Chapter 141: Thoroughly Disgusted

'With the Meng Hexagram, naturally, the mountain is in the front and the water is in the back, but that is not the main point.'

'The main point is, why would a Child appear here?'

'Under normal circumstances, NPCs appear in the third Secret Room. Of course, to accommodate certain plotlines, an NPC might appear in the second Secret Room, but I have never encountered a situation where one appears in the First Dungeon Chamber.'

'Moreover, the Three-Star Trickster-Speaker just said that an NPC "might" appear.'

'Logically speaking, lying does not exist in a puzzle-solving Secret Room, yet he used words synonymous with the Avoidance of Lying when warning us.'

'Is it possible that he was reminding us that the Child is not an NPC?'

'This is only a One-Star Instance. From a deductive standpoint, it involves complex metaphysics like the I Ching. Very few people dabbled in the I Ching while alive, and even if someone had read it, without in-depth research, they would never remember the names, meanings, and Hexagram Lines of the Sixty-Four Hexagrams.'

'Assuming none of the twenty matched Players understand the I Ching, wouldn't that mean the mortality rate of this Instance is far, far higher than "Lonely Revenge"?'

'In that case, the most difficult One-Star Instance would not be "Lonely Revenge."'

'In other words, the First Dungeon Chamber can be figured out even without using the Sixty-Four Hexagrams.'

'So, for the Meng Hexagram, there is a mountain in front, water in the back, and fog formed by water vapor in the middle. Meng means hazy or obscured.'

'But here, only the mountain and water can be seen, with no fog in sight.'

'Furthermore, the fog is in a very awkward position—blocked by the mountain when moving forward, and separated by the water when retreating.'

'This indicates that the fog is completely lost.'

'The Child just asked whether there was a mountain or water ahead. Therefore, the Child is the fog.'

'He is lost.'

'An Instance is formed from the sins Players committed while alive. Thus, the true meaning here is not an issue of mountains and water, but a question of good and evil. Since the Player who transformed into this Instance has already arrived in Hell, it means...'

'He chose evil.'

'This evil must definitely be related to the Child before us. Regardless of what it is, one thing is certain: inside the Iron Bucket in the Child's hands...'

'...is full of gasoline!'

'The story should go like this: The NPC stood on the platform carrying a bucket full of gasoline, deeply conflicted inside over whether or not to commit an evil act.'

'In the end, the NPC stepped onto the subway.'

'Therefore...'

'The answer is that neither the mountain nor the water is in front. What lies ahead is the subway!'

'However, there is no corresponding evidence for this deduction.'

'Take it easy, there is no rush.'

Li Zhitong took a lollipop from his bag, tore off the wrapper, and popped it into his mouth. He sucked on the candy while he pondered.

'The first station is the Self-Improvement Station, the second station is Kunde Road, and the third station is Jishuitun.'

'The first station is safe, the second station is also safe, but the third station is dangerous.'

'Wait.'

'There is a problem here. If the Iron Bucket in the Child's hand is full of gasoline, why choose to board the train at this station?'

'Is there some special significance to it?'

'This is the First Dungeon Chamber, yet the plot seems somewhat disjointed...'

'There is only one possibility for this situation to occur... a reverse chronology narrative.'

'Simply put, there might be two separate events occurring here.'

'The plot of the First Dungeon Chamber is happening in the present, while the plot of the second Secret Room happened in the past. Only when one is unaware of what transpired in the past would the present plot appear disjointed.'

'Following this line of thought, something must have happened at the fourth station...'

'That would be why the NPC brought gasoline onto the train at the fourth station. Based on the previous deduction, the NPC ignited the train car at the eleventh station on the return trip.'

'The eleventh station: First People's Hospital.'

'A medical dispute?'

'The Child could not be saved, and a subway worker bore a grudge, bringing gasoline to seek revenge?'

'But if he was carrying gasoline for revenge, why not set fire to the hospital? Why ignite the train car before reaching the eleventh station?'

'There seems to be only one answer. There is a high probability that the Child died on the subway while heading to the hospital, and happened to die at exactly the fourth station. That is why the NPC chose to board there.'

'In other words, incidents occurred at both the subway and the hospital, causing the NPC to harbor resentment toward both places?'

'What happened on the subway?'

'The third station!!!!'

'The power lines suddenly snapped, and the train was delayed for a long time at the third station, which led to the Child dying at the fourth station?'

'No, that is not right. It should be that, due to the torrential rain and the sudden snapping of the power lines, the people getting off at the fourth station were electrocuted. Their bodies blocked the doorway, preventing the subway doors from closing. The bodies had to be cleared first, but because there was electricity at the third station, the passengers did not dare to get off.'

'Therefore, the panic-stricken passengers inside the train could only disembark at the next stop after the third station—which was the fourth station.'

'So, the station that truly delayed the Child's trip to the hospital was the fourth station!'

'Consequently, the NPC chose to board at the fourth station with a Gasoline Drum, intending to finish the journey to the hospital on behalf of the Child? This is karma; he wanted everyone to witness this layer of cause and effect.'

'This shows that he went to the hospital with a determination to die. To seek revenge?'

'To prove this deduction, one only needs to confirm whether there is gasoline inside the Iron Bucket in the Child's hand. If there is, then everything makes sense.'

'After all, if there is gasoline, the remaining dozen or so stations will be completely unobstructed. Players would only need to know a few of the most familiar ones among the Sixty-Four Hexagrams to clear the Instance, such as the Qian Hexagram and the Kun Hexagram, or the principle that Out of the Depth of Misfortune Comes Bliss. They wouldn't even need to know the twenty-fourth hexagram, simply because the twenty-fourth station corresponding to it is named the Path of Reincarnation.'

'This puts us in an awkward position.'

'To verify this deduction, one must check if there is gasoline inside the Child's Iron Bucket.'

'But to check the Iron Bucket, judging by the Child's stance, one must answer his question first. However, the answer "the subway is in front" was derived from the deduction, and the deduction requires checking the Child's Iron Bucket. It is an endless loop.'

'Answering it is wrong, and not answering it is also wrong.'

'We are just like the "fog," with our path forward blocked by a mountain and our retreat cut off by water.'

'Is the reverse chronological design of the Secret Room meant to make us experience the conflict the NPC felt at that time?'

'I am thoroughly disgusted by this!'

Screech, screech. Just as Li Zhitong finished his deductions, he heard a strange noise.

He turned his head to look, only to see Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong sitting in their seats, using Scissors to cut an Iron Bucket into a rectangular sheet of metal.

They then punched holes in two metal sheets and threaded copper wire through them to connect the pieces.

Just like that, a metal Shielding Plate was crafted.

Li Zhitong's mouth twitched.

'Shameless!'

'I was wondering earlier why they brought the empty bucket back. It turns out they were preparing to build a firewall so they wouldn't be swallowed by the flames or injured on the return trip later.'

"Uh, sorry to interrupt your deductions. Actually, in the Sixty-Four Hexagrams, the fourth hexagram, the Meng Hexagram, features Hexagram Lines with the mountain in front and water below. Later, whoever brings the Iron Bucket back must be extremely careful. Certain people might attempt a sneak attack."

Li Zhitong: "..."