Since I can't go out, I can only go up.
Mingqiao stood on the second floor and looked up at the ceiling. The library had experienced two earthquakes, but there was no sign of damage to the roof or the surrounding walls, not even the wall paint had fallen off. This was enough to prove that the earthquake would only occur inside the library, and the walls and roof would not be affected.
Mingqiao faced the red light, his eyes swept across every corner of the second floor, and finally stopped at the air outlet of the central air conditioner in the corner of the roof.
Because of the power outage, the central air conditioner had stopped working long ago. Under the red light in the room, the dark air outlet was particularly conspicuous. After the two earthquakes, the air outlet was still firmly embedded in the ceiling without any deformation or displacement.
If he could do something with the air-conditioning vent, maybe he could safely avoid the remaining earthquakes tonight.
Mingqiao dragged two tables together and placed them under the air-conditioning vent. Then he stepped on the tables, grabbed the iron cover on the vent with both hands, and shook it vigorously a few times.
With the buff of "outsiders and teachers will not damage school public property", the iron cover net remained intact under Mingqiao's destruction. So Mingqiao took some effort to dismantle his "house" for shelter, leaving only the bottom plate.
After the bottom plate was reinforced, Mingqiao took out two hemp ropes from his backpack and tied them to the two sides of the bottom plate. Finally, he tied the other end of the rope to the iron cover net of the air outlet, and a simple swing was made. The swing was two square meters, and Mingqiao would not fall off even if he rolled on it.
He stepped on it to try it out, and then added another layer of blocks on top out of fear, and finally he completed the "building" to avoid earthquakes.
After stuffing his backpack onto the swing, Mingqiao moved a lot of building blocks onto the swing. The ladder he had made before was buried in the ruins of the first floor, so he had no way to get down to the first floor unless he built a new ladder.
With this lesson, Mingqiao realized that he had to prepare a way out for himself in advance. After tonight's "building competition" was over, he could use these building blocks to build a ladder to return to the first floor.
When everything was ready, Mingqiao climbed onto the swing again by stepping on the table. He took out his cell phone and checked the time. It was 7:13 pm, and there were still 47 minutes until the next earthquake.
There was still time left, so Mingqiao went to the bookshelves in the two areas and picked up a few "books".
These books are also flat rectangular blocks of various colors. Apart from the color and size, there is no other difference.
Mingqiao had originally thought that it would be nice to wait until he could get in touch with Shi Xin, and then read a book together when they were bored like tonight, but he suddenly remembered that their connection would be cut off after the power outage at night, and now this scene was repeated again.
Mingqiao looked at the "books" in his hands and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
He has developed a strange dependence on Shi Xin. Although he doesn't think Shi Xin is indispensable, when something happens, Ming Qiao still thinks of him first.
This young man, who was three or four years younger than him, trapped him in a vicious circle with his perfect charm.
Mingqiao opened his schoolbag, took out a bag of dry noodles and chewed it slowly.
He was hanging on the ceiling and couldn't feel the vibrations below at all, but judging from the shaking bookshelves and the occasional falling building blocks, a new round of earthquakes had begun.
This earthquake lasted longer than the last one, and it took seven or eight minutes to stop. As Mingqiao expected, the earthquake caused a large area of the second floor of the library to collapse downwards, and the cracks were about to spread to the ground under Mingqiao's feet. In less than two times, the entire second floor would collapse to the first floor.
After eating and drinking, Mingqiao began to assemble his new ladder. This time he had enough time to slowly do his best to do the job. If conditions allowed, he could even imitate the original spiral staircase in the library.
Mingqiao was counting the time while building blocks.
By the time the fourth earthquake hit, Mingqiao's building blocks had reached the height of a floor, and the ground on the second floor had collapsed so much that only room for one person was left to stand.
He began to feel fortunate that he had found such a good place that gave him a chance to catch his breath.
Mingqiao was completely insensitive to the subsequent earthquakes. He mechanically put together the stairs in his hands. When he felt sleepy, he simply lay down on the swing and took a nap. When he woke up, he checked the time and continued to put together the stairs.
He set an alarm for nine o'clock on his old mobile phone, but Mingqiao was woken up before nine o'clock in the morning.
"I am now announcing the results of the architectural competition. The winner is Mingqiao and Fendi is eliminated. The prizes will be distributed in ten minutes. Please go to the podium to receive them."
This broadcast continued without stopping for five minutes, until all the lights in the library came on and the air conditioner began to blow cold air downwards.
Mingqiao shuddered at first.
His victory meant that Fendi lost, and the broadcast also confirmed that Fendi had indeed been eliminated, but whether this Fendi was the same Fendi remained to be discussed.
But what surprised him was that there were prizes for this competition.
