Chapter 202: The Death Game Clock is Ticking

Lin Xi walked slowly, memorizing all the details she could see on the wall.

In the process, she ruled out the dome as an option.

Because the outer wall of "Kolossim" has four layers, only the first, second and third layers have arches. The arch of the first layer is larger, the arch of the second layer is slightly smaller than the first layer, and the arch of the third layer is even smaller.

Although the arches on each layer are slightly different in size, there is no difference between the arches on the same layer, and it is impossible to form corresponding symbols.

The windows are only on the fourth floor, and they are arranged on the wall at the same intervals, and cannot form the corresponding symbols.

Only the symbols composed of different column styles on the first, second and third floors can represent the code on the brick wall.

The column style is the form of columns that support classical architecture. It consists of a base, a shaft, and a capital, and there are many styles.

On these three floors, the columns on each floor are composed of three different types, which meet the required codes on the brick wall.

But just by memorizing the differences in column styles, Lin Xi couldn't solve the secret - she didn't know which of the three column styles represented "convex", which represented "concave", and which represented "unchanged".

These three types of columns are randomly distributed on the three outer walls of "Kolossim". Lin Xi cannot try them again and again, as that would be a waste of time.

Lin Xi looked up and down and was suddenly stunned.

She suddenly felt a subtle sense of disharmony.

It seems like this building shouldn't look like this.

Seizing the sense of incongruity, she frowned, the pattern of the pillars on the wall unfolding in her mind like a blueprint.

...Strange, what's the problem?

She closed her eyes, trying to find the source of the discomfort.

She had a slight headache.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes.

She remembered something:

On the outer wall of the real ancient building "Colosseum", the distribution of different column styles was originally regular!

The architect who modeled this building based on the real building did not, for some reason, replicate the original regular columns. Instead, he arranged the columns in a random order, like random symbols, corresponding to the random bricks on the wall at the end.

This is the source of Lin Xi's sense of disharmony.

She tried to search her memory to recall what the real Colosseum's exterior walls looked like.

Influenced by Greek architecture, the ancient Roman "Colosseum" also adopted the three classical column styles of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. Each has different characteristics: the Doric column is well-proportioned, strong and powerful, without a base, and is considered a male column; the Ionic column is beautiful, gorgeous and light, with a spiral-like capital, and is considered a female column; the Corinthian column is a column style developed after the two of them, with the capital decorated with curling grass.

These columns have been separated from their actual functions and only have decorative significance on the outer walls of the arena.

The first level is decorated with Doric columns, the second with Ionic columns, and the third with Corinthian columns.

Lin Xi quickly returned to the brick wall.

If the three types of columns on the outer wall of this replica of "Kolossim" are the "keys" to opening this wall, then the password is the difference between the decorative columns of the replica "Kolossim" and the real "Colosseum of Kolossim".

Lin Xi reached out and pressed the bricks on the brick wall, finding the three layers that could be pressed. He pressed down the bricks corresponding to the Doric style of the "Kolossium" exterior wall, pulled out the bricks corresponding to the Corinthian style, and left the bricks corresponding to the Ionic style in a state that was neither concave nor convex.

The reason why the Doric columns are pressed down and the Corinthian columns are pulled out is because the Doric columns in the real "Colosseum" are one level lower than the Ionic columns, and the Ionic columns are one level lower than the Corinthian columns. Lin Xi believes that the heights also correspond to the convex and concave shapes of the bricks - the Corinthian columns on the third floor are naturally "convex", the Ionic columns on the second floor are "unchanged", and the Doric columns at the bottom are "concave".

When all the bricks were put back in place, the brick wall made a heavy, dull sound.

Lin Xi heard the sound of gears turning from inside.

There is also the sound of dripping water.

Then the brick wall retreated and moved away with a bang, revealing the dark tunnel inside.

Lin Xi took a look at the current time and Yue Jiangfeng's location, and felt that this journey would still take a long time.

