The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

Where is the exit of the maze?

The hive maze is like a bee's nest, made up of countless hexagons.

According to the map drawn by Lao Mo, this maze is very similar to a beehive maze. There are two or three forks at the end of each road. The path in the maze is extremely complicated, but they started drawing the map from the moment they entered the town last night , I can’t make a mistake, but why, when I returned to the original road according to the map I drew last night, I couldn’t find the exit?

Could it be that Lao Mo misjudged the direction?

Will not.Among all the teammates, Lao Mo has the strongest sense of direction. If he admits his mistakes, isn't this maze unsolvable?

Xiao Lou took a few steps forward, suddenly thought of something, and looked back——

The lake water of Zuiyue Lake sparkled under the moonlight, and the moonlight fragments constantly flickering on the lake surface looked like a disrupted labyrinth path, with the end point pointing to the Zuiyue Pavilion in the middle of the lake.

Xiao Lou's eyes lit up: "Look at that pavilion. The pavilion in the middle of the lake has the words 'Drunk Moon Pavilion' written on it. We didn't go up last night. Maybe that's where the center of the maze starts?"

Since entering the maze from the exit, it is not feasible to go back the same way, why not find the way from the starting point in the center of the maze?

Lao Mo didn't pay special attention to the pavilion in the center of the lake.Hearing what Xiao Lou said, he immediately followed Xiao Lou's gaze towards Zuiyue Pavilion——

Under the moonlight, with Zuiyue Pavilion as the center, there are a large number of moonlight fragments scattered on the lake. If you observe carefully, the narrow gaps between those moonlights are indeed a bit like a maze path that has been disrupted.

Lao Mo took out his handkerchief and carefully checked the plan of the maze drawn last night.Soon, he said excitedly: "Professor Xiao is right. The pavilion in the middle of the lake is like the starting point of the maze. Let's go and have a look."

When Yu Hanjiang heard the words, Qinggong took Xiao Lou and flew into the pavilion.

The other four quickly followed.

The gazebo is quite large, easily accommodates six of them, and its shape is also very hexagonal.

After arriving at the gazebo, Lao Mo took a pen to write and draw on the handkerchief while looking around. Xiao Lou walked up to him and asked, "How is it? Have you discovered the mystery of this maze?"

Lao Mo looked up at the moonlight in the sky, then looked down at the floor plan on the handkerchief, and doubts floated in his eyes: "If this gazebo is the very center of the maze, the winding roads around the lake radiate from the center. The honeycomb-like branch of the labyrinth... We couldn't find the exit last night, could it be that the maze is revolving around the center according to certain rules?"

Xiao Lou also thought of this possibility, and said: "If the entire maze rotates around the gazebo, and the small beehives on the periphery rotate, the exit of the town will be hidden due to misalignment, which is why we couldn't find the exit last night. The reason. The maze has rotated back to its original position today, so you just followed Ms. Zhao and Chen Yu to find the exit of the town?"

Liu Qiao came over and said: "Yes, we saw Chen Yu walk out of the town with our own eyes, and there was a stone tablet of 'Qingfeng Town' outside the gate of the town. However, there seemed to be a transparent barrier at the gate of the town. Can't get out."

Qu Wanyue nodded in agreement: "We tried too, but we couldn't get out."

Yu Hanjiang said: "Strange, last night we came in through the exit. Is this town only allowed to enter and not allowed to exit?"

Xiao Lou shook his head and said, "There is no passage in the maze that can only be entered but not exited. I think it is also possible that what Xiao Liu and the others saw just now was the exit of the ghost town at night, not the exit of the real town."

He looked down at the lake, and a gust of wind blew by, disrupting the fragments of moonlight on the lake.When the lake finally calmed down, the moonlight fragments projected on it had obviously changed compared to just now.

Under normal circumstances, when the wind blows across the lake, the projection in the water will become messy, but after the wind stops, it will return to its original state.But now, after the wind stopped, the arrangement of the moonlight fragments changed significantly. Obviously, Lao Mo's guess was correct.

This tiny clue was almost ignored by them!

