Clown Game
Chapter 162 - 162 155 Numbers Nine

Chapter 162: Chapter 155 Numbers Nine Chapter 162: Chapter 155 Numbers Nine Before Dr. Zhang had time to think, Liu Yi had already carved “380” on the toilet partition door… which meant “definitely” yes.

And just as the circle that represented “0” was completed,

—

a familiar sense of disorientation suddenly overwhelmed him.

Dr. Zhang’s eyes snapped open again!

It was just like the moment he had solved the “daily schedule” puzzle, startled awake… What he had just experienced still felt incredibly real in his mind, but upon reflection, it seemed like a dream.

Before his eyes was still that decayed red brick wall… and the scent around him had once again turned dusty.

He looked down and found he was still wearing that leather restraining belt around his waist.

All of this… incredibly, just as it had been minutes ago… He was still in that narrow room, sitting on that chair that, despite many years, had not decayed.

Dr. Zhang was stunned for a few seconds… then he quickly turned his head to the right… The other chair was still there, and Liu Yi was sitting on it, his eyes slightly closed.

As if he were asleep.

…

…

“What’s happening? How did we come back here?” he wondered with confusion.

The next second, he thought he heard faint panting behind him.

Surprised, he turned his gaze to the left, and then, he froze.

In this room, there should have been only two chairs, but now to his left, a third chair had appeared!

And someone was sitting on it!

The man was in his forties, slightly overweight, dressed in a loose, dirt-resistant beige vest; his skin was fine and beardless, with a faint scar at the corner of his eyebrow… He too seemed to be sleeping, though his brows were furrowed as if he were having a nightmare.

Dr. Zhang was somewhat panicked by the sudden appearance of the chair and the person; he took several deep breaths, then fumbled to unbuckle the belt around his waist, quickly standing up.

At that moment, Liu Yi also suddenly opened his eyes.

He was stunned for a second, then immediately exclaimed, “What the fuck? How did we come back here?”

Dr. Zhang, of course, had no time to respond to Liu Yi; he hurriedly pointed towards the direction of the third chair.

Liu Yi looked puzzled as he followed his pointing hand…

“What the fuck! How did another person show up?” he shouted.

Just then, the middle-aged man grunted, then his eyes also snapped open; he too saw Dr. Zhang standing in front of him and, startled, supported himself on the armrests to sit up, but due to the belt around his waist, he plumped back down into the chair.

By this time, Liu Yi had already unfastened his belt and walked up next to Dr. Zhang, standing shoulder to shoulder as they both watched the man.

The glances of the three met… a half second of silence.

Afterwards… the man slowly raised his hands, making a gesture resembling “surrender.”

…

…

“Uh—”

Dr. Zhang, seeing the other’s apprehensive expression, felt rather helpless, figuring the man probably mistook them for kidnappers… so he quickly lowered his hands to signal that they should not be nervous and that he meant no harm.

The man looked them over, still skeptical, then asked, “Who are you guys?”

Dr. Zhang replied, “Don’t be nervous, we just woke up too, my surname is Zhang, I’m a doctor, and this is…”

“My name is Liu Yi, a proudly certified mental patient!” Liu Yi interrupted Dr. Zhang, introducing himself.

The man, reassured by their comforting and self-introductions, began to relax a bit, undid the belt, and stood up.

“Where is this? How did I get here?” the man asked, looking around.

“We’re underneath the men’s restroom, surrounded by shit…” Liu Yi blurted out.

“What?” the man immediately showed an incredulous expression.

“Let me explain,” Dr. Zhang sighed helplessly, “Indeed, we are below the men’s restroom because the restroom floor had a big hole, and that hole leads to this room we’re in now… although it looks dirty, I assure you there’s no shit here. As for how you got here… I don’t know either.”

