Chapter 68

Luo Yiyuan's shout startled the guests who were still scrutinizing the map, trying to find the password.

Gu Feiyang tossed the map aside and rushed over to Luo Yiyuan in disbelief, peering down at the phone screen.

"No way... it's actually unlocked!"

The others hurried over, took a quick look at the phone, and then all turned to Su Xingyao in awe, their eyes filled with admiration.

"Su Su, how did you crack the password so fast!!!"

"I didn't notice you studying the map much earlier..."

The guests were genuinely curious.

As for solving puzzles, they had already located the map and clues. With enough time and attempts, they were confident they could figure out the password.

But the catch was, they only had three minutes and five tries...

In such a tight window, Su Xingyao cracked the password on his first attempt, which was seriously impressive.

At this point, the guests momentarily forgot about the phone's contents and were solely focused on how Su Xingyao had cracked the password so fast!

Not only the guests, but the audience too.

The live chat was eerily silent, with everyone glued to Su Xingyao's face on the screen, not wanting to miss his next words.

Su Xingyao, now the focal point of everyone's attention, glanced around at the dark surroundings.

His natural fear of the dark made him want to suggest they find a better spot to hide.

But seeing everyone's curiosity, he had no choice but to take Luo Yiyuan's phone and lock the screen.

Since unlocking it had been such a struggle, everyone instinctively tried to stop him when they saw him lock the screen.

"Wait, don't lock it, don't lock it!"

Su Xingyao waved off the anxious group, "It's okay, I can unlock it again."

With that, he turned on the screen and pointed at the lock screen wallpaper, "The wallpaper gave it away."

"The wallpaper? It has numbers?"

Wu Ningning quickly leaned in for a closer look, "A star and three flowers?"

She glanced at them and said, "That could give us 5 and 3, but what about the rest?"

Su Xingyao nodded, pointing at the flowers.

"Yeah, it's because of these flowers. Earlier, I didn't recognize them, but they looked familiar."

"Then it clicked—the cover of the book the curator was holding had these same flowers."

Hearing this, both the guests and the audience felt their brains and eyes were failing them.

"Did we see it before?"

"Where did we see it?"

"Did the curator have a book in hand?"

"Damn, Su Xingyao's observation skills and memory are just incredible..."

"She drew the stems and leaves, which helped me realize it was a narcissus flower."

"So it's a narcissus flower."

"First time seeing just the flower. Without your mention, I wouldn't have recognized it."

Su Xingyao nodded; it hadn't crossed his mind.

After explaining the flower, he cut straight to the chase.

"In computer programming, there's a common problem called finding self-power numbers."

Su Xingyao didn't go into detail but pointed to the pentagram and the three narcissus flowers inside.

"Three narcissus flowers represent three-digit self-power numbers, such as 153, 370, 371, 407. The pentagram represents five-digit self-power numbers, like 54748, 92727, 93084."

"He used self-power numbers and pentagram numbers as the wallpaper, so I think the program team probably set the password using self-power numbers here."

Xie Jin got it, "The password is six digits, so they used a six-digit self-power number?"

Su Xingyao nodded, "Yes, they used a six-digit self-power number."

Gu Feiyang was puzzled, "How do you know it's a six-digit self-power number? Is there only one?"

Su Xingyao lowered his head and started entering the password on the phone again.

"Yes, among self-power numbers, only six-digit and ten-digit numbers have a unique solution."

"548834."

Su Xingyao quietly recited the six numbers, his fingers dancing over the keys.

The phone unlocked instantly.

"Xiao Xi's diary mentioned he's been learning programming, so I took a wild guess in that direction."

The guests, upon hearing this reasoning, were stunned: !!!!!

Xie Jin: "You're a genius, Su Su..."

Luo Yiyuan: "Su Su, you're my hero!"

Wu Ningning: "I thought he was just venting about math, but it was actually a clue..."

"This observation is insanely detailed!" Gu Feiyang exclaimed, then curiously looked at Su Xingyao, "So Su Su... what's that ten-digit self-power number? I'm curious!"

Su Xingyao nodded and quickly said, "4679307774."

Guests: Mind blown!

Audience: Mind blown!

"I didn't even get to Baidu it, and the answer's already here..."

"Can someone explain what a self-power number is?"

"It's a natural number with x digits, where the number equals the sum of each of its digits raised to the power of x."

"That sounds so complicated; I've never even heard of it before."

