In front of her — was nothing. No furniture, no books, nothing. Aside from a small stack of paper on the left side of the room, nothing else was there. No sofa, so bookshelves, not even a table.
Lily started scanning the rest of the room before she frowned. This space seemed significantly smaller than the room that she remembered before. A hint of suspicion started sprouting in her mind.
It was possible that her grandmother would change the space. But why? And removing all those stuff from this room would be extremely difficult. Was it possible that she had help?
She remembered her grandmother telling her that aside from her and Lily, no one else knew about the underground house, so hiring someone to clean the space made little sense. Sighing, Lily walked towards the stack of paper and realized they were some old newspapers dated over twenty years ago. She tried to pick it up, only to realize that it was stuck on the floor. Another sigh escaped her.
The oddly familiar flooring caught her attention. Another puzzle? She immediately wondered why her grandmother would go this far. Was she hiding something? It was not like she was a government spy or something. Lily shook her head at her own thoughts before she eyed the news. Narrowing her eyes at the date, she realized that it was on her fifth birthday.
Did something happen on her fifth birthday? Unfortunately, Lily could remember nothing special about that day. There was a celebration, of course, it was a part of Tang Lingyun’s benevolent stepmother image. Some cakes and gifts.
Aside from that, Lily could remember nothing else. She wiped away the sweat on her forehead. Solving a puzzle was tiresome but… trying to solve something that did not even exist is more taxing, ah. Slowly, her curiousness turned into a brief irritation.
Why would an old woman spend a lot of time in this place only to remove everything from it? Of course, the possibility of another room behind this room is very high. However, this begs the question that had been bugging her for a while now. Why?
Why would a stay at home socialite go to such lengths to hide a room where she used to read, sew and other menial tasks? Unless, she was hiding something of importance?
Lily let out a low growl. This was hurting her brains! Slowly, she tried to pick up the newspaper again. Unfortunately, it wasn’t budging. Was it glued on the floor? She used a little bit of force and this time she succeeded. Then she realized that it was stuck in a small rectangular like a hole.
No, it wasn’t a hole, it was some sort of a dial for a combination lock. But instead of numbers, this one had letters on it. The dial immediately reminded her of the one in the film Da Vinci Code, except that this was not in a cylinder stone, the dial was attached to the floor.
A sigh escaped Lily’s lips. Five letters. How was she supposed to solve a puzzle like this with no clues? AND HOW DID HER GRANDMOTHER INSTALL SOMETHING LIKE THIS INSIDE THE ROOM!?
She grunted in frustration. The more she thought about it, the more she got suspicious. Was her grandmother hiding a nuclear bomb or launch codes to a bomb? What if she was one of those conspiracy believers that thought they found some proof of aliens or some other theories out there?
“Alright.” She eyed the dial. She could not remember anything with five letters. Her grandmother’s birthday… should be in May, so using the month is useless already. It was obviously not a year or the day of her birthday as well.
Lily was sure it wasn’t hers as she was born in January, and obviously that is over five words. Surely, the clue should be related to them, right? After all, her grandmother gave this property to her.
But what if she was actually playing with her? Maybe it was her revenge when Lily refused to contact her before? “Grandma Ye, ah… that is not fair.” She grumbled. “You know… how dumb I am, and yet you actually installed something that needed some —” She paused.
Her grandmother knew that she is not a fan of puzzles. Narrowing her eyes on the dial, Lily realized two things. First, there is a possibility that her grandmother was only playing with her. She would make Lily think it through until she finally gave up. Second was that Lily already knew the answer but did not realize it yet. Of course, she thought that the first option is very probable.
She remembered Grandma Ye as playful and doting. What if this was nothing but one of her petty revenge against Lily? But what if it’s not?
“Ahhh!” She sighed. “I give up!” Lily could not think of anything else that had five letters on it. Qin Jinghua? Qin Mo’s name had five letters on it, but it does not make any sense to her! Why put Qin Mo’s name? It was too simple! Who uses a simple answer like that?
“Wait…” She eyed the newspaper. The date… is on her fifth birthday. What if the passwords were fifth? Surely, it was not a coincidence, right? Without any hesitation, Lily started turning the dial.
F — I — F — T — H
“CLICK”
The loud rumbling from the ground surprised Lily. She stood, eyeing the floor as it changed in front of her eyes. What the hell was happening? She eyed the door and could not help but just want to leave and wait for Zhou Jingren to come so they could do this together. She felt the whole space shook slowly before the sound of a heavy furniture being moved against the wooden flooring reached her ears.
Then she saw it.
One of the walls near the newspaper moved.
IT F*CKING MOVED! Surprised, Lily took a step back. Her eyes wide as she felt her heart raced. Anticipation was apparent in her light brown orbs.
Wait… why does this feel like she was Indiana Jones doing some treasure hunting? A low chuckle escaped her lips. Maybe Angelina Jolie’s tomb raider was a bitter fit. After all, she looked nothing like Indiana Jones.
…
already edited.
Thank you for the support.
