old fire thieves

Chapter 3 Act III. The Infinite Corridor

"Excuse my refusal."

Bai Ge said something, and walked down the stairs decisively.

Although Bai Ge is not the kind of guy whose favorite thing to do is say no to people who think he is better than himself, the current situation is really weird.

Who wants to take away the head of the alchemy puppet whose origin is unknown!

Ai Lian looked at Bai Ge's leaving figure, but didn't say anything to force her to stay.

Bai Ge quickly walked down the steps, rounded the corner, and came to the fourth floor.

"?"

At the stairs on the fourth floor, Ai Lian's head was lying there quietly.

"What a coincidence."

Ai Lian said.

"What the hell?"

Bai Ge subconsciously took half a step back, then continued to rush down the stairs.

On the third floor, in the same position, Ai Lian's head looked up at him.

"You can't go."

love said.

"What the hell?"

Bai Ge felt that his cognition had been challenged, so he ran all the way to the first floor.

At the top of the stairs on the first floor, the old friend's head is still waiting for Baige.

He stepped over the head of the alchemy puppet, ready to run out of the teaching building.

"?"

However, Bai Ge discovered that the exit of the teaching building was missing.

No, it's not gone.

He looked at the classroom beside him.

This is still the fifth floor!

Ghost hitting the wall?

This is not a supernatural story, where did this kind of evil stuff come from.

Bai Ge thought for a while, since going downstairs is not an option, he might as well go upstairs.

He went up one floor.

"meet again."

Ai Lian greeted her calmly.

Meet your sister!

Bai Ge was completely helpless.

"What the hell did you do? Where the hell am I now?"

Panting, he came to Ai Lian's head and squatted down slightly.

"Although I didn't do this, I can tell you that this is the fifth floor of the school's old teaching building, and it is also a secret room."

"The secret room?"

What is this new setting, I have never heard of it.

Bai Ge asked back.

Although he didn't experience it personally, after playing the game for so long, he can roughly know that he is probably under the influence of a certain ascendant's ability.

"Yes, this is a small abyss created by the ascender. The ascender probably set up this mechanism in advance to prevent himself from being discovered, and I triggered that mechanism just now."

Ai Lian's tone was calm, without the slightest sense of tension that he had only one head left.

"Really, if I had known this would happen, I would have changed into a combat body. The strength of this daily use is still too low."

Compared with the image of the gentle and kind rich daughter before, it seems that this slightly strong character is the real her now.

"Well, let's not mention this first."

Ai Lian's eyes turned to Bai Ge.

"As for you, you are probably just an innocent passerby who just happened to get involved."

"That's why you got blown up?"

Bai Ge asked subconsciously, and suddenly felt that it was impolite to ask like this.

Forget it, anyway, there is only one head left, so I don't pay so much attention.

"Since you play related games, it should be easy to understand. The ability of the ascendant is probably to build such a secret room. If you can't solve the answer to the secret room, you will be trapped here forever until the other party perceives the trap. was triggered and rushed over."

Ai Lian did not directly answer Bai Ge's question, but simply explained.

"As for the reason why I was attacked, it should be because I violated the rules."

"What are the rules?"

Bai Ge tried his best to digest Ai Lian's words.

"Before I met you, I tried to leave, but I couldn't go down the fifth floor just like you just now, so I thought of contacting my companions. When I made a simple attempt, I encountered an explosion."

Love explained methodically.

"So I deduce that one of the rules of this secret room is that it cannot contact the outside world."

"As long as you break the rules, it will explode like you just did?"

Bai Ge blurted out.

"Yes, although the explosion has a certain delay, it is very fast, about one to two seconds, not enough to create a sufficient escape path. Really, I am the least good at this kind of puzzle game."

Ai Lian said calmly, and looked at Bai Ge again.

"So, when will you be able to pick my head off."

Half of her face was still pressed against the ground, and it was very inconvenient to speak.

"Oh, sorry."

Bai Ge held Ai Lian's head in his hands, very light, not as heavy as imagined.

"Then how do I know what the rules are?"

Bai Ge looked at the corridor, the originally ordinary corridor was now full of shadows, which made people feel uneasy.

Outside the closed window, there seemed to be bats flying by under the night, making tiny noises.

Once in contact with the outside world, it will explode, which means that if Bai Ge took out his mobile phone to clean up his physical strength, then he would be cold?

Too exaggerated.

I am not an alchemy puppet.

If it explodes, it will definitely not survive.

"I did a little research before, and I can probably conclude that this is a secret room, and the rules of the secret room are followed."

The words of love were cloudy, but Bai Ge still caught a little thought.

"You mean, this is a space similar to the secret room in mystery novels?"

Bai Ge's words made Ai Lian look at him a little more interesting.

"very smart"

With only one head left, the corners of Ai Lian's mouth curled up. Under the starlight, this expression, which should have been a little scary, had a different charm for some reason.

Starting from the second level, apart from the characteristics of the class, most of the abilities of the ascender are derived from the historical fragments of their own name.

The origin of this small abyss is probably the secret room in mystery novels.

Chamber of Secrets.

One of the most well-known forms of impossible crime.

