Chapter 1058: The Mystery of the Train
"Pass a message?" Chu Tianqiu raised an eyebrow. "A 'Zodiac' is passing me a message...? Which 'Zodiac'?"
"It's the 'Snake'."
Chu Tianqiu thought carefully for a moment, feeling that he had never had any dealings with any 'Snake'. He nodded and asked, "What's the message?"
After hearing this, Jin Yuanxun's expression turned strange, and he paused for a few seconds. Then he slowly lifted his head to glance at the two figures in mid-air before lowering his voice to ask, "Brother... before that, I need to confirm one thing. Can they hear us?"
Chu Tianqiu also looked up at the sky after hearing this. The situation was a bit odd now... Could it be that the message the 'Zodiac' wanted to convey had to be kept from Qinglong?
"They should be able to hear us," Chu Tianqiu said. "If they're sitting that high up and couldn't hear what we're saying, half the fun would be gone."
As soon as Chu Tianqiu finished speaking, Qinglong slowly turned his head, and their eyes met.
Those dark green eyes seemed to see through everything, sending a chill through Chu Tianqiu's heart.
Thinking about it, even a common 'Echo User' like Xu Liunian could find the trick here—how could Qinglong not hear them?
The situation now was that Jin Yuanxun needed to relay the 'Zodiac's' message to him without Qinglong knowing at all. But was it worth taking such a huge risk for a 'Zodiac' he didn't even know?
"Is the message from that 'Zodiac' important?" Chu Tianqiu asked again.
"I don't know..." Jin Yuanxun shook his head. "It sounds kind of important."
Just as Chu Tianqiu was hesitating, Jin Yuanxun suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Brother... how long have we known each other?"
"What?"
"In your memory, how long have we known each other?"
Chu Tianqiu paused. "You and I came from the same interview room... What do you think?"
"Did we used to talk a lot like that?" Jin Yuanxun pressed.
"Yes, we did." Chu Tianqiu nodded.
"That's really great, brother." Jin Yuanxun smiled. "I remember I have a bad habit—once I get familiar with Han Chinese, I unconsciously teach them Korean. Brother is smarter than most people, so you must have learned a lot too, right?"
"You..."
Jin Yuanxun: "?????? (In Korean)."
Upon hearing this, Chu Tianqiu's eyes widened on the spot.
"Brother... how much of that did you understand?" Jin Yuanxun switched back to Chinese and asked again.
Chu Tianqiu didn't answer; for a moment, his mind was flooded with thoughts.
He looked at the several 'doors' in front of him with a puzzled expression, recalling the anomaly Qi Xia had caused before the game started. He felt like there was some clue connecting everything together.
'Train'...?
Could this bizarre square venue be a part of that narrow 'train'?
Combined with what Qi Xia had said before the game began—that there had never been a 'train' here, only 'doors' leading to other areas.
Chu Tianqiu's mind suddenly became a chaotic mess.
It was a very abstract question. Why was everything around them pitch black?
And why, within that pitch-black space, was there a game venue?
After the group had finished investigating the rooms and drawn a map showing a perfect square, could the reality be different?
They had opened a door from Room A and found Room B, so they assumed that Room B must be adjacent to Room A.
Thus, they drew a square map.
But because of these strange 'doors'... was it possible that Rooms A and B were actually far apart, and the bizarre 'doors' forcibly connected them? In that case, both visually and spatially, Room A would always be next to Room B.
So, in the view of Qinglong and Dilong up high... what was the actual structure of this game venue?
Was the 'river channel' in the middle the 'car body', and the countless rooms were 'compartments'?
Could this still be a long, narrow train?
The fastest way to solve this puzzle would be for Jin Yuanxun to teleport next to Qinglong, get a bird's-eye view of the venue, and then come back.
But that would be far too dangerous for Jin Yuanxun.
"The world in the eyes of 'gods' must be different from that of mortals..." Chu Tianqiu murmured with a frown. "Maybe this is why Qi Xia insisted on coming here... to uncover the secret of the 'train'..."
"Brother really understood me. I said you were smarter than most people." Jin Yuanxun said. "I've passed the message to you. Now, I'll follow your lead."
Hearing this, Chu Tianqiu paused, then turned his head and asked, "By the way, Jin Yuanxun, when two people enter a room at the same time... how does the door lock?"
"Huh?"
"I mean..." Chu Tianqiu squinted and thought for a moment. "Does it lock immediately with no reaction time, or does it wait a few seconds before locking?"
Jin Yuanxun understood Chu Tianqiu's question, but his situation with Chen Junnan had been too chaotic at the time—he couldn't recall the details.
"It didn't lock right away..." Jin Yuanxun recalled. "At least a few seconds passed. After Dr. Zhao and Sister Xu Liunian left the room, the door slowly closed, and then it locked. I even got a last look at them through the gap."
Chu Tianqiu nodded. "Jin Yuanxun, now that you have an 'Echo', do you think you can leave a room before the door fully closes?"
"Huh?" Jin Yuanxun was startled. "Leave the room before the door closes?"
"Yes." Chu Tianqiu smiled slightly. "After you trigger a game with an opponent, can you manage to leave the room before it locks?"
"Th-this..." Jin Yuanxun panicked for a moment. "I should be able to, as long as the place is in sight. But is that really allowed? Wouldn't it be against the rules?"
"The 'rules' don't mention this." Chu Tianqiu smiled. "Dilong only said that after the door locks, it won't unlock until the game ends. You can use this method... to trap an opponent alone in a game. That way, they might have an accident in the game, and you could also trap multiple enemies by yourself. But it might be a challenge for you."
"Is that so..." Jin Yuanxun frowned. The plan sounded feasible, but it seemed a bit too risky.
"This is only the first part of the mission. You need to take care of Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin first. There are more important tasks ahead." Chu Tianqiu said. "After clearing the way ahead, find a way to enter the enemy's 'preparation zone' and destroy their 'display screen' while Qi Xia isn't paying attention."
"The enemy's 'display screen'?" Jin Yuanxun thought of something. "If we smash their 'display screen', they won't be able to score points?"
"Exactly." Chu Tianqiu nodded. "From then on, you will be the one to fully dominate this game. Catch Qi Xia off guard."
(Attention, brothers and friends! The third volume of the physical book of "The End of Ten Days," titled "The End of Ten Days: Unceasing," will go on sale at 8 PM on June 1st in my Douyin livestream room. The first 3000 orders will come with a signed copy. In this volume, Chen Junnan officially makes his debut. Interested friends can follow along.)