Luo Jian studied the gun without much consideration because he refused to use it. He was afraid of such a weapon, so he solemnly and carefully placed the gun back on the desk, and soon after, he picked up another item from the drawer, the awl.
An awl is normally used to repair shoes. It could drill holes, and in all, it"s a very sharp object. Luo Jian held it in his hand, then he put it on the desk. He placed everything he found from the drawers on top of the desk, but none of these items seemed to have any use. Perhaps he could use the gun to shoot directly at the door handle, but doing that was somewhat dangerous, he never used a gun before; besides, he still held some reservations regarding his own accuracy. In particular, there was only one bullet in the gun. If Luo Jian were to be slightly careless, he would never get a second chance.
So he had to think of other ways to open the door.
Maybe I should see if there"s anything inside this locked drawer? Luo Jian narrowed in on the very top drawer of the four drawers.
Before, he tried opening it, but it was locked. However, this lock seems much easier to pry open compared to the door.
But reality proved that Luo Jian was no lock-picking genius. He used an awl, a wire, some scissors, he used everything he could find, but he still couldn"t open up the d.a.m.ned lock! Luo Jian was furious, he simply stopped tinkering with the locked drawer, and instead, directly went to pry open the locked door. But doing that wasn"t any better. The keyhole was surely trying to oppose him and pick a fight with him, it was just the worst!
But Luo Jian also discovered that the keyhole to this door was not quite similar to ordinary ones. The keyhole was rather large, it was a dark, round hole, meaning that the corresponding key capable of opening this door should also be just as large.
Luo Jian half-knelt on the floor and looked through the inside of the large keyhole. As expected, he couldn"t see anything, but the dark hole gave Luo Jian the creeps. He stood up and took a step back, carefully scrutinizing the door once again. The crimson painted door looked rather odd in this cramped room. The iron door handle was rusted and tarnished, as if someone was using this door for a long time.
Luo Jian"s first impression about this door was that it was old, but the wooden door had no marks on it, it was smooth and flawless. So, he thought about it for a moment; he took up the awl in his hands and tried sc.r.a.ping some marks on the door. But something unexpected happened to Luo Jian; no matter how hard the sharp awl in his hand sc.r.a.ped at the door, it wasn"t able to leave a single mark on the door, not even a tiny scratch.
What kind of strange magic has been put on this d.a.m.n door? Is there any kind of special material Luo Jian hasn"t heard of?
Luo Jian bit his lip and threw away the awl in his hand. That tool couldn"t do anything for him, so he stepped back, directly lifted his foot up, and aggressively kicked at the door in front! He didn"t pause for one moment, instead, he kept alternating his legs and continued attacking the door, constantly generating a loud noise from the impact.
However, the door remained untouched, Luo Jian felt that his feet were numb.
"f.u.c.k! f.u.c.k this!1" Luo Jian finally couldn"t resist using profanity. What exactly is this f.u.c.king thing that"s so strong? He repeatedly hit it for such a long time, but it didn"t even have any cracks; is it even made of wood?!
Luo Jian suddenly became excited! No! Maybe he suddenly became terrified! The narrow, locked room was so quiet, he could clearly hear the sound of his own heartbeat. The fear in his heart was like a serpent that finally woke up after being dormant for so long, its cold, boneless body slowly gliding across the apex of Luo Jian"s heart, stimulating the trembling of his teeth.
This sudden rise in terror made Luo Jian feel afraid, but it also made him feel bold. He directly took the gun on the desk, and copying what he learned from the police holding guns on television, he aimed the muzzle at the crimson wooden door. But soon after, Luo Jian abandoned this mindless and dangerous action.
There was only one reason for his giving up. If the door was so st.u.r.dy to the point that bullets can"t even penetrate it, there"s a high probability that the a bullet would ricochet in this small room, and then the bullet is most likely going to bounce back and create a large hole in Luo Jian"s body, which would make him die for a ridiculous reason, and Luo Jian didn"t want that kind of thing to happen.
Luo Jian gripped his gun and sat down on the ground. He paused for a moment, then all of a sudden, he subconsciously looked at the alarm clock on the writing desk, the hour and minute hands visibly marked 12:22.
The note with the purple flower pattern explicitly gave him a time limit of one hour, and so far, Luo Jian did not know if someone was just playing a joke on him. But if it really was a joke, it was going too far. Luo Jian weighed the gun in his hand, this was definitely genuine.
Although Luo Jian never used firearms, a munitions enthusiast that Luo Jian knew had eagerly introduced him to many collectibles. They were all either models or simulation guns, moreover, Luo Jian also did not listen carefully to the munitions fan; nevertheless, he still learned how to distinguish between a genuine and a fake. There were distinct differences between the loading and unloading of magazines, the quality, and the ma.s.s and weight.
