The shrill alarm sounded like a death warrant, echoing in the small data room and causing pain in the eardrums.
The red warning lights flashed wildly, like a pair of angry eyes, staring at everyone present.
"Damn! These bastards are playing so well!" Investigator Cheng couldn't help but swear and punched the wall, causing his wrist to go numb.
"Self-destruct devices usually have backup plans, find them quickly!" Mou Xuan suppressed his anxiety and his brain worked rapidly.
His eyes scanned every corner of the room like a scanner.
Bookshelves, tables and chairs, floors, and even the ceiling, no suspicious place escaped his sight.
"There's a combination lock here!" Analyst Ju suddenly shouted, pointing at a metal box in the corner.
The surface of the box was covered with dust, obviously no one had touched it for a long time.
Mou Xuan rushed over and saw a complicated combination lock on the metal box, which was covered with all kinds of strange symbols and numbers.
Next to the combination lock, a red countdown number was jumping rapidly, and every second was like a heavy hammer, hitting everyone's heart hard.
"This combination lock... I seem to have seen it somewhere..." Analyst Ju frowned and gently stroked the combination lock with his fingers, as if he was touching a precious antique.
"Don't tell me you've seen it somewhere else. Crack it quickly! Time is running out!" Investigator Cheng stamped his feet anxiously, wishing he could pry open Analyst Ju's head to see what was inside.
"This... this seems to be a variation of the 'Nine Palaces and Eight Diagrams Lock'. I... I can't unlock it..." Analyst Ju's voice became smaller and smaller, beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, and his face turned pale.
He bit his lips tightly, as if he was under great pressure.
"Nine-square Bagua Lock? What the hell is that?" Investigator Cheng was confused. He had only heard of Nine-square Sudoku. This "Nine-square Bagua Lock" was completely beyond his understanding.
Mou Xuan took a deep breath, walked to analyst Ju, patted him on the shoulder, and said firmly: "Don't panic. Think about it. Is there anything special? Or, try another way of thinking?"
Mou Xuan's voice was like a sedative, injected into Analyst Ju's body.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He closed his eyes, and various combination locks appeared in his mind, spinning rapidly like a revolving lantern.
"That's right! I remember it!" Analyst Ju suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes flashing with excitement, "The password of this combination lock may be related to the layout of this room!"
He pointed at the bookshelves, tables and chairs in the room and said excitedly: "Look, don't the placement of these bookshelves and tables look like a nine-square grid? And the number of books on each bookshelf corresponds to the eight hexagrams in the Eight Diagrams!"
Following Analyst Ju's instructions, Investigator Mou Xuan and Investigator Cheng carefully observed the layout of the room.
Sure enough, the placement of these bookshelves and tables and chairs conforms to the rules of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.
"Awesome! You can even see this!" Investigator Cheng couldn't help but give a thumbs up, full of admiration for Analyst Ju.
"Time is running out, calculate quickly!" Mou Xuan urged.
Analyst Ju took out a pen and paper and started calculating quickly.
His fingers danced on the paper like nimble butterflies.
"Qian has three lines in a row, Kun has six lines broken, Zhen is an inverted bowl, Gen is an inverted bowl, Li is empty in the middle, Kan is full in the middle, Dui is missing at the top, Xun is broken at the bottom..." Analyst Ju muttered to himself while writing faster and faster.
As time passed, the numbers on the countdown became smaller and smaller, and the red light became more and more dazzling.
There was a burning smell in the air, as if something was about to explode.
"Found it! The password is..." Analyst Ju's voice suddenly stopped. He widened his eyes and stared at the paper in his hand with an expression of disbelief on his face.
Just then, the numbers on the countdown changed to "00:01".
"You're about to lose!" Investigator Cheng roared in despair.
Analyst Ju's hands were shaking. After entering the last number, he hesitated to press the confirmation button. Instead, he turned to look at Mou Xuan and spoke with difficulty:
“Boss, this password…seems…” “Boss, this password…seems…” Analyst Ju’s voice suddenly stopped, as if someone had strangled him.
He stared at the paper in his hand, veins bulging on his forehead, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.
Investigator Cheng's heart nearly jumped out of his throat. He snatched the paper from Analyst Ju's hand, took a closer look, and was instantly petrified.
There were a few big words written on the paper: "Welcome to Doomsday Paradise".
"Damn! These bastards are really good at playing!" Investigator Cheng couldn't help but swear, feeling like he was being fooled.
At this critical moment, Mou Xuan's eyes fell on an inconspicuous corner next to the combination lock.
There, there was a red button that almost blended into the wall, with two small words marked on it - "Stop".
The button is so cleverly hidden that in a tense atmosphere, almost no one would notice it.
The corners of Mou Xuan's mouth rose slightly, revealing a playful smile.
He stretched out his finger and pressed the button without hesitation.
“Click!”
A soft sound, like the sound of nature, echoed in the ears of the three people.
The madly flashing red lights went out in an instant, and the piercing sirens also stopped abruptly.
The smell of burning in the air also dissipated.
The whole world seemed to have quieted down.
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