Chapter 13 - permanent suspect

Shang Sirui was so frightened by his words that he withdrew his hands, “Then, is that open?”

Xia Xiqing walked over with a smile, took the key in his hand, “Open it, I found the key after so much effort.” He opened the door while speaking, and Shang Sirui consciously stood behind.

The mobile phones of the three people 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 in front, “This room is so big…” He saw two girls standing at the other door of the room, one of them was very tall just from the side. Familiar, “Sister Cenchen…”

The girl whose name was called was wearing a long white dress and a rose-colored belt. Her long straight black hair hung down to her waist. Her makeup was elegant and her dark red lips were particularly eye-catching. A natural sense of alienation. She also saw Shang Sirui, so she raised her hand and smiled slightly, “Sirui.”

Xia Xiqing seldom listens to Chinese songs, but he knows Cen Cen’s name. He used to be the lead singer of a band, but later quit the team due to illness, and went solo directly after his comeback. Because of his cool temperament, he was liked by many female fans.

“Sister Cen Cen,” Shang Sirui saw that she was an acquaintance, so he walked over confidently and boldly, “Are you from this room?”

Cen Cen 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 a living room.

He has finally figured out the structure of this house until now. It is actually like a closed four-room hall. His and Zhou Ziheng’s original rooms are in a row with Shang Sirui’s original room, and the opposite row is the two girls’. The original room, but only the rooms of Shang Sirui and Cen Cen can lead to this living room, while the room of myself and another girl can only lead to other people’s rooms, and then to the living room.

Why this arrangement? Xia Xiqing thought for a while.

He finally noticed the girl standing next to Cen Cen, with slightly curly mid-length hair, wearing a black knitted skirt suit, delicate makeup, and a pair of beautiful eyes.

He suddenly remembered what Xiaojie said before recording the show, that besides himself, there is another amateur who is also a member of Mensa.

That should be this girl.

So she was the first to come out of her room?

Xia Xiqing understands that the program team arranges the difficulty of breaking through the room according to the abilities of the guests, so as to ensure that everyone can come to the living room in a similar time. Otherwise, if the guests have escaped before they meet, the program will fail 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 view of this program group, or the scriptwriter behind the scenes. I always feel that every arrangement of his has a purpose.

So why exactly?

Zhou Ziheng didn’t talk all the time, probably because the two circles of actors and singers are naturally divided, and he and Cen Cen both have a quiet personality, so they can’t chat a few words.

“Hi everyone, my name is Ruan Xiao.” The sweet-looking girl greeted everyone proactively. Xia Xiqing thought she looked familiar, but he was not sure, so he smiled at her when they looked at each other.

Everyone introduced each other casually, 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 effective clues.

There is a double-opening door in the living room. The top is also a combination lock, but there are two password input fields. The top input field has four spaces, and there are nine digits to choose from, while the bottom one has only three spaces.

Xia Xiqing tried to touch the three input fields below with his fingers, and at the moment of clicking, an input keyboard appeared on the electronic screen next to it, with twenty-six English letters on it.

So it is to fill in words?

“Shall we try?” Shang Sirui suggested next to him.

Ruan Xiao vetoed, “Choose three combinations of 26 letters, 26 to the third power, 17576 possibilities.”

Hearing what Ruan Xiao said, Shang Sirui smiled complicatedly, “Pretend I didn’t say it, haha.”

Xia Xiqing was taken aback. The Mensa club was really different, and the mental calculation speed was too fast. But Ruan Xiao is right. In this game, exhaustion is the most impossible method, and there should be clues to guide it. He walked around and found a perfectly circular circle drawn on the floor next to the sofa, just enough for a person to stand on.

“Out of the game?” Shang Sirui, who followed Xia Xiqing, squatted on the ground and read the words written beside the circle.

Xia Xiqing hummed lightly, “It’s probably where the executed people stood during the execution vote.”

Shang Sirui was standing up, raising his foot to step on the circular floor, Xia Xiqing added, “The method of execution is probably to fall down with a whimper.”

“Ah?” Shang Sirui quickly withdrew the foot he chose in mid-air, and smiled bitterly, “Don’t scare me.”

“Just guessing.” Xia Xiqing turned around with a smile, and when he looked up, he saw Zhou Ziheng standing by the dining table. The other party also happened to see him, but quickly turned his face away.

Am I that scary? Xia Xiqing smiled helplessly.

