Chapter 59: You Scheme, I Scheme, We All Scheme

Chen Ran woke up from the floor yet again. This time, he retained his memory of the previous Secret Room.

He immediately went to the mirror and discovered that this body belonged to a Middle-aged Woman.

Following that, he rummaged through all the pockets on his person and searched the Secret Room for quite a while.

He even stuck a finger down his throat to check.

After confirming there were no small paper wads anywhere.

He did not rush to leave a hint on the mirror. Instead, he sat on the sofa and pondered a question he had never quite figured out.

'No Lying.'

'Since I am forbidden to lie, then the others should be forbidden to lie as well.'

'But every Secret Room is a solo trial. If I lie, who would know?'

'Also.'

'Why do I have this urge to completely screw over this Middle-aged Woman?'

'It seems it does not matter whether I think about these questions or not. After all, setting a trap for this Middle-aged Woman will not do me any harm.'

'When in doubt, scheme first.'

Thus.

He walked over to the mirror and pondered for a moment. What kind of message could he write that would make...

'Wait, that is not right.'

'If I leave behind a trap, it will not just screw over this woman, but everyone who cycles into this body as well.'

'However, there is also a chance that the person who finds the paper wad might cycle into this body while suffering from amnesia...'

'Therefore, the words I write must ensure that the person with the paper wad remains unharmed, while guaranteeing that everyone else gets screwed.'

At this thought.

He bit his finger and raised his hand to write:

"Secret Room cycle mechanism: Two people who sit in the chairs will lose their memories, exchange memories with each other, and exchange Secret Rooms."

"You can only preserve your memory if you are certain this body is yours."

"Method to preserve memory: Sit in the chair, smash your Glass Bead, and shout the corresponding password:..."

At this point in his writing.

Chen Ran paused.

He did not quite understand the mechanism for judging a lie.

'If you are ugly and I say you are beautiful, that is a white lie and can be judged as a lie.'

'But to an amnesiac, there is no concept of ugly or beautiful.'

'Unless there are strict criteria for judging a lie.'

'For example, if you are objectively ugly, even if you do not know the difference between beauty and ugliness, or if you are the only one who thinks you are beautiful, saying you are beautiful would still be a lie.'

'Without knowing the criteria, how can I be absolutely sure that the moment she reads the password, she will be lying?'

'That is it!'

'The cycle!'

So he continued writing after the word "password": "I am currently helping the others recover their memories and bodies."

'The essence of this text lies in human habit. When reading something specific, people will naturally read it out loud or mutter it.'

'For instance, I could directly write "My name is Liu Yifei." When the Middle-aged Woman sees these words, she will uncertainly read them aloud or repeatedly murmur them to herself.'

'"I am currently helping the others recover their memories and bodies." For the person who arrives in this Secret Room with their memories intact, this sentence is the truth. If the Middle-aged Woman sat in the chair, smashed the Glass Bead, and recited this sentence, there would be no problem at all.'

'But the one thing the Middle-aged Woman must not do is read those words out loud before sitting in the chair.'

'It is not over yet!'

'The number on the Glass Bead in this Secret Room is wrong; I cannot preserve my memory.'

'When I preserve my memory again in the endless cycles and head to other Secret Rooms, there is a high probability that I will also leave this sentence behind as a trap. That means, if nothing unexpected happens...'

'Everyone will be screwed over by me at least once.'

'It is just that...'

'I cannot retain my memories from the other Secret Rooms. In the future, I will have no idea that I ever set them up in these cycling Secret Rooms.'

'If I do not know, then I do not know. Like I said, setting a trap does not harm me in the slightest. There is no harm in trying.'

...

Meanwhile.

The body Qiu Yinong occupied belonged to a Middle-aged Uncle. She was writing on the mirror.

'Wait.'

'Since lying is forbidden here, should I set a trap for them?'

'It will not hurt anyway, so why not give it a try?'

'However, based on my current deductions, the person with the original copy of Journey to the West is highly likely to be on my side.'

'If they have amnesia, there is a chance they might cycle into this Secret Room as well.'

'Therefore, the message I leave behind must not constitute a lie if that person reads it aloud. For anyone else, though, reading it out loud will mean they are lying.'

'No matter how many times the Secret Rooms cycle, I will always be judged as being in the process of helping the others recover their memories and bodies.'

'The person with the Journey to the West book should be the same.'

So, she added on the mirror.

"When using the Glass Bead, you must recite the following incantation: I am currently helping everyone recover their memories and bodies."

'Any normal person seeing this will unconsciously read it aloud and ponder the sentence over and over.'

'Moreover, neither I nor that person would be lying by reciting this.'

'As for the rest of them...'

'They can pray for their own good luck.'

'It seems I must have been an absolutely wicked woman in the past. I feel zero guilt writing such a malicious trap; instead...'

'I am a little excited.'

...

These two insidious traps began appearing in various Secret Rooms throughout the endless cycles.

Except for the Secret Rooms the two of them were currently in, the mirrors in all the other Secret Rooms featured a password or incantation that needed to be read aloud.

Except for the Secret Rooms the two of them were currently in, the mirrors in all the other Secret Rooms featured a password or incantation that needed to be read aloud.

After an unknown number of cycles.

Chen Ran once again returned to the Secret Room containing the Journey to the West book.

It was the usual routine.

First, a splitting headache, followed by smoking a Cigarette, and finally the realization: Who am I, and where am I?

He lay on the sofa.

Taking inventory of his belongings.

He read the book, but this time was a little different from his previous visits. When he walked over to the mirror, the words written on it were different from before.

"Secret Room cycle mechanism: Two people who sit in the chairs will lose their memories, exchange memories with each other, and exchange Secret Rooms."

"You can only preserve your memory if you are certain this body is yours."

"Method to preserve memory: Sit in the chair, smash your Glass Bead, and shout your own name: My name is Zhang San."

"My name is..."

Suddenly, Chen Ran sharply recalled the information he had just obtained from Journey to the West.

'No Lying.'

He hurriedly went to the coffee table, bit his finger, and wrote down the words from the mirror onto the table.

'The handwriting on the mirror is different from the words I just wrote on the coffee table.'

'This means the words on the mirror were not written by me. Since the Secret Room induces cyclic amnesia, how could the person who wrote this know my name is Zhang San?'

'It is a trap!'

'That was close!'

'I almost unconsciously read it out loud.'

'Which bastard is doing something so completely devoid of conscience?'

'However, since my memories have returned to my own body, and someone left behind the Secret Room cycle mechanism, it proves that someone else understands how the mechanics work.'

'I do not need to cycle anymore. I will let the person who knows the answer go and help the others.'