"What does this mean?"
Looking at this piece of paper, Zhang Ze had a headache. He didn't know how to get it.
Chinese characters are combined with numbers, and there are arithmetic symbols in the middle. No matter how you look at them, they don’t go together.
"There shouldn't be anything special about the minus sign and 1. The focus should still be on this Chinese character."
"If 'one' is replaced by the number 1, then the result of 1-1 is 0..."
Zhang Ze looked at the number on the door and shook his head secretly: "The answer is definitely wrong. There is no room 0 in this apartment."
"66 seconds...65 seconds..."
Xiao Li's countdown was beating in his mind, Zhang Ze calmed himself down and continued thinking.
"One is in the Tian character grid. What is the meaning of this Tian character grid?"
Zhang Ze thought hard, and suddenly he remembered that when he was in school, when he was just learning Chinese characters, the Chinese teacher asked everyone to count strokes.
"Could it be strokes?"
Zhang Ze had a flash of inspiration and immediately started counting the strokes of one character.
"There are 12 paintings in total, then subtract 1, the answer is 11?"
Hearing that there were only 29 seconds left in the countdown, Zhang Ze did not dare to delay any longer and immediately ran to the first floor.
"Whether it's right or not, the time is almost up, let's try it!"
He ran all the way to room 11, then used the second key to open the door.
The room was still dark, Zhang Ze turned on the light, and Xiao Li appeared in front of him.
Bang bang bang!
Xiao Li clapped his hands and praised: "Brother, you are so smart!"
Zhang Ze let out a long breath. To be honest, he didn't know if the answer he found was correct. Fortunately, it was correct.
"The last time!"
Zhang Ze looked at Xiao Li and said in a deep voice: "Do you still remember your promise? If I beat you, I will let my friend go!"
"Of course." Xiao Li nodded and said, "I am a good boy and I never lie."
"Then, the next third clue is my favorite two lines of ancient poetry to recite."
Xiao Li put his hands behind his back, shook his head and said:
"The first sentence: The merchant girl does not know the hatred of the country's subjugation, but she still sings the flowers in the backyard across the river."
"Second sentence: In the dream, I lit up the lamp and looked at the sword, and in the dream, I recalled the company's camp where the trumpets were blown."
"Brother, the clue is in these two poems. Come on, come to me quickly!"
After saying that, Xiao Li disappeared from the spot, and her ethereal countdown came to Zhang Ze's ears again.
"Two lines of ancient poetry?"
Zhang Ze recalled in his mind the two lines of poetry recited by Xiao Li.
"The first line should come from "The Land of Qinhuai" by Du Fu, a poet from the Tang Dynasty. Are there numbers in this line?"
After thinking about it, Zhang Ze shook his head: "There seems to be no number..."
"Otherwise, is it related to Du Fu? Is it the year of his birth and death? But I don't know..."
Zhang Ze recited it repeatedly, but had no clue at all, so he had to look at the second verse.
"This sentence is even more popular. It is written by the patriotic poet Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty, "Broken Array: A Poem for Chen Tongfu", but there are no numbers in it."
"Is it the number of words in the poem? There are a total of 26 words in the two poems. Is it Room 26?"
The first two times were not very difficult, but Zhang Ze felt that the last time could not be so easy.
Otherwise, there are so many people like the giant god and sister, and they can’t lose by relying on collective wisdom!
"So, the answer is definitely not 26!"
Zhang Ze rubbed his forehead. He almost read these two lines of poetry in his mind several times, but still couldn't find any clues.
"39 seconds...38 seconds..."
Seeing that the time was getting closer, Zhang Ze's palms began to sweat. Faced with this situation, his summoning technique could not help.
After all, his followers had never learned these ancient poems.
"Don't panic! Think again!"
Suddenly, his eyes lit up and his face showed joy!
"I know the answer!"
"The merchant girl does not know the hatred of the country's subjugation, but she still sings the flowers in the backyard across the river. This is the second line of the whole poem, so it is the number '2'!"
"And in the dream, I read the sword by burning the lamp, and I dreamed about the company blowing horns. This is the first line of the poem, so it is the number '1'!"
"Connected together, it's 21!"
Zhang Ze ran away. At this time, there were still 9 seconds left in the countdown!
Just when Xiao Li was about to read out the last number, Zhang Ze successfully opened the door to room 21.
However, he discovered that there was no Xiao Li inside!
"Could it be that the answer is wrong?"
