The weapon by the pillow

Episode 36: The police are finally almost here!

A thirteen-year-old cold case, whenever it is brought up, causes a great deal of turmoil.

Having followed her mentor for many years, Cheng Jing has come a long way, and this case alone has been the subject of countless trials and tribulations for them.

He lifted it up and pressed it down again... The master bent over, his hair turned white.

What about yourself?

After hanging up a stressful phone call, Cheng Jing's gaze remained unwavering for the first time.

She stubbed out her cigarette and gave clear instructions into the walkie-talkie.

A dozen or so special police officers in black combat uniforms, like ghosts blending into the night, split into two groups. One group entered the dark corridor of Building 7 quickly and quietly in tactical formation, while the other group spread out on the perimeter, their guns pointed warily at all possible exits and the direction of Building 5.

A tug-of-war-like struggle took place inside the building, in room 403, amidst a quagmire of suspicion and fear.

"The door will only open when the sum of the points is seven."

The words on the bed sheet are like a cold math problem.

It looks more like a cruel law of survival, a knife hanging over everyone's head.

Li Kai held the chipped die, his gaze sharp as a knife... sweeping over the remaining seven faces in the room—

Cheng Tan, Lin Qian, Yingzi, Shanmao, Wu Wenbin, A Zhe, Xiao Fei.

Eight people. A die has six sides, but three sides are missing. What are the remaining three sides: four, five, and six? Or does the missing corner represent the cleared numbers one, two, three, and four, and one of the eight people corresponds to the remaining five and six?

"There are eight of us..." Li Kai said bitterly, "If 'points' represent 'people'... how do we make seven? Kill one? Or... find the person whose 'points' are wrong?"

"Are you insane?!" Lynx sprang to his feet, truly like a lynx, and roared, "What kind of bullshit logic is this! Are we supposed to kill each other to prove a madman's riddle?!"

"But we're trapped here! We can't open the door! There are eyes outside the window! The police are being held back! That voice said there's a bomb in the building!" Ah Zhe cried out, his voice trembling with tears. "What can we do? Just wait to die?"

Xiao Fei gripped A Zhe's arm tightly, his face as pale as paper. Their silence seemed to make them appear even more distressed than if they were speaking.

Lin Qian looked at the shadow: "What do you think? Is this really a trap to make us kill each other, or is there a deeper mystery?"

The shadow walked to the door and examined the jammed iron door once more.

The scratches on the door hinges were deep, and the jamming object was exceptionally sturdy. He then walked to the window and looked outside through the gaps in the wooden planks.

The countless "eyes" are still there, like eerie insects stuck to the glass.

"If it were just a simple murder trap, he wouldn't have bothered with all this complexity," Shadow finally spoke. "Leaving clues and setting up puzzles—it's more like a... test. Or perhaps a game with rules he set. What he wants to see isn't our deaths, but our choices in dire situations, and... who can solve the puzzle. Including those online friends..."

"Solve the riddle and we can get out?" Wu Wenbin adjusted his glasses again. "'The sum of the numbers is seven'... The sum of the two opposite faces of the die is seven. One is six, two is five, three is four. Now the missing corners are one, two, and three, so the remaining complete faces are four, five, and six. Four is three, five is two, six is ​​one... But the corners corresponding to three, two, and one have been cut off."

He spoke as if solving a geometry problem, his pace quickening: "If the die itself represents this room, or a certain 'system,' and the missing corner represents the 'excluded' or 'ineffective' parts, then the remaining valid 'points' are four, five, and six. Four plus five plus six equals fifteen, not seven. Therefore, 'the sum of the points being seven' cannot be achieved by simply adding the existing points."

"Unless..." Cheng Tan, who had been silent, suddenly interjected, "Unless 'points' don't refer to the numbers on the dice, but rather to... the number of 'people' or the number of 'events'? The Li Wan case, Zhao Jianguo, Wang Bin, Wu Guodong, Liu Li... and Jin Dafu, Zhang Zhiqiang... that's more than six already."

"Or, the number 'seven' itself is a symbol," Lin Qian continued. "In some cultures or mysticisms, 'seven' represents completeness, cycle, and judgment. The fact that 'the sum of the points is seven' may mean that when all the 'points'—all the participants, all the crimes, all the clues—are revealed and brought together, the 'door'—that is, the door to the truth, or the way out—will open."

This explanation is more abstract, but it also seems closer to the twisted "ritualistic" thinking of the mastermind behind the scenes.

"But how do we 'converge'?" Lynx asked irritably. "We don't even know if we're a 'point' ourselves!"

Just then—

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A heavy thud could be faintly heard from downstairs!

No! It wasn't the sound of knocking, it sounded more like... a battering ram hitting the door!

"Police!" Ah Zhe was the first to react, shouting with surprise, "It's the police! They're breaking down the door! They're trying to get into the building!"

Hearing the sounds outside, hope, like a faint flame, ignited in everyone's hearts inside the house.

After listening for only a moment, Shadow's expression changed:

"No! The sound is coming from...not from the stairwell door on our floor! It's from further down! And...it's so loud! It sounds like it was made on purpose!"

really.

As if to confirm his guess, the mechanical voice hidden in the camera suddenly rang out again.

This time, the tone was playful:

"Oh? The guests have finally arrived."

"Unfortunately, the host... has to leave early."

As soon as the words fell—

"Whoosh—smack!"

A soft popping sound came from outside the window, followed by a dull thud as something heavy fell to the ground.

The people in room 403 hadn't even realized what was happening.

Right across from Building 7, outside a room on the third floor of Building 5, the sniper on surveillance witnessed a shocking scene—

The curtains that had always been drawn were suddenly yanked open!

Their attention darted inside, behind the window...

It was completely deserted.

There was only one stand, on which was mounted a large flat-panel display screen, facing the window and showing a live stream of the scene from room 403! Below the screen was a black box device with a digital countdown display, and red lights flashed regularly.

Almost at the same instant the curtains were drawn back, three slender but exceptionally strong black ziplines shot out silently from the shadows on the side of the window, like venomous snakes, with their other ends firmly attached to the roof of a lower building across the street.

Immediately afterwards, three black figures, with simple zipline hooks hanging from their waists, like bats in the night, gripped the handles on the hooks with one hand, pushed off the windowsill with both legs, and their bodies glided lightly and swiftly to the other side along the three taut ziplines!

Their movements were clean and efficient, clearly the result of extensive rehearsals.

The zipline was steep and extremely fast. In just a few breaths, the three of them had glided nearly twenty meters and landed on the opposite rooftop. They then unhooked the hooks and disappeared behind the ventilation ducts and debris on the roof.

The entire process, from the moment the curtains were drawn open to the moment the three people disappeared, took no more than fifteen seconds.