Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 125: Locked In

Taking the elevator to the top floor lounge, all sixteen travelers had already gathered there to rest. The lounge, with over a hundred lounge chairs, was sparsely occupied, allowing the group of five to find a secluded corner to talk.

During their conversation, Qian Ai, Kuang Jinxin, and Chi Yingxue finally understood the full story behind the “door closing” incident.

The sequence of events was simple yet abrupt: first, someone accidentally fell into the bath, and second, others rushed to check, crowding past Wu Sheng. In the chaos, someone bumped into him, causing the door to slip from his grasp.

But Wu Sheng, prepared for such “high probabilities”, had already initiated tactical plan F when he heard someone fall. Xu Wang, using stationery to levitate, oversaw the whole scene and clearly saw how the “helpful person” ran with the crowd and bumped into Wu Sheng.

“Who was it?” Qian Ai, still feeling the aftereffects of the near-steaming incident, was eager for some retribution.

Xu Wang looked towards the lounge’s entrance. “The guy next to the team leader now.”

Qian Ai followed his gaze to see a young male traveler, about twenty, speaking beside the team leader. The young man was part of a couple who had been openly affectionate throughout their journey.

“Him? A demon?” Qian Ai was incredulous.

“He pushed me,” Wu Sheng clarified. “But whether he’s the demon, we don’t know yet.”

“Regardless, we got the badge, and that means we’ve achieved our goal for this challenge. If we can also submit our papers, it’s a bonus.” Xu Wang patted his three companions on the shoulders. “Well done.”

The mention of the badge reminded them of the cabin, and Qian Ai felt aggrieved. “I thought we were done for when we couldn’t open the door. You should have briefed us on the plan beforehand.”

“We couldn’t be sure if the demon has eavesdropping abilities,” Wu Sheng explained. “If it does and can change the plan of accidents at will, all our strategies would be wasted.”

Kuang Jinxin added, “The tactics Sheng Ge gave us were very covert.”

“Us?” Qian Ai was certain he heard the plural.

“Controlling the indiscriminate attack of the flying hot stones was my responsibility.”

“……” Qian Ai looked at Wu Sheng, feeling sidelined. “So, I had no role? You don’t trust me?”

Wu Sheng glanced at Xu Wang.

Xu Wang sighed and said earnestly, “He trusts you, but your stationery…”

Qian Ai had an epiphany and quickly stopped his captain from continuing. “No need to say more. I was shortsighted.”

His stationery, despite its grand names, often had unreliable side effects and was indeed not suitable for saving teammates from danger. Better to leave it for the enemies.

As the lounge quieted down, the traveler who bumped into Wu Sheng also finished chatting with the team leader and laid down on a nearby lounge chair. In the dim light, the lounge felt eerily quiet.

Finding the badge was a good thing, but the constant threat of accidental death and the still-unseen demon weighed heavily on them, preventing any moment of relaxation.

Wu Sheng, deep in thought, suddenly looked up. “Something’s not right.”

“What’s wrong?” Xu Wang asked immediately.

“The Finnish bath incident,” Wu Sheng replied.

Qian Ai, Kuang Jinxin, and even Chi Yingxue, who had been half-asleep, were now fully attentive.

“The door,” Wu Sheng continued without wasting a second. “The door of the Finnish bath had no lock, not even a latch. Yet once it closed, it couldn’t be opened. That’s illogical.”

Qian Ai, puzzled, said, “In a level like this, does logic even matter?”

“On the contrary.” Wu Sheng shook his head. “This level is actually the most logical.”

“There are no accidents without reason,” Xu Wang added.

“Exactly.” Wu Sheng focused on the reflection on the floor tiles as if revisiting past events. “Every accident before had a logical sequence. Even if it was too coincidental, it was still reasonable.” He looked at each teammate. “But a door without a lock suddenly becomes unopenable? That’s illogical.”

“I also found something strange about the door closing.” Qian Ai scratched his head, hesitating.

“You too?” Xu Wang was surprised.

“Not exactly.” Qian Ai clarified. “When the door closed, I had this eerie feeling.”

“What kind of feeling?” Wu Sheng asked seriously.

“Like… chilling… sinister…” Qian Ai struggled to describe it more precisely. “As if something entered the cabin, invisible and intangible…”

“What kind of entity?” Wu Sheng gave him options.

 “Sunlight? Evil? Heat? Cold…”

Before Wu Sheng could finish listening, Qian Ai interrupted, “Definitely evil!”

“What about your [Righteous Energy Shield]?” Wu Sheng suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Qian Ai paused, instinctively sensing his defense stationery, then his expression changed. “It’s gone.”

“The stationery is gone?” Xu Wang frowned. “Did it expire?”

Qian Ai shook his head. “No, I’m sure it hadn’t expired.”

“It’s clear now.” Wu Sheng nodded knowingly. “At the moment the door closed, the demon was using his power, an evil manipulation force that can affect everything in this level.”

Xu Wang realized. “Opposite of righteousness, it dissolved Lao Qian’s [Righteous Qi Shield]!”

“But I didn’t feel this before.” Qian Ai was confused.

