If the phrase "the rules are absolute" still held true for this second "game," then what was written on the mask must be the key to solving it. But how was one to solve this? And when would the harpoons fire?
"The clock won't stop for a moment..."
Could it be a quarter past one? Qi Xia turned his head to look at the mantle clock on the table. It was already one-oh-five.
If "a quarter past one" was the time the harpoons would fire, then they had less than ten minutes left.
"Turn it one hundred times in the direction of your hometown..."
The nine people present were all from different hometowns. Besides, "one hundred times" was no small number. If their line of thinking was wrong, they would easily waste these ten minutes.
But in this room, besides himself, what else was there that could "turn"? Qi Xia's gaze landed on the mantle clock in the center of the table. He leaned forward and reached out to gently touch the clock, only to find it was fixed firmly to the tabletop, unable to be moved in the slightest.
"The clock won't move. Could it be the chairs?"
Qi Xia looked down at the chair beneath him. It was an old, ordinary chair that smelled of mildew. It was simply placed on the floor, with no mechanism of any kind.
If that was the case, then that only left... Qi Xia looked at the round table in the center of the room and now noticed something strange about it. This table couldn't really be called a "round table," because it seemed to be a polygon.
It was just that the number of sides was great enough that one's first impression was that it was "round." He reached out a hand and gave the tabletop a turn. Sure enough, the faint sound of a chain came from within the table.
But the table was heavy. Even with considerable effort, Qi Xia could only turn it a few centimeters.
"One hundred times..."
This number was definitely not something that could be accomplished by just two or three people. The nine people present would need to work together to turn the tabletop for a chance at survival. Lin Qin sharply caught Qi Xia's movement and called for everyone to stop.
The group walked over to the table to have a look and found that it could indeed be turned.
"I've gotta hand it to you, con man," Qiao Jiajin said with a nod.
"We should be able to open that invisible door if we turn this table a hundred times."
Qi Xia glanced at the clock again. Although time was tight, the problem had now become simpler. Turning this round table one hundred times in the "direction of your hometown" left only two possible answers.
To the left, or to the right. But everyone's hometown was located in different directions—east, south, west, and north. How could they determine whether to turn left or right?
"Qi Xia, do you already know when the harpoons will be fired?"
Lin Qin asked, covering her nose and mouth.
"The hint says time 'won't stop for a moment.' I estimate it will be at one-fifteen," Qi Xia said softly.
Qiao Jiajin's expression changed upon hearing this.
"Doesn't that mean we have less than ten minutes left? Let's hurry up and start turning."
Doctor Zhao moved the corpse lying on the table aside and also sat down slowly. He reached out to test the table's weight and said, "But we only have one chance. This table is so heavy.
What if we turn it a hundred times in the wrong direction?"
"Then we'd still have a fifty percent chance of survival!"
Qiao Jiajin said anxiously.
"If we don't move, we're dead either way. If we start turning, we at least have a fifty percent chance to live. Let's hurry!"
With that, he began to turn the tabletop to the left with all his might. Although Qiao Jiajin looked thin, he was incredibly strong. He alone managed to turn the table half a circle.
"What are you all standing around for?! Damn it, lend a hand!"
Qiao Jiajin roared at the others. The rest knew that Qiao Jiajin had a point, so for the time being, they could only help him turn it. There was no definite answer right now; they could only take a gamble.
But Qi Xia remained motionless. He didn't know which direction his thoughts should take. Left, or right?
Why was the keyword "hometown"... Everyone here was Chinese, so was it "East"? North is up, south is down, west is left, east is right.
So the answer is "right"? But what about the people who lived in the west? Or perhaps everyone's hometown was related to the "Zuo Zhuan" from the Spring and Autumn period, making the answer "left"?
Qi Xia's eyes were slightly closed. He had wanted to use the two corpses to shield himself, but if everyone else died, what would he do when the next game started...
"Now is not the time to give up on them."
Qi Xia thought to himself, then reached out, grabbed a piece of white paper from the turning tabletop, picked up a pen, and stood up. He walked to the side, found an empty spot to sit, and began to scribble something down. Although the others were a bit confused, the motion of their hands didn't stop.
They had already turned the tabletop more than a dozen times.
"If he hadn't introduced himself as a 'con man,' I'd have thought that guy was a mathematician," Qiao Jiajin said to Tian Tian beside him.
Tian Tian was feeling a bit dizzy from the turning, so she could only give a perfunctory nod. This time, however, Qi Xia did not write out any vertical equations. He simply drew a rough map of the country on the paper.
"Hometown...?"
His mind raced, and suddenly he thought of something.
"Wait, wait..."
Qi Xia's eyes widened.
"If the 'organizer' is so powerful that they could find people with similar experiences from so many different provinces, then are the 'provinces' also a key point?"
He turned his head, looked at the group turning the table, and asked seriously, "Did any of you lie about your 'hometown' just now?" Everyone shook their heads. After all, one's "hometown" was tied to their accent and manner of speech.
Lying about it could easily expose them.
"Very good."
Qi Xia nodded slightly.
"Now, please tell me your hometowns again, one by one."
Officer Li was the first to speak.
"I'm from Inner Mongolia."
Qi Xia placed a black dot on the location of Inner Mongolia.
"I'm from Sichuan," the lawyer, Zhang Chenze, said coldly.
"I'm from Shaanxi..."
Tian Tian said.
"Dali, Yunnan," said the kindergarten teacher, Xiao Ran.
"Guangdong," Qiao Jiajin said.
"I'm from Ningxia," said the psychologist, Lin Qin.
"I work in Jiangsu," Doctor Zhao said.
Qi Xia marked everyone's hometown on the map one by one, then added his own, "Shandong." At this moment, everyone's eyes focused on the writer, Han Yimo, because he had not mentioned his hometown from the very beginning.
"Han Yimo, are you from Guangxi or Taiwan?"
Han Yimo was taken aback and asked, "How did you know?"
"Time is short. Answer me first."
"I'm from Guangxi..."
Qi Xia nodded. At this point, only two provinces were left for Han Yimo. Guangxi Autonomous Region and Taiwan Province.
If his answer was not one of these two, he would have told a massive lie. Fortunately, he told the truth. Qi Xia marked the last province on the map.
Now, there were nine black dots on the rough sketch.
"Just as I thought."
Qi Xia said in a low voice, "Stop, quickly. Turn it to the right."
"Right?"
Qi Xia hurried over to the table, slapped the white paper down on it, and began to turn the tabletop in the opposite direction. Though somewhat confused, the others followed his lead and began to turn with him. Doctor Zhao glanced at the map on the table and the nine black dots.
"Why 'right'?"