PTYS Chapter 33

“Huh?” The other three were completely confused.

“The carousel number multiplied by 8, 9, up to 14, becomes more than six digits, but it still follows a pattern.

142857×8 = 1142856, with 7 split into 1 and 6. 142857×9 = 1285713, with 4 split into 1 and 3. In these seven rounds, the numbers 1, 4, 2, 8, 5, 7, and the substitute 9 will be split into 1 and another number.”

Shen Qingqiu clearly knew this information well. Strangely, Xiao Muyu, despite having only glanced at it briefly, could follow along completely.

To help them understand, Shen Qingqiu used her dagger to carve out the first six sets of numbers for them to see.

“Here’s something strange,” Su Jin understood and pointed to the six seven-digit numbers. “If it were the original carousel number, 142857 indeed lacks 3 and 6. But in the second round’s extension, 3 and 6 appear.

So, did we not encounter danger because 6 was correct, or because according to the original carousel number setting, 6 does not exist?”

Su Jin’s question was critical, and both Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu fell silent.

“Besides the correct numbers, the order should also be correct. I lean towards the latter. There’s also a possibility that this instance’s password doesn’t include 3 and 6,” Xiao Muyu suggested another possibility, thinking quickly.

“That’s possible, meaning we could eliminate two numbers, but it doesn’t help much. Given the system’s nature, we likely won’t get four tries.”

Shen Qingqiu looked at the door marked with a 1 and then smiled at Xiao Muyu, “I think you want to try this number.” “The first number is undoubtedly 1,” Xiao Muyu said calmly. In all the sets from 8 to 14, the first digit was always 1.

“I think hydrogen is pretty reliable,” Zuo Tiantian said tentatively.

Indeed, hydrogen’s order is 1.

“Are you ready?” Xiao Muyu asked, looking at the door.

Chen Kaijie, Zuo Tiantian, and Su Jin stood in a row, their previous despair and panic gone, replaced by determination.

They still had hope and couldn’t give up.

“Ready!”

Shen Qingqiu reached out and pushed open 1. This time, they found themselves in the carousel, still with eight doors, slowly rotating once they entered.

Chen Kaijie couldn’t hide his excitement. “We were right!”

Xiao Muyu looked at the three happy faces, a slight smile appearing in her eyes but disappearing quickly like a bird flying across the sky.

“After the joy, we need to consider the next number,” Xiao Muyu reminded them.

Xiao Muyu wasn’t sure about the next number. If the seven numbers were elements, they would be 1, 7, 9, 19, 6, 20, 53, but the intervals didn’t match.

“Try one,” Shen Qingqiu suggested decisively. Hearing this, Chen Kaijie and the others felt a bit timid. They were terrified by the game. With hope so close, they feared failing at the last step.

“We must try. Games have wins and losses. The difficulty of the sixth round is too high, making it unlikely to get it right in one go. Therefore, the system must allow some margin for error.

We’ve delayed too long without supplies and will eventually collapse. We need to act while we have strength and tools.”

Shen Qingqiu considered everything carefully. Zuo Tiantian’s red thread and Xiao Muyu’s stopwatch could serve as lifesavers in emergencies. She glanced at Zuo Tiantian.

“If 3 is truly a safe number, we can wait for your skill to refresh. Do you understand?”

Zuo Tiantian clenched her tool and nodded vigorously. This was the first time Shen Qingqiu had spoken to her so patiently.

“Which one do we try?” Su Jin asked eagerly.

“7,” Xiao Muyu said decisively.

“Why?” They had witnessed Xiao Muyu’s intelligence, but they wanted to understand her reasoning.

“The six carousel seven-digit numbers are 1142856, 1285713, 1428570, 1571427, 1714284, 1857141.

The second round’s numbers are 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 7. Among these, 1 appears most frequently;

4 and 7 appear twice in one number due to 5 and 8 in the original carousel; 2, 5, and 8 appear only once due to the absence of 3, 6, and 9 in the original carousel.”

With the six numbers Shen Qingqiu had carved out, they could follow Xiao Muyu’s explanation.

“If the carousel theory is correct, 0 does not exist in this round. So we eliminate 1428570. The second password should be one of 1, 2, 5, 7, or 8. Guessing, our chances are 20%.

But I still believe 3 and 6 won’t be regular carousel numbers, as we saw in the first round and just now, so we remove 1142856 and 1285713, leaving 5, 7, and 8.”

To ensure they understood, Xiao Muyu spoke slowly and clearly, pausing to let them catch up.

“Also, if the letters represent chemical elements, 7 is included. So among 5, 7, and 8, I choose 7. If it’s dangerous, we’ll abandon this theory. If correct, we can directly try 1714284.”

Chen Kaijie and the others nodded.

“Another reason: carousel numbers are six in one round because 7 means a break. Without 9, 7 is both a break and a carousel number, making it a strong choice.

The second numbers 5 and 8 are also likely, being original carousel numbers and representing 6 and 9 in the second round. If 7 is wrong, we try 5 and 8.”

Chen Kaijie and the others were completely convinced. Su Jin solemnly said, “I’ll follow Miss Xiao. Compared to you, my brain must be full of soap bubbles.”