As Lao Mo said, the maze has been dynamically revolving around Liang Ting in the center of the lake.

Since the maze is a honeycomb structure, the road will be dislocated every time the honeycomb rotates, but the change will not be noticed visually.The exit is naturally on the outermost circle. As long as the maze turns, the exit will be different from the original one.

This is the reason why I couldn't find the exit last night, and I found the exit tonight but couldn't get out.

The maze is too big, and they are in it, unable to see the specific laws of the maze rotation from the perspective of God, clockwise, counterclockwise, or how many degrees to the left and how many degrees to the right?

Without being able to figure out the law of the maze's rotation, it was difficult for them to go out from the "real town exit" last night.

What should I do?

Xiao Lou looked at his own shadow reflected on the lake, and suddenly said, "Why don't you jump into the lake first? Since the lake in the middle of the town is the key to the night labyrinth, maybe there will be some clues in the lake? "

Yu Hanjiang said bluntly: "Liu Qiao, become a mermaid, let's go into the water together."

Liu Qiao took out the [Daughter of the Sea] card, and his teammates turned into mermaids, jumped into the water, and groped towards the bottom of the lake.

The lake at night was icy cold, and the Zuiyue Lake was much deeper than imagined.

Mermaids are fast in water.

After swimming for a while, we came to the bottom of the lake.

The light in front of him became dark, and Yu Hanjiang took out the night pearl to illuminate it. He found that there were some aquatic plants at the bottom of the lake, which looked like...human hair?

As soon as I realized this, something suddenly entangled my waist, and my body began to fall rapidly!

Yu Hanjiang looked calm. He is now a mermaid and can move freely in the water. Even if he is dragged to the bottom of the lake by aquatic plants, he is not afraid of drowning.The knife in the man's hand swung swiftly, cutting off all the "water plants".

Liu Qiao's voice came from the side: "There seems to be a water ghost in the lake, we are entangled!"

"Don't worry, the mermaid state is not afraid of drowning, take a closer look at what is entangled with everyone." Xiao Lou used the night pearl to illuminate the area at the bottom of the lake, and looked down.

Hearing Xiao Lou's voice, Yu Hanjiang quickly swam to his side and helped him cut off the aquatic plants wrapped around his waist.

Xiao Lou swung the tail of the fish, swam nimbly to the bottom of the lake, and pushed aside a large number of aquatic plants in front——

I saw a person lying quietly among the water plants.

The man was wearing a red dress, and because of soaking in the water for too long, the corpse had already shown the typical "giant sign", and it was very swollen, and his face could not be seen clearly.Her long hair was entangled with the water plants, and Xiao Lou keenly noticed that the end of her long hair had tied a tight knot with the water plants at the bottom of the lake.

Yu Hanjiang swam up to him and asked, "What's going on?"

Xiao Lou leaned closer to examine the corpse, and said, "A corpse was found at the bottom of the lake. I checked and found that the deceased was a young woman around 20 years old. Obvious foam could be found in her nasal cavity. The cause of death should be drowning. And it was Murdered, look here—" He pointed at the dead man's hair.

Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou's instructions, frowned and said, "Hair and water plants are tied together, is there a knot?"

Xiao Lou nodded: "This is also the reason why the body has been at the bottom of the lake for so long, but it did not float to the surface of the lake. Someone deliberately tied her hair and water plants in a knot, and used the water plants to entangle her body to prevent her from being discovered. From the body Judging from the characteristics of the deceased, the time of death of the deceased should be within 3 days, and the typical giant vein network can be seen on her body."

It was just a tentative jump into the lake, and it was an unexpected harvest to find a victim who had died recently.

Liu Qiaodao: "The murderer's water skills should be quite good. In such a deep lake, if you want to drag the deceased down to drown, and use water plants to firmly fix the body to the bottom of the lake, you must hold your breath for at least a few minutes, right?"

Long Sen knew this better. He said: "Swimmers in our sports school can do it by holding their breath underwater for a few minutes. But it is difficult for non-professionals to complete such complicated operations underwater. And this lake is very Deep, the murderer must have been professionally trained to dive."

