Xiao Lou stepped off the stone. He tried to stand on the ground with both feet and pressed down hard on the weighted stone with both hands, but found that the markings on it did not respond.
In other words, it is not advisable for two people to press the electronic scale at the same time to make the weights equal.
These two stones seem to have intelligent sensors; you must stand on them completely for the scale to appear. If you stand on only one leg and press down hard, or press down hard with both hands, the pointer will remain stuck at "zero" without moving.
Observing Xiao Lou's actions, Yu Hanjiang speculated, "Is it because some part of our bodies is still attached to the ground and we are not floating in the air like rocks, so the rocks don't recognize us as being weighed?"
Xiao Lou's eyes lit up: "Floating... I'll try it with Ring!"
He quickly drew several metal rings using Compass and placed them on the stones on either side.
However, the markings on both stones still show "0".
Xiao Lou was taken aback: "Can't I even weigh things?"
Yu Hanjiang took out the weapon card [ bloodthirsty golden shark ] he had just drawn from the card holder. The shotgun's weight description was 4.5kg. When Xiao Lou saw the gun, he immediately put away all the rings and gestured to Captain Yu to put it on the scale.
Yu Hanjiang placed the gun on the electronic scale... the scale was still 0.
The two looked down at the electronic scale in silence. After a moment of thought, Xiao Lou said, "I'll try the character summoning cards."
He summoned Bai Juyi and Di Renjie to stand on his left and right sides respectively, and the scale on the electronic scale was still 0.
Xiao Lou was both amused and exasperated: "It seems that this electronic scale can only weigh us Challengers. It doesn't recognize the people summoned by the card or the objects that the card itself becomes."
He stroked his chin and thought carefully— what if a male and a female Challenger with a significant weight difference entered this room? All the cards were unusable, and there was no response from stepping on them or pressing them with his hands. How could they possibly balance the two electronic scales?
Xiao Lou observed the distance between the two electronic scales, then his eyes suddenly lit up: " Captain Yu, let's stand on them together... no, we should lie down. Put our heads on one scale and our feet on the other!"
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang suddenly realized what was going on.
The two electronic scales are both about 2 meters in diameter and about 1.4 meters apart. If two people lie horizontally on the scales at the same time, the scales will sense their weight pressure and the weight they measure should be the sum of their weights and the average of the two weights.
According to the principle of balance, when an object is placed horizontally on two scales while floating in the air, the weight of the two scales will be balanced.
Xiao Lou lay down first, with his upper body on the blue electronic scale and his lower body on the red electronic scale. There was no support for his waist, but since the two electronic scales were not far apart, he didn't have to worry about falling off. It was as if his whole body was laid horizontally on the two scales.
Yu Hanjiang, on the other hand, lay on the red electronic scale with his upper body on it and his feet on the blue electronic scale.
As the two lay face to face on the rock, the scales on the two electronic scales finally changed—
Yu Hanjiang weighs 75kg and Xiao Lou weighs 65kg. Their total weight when they lie down is 140kg. Since their weight is shared by two electronic scales, the scales eventually stop at 70kg after a moment of swaying!
A rumbling sound rang in his ears, and Xiao Lou turned his head to look—
Sure enough, another door opened in the stone wall directly in front of us.
The two climbed down from the rocks and walked side by side into the doorway.
On the wall of the stone chamber, a huge chessboard appeared, with two boxes of black and white chess pieces placed below it.
There are already some pieces on the chessboard, black and white scattered randomly, with many empty spaces in the middle. Obviously, other pieces need to be placed on the chessboard to solve this puzzle.
When Yu Hanjiang saw the black and white Go board, his first reaction was: "Go? Is it an endgame?"
Xiao Lou shook his head, carefully observed the pieces already on the chessboard, and said, "This should be the Yin-Yang Taiji diagram."
Yu Hanjiang was taken aback and looked up again. If the existing black and white chess pieces were connected by lines, the outer circle would be formed. Black pieces formed the left semicircle, and white pieces formed the right semicircle. Moreover, there was a chess piece of the opposite color in the center of the semicircle, just like the "eye of the formation" in the Tai Chi diagram.
Xiao Lou walked to the chessboard and filled the "yin" area with black pieces and the "yang" area with white pieces.
The yin-yang symbol on the chessboard indeed emitted a soft glow and began to rotate rapidly.
A moment later, a rumbling sound rang in my ears, and the wall in front of me opened again.
The two went inside and found two more huge stones, each about two meters in diameter. In the corner of the supplies were a large number of wooden models of Little Girl and Little Boy, each about one meter tall. The girl models were all wearing red dresses, and the boy models were all wearing blue robes, somewhat like ancient golden boys and jade girls.
Since the models are all about one meter tall, they cannot be placed horizontally.
