As soon as the elevator doors closed, the elevator started automatically, and the three of them quickly went down to the next floor.

As soon as the door opened, they were presented with a pitch-black corridor that stretched to the left and right. It was so dark that they could not see the end of either side.

As soon as the three of them stepped out, the elevator doors behind them slowly closed, and the lights inside the elevator were also turned off.

Yang Ji immediately turned around to press the elevator switch, only to find that the closed elevator door malfunctioned again and could not be opened no matter what he pressed.

"No way, do we have to recite a tongue twister every time we use this? What did the person who designed this elevator think about the crosstalk industry?" Yang Ji couldn't help but complain.

Hua Yun: "Wait, don't read it yet, the elevator went up automatically."

Yang Ji: "Huh? So what if it goes up? It'll come down after you recite it." Then, Yang Ji suddenly slapped his forehead: "Ouch! I'm so stupid! If it comes down again, it'll bring all those weirdos down with it!"

Rong Yu: "Did you guys see a flashlight just now?"

Hua Yun shook her head: "I searched that room twice, but I didn't see a flashlight."

Yang Ji: "So you're telling us to walk in the dark? No way!"

However, the facts told him that it was true!

"Left or right? My God, it's so dark! I can't see anything at all!" Yang Ji's voice was tinged with panic, but he knew he was the oldest of the three, and it wouldn't be good to appear too scared, so he forced himself to remain calm and said, "Don't be afraid, come on, hold onto my shoulder, I'll lead the way for you... Hey? Hey hey hey? Who's pulling me!"

Rong Yu and Hua Yun, flanking Yang Ji on either side, said in unison, "Me."

Yang Ji: "No! Why are you walking so fast? Can't you see the road? Aren't we walking on the same road?"

Rong Yu said calmly, "When the elevator door wasn't closed just now, I could vaguely see some paths, and there were no obstacles on them."

Yang Ji: "Then how did you decide to go to the left?"

Rong Yu: "Intuition."

Hua Yun: "When in doubt, choose the left."

Yang Ji: "..." So what's my opinion? Where is my opinion?

However, after thinking it over carefully, Yang Ji realized that he was indeed undecided and decided to just go with them.

but……

Yang Ji coughed lightly: "Hey handsome guys, are you underestimating your own height or overestimating mine? With you supporting me on both sides, I feel like my legs have lost their purpose!"

Rong Yu and Hua Yun then realized that Yang Ji had been lifted into the air by them, and quickly put him down.

As soon as Yang Ji's foot touched the ground, he stepped on something and nearly fell over with a thud. Fortunately, Rong Yu hadn't completely let go and caught him, preventing him from losing all his composure.

The thing he kicked rolled to the side with a clatter, seemingly hitting the wall in the corridor with a "clang".

"What was that? It looks like it rolled away."

As Rong Yu spoke, she squatted down and followed the sound.

Yang Ji: !!! "Xiao Yu? Where are you? Why did you suddenly let go!"

Rong Yu: "Teacher Yang seems to have kicked something just now. I'll go look for it; it might be useful!"

Yang Ji was shocked: "Are you serious?! It's so dark! You still touched things? Aren't you scared?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights in the corridor suddenly began to flicker. Unlike the bright light inside the elevator, the lights in this corridor were very dim, and it was almost impossible to see anything beyond the lights.

When the lights flashed for the fifth time, a hissing sound of electricity emanated from the surrounding area, clearly coming from the speakers distributed throughout the corridor.

After the static subsided, a clear, intermittent girl's voice rang out: "Bouncing the ball, bouncing the ball, bouncing my flowery ball~ You bounce it once, I bounce it once, let's play a game together; you bounce it twice, I bounce it twice, let's sing together~~"

A children's song that would normally sound rather cute was played in this way, in this environment, instantly sending chills down Yang Ji's spine. "What are they doing now! Why is there another song? This is terrifying!"

Rong Yu, who was crawling on the ground looking for something, happened to see the round object in the flashing light—it was a small red and yellow ball with a string tied to it. Rong Yu picked up the ball, pulled along the string, and pulled out a pink envelope.

Before Rong Yu could even open the envelope, she felt someone tap her shoulder. So Rong Yu turned around and looked up...

I was facing a deathly pale face.

Yang Ji's eyes had just adjusted to the flashing lights, and he was about to confirm Rong Yu and Hua Yun's location when he saw a terrifyingly made-up monster crawling behind Rong Yu. He screamed in terror, "My God! When did he get here! Xiao Yu, run! Run!"

