Chapter 40 The Land of Freedom (Part 7) Deciphering the Game.
Feng Feng probably guessed it too; these were all scripts they received in their dreams.
She obviously has other family members here, and the good news is that this family sounds quite powerful, with a driver and such. This is the first time Feng Feng has enjoyed such treatment.
The bad news was that neither of them knew the whereabouts of her brother and Xia Zhu, so it seemed the four-person team would have to split up temporarily. However, she was certain that even if they separated, they would reunite safely.
"So where should we go now?" Feng Feng was a little confused. Xia Zhu played a significant role in the team; at least in crucial moments, she always made the best decisions.
"go home."
"Go home?? Go home to whose home?"
"Yours." Ying Ya's long bangs hung down in front of his eyes, and Feng Feng doubted whether he could see the road ahead, but this was the character design of a melancholy boy, and he had been like this since he was a child.
"My home? How can you be so sure?"
“Your other mother told me to bring you back safely no matter what. They seem to have known this day would come and should have had a plan.”
In other words, Ying Ya judged that taking Feng Feng back "home" was the safest option at present, so he diligently played the role of a good driver, braving wind and rain to bring back his little master.
"Alright, I hope so." Feng Feng had nothing more to say. She leaned back. Making choices was never her forte. The only thing she could do was to use vines to strangle all dangers if a choice brought them. Every path would lead to victory. This was Feng Feng's principle as an unknown official.
She rolled down the car window, and all sorts of sounds rushed into the car: the roar of cars, explosions, screams and shouts from the crowd, and the cracking and disintegration of reinforced concrete. The wind carrying smoke and dust blew her red hair.
"So this is what the end of the world looks like."
A strange buzzing sound arose amidst the noise, like mechanical vibrations or the flapping of wings of a giant insect approaching. The sound grew louder and louder, and the wind blowing into the car also grew stronger.
"Did you hear that?" Feng Feng turned to look at Ying Ya, who nodded blankly.
"What..." Before she could finish speaking, a steel behemoth-like helicopter was driving alongside their car above the windshield, its main rotor churning the air, sucking in all the debris, dust, and even the oxygen around Feng Feng.
The hatch slid open slowly, and a woman in a purple silk dress and huge emerald earrings appeared at the doorway. Her eyes were calm and sharp, and she looked down at the world like a domineering female eagle. To Feng Feng's astonishment, the woman pulled out a megaphone from behind her back, put it to her mouth, and shouted in their direction with a deafening roar: "My darling Feng!! Mom's here to pick you up!!"
It has to be said that this loudspeaker is truly beyond common sense; it was able to clearly transmit a woman's voice even amidst the roar of the helicopter. Not only did the two of them hear it, but probably everyone in the entire city did as well.
Feng Feng raised a hand blankly, pointing at himself.
"Are you calling me?"
Ying Ya, however, remained unmoved, calmly and composedly gripping the steering wheel.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, your family seems to be the richest in the world." He was worried that Feng Feng would be too shocked, but he didn't expect her to adapt so quickly.
"What do you mean, the richest man doesn't need me to go to school in person!" she said, leaning out of the car window and waving her arms excitedly in response to the woman: "Mom!! I'm here!!"
Ying Ya: "..." Sometimes he really admired Feng Feng. Maybe this was a natural-born official with exceptional adaptability. It seems that he still had a gap to close and needed to practice more.
Feng Feng stumbled into two embraces. One was fragrant, with a soft and comfortable collar and warm, delicate skin. The other had a different scent, and the metal of the brooch startled her, but thankfully it was also very sturdy.
Her parents in this world overlap with those in reality to some extent. It's as if no matter where she is or how her status changes, she will always be the apple of her family's eye. This makes Ying Ya somewhat envious. He thinks of his own mother and those eyes full of disgust, then immediately closes his lips and becomes even more silent. Standing behind Feng Feng, he is like a bodyguard, occasionally glancing down at his crippled right hand while remaining vigilant and protecting his master.