I hope I won’t encounter any more puzzles... Lin Xi rubbed his temples, took out a flashlight from the system space, and walked into the darkness.

.

Time is ticking away.

The clock never stops, faithfully recording time.

Water flowed out of the faucet, was caught by the red and slightly plump hands, flowed into the white washbasin, and finally slipped out through the water outlet.

Asayama Rika raised her head and looked at the pale face in the mirror.

She couldn't remember how many times she stood in front of this mirror and washed her hands.

The hands had turned red from being washed, and the fingertips were wrinkled by blisters, with pale wrinkles appearing.

But she still felt blood on her hands.

The sticky blood flowed onto her hands, and the fishy smell was pungent. No matter how she washed, it wouldn't come away.

From the moment she killed her mother, she seemed to have lost the ability to cry. She stood there stiff and rigid for a long time.

Without her support, her mother quickly fell to the ground, the dagger stuck so deep that only the handle was exposed in her chest.

Only when the blood stopped flowing and the breath of life completely left her body did Asayama Rika bend down woodenly, grasp the dagger and pull it out.

Strangely, she no longer cried or trembled.

It was as if her body had realized that things were bad enough and couldn't get any worse.

She cleaned up the scene according to her mother's instructions before her death, took a last look at her parents lying on the bed and the floor, and left the room.

When she closed the door, she suddenly looked up and looked at the surveillance camera on the ceiling facing the door for a long time.

"You came here just to see this scene, right?" she said with a wry smile, her voice not loud. She knew that the surveillance camera did not have the function of transmitting sound.

Rather than hoping that the person behind the scenes could hear it, the sound was more like a wail uttered for itself to hear.

When death becomes a chip on the gaming table, family affection, love... those precious emotions will gradually become cold and flow away like water, leaving only hatred to support the empty body.

In addition to hating Ryosuke Kusakawa (who also voted for exile for Shin Kamijouji), Rika Asayama hated the cowardly self who killed her mother, hated the game host who always wore a pointed hat and hid behind the scenes, and she also deeply hated her own life.

What did she do wrong to deserve such a miserable life?

She dragged her heavy body back to her room, washed her dagger, and washed her hands over and over again.

She lay in bed, forcing herself to sleep so that she would have the energy to continue playing games during the day and so that others would not notice.

But as soon as she closed her eyes, the bloody scene emerged in her mind, making her instinctively fear and resist falling asleep.

So she got up and sat in the living room like a ghost, staring at the clock hanging in the living room, watching its hands ticking away, like a prisoner being hanged, desperately waiting for the final moment to come.

It wasn't until a burning pain rose from her stomach that she suddenly realized that she hadn't eaten all day.

The waiter brought her meals every day, but she threw most of the food into the trash can. Only the meal delivered tonight was left on the coffee table, and it had become cold.

She touched her stomach, endured the nausea, and ate the cold rice mouthful by mouthful.

Perhaps the food gave her energy, and Asayama Rika actually felt better.

She leaned back on the sofa and eventually fell asleep in the early morning light.

.

As the clock ticked, Toru Amuro slowly flipped through the book in his hand.

He finally finished reading the few remaining pages of the book.

He sighed and brushed his fingers over his ears for the nth time, trying to contact the guy who was tracking alone.

But in the end I held back.

He now saw through Punch's "conspiracy" - to find a living person to replace the dead Mizutani Sayuri. He had to stay in the room and watch over that person and not run around.

This made him feel absurdly that he was being protected by Punch, who didn't want him to die before she found the mastermind.

And they had agreed to contact each other at any time. He stayed up all night and finished reading the book, just waiting for Punch's call, ready to help her solve the problem. In the end, that person didn't tell him any news.

There was no progress report, nor any mention of any difficulties encountered. Only the turned-off communicator lay quietly in the ear in the silent night.

