Chapter 77: Superior Parts
On the other side of the corridor, the room of the "Sender."
Old Lyu had already been beaten black and blue, blood flowing from both nostrils, and one of his fingers had been broken.
"Stop, stop hitting me..." Old Lyu begged. "If you beat me to death, there will be no one to deliver your letters... Spare me..."
"You old dog!!" A Mu grabbed Old Lyu's sparse hair and said fiercely, "Was I not good to you?! Huh? I gave you the 'Path', I gave you 'Trust'! And you fucking dared to destroy my key?!"
"I'm really sorry..." Old Lyu squeezed out a bitter smile. "I had already delivered all the boxes before I realized there was still a key to deliver... I originally wanted to send it immediately, but the three-minute countdown had only three seconds left. If I didn't throw the key into the shredder, I would have died..."
"Do you think I would believe you?!" A Mu grabbed Old Lyu's hair and slammed him hard against the wall.
This hit his eye socket, and blood began to flow profusely from above Old Lyu's eyebrow.
"Ouch... stop hitting..." Old Lyu held his forehead and wailed on the ground. "If you hit me any more, you'll really beat me to death..."
A Mu steadied his breathing slightly and slowly let go.
"Old dog... lucky I didn't fully trust you." He slowly stood up and pulled a letter from his bosom.
"Wha..." Seeing that letter, Old Lyu froze instantly. "You didn't put the letter in?!"
"Your petty tricks are like children's play before me." A Mu squatted beside Old Lyu with an angry smile and said, "Old dog, I'll give you one more chance. If this time the letter isn't delivered to the other side, I don't care about any 'Sanction' or not—I will immediately rush to the corridor, gouge out your eyes, and bite through your throat. Do you understand?"
Old Lyu nodded, trembling all over.
This A Mu would absolutely do it.
He was a true desperado. Even if he lost the game, he would never let Old Lyu go.
"Young Qi... this old bones of mine will help you only this far." Old Lyu muttered to himself.
On the other side, Jiang Ruoxue was hugging the box, stalling for time.
She had no other options left.
She hadn't expected that young man to be surprisingly intelligent.
The box with two locks in her hands was only a matter of time before being cracked. The only thing she could do now was stall as much as possible, hoping her team could gain an early victory with this time.
Time passed by. When there were only ten seconds left until the countdown ended, Jiang Ruoxue knocked on Lin Qin's door.
Lin Qin seemed surprised that she would receive a "reply letter" and looked confused.
She had just sent out the locked box, hoping Qi Xia would have suitable tools to open it, but now the box was not only intact but had even been sent back with two locks.
"Quick, take it! I'm out of time!" Jiang Ruoxue said.
Afraid that no one would deliver letters after the "spy" died, Lin Qin quickly took the box.
She looked at the two locks on the box and slowly widened her eyes.
"So that's it... So he had a second lock? I understand!"
Lin Qin quickly took out her own golden key and unlocked the golden lock.
Now there was only one silver lock left on the box.
"Quick!" Lin Qin handed the box back to Jiang Ruoxue. "Quickly send it back to the 'Recipient'!"
Jiang Ruoxue gritted her teeth and looked at the box in her hands, knowing something was wrong.
This woman in front of her had seen through the tactic in just a few seconds—clearly no pushover.
"Hey... let me join you..." Jiang Ruoxue said awkwardly. "Let's cooperate. Only by cooperating can you win."
Lin Qin stared intently into Jiang Ruoxue's eyes, then quickly revealed a smile and said, "How strange. If you really wanted to cooperate with us, Qi Xia wouldn't have come up with this strategy."
"Qi Xia...?"
"Things have developed to this point. Even if you don't cooperate with us, we won't lose the game." Lin Qin smiled apologetically. "Sorry, not this time."
Jiang Ruoxue stared at Lin Qin, her mind seemingly contemplating something.
"Ruoxue, the only thing you can do now is stall for time." Lin Qin slowly closed the door. "I'm sorry."
Jiang Ruoxue, now in the corridor, lost her previous expression. She slowly walked to the center of the corridor, murmuring softly.
"So he is Qi Xia? How convenient."
After a few seconds, she seemed to be talking to someone, nodding repeatedly.
"Yes, I can die. But what about the next steps?"
"Alright." Jiang Ruoxue nodded. "Do I need to leave him a little surprise?"
"Got it."
Holding the iron box, she walked slowly forward and came directly to Qi Xia's door.
Jiang Ruoxue closed her eyes slightly and reached out to knock.
As soon as Qi Xia opened the door, he looked at the box in her hands and smiled contentedly.
The box now only had one silver lock.
This team was full of "superior parts"—no matter what, they could never make an "inferior fighter."
"What, are you giving me the box now? Or are you going to stall a bit longer?" Qi Xia asked.
Jiang Ruoxue slowly opened her eyes, but suddenly a huge bell sound came from afar.
"Clang"!!!
Qi Xia was stunned, feeling an ominous foreboding. He quickly looked around but found nothing unusual.
"I'll give it to you now." Jiang Ruoxue said. "You should know that even if you get this, you can't open the door immediately, right?"
"Of course." Qi Xia cautiously took the box, still watching her carefully. "Old Lyu on the other side should have delivered the letter long ago, but we haven't lost yet, which means the 'Recipient' can't open the door immediately even if they saw the content."
"Let me see your skill." Jiang Ruoxue said.
Qi Xia looked at her suspiciously. "If you see my skill, you might lose your life."
"It doesn't matter." She smiled. "Who knows who will lose."
"True."
Qi Xia took out his silver key and smoothly opened the last lock on the box.
He took out the envelope, opened it and looked, his expression unchanged. Then he walked to the large microwave oven and carefully looked at the prompts on the screen.
It was a very advanced touch screen that supported handwriting input.
The space for Qi Xia to enter the password was four blanks. The only uncertainty now was whether it required four numbers, letters, or Chinese characters.
Qi Xia then turned back and took out the encrypted letter.
The next thing to do was to crack the code.
He unfolded the letter, revealing a lonely line of letters on it.
"MLGDRZDQVXL".
Apart from this line of letters, there were no other hints on the letter.
Jiang Ruoxue also looked puzzled after seeing this line of letters, as if she didn't understand the principle of this code.
"Every game has a 'way out'." Qi Xia muttered to himself. "Setting an overly complex password would cause participants to lose this 'way out', so the method to crack this code shouldn't be too difficult."
"And among the simple code-breaking methods I know, only one doesn't involve numbers."
"The Caesar cipher."