He Yuxin hesitantly said, “Could this sentence be hinting that the password for the number lock is all threes? After all, among the clues we have so far, only this password is related to the number three.”
Su Yan shook her head, decisively refuting, “Impossible. That password lock was already a useless clue, so there’s no reason to tell us the password in two ways, especially when the second way is quite difficult.”
She paced around, thinking, “This clue was actually quite well hidden. If that horse head hadn’t reminded me, who among us would have thought there was another secret under the ocean balls?”
Now the three were stumped again.
Feng Di sighed and said irritably, “This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work, so what’s the point of this broken clue?”
Su Yan raised an eyebrow and suddenly said, “We’ve basically searched every nook and cranny of this room by now. Logically, there shouldn’t be any hidden clues left, right?”
Feng Di nodded, “If there are still clues here, then I’d truly be impressed.”
Su Yan said thoughtfully, “Then, this last clue must point to an unresolved problem. And currently, the only remaining problem on the field is—”
Her gaze shifted to the carousel, and she said with certainty, “Why isn’t the carousel spinning yet?!”
Feng Di, who had been sitting on the ground, scrambled up, and He Yuxin also leaned in.
“Are you saying this clue is actually telling us how to start this carousel?”
Su Yan nodded, “That should be right. Now that we have this direction of thought, let’s think about the intrinsic connection between how to start this carousel and that sentence.”
“‘One gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things…'”
He Yuxin murmured the words, pondering repeatedly, “Could it be… that three items are needed to make this carousel spin? ‘Three gives birth to all things’ would mean three things can generate the power for the carousel to spin.”
Feng Di was the first to jump out and refute her, “Didn’t we say before? We’ve found everything we can find in this escape room. Where are you going to find three more items? Dig a hole in the wall?”
Su Yan, however, nodded thoughtfully, “Yu Xin makes a good point… except, those three ‘items’ might not be objects, but people.”
She suddenly pushed up her non-existent glasses and said in a serious tone, “There is only one truth! To activate this carousel, three people need to sit on it simultaneously!”
He Yuxin’s mouth twitched, “You’re mixing up your shows, friend! You’re Sherlock Holmes! Wasn’t that line from Detective Conan?”
Su Yan waved her hand, “Don’t mind those details. We happen to have three people right now, want to try sitting on it?”
Feng Di nodded, casually found a wooden horse, and was the first to sit on it.
Then, He Yuxin also found her favorite wooden horse and sat down.
Su Yan slowly walked to a wooden horse and stood still, not taking any further action.
Her inaction caught Feng Di and He Yuxin’s attention. Feng Di asked strangely, “Yan Yan, why aren’t you getting on?”
Su Yan licked her lips and said in a somewhat dry voice, “Um, let me tell you something…”
She had a premonition that this last stage wouldn’t be easy for the three of them to get through.
Once she sat down, danger would likely follow.
If she didn’t tell these two the truth now, she might not have a chance to tell them until after they escaped the room.
Seeing her hesitating, the impatient Feng Di immediately urged, “Well, spit it out! What do you want to tell us?”
“Hmm…”
Su Yan took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Never mind. Just remember to hold onto the horse’s neck tightly, and listen to my commands later.”
It was the final step now. Telling them the truth would easily disrupt morale.
Once the truth was revealed, regardless of whether the other two believed it, they would inevitably be intimidated before the battle.
After all, how could human power contend with such supernatural forces?
Wu Xiaoxiao was already unconscious.
If she said something now and scared He Yuxin unconscious as well, then with only her and Feng Di left, even if Feng Di was willing to try, they wouldn’t have a chance.
***
With this thought, Su Yan gave one last reminder, “You must listen to my command, safety is the most important thing.”
With that, she strode onto the horse’s back.
The moment she sat down, all three of them felt the wooden horse beneath them tremble.
Then, the sound of machinery began, a cheerful song played, and the carousel started to turn.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden a carousel, it’s actually quite fun… ah!”
Before Feng Di could finish speaking, the steadily rotating carousel suddenly lifted off, flying to the ceiling and continuing to spin.
Su Yan turned to look, and good heavens, the entire central axis, along with all the wooden horses, had flown up, with only the foundation still firmly on the ground.
She finally understood what that lock was for—it was to prevent this thing from flying up.
Her previous guess was correct; opening the combination lock would not only not help with the mission’s progress but would actually hinder it.
Now, looking at it, how was this just hindering?
This was directly life-threatening!
To be fair, if it hadn’t flown up, Su Yan wouldn’t have realized how high the room was.
She nervously glanced down, then withdrew her gaze.
“All of you, hug the horses’ necks tightly! Falling from this height means certain death or severe injury!”
“Ah! How could this happen!”
