Chapter 16: Hidden Camera
Their eyes met.
For a brief moment.
Xi Leng suddenly withdrew his hand, as if realizing the absurdity of the situation. His usually impassive face showed a clear stiffness and awkwardness.
He really wasn’t used to physical contact. He had clearly made the first move, yet he was also the one who awkwardly put his hands behind his back.
“Sorry.” Xi Leng turned his head away, directing Min Zhi’s attention to the clue on the ground. “There’s a hint here, saying a friend would lend me a helping hand. I took it literally.”
Min Zhi quickly recovered, composing his dark eyes.
Time ticked by in the awkward and stagnant atmosphere, slowly flowing between them.
Xi Leng, who had just been immersed in puzzle-solving, suddenly felt the urge to give up.
Then Min Zhi spoke: “Looking at the arrangement of the black keys, you’re standing on F.”
“You can also tell by the sound.” Min Zhi continued. “Try stepping on it. The tuning is a bit off, but you can figure it out after a few tries.”
“Right… the clue also told me to listen to the sound.” Xi Leng suddenly realized, but he didn’t understand music. He stepped on the white key on the 20th step several times, still confused.
“It is indeed F.” Min Zhi was certain.
Xi Leng thought of something and smiled, a strand of hair falling by his temple as he looked at Min Zhi: “So this is the ‘helping hand from a friend’… but you’re not a friend, you’re my idol.”
Min Zhi raised an eyebrow. He thought quickly and asked decisively: “F is 4, are you deciphering a code?”
“Possibly. There are three numbers now, 8, 9, and 4.” Xi Leng said. “There might be other numbers, I’ll go to the top and see.”
Xi Leng turned and walked upwards, climbing the entire piano staircase in one go.
The clue on the top floor was written in the most prominent position in the middle, black text on a white background, two whole lines.
“You don’t submit to fate, falling and rising again, finally reaching the top.”
“Hope lies after hardship, you will surely find it.”
“No direct numbers this time either.” Xi Leng frowned, recalling, “Hope lies after hardship? Hardship… the clue on the 20th step said ‘hardship drags you down’…”
As he muttered to himself, Xi Leng understood.
“So that’s where the wordplay is.” Having solved all the riddles, a thrill rushed to his head, and Xi Leng laughed again, with a hint of helpless realization. “Hardship is 4, so the hope after 4 is… 5.”
8, 9, 4, 5.
All four numbers were deciphered.
“Since it’s not a numerical code, these four numbers become a new riddle.” Min Zhi wasn’t aware of the previous clues, but he could analyze based on the last two riddles, working seamlessly with Xi Leng, their words flowing together. “Moreover, you can’t figure out 5 without figuring out 4 first, puzzle games usually aren’t designed this way.”
Xi Leng said: “The first two numbers were deciphered individually, and they weren’t this difficult.”
Min Zhi continued: “That’s even stranger. Thinking from the perspective of the puzzle designer, the reason for doing this is probably because you can guess the answer with just three numbers? So, they linked the last two numbers together, adding music and wordplay, making it seem more complicated than it is.”
At this time, the screenwriter in front of the monitor was already sweating profusely, turning to the general director, Sheng Jiao, for help: “Didn’t you say this would be enough to keep them thinking until midnight?”
Sheng Jiao’s eyes flickered: “It’s fine…”
Xi Leng in the camera had a sudden flash of inspiration: “If you can guess it… is it an English word? If the numbers correspond to the positions in the alphabet. 8 is H, 9 is I, 4 and 5 are D and E. H-I-D-E, hide.”
Finally summarizing: “Indeed, very easy to guess.”
The program team, not only repeatedly proven wrong but also having their puzzle-designing logic completely seen through: “…”
Sheng Jiao felt uneasy, but he put on a brave face: “Just you wait and see, it’s not over yet.”
The two people in the camera also discovered the problem. Hide, but hide what? Just “hide” clearly wasn’t the complete answer, and it didn’t give them any information for the next step.
They reached a deadlock.
“This is a story about defying fate, defying hardship.” Xi Leng suddenly said. “The protagonist of this story suffers injustice and hardship, but he/she falls and rises again, never giving up. Fortunately, at the most difficult moment, they receive help from a friend. I wonder if this is related to the escape room tomorrow.”
These elements in the variety show were definitely not coincidences, but carefully designed. Clearly, the program team had been seen through once again.
And by an ordinary person with no acting experience.
Min Zhi curled his lips but didn’t speak, watching the program team’s misfortune unfold in his mind, while observing the young man in front of him, immersed in his own world, deep in thought.
“…Is this hope?” Xi Leng raised his head, the crystal lights illuminating his face, his eyes clear as glass, his voice soft as he muttered, “But even after reaching here, there’s still a long way to go, so many stairs, no end in sight.”
After a long while, Min Zhi said to him: “There’s a painting here, you should recognize it, right?”
Min Zhi pointed to a large oil painting on the wall.
“This is ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights.’ A masterpiece by the Spanish painter Hieronymus Bosch, his style is known for being grotesque and bizarre.” Xi Leng effortlessly recited this art knowledge. “This is an altarpiece. People indulge in earthly pleasures, while Adam and Eve suffer in hell. But if you look closely, you’ll find that pleasure is just a facade, in reality, the world is chaotic, filled with morbid and terrifying creatures… This painting is actually the painter’s warning against human evil and desire.”
Min Zhi listened attentively and said: “Then the name ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ is quite ironic.”
Xi Leng smiled: “That’s his style.”
“What’s this?” Min Zhi found a small piece of paper tucked into the corner of the frame and unfolded it.
Xi Leng leaned over to look, reading the small print: “Full of talent, yet unseen.”
“If this is another word game…”
Before Min Zhi could finish speaking, he saw Xi Leng beside him gently close his eyes.
He chuckled softly and also closed his eyes.
Click, click.
The crisp sound of a camera shutter.
A few seconds later, they both opened their eyes, the cameraman already close by, the lens practically shoved in their faces.
Celebrities, constantly living under the spotlight, easily overlooked these commonplace things. Min Zhi hesitated, asking uncertainly: “A camera?”
“Unseen talent is hidden, we closed our eyes, and the shutter sounded. Talent unseen, yet it can be spread through the camera, this hope amidst despair also corresponds with the riddles on the staircase.” Xi Leng analyzed. “Camera, and with hide, the complete answer is Hide Camera, hidden camera.”
Min Zhi’s smile froze halfway as he heard the person who just solved the riddle ask with genuine confusion: “…What’s a hidden camera?”
Min Zhi: “…………”
Xi Leng, who had treated chasing stars as a job for three years, still had a limited understanding of the workings and terminology of the entertainment industry, a dedicated but careless fake fan.
After saying goodbye to Min Zhi, he silently climbed the stairs back to his room. At ten o’clock in the evening, Sheng Jiao personally knocked on his door.
“Congratulations on solving the riddle and obtaining the hidden camera mission.” Sheng Jiao said with a smile. “Choose a guest and, without them discovering the camera or the mission, have them help you complete a task before midnight tonight. If the mission is successful, you will get a more advantageous starting point in tomorrow’s escape room challenge and receive more clues.”
Silence for a few seconds.
“…This is a reward?”
Xi Leng was highly skeptical.
This was overtime, right?
