NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 36
After entering the haunted house for 1 hour and 20 minutes, Jian Jing understood the gameplay of the variety show.
She felt that Zheng Keyan had no malice towards her - their careers were not in the same circle at all, who would be so silly as to make enemies with others? If necessary, she was even willing to give Jian Jing a hand to show her friendliness.
But the premise was that Jian Jing would not steal her limelight.
Cao Yu's acting skills might be better than hers, but he was not as popular as her, Cai Tonger had many fans, but did not have her strength, Jiang BaiYan had strength and popularity, but his seniority was far from hers.
The think tank of the team was Cao Yu, but the C position had to be the big flower Zheng Keyan.
These were the rules of the game.
As long as she agreed with the views of the two girls and expressed her friendly attitude, it would not be difficult to integrate into the team and create a dramatic effect of estrangement followed by harmony.
Win-win.
However, was it necessary?
Admittedly, she came to participate in this show with some utilitarian motives, hoping to gain fame and draw more cards to enhance her own strength. But if she didn't enjoy playing, it seemed not worth the gain.
Just like people who like to travel, it's understandable to take related jobs, but people who don't like to travel and force themselves to travel for money, what's the point?
She chose to play the haunted house largely because she wanted to play.
Just like solving cases, although the system had reward tasks, she was willing to actively do it, actually because she got pleasure from it.
After thinking it over, Jian Jing tactfully expressed her true thoughts: "Actually I didn't think so far ahead. I was pondering something else all this time - where did the innkeeper go?"
"Look, the boss's clothes are all in the closet, there are ID cards and wallets on the bedside table, proving that he had no intention of leaving here for a long time. But no one has been here for a long time." She looked around thoughtfully, "Where did the boss go?"
Jiang BaiYan rubbed his arms: "I have goosebumps all over, are you saying he's still here? Turned into a ghost?"
"That's what I would write if I were the scriptwriter," Jian Jing joked. "Anyway, the copper coin charm against evil spirits must be useful, but who to use it on is still unknown."
--
After the broadcast.
Barrage 1: The newcomer is very good, making up for Cao Yu's shortcomings. Cao Yu is actually quite logical, but only focuses on the clues he finds, deduction still lacks a bit
Barrage 2: Doesn't fit in, awkward af
Barrage 3: Must be different huh? Feel bad for my Keyan
Barrage 4: The newcomer is called Jian Jing, the original author of The Hide and Seek Child, pretty awesome
Barrage 5: No wonder wuli BaiYan is so enthusiastic, they must've known each other before
Barrage 6: There's script proof, is she a relative of the bird boss??
...
--
After listening to Jian Jing's analysis, Cao Yu nodded gently: "That makes sense, so let's look for the copper coins first."
"It doesn't seem to be in this room." Han Bo stood by the bedside, seeming hesitant whether or not to flip the bedding.
Cai Tonger's sharp eyes: "There's a hidden layer here, with a note inside." She pulled out a thin sticky note from between the pages of the diary.
It said: The copper coins have been nurtured in places the evil spirits do not like, take them out when needed, place them on the magic circle, and activate them with black dog's blood.
It also came with a simple map, marking locations in the lobby, kitchen, dining room, toilet, backyard, 204 and XXX.
The last XXX was a symbol, with several vertical lines drawn inside the 0.
"Let's check the nearest one first, the toilet, see if it's there?" Cao Yu commanded.
Han Bo darted into the toilet and very easily found a copper coin tied with red thread in the toilet cistern.
"Yeah, awesome." Everyone cheered for a few seconds.
After the performance, they discussed splitting into two groups, one on the second floor and one in the lobby, dining room and kitchen, finally gathering in the backyard.
For some reason, they all agreed to this plan of dividing forces in the end.
There was trouble with teaming up, everyone had their own thoughts: the first floor mission was arduous, but not as scary as the second floor, there was a chance to perform, the second floor had a high probability of encountering ghosts, with both risks and opportunities.
