Chapter 93 - of Diamonds: Balanced World (1/2)
Xiao Lou’s mood was complicated after watching Li Mo and Cheng Mu’s plot card. He didn’t know what to say as he held his breath and put the two plot cards back in the card pack. Yu Hanjiang also didn’t speak and the personal s.p.a.ce suddenly became very quiet.
Moments later, A of Hearts broke the silence. “According to the old rules, you can rest after clearing the Hearts secret room. The rest time given to you is still eight hours. You can now bathe and sleep. At 8 o’clock in the morning, the alarm clock will wake you up on time. Then go to the card wall to draw the next card. I won’t accompany you. Goodbye.”
Xiao Lou nodded at her. “Okay, goodbye.”
A of Hearts disappeared and Xiao Lou glanced at Yu Hanjiang. “Group Leader Yu, rest for a while.”
They might’ve slept on the train these days but they had been thinking about the case and didn’t sleep well. The kindest keeper, A of Hearts had given them a simple bathroom and two single beds. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou took a bath and lay down on the beds.
Xiao Lou remembered the plot cards and couldn’t sleep. Yu Hanjiang also couldn’t sleep so the two of them simply chatted.
Yu Hanjiang said, “The Hearts and Spades rooms are like two separate worlds.”
Xiao Lou soon understood what he meant. “Group Leader Yu means that the Hearts room has strict rules. The murderer might break the laws but they will be arrested and sentence. However, in the Spades secret room, the challengers can freely ma.s.sacre the free people to clear the instance?”
Yu Hanjiang nodded and whispered. “Of the four keepers, Hearts is the most principled. Maple Forest High School’s murderer, Zhang Qing was finally sentenced to death and on the train, the two killers were arrested. In comparison, 3 of Spades had a free person kill challengers while challengers ma.s.sacred the indigenous people. One challenger even directly released the zombie virus in the square.”
Xiao Lou carefully pondered on it for a moment. “Perhaps A of Hearts is in charge of an orderly world where people will abide by morality, regulations and live a normal life. Meanwhile, A of Hearts is in charge of apocalyptic worlds like Zombie Town and Financial Crisis. In that environment, people will naturally defy the shackles of morality, law and social rules in order to survive, exposing the dark side of human nature.”
The murders in the Hearts room might be b.l.o.o.d.y but the final result always gave people hope and warmth. The Spades world was very dark and people could do anything to survive. Killing here wouldn’t be punished. The rules of the two types of secret rooms were completely different.
Yu Hanjiang frowned. “It seems that the City of the Sun and the City of the Moon might also be an orderly world. The tour group and female group are from the City of the Sun while the City of the Moon is holding a concern. The two main cities of the free people should be a normal life.”
Xiao Lou speculated, “If the challengers go to the main cities and find that the world is beautiful, they will gradually be integrated into the world and not want to go back? For example, they can’t afford a house in reality but here they can buy a big villa after making money in the Clubs room. In reality, they can’t find a partner but here they are married and have children. Will their will to return gradually dissipate and they will lose motivation to leave the Card World?”
Yu Hanjiang nodded, his expression also a bit ugly. “Then after the challengers go to the main city, they don’t continue to break through. They are used to life here and don’t want to take risks.”
Once the challenger’s will was lost, their belief in ‘going back’ would become less intense. Clearing the SS-grade secret rooms was no longer important to them. The keepers stated that if they wanted to go back, they had to clear the SS-grade difficulty room. They didn’t say that all challengers had to go to the top-grade secret rooms.
Xiao Lou had a headache. “If this is the case, I can understand why no one cleared it to the end out of more than 80 million challengers.”
Yu Hanjiang was silent for a moment before firmly stating, “Rest a.s.sured, we must go back. Regardless if this world is good or bad, it is as unreal as a dream. If we are a.s.similated here for a long time, perhaps we will gradually lose our humanity.”
“That’s right.” Xiao Lou smiled. “Also, there is no need to be too pessimistic. The main city will definitely have a lot of people like us who are determined to go back. Those who can clear the fourth level aren’t weak and we might be able to find some more powerful partners.”
