On the other side of the corridor, in the "Sender's" room. Old Lu was already beaten black and blue. Both his nostrils were bleeding, and one of his fingers had been broken.
"Don't... don't hit me..."
Old Lu begged for mercy.
"If you beat me to death, there'll be no one to deliver messages for you... Spare me..."
"You old dog!!"
A'mu grabbed a handful of Old Lu's scarce hair and said viciously, "Was I not good to you?!
Huh?
I gave you the Dao, and I gave you my trust! And you damn well dared to shred my key?!"
"I'm truly sorry..."
Old Lu forced a pained smile.
"I had already delivered all the boxes when I realized there was still a key I hadn't sent... I was going to send it over immediately, but there were only three seconds left on the three-minute countdown. If I hadn't thrown the key into the shredder, I would have died..."
"Do you think I'd believe you?!"
A'mu dragged Old Lu by his hair and slammed him hard against the wall. The blow landed on his eye socket, and blood began to stream from Old Lu's brow.
"Oww... stop hitting me..."
Old Lu clutched his forehead and wailed on the floor.
"You're really going to kill me if you keep this up..."
A'mu's breathing steadied slightly, and he slowly let go.
"Old dog... lucky for me I didn't completely trust you."
He slowly stood up and pulled a letter from his coat.
"Wh-..."
Seeing the letter, Old Lu froze on the spot.
"You didn't put the letter in?!"
"These little tricks of yours are like child's play in front of me."
A'mu crouched down beside Old Lu with a furious smile and said, "Old dog, I'll give you one more chance. If the letter doesn't make it to the other side this time, I don't care about any 'punishment' or not. I will immediately rush into the corridor, poke out your eyes, and tear out your throat.
Do you understand?" Old Lu nodded, trembling all over. This A'mu was definitely capable of it.
He was a true desperado. Even if he lost the game, he would absolutely never let him go.
"Kid Qi... these old bones of mine can only help you this far," Old Lu muttered to himself.
On the other side, Jiang Ruoxue was holding the box, stalling for time. She was out of options. She never expected that young man to be so unexpectedly clever.
It was only a matter of time before the box in her hands, with its two locks, was figured out. The only thing she could do now was delay as much as possible, hoping her team could use this time to secure victory first. Time ticked by, second by second.
With only ten seconds left on the countdown, Jiang Ruoxue knocked on Lin Qin's door. Lin Qin seemed surprised to receive a "reply" and looked completely baffled. She had just sent out the locked box, hoping Qi Xia would have the right tools to open it.
But now, not only was the box returned intact, but it had come back with two locks.
"Take it, quick! I'm out of time!"
Jiang Ruoxue said. Fearing that no one would deliver messages if the "Spy" died, Lin Qin quickly took the box. She looked at the two locks on the box, her eyes slowly widening.
"So that's how it is... so he had a second lock? I understand now!"
Lin Qin hurriedly took out her own golden key and unlocked the golden padlock. Now, only a silver padlock remained on the box.
"Quick!"
Lin Qin handed the box back to Jiang Ruoxue.
"Send it back to the 'Receiver' quickly!"
Jiang Ruoxue bit her lip and looked at the box in her hands, knowing that things had taken a bad turn. The woman before her had seen through the tactic in just a few seconds. Clearly, she was no ordinary person either.
"Hey... let me join you..."
Jiang Ruoxue said with an awkward look on her face.
"Let's work together. Only by cooperating can you win."
Lin Qin stared intently into Jiang Ruoxue's eyes, then a slight smile appeared on her face.
"How strange. If you really wanted to cooperate with us, I don't think Qi Xia would have come up with this plan."
"Qi Xia...?"
"Things have already reached this point. Even if you don't cooperate with us, we won't lose the game," Lin Qin said with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, not this time."
Jiang Ruoxue stared at Lin Qin, her mind racing with unknown thoughts.
"Ruoxue, the only thing you can do now is stall for time."
Lin Qin slowly closed the door.
"I'm sorry."
Once back in the corridor, Jiang Ruoxue's previous expression vanished. She slowly walked to the center of the hall, whispering softly under her breath.
"So he's Qi Xia? That was almost too easy."
After a few seconds, she nodded repeatedly, as if in conversation with someone.
"Yes, I can die. But what about what comes next?"
"Alright," Jiang Ruoxue nodded.
"Do you need me to leave a little surprise for him?"
"Understood."
Clutching the iron box, she walked forward and went straight to Qi Xia's door. Jiang Ruoxue closed her eyes for a moment, then reached out and knocked. The first thing Qi Xia did after opening the door was look at the box in her hands.
A satisfied smile spread across his face. Only a single silver lock remained on the box. This team was full of "superior parts."
No matter what, they could never build an "inferior fighter jet."
"What, are you giving me the box now? Or are you going to stall a little longer?"
Qi Xia asked. Jiang Ruoxue slowly opened her eyes, but a loud bell suddenly rang from a distance.
CLANG!!!
Qi Xia froze, a bad feeling rising in his heart. He quickly looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"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 reached out cautiously to take the box, still eyeing her warily.
"Old Lu on the other side should have delivered the letter long ago, but we haven't lost yet. This means the 'Receiver' can't open the door immediately even after seeing the letter's contents."
"Let me see what you've got," Jiang Ruoxue said.
Qi Xia gave her a suspicious look.
"If you witness my methods, you might not live to tell the tale."
"It's fine," she said with a smile.
"It's not certain who will lose yet."
"True enough."
Qi Xia took out his silver key and smoothly unlocked the last remaining lock on the box. He took out the envelope, opened it, and looked at it. His expression didn't change.
He then walked over to the large microwave oven and carefully examined the prompt on the display screen. It was a very advanced touchscreen that supported handwritten input. The space left for Qi Xia to write the password was four blank squares.
The only uncertainty now was whether he needed to enter four numbers, letters, or Chinese characters. Qi Xia turned back and took out the encrypted letter. The next thing to do was to crack the password.
He unfolded the letter, revealing a single, solitary line of letters.
"MLGDRZDQVXL".
Apart from this line of letters, there were no other clues on the letter. Jiang Ruoxue also looked a bit puzzled after seeing this line of letters, seemingly not understanding the principle behind this password.
"Every game has a 'path to life'," Qi Xia muttered to himself.
"Setting a password that is too complex would deprive the participants of this 'path to life', so the method to crack this password shouldn't be too difficult."
"Among the simple decryption methods I know, there is only one that doesn't involve numbers."
"A Caesar cipher."