Chapter 35: Deadly Room Numbers (Part 15)

Zuo Tiantian had always had a weak presence. Due to her timid nature, she couldn’t help feeling like she was constantly relying on the others. If she didn’t have her item, she wouldn’t have been able to help at all.

At this moment, she suddenly figured something out, and her eyes turned red with excitement. She could barely contain herself, completely different from her usual demeanor.

Xiao Muyu swallowed back the words she was about to say. Calmly, she glanced at Zuo Tiantian, waiting for her to speak.

Zuo Tiantian didn’t notice this subtle detail.

Shen Qingqiu, however, glanced at the two of them, her brows lowering as she smiled faintly.

On the other hand, Chen Kaijie was getting extremely anxious and hurriedly pressed, “What is it? Hurry up and tell us; you’re killing me with suspense!”

“Roman numerals! There are Roman numerals in the periodic table! Do you guys remember? When we memorized the periodic table, we not only had to remember the atomic number of each element, but also the group and period they belonged to. The numbers for the main and sub groups are Roman numerals! So, these seven chemical elements. Think about it. Don’t they correspond to seven numbers? They definitely won’t exceed eight.”

Zuo Tiantian’s words instantly revived everyone’s spirits. Even after all this time, these five former science students still remembered that hydrogen (H) belonged to the first main group.

“Quick, let’s look for the main groups corresponding to these seven elements,” Chen Kaijie said, his hands tingling with excitement. This instance had been driving him insane. If level B was this brutal, it was truly despair-inducing.

“H, N, F, K, C, Ca, I. On the periodic table, these correspond to Group I A, V A, VII A, I A, IV A, II A, and VII A, forming 1571427,” Xiao Muyu answered quickly. She didn’t even need to check the table.

She had perfectly memorized the order of the seven elements, as well as the group numbers.

“1571427! That’s 142857 multiplied by 11. Incredible! Xiao Muyu, you’re amazing!” Chen Kaijie was so excited that he didn’t even address her as ‘Miss Xiao’ anymore.

What had started as mere speculation and inferencing now solidified into undeniable fact.

The three pieces of information, when integrated, were a perfect match that confirmed each other. If the result hadn’t been a cyclic number, they would’ve hit a dead end. But now, the perfect alignment of their result confirmed that everything Xiao Muyu had said was spot-on.

“The gap between us is truly like a chasm. Just a moment ago, Miss Xiao mentioned leaning towards 5, 7, or 8 for the second number. Now, it’s confirmed to be 5. She’s truly extraordinary.”

Su Jin was equally astonished, thinking about how along the way, Shen Qingqiu had crushed them in combat strength, and Xiao Muyu had trampled their intelligence.

Surprisingly, this feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Su Jin gave Shen Qingqiu another glance. Ever since Xiao Muyu laid out the three clues and said her piece, Shen Qingqiu hadn’t spoken a word.

She simply stared at Xiao Muyu, her gaze focused, her eyes smiling, as if she were admiring a treasured gem.

Su Jin couldn’t shake the feeling that Shen Qingqiu’s silence didn’t come from a lack of understanding, because she always nodded or offered a summary after Xiao Muyu spoke, and then quietly sat by, enjoying Xiao Muyu’s brilliance.

Perhaps, instead of showcasing herself, she preferred watching Xiao Muyu shine.

This realization gave Su Jin goosebumps.

Could the usually aloof Shen Qingqiu be such a smitten fool?

On second thought, it was strangely sweet.

So, she wasn’t wrong—there was definitely something going on between those two.

Su Jin quickly shook her head. What was she thinking? Was this really the time to be shipping her companions?

“Can we leave now?” Zuo Tiantian asked cautiously, still feeling that the situation seemed a bit unreal.

Her question suddenly cast a shadow over them—not for any particular reason, but simply because this stage had been so terrifying.

However, with Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu here, they had made it through such a difficult hurdle.

Even the password, which had seemed impossible to crack at first, was now completely within their grasp.

It made them feel as though it wasn’t real—was it really over?

Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu noticed the three pairs of eyes filled with nervousness and uncertainty.

The two of them exchanged a glance before Xiao Muyu spoke up, “What are you worried about? We’ve already solved the most complicated problem.

I made a quick estimate, and it seems that each transition break is about 15 minutes. We’ve still got five minutes left to rest. Once that’s over, we’ll start again.

Now that we know our goal, as soon as we enter, we just need to push open the door. Even if something happens, our chances of winning are still very high.”

“There’s still one more question: do we start from 1 again, or continue with 5?” Shen Qingqiu finally spoke up.

This comment left the group more confused. “That’s… right, we’ve already been through 1 and 7.”