He Feng Di couldn’t control her screams, “We didn’t fasten our seatbelts! Is this escape room crazy?!”
Su Yan knew what was going on and could only reassure them, “When we get out, we definitely need to complain about this escape room. For now, let’s just get through this. By the way, why isn’t Yu Xin saying anything?”
She suddenly realized He Yu Xin was too quiet, which completely went against her timid nature.
Turning her head, Su Yan was scared half to death.
He Yu Xin’s eyes were half-closed, her hands tightly clutching the horse’s neck, looking like she was about to faint.
“Yu Xin!”
Su Yan shouted, “Wake up! Think about your family waiting for you at home! Don’t fall off!”
He Yu Xin weakly opened her eyes, her voice tearful, “Yan Yan, I’m afraid of heights, boohoohoo! Why can this horse fly? I didn’t see any wires above, either?”
Su Yan thought to herself that this was supernatural power, but on her face, she calmly said, “Maybe they’re transparent threads, we just didn’t notice them. Don’t look down, definitely don’t fall off.”
After saying that, Su Yan felt an even greater sense of vigilance in her heart.
This flying maneuver certainly wasn’t as simple as just rising high and spinning; otherwise, wouldn’t it only scare those with acrophobia?
Of course, besides being vigilant, Su Yan also didn’t forget her mission.
She needed to find the exit of this escape room!
Otherwise, wouldn’t she have flown up for nothing?
Looking down from a high altitude, the puzzle that could originally only be imagined finally revealed its full picture to Su Yan and the other two.
They were right; this picture was indeed identical to the finished product of that jigsaw puzzle game.
However…
Su Yan frowned, feeling that something was wrong.
Before she could think carefully, the wooden horse beneath her suddenly started to move violently, jumping up and down, swaying left and right.
Su Yan wasn’t paying attention, her hand slipped, and she almost fell off the wooden horse.
She reacted extremely quickly, lunging forward and grabbing the wooden horse again.
A wave of lingering fear rose in Su Yan’s heart.
Before she could even let out a sigh of relief, she heard a scream from the left, “Ah! What’s happening! Ahhh! Help!”
From the right, as if not to be outdone, came frantic screams, “Ahhh! Stop shaking, ahhh! I’m going to throw up! Save the child, ah!”
Su Yan let out a breath, her voice shaky as she comforted the two, “Don’t panic too much, just hold onto the horse and don’t fall off. I think I’ve got an idea, just hold on, whatever you do, don’t fall off.”
“Boohoohoo, I can’t do it!”
He Yuxin’s tears were already gushing from her eyes, “My palms are starting to sweat, this horse is so slippery! I feel like I can’t hold on much longer.”
Feng Di also echoed, her face full of despair, “Me too! I feel like I can’t even cling to this horse, my body is already sliding downwards.”
Su Yan also felt her palms sweating.
If this wooden horse spun for much longer, even if she didn’t lose strength, she would slip off due to the lubrication from the sweat.
Meanwhile, the wooden horse was still spinning rapidly.
Su Yan could clearly feel the wind whistling past her, her face even a little distorted from the blowing wind.
He Yu Xin, with a tearful voice, “Boohoohoo, is there any way to face fear directly? I’m afraid of heights! Why do I have to face these things?!”
Su Yan sighed and calmly said, “There’s no other way, I’d suggest direct cremation, my dear.”
Sighing, she encouraged them, “Hold on, maybe this wooden horse will stop in a while.” Although she said that, in reality, Su Yan’s brain was frantically working.
At this shaking frequency, the obvious goal was to kill them.
Instead of placing hope on ghosts showing mercy and the wooden horse stopping soon, which was nonsense, it was better to quickly find a way to save themselves.
But what should they do?!
Su Yan felt quite stumped.
When she comforted others, she had plenty of solutions, but when it came to comforting herself, she just wanted to hang herself.
Carousel, carousel…
Su Yan tried to recall the structure and overall appearance of a carousel, hoping it would spark some inspiration.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
She tried to sit up straight and looked forward.
The wooden horse was shaking frantically, but the thin rod connecting it to the ceiling was completely still.
“Friends! I have an idea!”
Seeing the other two look over with hope, Su Yan said happily, “Look ahead, that small pillar connecting the wooden horse and the ceiling, it’s not moving.”
The other two looked, and indeed, it was true.
Now everyone understood what Su Yan’s method was: as long as they climbed onto that pillar and put their feet on the horse’s head, they would be safe.
Finally, they could get rid of this broken carousel!
Suddenly, the three people, who seemed to have no strength left, regained their spirits and tried their best to inch forward.
Meanwhile, as if knowing they had found a way, the wooden horse shook even more violently, as if trying to trap the three on the horse or throw them to the ground.