The helicopter took them directly back to the Five Star Tower base on the outskirts of the city. As Ying Ya had said, her family seemed to have foreseen the disaster and made preparations, but they were unsure of the exact timing and did not want to disrupt Feng Feng's normal life. So they decided to let her go to school, as they were confident that they could safely bring their precious daughter back even if something unexpected happened.
One tall, one short, one thin, one fat—the two adults fawned over Feng Feng, their interaction quite dramatic. Feng Feng was very content with his new role as the tall, beautiful, slender mother and the chubby, smiling, and endearing father.
Just thinking about Feng Mian and Xia Zhu, who were still lost and alone, made her unable to hide her sadness.
How could their precious daughter be dull and lifeless? The two men nervously grasped Feng Feng's hand and asked her if she was feeling unwell.
The more concerned they were, the more Feng Feng missed his brother and A Zhu. His big eyes began to well up with tears. His parents were on high alert, vowing that as long as Feng Feng spoke up, they would definitely solve all the problems.
Then Feng Feng smiled sweetly and told them that she had two very important companions who were missing and that she needed to find them and bring them safely to the base.
Feng Feng's "parents" didn't care why their daughter, who had never left their side since childhood, knew other friends outside. Without saying a word, they issued an order to find Feng Mian and Xia Zhu.
She never expected that even if the apocalypse came, the power of money would still be useful.
"That's how it is." Feng Feng spread his hands and told the two who were wolfing down their food what had happened in the past few days, as a side dish for dinner. He told a story, "As for how my parents could have foreseen the disaster, you'll have to ask you, Zhu."
Xia Zhu, who was called upon, looked up from the creamy mushroom soup and stared blankly at everyone.
"I?"
Suddenly, a heavy mechanical door in the corner of the room was pushed open, and two people walked out, a man and a woman, one short and one tall. They excitedly ran towards Xia Zhu, lifted her from her seat on either side, and held her hands with great enthusiasm, like two generals supporting her.
"Teacher Xia, it's so good that you're alright! After all these years, I'm finally able to see you in person, hahahahahahahaha." Feng Feng's "father" had a standard old-fashioned laugh, full of energy, but what he said left Xia Zhu stunned.
Seeing that Xia Zhu was still holding a soup spoon and didn't seem to have reacted at all, the woman on the other side quickly explained, "We knew that choosing to fund your research was the right decision. Over the years, we've kept in touch through emails, and the disaster you foresaw has indeed happened!" She gently put her arm around Xia Zhu's shoulder and pointed around, "Everything here is thanks to you! We just didn't expect that you were actually Xiao Feng's friend! It's truly fate!"
Xia Zhu felt a refreshing fragrance lingering around her nose. The woman's cool earrings gently brushed against her face, their sparkle stealing her attention. Her glasses unconsciously brushed against her nose. She took the spoon from her mouth and nodded involuntarily, "Of course...of course..."
Laughter erupted from the dining table as Feng Feng jumped off his chair and rushed over to separate Xia Zhu from her parents.
"Oh, Mom and Dad, don't make things difficult for Azhu. You know how researchers are—their social skills are all like that! Let her eat first!"
The two belatedly realized what was happening and quickly pushed Xia Zhu back into her seat. Seeing her pick up her utensils and start eating, clearly starving, they ordered more food and left the room.
"Alright, alright, time to summarize! Tell us everything you have in the clues! Don't forget our mission as unidentified officials!"
The base's living room was the warmest place. Four people lay sprawled on the soft sofas and carpets. The fireball had passed, and now it was so quiet that only the crackling of sparks from the fireplace could be heard. Disaster and mission were forgotten in the comfort.
Only Miss Feng Feng remembered her duties as an unnamed official, and Ying Ya was the first to respond.
He stood up from the sofa and said seriously, "I have no clue."
