"Big Huang chuckled, 'I never expected to see you here again!'
Old Wang next door said nothing, just bowed his head and ran towards the basement, and both Da Huang and I instinctively followed him. The basement was dark, and soon after we went down, the lights went out. Da Huang took out his phone, trying to use its faint glow to find our way. I saw it clearly, it wasn't very big, there was an iron door ahead. But at this moment, a vibration came from above us.
There was a mechanism at the entrance to the basement stairs. When someone activated it, an iron plate would slide from the ground, sealing the basement tightly.
'We've been tricked.' I saw the person operating the mechanism at the top of the stairs, it was that regular customer. She held up her skirt and squatted down, watching me and Da Huang rush back.
'You can't come up?'
At this moment, I saw Su Xi, disguised by Xiao Zi'an, standing behind the regular customer. I thought Xiao Zi'an was going to save us, but she never made a move until the iron plate merged with the wall.
Da Huang and I were trapped in the dark basement.
Just then, the basement lights suddenly came on. The entire room was enclosed by iron plates and soundproofing panels, with only a toilet labeled 'Humanitarianism' in a space of dozens of meters.
At the end was a large piece of glass, and on the other side of the large glass was a door, the one I had just looked at. I didn't know what was going on with the suddenly lowered glass. Judging from the current situation, only Da Huang and I were here, and the large door behind the glass door should be the passage to the outside.
From this, I can infer that the plan was probably like this. Su Xi was responsible for luring us in, and the regular customer stayed in the shop, playing the role of the owner who left and hasn't returned. When we arrived, the regular customer was responsible for notifying Old Wang next door to return, and thinking carefully, it was when he was reading and laughing that he was notified.
The seemingly frightened Old Wang next door returned, and in a panicked manner, ran to the basement as bait. Seeing him run, naturally, we had to chase. And the regular customer in the lobby was responsible for pressing the button, this mechanism designed by Su Xi trapped us in this cage-like basement.
'We were so stupid, falling for it like this. Xiao...'
I stopped Da Huang from saying it. There might be no surveillance here, but there must be listening devices. Da Huang understood what I meant, looked around the environment, and then went to the lowered large glass and kicked it hard.
'Ouch.'
This large glass was really strong. Da Huang's forceful kick felt like kicking a steel plate.
I looked at Da Huang and walked up to the glass door, knocking hard: 'This glass is probably bulletproof. We can't break it with our bare hands.'
Up to this point, I had already guessed that this mechanism was designed by the prop master Su Xi. From the stairs down, one could escape from the other side. Once the iron plate at the top of the stairs was activated by the mechanism and closed, the large glass would also be pushed out by the mechanism, making the basement a completely enclosed space.
Trapped here, Da Huang looked at me resentfully, holding his foot. I looked around for an escape route. I found a slide on the roof, extending from the wall opposite the stairs to the wall on my side.
'Looking at the slide, the wall on the opposite side seems to be moving. It's going to crush us.'
'No, with this staircase here...' Before Da Huang could finish speaking, the staircase slowly rose. It closed perfectly, leaving a square space.
'Damn~ I'm such a jinx.'
Without the stairs, that wall would push forward like a bulldozer. The final support might be the humanitarian toilet placed under the stairs. If this mechanism was made strong enough, the toilet would be crushed into meat paste with us by the immense pressure.
This mechanism puzzled me slightly. If one is trapped in a confined space, the best method is to release poison gas to kill. However, the killing move of this mechanism is a moving wall. The movement of the wall creates immense pressure and will make people face fear. What nourishes fear is thought. If this wall is designed to move forward with a time limit, then this mechanism is not for killing, but for interrogation.
Just as I was thinking carefully, the mechanism in the basement was activated. The wall on the opposite side approached us with a humming sound. Da Huang rushed forward and pushed hard against the wall. I understood that Da Huang was trying to stop the mechanism with his own strength. It was estimated that the other party used slides, hydraulics, and steel plates, so it was impossible to stop it with human strength.
'What are you still standing there for? Do you want to be crushed into meat paste? Come over and help.'
Right, we can't just do nothing. I rushed over and pushed with Da Huang. My thoughts were correct, this mechanism cost a lot of money. From what I can see now, our individual strength has no effect in this mechanism. Fortunately, after pushing about 50 centimeters, the wall stopped.
In this instant, both of us were exhausted. We slid down the wall and sat on the ground, gasping for breath. Da Huang looked at me and said, 'Tang Nan, it's been my greatest fortune to know you. Last time we played Russian roulette, I was shot in both shoulders without firing a shot. This time is even better, trying to turn me into meat paste.'
