Chapter 283 (1/2)
Chapter 283
The moment everyone walked into the piano room, the door behind them abruptly closed . The sound rang out in the room and Long Sen, who was in the rear, immediately turned around to tug at the door . He found that the door couldn’t be opened at all and reluctantly said, “We are locked in . It seems we need to find the code to get out of this room . ”
Qu Wanyue observed the door carefully . “Why don’t I see a place to enter the pa.s.sword?”
Old Mo also walked to the door and fiddled with it for a while . He didn’t find any traces of a switch or door lock and told Xiao Lou, “It seems the pa.s.sword lock isn’t on the door . We need to look for it elsewhere . ”
Xiao Lou looked around . The room was empty, the walls and floors were flat and there were no traces of a hidden compartment . Besides the piano, there was nowhere to store clues .
In an escape room game, sometimes there wasn’t a pa.s.sword to enter at the door . There were also various pressing, stepping, puzzles and voice control mechanisms that worked as triggers . For example, the first room was a voice control mechanism that could only be unlocked with the Christmas song . This room had no code lock on the door so the key to escape should be the piano in the middle of the room .
Xiao Lou had this in mind as he spoke . “The piano in the middle is probably connected to a hidden pressing mechanism . It is only by pressing the corresponding key that this secret room will be opened . ”
Ye Qi agreed . “This type of pressing mechanism is very common in escape rooms . If the piano keys are connected by the pressing mechanism, the order of the keys is very important . Will it be a specific melody?”
Xiao Lou told them, “Let’s find it . ”
He took a step forward and closely observed the beautiful woman .
The woman was stabbed to death in a single blow . She didn’t struggle before she died but the expression on her face was full of horror . It should’ve come at the hands of an unsuspected acquaintance . The murderer walked into the piano room, abruptly took out a knife and directly stabbed her to death .
Xiao Lou a.n.a.lyzed . “There is no doubt about the cause of death . It was the knife in her chest . Her ident.i.ty… could it be the hostess of the family? Lucia’s mother?”
Yu Hanjiang replied, “It is possible . Normal guests won’t come to the piano room . In this place, she was sitting at the piano and preparing to play . Perhaps when the party took place on Christmas Eve, someone asked her to play a piece of music . ”
Yu Hanjiang observed the s.p.a.ce around the piano . There was no furniture so it seemed the piano was the only clue . He bent down to check under the piano and unexpectedly found a portable tape recorder more than half a meter wide hidden under the piano . There was also a speaker attached to the recorder .
Yu Hanjiang took out the tape recorder and had a closer look . It was an old-fas.h.i.+oned tape recorder that could be started with a battery and contained a tape . As a child, he had used this type of tape recorder to listen to songs .
Yu Hanjiang handed it over to Ye Qi . “Can you use this?”
Ye Qi nodded . “Yes . ”
At this point, the tape had reached the end and it had automatically stopped playing . Ye Qi pressed rewind, rewound the tape to the beginning and pressed the play b.u.t.ton .
After a few seconds of silence, a clear and melodious piano melody entered their ears . It was a familiar melody with a trace of sadness . Many people had heard this melody but couldn’t remember its name .
Ye Qi was forced to learn musical instruments by his parents since he was a child and he had memorized the scores of such famous music . The moment he listened to it, he knew its ident.i.ty . “This piano piece is called Dream Wedding . Two well-known composers tailored a piece of the piano master Richard Clayderman . There is a touching story behind this piece . ”
Xiao Lou was interested . “The story? Let’s hear it . ”
Tf Hl mjgfoeiis abiv atf rabgs .
“Ycf klcafg ktfc la kjr rcbklcu, j sbecu wjc mjwf ab atf Zjulm Cmjvfws lc atf Blcuvbw bo Ggfjwr . Lf ofii lc ibnf klat atf rmtbbi’r wbra yfjealoei ulgi ja olgra rluta . Ktlr ulgi kjr atf qglcmfrr bo atf Blcuvbw bo Ggfjwr . ”
“Ktf sbecu wjc tjv jc bgvlcjgs lvfcalas jcv xcfk tf mbeivc’a yf klat atf cbyif qglcmfrr . Lf mbeiv bcis yegs tlr ibnf lc tlr tfjga . Ojafg, tf olcjiis mbeivc’a reqqgfrr tlr offilcur jcv mbcofrrfv ab atf qglcmfrr . Coafg yflcu gfpfmafv, tf ifoa atf Blcuvbw bo Ggfjwr rjvis . Lbkfnfg, tf mbeivc’a obgufa tfg, tlr olgra ibnf . Vlz sfjgr ijafg tf gfaegcfv ab atf Blcuvbw bo Ggfjwr ab rffx atf qglcmfrr bcis ab fcmbecafg atf qglcmfrr’ kfvvlcu . ”
“The princess was marrying the prince of a neighboring kingdom . All the people of the Kingdom of Dreams were celebrating . The man stood in the crowd and watched the princess walking to the church with the prince . Suddenly, he rushed out . The guards beside the princess thought he was an a.s.sa.s.sin and immediately drew their swords . They didn’t expect that instead of hurting the princess, he opened his arms, threw himself in front of the princess and said ‘I will protect you . ’ Then people saw a sharp arrow pierce his chest…”
Ye Qi couldn’t help sighing . “The man actually saw someone in the crowd pulling out a longbow to a.s.sa.s.sinate the princess so he rushed to protect her . Before he died, he dreamed that the princess walked into the church beside him in her wedding dress, smiled and said she would marry him . It is a tragic story of how the wedding in the man’s dream will never come true . ”
The expressions of the team members changed as they heard Ye Qi’s story .
The sad piano music was still playing in the room and Qu Wanyue couldn’t help whispering softly, This man was quite infatuated and was willing to give up his life for the princess . It is a pity that they couldn’t be together in the end due to their difference in status . ”
Shao Qingge joked, “Xiao Ye, you are good at telling stories . ”
Ye Qi looked at Xiao Lou seriously . “I think that the story behind this piano piece is related to the murder . ”
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other . Could the unfulfilled wedding in the dream be related to the murders?
The piano music on the tape finished and the room became quiet again .
Yu Hanjiang’s voice was low . “From Lucia’s diary, it can be inferred that many people partic.i.p.ated in the party on Christmas Eve . The hostess went to the piano room to play the piano and was killed . The murderer used the recorded piano music to cover it up . This shows that the murderer must know what piece the hostess would play . ”
It was for a very simple reason . If the hostess said ‘I’ll play To Alice’ for everyone’ and instead it was Dream Wedding on the recorder, everyone’s suspicions would naturally be aroused . Since the piano music in the recorder was the same as the piece the hostess wanted to play, it proved the murderer was prepared .
Xiao Lou speculated, “Perhaps playing the song Dream Wedding was suggested by the murderer . ”
There were so many piano pieces and Christmas was a joyous holiday . Why play a sad song like Dream Wedding unless someone deliberately suggested it . They could find a reason similar to ‘I like listening to this piano piece the best’ to let the hostess play it .
Xiao Lou glanced over at Ye Qi . “Xiao Ye, can you play this piano song?”
Ye Qi nodded . “Yes . ”
No mechanisms or code lock had been found in the room and the door couldn’t be opened . They could only try to unlock it with the piano . Yu Hanjiang understood Xiao Lou’s meaning and stepped back to make room for Ye Qi .
Ye Qi prepared himself and sat where the corpse had just been . He stretched out his slender hands and started to play Dream Wedding based on his memories . As a result, he just finished the first verse when the locked door suddenly opened!