"Crow, please sit down." He's been with Feng Feng the whole time; what clues could he possibly have?
Ying Ya obediently sat back down on the sofa, while Feng Feng cast expectant glances at Feng Mian and Xia Zhu.
Feng Mian sank into the sofa and spread his hands: "What clues could I possibly have? I'm just a concerned citizen." He glanced at Xia Zhu, who was lost in thought beside him, "Teacher Xia knows a lot, you know."
Upon receiving the signal, Teacher Xia's soul returned to her body. She nodded solemnly, took out the exquisite map from her bag, and casually spread it on the carpet, along with the incomprehensible notebook.
“The West.” She pointed to a barely visible red marker on the map. “We’re going here.”
“I know that too. My mom said that a geology professor once told them to flee west when disaster strikes, but where exactly is that? In this vast sea of people, where are we supposed to find the ghost?”
The four of them gathered around, heads close together, looking at the open notebook on the map.
The notebook is currently the most informative tool; apart from the blurry mark on the map, there are no other clues. They can only pin their hopes on the contents of the notebook.
The dense English letters and symbols made Feng Feng's vision go black, and he fell backward onto the carpet.
"What kind of word game is this? Spare me!"
"Games?" Xia Zhu leaned closer to the notebook, her eyes darting back and forth between the various words.
"This seems to be a puzzle game."
It's still a very simple puzzle game.
Feng Feng asked Ying Ya to bring paper and pen, and watched as Xia Zhu lay on the ground deducing the solution.
There is a recurring short poem in the notes that appears in every corner of the book.
“Keep ascending” “Iceclad light”
“Aeternal spire” “Hallowed height”
It means "continuous ascent, frozen light, eternal tower, sacred summit".
This short poem is poorly written and poorly formatted, barely legible. Furthermore, it contains three symbols: a right-angled triangle pointing to the lower left, a circle, and another right-angled triangle pointing to the upper right. Without close inspection, one might mistake them for three ink splatters left by a mentally unstable author.
The three symbols are located at the top left, center, and bottom right of the poem, respectively.
After Feng Feng's insightful comment, Xia Zhu thought of "The Witness," a classic puzzle game. Of course, she had never played it; she had only seen an introduction to it in a book titled "A Compilation of Winners of the British Game Design Competition" that she found in a corner of the school library.
Xia Zhu reads all sorts of books. She will study any book with pictures and words, even if it's a snack wrapper lying on the roadside, for a long time.
She has always believed that knowledge should never be acquired from a single source, because people need to face not only exam papers, but also life itself.
If you connect the scribbles in the notes with the puzzle game, the problem is solved, and these seemingly unconscious symbols become the keys to the puzzle.
She copied the poem back onto blank paper, but not in the original layout; instead, she arranged it in a pyramid shape. This was because the three symbols in the original poem served to define the topological rules of the space; simply put, the symbols were the basic coordinate system for deciphering the poem.
The first symbol defines the structure; the poem's layout is as follows:
1. Keep ascending
2 Iceclad light
3 Aeternal spire
4 Hallowed height
Then, following the left diagonal sequence of the first symbol (the right-angled triangle pointing to the lower left), we can extract the first letter of each row: KI AH, and then follow the second symbol (the right-angled triangle pointing to the upper right) to obtain the right diagonal sequence: ALSH.
The circular symbol, by defining the intersection, can rearrange the letters in order, canceling out identical ones to obtain the final word.
“KAILASH”.
As Xia Zhu explained, she quickly connected all the letters on the paper with lines, and finally capitalized the answer and drew a circle around it.
"This is it."
"Kailash".
Mount Kailash.
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Author's Note: This puzzle game was just something I made up, don't worry about it. [Shrug]
During the second revision, I suddenly discovered that the format of the reformulated poem on my phone was different from the one in my document. Perhaps it couldn't be displayed, but in any case, it was arranged in a triangle, with each line indented one space from the previous one.
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