Luo Jian was troubled for a moment. He glumly put the pistol back on the desk, then squatted down to search for the note with the purple flower pattern, the note that he threw down on the ground after reading. Very soon, he found it near the foot of the bed; he picked it up and re-read the beautifully written cursive words, there weren"t any peculiarities. He carefully scrutinized the purple flower marked on the lower right-hand corner of the note. The flower pattern resembled an Equinox Flower, namely the Manjusaka2, the legendary Flower of h.e.l.l.
The bright red color is the symbol of the Red Spider Lily, indicating an ominous separation of blood and death. But on this note, the red h.e.l.l Flower became purple.
The Equinox Lily3.
It blossoms for a thousand years, it withers for a thousand years, the flowers and leaves will never meet for all eternity.1
The sentiments were not preordained, but its fate is forever destined for life or death.
The meaning of this flower left Luo Jian"s hair standing on its end. He flipped over the note to see its back in order to check whether there was anything written behind it. Because this closed room was so depressing, he even forgot this most important detail.
Sure enough, there was something written on the back of the note:
【In 1989, a homicide occurred in a hidden chamber. The murderer killed a man in the small apartment he rented. Traces of blood remained, and the window and doors were locked. But the corpse, the weapon, and the killer himself were missing.】
It was short and simple, but Luo Jian knew that these were some so-called clues. He looked up and carefully continued to observe the narrow room he was in. This room was obviously a couple of years old. Many places on the white walls were off-colored, large areas were cracking, exposing red brick underneath, the window was old and painted yellow, the gla.s.s was cracked, the corner and the edges were missing a few pieces, and the metal plate outside looked brand-new, tightly sealing the window.
The dark curtains hung on something, dangling down and appearing to fall at any given time. Luo Jian repeatedly yanked at the curtains, then sneezed, the dust was heavy. He squatted down and took a look under the bed, it was also covered in layers of dust. The bed he was just laying down on was clean, the sheets seemed to be newly changed; it was pure white. It felt like one of those monotone beds in the hospital wards.
Luo Jian checked the bed comforters and the pillows for anything, but he found nothing.
The feeling of having gained nothing didn"t feel nice. He once again focused back on the things he had already shuffled through. He attentively examined the desk; unlike the door, he could easily damage the desk with various tools. Luo Jian glanced at the locked drawer. Since he couldn"t treat that wretched door with violence, then it"s always possible to treat the drawer with violence, no?
Thereupon, Luo Jian picked up the scissors and the awl, and he even picked up a ball-point pen, he was desperate to destroy the lock on the drawer. This lock and the lock on the door were not quite the same, since this one seemed more fragile. Luo Jian almost pulled open the lock from the drawer. At one point, he used the scissors and awl to pick at it, and at another point, he used his feet to kick at it. He completely overturned the writing desk, when at last, he finally opened the f.u.c.king lock on the drawer!
However, the contents inside the drawer came as a surprise to Luo Jian.
"A hammer?" Luo Jian picked up the large hammer from the drawer. The hammer looked very durable. He weighed it is his hand, it was quite heavy, he could probably break down that d.a.m.n door.
Pondering about it, Luo Jian took up the hammer, promptly made a decision, and smashed the hammer on the red door! But the result was still surprising! The power of the hammer nearly made Luo Jian"s hand fly off, but the door still didn"t budge; it was quietly existing there, separating Luo Jian from the outside world.
The corners of Luo Jian"s mouth twitched as he looked back at the door that was safe and sound; maybe he should smash it a few more times.
Yet, after he repeatedly hit it more than a dozen times, Luo Jian just wanted to rage! Even doors that are reinforced with metal plates will most likely leave behind some marks, won"t they?!
Then, Luo Jian took a glance at the tattered window. Although the note stated that he shouldn"t try to get out of the window, he couldn"t help but think of this idea. How about trying it? Perhaps the message on the note was completely misleading, deliberately making people avoid the window?
Luo Jian walked over and opened the window. He touched the iron sheet sealing the window from outside, there wasn"t any dust on it.
To be on the safe side, Luo Jian scratched at the iron sheet with the awl, but the result he got was the one he hated the most. The iron sheet didn"t leave any traces of marks, just like that G.o.dd.a.m.n door. It was as if it were informing Luo Jian of some facts—that any sort of violence against them was ineffective.
Luo Jian felt gooseb.u.mps all over his body; the dim, gloomy light in the room seemed to indicate how he felt. All of a sudden, there was a glinting light; it made the narrow room flash dark then bright, and it made Luo Jian"s back tense with cold sweat.