Wu Sheng explained, “Before, it just needed to push a bit. The rest was the inertia of the affected objects, like falling flowerpots and collapsing floors. Once ‘fall’ and ‘collapse’ were initiated, its power could withdraw. It’s an instant effect, too quick to notice.”

“But the Finnish bath door was different.” Qian Ai finally understood. “It had to keep the door closed with its power!”

Kuang Jinxin also caught on but had another question. “Why did it need to close a lockless door this time?”

“Because the Finnish bath wasn’t its predetermined point of accidental death,” Xu Wang answered.

He wasn’t proficient at logic, but at this point, he had to understand as a team captain.

Finding the badge was their team’s own task. Whether to find it, where to find it, was random. Even assuming the demon knew they were heading to the Finnish bath as soon as they entered this challenge and added the bath center to the predetermined route, the Finnish bath’s death trap was still hastily set up compared to the fixed-route traps that had claimed many lives before.

Hastiness leads to flaws.

“This was the first time it exposed a weakness, letting us feel its presence.” Wu Sheng’s gaze grew steadier. “But it definitely won’t be the last.”

Xu Wang perked up. “You have a plan?”

Wu Sheng looked at him. “Considering all the NPCs we’ve encountered in various levels, their power usage has distance and range limitations.”

“Of course,” Xu Wang said, “If he could attack us from ten thousand miles away, there’d be no point in trying to clear this level.”

Wu Sheng added, “For this level, there’s an additional condition.”

Xu Wang asked, “What?”

Wu Sheng explained, “It must be able to see the accident scene and closely monitor the entire process.”

Indeed, to ensure such tightly linked accidents, being on the scene wasn’t enough. One must be close enough and attentive enough to time each event precisely.

“That’s great. We can eliminate half of the suspects!” Qian Ai finally saw a ray of hope. Since the Finnish bath incident occurred in the men’s area, all surviving female travelers weren’t at the scene.

“But that still leaves eight,” Chi Yingxue noted, glancing at the clock in the lounge. “It’s almost three o’clock.”

Wu Sheng corrected, “Not eight.”

Chi Yingxue looked at him, puzzled.

Wu Sheng remained silent, resting his hand on his forehead with his eyes closed. He replayed all the accidents that had occurred in this level in his mind. After a quick run-through, he focused on the moment each accident happened—freezing the scene!

The near-miss with the flowerpot and knife attack, gas explosion, car hitting a person, subway door malfunction, restaurant fork incident, ground collapse and billboard fall, Finnish bath… Each accident site was like a slide in a slideshow. Seven scenes, seven slides, stacking them up, filtering out the absentees, and locking in on those who were present at all scenes…

Chi Yingxue couldn’t see the mental palace inside Wu Sheng’s head. He only saw Wu Sheng sitting upright, eyes closed, lips slightly parted, murmuring to himself, his eyelids fluttering rapidly as if possessed by some ominous spirit…

Chi Yingxue pursed his lips and turned to look at Xu Wang, Qian Ai, and Kuang Jinxin, who appeared quite natural.

Catching his gaze, Kuang Jinxin helpfully explained, “Sheng Ge is in his ‘strongest brain’ mode.”

“……” Chi Yingxue understood each word but was clueless about the combined meaning.

“Don’t worry about understanding.” Qian Ai patted him. “Just follow me and look up to him with reverence.”

Chi Yingxue: “……”

As they spoke, Wu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes.

Xu Wang immediately asked, “What did you find?”

Wu Sheng declared, “There are four suspects who meet the requirements.”

Qian Ai asked, “Who?”

Wu Sheng listed, “The team leader, the guy who pushed me, the backpacker, and the long-distance couple.”

Qian Ai, Kuang Jinxin, and Chi Yingxue: “……”

Xu Wang: “Can you be more specific? We’re just ordinary people…”

Following Wu Sheng’s guidance, the four teammates finally identified the suspects.

The team leader was obvious, as was the young man who had pushed Wu Sheng. The remaining suspects were the backpacker and the couple in a long-distance relationship.

Wu Sheng: “The fourth lounge chair in the second row is the backpacker. He wore a cowboy hat, leather jacket, and carried a hiking backpack. He’s a loner, doesn’t talk much, and only had brief interactions with the team leader…”

“The eleventh lounge chair in the third row belongs to the guy in a long-distance relationship. He wore a hoodie and jeans, used an XX phone with a 5.5-inch screen, spent 30% of his time video-calling his girlfriend, who’s studying abroad and will return within the year, and 40% texting.”

The four teammates: “……”

Wu Sheng asked, “Any questions?”

Kuang Jinxin: “Sheng Ge, they’re all wearing bathrobes now…”

Qian Ai: “They all look the same.”

Xu Wang: “I thought you just had a good memory, but your voyeuristic abilities are quite frightening.”

Wu Sheng: “…Observation skills, thank you.”

Wu Sheng, trying to maintain composure despite feeling a bit elated, turned to Chi Yingxue, who had been quiet, signaling with his eyes, “You can start praising me now.”

Chi Yingxue stared at him for a while, a rare hint of envy flashing in his eyes. “You’re so distracted when walking, and you still managed to avoid all these accidents?”

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