Zhang Ze was stunned.
At this time, Xiao Li's faint voice sounded from behind Zhang Ze: "Brother, it's a pity that you opened the wrong room. I can only punish you!"
Zhang Ze snorted and said, "You can punish me, but I have to know the correct answer! Otherwise, I will not recognize the result!"
"Of course I will tell you the correct answer and make you convinced that you have lost."
As soon as Xiao Li clapped her hands, two verses appeared on the white wall next to her. She took out a red paintbrush and circled the two words in the verse.
"Brother, this is the correct answer." Xiao Li smiled and said, "You are so smart that you will understand. You don't need me to explain more, right?"
Of course Zhang Ze could understand. He looked at these two words blankly, sighed slightly, and said depressedly: "Why didn't I think of that?"
The two characters Xiao Li drew are "Shang" and "Jiao" respectively.
In ancient times, there were five musical scales: Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, and Yu. The corresponding seventh-level notes were 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6.
It can be seen that Shang and Jiao are connected together, which is the number 23, which is Room 23, which is only one room away from the room Zhang Ze opened.
"I'm willing to admit defeat!"
Zhang Ze took a deep breath and said, "If you want anything, just come and get it!"
It's not like he hasn't thought about summoning his followers to protect him, but the giant god and his sister are both in Xiao Li's hands, so he doesn't dare to mess around.
Moreover, he felt that Xiao Li might be an "NPC" that could not be killed, because her role was to guide adventurers through the level. If she could be killed casually, how could she survive this demonic realm?
Xiao Li tapped her cheeks lightly with her fingers, thought for a moment, and said, "I've decided, I want this!"
As she spoke, something appeared out of thin air in her hand, and it turned out to be an arm!
Zhang Ze was stunned for a moment, then looked at his right arm, there was nothing there!
"You can actually take away my limbs?!" Zhang Ze was shocked. He thought Xiao Li would take away weapons and equipment, or at most the value of one of his attributes.
As a result, he never expected that Xiao Li would take away one of his right arms!
However, Zhang Ze didn't feel any pain, but he also couldn't feel his right arm.
"Hehe, I'm going to soak it in a glass jar!" Xiao Li said happily: "The new key has been put in your backpack. Don't worry, as long as you defeat me, all the lost things will be returned to you. of."
"How about it, big brother, do you still dare to play with me?"
"Play! Why not play!"
Zhang Ze chuckled and said: "Not only do I want to get my arm back, but I also want to save my friends. I have to keep playing!"
"Come on, what's the clue the fourth time!"
"Don't worry, let me check the time first."
Xiao Li floated towards the first floor, and Zhang Ze had to follow her to see what she was going to do.
"Ah, it's already 4:15!"
Xiao Li expressed surprise and said: "I must return to the room before 12 o'clock."
"Why? What would happen if I didn't go back?"
Zhang Ze was a little curious.
"It will be very bad!" Xiao Li shook his head repeatedly, his face turned pale, and said: "That person will wake up, and everyone in this apartment will die!"
"That person?" Zhang Ze frowned slightly, "Didn't you say that you are the only one in this apartment?"
"Yes, that person is not a resident of this apartment. He doesn't like to see others playing with me. If he finds out, he will kill everyone except me!"
Xiao Li had a look of fear on his face and said, "I want living people to stay and play with me, not dead people!"
She looked at Zhang Ze and said: "Especially eldest brother, I like you the most. You must stay alive to stay with me."
"I won't stay, let alone die!" Zhang Ze shook his head, "Since you are so anxious for time, let's start quickly."
"Okay, the clues for the fourth hide-and-seek are here."
Xiao Li pointed to the ceiling above his head, and Zhang Ze looked up and saw a huge circle drawn there with the twelve zodiac signs in it.
The arrangement of the twelve zodiac signs in the circle is the same as the time on the clock. The rat represents 1 o'clock, the ugly ox represents 2 o'clock... and the pig represents 12 o'clock.
"Isn't this just a dial?" This thought suddenly flashed through Zhang Ze's mind, "But why is there no pointer?"
He moved his gaze to the clock on the wall, feeling strange.
"Brother, this is the clue for the fourth hide-and-seek. Come find me quickly."
Xiao Li disappeared again, and the countdown also sounded.
"Damn it, it's this confusing puzzle again!"
They were given a dial with twelve zodiac signs and no hands. How could Zhang Ze find clues?
"I think the key to this puzzle is the pointer!"