“You guys might be familiar with some encryption methods used in smart locks. To increase security, they often set up decoy passwords. But even with a decoy password, there must be a segment of the correct password in the sequence.

In other words, other numbers can appear before or after the correct sequence, but nothing can interrupt it in the middle—otherwise, it lowers the security. The system isn’t going to lower the difficulty for us, so I think we’ll need to reset everything.”

Once again, Xiao Muyu’s explanation resolved the problem, and the group was fully convinced.

“Alright, everything is ready. Let’s rest for a few more minutes, then we’ll re-enter through door 1.” Chen Kaijie, his gaze firm as he looked at door 1, declared decisively.

After Chen Kaijie finished speaking, Xiao Muyu and the others also directed their gazes toward door 1.

Although Shen Qingqiu had always been indifferent towards the rest of the group and didn’t care about their survival, in this moment, even she felt a strange sense of shared struggle and solidarity.

The pause ability of Xiao Muyu’s stopwatch was still on cooldown, but the basic timing feature was unaffected. As the time approached, she spoke up, “It’s time to go.”

She stood up and reached out to support Shen Qingqiu, while Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian gathered around, ready for whatever might come next.

As she helped Shen Qingqiu, Xiao Muyu asked, “Can you still hold on?”

Originally, Shen Qingqiu was their strongest fighter, which was precisely why she ended up being the most injured.

Xiao Muyu felt a mix of emotions.

If this woman didn’t care about anyone else’s life, why did she always push herself so hard? Was it really that difficult for her to just focus on protecting herself?

It wasn’t like Xiao Muyu couldn’t guess the reason, but she was unwilling to admit it, and the thought itself seemed absurd to her.

Shen Qingqiu noticed the emotions swirling in Xiao Muyu’s eyes and gave her a faint smile. “I’m fine, let’s go.”

She hadn’t performed particularly well this time, pushing herself a bit too far. It even surprised her that she had blocked the hit for Xiao Muyu. But, in the end, the result didn’t seem all that bad.

Su Jin and Xiao Muyu stayed by Shen Qingqiu’s side, while Chen Kaijie, as always, led the way. He gripped the pan tightly with both hands, then used his elbow to push open the door marked with the number 1!

Just like when they first entered, everything was calm and uneventful.

Chen Kaijie let out a breath. “Do we need to rest again?”

Shen Qingqiu furrowed her brows. “We’ve been here too long. Haven’t you noticed how you’re getting more and more tired, craving food and drink?”

When she pointed it out, Chen Kaijie instinctively touched his stomach. It was true—they had expended too much energy, and now they were both thirsty and hungry.

Something came to Shen Qingqiu’s mind, and she asked, “How much longer until the cooldown is over?”

“Fourteen minutes,” Zuo Tiantian replied after checking.

“Then we should wait, just in case.”

Fourteen minutes later, Zuo Tiantian quickly called out, “It’s ready!”

“Let’s keep going—Door 5!”

They pushed open the door marked with 5; it was still safe!

“We were right!” Everyone’s spirits immediately lifted.

“Stay focused and move quickly,” Xiao Muyu reminded them, not letting her guard down.

As they headed towards Door 7, the floor beneath them suddenly shook violently.

Dust and debris began to fall, and to their horror, the carousel lantern seemed like it was about to collapse!

The wheel mechanism above them crumbled, raining down chunks of stone. Behind them, the endless array of carousel lanterns cracked, and shattered one by one, as if the entire space were collapsing in on itself.

“Damn it! This system is ruthless!”

Even though the password was correct, they still had to survive long enough to make it through!

“Run!”

The five bolted in panic. They ran for their lives with all the strength they could muster.

Chen Kaijie was the first to reach the door. He turned around, grabbed Zuo Tiantian, and shoved her inside. He quickly reached out to pull Su Jin, Xiao Muyu, and Shen Qingqiu towards safety.

They all made it through at the very last second.

“Door 1!” Xiao Muyu shouted. Her eyes quickly scanned the eight doors in front of them.

The collapse felt like a chain reaction, growing ever more intense, making it impossible to stay steady on their feet.

Shen Qingqiu, battered and injured, could only grit her teeth and push forward, which only deepened the look of concern on Xiao Muyu’s face.

As the situation behind them escalated, Xiao Muyu called out, “Door 4!”

By the time they reached Door 2, the floor in the carousel lantern had already begun to cave in.

Zuo Tiantian misstepped, lost her balance, and fell, quickly ending up behind the group.

At this point, no matter the personal agendas they might have had before, no one wanted to see a companion fall here.