Mingqiao thought for a moment and decided to first find where the podium was mentioned in the broadcast.
He didn't rush down, but used his high position to lean his head and look down.
The swing was completely suspended in the air, nearly eight meters above the ground. The two tables he stepped on at the beginning also fell down and broke into scattered broken blocks.
In the ruins, various gray, white, and black building materials and colorful building blocks were mixed together. The area of 100 square meters was in full view, but there was no so-called podium.
"Mingqiao! Are you okay?"
Shi Xin's voice rang in Mingqiao's ears, and the other party's urgent questioning made Mingqiao feel very cordial.
"It's okay." Ming Qiao sat on the edge of the swing and told Shi Xin what he had experienced last night.
Shi Xin was about to say something but stopped talking. Ming Qiao heard him say, "Yesterday's task of placing the book has been completed. A reward has also been given here, and the rules have been unlocked half a page further down."
"What is it?"
"Task 1 reward - an educational paper. Supplementary note 1: This paper is the undergraduate graduation thesis of Sun Guiping, a famous scholar in the field of history. It was collected on July 23, 199x. Supplementary note 2: Half of this paper is missing. You can choose whether to open the hidden side quest."
Unlocking rules:
3. Please keep quiet in the museum, especially after 17:00 in the afternoon and before 9:00 in the morning.
4. The museum will be cleared at 17:00 every afternoon. If you are still staying after 17:00, please leave immediately. If you see someone still staying after 17:00, please do not try to communicate with him/her, please ignore him/her and leave immediately. "
Mingqiao was speechless for a few seconds, and then he understood why Shi Xin was so slow in speaking.
If this rule had been released earlier, he wouldn't have had to fight with Fendi for so long that night.
"Mr. Ming, the rules this time are those left by the opposite party of 'it', that is, the good guys, right?"
"That should be it." Mingqiao rubbed his temples to relax his mind: "Why did you give him another nickname?"
"Otherwise it would be too troublesome to call them that. So from now on we can just call the person who provided the clues and helped us escape the good guy, and the other person the bad guy."
With the name Shi Xin, Mingqiao began to think about whether his mentor Sun Guiping was a good guy or a bad guy.
So far, he has not got any clues about what Sun Guiping did. The maze, the casino, and the current paper can only be regarded as neutral evidence. Putting aside the paper that has not been judged yet, whether it is the maze or the casino, these places have caused trouble for their escape, but they have also become the most critical part of the escape. If we must use this to link Sun Guiping to the good or bad faction, it is a bit far-fetched.
"Has there been any changes outside after one night?" Mingqiao asked.
Shi Xin said, "No, if you must find something strange, it's that the sky got dark very quickly after the power outage. The sun sets at around 7 or 8 in the summer, but it was already pitch black at around 5 last night."
"It's nothing serious." Mingqiao asked again: "Are you in no danger over there?"
"No." Shi Xin said, "But I have thought of a question. Logically speaking, your college roommate has been out for a while. Even if we are inside, we can't contact the outside world by phone. Since they are out, can't we contact them? Can't everyone be so selfish that they only care about their own survival and don't care about the lives of these people in the school?"
"Yeah." Ming Qiao nodded: "This school does have a lot of suspicious points. There are two possibilities. One is that they all lost their memory for some reason after they went out. The other is that they called the police and others, but the people outside couldn't get in."
"One-way exit." Shi Xin said, "That makes sense. To sum up, we are isolated and helpless, and we can only solve everything in this school by ourselves."
Ming Qiao chuckled: "It seems to be like this at the moment. What should I do? Do you regret it now? You have suffered a lot following me."
"I won't regret it." Even though he couldn't see Shi Xin's expression, his voice was very firm: "How could I regret it? I may have suffered a little following you, but you took good care of everyone, and we did something meaningful."
"It seems that I have done well so far."
"certainly."
Chatting with Shi Xin relaxed Mingqiao both physically and mentally. He shook off the fatigue of the evening and regained his energy to prepare for the troubles that were to come.
The ten minutes mentioned on the radio had arrived, but Mingqiao still couldn't see where the podium was, so he carried the ladder down to the first floor and stood on the ruins waiting.
There are protruding steel bars and scattered bricks on the ground, and Mingqiao must be extremely careful when walking on them to avoid unnecessary casualties.
He stood in the middle of the library and looked up.
After the ground on the second floor collapsed, the space in the library became unusually empty and lonely. I didn’t feel it much when I was sitting on the swing, but now that I’m standing on the ground, I feel the uneasiness brought by this emptiness.
"Teacher Ming."
"Um."
"The second staff assignment is posted here."
"A classmate has come to borrow books. Please help him find all the books on the list."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