"Only by finding it can I point out the correct time, and I can find the answer based on the time!"
"So I have to find the pointer!"
Zhang Ze looked around, looking for the pointer, but couldn't find anything related to the pointer.
Except for the clock on the wall.
"46 seconds...45 seconds..."
"Huh?"
Zhang Ze discovered a situation. The clock stopped moving at some point.
The time is still 4:15.
"Time has stopped since Xiao Li's countdown. Such a coincidence, there must be something wrong with it!"
"Could it be..."
Zhang Ze looked at the still clock and then at the zodiac pattern above his head. He vaguely felt that he had found the answer.
"The clues this time don't seem too difficult. Have I really found the correct answer?"
The last failure made Zhang Ze very cautious and did not dare to draw conclusions easily.
If he loses again, he really doesn't know what Xiao Li will take from him.
If it is a part of the body, such as eyes or something, then how can he continue?
However, Zhang Ze really couldn't think of any other answers, and the road in front of him seemed to have come to an end.
"Think again, think again!"
His eyes moved aimlessly, and finally looked at his feet. Suddenly, he froze.
The floor of the apartment is made of very smooth silver tiles. Each tile has a large area, and there are almost no gaps at the joints, as if it were a whole large tile.
More importantly, ceramic tiles can be used as mirrors.
Zhang Ze saw the zodiac patterns on the ceiling above him reflected in the tiles on the floor, and he reacted instantly!
"Mirror! It's a mirror!"
"If you infer the zodiac dial above your head based on the stationary dial on the wall, the hour hand should be 'rabbit' and the minute hand should be 'tiger'. In the arrangement of the twelve zodiac animals, rabbit is 4 and tiger is 3. The answer is 43 .”
"However, judging from the reflection on the ground, the dial is reversed, so the zodiac sign corresponding to the hour hand is not rabbit, but rat, which is 1!"
"The minute hand has not changed, it is still a tiger, so the real answer is not 43, but 13!"
"12 seconds...11 seconds..."
Fortunately, Zhang Ze was on the first floor now. Room 13 was very close to him and he found it after running a few steps.
Click!
Using the last key to open the door and turning on the light, Xiao Li was waiting for Zhang Ze with a smile.
"Brother, congratulations on successfully catching me three times!"
Xiao Li held Zhang Ze's arm in front of Zhang Ze, along with a pass key.
"These are the rewards you deserve. Take them and leave the apartment."
Zhang Ze took his arm and his right arm automatically returned to normal, but he did not get the key.
"I said, I want to save my companions, please let them go."
"Okay, but you have to play games with me again." Xiao Li tilted his head and said, "Are you willing?"
"Of course I do, just let them go."
Hearing Zhang Ze's firm tone, Xiao Li clapped his hands.
Click! Click! Click!
The doors of different rooms located on different floors opened at the same time, and Ju Shen, Liu Yueying and others walked out of them with confused expressions.
"What's wrong with us?"
Xiaoniao Yiren held her forehead and frowned: "I remember, the last time we played hide and seek, we failed, and then we didn't know anything anymore... What happened?"
At this time, she saw someone sending a message in the team channel.
[Rakshasa]: Is everyone okay? I'm on the first floor now. Come and join me.
[Irritated Dragon King]: Rakshasa! You're back? You saved us, right?
【Escape】: It must be my brother! Otherwise, who can come to this demonic realm?
[Giant God]: Alas, it's my fault this time. I shouldn't have led everyone to continue exploring this demonic realm. As a result...
[Knowing Autumn Overnight]: Boss, you are not to blame for this, we all agreed.
[Little Princess Money]: Who knows how many days we have been stuck here?
[Use the knife without emotion]: Look, Rakshasa has returned from going to Sakura Country for business. It must have been several days.
[Liu Yueying]: Zhang Ze, how is Sister Xiang’s situation? Is she okay?
[Melancholy of the Sky]: And the Dawn leader of Sakura Kingdom, is she dead?
[Rakshasa]: She is dead. Sister Xiang was also rescued by me and is now recuperating in my grassland camp...
【Escape】: Sister Xiang also came to our camp as a guest? Great, I want to go offline to see her!
…
In the midst of everyone's chatter, they all came to the first floor to meet with Zhang Ze.
"Big brothers and sisters, time waits for no one, let's start playing hide and seek."
Xiao Li floated in front of everyone, holding his hands behind his back and showing an innocent smile.