'Take out that 'greatest fortune' thing, it sounds like an insult.'
'Do you have time to worry about that?'
'Don't worry, they trapped us here not to kill us.'
As expected, it wasn't long before the door opened, and the regular customer walked in from the iron door on the other side of the large glass. Before she could speak, Da Huang said directly, 'Kill us or torture us as you please, but if you want us to kill each other, no way.'
The regular customer looked a bit taken aback. She probably hadn't thought of us killing each other. After all, the Schemer is composed of different people, and not everyone will emulate Zhu Guang's death games.
I walked to the glass and asked seriously, 'No listening devices?'
'Yes, but no speakers.'
I understood. These 'tool people' could hear me outside, but I couldn't hear them speak, so we could only talk face-to-face like this.
'This design is not perfect.'
The regular customer seemed displeased, 'Is it any of your business? Don't you know your own situation?'
'Honestly, it's not what I expected.'
When I said that, the regular customer also pouted and said, 'Your performance is also not what I expected.'
'Because I didn't ask your name?'
'You didn't even ask my purpose?'
'I know your name, aren't you called the Regular Customer? You're probably one of the twelve tool people. I'm a bit confused about the purpose. From the detective's performance, you're here to kill me, so why did you stop the mechanism?'
'You guessed correctly. I am the Ten of Spades, the Regular Customer. My secret order was not to kill you, but to trap you and force you to say...'
Before she could finish, Da Huang had already walked over, raised his hands, and slapped the glass with a 'bang'. The Ten of Spades flinched back instinctively.
'You were disguised before, so I didn't recognize you. Now I remember. The person who led me to the jade street at the airport was you, wasn't it? You were wearing gold-rimmed glasses at the time.'
'It was me. You only recognize me now, what good is that? Are you trying to make me laugh at you?'
I looked at Da Huang. It turned out that after he got off the plane, he had asked at the information desk with Lin Han's photo. I didn't expect that the staff member said that Lin Han had also been to the information desk and had briefly stored her luggage for a while. When she left, she asked for the specific bus route to the jade street.
Since this woman had impersonated a staff member, Lin Han must not have gone to the jade street.
The Regular Customer admitted it, and Da Huang sighed, 'I'm sorry, Tang Nan, I've caused you trouble.'
'Why are you saying that?' After speaking, I patted Da Huang's shoulder and stared intently into the Regular Customer's eyes, 'Whatever your purpose in finding me is, have Mei Hua 5, Old Wang next door, come to see me. If he doesn't come, I won't say a word.'
'Old Wang is just a tool person.'
This remark made me laugh. Old Wang next door is a tool person. He is not. This woman was responsible for feeding false information to Da Huang, and Da Huang and I went to Changshou Street together. She lured us into a trap, then led us to Ye Qingcheng and said everyone was Old Wang. Therefore, this Old Wang next door is definitely not a tool person. I believe Old Wang next door is the Schemer behind this rebellion of tool people.
'If he doesn't come, I won't speak.'
'You refuse to cooperate?'
'Yes!'
The Regular Customer took out a remote control, pointed it at us, and pressed it. The basement started humming again, and that wall slowly moved towards us. Da Huang still wanted to use his strength to push the wall.
'Brother Da Huang, come here, don't worry about that.'
Da Huang trusted me and gave up resisting without hesitation, standing by my side.
Seeing us like this, the Regular Customer put her hand on the remote control, biting her lower lip and looking at us. She was hesitating.
'If you want to know everything, let the person in charge come. I want to talk directly to your Schemer.'
*Bang!* The wall stopped abruptly. The Regular Customer opened the door and left the enclosed basement through the iron door. After a while, Old Wang next door appeared. He still had the typical appearance of a southerner, but the shrewdness in his eyes could no longer be hidden now that his identity was exposed.
'Wang Fugui, this name isn't fake, is it?'
'My name is Wang Fugui.'
'Wang Fugui, if I'm not mistaken, your secret order was to find Lin Han first, right?'
'Yes!'
'Tell me, why are you looking for Lin Han?'
Wang Fugui's brows furrowed into a knot, 'Tang Nan, you've probably confused the roles. I should be the one asking questions.'
I dismissed Wang Fugui's statement with disdain and used a single move for two purposes, 'If you don't tell me your purpose, there's no way you'll find Lin Han.'"