…

…

The uncle listened to Dr. Zhang’s words, furrowed his brow, and did not respond. He pondered for a few seconds, glanced around at the walls, looked at the three chairs side by side… and even wiped some dust off with his finger…

“The men’s restroom you mentioned, is it the one on the first floor of xx city’s mental hospital?” the uncle swallowed, sounding a bit nervous.

Dr. Zhang was startled, “How do you know that?”

The uncle composed himself, “I work for the xx city construction company. Today, I received a notice that there was a big hole in the floor of a restroom at x city mental hospital, so I came to see what was the matter…”

After hearing this, Dr. Zhang was taken aback, but he said nothing.

The uncle continued, “When I arrived at the hospital, someone took me to the doctors’ lounge and told me to wait there… Then they shut the door and left.”

“I waited a long time, but that person never returned. At that point, I felt something was amiss, so I tried pulling the door… only to find it was securely locked! And no matter what, it wouldn’t open, my cellphone couldn’t get a signal, and no one responded to my knocking.”

As he spoke, he seemed to calm his emotions with a deep breath.

“What happened after that?” Dr. Zhang pressed.

“After that, I tried everything, but I couldn’t open the door, and all the windows were barred, so I was trapped in that room… After a while, I noticed a notebook placed on the coffee table… It was always there, really conspicuous, but I was too panicked initially to notice it. Moreover, the notebook was locked… You know, one of those with a little lock on the spine, where the lock is a dial you can turn, and you need to figure out the combination to open it.” He explained, gesturing in the air with his hands.

Dr. Zhang nodded, indicating he understood, and asked him to go on.

“Anyway, the notebook seemed like it was meant to attract attention. Later, I tried to force it open with all my strength, but… I actually failed. I mean, it was clearly just a cardboard cover, but I couldn’t bend or tear it open, which was really strange. Eventually, I had no choice but to look for the combination. It was very troublesome, but finally, I found some decorative red ceramic tiles on the ceiling, which reflected down onto the floor, divided equally into ten sections representing the numbers one through zero. In the end, I figured out the combination… But just when I had aligned the lock with the right combination… I ended up here!”

After saying this, the uncle spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

As the uncle spoke, Dr. Zhang’s brow furrowed deeply. In fact, as soon as he mentioned not being able to get out, Dr. Zhang thought of his own recent experience being locked in the restroom with Liu Yi. He also guessed that the uncle must also have ended up here after receiving a set of numbers.

With these thoughts, Dr. Zhang, with a serious expression, asked again, “You said a person took you to the lounge. What did that person look like?”

“Oh… that person… um…” The uncle paused, thinking carefully about his words, “He had a thin face with two scars at the corners of his mouth.”

…

Dr. Zhang’s brow crinkled even more.

“Damn it… It really is him… It’s all the tricks of that new patient!” he thought furiously.

Suddenly, his expression froze.

Then, he rushed to the chair he had just been sitting in, rummaging around… and soon, he pulled out a piece of paper from the chair… just like twenty minutes ago, only this time, the paper had three numbers written on it…

“380”

It was, after all, the code for “yes” that they had just decoded from the plank.

Immediately, he sped to Liu Yi’s chair and, as expected, pulled out another piece of paper with the same “380” on it. Finally, he ran to the uncle’s chair and pulled out a piece of paper…

At this moment, Dr. Zhang looked up at the uncle and asked, “What was the combination to your lock?”

The uncle responded, “380, because the last red ceramic tile corresponded to the very edge of the floor, so I used 0 to represent that.”

Dr. Zhang steadied himself as the paper he had pulled from the uncle’s chair also read “380.”

Three men, three peculiar chairs, three sets of the same number.

What is the relationship between them all!

…

…

A few minutes later, the uncle seemed to have fully recovered from the initial daze of waking up.

“Well… I haven’t introduced myself yet.”

He said, realizing belatedly.

Dr. Zhang and Liu Yi nodded, showing they were listening.

So the uncle began to introduce himself.

“I am an investigator for the xx city construction company, my name is

…

Jia Renliang”