"Calm down! I need to calm down! What other clues are there? Maybe there"s a key hidden somewhere in this room? If the door isn"t able to be destroyed, then the only way to open it must be with a key. Right! It"s just like a strategy game, there’s only one correct path, I just have to find the clues!"
Luo Jian"s face was pale, he bit on his lip. He began to think aloud:
"I searched every corner of this room, but I didn"t see a key. Where could the key be? Where are keys generally hidden? In the owner"s pocket? Yeah, that"s a good start. So, who"s the owner of this room?"
Luo Jian looked down at the note, his line of sight was fixed on the last line: The corpse, the weapons, and the killer himself were missing.
"The murderer"s room, the key is naturally in the murderer"s hands." Luo Jian laughed hysterically. He knew that that his mental state wasn"t normal, but in this d.a.m.ned narrow and confined environment, being normal isn"t any easier than going anywhere!
"As long as I unravel the mystery of this secret room, I can naturally find the key to leave." Luo Jian glanced at the note, a chilling smile floated on his lips, "You wanted to convey something to me, is that right?"
The most bizarre thing happened!
The very moment Luo Jian finished his sentence, a sentence slowly emerged on a blank s.p.a.ce on the note:
【Indeed, that is the case. Well, I still wish you good luck.】
As if he were just electrocuted, Luo Jian threw down the piece of paper in his hand; his face was a white as a ghost, and he didn"t even dare breathe in any air.
Just now, there was no mistake!
This sentence definitely appeared out of nowhere! If felt like a marvelous miracle created from a magician"s hand! Turning something absolutely unimaginable into reality, but everyone still laughs because they know that magic is only a distraction, it"s merely an unpredictable trick that takes advantage of your blind spots5.
But in this narrow! Locked! Dark! Panic-inducing room!
Who will perform a magic trick for Luo Jian?
Luo Jian"s teeth were trembling, he didn"t dare look at the note, but he couldn"t help but glance at the alarm clock on the desk. The time was now 12:40.
There"s no time!
If he doesn"t find a way out, Luo Jian is really likely to be stuck in here forever!
Luo Jian was anxious. He picked up the hammer again, and forced himself to calm down while thinking about the murderer in this room. The clues hinted that the murderer killed a man in here. Luo Jian looked around for a moment, but he did not find any blood. If this room really was the scene of a homicide, then most likely, this room wasn"t a hidden chamber yet. So when the murderer killed his victim, he must have opened the doors to get water, a mop, and all other cleaning equipment, in order to clean any traces of blood indicating a murder occurred.
Then, once he threw away his cleaning equipment, the room became a hidden chamber. The murderer and victim are still here, but they disappeared.
"No, they didn"t disappear. They"re still here."
Luo Jian suddenly muttered. He remembered what he saw in the murderer"s notebook, the first line of the first page:
【My left side is a crooked reflection of the dead.】
1操、你妈逼! - Cāo, nǐ mā bī! "Cāo" translates into: "f.u.c.k, s.h.i.t, d.a.m.n, etc…", while "nǐ mā bī" literally means: "Your mom!", but it"s just another curse word that holds a similar meaning to cāo (except it"s more vulgar, since he"s insulting the other"s mother). Later he also uses, "他娘的/ta niang de" which is basically another "Your mother!" but it can also translate into other curse words… So many different ways to curse~
2First, he said 彼岸花, then he said 曼珠沙华. They both refer to the Red Spider Lily (Lycoris radiata), but the first specifically said: The Flower of the Other Sh.o.r.e/Flower of Paradise/Higanbana/Equinox Flower. The second one was its literal name: Manjusaka or Red Spider Lily.
3Here, he uses 彼岸花 (Equinox Flower/The Flower of the Other Sh.o.r.e/Flower of Paradise/Higanbana).
4This refers to the Chinese legend of the Red Spider Lily/Manjusaka. I"m too lazy to type all of it out so here"s a about a Chinese legend about two elves (Manju and Saka, guardians of flower and leaves) who were punished to never meet for eternity. And here"s another that explains two other legends of the Spider Lily. This one has to do with its alternative name, "The Other Sh.o.r.e Flower".
5Sorry, I couldn"t translate this part word-for-word like usual, b/c it was somewhat awkward and I couldn"t understand it completely. So I changed it up a bit… orz
Yes, yes…we know how much you hate the door, Luo Jian. You hate it so much, that at every mention of it, you curse… Ahhh, I"m dead… This chapter was much longer than I expected… Next update will be NG.