"Actually, it's not that difficult, but the hard part is making me think of this based on the pentagram and the flowers, and then being able to blurt out these numbers in just a few seconds... that's asking for my brain and my life!"

"Wow, Mr. Su, how do you have such an amazing memory!"

Gu Feiyang, now satisfied with his curiosity, looked at Su Xingyao with the kind of awe a struggling student has for a top student.

"Su Su... did you study computer science in college?"

"I studied finance."

Su Xingyao said slowly, "But I had a roommate once who was interested in everything except his own major. We coded together for a while, so I picked up a bit."

Leon, who was suddenly mentioned from overseas, reacted with a smile: ^_^

The director, who had planned the timing but didn't expect it to be solved so quickly: ...

This phone was supposed to play a crucial role later in the plot, but Su Xingyao, this anomaly, solved it so easily!!

As the director was panicking, the NPC who was originally supposed to come up and retrieve the phone asked: "Director, should I still go up?"

The director clutched his chest, "Go, go, go!!! Everyone, move in together!!!"

As soon as the director gave the order, many NPCs suddenly appeared around the square.

They were dressed in weird outfits, with blank expressions, and surrounded the guests like a horde of zombies.

Su Xingyao had just switched to the WeChat interface on the phone and hadn't had time to read the chat content when Luo Yiyuan pulled him forward to run.

"Run, Su Su, these zombies are coming!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the 'zombies' seemed to have been wound up and sped up, chasing the guests from behind.

The empty streets of the small town instantly turned into a chase scene.

"Damn, why are these ghostly things everywhere!"

After running two blocks and finding themselves cornered by a new group of NPCs at a turn, Luo Yiyuan quickly pulled Su Xingyao to run down another street.

The sound of the wind whistled in their ears, and the production team added some eerie sound effects.

With the NPCs chasing them and the eerie sound effects in the dark, the atmosphere became even more unsettling.

"Geez, this isn't a clean escape; it's a town-wide manhunt!"

In the dark streets of the small town at night, the guests ran around like headless chickens.

As they ran, they realized that the paths the NPCs were forcing them to take were not the ones they had taken during the day.

By the time they realized it, they were already standing in front of a building.

Cornered, everyone stopped at the door, "Should we go inside?"

Before anyone could respond, they heard Wu Ningning scream.

"Ahhhh, let go of me, let go of me!!"

Su Xingyao turned around and found that he was being held by two NPCs dressed as magicians.

Seeing this, the three boys quickly turned back. Su Xingyao held onto Wu Ningning's hand tightly, while Luo Yiyuan and Gu Feiyang pushed the two NPCs away.

Thanks to their combined efforts, they finally managed to rescue Wu Ningning.

But just as Wu Ningning was saved, the NPC army they had barely escaped earlier heard the commotion and was closing in.

With no other options, Xie Jin grabbed the door handle and urged, "Let’s go in, hurry!"

The five of them rushed into the pitch-black room. Luo Yiyuan, the last one in, locked the door and leaned against it.

Almost instantly, loud banging erupted on the door.

He was gasping for breath but didn’t dare move an inch.

"This is way too scary... are we being hunted?"

As soon as Luo Yiyuan finished speaking, the place where he wore the bracelet felt a sharp electric shock.

Su Xingyao felt the same.

Once the shock subsided, he raised his hand and noticed the bracelet, previously blank, now displayed forty percent.

"What’s this fifty percent supposed to mean?"

As Luo Yiyuan spoke, Gu Feiyang held up his hand, "I’ve got fifty percent too."

Xie Jin glanced at her bracelet, "Mine’s at forty percent."

Wu Ningning, still shaken, held out her trembling hand, "Why is mine at seventy percent? QAQ"

Xie Jin studied everyone’s progress bars and speculated, "Didn’t the prompt say touching this thing ten times would get us eliminated? Is this progress tied to that?"

"Then I’m practically halfway gone!" Wu Ningning was about to cry, "Why did my life drop so much..."

"Maybe it’s because that NPC grabbed you earlier," Luo Yiyuan suggested.

"Su Su and Xie Jin weren’t touched by them, so they lost less. Brother Feiyang and I were touched, so we lost more."

Hearing this, Xie Jin checked her progress bar again, confused, "Then why did Su Su and I lose forty percent if we didn’t do anything?"

Su Xingyao peered out the window, his gaze fixed on the sky.

Tonight’s moon was brighter and fuller than the night before.

"Could it be that we lose forty percent just by being here for a full day?"

When Su Xingyao said this, everyone thought it made sense.