Xiao Lou stroked his chin and pondered for a moment before saying, "The chessboard we just played was a yin-yang balancing mechanism. The principle behind this secret room should also be yin-yang balancing, with boys on the left and girls on the right, one side being yin and the other yang."
Yu Hanjiang immediately did as instructed, quickly moving more than a dozen wooden models onto the stone.
Yin and Yang in balance, two enormous
The stone began to fall rapidly, and after it returned to the ground, another wall opened up in front of it.
Xiao Lou never expected that there would be so many mechanisms in Diamond 4!
The two exchanged a glance and had no choice but to quickly pass through the stone door and enter the next secret chamber.
This time, a huge array appeared on the wall, consisting of five small circles connected to form a large circle, with some messy connecting lines in the middle. The circle in the upper left corner lit up with red flames after the two entered the room, revealing the character "fire".
Next to the wall are four circular props of different colors, labeled: Wood, Metal, Water, and Earth.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "The balance of the five elements?"
Xiao Lou nodded, walked to the wall, and said, "The principle of the balance of the five elements is that adjacent attributes generate each other, and attributes separated by each other restrain each other. Therefore, the element before fire should be wood, because wood generates fire. The element after fire is earth, because fire generates earth. The element opposite to fire is water, and the last element should be metal."
As he spoke, he placed the four props in the huge empty spaces of the array.
Wood, fire, earth, metal, and water form a giant ring clockwise, their elements mutually generating and restraining each other, perfectly connected. The entire formation begins to flow rhythmically, and the five colors light up simultaneously. Xiao Lou easily unlocks the formation's mechanisms, which balance the five elements.
This time, they didn't hear the wall open again, and a notification popped up in front of them simultaneously—
Congratulations to Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang for perfectly clearing the Diamond 4 Escape Room [Balanced World] in 15 minutes and 48 seconds!
The two were teleported out of the secret room and back to Personal Space.
Wearing an adorable cake dress, Diamond A was already sitting on the sofa waiting for them. When Little Girl saw the two of them, she gave them a sweet smile and said in her clear, childlike voice, "You two had it easy getting through the Diamond Secret Room!"
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "Balancing the world is very simple once you understand the principles."
The seven small mechanisms—numerical balance, stroke balance, line segment length balance, weight challenge balance, yin-yang balance, the boy and girl formation, and the final five elements pattern—all revolve around the theme of "balance."
The main challenges of the escape room are the two-person electronic scale. If you can't think of lying down together to share the weight, you might get stuck there for a long time. The other challenge is the messy black and white chessboard. Most challengers will think of the endgame of Go first, but you need to step outside of the "chess" itself and observe the pattern formed by the pieces. You will find that the pattern formed by the black and white pieces is actually a yin-yang symbol.
Diamond A nodded and said seriously, "My pass rate for this level is over 70%, which is actually a bonus for you. After all, most Challengers who come to Diamond 4 have been traumatized by Red Heart 4 or driven to a mental breakdown by Spade 4. If Diamonds is too difficult, you won't be able to continue."
Xiao Lou asked, " Does the Diamond Secret Room still not offer rest time?"
Little Girl laughed and said, "Entering the low-class Diamond Secret Room is a form of relaxation in itself."
Yu Hanjiang asked in confusion, "We've already solved the puzzles fast enough, so why didn't we break the world record?"
He was very confident in Professor Xiao's problem-solving speed. Logically speaking, they solved all seven small puzzles smoothly, except for the one on the body scale, where they got stuck for a while. Xiao Lou almost immediately thought of a solution after reading the question.
Could someone be faster than them?
Diamond A said with a smile, "You two are really greedy. You've already broken many world records in Hearts and Diamonds. We can't let you break records in every level, can we?"
Xiao Lou considered a possibility and asked, " Are the two people who hold the record for the Diamond 4 escape room exactly the same weight?"
Diamond A nodded: "That's right. The world record for Diamond 4 is currently 10 minutes and 15 seconds, which is more than 5 minutes faster than yours. Both Challengers weigh exactly 62 kilograms. They are twins, and both are very intelligent—identical twins. This is the balance in humanity, isn't it?"
Xiao Lou: "..."
Twins with identical weight and height are simply incomparable.
The two of them could easily unlock the mechanism by standing on the electronic scale, one on each side, unlike him and Captain Yu who spent ages trying to figure it out, even getting Bai Juyi and Di Renjie onto the scale to weigh themselves...
Xiao Lou smiled helplessly and said, "Breaking the record doesn't matter. A perfect clear means I can draw cards anyway, right?"
Diamond A waved his finger and said, "Yes, please collect your rewards."
A new card appeared in front of Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang.
[ Tool card: Balance ]
Rarity: A
Description: A fixed reward for clearing the Diamond 4 escape room "Balanced World".
Restriction: This is a team-only card. Only one Balance card can be brought by a team that has signed the same contract book.
