Chapter 95 Discovering the Rules

A soldier ran over to help them open the door.

After the soldiers left, Qi Ling stared at the vast, empty, and pitch-black space inside, somewhat puzzled. "Sir, what are we doing here?"

Yun Zhao thought for a long time, "Find information related to colors and flames."

Perhaps we were going in the wrong direction last night.

The will-o'-the-wisps on her teammates' foreheads, the crackling sounds only she could hear, the living survivors, the vanished soldiers and mutants, the two worlds, and the two timelines, one above ground and one underground...

There are too many suspicious factors.

They were caught off guard when they suddenly entered the other world last night.

Before going to sleep, she thought that she shouldn't fixate on the 'sizzling' sound she heard, but should block out some information and focus all her attention on understanding the rules of flame changes.

Qi Ling didn't know what they wanted to do, but in order to get back to the capital with them, he subconsciously complied, "Okay."

The storage room was dark, so the group took out flashlights and continued their search in the same area they had searched the night before.

Qi Ling didn't have a flashlight, so she brought in an oil lamp from the corridor.

No one from Team Zero stopped him.

They are currently in the surface world, and Qi Ling is an indigenous person. Perhaps he will be fine if he touches the oil lamp?

Tao Haohao remains obsessed with robots.

The timing isn't right now; we can only act after entering the inner world.

No one knows where Qi Ling's secret base is, which means they have to bring this special native along.

Tao Haohao glanced at the group who were focused on finding information, then quietly approached Xie Tu and asked, "Captain, have you looked at all the information we brought back?"

Xie Tu was standing next to Yun Zhao, watching her lower her eyelids and carefully flip through the documents.

"Um."

Tao Haohao waited for a long time, only to find that there was no follow-up.

The captain clearly didn't want to talk more.

They reside within the mental realm of the gatekeepers, and nothing they do escapes their notice. In past missions, sometimes the rules were only revealed at the very last moment.

Tao Haohao shrugged and turned to work on the shelves in the distance.

"You already looked at the information here last night."

Xie Tu pointed to the large box that had been opened and held up a flashlight for her, saying, "Sichuan culture has a lot of information about colors and flames."

Shu embroidery, Shu brocade, Sichuan opera, lantern festivals, flower festivals...

Almost all of these possibilities are covered.

Yun Zhao didn't look up, still rummaging through the box. "I think I saw an explanation about colors last night."

At the time, I was thinking about the 'scratching' or 'swishing' sound, so I only flipped through it briefly and didn't pay attention to the small print next to it.

I realized something was wrong after I woke up.

moment.

"I found it!"

Yun Zhao opened the book and quickly turned to the page he had read the night before. The brightly colored mask on the page looked very eerie.

She got up and held the book up to the flashlight. "Look," she said, "Sichuan opera masks have seven colors, each representing a different meaning."

The seven colors are red, black, white, yellow, cyan, blue, and green.

"Red represents loyalty and bravery; black represents integrity and impartiality; white represents coldness, ruthlessness, treachery, and cunning..."

Yun Zhao stared at the blue-faced, fanged mask on the book, and then at the small print below it, and frowned. "Blue actually represents demons and monsters!?"

Her little bluebird is a divine bird, a phoenix, how could it be a demon or monster?

Xie Tu leaned forward slightly, his gaze becoming deep and unfathomable. "There's no pale purple on this."

How to explain the color of the will-o'-the-wisp on Qi Ling's forehead?

“Perhaps…” Yun Zhao tilted his head to look at him, his movements somewhat similar to the little bluebird, “is it blue?”

A tiny flame flickered and burned, its subtle pale hue resembling both pale blue and pale purple.

Only she can see it.

She had a preconceived notion that it was light purple.

It is actually very likely blue.

However, one thing is puzzling: the golden ghost fire that Xie Tu initially appeared was not among the seven colors.

What does gold represent?

Xie Tu's eyes were dark. "The white that was taken from Song Liang and the others, according to the interpretation of the facial makeup, represents two emotions: ruthlessness and cunning. So no one felt anything."

The members of Team Zero, whose brains are not well-developed, are completely unrelated to the ruthlessness and cunning represented by white.

Xie Tu was also thinking about this problem.

His gold was taken away.

What emotion does gold represent?

The two spoke softly, but the sentries, with their keen hearing, noticed that their teammates who were searching nearby had stopped what they were doing, their hearts filled with turmoil.

Duan Xi clenched his fist. "The captain actually thinks we have underdeveloped cerebellum?"

"Isn't your focus misplaced?" The rabbit wanted to punch him again, but it was too far away.

Tao Haohao was questioning his existence: "So the gatekeeper is made of Sichuan opera masks?"

He actually thought it was a robot.

“Not necessarily,” Song Liang said. “It might just be related to the emotions expressed by the facial makeup. It could be the Sichuan Opera actor, the Sichuan Opera props, the Sichuan Opera theater, or even a robot.”

The robot's core program should also store relevant data, which certainly includes Sichuan Opera culture.

Finding information about color rules is not enough to determine the gatekeeper's identity.

"Isn't there a specimen storage area over there? Let's see if we can find any masks." Song Liang stepped inside.

The five colors that have appeared so far have basically matched up, except for yellow and cyan.

Perhaps if our emotions were removed once more, we could determine whether the rules were true or false.

Fortunately, Yun Zhao was there; otherwise, with the invisible will-o'-the-wisp, they certainly wouldn't have been able to find any clues about the gatekeeper.

No wonder this contaminated area has existed for so long...

The group of people were talking in hushed tones, separated by several metal racks.

Qi Ling was somewhat bewildered; he only heard what the big guy named Tao Haohao was saying.

His voice was loud and relatively clear.

Gatekeeper?

What does "gatekeeper" mean?

The four people on the other side had already run to the innermost specimen shelf and started unpacking boxes, searching for collectibles and specimens related to Sichuan Opera.

Qi Ling had no idea what these officers were up to.

He had no choice but to continue helping to search for information on colors and flames.

Just as Qi Ling finished rummaging through a box, he heard Yun Zhao calling him.

"Do you know where Sichuan Opera performances used to be?" Yun Zhao asked.

Upon hearing this, Qi Ling tried hard to search her mind for those familiar fragments of memory and replied, "They were everywhere. Back then, even hot pot restaurants had face-changing and acrobatic performances."

Sichuan Opera culture flourished in Sichuan, and its unique face-changing art and passionate singing style were once the most vibrant sights in the streets and alleys.

Qi Ling recalled the past prosperity, and her expression became somewhat desolate.

Yun Zhao, having received the answer: "..."

Everywhere?

People in the old days really lived a carefree life.

So how should they search?

Xie Tu was calm and composed. He had already opened the map and was carefully searching for the route by the light of his flashlight. He quickly came to a conclusion: "The shelter is located on the former Line 5 subway. The most famous Sichuan opera performance is at the Provincial Theater. You can get there by taking the Line 2 subway tunnel."

They can only rely on the process of elimination, searching one by one.

"Captain? Shall we go now?" Tao Haohao ran back and asked hurriedly.

Xie Tu looked at Qi Ling, who had a blank expression, and said slowly, "No rush."