Deities Are All Just My Food
Chapter 479 - 217: Intelligence Bureau, Cream of the Crop_2

Chapter 479: Chapter 217: Intelligence Bureau, Cream of the Crop_2

Lin Baici pondered for a moment before walking over to the north wall, then he looked down at the square floor tiles the size of fists on the ground. After counting a few, he walked over to one of them.

He stomped his foot firmly, got no reaction, then took a few steps and tried another tile. This time, when he stomped, he could clearly feel an empty space underneath.

"Got it!"

Lin Baici squatted down and pried up that floor tile.

Ji Xinyan’s face instantly filled with astonishment, her eyes widened, because beneath the wooden floor tile was a small box.

On the small box, there was a combination lock requiring a three-digit code.

Lin Baici fiddled with it for a while,

Click!

The small box popped open, revealing a key.

"Wow!"

Ji Xinyan’s exclamation came from deep within her heart, and she couldn’t help but look at Lin Baici’s face.

So handsome? And such a brilliant mind too?

Please, leave some opportunities for other guys!

"Do you want to do the honors?"

Lin Baici smiled slightly and handed the key to Ji Xinyan.

"Okay!"

Ji Xinyan took the key, ran to the door, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it three times. With a click, the door opened.

Soft light immediately filled the room, dispelling the darkness.

Whoosh!

Qian Jiahui and the others, who were concentrated on finding clues, were startled and looked up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please!"

Ji Xinyan stood at the door, bowed slightly, and extended her right hand in a ’please come in’ gesture.

"..."

Everyone was stunned, instinctively turning their gaze towards Lin Baici.

"Damn, Old White, you’re too awesome!"

Qian Jiahui exclaimed.

"Didn’t you spend all three years of high school dating? Otherwise, with your brains, why would you go to Haijing Polytechnic?"

Pei Fei was shocked.

Haijing Polytechnic was quite good, ranking in the top 10 schools in Haijing, but clearly, Pei Fei thought Lin Baici should have gone to Qingbei.

"Boss, from today onwards, I am your dog!"

Fang Mingyuan said, even barking twice, livening up the mood and making everyone laugh. Despite that, they were all filled with amazement inside.

Especially Bai Jiao, a huge sense of defeat rose thunderously within his chest.

It’s not even about beating Lin Baici— we don’t even qualify to compete.

What’s this?

Instant knockout!

Hu Wenwu shook his head, his face downcast.

"Class leader, can you break it down for us?"

Ji Xinyan timely played the straight man, resembling the moment when a famous detective catches the culprit and reveals the methods—the climax of the whole drama.

"This room is all decked out and dark on purpose. It’s all to draw the players’ attention away. The real clues are hidden within those English words!"

Lin Baici explained.

"Words?"

Everyone took out their phones and shone them on the English words on the wall.

"Doesn’t it look a lot like elements used to create atmosphere in horror movies?"

Lin Baici asked with a smile.

"Hmm!"

Ji Xinyan, a frequent watcher of such films, knew that American, Japanese, and Thai horror movies often used specific elements to scare people.

Like bloody handprints, shadows, weird sounds, and so forth.

"If you think that way, you’ve fallen for the trap of the escape room designer. Take a closer look at those words!"

Lin Baici reminded.

Everyone immediately scrutinized the words closely.

"I don’t get it, Old White, just tell us straight up!"

Qian Jiahui couldn’t be bothered to puzzle it out.

But before Lin Baici could respond, Bai Jiao cried out.

"I got it!"

Bai Jiao had an epiphany: "Some words are missing letters, like this ’lugh,’ which should be ’laugh,’ right?"

"Hmm!"

Lin Baici nodded.

With a lead, it became easier. Bai Jiao immediately looked at the other words: "These common words, they all lack a certain letter, if we rearrange these letters, wouldn’t that form a new word?"

"And is this new word the clue?"

Bai Jiao finished speaking and looked toward Lin Baici.

"Yes, the words formed are ’north,’ ’floor,’ ’two,’ ’six,’ as well as ’Inverted.’"

Lin Baici looked at Bai Jiao and asked with a smile, "Do you know what that means?"

"’north’ means ’north,’ and ’floor’ refers to the ground," Lin Baici clapped her hands. "This means the clue is on the floor near the north wall—the numbers ’two’ and ’six’ represent coordinates!"