He walked to the other door of this living room, and asked Ruan Xiao and Cen Cen who were checking the refrigerator, “Aren’t you two trapped in the same room?”

Ruan Xiao shook her head, “We are separated.” As she spoke, she led the others to the other door of the living room, where Cen Cen and Ruan Xiao stood at the beginning.

“Behind this door is Sister Cen Cen’s room.” She pushed open the door, the space inside was not very big, and a scent of roses came 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 on the off-white wall, and a drawing board stands on the other side of the bed. The style looks more like Xia Xiqing’s familiar studio.

Ruan Xiao led them to a huge closet on the far left of the studio. She opened the closet, and there were many clothes in it. She moved the clothes aside with her hands, revealing the door leading to another room.

“This is my original room.”

Everyone passed through the “wardrobe door” one by one. Xia Xiqing was 1.83 meters tall, and it was a bit inconvenient to pass. He thought of Zhou Ziheng, so he looked back and found that he hadn’t followed, and he didn’t know what to do. After waiting for a while, I saw him hunched over in a very difficult way, and couldn’t help laughing.

“Hey Xiqing, what are you laughing at?” Shang Sirui gave him a confused look.

Xia Xiqing shook his head, with a smile on his lips.

“nothing.”

“Then let’s go.” Shang Sirui tugged on his cuff, but it was empty, because Xia Xiqing had already turned around, stood at the back door of the closet and opened the door a little, so that Zhou Ziheng could come out.

As soon as Zhou Ziheng stepped out of the closet, he looked up and saw Xia Xiqing’s beautiful smiling face. For some reason, he felt that there was a hint of ridicule in that smile, and he felt even more unhappy. However, due to the surrounding cameras, he could only use Covering it up with a smile, I said thank you against my will.

“You’re welcome.”

Is it the habit of prodigal sons? The ending of every sentence of this man seems to be teasing deliberately, Zhou Ziheng thought to himself.

Ruan Xiao, Cen Cen and Shang Sirui walked in front, and Xia Xiqing and Zhou Ziheng walked in the back. This room looked like a woman’s room, and there was an extremely delicate dressing table inside, with all kinds of decorations on it. Cosmetics and perfumes, and various expensive suits and dresses in the closet, and a portrait hanging on the European-style white wooden bed, it is a woman in black, with a beautiful appearance.

“Is this also a famous painting?” Zhou Ziheng opened his mouth unexpectedly, and Xia Xiqing nodded with a smile on his face, “Kramskoy’s “The Unknown Girl”, a very famous female portrait.”

Shang Sirui, who was walking in front, heard Xia Xiqing’s words, and couldn’t help but turned his head and said in admiration, “I feel that Xi Qing is like a walking encyclopedia of art, it’s too powerful.”

Zhou Ziheng thought in his heart, if you want to hear various physics formulas and laws, I can also tell you one by one, and I will also tell you all the big names in the academic field of popular science physics.

But in the next second, he was taken aback by the childish thoughts in his heart.

Probably because he 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 chattered, and without saying a few words, Shang Sirui, who was jumping in thought, turned his attention to Ruan Xiao, “So you escaped from this room and entered Sister Cen Cen’s room? You Alone, it’s amazing.”

Ruan Xiao smiled and waved her hands, “Maybe it’s because my room is relatively simple.” She smiled very sweetly, but also showed a tenacity that was different from other girls.

“What kind of puzzle?” Zhou Ziheng asked rarely.

“Hmm… a digital Huarong Road.” Ruan Xiao walked to the jewelry box on the bedside table and opened it. Inside was the layout of Huarong Road that she had deciphered. “I first found out that this cosmetic box has a lock, and I think there should be clues inside. 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 or lock, I was stuck at first and couldn’t find it.” As for the escape method, I tried to move the makeup box later, and found that by using the reflection from the makeup mirror on the opposite side, the red laser light could shine on the metal handle of the door, and the lock would be automatically unlocked.”

“My God… If I may never get out for the rest of my life.” Shang Sirui was so impressed.

“Didn’t you come out too?” Cen Cen smiled.

“I came out thanks to the blessings of these two big brothers.” Shang Sirui smiled playfully, and automatically stuck to Xia Xiqing’s body again.

Xia Xiqing didn’t push him away either, 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, “Did you find any other information in your room… I mean it’s not very useful kind of.”

