Chapter 12: Your Hometowns
If the words "The rules are absolute" still applied to this second "game," then what was written on the masks held the key to breaking it.
But how could it be broken?
And when would the harpoon fire?
"The clock never stops for a moment"...
Could it mean quarter past one?
Qi Xia turned his head to look at the clock on the table. It was now five minutes past one. If "quarter past one" was the time the harpoon would fire, then there were less than ten minutes left.
"Turn one hundred times toward the direction of your hometown"...
The nine people present all had different hometowns, and "one hundred times" was no small number.
If they were thinking in the wrong direction, they could easily waste these ten minutes.
But in this room, aside from himself, what else could "turn"?
Qi Xia's gaze fixed on the clock in the center of the table.
He leaned over and gently touched the clock, only to find it firmly fixed to the table, unable to move an inch.
"The clock can't move. Could it be the chair?"
Qi Xia looked down at the chair beneath him. It was an ordinary, old chair that smelled of mold, casually placed on the floor with no hidden mechanisms.
If that was the case, then there was only...
Qi Xia reached out and turned the surface of the table. Sure enough, a faint sound of chains came from inside the table.
But the table was heavy. Even with considerable effort, he could only turn it by a few centimeters.
"One hundred times..."
This number couldn't be achieved by just two or three people alone. All nine people present would need to work together to turn the table to have a chance at survival.
Lin Ju keenly noticed Qi Xia's movement and called for everyone to stop.
The others came over to the table and saw that it could indeed be turned.
"You really have a way, swindler." Qiao Jiaying nodded and said, "If we turn this table a hundred times, we should be able to open that invisible door."
Qi Xia glanced at the clock again. Though time was tight, the problem had become simpler now.
Turning this round table one hundred times "toward the direction of your hometown" boiled down to just two answers.
Left, or right.
But everyone's hometowns were scattered in all directions—east, south, west, north. How could they determine whether to turn left or right?
"Qi Xia, do you already know when the harpoon will fire?" Lin Ju asked, covering her nose and mouth.
"The hint said time 'never stops.' I estimate it will be at quarter past one." Qi Xia said softly.
Qiao Jiaying's face changed upon hearing this. "That means we have less than ten minutes left! Let's start turning now."
Dr. Zhao moved the corpse lying on the table aside, slowly sat down, and reached out to test the table's weight. "But we only have one chance. This table is so heavy—if we turn it a hundred times in the wrong direction, what then?"
"That's still a fifty percent chance of survival!" Qiao Jiaying said urgently. "If we don't move, we'll die for sure. If we turn it, there's a fifty percent chance we'll live. Let's hurry!"
With that, he began turning the table surface to the left with all his might.
Though Qiao Jiaying looked thin, he was incredibly strong. Even alone, he managed to turn the table half a circle.
"What are you waiting for?! Damn it, help me!" Qiao Jiaying shouted at the others.
The remaining people knew Qiao Jiaying had a point, so they could only help him turn it for now.
There was no correct answer to begin with; they could only gamble.
But Qi Xia still hadn't moved.
He didn't know where to direct his thoughts.
Left, or right?
Why was the key word "hometown"?
Everyone was Chinese, so was it "east"?
North at the top, south at the bottom, left is west, right is east—was the answer "right"?
But what about the people who lived in the west?
Or could it be that everyone's hometowns were related to the "Zuo Zhuan" (Commentary of Zuo) from the Spring and Autumn period, making the answer "left"?
Qi Xia half-closed his eyes. He had originally planned to use the two corpses to shield himself, but if everyone else died, what would happen when the next game came?
"It's not time to give up on them yet."
Qi Xia muttered to himself, then reached out, grabbed a blank piece of paper from the turning table, picked up a pen, stood up, and moved to the side. He found an empty spot, sat down, and began scribbling furiously.
Though the others were puzzled, they didn't stop. By now, they had turned the table over a dozen times.
"If he hadn't introduced himself as a 'swindler,' I'd think that guy was a mathematician." Qiao Jiaying said to Tiantian beside him.
Tiantian was still dizzy from her earlier spinning and could only nod perfunctorily.
This time, Qi Xia didn't write a vertical formula. Instead, he roughly sketched a map of the country on the paper.
"Hometown...?"
His mind raced, and suddenly he thought of something.
"Wait, wait..." Qi Xia's eyes widened. "If the 'host' is so powerful that they can find people with similar experiences from so many provinces, then is 'province' also a key point?"
He turned around, looking at the others who were still spinning the table, and asked seriously, "Did any of you lie about your 'hometown' just now?"
Everyone shook their heads.
After all, "hometown" was tied to accent and expression habits; lying would easily give them away.
"Good." Qi Xia nodded slightly. "Now, please tell me your hometowns one by one again."
Officer Li was the first to speak: "I'm from Inner Mongolia."
Qi Xia marked a black dot on the map at the location of Inner Mongolia.
"I'm from Sichuan." Lawyer Zhang Chenze said coldly.
"I'm from Shaanxi..." Tiantian said.
"Dali, Yunnan." Kindergarten teacher Xiao Ran said.
"Guangdong." Qiao Jiaying said.
"Ningxia." Psychological counselor Lin Ju said.
"I work in Jiangsu." Dr. Zhao said.
Qi Xia marked everyone's hometowns on the map one by one and added his own "Shandong."
Now, everyone turned their gaze to the writer Han Yimo, who hadn't mentioned his hometown from the beginning.
"Han Yimo, are you from Guangxi or Taiwan?"
Han Yimo was startled and asked, "How did you know?"
"Time is short. Answer me first."
"I'm from Guangxi..."
Qi Xia nodded. At this point, only two provinces were left for Han Yimo.
Guangxi Province and Taiwan Province.
If his answer wasn't one of these two, he would have told a huge lie.
Fortunately, he told the truth.
Qi Xia marked the last province on the sketch, which now had nine black dots.
"Just as I thought."
Qi Xia said quietly, "Stop. Turn right."
"Right?"
Qi Xia quickly ran to the table, threw the blank paper onto it, and began turning the table surface in the opposite direction.
Though the others were confused, they followed along.
Dr. Zhao glanced at the map and the nine black dots on the table.
"Why 'right'?"