PTYS Chapter 34

Shen Qingqiu was still smiling, but as she prepared to stand up, her expression suddenly changed. She shouted urgently, “Get out of the way!”

Before she could exert any effort, Xiao Muyu grabbed her and rolled to the side. Another figure came crashing down from the ceiling light.

Xiao Muyu’s fingers went numb as she got up, positioning herself in front of Shen Qingqiu. Her eyes turned icy when she saw the two-headed figure in front of her.

It was Lin Hai. That damned thing wasn’t dead after all!

No wonder Lin Hai wasn’t reflected in the mirror image.

As soon as it landed, it didn’t pause but crawled on all fours like a beast, charging at Chen Kaijie.

Chen Kaijie shouted and swung the frying pan in his hand, hitting Lin Hai. A burnt smell immediately filled the air as Lin Hai quickly jumped to the side.

“How does that feel? Come again, and I’ll roast you!” Chen Kaijie cursed.

He had controlled the temperature of the pan, making it red-hot before hitting Lin Hai, which must have been quite painful.

“Tiantian, quick!” Su Jin quickly rolled to pick up the painting that Shen Qingqiu had turned into and turned to shout at Zuo Tiantian.

The red thread in Zuo Tiantian’s hand flew out while Lin Hai was howling from the burn, wrapping around him in a few swift moves.

Xiao Muyu quickly supported Shen Qingqiu and shouted, “Hurry to door 3!”

Without hesitation, she rushed toward the door, feeling incredibly tense. Everything was based on their hypothesis; if they were wrong, they were as good as dead.

Chen Kaijie, gripping the frying pan, ran ahead of everyone else, “This time I’ll go in first. You take care of Miss Shen.”

In just a few moments, the five of them worked together seamlessly and retreated from the perilous room.

Lin Hai roared, pounding his fists on the door with a loud bang.

Once they got through the door, they found themselves back on that familiar path. Chen Kaijie almost cried with relief.

“Miss Xiao, your guess was right. Doors 3 and 6 are safe!”

Xiao Muyu also breathed a sigh of relief. If they had been wrong, they wouldn’t have survived in their current condition. The five of them collapsed inside the lighted area, not caring about their appearances.

They hadn’t spent long inside door 7, but it had been extremely dangerous. If Xiao Muyu hadn’t reacted so quickly and decisively pressed the pause button, Shen Qingqiu might have died there.

If Shen Qingqiu had died, leaving behind a mirror image identical to her and the monster that Lin Hai had become, they might never have made it out.

With the momentary relaxation, everyone couldn’t help but feel a lingering fear, and they were utterly exhausted.

Shen Qingqiu was already covered in wounds. The stab to her chest had fortunately missed any vital organs, but she had lost a lot of blood and was close to collapse.

Xiao Muyu quickly took out the bandages left by Zhang Qiang and pressed them against Shen Qingqiu’s wound. She worked in silence, her fingers trembling slightly.

Shen Qingqiu glanced up at her and said softly, “I’m just a bit tired. This wound is nothing serious. Don’t worry.”

Xiao Muyu ignored her until she had finished bandaging the wound and helped Shen Qingqiu get dressed. She then leaned in close and asked, “What are you up to?”

Her voice was low, almost a growl, audible only to Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu smiled faintly and replied, “What if I said it was an instinctive reaction?”

“Probably just a bodily reflex. When I saw the knife coming, I instinctively wanted to push you away since you were in front of me.” She clicked her tongue and added, “You don’t know how much I regretted it when that knife came at me, but it was too late. Fortunately, Muyu, you were amazing. You pressed the pause button so decisively and saved my life.”

Her voice was quiet, carrying a familiar tone of teasing, as if talking about the near-death experience was a light-hearted affair.

“Honestly, I’m truly impressed by the two of you. Especially you, Miss Xiao. Your quick reaction was incredible.” Chen Kaijie, who had heard Shen Qingqiu, couldn’t help but agree, expressing his admiration.

Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian looked at Xiao Muyu with admiration in their eyes.

Xiao Muyu felt a complex mix of emotions. In retrospect, even she found it unbelievable. When she saw the knife coming, the sense of dread made her use the stopwatch’s pause function without hesitation, without thinking of anything else.

She glanced at Shen Qingqiu again. Someone had nearly died to save her, so it was natural for her to want to prevent a tragedy.

Giving herself this explanation, she softened her expression and looked at the three people sitting on the ground with rare warmth and appreciation.

“You all did great too. Without your cooperation, we wouldn’t have made it to door number 3.”

Everyone loves praise, and Chen Kaijie laughed heartily, “I also think I did well. I never thought I could heat an empty pan like that.”

Su Jin, also smiling, remembered something and quickly took out the crumpled painting.

“We were wondering why Miss Shen’s painting hadn’t appeared before. It seems the system saved the strongest for last to trick us. I just realized that the previous seven paintings had clues, so this painting of Miss Shen might have one too.” She began to smooth out the painting.

Chen Kaijie got excited, “Yes, yes, we forgot about this. Su Jin, you’re our lucky star. Let’s show it to Miss Xiao.”

Xiao Muyu felt a jolt of realization and stood up quickly. She walked over to Shen Qingqiu with the painting and spread it out.

This silent consideration made Shen Qingqiu glance at her with a smile.

