Chapter 13 Permanent Suspects
Shang Sirui was so frightened by his words that he retracted his hands, "Then, is that open?"
Xia Xiqing walked over with a smile, took the key from his hand, "Open it, the key that took so much effort to find." As he spoke, he opened the door, and Shang Sirui consciously stood behind.
All three's cell phones rang, and at the same time, the same sound came from the new room.
It was the announcement after they cracked the room.
"Wow..." Shang Sirui turned his head to the side, looked over Xia Xiqing who was in front of him, "This room is so big..." He saw two girls standing at the other door of the room, one of them was only from the side They are all familiar, "Hey, Sister Cen Chen..."
The girl whose name was called was wearing a long white dress with a rose-colored belt, long straight black hair hanging down to her waist, elegant makeup, and eye-catching crimson lips. A natural sense of alienation. She also saw Shang Sirui, so she raised her hand and smiled slightly, "Si Rui."
Xia Xiqing usually doesn't listen to Chinese songs, but he knows the name of Cen Chen. He used to be the lead singer of a band, but he quit the band because of illness. After his comeback, he went solo directly. He was liked by many female fans because of his cool temperament.
"Sister Cen Chen," Shang Sirui saw that he was an acquaintance, so he walked over with confidence, "Are you from this room?"
Cen Chen shook his head, "I just came out of the original room."
Xia Xiqing glanced at the phone, and sure enough, the delivery time of several messages was almost the same. The room they are in now is not so much a room as it is a living room.
He has finally figured out the structure of this house. In fact, it is like a closed four-room and one-hall. He and Zhou Ziheng's original room are in a row with Shang Sirui's original room, and the opposite row is the two girls' rooms. The original room, but only Shang Sirui and Cen Chen's room can lead to this living room, and the room of myself and another girl can only lead to someone else's room, and then to the living room.
Why is this arranged? Xia Xiqing thought for a while.
He finally noticed the girl standing beside Cen Chen, with slightly curly medium-length hair, wearing a black knitted skirt suit, delicate makeup, and beautiful eyes.
He suddenly remembered what Xiaojie had said before recording the show, besides himself, there is an amateur who is also a member of Mensa.
That should be this girl.
So she was the first person to come out of her room?
Xia Xiqing understood that the program team arranged the difficulty of breaking through the room according to the ability of the guests, so as to ensure that everyone could come to the living room at the same time. There is no point to watch.
But why put him and Zhou Ziheng together? Is it just for topicality? Xia Xiqing thought so at first, but after passing through two rooms, he changed his mind about the program group, or the screenwriter behind the scenes. always feel that every arrangement he makes has a purpose.
So why exactly?
Zhou Ziheng has never spoken, probably because actors and singers naturally have a wall. He and Cen Chen are both reticent characters, so they can't chat a few words.
"Hello everyone, my name is Ruan Xiao." The sweet-looking girl took the initiative to greet everyone. Xia Xiqing felt that her face was familiar, but she was not sure, and smiled at her when they looked at each other.
Everyone casually introduced each other and walked around in the spacious living room. The living room is very large, including a semi-open dining room, a large oval dining table, and a row of sofas. There are very few things that seem unreasonable, and no one has found any valid clues.
There is a double door in the living room, which is also a combination lock, but there are two password input fields. The upper input field has four spaces, and there are nine numbers to choose from, while the lower one has only three spaces.
Xia Xiqing tried to touch the three-grid input field below with his finger. At the moment of clicking, an input keyboard appeared on the electronic screen next to it, with twenty-six English letters on it.
So you want to fill in the words?
"Should we try?" Shang Sirui suggested beside him.
Ruan Xiao vetoed, "Choose three permutations of 26 letters, the cube of 26, and 17,576 possibilities."
Hearing Ruan Xiao say this, Shang Sirui smiled complicatedly, "When I didn't say it, haha."
Xia Xiqing was taken aback, the Mensa Club is really different, and the mental calculation speed is too fast. But Ruan Xiao is right, in this game, exhaustion is the most impossible method, and there should be clues to guide. He walked around and found a perfect circle drawn on the floor next to the sofa, just enough for a person to stand.
"Exit?" Shang Sirui, who followed Xia Xiqing, squatted on the ground and read the words written around the circle.
Xia Xiqing hummed softly, "It's probably where the executed people stood when they voted for execution."
Shang Sirui was standing up and raised his foot to step on this circular floor. Xia Xiqing added, "The execution method is probably to fall off with a bang."
"Ah?" Shang Sirui quickly retracted the foot he chose in midair, and smiled bitterly, "Don't scare me."
"It's a guess." Xia Xiqing turned around with a smile, and when he looked up, he saw Zhou Ziheng standing at the dining table. The other party happened to see him, but he quickly turned his face away.
Am I so scary? Xia Xiqing smiled helplessly.
He walked to the other door of this living room and asked Ruan Xiao and Cen Chen who were checking the refrigerator, "Aren't you two trapped in the same room?"
Ruan Xiao shook her head, "We are separated." She led the others to the other door of the living room, where Cen Chen and Ruan Xiao stood at the beginning.