Han Bo knew he wasn't quick-witted, so he volunteered: "I'll go to the second floor."
"I'll go too." After thinking for a while, Jian Jing also took the initiative to speak up.
Jiang BaiYan unconditionally supported her today, and weakly said, "Then I... will go too."
"It's safer with two guys too." Cao Yu found a good reason for them, also relieved in his heart.
The competition between guests was not about gender, but whether their positioning conflicted.
Why were Zheng Keyan and Cai Tonger superficially sisters, but secretly tried to undermine each other? It wasn't because girls love to fight, but because their positioning overlapped to some extent - for example, for a costume idol drama, one could choose Zheng Keyan, or Cai Tonger, so competition arose.
Similarly, why was there no conflict between Han Bo and Jiang BaiYan, and they got along well last season? Still because their positioning was different.
Han Bo was a singer, also working hard to act in idol dramas, striving to become a traffic idol actor. Jiang BaiYan, however, was wholeheartedly set on the big screen, and the two did not compete.
However, after Zheng Keyan's divorce, her image shifted towards a strong woman, reducing the conflict with Cai Tonger. As for Jian Jing, although they were a little hostile to her at first, it was just instinctively resisting a competitor.
Once they calmed down, they realized who was really threatened.
Not them.
Him, the think tank and strategist of the team.
Jian Jing made him feel threatened. It was understandable for young people to underperform, but he had good reviews from the previous season, and was outperformed by a little girl, which was like making a bridal gown for others.
Splitting into two groups and reducing contrast was undoubtedly the outcome everyone wanted to see.
--
After the broadcast.
The guests' thoughts were not understood by the audience, and everyone became anxious.
Barrage 1: Separating in a horror movie is a death flag, they're done for
Barrage 2: Xiao Huo is so timid yet still went upstairs, what's he taking?
Barrage 3: Warning, there will be high energy upstairs
...
--
The formation for going upstairs was as follows: Han Bo took the lead, Jian Jing in the middle, Jiang BaiYan at the back.
As they walked, Jian Jing picked up the beads that had fallen to the ground. She counted, there were a total of seven, she didn't know if it was a coincidence.
Also, she didn't know if the program team had put the beads in the fridge to freeze, but they felt ice cold to the touch. Putting them in her pocket dispelled the summer heat, working quite well as air conditioning.
"Han Bo, walk slower." Jiang BaiYan pleaded in a small voice.
Jian Jing chuckled.
She had learned from her experience at the Sunset Villa, and specifically worn a pair of jeans overalls that were not easy to expose. Who knew the purpose of preventing exposure was not achieved, but it did make things convenient for Jiang BaiYan. He couldn't have too much physical contact with her, yet was really afraid, so he kept holding onto the back strap of her overalls, she could feel his nervous fingers even through her T-shirt.
The candlelight was dim, darkness heavy, Han Bo was also a little flustered, slowly shuffling along the wall.
Turning a corner, the stairs directly faced the second floor.
"Seems like nothing there...ahhh!" Han Bo missed a step and sat right down on the stairs.
A black shadow hanging upside down swung and twisted just 10 centimeters away from him, greenish-yellow scales extremely sinister.
A snake, a live snake.
Even though her brain knew this snake must not be venomous, its fangs probably removed, Jian Jing still felt a little weak in the legs, plastering herself against the wall, unable to move.
She was afraid of snakes too.
"What is it?" Jiang BaiYan cautiously peeked out to see it was a snake, and was relieved instead, "I thought it was a ghost, Han Bo you scared me to death."
Han Bo: "Aren't you afraid of snakes?"
"I'm afraid of ghosts." Jiang BaiYan walked over, used his toes to prod the snake's body, and discreetly kicked it down the stairs.
The snake slid downstairs.
Jian Jing & Han Bo: "..." How bad.
Jiang BaiYan with an innocent face: "Let's go quickly."
The three set off again, and with difficulty arrived at the second floor.
The layout of the second floor was similar to the first floor, except that there were rooms on both left and right sides, roughly six on each side in a 3-3 formation, totaling twelve rooms.