The four of them gathered around Shen Qingqiu to examine the painting. It depicted Shen Qingqiu as she was now, holding a dagger in her right hand.

Xiao Muyu immediately focused on her wrist but saw no marks.

Shen Qingqiu was dressed in black, and the figure in the painting was also in black. In the dim light of the carousel, it was hard to see clearly.

Shen Qingqiu coughed and pointed to the light source above, “Hold it up to the light.”

Xiao Muyu glanced at her, then held the painting up. All five of them stared at it, their faces tense with anticipation. They couldn’t afford any more setbacks.

Suddenly, Su Jin pointed to a shadow at the bottom of the painting, “There seems to be something here.”

Xiao Muyu raised her hand higher, aligning the shadow with the light source. Gradually, they saw a line of tiny symbols.

It was a bit blurry. Xiao Muyu squinted and frowned, “Roman numerals.”

“Numbers again? Is it a code? How many are there?” Chen Kaijie asked impatiently.

“Eight, from 1 to 8, in Roman numerals,” Xiao Muyu said, her voice heavy. “They’re arranged in order from 1 to 8.”

This revelation deflated everyone’s spirits. It was another cryptic clue.

“What does this mean? These eight numbers are on the doors. What’s the point of telling us again?” Chen Kaijie grumbled, tossing his pan aside.

Xiao Muyu remained silent, her head lowered, eyes unfocused, lost in thought.

Shen Qingqiu glanced at her and took the painting. Indeed, it was eight Roman numerals in order from 1 to 8, but she had no idea what it meant.

Xiao Muyu, still staring into space, began to speak to herself, “To draw a conclusion, we must observe the phenomena. We can deduce two facts from this painting. First, it presents the numbers 1 to 8, which is meaningless because we already knew these numbers existed, and we speculated the code to be a carousel number, so this repetition is pointless.

“Second, it’s peculiar that the numbers are in Roman numerals rather than Arabic. I think the key lies not in the numbers themselves but in their form.”

“Roman numerals? What’s special about this form?” Chen Kaijie and the others were puzzled again.

“The appearance of this painting must have a purpose. Our sole goal now is to find the code, and to achieve this, we have three clues: 1. The code is a seven-digit carousel number; 2. The original 8 letters or 7 chemical elements we have; 3. These Roman numerals.” She sat there, emptying her mind, and began to sort the facts objectively.

Shen Qingqiu’s eyes held a complex emotion. She listened intently, and her gaze remained fixed, as if absorbing a visual and auditory feast. Xiao Muyu was indeed exceptionally talented, and it was no wonder why.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t feel that she had known Xiao Muyu for long, but for someone who had always been cold-hearted and focused solely on her tasks for over twenty years, she found herself involuntarily paying attention to Xiao Muyu as a person. Touching the bandages on her chest, a flicker of confusion crossed her grey eyes. This was beyond her control.

However, this emotion was fleeting. When Xiao Muyu looked at her again, Shen Qingqiu smiled and picked up the conversation: “Hearing it laid out like this, the logic becomes much clearer. Since these three clues aim towards the same goal, we should explore their interconnections.

Given that the carousel number is locked to a seven-digit code, it’s likely that those letters correspond to seven chemical elements. These elements must convert to numbers between 1 and 8 to be reasonable. So what do the Roman numerals signify?”

“In other words, we need to find the relationship between the chemical elements and the Roman numerals, right?” Chen Kaijie, guided by their explanation, suddenly saw the light and immediately chimed in.

“Exactly.”

Too many thoughts could impede the reasoning process, and they couldn’t afford to doubt their conclusions. They had developed an implicit trust in Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu’s intellects.

So, silence fell as everyone pondered the question.

When chemical elements were mentioned, their minds naturally drifted to the periodic table. This knowledge was somewhat distant for the working adults, but for Zuo Tiantian, who had just entered university, and Xiao Muyu, with her exceptional memory, it was still accessible.

Xiao Muyu closed her eyes, visualizing the colorful periodic table from her textbooks. Suddenly, she opened her eyes.

On the other side, Zuo Tiantian was already shouting excitedly, “I got it, I got it, ah!”

The author has something to say: You see, the characters themselves just won’t admit it!

Regarding the reasoning, the clue for the seventh door is crucial. I think someone might have figured it out by now. One of the comments had an answer that, although not directly related to this clue, was still correct. That was more of a divergent guess but still excellent.

A while ago, one kind soul guessed isotopes, which is very impressive since it fits the 1-8 requirement despite the lack of direct clues.

In my setup, if something is too obscure or the scope is too broad and confusing, there will always be a hint.

The system is designed not to throw something too obscure because that would be unfair, leaving those skilled in other areas without a chance.

The carousel number itself is pretty niche, so in the first round, not knowing it wouldn’t prevent passing, as demonstrated by Chen Kaijie.

In the second round, there were direct hints from the books, allowing for continuous attempts since failure didn’t mean death. The third round was a verification round; even without the code, it wouldn’t result in death. The aim was to make them understand 142857, and the second and third rounds highlighted the characteristics of 142857, showing that multiplying it by a number could yield the code. Thus, even if someone didn’t know the carousel number but was good at math and quick to react, they could find the pattern.

The sixth round is the hardest, even for reasoning. Therefore, even if one ignores the carousel number setup, the chemical elements can still provide the code. Ignorance of the carousel number wouldn’t be fatal.