"They gave us three nights and two days to complete the mission, so the math adds up."

Hearing this, Wu Ningning grew even more anxious, "So I’ve only got one more day?"

Wu Ningning’s words made everyone tense. "We need to find Xiao Xi fast," they agreed.

"But where do we even start looking?"

"Let’s check the phone first and see what’s there."

Su Xingyao unlocked his phone and immediately opened WeChat, the most prominent app.

Xiao Xi's WeChat was straightforward, with only a few contacts—mostly classmates, friends, and family.

After scrolling through everything, Su Xingyao didn’t find anything useful.

"What about checking the photo album?"

Since WeChat didn’t yield any clues, everyone rushed to check the photo album.

The album was filled with ordinary landscape and lifestyle photos.

"This can’t be it… All this mystery, and this is what we get?"

As soon as Luo Yiyuan finished speaking, he heard Xie Jin and Wu Ningning scream.

At the same time, Gu Feiyang let out a sharp gasp.

The last photo showed a swollen, cracked arm riddled with wounds, and a back of the head and shoulder where the flesh had melted together grotesquely.

The skin was red, swollen, and festering, with no part untouched. Seeing this out of nowhere at night was downright terrifying.

Xie Jin: "What the hell happened to him?"

Luo Yiyuan asked, "Burns?"

Su Xingyao sighed softly, "Burns."

Wu Ningning chimed in, "Right, there was a fire in that photo we just saw."

Luo Yiyuan leaned in again, muttering, "Poor Xiao Xi—an orphan, and now burned like this in a fire..."

Just as Luo Yiyuan finished, a robotic voice crackled through their earpieces.

"Congratulations, players, on completing the side quest. Now, please board the time machine to uncover the truth behind Xiao Xi’s disappearance."

As soon as the mechanical voice stopped, the wall in front of them split open.

In the glow, two time machines materialized.

The guests were stunned into silence.

"Wow, so this was hidden here the whole time?"

"If I’d known, I’d have kicked this plastic wall the second I walked in."

The director watching the monitor: ???? A bunch of hooligans!!!

With only two time machines, they had no choice but to split into two teams.

After a quick discussion, Luo Yiyuan and Su Xingyao took one machine, while the other three took the second.

Su Xingyao stepped into the glowing time machine, glancing around and wondering how it would whisk them away.

Just as he was thinking, the door opened.

Then two masked figures reappeared, holding blindfolds.

Seeing this time-travel method, Su Xingyao, who was forced to wear a blindfold again, couldn't resist complaining, "This is how you're sending us back? Can't it be a bit more modern?"

In the live broadcast, viewers who finally learned how the time travel in the variety show was edited were already dying of laughter.

"LOL, so this is how time machines work in variety shows."

"HAHAHAHA, what a high-tech time machine, the guests have to walk blindfolded."

As the audience mocked the show, the masked men led the guests to their respective destinations.

Then they were stuffed into a time machine identical to the previous one.

The time machine counted down for three seconds, with an overly dramatic sound effect.

"We've arrived at the destination."

The guests pushed open the time machine, struggling to hold back their laughter.

Since the show required post-production editing, after exiting, they had to cooperate with the production team to share their experiences after the ride.

"This time machine is super fast..."

"First time on a time machine—so cool."

"Just now, I felt like I was traveling through time~"

After the guests exaggeratedly and half-heartedly completed the show's requirements, Su Xingyao began to carefully inspect the place they had arrived at.

He and Luo Yiyuan were brought to an orphanage.

The group with Xie Jin, who arrived simultaneously, was also taken to an identical setting.

The production team had set up the same scene for both groups of guests, but what they saw was entirely different.

The two groups of guests had arrived in different time periods.

Xie Jin's group had returned to ten years ago.

At this time, the orphanage was still intact.

Su Xingyao's group had returned to five years ago.

A fire had just happened here.

The production team's set was very realistic.

For Su Xingyao, who had survived a fire and nearly lost his life, this was far from ideal.

This environment was quite uncomfortable for him.

As soon as he stepped in and saw the ruins left by the fire, the scenes from that big fire began to replay in his mind.

His breathing became momentarily unsteady, and even the butterfly bone on his left shoulder began to ache faintly.

Su Xingyao closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down.

He thought he could face it calmly.

But that fire had left too deep a shadow on him.

After making an effort to appear as normal as usual, Su Xingyao smiled at Luo Yiyuan and chatted with him in a completely natural manner, then they began searching the scene together.