Rong Yu, who was directly confronted by the monster's face, was somewhat stunned and said, "Your makeup seems to have lost some of its powder."

Hua Yun casually chimed in: "Hua's Water Princess setting powder keeps your makeup in place for 24 hours, allowing you to maintain your beauty all day long. Order now and receive a free Hua's Water Princess new skincare set. Gifts are limited, first come, first served!"

Terrified by the monster that suddenly appeared in front of him, Yang Ji huddled against the wall not far away and slowly gave a thumbs up: "This advertisement, I'm impressed!"

The flickering lights suddenly went out, plunging the corridor into darkness once again.

"There's a door ahead, it seems to require a password." Hua Yun had already used the dim, flickering floor lamp to see that there was a door at the end of the corridor.

Rong Yu said, "Do you remember the surveillance footage we just saw? I remember one of the cameras captured a door in the corridor, which means we are now on the same floor as those six people."

Hua Yun: "Let's feel around and see how many digits the password has."

Because she was now in darkness and her vision was obstructed, Rong Yu temporarily put away the pink envelope she had just received and casually stuffed the small ball into the NPC monster's hand.

Strangely, as soon as the monster got the small ball, it immediately hugged it to its chest and lay down without moving. Rong Yu poked the monster's shoulder in the dark, but the monster didn't move.

"Huh? He's not moving. Why?" Rong Yu said, touching the strange NPC a few times as she spoke. She explained, "I just picked up a ball. This strange guy should be next to the ball, which is why he came to me. After I gave him the ball, he quieted down."

Yang Ji: "It seems they like balls? But where are we going to find other balls?"

Hua Yun: "Not necessarily. This strange person is clearly different from the previous ones. The previous strange people were more frantic, but this one is very quiet and didn't pounce on us as soon as he saw us."

Yang Ji: "Hey! Why don't we meet up with the others first? With more people, we'll have more strength and more attention, and we'll definitely be able to figure out what's going on. I feel like I haven't really been involved since I took off my blindfold, but my heart has been racing several times over."

Upon hearing this, Rong Yu comforted her, "Don't worry, Teacher Yang. Although you feel that your body hasn't participated yet, I can guarantee that your voice is definitely fully involved!"

Yang Ji: "..." You've changed. You're no longer the shy and well-behaved Xiao Yu from the first episode!

As they spoke, the three of them had already groped their way to the door.

This was an electronic lock, and the buttons on the electronic lock had lights on. With the help of this faint light, the three of them could see a note pasted on the bottom of the electronic lock.

Brain teasers:

Question 1: If you are racing against a group of people on a straight track, what place are you in when you overtake the person in second place?

Question 2: If you are racing against a group of people on a circular track, and you are the first to overtake the person who is in last place, what place are you in?

Question 3: Xiao Jiu's father has five children. His eldest daughter is named Eva, his second daughter is named Erwa, his third daughter is named Sanwa, and his fourth daughter is named Siwa. Do you know what the fifth child's name is?

Question 4: There are 16 lights on in the classroom. The student on duty turned off 10 lights before leaving. How many lights are left in the classroom?

Clearly, the password to this electronic lock is the answer to these four brain teasers.

Yang Ji read the question carefully, then scratched his head: "Is there something wrong with the second question? If it surpasses the last place, then it must be the second to last. The question doesn't tell us how many people are running in total, so how am I supposed to know what place the second to last person is?"

Hua Yun: "...Teacher Yang, pay attention to the question."

Yang Ji: "I paid close attention! The fourth question is the simplest and most uncontroversial one. The answer is 16 lights. It asks how many lights there are in our classroom, so it has nothing to do with whether the lights are on or off. The third question is that the fifth child is Xiao Jiu. The question says at the beginning, 'Xiao Jiu's father has five children.' The first four have names, so only Xiao Jiu is left."

Yang Ji said, "So, the first question is the number 1, the third question is the number 9, the fourth question is the number 16, and now we only need to answer the second question."

Hua Yun: "Why is the first question the number 1?"

Yang Ji: "If I outrun the second-place runner, wouldn't I be number one? That's why the password starts with the number 1."

Rong Yu: "Teacher Yang, how are you sure that if we overtake the second place in the race, we will become the first place? The first place is still running ahead, so if we overtake the second place, we will definitely take the second place and become the second place. So the first question is the number 2."

Yang Ji slammed his fist on his palm: "Ah! I almost forgot! So the second question is the same. If you surpass the last place, then that person is the last place, because the second to last place is still running ahead!"