Effects: Throwing the Balance disc creates two 5-meter diameter silver metal discs in a designated area, lasting for 5 minutes. Targets on the discs are temporarily unable to leave, but others can enter. The discs display a weighing scale; only when the weights on both discs are equal do the discs disappear, and the targets regain their freedom.
After the Balance is returned to its original position, it can be used again after 1 hour.
Looking at the card, Xiao Lou was delighted and said, "It's a very strong crowd control card."
Although it's a team-limited card, with only one card allowed per team, its control effect is extremely useful.
For example, if several people are standing together and a Balance is thrown over them, trapping them in the same disc, the Balance will not be able to balance because the weight of the other disc is not equal to theirs. Those people will be trapped in the Balance and unable to move for up to 5 minutes.
Moreover, this card has a very short cooldown time. Compared to summon cards that have a 24-hour cooldown, it can be used once an hour. When being chased, trapping the opponent for 5 minutes is enough to escape.
Of course, since it's a fixed reward for clearing the level, each team will have a balance, and they also need to prevent themselves from being trapped by the enemy.
Xiao Lou happily put away the card and said, "What about the lottery?"
Little Girl took out the glittering treasure chest and floated it in front of the two of them, saying, "This secret room is very simple, so there is only one chance to draw a prize. You can discuss who should draw it."
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou: "You come."
Xiao Lou didn't stand on ceremony and stepped forward to put her hand into the treasure chest.
—Congratulations on obtaining the S-rank Summoning Card: Qin Guan!
Xiao Lou: "..."
Did he accidentally uncover the secrets of historical figures? What luck! He drew a character card with every single draw!
Yesterday I drew a Character Card for a graceful and restrained lyricist, and today, Qin Guan also came to visit him. This master of the graceful and restrained lyricist school of the Northern Song Dynasty has a particularly famous lyric called "The Fairy of the Magpie Bridge," many of which are widely known and loved.
[Summoning Card: Qin Guan ]
Rarity: S
Description: When you perfectly clear the escape room and get an S rating, you have a chance to obtain it by drawing from the limited-time gacha pool.
Note: Qin Guan, courtesy name Shaoyou, was a lyricist of the graceful and restrained school in the Northern Song Dynasty. He studied under Historical Figure Summon and is revered as a master of the graceful and restrained school of lyric poetry.
Additional Skill 1: Tender as water, a dreamlike encounter
It comes from Qin Guan's poem "Magpie Bridge Fairy - Delicate Clouds Weaving Clever Patterns", which uses the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to depict the joys and sorrows of lovers.
Effect: Summons Qin Guan, activates the skill, and allows Qin Guan to gaze gently at the target, using tenderness to lull the target into a beautiful dream for 3 minutes. Skill cooldown is 1 hour.
Additional Skill 2: If love between two people is meant to last, why should they be together every day and night?
Qin Guan tells us that as long as two hearts love each other and their love remains unchanged, why do they need to be together every single day? Even if they are thousands of miles apart, watching the clouds and stars in the sky together can make them miss each other and feel each other's presence.
Effect: Designate a target to put both you and the other person into a " Telepathic Connection " state. No matter how far apart the two people are, they can feel each other's thoughts. After using the skill, you can cross secret rooms and main cities to have voice calls at any time. As long as you love each other, time and space are not a problem.
The Telepathic Connection status lasts for 7 hours and can be turned on once a day.
Xiao Lou: "..."
He was speechless at this card.
He looked at Yu Hanjiang, who remained calm and said, "The second skill is very useful. After the two of you are bound to a Telepathic Connection, you can talk anytime, which is much more convenient than making phone calls. The key is that you can also talk across secret rooms and across the main city, which is something that mobile phones cannot do."
Xiao Lou smiled slightly: "Yes, ignoring the skill descriptions like 'unchanging love' and 'missing each other,' it is indeed quite useful."
He put the card away and placed it together with the Character Card.
Character Card and Qin Guan, two poets of the Northern Song Dynasty's graceful school, came to him. He had a premonition that next time he drew a card, it might be the Historical Figure Summon's turn... With so many graceful poets, shouldn't there be a bold one too?
Xiao Lou rubbed his temples, feeling that his luck was beyond saving.
Diamond A grinned at him and said, "You drew a bunch of character cards. Character cards are very rare. If you don't want them, you can sell them
for a good price."
Xiao Lou shook his head: "I won't sell it. I'll keep it for myself."
Diamond A shrugged regretfully: "Alright, there's no rest in the Diamond Secret Room. Please prepare for the next challenge."
Yu Hanjiang walked up to the card wall and pulled out card 4 without hesitation.
Xiao Lou wondered how CEO Shao and Ye Qi were doing. If things went smoothly at Plum Blossom 4 and Diamond 4, they should be able to get to Spade 4 soon. He hoped to meet them at Spade 4 and discuss their next plans.