Ruan Xiao’s eyebrows moved slightly, but only for a moment, she laughed, “No, I don’t think there is much information about my room.”

She is lying.

Xia Xiqing found it strange, but also 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 speak out the clues she has.

I can only find it myself, Xia Xiqing thought.

Probably due to his natural curiosity and admiration for smart people, Shang Sirui has been chatting with Ruan Xiao about how to crack the door lock of this room. The rooms of Ruan Xiao and Cen Cen are connected, and the two already have revolutionary comrades-in-arms. The relationship, the three of them came together naturally, from this room to the connected room, and from that room to the living room.

Xia Xiqing didn’t follow them. Instead, he walked slowly step by step following the close-up shots arranged in the hostess’ room, observing every detail, until he came to the closet. For some reason, he was suddenly attracted by a small wastebasket. Taking advantage of the fact that 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 over, and the two of them were in sync again.

He also followed the camera, but touched it from the opposite direction.

The two finally meet in front of this wardrobe.

“You also feel that something is wrong?” Xia Xiqing squatted down and emptied the wastebasket, and the shreds of paper scattered all over the floor.

Zhou Ziheng nodded, “This game taught me two things. First, every fragment is not accidental.”

Xia Xiqing shrugged irresolutely, “What else?”

Zhou Ziheng picked up a fragment and looked up at Xia Xiqing’s eyes, “When multitasking, you must learn to grasp the key points.”

Everyone is focused on deciphering and escaping, forgetting the more important point.

“This game is not just about escaping from the secret room. If you don’t find out the killer, you will still 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 hard work will be in vain.

Xia Xiqing thought about what he would do at this moment if he were Killer.

The first thing is to conceal one’s identity as much as possible, and cover up all the clues that may expose oneself, but for the killer, revealing one’s identity is inevitable, after all, they have to kill someone no matter what. Secondly…

Just as he was thinking about it, Zhou Ziheng said again, “Everyone is here now, and the first round of voting execution is coming soon. Someone will be out soon.”

“It’s too late.” Xia Xiqing scratched the hair hanging 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 begins?”

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 so exciting.”

He’s not a killer, and seeing 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 even more willing to believe that he is not. If he is a killer, he does not know how many times he has died.

In any case, he knew very well that he was the most dangerous one now. As an ordinary player, he had found too many clues from the very beginning, and the only person who could be considered an ally was still hostile to him.

“I’m curious, if you don’t believe me, how much do you believe what Ruan Xiao said just now?” Xia Xiqing asked.

Zhou Ziheng didn’t look up, but said in a low voice, “The deciphering idea is true, and if there are no clues, it’s false.” After speaking, he pointed to the debris on the ground.

Very pertinent.

Sure enough, the man was only prejudiced against himself. For some reason, Xia Xiqing still felt quite happy.

Obviously, the scraps of paper on the ground used to be a complete document, and the two squatted on the ground to piece it together. Zhou Ziheng did not speak, and his mind was still thinking about the previous fragmented clues 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 now believe that I am not a killer?”

Zhou Ziheng raised his eyes to look at him, those deep eyes stared at him for a few seconds, as if they wanted to penetrate him. Xia Xiqing didn’t dodge the slightest bit.

He wanted to know what Zhou Ziheng was trying to see in his own eyes.

But if he knew what Zhou Ziheng wanted, he could give it to him.

Although they only stared at each other for a few seconds, time seemed to be in 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, he lowered his head and continued to piece together the fragmented pieces of paper, as if he had never heard Xia Xiqing’s question before.

Xia Xi expected early in the morning that he would not get an affirmative answer from him. No answer is already an answer. He didn’t care too much. He just smiled and asked again, “Then who do you doubt in your heart?” After finishing speaking, he added, ” I mean besides me, are there any other suspects?”

Zhou Ziheng didn’t look up, and he didn’t even think too much, but his subconscious impulse to hate Xia Xiqing made him blurt out.

“You will always be a suspect in my heart.”

Such a sentence full of ambiguity made Xia Xiqing, a seasoned love veteran, stunned.

It took about three seconds before Zhou Ziheng realized that something was wrong. He raised his head suddenly, with a hint of surprise in his eyes. The thinking of a 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 the short time of phrasing, which caused such a big trouble .

The same subject-verb-object, the change of minutiae creates so much ambiguity out of thin air, things full of uncertainty like speech and writing are really too cunning.

“That’s it…” 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]