This was so arbitrary that Toru Amuro couldn't help but complain: Punch didn't consider them a team, didn't consider him a partner, but rather a subordinate with responsibilities. Punch could have taken the "Night Baron" out of the auction alone, but since he couldn't leave with them, Punch decided to find the terminal that controlled the bracelet alone. To prevent any accidents, she even found an excuse to keep him from leaving the room and continue playing the game.

Hidden behind this protection is actually Punch's distrust of him, Amuro Toru thought.

She didn't believe her own abilities could help her and preferred to face the problem on her own.

This realization made him feel a little uncomfortable - even though he knew that he was the one who showed hostility towards her first, and it was understandable that she responded with polite, well-hidden distrust, and he couldn't have it both ways, but Amuro Toru still felt a little depressed.

But he also silently said to himself: the person who was willing to believe in her even though they had different opinions had been killed by her own hands. That was his previous experience, and from then on, he would never give her his full trust again.

Another quarter of an hour passed. Amuro Toru pursed his lips and opened the bedroom door.

Nakamura Jin lay there quietly, with his eyes closed, as if he was fast asleep.

But Toru Amuro would not fail to notice that his arm had moved one centimeter further out than when he looked at it a quarter of an hour ago.

Toru Amuro: "..."

This unfortunate fellow caught by Punch was quite cautious.

He looked at the flawless disguise and said calmly, "Although I really want to pretend I didn't see it, but... in order to avoid other accidents later, I can only knock you out again."

Hearing his words, Nakamura Jin on the bed jumped up like a zombie and attacked him. He easily dodged it, but it also made him suspicious:

This guy's moves look so familiar.

Isn't this the police's grappling technique?

He skillfully parried, dodged and counterattacked, and felt like he was back in the police academy, fighting with his classmates on the training ground.

Of course he wins more and loses less.

So he naturally seized the opponent's weakness and subdued him to the ground.

"Public Security Police?" he asked emotionlessly.

The other person's sudden tense body confirmed his thoughts.

Amuro Toru had a headache. For a moment, he thought this was another test from Punch.

But he soon relaxed again, thinking, if this was really a test, Punch was too patient to not contact him for such a long time.

However, he still had to proactively report to him that he knew the person she had arrested was a public security police officer, in case this was really a test.

——Of course, he had to wait until Punch contacted him first.

This public security officer should have come with Kazami.

He lowered his eyes, pressed his head, said sorry in his heart, and knocked him unconscious again.

From beginning to end, he never took off his mask and didn't let Nakamura Jin see his face.

Maybe later, after this young public security officer reunites with Feng Jian and returns to the team, Feng Jian will tell him my identity.

Toru Amuro carried the person who had fallen to the ground back to the bed. Looking at the bluish-gray face, he couldn't help but praise Punch's disguise skills in his heart: Even in such a fierce fight, there were no flaws in the disguise. His skills are really great.

.

The clock slowly turned to a quarter to eight.

Hideji Tsugawa, lying naked on the carpet, suddenly opened his eyes.

A headache similar to that after a hangover suddenly hit him, and he opened his mouth to make an "uh" sound.

In pain, he struggled to get up and picked up the clothes scattered around.

He looked like a robot that was forced to turn on while its program was still in disarray. His movements were stuck from time to time and his expression looked dull.

He looked normal, but revealed strange madness in many places: he put on leather shoes without socks, put on suit pants without underwear, and put on his white shirt inside out over his suit.

While he was getting dressed, the terrifying and ferocious African mask was always hanging on his face, as if it was not a mask but his real face.

After getting dressed, he stared at the clock.

"...Eight o'clock." He said, not knowing who he was talking to.

He reached out to grab the dagger, but stumbled and hit a glass that had rolled onto the side of the bookshelf.

A fragment of memory mixed with fear flashed into his mind, making him shudder.

She was a beautiful woman wearing silver high heels and a long high-slit skirt.

"Sayuri..." He murmured her name, and then continued illogically: "Poisoned, dead. 'X', buried, and the only one left is Qiu Shanjiang."

After saying that, he held the dagger, pushed open the door, and walked out.

Not even wearing underwear.