Chapter 58: Secret Room Loop Mechanism!

Qiu Yinong could not figure it out.

She looked at the mirror again.

'This body is not mine. This is the fourth loop. The future me must figure out why I appeared in this body during the fourth loop, and the glass beads should be the memory anchors.'

Suddenly, it was as if a meteor flashed through her mind, illuminating all the thick fog.

'I see.'

'Five loops.'

'That refers to the number of times I have appeared in this secret room, not counting the other secret rooms.'

'If my memory has also been to other secret rooms...'

'Then the number of times would be much higher.'

'By the same logic, the me from the fourth loop written on the mirror also came from a different secret room previously.'

'The me from the fourth loop retained her memory, but the me from the fifth loop did not. The problem lies in...'

'The previous secret room.'

'My previous secret room could not preserve my memory. Yet, the fourth-loop me from the mirror was able to retain her memory from her previous secret room into this one, and even write down a message.'

'It is the glass bead number!'

'Since the current number is two, there must be a number one. And if there is a one and a two, there might be other numbers as well.'

'Number two belongs to this body I am currently in. It does not belong to me.'

'I need to find my own body and my own number to retain my memory.'

Qiu Yinong looked at the crumpled ball of paper.

'Good thing there is a cunning mastermind around.'

'This cunning mastermind must have figured out that everyone would lose their memories before even entering this strange secret room.'

'Therefore, this mastermind tore a small page from Journey to the West, crumpled it into a ball, and gave it to the person who originally owned this body as a reminder to never tell a lie.'

'At the same time, the paper ball also became the clue that allowed me to deduce the existence of loops within this secret room.'

'That means no matter how many secret rooms there are, only she and I can be the first to deduce the secret room loop mechanism.'

'There is a high probability that this cunning mastermind is me.'

'Conclusion: the book Journey to the West is in the secret room where my real body is located. The small paper ball is in the secret room where her real body is located.'

'As long as the two of us can exchange memories, I can return to my own body, and she can return to this body.'

'Of course, the prerequisite is ensuring that at this very moment, I am in her body, and she is in my body. Only then can we properly connect.'

'How do we exchange memories?'

'The chair!'

'The chair is a memory eraser, but it is also a memory converter.'

'As long as two people sit in the chairs during each loop, not only will their memories be erased, but they will also exchange memories with each other.'

'Now, the only problem is, how can I be sure she is inside my body at this exact moment?'

'As for whether she can deduce things up to this point, there is actually no need to worry. I would definitely have left enough clues for her to figure it out.'

'It seems I can only take a gamble!'

With that thought in mind,

Qiu Yinong walked up to the mirror, but she realized that the blood on her head had already dried.

She bit her finger and wrote the following passage on the mirror:

"Do you like chewing gum? If you do, take your memory to the other secret rooms and help the others find their own bodies. However, the time we sit in the chair must be spaced far apart, otherwise, we will just end up exchanging memories again. I will sit first, you sit two hours later."

'This way, even if I lose my memory and arrive here next time, I can use this third passage on the mirror to quickly deduce the loop mechanism for all the secret rooms.'

After finishing the message, she restored the items on the coffee table to their original state. Only then did she walk over to the chair without hesitation and sit down.

Four handcuffs emerged from the chair, locking her securely in place.

Immediately after, a metal contraption resembling an electroshock therapy helmet descended over her head.

Qiu Yinong was jolted by a numbing electric shock.

Blood flowed continuously down her forehead as she completely lost consciousness.

A short while later.

The handcuffs released automatically. Her entire body rolled out of the chair, crashing onto the floor in the middle of the secret room. Then, her fingers twitched.

Qiu Yinong woke up on the ground.

She surveyed her surroundings and instinctively reached into her pocket. Feeling the chewing gum, she tore open the wrapper and popped it into her mouth. She instantly felt revitalized, her mind becoming sharper and more active.

It was exactly the same as before.

She still went about searching for various clues, though there were minor differences. For instance, after seeing the contents of the crumpled paper ball, she did not throw it away, but placed it back into her pocket instead.

Then, she deduced the rule forbidding lies.

She walked over to the mirror again and saw the three passages of text written on the glass.

After an unknown amount of time, Qiu Yinong finally deduced the secret room loop mechanism.

She picked up the glass bead.

'I like chewing gum, so it seems this body is indeed my own.'

'Which proves my number is two.'

'I can retain my memory this time and take it to the other secret rooms, leaving the secret room loop mechanism on their mirrors.'

'Once the others get the answers, they will also try to recover their respective bodies, just like me and the person who left the message on the mirror.'

'But why did this person not write down the method for using the glass bead?'

'Even though the first passage hints that the method is related to the chair...'

'How exactly is it supposed to be used?'

...

Meanwhile.

Chen Ran woke up on the floor. Despite a splitting headache, he instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter.

Lighting one up, he felt the pain in his body ease significantly.

He took a few more satisfying drags.

"Ah, that hits the spot!"

Following that, he faced two primary questions: Who am I? Where am I?

It was the same as before, but this time, after he finished looking at Journey to the West, he did not casually toss it aside. Instead, he placed it face down on the coffee table.

Next, he surveyed his surroundings.

Not only did he see two passages of text on the mirror, but he also noticed five books resting beside it.

They were all copies of Journey to the West.

'Who did this?!'

'Who disrespects books this much? How could they just carelessly toss them here?'

After grumbling inwardly, Chen Ran curiously flipped through each book and discovered...

In one of the copies,

a line had been drawn with fresh blood in Chapter 22, seemingly highlighting it in red.

'Because the Queen Mother bestowed the immortal peaches, hosting a banquet at the Jade Pool for all the generals. He accidentally shattered the jade glass, terrifying the souls of every celestial deity.'

'Shatter the glass bead!'

'That is how to preserve memories!'

Consolidating and deducing all the clues,

Chen Ran also quickly deduced the loop mechanism of this secret room.

'This body is mine!'

'My number is one!'

'Since everything matches up, it means I can retain my memory this time. However, I can only preserve it for this single instance. If I loop into the other secret rooms, I won't be able to keep my memories.'

'Unless I can loop back to this specific secret room, into my own body, at which point I will be able to preserve my memory once again.'

'Simply put, by shattering the glass bead in this secret room, I can retain my memories into the next one. But since the next secret room won't have the number one glass bead, I won't be able to preserve my memories further. Therefore, the very first thing I must do upon reaching the next secret room is write down everything I know on the mirror to warn the others.'

After a moment of thought,

he wanted to take advantage of the still-wet blood on his head to leave some kind of message on this secret room's mirror.

But thinking it over carefully,

other than Chen Ran himself, no one else could retain their memories in this specific secret room.

It would be the same whether he wrote anything down or not.

At this moment, when he looked back at the two passages on the mirror, his expression turned rather odd.

'So, the contents up there were actually written by me, for myself and the person who received the small slip of paper.'

'A dialogue across time and space?'

'However, there seems to be a slight flaw. Does that person... even know how to use the glass beads?'