Zuo Tiantian and Chen Kaijie nodded repeatedly.

For some reason, Xiao Muyu looked at Shen Qingqiu again.

Shen Qingqiu’s grey eyes sparkled, and she smiled playfully, “Where you go, I’ll follow.”

Su Jin: Why do my soap bubbles seem a bit pink?

Time was running out; the carousel was starting to move.

Shen Qingqiu quickly walked to door 7. As she neared it, she took a deep breath and gestured for Xiao Muyu to step back. Xiao Muyu said nothing, slipping her hand into her pocket to grip the stopwatch tightly, watching as Shen Qingqiu pushed the door.

As her hand touched the door, a powerful force pulled all five inside. Xiao Muyu immediately sensed something was wrong!

At the moment she saw what was ahead, a force threw her aside, and a sense of crisis made her hair stand on end.

The force was too strong and sudden. Xiao Muyu fell to the left, clearly seeing a knife rushing towards someone, the person who pushed her.

Even though she had avoided it, Xiao Muyu felt the knife’s tip seemed to be piercing her eye, her pupils contracting in response.

Despite losing her balance, she instinctively pressed the stopwatch in her right hand, freezing everything in an instant!

Xiao Muyu lunged forward, her left hand instinctively reaching to support herself, hovering just above the ground.

On the other side, Su Jin stood with her mouth open, while Chen Kaijie stared wide-eyed in bewilderment.

Xiao Muyu was drenched in cold sweat, completely uninterested in the bizarre scene caused by the pause. She only had ten seconds!

She quickly pushed herself off the ground and jumped up. When she saw the scene in front of her, her breath nearly stopped.

The person who pushed her was Shen Qingqiu. At this moment, Shen Qingqiu, holding a weapon identical to hers, but with eerily red pupils, was facing her. The dagger in this Shen Qingqiu’s hand was faster and had already pierced into Shen Qingqiu’s left chest!

The tip of the dagger had already gone in a bit. If Xiao Muyu had moved even a little slower, the entire dagger would have been thrust in.

Although Xiao Muyu’s hands and feet were numb, her mind was incredibly clear and her actions were exceptionally swift.

She knew she couldn’t snatch the dagger from Shen Qingqiu’s hand right away. So, she kicked the mirror image in the chest hard, forcing the dagger away from Shen Qingqiu. Then she turned and grabbed the peach wood sword from Su Jin’s hand, holding it tightly with both hands and thrusting it straight into the heart of the mirror image.

By the time she finished this series of actions, the ten seconds were up, and the time stop disappeared!

“Watch out!” Su Jin’s alarmed shout, stuck in her throat, finally came out, and Shen Qingqiu’s action of thrusting out her right hand was completed. Because her target had moved, she stumbled a bit, staring blankly as Xiao Muyu plunged the peach wood sword into the heart of the mirror image.

The stabbing pain in her chest instantly hit, and with the time stop gone, the pain from the wound and the gushing blood couldn’t be stopped. Shen Qingqiu raised her hand to cover the wound and fell to her knees.

But she didn’t look at her own injury at this moment; she was watching Xiao Muyu thrust the peach wood sword.

As the peach wood sword went in, the mirror image let out a howl, its crimson eyes wide with disbelief, before it finally turned into a frozen image on the ground.

Xiao Muyu’s back was chilled. She hadn’t expected Shen Qingqiu’s drawing to be a deadly trap in this stage. The mirror image was as skilled as Shen Qingqiu herself. If Shen Qingqiu hadn’t saved her, and if she didn’t have the stopwatch, one of them would have surely died!

The sound of a thud behind her was especially clear, and Xiao Muyu couldn’t afford to look back. She quickly turned and rushed over.

“Shen Qingqiu!”

Shen Qingqiu’s face was pale, her lips devoid of any color, but her gray eyes were fixed on Xiao Muyu. When she saw Xiao Muyu’s frantic actions, she even managed a smile.

She didn’t look at the other three people surrounding her, only stared at Xiao Muyu and said with a smile, “I knew it, I’m not going to die just yet.”

Hearing this, Xiao Muyu gritted her teeth, her grip on Shen Qingqiu’s arm tightening.

She didn’t know why, but a nameless anger was burning in her chest, spreading and making her feel unbearably uncomfortable.

“Mind your own business. I think your time is almost up!” she spat out these words coldly.

Author’s Note: I’m here, please comment actively. I’ll check at 10:30 to see if you love me, and consider if I can add more updates as an early Lantern Festival gift. Give me some encouragement, please.

This stage saw a significant rise in emotional tension (in the eyes of readers and Su Jin), haha, though the parties involved might disagree!

To clarify about little Shen: if she were fake, she wouldn’t just watch her teammates leave; she would definitely warn them. This scene highlights her presence here. She’s the deadliest weapon in this game round, capable of wiping out the entire team, but she got thwarted by two people with great teamwork.

And to the little cutie who said they felt stupid for not guessing, you’re not! The protagonists also solve puzzles step by step. Without all the clues, they can only speculate. Once all the clues are present, they can guess. Guessing the chemical element was impressive!