Xiao Lou agreed: "That's right. The murderer can swim, and the water quality is excellent. Young and middle-aged men are more likely. Ordinary women don't have that much strength, dragging an adult into the bottom of the lake and drowning..."

At this moment, Qu Wanyue suddenly exclaimed: "Look, there are more here!"

Xiao Lou immediately swam towards where Qu Wanyue was.He pushed aside the water plants and saw that there was a young woman's body there, also tied to the bottom of the lake with water plants.Judging from the surface characteristics of the corpse, the time of death should also be within three days.

Yu Hanjiang's expression changed, he took out his saber and quickly cut off all the aquatic plants nearby.

Everyone searched around the bottom of the lake, but the result made everyone extremely horrified——

At the bottom of the entire Zuiyue Lake, there are more than ten corpses of young women!

Moreover, the characteristics of the corpses are not consistent, some died recently, some died a few months ago, and even died a few years ago from the corpse of a woman who had turned into white bones!

Zuiyue Lake, which looks peaceful and beautiful on the surface, is actually a horrible cemetery deep in the bottom of the lake.

***

At the same time, outside Qingfeng Town.

Lu Jiuchuan, Tang Ci, Chu Huaying, and Gui Yuanzhang walked to the gate of the town side by side.

The night was very dark, and the moonlight above their heads was blocked by dark clouds. The dim light made them unable to see the things in front of them clearly. The dark woods in front of them showed a different kind of gloom in the quiet night.

They have confirmed from Orion's mouth that they came to the world three years ago, and they can't find the way back.

Lu Jiuchuan suggested: "Three years ago, it should be the time when the murderer started committing the crime. Maybe we can find some clues from the source."

Tang Ci agreed: "Just wait and see at the gate of the town."

As soon as the words fell, a man was seen running out of the town in a hurry.

In the middle of the night, he looked flustered and stumbled while walking, obviously restless.Lu Jiuchuan winked at Chu Huaying, and Chu Huaying disappeared instantly, following the man like a shadow.

A few minutes later, a girl in a pink dress also came out from the gate of the town.

Different from the flustered look of the man, the girl walked calmly. She held an embroidered purse in her hand and had a bright smile on her face.Lu Jiuchuan hid behind a tree, and when he saw this, he gave Lao Gui a wink and asked him to follow.

Lu and Tang continued to guard the gate of the town. After a while, Lu Jiuchuan held down the voice headset and asked in a low voice, "Huaying, Laogui, what's the matter?"

Chu Huaying's cold voice came through the earphones: "This man knelt by the woods and burned paper money, muttering - Father, you have a grandson, your spirit in heaven must keep our family safe."

Lu Jiuchuan was stunned for a moment: "In the middle of the night, you ran out to burn paper money for father?"

"Crying and burning paper, I was very excited to hear the voice. He should be Chen Yu, right? On a rainy night three years ago, only Chen Yu's family gave birth in the small town." Chu Huaying said.

When Tang Ci heard this, he said, "Hua Ying, keep following up and write down everything he said."

Chu Huaying said "um", sat on the tree and continued to listen to Chen Yu's narration.

On the other side, Gui Yuanzhang said: "The identity of this girl should be Zhao Zesui, the fourth miss of the Zhao family. She ran out in the middle of the night to have a private meeting with a mysterious man who was wearing a mask. Zhao Zesui gave him a purse embroidered by himself. The pattern looks like a mandarin duck, and the relationship between the two should be a couple."

The clues that Lao Gui found were very important, and Tang Ci immediately asked, "Wearing a mask? What kind of mask? Is it the silver mask of a hunter?"

Lao Gui shook his head: "No. He is wearing a black mask with a strange pattern on it... It seems to be a totem of a wolf? The man's voice was very low, he accepted the purse from Zhao Zesui, and said softly, Sui Sui, you are still young now, and your sister just got married, and after a few years when you grow up, I will definitely marry you in eight palanquins."

Lu Jiuchuan asked, "What's Zhao Zesui's reaction?"

Lao Gui said: "She was very happy and put the purse into the man's hand herself."