Although the orphanage wasn’t large, it was mostly destroyed by the fire, making the clues hidden there naturally very difficult to find.

The production team also played a trick on them by giving a lot of useless information.

It took them over ten minutes to locate Xiao Xi’s room using various subtle clues.

Xiao Xi’s room was in a remote spot on the second floor.

Under the bed in Xiao Xi’s room, Su Xingyao found a locked box.

Luo Yiyuan soon found the key to the box inside the lamp bulb.

They quickly opened it, discovering a yellowed note and some scattered items inside.

Luo Yiyuan picked up the note and struggled to read the words on it,

"Happy Birthday, Xiao Xi~"

"We will always be together, best friends forever."

Hearing Luo Yiyuan’s words, Su Xingyao picked up the scattered items.

A camera, a hairpin, a motorcycle, a piece of fabric, and a small jacket for a doll.

Su Xingyao placed these items back into the box along with the note.

The production team then reminded them it was time to head back to the city using the time machine.

The production team began the countdown once more.

Su Xingyao and Luo Yiyuan then made their way to the time machine.

On their way back, Luo Yiyuan got lucky and found a report detailing Xiao Xi’s injuries.

"Third-degree burns on the head, arms, and shoulders, with glass fragments embedded in the skin."

As Luo Yiyuan read these words, his body trembled uncontrollably.

"That must have been excruciating."

Hearing this, Su Xingyao came to a sudden stop.

He turned to Luo Yiyuan and asked, "Yiyuan, have you ever wondered why Xiao Xi’s wounds were so severe?"

Luo Yiyuan shook his head; he hadn’t given it any thought.

Su Xingyao remained silent but gestured for him to follow and led him to a room.

The room was charred beyond recognition, with only a small section of wall remaining, where a mirror had been destroyed by the fire.

Without hesitation, Su Xingyao headed straight to a corner.

He knelt down.

"He must have been here at that time."

Su Xingyao hesitated, "They were likely trapped here because of the fire. They might have planned to escape through the window, but the nearby bookshelf unexpectedly caught fire and collapsed."

As he spoke, Su Xingyao opened his arms, making a protective gesture.

"Xiao Xi saw this and shielded the others with her body."

"Others?"

Luo Yiyuan raised an eyebrow.

After listening to Su Xingyao's words, he suddenly had a realization and quickly dug in the spot where Su Xingyao was standing.

After digging for a while, he actually found a photo.

The photo showed three young children, two boys and one girl.

Unfortunately, the other half of the photo had been burned away by the fire.

Luo Yiyuan looked at the photo and sighed, "How did this photo make it through such a big fire?"

Su Xingyao smiled.

"If it had all burned up, how would we find clues?"

Luo Yiyuan was stunned.

"Oh, right..."

"Haha, Mr. Su really understands the schemes of the production team."

"Su Xingyao is incredible; he found all these clues."

"Listening to him, I instantly understood why Xiao Xi had burns in those spots and why there were glass fragments—it was because she was protecting others."

"Aww, poor Xiao Xi..."

"But how did Su Xingyao figure all this out so precisely? He even guessed the exact location."

"The King of Reality TV is truly living up to the title."

While the audience was in awe of Su Xingyao's skills, Luo Yiyuan suddenly remembered something and asked Su Xingyao.

"Su Su, how did you find this place?"

Su Xingyao stepped into the time machine and said, "Just a guess."

Luo Yiyuan: ?

"Alright, I won't tease you. I had a similar close call before, so I paid extra attention to this place when we passed by earlier."

Su Xingyao always answers the guests' questions.

So when Luo Yiyuan asked him, he naturally explained what he was thinking at the time.

Su Xingyao's tone was completely nonchalant, as if he were talking about what he ate yesterday.

But Luo Yiyuan next to him widened his eyes.

Luo Yiyuan's way of thinking is always a bit different from normal people.

An ordinary person might have asked Su Xingyao, "Did you experience a fire before?"

But he thought of the position Su Xingyao had analyzed earlier regarding Xiao Xi's injuries.

It's not uncommon for someone who's been through a fire to think of escaping through a window.

But most people wouldn't be able to figure out that Xiao Xi was hurt by a bookshelf while trying to shield her friends.

And Su Xingyao picked up on it right away, which could only mean...

"Were you also hit like that in a fire?"

Su Xingyao didn't respond.

He smiled, glanced at Luo Yiyuan, and said casually, "Let's head back."