Bai Jiao looked down and deduced that these numbers must represent a specific floor tile: either the second tile in the sixth row or the sixth tile in the second row.

"Smart!"

Lin Baici clapped, impressed by Bai Jiao’s quick thinking.

Bai Jiao forced a smile. If she had figured this out on her own, she would have been proud enough to be happy for half a year, but the problem was, she only discovered this after Lin Baici had given her a hint.

"Oh no, Bai Jiao is smarter than me!"

Ji Xinyan became sullen, but after looking around and seeing everyone else deep in thought, she comforted herself again since ordinary people still made up the majority.

And I don’t rely on my intelligence for a living anyway!

Right,

let’s not compare that!

"This puzzle is a bit tricky, huh? ’north,’ ’floor,’ and numbers—these are all common English words that even an elementary school student would understand, but that word ’Inverted’ is what a lot of people wouldn’t know!"

Bai Jiao commented.

That word means ’upside down.’

"Where is it a clue?"

Bai Jiao asked for guidance.

"You’re right, this word, I only figured it out after seeing it..."

Lin Baici shook the small box in her hand and tossed it to Bai Jiao, "I pieced it together just now!"

Everyone gathered around to examine the box, which had a combination lock that required a three-digit code.

"Since there’s a 666 on the floor, and the lock requires a three-digit code, not to mention the word ’Inverted’ implies reversing, the code is self-evident!"

Lin Baici explained.

"What is self-evident?"

Qian Jiahui didn’t understand.

Bai Jiao realized from his question that Qian Jiahui must have used connections to get into Haijing Polytechnic.

"The code is 999!"

Hu Wenwu added, with a look of admiration.

No way to win! Unbeatable!

Totally impressive!

"Hurry, hurry, onto the next chamber—we’re definitely breaking the record today!"

Pei Fei pushed Lin Baici toward the next escape room, "Class monitor, as long as you break the record, during tonight’s dinner, Bai Jiao and Xinyan will sit next to you, pouring your tea and water!"

"Don’t treat them like maids; be my guest!"

Bai Jiao knew Pei Fei was joking. If this had been before, she would have scoffed at the idea since no man has yet qualified to have her pour tea. But, after enduring the recent escape room, Bai Jiao’s pride suffered a setback.

Pouring tea for Lin Baici wouldn’t be the worst thing.

Ji Xinyan was completely numb.

No, please!

It was I who became interested in this guy from the first day of school registration; I was first!

Lin Baici, stop being so outstanding.

She wanted to say to Lin Baici.

Brother, brother,

unlike Bai Jiao, who only likes geniuses, I’m different—I like you just as a person!

In the next four puzzles, Lin Baici solved them in a remarkable 25 minutes.

"Let’s go, let’s go!"

Excited, Pei Fei dragged Lin Baici towards the service desk—they had just saved 900 yuan.

How delightful!

Even though they had gotten half-price tickets from a group deal online, getting in for free would be even more thrilling.

"We broke the record."

Pei Fei, with some restraint, didn’t yell out the words "give us a refund."

"What?"

The female receptionist was startled and instinctively turned to glance at the clock on the wall.

Since these customers had group tickets and included a few attractive young men and women, she remembered them vividly—they hadn’t even been in the escape rooms for an hour.

At first, seeing them emerge, she thought they had found the challenges too difficult, couldn’t find the clues, and gave up—an occurrence not uncommon with previous customers not wanting to be overwhelmed. But she hadn’t expected them to break the record.

Could this be a joke?

"You can ask the staff!"

Ji Xinyan, more adept at handling such situations than Pei Fei, suggested.

"Hold on, let me make a call!"

The receptionist called a staff member, and once she confirmed that the group really had broken the record, she was utterly dumbfounded.

"Please wait a moment!"

She quickly dialed her boss to report the situation.

"They’re not going to refuse the refund, are they?"

Pei Fei worried.

"If she doesn’t give the refund, I’ll have people online badmouth this place until it closes down!"

It must be said, Qian Jiahui had money, and his words certainly carried weight.

The receptionist couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Qian Jiahui, as if thinking, "Who do you think you are, a domineering CEO?"