Tang Ci looked at Lu Jiuchuan, who was stroking his chin seriously and thinking.

During the day, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang went to Zhao's house to investigate the results, and also told Lu Jiuchuan and the others through the voice headset - I remember Xiao Lou once said that an unfinished handkerchief was found in Miss Zhao's fourth room, and the handkerchief was embroidered with mandarin ducks. , so it is inferred that the Fourth Miss probably already has a sweetheart.

Now, personally seeing her having a private meeting with a mysterious man on the night of her sister's marriage three years ago proves that Xiao Lou's speculation is correct - she really has a sweetheart.It's just that the timing of this sweetheart's appearance was too ingenious. Just as the welcoming team was led away by the sound of rattles, he happened to have a private meeting with Miss Zhao's family near the woods... Coincidental, or was it deliberate?

Gui Yuanzhang said: "Miss Zhao is ready to go home after delivering the purse."

Chu Huaying also said: "Chen Yu has to turn around and go back after burning the paper."

Lu Jiuchuan nodded and said in a low voice, "You guys continue to follow up."

Not long after, I saw Chen Yu, who had calmed down, and Ms. Zhao, who was full of joy, walking back to the town one after the other. However, before the two of them entered the gate of the town, they suddenly heard the sound of a rattle coming from nearby. sound.

clang clang, clang clang...

In the silent night, the sound of the rattle was very clear.

Within a few seconds, Chen Yu and Zhao Zesui seemed to have lost their souls, their eyes were straightened, they turned and walked in the direction of the mass grave.

Seeing them walking into the woods like puppets on a string, Lu Jiuchuan couldn't help but change his face, and said in a low voice to Tang: "It seems that the family extermination case three years ago was not simple. Zhao Zesui and Chen Yu were led away alone of."

Tang Ci was puzzled: "However, we heard a lot of footsteps in the woods just now. That is to say, after the welcoming team was led to the mass grave, there was another wave of people who followed them to the mass grave. Those people Who could it be?"

At that time, they were following behind the wedding party, and their minds were almost disturbed by the magic sound, and they couldn't see who was led up the mountain afterwards.Now, Zhao Zesui and Chen Yu appeared outside the town respectively. The former was dating a mysterious man, and the latter burned paper for his father. It didn't look like something happened to his family.

Gui Yuanzhang suddenly said: "On a rainy night three years ago, are you sure that the only ones who disappeared were the Chen family and the Zhao family?"

Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci looked at each other.

uncertain.Since the two disappeared collectively, it is easy to attract attention.But in fact, these two families are far from the only names marked with red crosses on the mayor's roster.In other words, it is very possible that the murderer committed the crime three years ago. In addition to destroying the Zhao and Chen families, he also killed many lonely old people who lived alone.The footsteps heard in the woods just now belonged to this group of people.

Lu Jiuchuan said: "After dawn, join Hanjiang and the others as soon as possible, and tell them these clues."

It didn't take long for the day to dawn.

Lu Jiuchuan pressed the voice headset and asked in a low voice, "Han Jiang, can you hear me?"

He thought that the voice headset lost contact because Yu Hanjiang's team teleported to the ghost city at night, and they went three years ago, and they would recover after dawn.However, there was still no sound in my ears.

Lu Jiuchuan simply came to the Fulai Inn in the center of the town, found the waiter, and said, "Xiaoer, there is a friend of mine in the Tianzihao room, please call him down, and say that I have something important to discuss with him."

The shop clerk said with a blank face: "Guest officer, there is no occupant in the Tianzihao house?"

Lu Jiuchuan was taken aback: "What about the Xuan Zihao house?" He remembered that Mr. Shao and Ye Qi lived here.

The shop clerk smiled and said, "There is no one staying there either. Guest officer, do you want to stay at the shop?"

Lu Jiuchuan: "??"

Tang Ci gently pulled Lu Jiuchuan's sleeve, and whispered in his ear: "Brother Jiu, the situation is not right."

Lu Jiuchuan moved his ear closer: "What?"

Tang Ci said: "It's dawn, this place is still three years ago - we stayed in the world three years ago, and we can't go back."