"Can I get up now?" I asked myself. Who knew that in the next second, the ropes binding me automatically came undone, as if receiving an order from Du Qi Tai. But no matter what, I could leave this place for now.
I detached myself from the wooden chair and walked to the room's door. With a casual pull, it swung open.
As I stepped out into the corridor, I found everyone else had just emerged. They were gathered together, chattering and looking around.
"I've inspected this place. It seems designed like a castle in a tourist zone. The environment is very old, dusty everywhere. The walls are lit by candlelight, with severely insufficient light. I don't know what will happen if we keep going," Xiao Yuan De said.
"Didn't he tell us to go upstairs earlier? For now, we can only follow his instructions!" Liu Yu Ning said.
"We must find a way to contact the outside world, or we'll be trapped and die here!" He Xin suggested.
I understood and nodded at her, "Do you have a plan?"
"I have to try. I still have my laptop, but it will probably take some time!"
My voice was very low, and Du Qi Tai couldn't hear me. Seeing us standing still in the corridor, he impatiently said, "Stop whispering. Go upstairs. If you delay, I'll poison you all!"
"You want to use those poisonous gases again?" He Xin said disdainfully.
"Hmph, aren't you afraid? If I poison you directly, you'll have no chance!"
"If you truly wanted to kill us so quickly, you wouldn't have given us this chance!" I said, thinking that Du Qi Tai definitely wanted to play with us slowly.
As if I had seen through his thoughts, the man cursed, "Go upstairs! Get up there!"
We didn't say much and found an elevator not far away. Xiao Yuan De pressed a button, and we went upstairs.
In less than a minute, we reached the second floor. The elevator could only go to the second floor, actually.
We entered a large hall. I saw many armored soldiers surrounding a massive altar. On the altar was a lottery box, and around the box were water channels with some red liquid flowing.
I squatted down and smelled it. It was blood. I didn't know where this blood was coming from or how it was produced.
As we approached the lottery box, we saw a rusty long sword stuck behind the altar, with shields on both sides. A statue that looked very much like the goddess of vengeance gazed down at us lifelike. Its craftsmanship was extremely fine and beautiful, likely the work of a master sculptor. In its hand, it held a jar filled with red roses. At this moment, several rose petals had just fallen into the water channel, slowly flowing and soaking into the red liquid, disappearing into the distance along a passage.
At the same time, Du Qi Tai's voice echoed again, "Alright, have you seen the lottery box?"
"Yes, Du Qi Tai, what trick are you playing? What's the point of this lottery box?" I asked.
"Don't rush, Detective He. I really like calling you that. Since you're in front of the lottery box, it's naturally for drawing lots. You go first. Press a switch next to the box, and it will start rotating automatically. Then, in a glass cabinet below, you'll see a colored ball with a number on it. You'll enter the rooms not far from here according to the number. Many of them will have various challenges waiting for you! Isn't it exciting? It's not easy for any tourist to reach this point!"
"Exciting your head! We don't have time to play these games with you. Let us go immediately!" He Xin was still making her final plea.
"Haha, Miss He, you can't contact the outside world from here. This is my territory. If you don't listen, I can eliminate you immediately!"
"What happens if we're eliminated?"
"Death!!"
"Is there no other way?"
"Of course not. Draw now, or I'll poison you all!"
This Du Qi Tai kept threatening to poison us, but I noticed that the gaps around the hall really hid many nozzles. These nozzles were likely modified like those in the underground prison. If we didn't follow Du Qi Tai's instructions, we would probably be poisoned. He could probably release lethal poisonous mist at any time. I couldn't be careless and had to compromise for now.
As I was thinking, my hand reached out. Liu Yu Ning pulled me from behind and asked, "Do we really have to do this?"
"It's fine, this is just temporary. Trust me, just persevere!" I reassured her and, following Du Qi Tai's instructions, pressed the switch. The lottery box indeed started moving, with clanking and rattling sounds coming from inside, as if many glass balls were colliding.
After about 2 minutes, I saw a green glass ball flow into a groove through a passage, then fall down and appear inside a glass cabinet. The cabinet door opened at that moment.
I took out the green glass ball and saw the number "1" written on it.
"So it's number one. Detective He, your luck should be the best in the team. Alright, now you and Liu Yu Ning go to the first room in the corridor!" Du Qi Tai's voice instructed.
Liu Yu Ning said unhappily, "Why choose me?"
"Aren't you good friends with He Sheng? If not you, then who?" Du Qi Tai answered as if it were obvious.
I knew Liu Yu Ning was doing it on purpose, just to delay some time. She walked over and patted my shoulder, "Don't take it so seriously!"
"It's fine, I understand. Let's go!" I said goodbye to everyone, telling them not to worry. They all gave us a few instructions before letting us go.
Liu Yu Ning and I gradually walked down the corridor. The door to room number 1 was not far in front of us.
It was a square door with what seemed like inscribed runes, wriggling and emitting a blue glow. As we approached, the door automatically opened, as if a hidden camera nearby was monitoring our every move.
Upon stepping inside, we were surprised to find it incredibly spacious. It wasn't a room at all, but a vast open area, with quite a bit of bamboo planted around. In front of us was a circular blue lake, and in the middle of the lake stood a wooden house. Wooden bridges connected to it from all sides.
We cautiously approached the wooden house. It seemed quite large and even had about 4 stories. I didn't know what Du Qi Tai's game was at that time, but as we reached the front of the wooden house on the first floor, standing on a wooden bridge, Du Qi Tai's voice sounded again...