"Behind this door is Sister Cen Chen's room." She pushed the door open, and there was not much space inside. A rose scent rushed to her face, Xia Xiqing frowned slightly, the scent was too strong.
The furnishings in this room are very different from other rooms. There are many framed paintings hanging on the off-white wall. On the other side of the bed is a drawing board with nothing on it. The whole room The style looks more like the studio that Xia Xiqing is very familiar with.
Ruan Xiao led them to a huge standing cabinet on the far left of the studio. She opened the wardrobe, and there were many clothes in it. She moved the clothes to one side with her hands, revealing the door leading to another room.
"This is my original room."
Everyone went through the "closet door" in turn. Xia Xiqing was 1.83 meters tall, and it was a little inconvenient to pass. He thought of Zhou Ziheng, so he looked back and found that he didn't follow, and he didn't know what to do. After waiting for a while, he really saw how difficult it was for him to have a cat on his waist, so he couldn't help laughing.
"Eh Xiqing, what are you laughing at?" Shang Sirui gave him a confused look.
Xia Xiqing shook his head, a smile pursed at the corner of his mouth.
"nothing."
"Let's go, then." Shang Sirui tugged at his cuff, and tugged it empty, because Xia Xiqing had already turned around and stood at the back door of the closet, opening the door a bit so that Zhou Ziheng could come out.
Zhou Ziheng just stepped out of the closet when he looked up and saw Xia Xiqing's beautiful smiling face. For some reason, he felt that there was a faint mockery in that smile, and he was even more unhappy, but because of the surrounding cameras, he could only use the He smiled to cover up the past and said thank you against his will.
"You're welcome."
Is it the habit of prodigal sons? The end of every sentence of this man seems to be deliberately provoking, Zhou Ziheng thought to himself.
Ruan Xiao, Cen Chen, and Shang Sirui walked in front, Xia Xiqing and Zhou Ziheng walked to the back, this room looked like a woman's room, and there was an incomparably exquisite dressing table on it, all kinds of There are all kinds of expensive suits and dresses in the wardrobe, and there is a portrait hanging on the European-style white wooden bed. It is a woman in black with a beautiful appearance.
"This is also a famous painting?" Zhou Ziheng said unexpectedly first, Xia Xiqing nodded with a smile on his face, "Kramskoy's "The Unknown Girl" is a famous portrait of a woman."
Shang Sirui, who was walking in front, heard Xia Xiqing's words, and couldn't help turning his head and admiringly said, "I feel that Xiqing is like a walking art encyclopedia, it's amazing."
Zhou Ziheng thought in his heart, if you want to listen to various physical formulas and laws, I can also tell you one by one, and also give you the big names in the science of science physics academia.
But the next second, he was taken aback by the childish thoughts in his heart.
He probably hated Xia Xiqing so much that he didn't want to hear anyone praise such a cunning and hypocritical person.
Xia Xiqing and Shang Sirui were chatting haha, and without saying a few words, Shang Sirui, who was jumping in thought, focused his attention on Ruan Xiao, "So you escaped from this room and entered Sister Cen Chen's room? You Alone, it's amazing."
Ruan Xiao smiled and waved, "Maybe my room is simpler." She smiled sweetly, and showed a tenacity that was different from other girls.
"What kind of puzzle is it?" Zhou Ziheng said rarely.
"Well... a digital Huarong Road." Ruan Xiao walked to the jewelry box on the bedside table and opened it. Inside was the Huarong Road layout she had cracked. "I first found out that this vanity box has a lock, and I think there should be clues in it. , so I looked for the key, and after opening Huarong Road, a red laser appeared."
She tried to press a button inside, and sure enough, a red laser appeared, shooting straight at the opposite corner, "My door is very strange, there is no password and no keyhole, at first I was stuck and couldn't find it at all. As for the escape method, I tried to move the vanity box and found that by using the reflection of the opposite vanity mirror, the red laser could shine on the metal handle of the door, and it would automatically unlock."
"My God... if I could, I might never be able to get out." Shang Sirui was full of admiration.
"Didn't you come out too?" Cen Chen said with a smile.
"I came out thanks to the blessings of these two bosses." Shang Sirui smiled and automatically put it on Xia Xiqing's body.
Xia Xiqing didn't push him away. He suddenly thought of the information he found in other rooms that had nothing to do with the escape room, so he asked Ruan Xiao, "Have you found any other information in your room... I mean it's not very useful. The kind on top."
Ruan Xiao's eyebrows moved slightly, but only for a moment, she laughed, "No, I don't think there is too much information about my room."
She is lying.
Xia Xiqing thought it was strange, but thought it was reasonable. Ruan Xiao is also a smart person. Smart people are wary, especially wary of another smart person. Now that all the players are present, she will definitely not casually say the clues in her hands.
I can only find it myself, Xia Xiqing thought.
Probably because of the natural curiosity and worship of smart people, Shang Sirui and Ruan Xiao have been chatting about how to crack the door lock of this room, Ruan Xiao and Cen Chen's rooms are connected again, and the two already have revolutionary comrades in arms. Relationship, the three people came together naturally, from this room to the connected room, and from that room to the living room.