Without hesitation, Su Jin and Chen Kaijie turned back. Like lifting a chick, they each grabbed one of Zuo Tiantian’s arms, and hauled her through the door just as the floor beneath her feet collapsed.

“Door 7 is the last one—quick, hang in there!” Su Jin shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice hoarse with desperation.

When the five reached the final lantern, it no longer had a ceiling and a floor. Only a thin outer ring remained for them to stand on.

As soon as Chen Kaijie stepped through, his body tilted forward, nearly plummeting into the abyss. Fortunately, Shen Qingqiu was right beside him and quickly grabbed the back of his collar, yanking him back and slamming him against Door 3.

Chen Kaijie couldn’t help but let out a yelp, his legs trembling.

“You’re pretty lucky it’s Door 3. Otherwise, you’d be done for.” Shen Qingqiu swiftly brought herself and Xiao Muyu toward Door 7, casually throwing in a jab at Chen Kaijie.

Chen Kaijie glanced back, and found that it was indeed Door 3. His legs shook even more.

Door 3 stood perfectly in the middle.

The five of them moved in sync: Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu ran counterclockwise to the left, while Zuo Tiantian and Chen Kaijie raced clockwise to the right, all aiming for Door 7!

As they ran, the edges continued to collapse. Just as Xiao Muyu reached Door 1, the entire structure of Door 8 suddenly caved in.

Xiao Muyu couldn’t stop in time and was about to tumble forward when a hand quickly wrapped around her waist, yanking her into a firm embrace.

The outer wall of the carousel lantern was in ruins, and she could see the pitch-black abyss beneath them. If she fell, there would be no escape.

Meanwhile, Chen Kaijie and the others had already reached the entrance. Desperate, he shouted to the two of them, “Miss Xiao, Miss Shen, jump over! We’ll catch you!”

A fine sheen of sweat broke out on Shen Qingqiu’s forehead as she urged, “Hurry over! If you take too long, it’ll be too late!”

Xiao Muyu’s heart raced painfully in her chest; she knew they couldn’t afford to delay.

Behind her, Shen Qingqiu quickly stepped back to give her some space, her voice low as she commanded, “Jump!”

With a quick run-up, Xiao Muyu leaped forward, just barely landing on the edge of Door 7.

Chen Kaijie was quick to grab her, and pulled her to safety.

Before she could steady herself, Xiao Muyu turned around, her gaze anxiously tracking Shen Qingqiu as she hurriedly called out, “Shen Qingqiu, hurry!”

Seeing Xiao Muyu safely across, Shen Qingqiu felt a slight relief. She prepared to jump, pushing off the ground with all her strength.

However, just as she did, a chunk of the platform beneath her feet suddenly collapsed, drastically reducing the distance she could launch herself with.

It was impossible for her to reach the other side now.

Xiao Muyu felt like her heart had been yanked out of her chest.

“Shen Qingqiu!” she cried out, nearly lunging forward in panic.

The sudden terror was overwhelming, nearly breaking down her rationality.

But Chen Kaijie held her tightly, refusing to let her go.

At that moment, a red line shot out like lightning.

Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian both grasped the other end of the line. They used their bodies as leverage, tumbled, and fell into Door 7 together.

Xiao Muyu snapped back to reality and, along with Chen Kaijie, quickly reached out to grab the red line, exerting all their strength.

The tremendous weight made the rope cut into her palms, but it brought her a glimmer of hope—she had caught hold of Shen Qingqiu!

Chen Kaijie’s hands were also starting to bleed. He gritted his teeth and let out a loud shout, his face turning red from the effort.

In a flash, a fair hand grabbed onto the last remaining piece of intact stone.

Xiao Muyu bent down and seized Shen Qingqiu’s wrist, hauling her up with all her might.

Right as Door 7 collapsed, the two landed heavily on the other side, with arms around each other.

The hard floor hit Xiao Muyu’s back, sending a jolt of pain through her body, and when Shen Qingqiu crashed onto her, it knocked the breath out of her.

Xiao Muyu began to cough violently, but she held onto Shen Qingqiu tightly, unwilling to let go.

---

Author had something to say:

*Deep inhale,* I’ll keep grinding! Writing the infinite flow genre is really taxing on the brain. After I finish this book properly, I won’t dare to try again.

The next chapter will conclude the second arc, and I’m still working through the ideas for the third. I’ll try my best to accommodate the humanities students as well, haha.

These two characters are both awkward in their own ways. Xiao Muyu is silently awkward, while Shen Qingqiu’s awkwardness is more overt.

Xiao Shen: “When I almost died, I’m your wife. When I’m okay, I’m just a passerby.” (Bitter)
Xiao Xiao: ……