
She changed her thinking and deduced a new password: 94946253.
She input it.
Click, it opened.
"Ah!" An intense feeling of joy erupted in Jian Jing's heart. She didn't expect to have actually gotten it right. She also felt somewhat terrified, if she had given up trying in the end, she really would have coughed up blood.
She complained inwardly and strode quickly into the outer corridor.
Groping in the dark to the top of the stairs, she saw the original staircase location had become a wall. The corridor had no routes at either end. She didn't bother scrutinizing it, and directly rushed to the mini theater.
As expected, the door here was also locked.
"Director Kang, Screenwriter Xu." She knocked on the door. "Are you inside?"
"Yes." The voices inside were somewhat muffled due to the good soundproofing. "Is that Jingjing?"
Jian Jing relaxed: "Director Kang, are you two okay?"
"We're fine," Kang Mu Cheng's tone was steady. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Jian Jing said, "There was a power outage, the security system probably started automatically and locked us all in here. You two need to get out quickly, let's leave this place."
"Ah, can't we just cancel it and it'll be fine?" Screenwriter Xu's voice cut in, sounding puzzled. "It'll just cause trouble if we wander around randomly."
But Jian Jing wasn't so optimistic.
The 10 hour countdown meant Mrs. Qin hadn't cancelled the alert. Whether she couldn't or had other intentions was hard to say. But in any case, they couldn't entrust their lives to this.
She said, "Lightning struck earlier, causing circuit problems. Mrs. Qin said she was going to go check it out, but hasn't come back yet, she may be trapped too."
Screenwriter Xu was shocked: "What?"
"Come out first, let's go find her." Jian Jing had solved two riddles and was now in the zone. "There's only a keyhole outside the door, no key. What's the situation inside for you two?"
Kang Mu Cheng said, "We need a key too."
Jian Jing thought for a moment: "Look around inside, there may be a spare key."
"No way." Screenwriter Xu was incredulous. "Leaving a spare key inside, wouldn't people just run off?"
Jian Jing also found it unbelievable, but spoke from experience: "I was just locked in the bathroom, and there were clues hinting at it."
"Bathroom?" On the other side of the door, Kang Mu Cheng deeply furrowed his brows, realizing the bizarreness of the situation. "Screenwriter Xu, let's look around."
Having nothing better to do, Screenwriter Xu did not object.
The two used their cellphone flashlights to search separately.
There wasn't much inside the movie theater, other than eight seats arranged in four rows, and the curtain hanging down in front. At the highest tier of steps in the back was the projector, next to which was a shelf filled with movie reels.
After rummaging around for quite a while, they didn't find any trace of a key.
"Nothing here," Screenwriter Xu said, scratching his head and calling out, "Go find Mr. Qin or Mrs. Qin to come open the door."
"The mechanism has been triggered. Can't find the way," Jian Jing concisely replied. "You two take a closer look, might there be some hidden compartment or hidden door?"
Hidden mechanisms and compartments? Kang Mu Cheng's expression grew increasingly bewildered. After pondering briefly, he said: "Screenwriter Xu, could there be something behind this shelf?"
Screenwriter Xu paced over, braced his shoulder against the shelf, and gave it a push. It didn't budge: "No go. Too heavy."
"What I mean is, could there be a mechanism?" Kang Mu Cheng recalled, "Mrs. Qin specifically reminded us not to mess up the order."
Screenwriter Xu was taken aback for a moment, then understood: "Good point. Let me take a look."
There were many reels placed neatly in boxes on the shelf. The sides of the boxes were labeled with the movie titles, clear at a glance.
"Oh, look here, these movies are arranged by time. Afanti 1980, Nine Color Deer 1981, Wandering Life of San Mao 1984...Screenwriter Xu remarked. As an industry insider, he quickly noticed something off: "But this 1999 One Less placed here doesn't match the time."
Kang Mu Cheng immediately said: "Let's pull out the ones with the wrong times."
With one having worked in the film industry for over ten years, and the other recently starting up a film and TV department, they were both relatively familiar with classic movies. They quickly singled out several films with the order messed up.
In sequence, the list was as follows:
One Less, Seven Deadly Sins, Judge Bao of the Nine Grades, Empty Room, A Lifetime, Seven Swords, Nine Times Space, 3 Idiots, Once We Parted, Empty Room, One Step Away, Eight Villains, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Empty Room, Three More, A Good Show, Seven Samurai, Number Nine, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Six Fingered Demon, Empty Room, Once We Parted, Seven Chances, Nine Time Travels, Three Way Junction.