Xia Xiqing did not follow them. Instead, he followed the close-up shots arranged in the hostess's room and walked slowly step by step, observing every detail until he came to the closet. For some reason, he was suddenly attracted by a small wastepaper basket. Li, while the other people were not in the room for the time being, he quietly walked to the closet, only to find that Zhou Ziheng had also come, and the two of them synchronized again.
He was also following the camera, but he just touched it from the opposite direction.
The two finally met in front of this wardrobe.
"You don't feel right?" Xia Xiqing squatted down, poured out the trash can, and scattered pieces of paper all over the floor.
Zhou Ziheng nodded, "This game has taught me two things. First, every piece is not accidental."
Xia Xiqing shrugged indisputably, "What else?"
Zhou Ziheng picked up a piece of debris, raised his eyes and looked into Xia Xiqing's eyes, "When you have multiple tasks in parallel, you must learn to focus on the key points."
Everyone is focused on decrypting and escaping, forgetting the more important point.
"This game is not just room escape. If you don't find the killer, you will lose in the end."
He was absolutely right. The biggest difficulty of this show is not who can escape first, but whether ordinary players can find the killer and execute him, otherwise once the killer becomes the final winner, everyone's efforts will be wasted.
Xia Xiqing thought, if he were Killer, what would he do at this time.
The first is to conceal their identity as much as possible and cover up all the clues that might reveal themselves, but for killers, revealing their identity is inevitable, after all, they have to kill someone no matter what. Secondly...
While thinking about it, Zhou Ziheng said again, "Now that everyone has arrived, the first round of voting is about to be executed. Some people will be out soon."
"Too late." Xia Xiqing scratched at the hair hanging down on his forehead, frowned, and looked up at Zhou Ziheng, "If you were the killer, what would you do before the first round of voting began?"
The two looked at each other, exchanging dangerous signals in their eyes.
"Kill the person who is most likely to guess the identity of the killer."
Xia Xiqing chuckled and licked his lips, "Tsk, it's too exciting."
He is not a Killer. Watching Zhou Ziheng so devotedly looking for a Killer, he certainly isn't, unless his acting skills are so superb that he can completely disguise himself as an ordinary player.
With his acting skills, he can indeed do it, but Xia Xiqing is more willing to believe that he is not at this moment. If he is a killer, he does not know how many times he has died.
In any case, he is very clear that now he is the most dangerous one. As an ordinary player, I have found too many clues from the beginning, and the only person who can be regarded as an ally is also hostile to himself.
"I'm curious, you don't believe me, how much do you believe what Ruan Xiao said just now?" Xia Xiqing asked.
Zhou Ziheng didn't raise his head, only whispered, "The idea of decryption is true, there is no clue it is false." After speaking, he pointed to the debris on the ground.
Very pertinent.
Sure enough, this person only has prejudice against himself. I don't know why, but Xia Xiqing still felt quite happy.
Obviously, the scraps of paper on the ground used to be a complete document. The two of them squatted on the ground and put them together. Zhou Ziheng didn't speak. He was still thinking about the fragmented clues in his mind over and over again. I missed something, and I was afraid that I would make a misjudgment because of my first impression of Xia Xiqing.
In the quiet atmosphere, Xia Xiqing suddenly said, "Do you believe that I am not a killer now?"
Zhou Ziheng looked up at him, those deep eyes stared at him for a few seconds, as if to penetrate him. Xia Xiqing did not dodge in the slightest.
He wanted to know what Zhou Ziheng was trying to see in his eyes.
But if he knew what Zhou Ziheng wanted, he could give it.
Obviously there were only a few seconds of staring at each other, but time seemed to turn into slow motion at this moment, and the last frame was Zhou Ziheng's first lowered eyelids and trembling thick eyelashes as if admitting defeat. He didn't say anything, lowered his head and continued to piece together the broken pieces of paper, as if he hadn't heard Xia Xiqing's question before.
Xia Xiqing expected that he would not get a positive answer from him. No answer was already the answer. He didn't care very much, but just smiled and asked again, "Then who do you doubt in your heart?" After he finished speaking, he added, " I mean are there any other suspects besides me?"
Zhou Ziheng didn't raise his head, didn't even think too much, he just blurted out his subconscious impulse to slap Xia Xiqing.
"You will always be the suspect in my heart."
Such a sentence full of ambiguity made Xia Xiqing, a veteran of love affairs, couldn't help being stunned.
About three seconds later, Zhou Ziheng realized that something was wrong, he raised his head suddenly, and there was a hint of surprise in his eyes. The thinking of the science student made him unable to distinguish the difference between [you will always be a suspect in my heart] and [you will always be a suspect in my heart] in a short time of phrasing, which caused such a big trouble .
The same subject, predicate and object, the transformation of the details creates so much ambiguity out of thin air. Words and words, which are full of uncertainty, are too cunning.
"Is that so..." Xia Xiqing's voice softened, "It's really my honor."
The author has something to say: Zhou Ziheng: Look at my broken mouth [slap in the face]