Countless reasoning writers have used various means to interpret their own secret rooms, some clumsy and some clever, but generally speaking, most secret rooms have certain rules at all.

"The first rule is that the Chamber of Secrets is cognitively isolated from the outside world."

Ai Lian said that not being able to communicate with the outside world is an extension of this rule, and being unable to leave the fifth floor no matter whether you go upstairs or downstairs is also part of the rule.

"The second rule is that there must be a connection between the secret room and the outside world beyond cognition."

Although it seems impossible to commit a crime at first glance, in fact there are always various means to crack the secret room, and the way to crack it is the rules of the secret room.

"As long as these two rules are not violated, other actions should be fine."

Love said.

"In addition, there is another setting that is not considered a rule, and that is this secret room, which is constantly shrinking."

"Shrink?"

Just as Bai Ge asked the question, he suddenly heard a bell.

The dull bell sounded from nowhere, echoing in the corridor.

Then, Bai Ge clearly saw that the stairs leading to the fourth floor just disappeared.

Missed.

"In the beginning, when I found myself trapped, the size of this secret room was from the third floor to the fifth floor of the old teaching building. Then, after 1 minute, the third floor shrank by one-fifth. After that, every 1 minute , the third floor will shrink a part, the third floor will be followed by the fourth floor, and with the sound of the bell, the fifth floor will probably gradually shrink and eventually disappear."

Love said calmly.

"I don't know what will happen to the disappearing part, but it's definitely not as simple as leaving the secret room directly. Well, according to calculations, there are probably less than 5 minutes before the fifth floor disappears?"

"What a joke!"

Bai Ge was a little nervous.

Isn't there no time at all, why do you still have time to chat here?

Love this guy, what the hell does he do?

No no no, now is not the time to worry about that.

Bai Ge's mind was running fast, and the things listed in love appeared in his consciousness one by one.

Chamber of Secrets, Rules, Explosion, Disappearance, Passage, Isolation...

"Wait, there should be a third rule."

Bai Ge suddenly said, pointing to Ai Lian's body parts scattered on the ground.

"The third rule is that if there is an existence in the secret room that violates the rules, there will be an explosion."

"?"

Ai Lian was stunned.

Indeed, existence that violates the rules will explode. This is something she has personally experienced, so she subconsciously uses it as a basic setting.

Thinking about it this way, it should indeed be one of the rules of this secret room.

In fact, if this rule does not exist, then the secret room is unsolvable.

According to the normal way of thinking, if Ai Lian and Baige find a hidden way out of the secret room that meets the second rule, then this road will become the recognized entrance and exit connecting the secret room with the outside world, making the secret room itself violate the first rule. a rule.

At this time, the third rule came into effect, the secret room was destroyed due to violation of the rules, and everyone escaped.

Among other things, Bai Ge is really good at finding loopholes and summarizing rules.

"But if it explodes..."

"Huh? Are you an ascender?"

Ai Lian looked at Bai Ge who was thinking curiously.

"In this situation, not only did you quickly adjust from the panicked state of mind, but you could also quickly and calmly analyze the problem. As a high school student, your psychological quality is really abnormal."

"Has it been discovered?"

Bai Ge smiled bitterly.

"I'm an upgrader of the shadow archetype, the worst kind."

Upgraders are not all the same. Under the system called "prototype", there are countless small and numerous sub-branches called "classes".

The types of historical fragments corresponding to different prototype ascenders are completely different, and the ranks that constitute the chain of promotion are naturally different.

For example, the upgrader of the creator prototype, the historical fragments used for promotion are mostly famous musicians, artists, and writers.

For example, the upgrader of the hero prototype, all kinds of warriors, fighters, and generals are under his name.

Another example is the shadow prototype where Baige is located.

This archetype is full of crimes, thieves, and courtiers, and it is an archetype that most serious official institutions shy away from.

"The nameless man?"

Ai Lian whispered the name of the first rank of the shadow archetype, the rank of the mortal body.

Yes, Nobody.

Bai Ge is now a standard unknown person.

According to the official records that can be consulted, as well as the conclusions drawn by Baige's own experiments.

The biggest specificity of the job class of the unknown is that when the upgraded person commits a crime, the success rate will increase significantly, the probability of being discovered will decrease, and the thinking will become clearer.

At the same time, the dexterity of fingers, tolerance to negative scenes, night vision, etc. will also be improved to varying degrees.

"Looking forward to being a hero, but being yourself a shadow? Interesting."

Ai Lian thought of Bai Ge's attitude towards those promoted in the mobile game, and smiled, looking at Bai Ge with a bit of amusement.

"Although I am an unknown person, cracking this secret room is exactly what I am good at [criminal] behavior."

Bai Ge ignored Ai Lian's teasing, but looked around.

dong dong dong-

A heavy bell rang.

Gada——

As if the space had been folded, Bai Ge and Ai Lian saw that the end of the corridor on the fifth floor had disappeared at some point.

The whole space feels narrow and closed, making it difficult to breathe.

"Actually, I already know how to get out of here."

Faced with such a situation, Bai Ge said.

(End of this chapter)