“I hope so,” Yu Hanjiang’s low voice rang out. “Rest first and then we will go to Diamonds.”
The outside of the personal s.p.a.ce completely turned to night. Sleepiness came and Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang soon fell asleep. It was a night without dreams.
The alarm clock woke them up at 8 o’clock on time. The two people quickly washed up and walked to the card wall. They pulled out the next card, 4 of Diamonds. There was the familiar vertigo and they opened their eyes in a strange s.p.a.ce.
It was a closed chamber with an area of around four square metes. The floors were covered with a white patterned marble and there was a stone table directly in front of them. The table contained a balance and next to it was a delicate wooden box.
The next moment, a prompt appeared on the suspension boxes of the two people.
[Welcome Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang to the 3 of DIamonds secret room, Balanced World.
Please unlock the mechanisms of the secret room, find the exit and escape within 30 minutes. It will be a failure if the time limit is exceeded.
The chamber doesn’t contain any hidden mechanisms and there is only one exit for the secret room. I wish the two of you good luck.]
Once the prompt appeared, a clock showed up above their heads. The time was currently pointing to 8 o’clock in the morning and the second hand started to tick. There was a red mark at 8:30, meaning they would fail if they didn’t leave the secret room by 8:30.
The mechanisms secret room was the room that Yu Hanjiang was worst at. He looked at the clock and followed Xiao Lou. “Is the mechanism in this room the balance on the table?”
Xiao Lou moved first and opened the delicate wooden box. He saw some fingernail-sized silver metal weights. They were labelled 1g, 2g, 3g, 4g, 5g, 6g, 7g and 8g.
Xiao Lou measured them with his hand and the weight was different. He smiled and said, “Balanced World, the mechanisms are controlled by gravity. The moment the required weight was put on, the door to the room should open.”
He looked down at the number on the weights. “From 1g to 8g, there are a total of eight weights. If we put 2 and 3 while putting 1 and 4 on the other side, it will add up to 5g… but I don’t think it will be that simple. It is more likely that we have to use all eight weights and make the weights on both sides of the balance exactly equal. This is the correct situation.”
Yu Hanjiang might by a physical person but he still knew how to use a balance.
The balance in physics was similar to the most primitive scale. Once the balance was in a completely horizontal position, it proved that the weight on both sides was equal. All the weights would add up to the weight of the object.
As Professor Xiao said, the secret room had eight weights and all eight had to be used. Otherwise, it was too easy to put 2+3 on one side and 1+4 on the other side. Placing eight weights that ranged from 1g to 8g, how to make it completely balanced?
Yu Hanjiang’s mind quickly calculated it but before he could finish, Xiao Lou stepped forward and seriously put the 2g, 4g, 5g and 7g weights on the left and the 1g, 3g, 6g and 8g weights on the right.
The sum of the weights on the left side of the balance was 18g and the sum of the weights on the right side was 18 grams.
1+8, 2+7, 3+6 and 4+5 added up to 9g. Four on one side meant it had to add up to 18g. Or he could put 1, 2, 3,5, 7 on one side and 4, 6, 8 on the other side and it would be 18g. There were many solutions to this question. As long as the balance of the weight on both sides was the same, this gravity mechanism could easily be unlocked.
The first mechanism was so simple and it was probably to allow the challengers to understand the principle of ‘balance.’ There was a slight wobble before the balance was perfectly balanced. The pointer aimed at the middle red part of the scale and the stone wall in front of the table opened up enough to let them pa.s.s side by side.
Xiao Lou’s lit up. “It is complete.”
Yu Hanjiang, “……”
Once again, Professor Xiao had given the answer while he was still examining the question. Yu Hanjiang decided to give up on thinking. In any case, he had already laid down to win once in a Diamonds room. Today, continuing to lie down to win was good.
After leaving the first chamber, a stone wall was raised in front of the two men and a straight channel appeared on the left and right sides respectively.
Xiao Lou first went to the left and saw a four square metres secret room. There was a balance on the table but this time, the chips in the box weren’t weights marked with grams but cubes with Chinese characters.
They were 5cm × 5cm × 5cm cubes with 12 Chinese characters written on them.