"I remember there were 7 guests in the registry?" Jian Jing recalled.
Jiang BaiYan nodded: "201, 202, 203, 205, 206, 208, 211."
She was surprised: "You remember so clearly?"
"I have a very good short-term memory." He was a little proud, "As long as I read the script again before opening, I've never forgotten a single line."
"Awesome." Jian Jing praised him, then her tone changed, "That's a bit strange then, 204 being vacant is understandable, but why are 207, 209, 210, 212 also vacant? No, that's not right."
She was suddenly shocked, and quickly shone the candle at the room numbers.
Sure enough, there was a problem with the room numbers.
The second floor layout was as follows:
202..206..208........210..212..Laundry Room
201..203..205..Stairs..207..209..211
There was no Room 204 at all.
"What do we do now?" Jiang BaiYan asked her.
"Find 204." Jian Jing turned left, walking to between 202 and 206, knocking and tapping around.
Jiang BaiYan and Han Bo helped search, but this section of wall had no paintings or any special decorations, bare for all to see. Careful knocking did not reveal any hollow sounds either.
They expanded the search area to the other three walls, but the result was the same.
"Doesn't seem like there's a hidden door." Han Bo said.
Jian Jing nodded: "Then it's the other possibility - the room numbers are wrong, we have to check each room to judge which one is the real 204."
--
After the broadcast.
Barrage 1: Love the lady, clear thinking, especially scriptwriter-like, are the directing team afraid?
Barrage 2: Production team: We're done for, everything seen through, how to keep playing? Barrage 3: Not hard to guess, if only looking for 204, wouldn't the other rooms be wasted
Barrage 4: Requesting high energy warning
Barrage 5: Successful air drop, first floor team super boring, looking forward to high energy second floor team
Barrage 6: Interesting to praise one and diss one?
...
--
Since they had to check every room, it meant they needed to open all the rooms.
But all the guest rooms were locked, unable to open, except for 202.
Room 202 was also locked, but it had a digital lock, and a slip of paper was tucked into the crack with song lyrics excerpted on it:
"...come a little later than before"
"Meet in the warmth of affection..."
"If my love is lonely..."
"The missing lyrics all have years," Jian Jing jumped in first since this was a familiar territory, "First Snow in 2002, Come Come Meet in '98, Born in 1874."
She inputted directly 200219981874.
It didn't open.
She changed it to 029874, still wrong.
This was a bit embarrassing now.
"None of them are right huh," she smiled embarrassingly to cover it up.
Jiang BaiYan said: "Since there are years, it must be related to the years, the order can't be wrong right?"
"The lyrics are in order, so it should not be that," Zheng Keyan analyzed, "This password should have multiple encryptions, the lyrics are the first level, and the years still need to be deduced again."
She pondered: "Years...try the zodiac animals."
"2002 is the year of the horse, 1998 is the year of the tiger." The recent years were easy to figure out, it was just 1874 was too far back, Jiang BaiYan calculated for a bit, "1998 minus 120 is 1878, also the year of the tiger, go back 4 more years, year of the dog!"
But 070311 was still wrong.
Zheng Keyan observed the digital lock and couldn't help but frown: "The password is very long, still missing a few digits, could it be the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches?"
"What is that?"
"The 10 Heavenly Stems and the 12 Earthly Branches cycle in combinations, forming 60 different combinations. After 60 years, it would cycle back to Jiazi, so one Jiazi is 60 years."
The calculation was a bit complex, so Zheng Keyan simply took out pen and paper scavenged from the living room, and wrote out all the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, calculating them one by one.
Heavenly Stems: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui
Earthly Branches: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai
It is known that the Xinhai Revolution broke out in 1911, so it was the year Xinhai.
Adding and subtracting forward and backward, she eventually concluded - 2002 was Renwu, 1998 was Wuyin, 1874 was Jiaxu, so 2002=907, 1998=503, 1874=111.
The final password was 907503111.
It opened.