The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 30: The Key to Unlocking the Hidden Space?

Trial!

The entire cyberspace froze for a second!

He only paused for a moment, but the shadow's interrogation continued in the room.

His voice grew louder and louder, and the veins on his face bulged, as if he was on the verge of exploding.

"Ah Zhe, Xiao Fei," the shadowy figure's gaze, sharp as a dagger, fell upon the two young men. "You know Wang Bin, you know about his injuries. Are you here tonight purely out of curiosity, or... are you frightened by Wang Bin's 'accidental' death and want to see if any danger is approaching?"

The two were already timid, and after being asked this question, Ah Zhe and Xiao Fei shook their heads repeatedly in fright.

"Lin Qian, you know about Wang Bin's death, and you have special access to information. What exactly is your purpose?" Shadow suddenly turned to look at Lin Qian.

Lin Qian met his gaze, seemingly unafraid and not flinching at all: "I told you, I'm searching for the truth for someone connected to Li Wan. Believe it or not."

"Cheng Tan," the shadow said, finally looking at Cheng Tan, "your nightmares were the beginning of all this. Are you an unconscious victim, or... a 'trigger' you yourself don't even know about? Have you truly lost all your memories?"

Cheng Tan squinted, remaining silent.

"Li Kai," the shadow looked at Li Kai again, "you have the strongest motive. Thirteen years of investigation, setting a trap to lure everyone here, you have the ability to do all of this. Your sister's belongings are in the box, you had the opportunity to access and move them. You might even... know about the existence of the second level of the secret chamber."

Li Kai's eyes instantly turned red, and he suddenly pulled out a switchblade!

Everyone tensed up. Who knew when Li Kai had been hiding a knife!

At that moment, he pointed the tip of his knife at the shadow: "Say that again, you bastard?!"

The atmosphere instantly became tense.

"Enough!" Cheng Tan stood up and shouted sharply, "If we continue like this, we're playing right into their hands! What we need to do now is verify! Verify whether what that voice said is true! Is there a second layer to the secret room? Is the switch hidden in the crevices of the camphor wood chest's bottom?"

His words were like a bucket of cold water poured on a fuse that was about to ignite.

Li Kai, panting heavily, slowly lowered the knife. Shadow also took a step back, resuming his guarded stance.

"Yes... verify it." Wu Wenbin's voice trembled. "If there really is a switch for the second secret room in my father's box, then... then it can at least prove that what the voice said is true. It can also... eliminate some people as suspects."

After all, the number of people who could access that box and set the switch was much smaller.

All eyes were once again focused on the old camphor wood chest.

The box was open at the moment, with Li Wan's belongings on the top layer and neatly arranged tools on the bottom. Under the bright light of the flashlight, the grain of the camphor wood was clearly visible, and the seams of the box were perfectly sealed, making it look like an ordinary old box.

"Bottom panel..." Li Kai squatted down and carefully inspected the bottom of the box.

The bottom of the box was made of a single piece of camphor wood, about two centimeters thick, and looked very sturdy. He tapped it with his hand; the sound was dull, not hollow.

"There are no gaps, no mechanisms." Li Kai shook his head.

"Let me see." Shadow crouched down as well, taking a small multi-tool from his tactical vest. The tool had a magnifying glass probe with an LED light at the end. He carefully examined every corner and every grain of the wooden planks at the bottom of the box.

Time passed second by second.

2 points.

"Here," Shadow suddenly spoke. His tool pointed to a very inconspicuous corner near the back hinge at the bottom of the box. There was a small patch of wood grain that ran slightly differently from the surrounding wood, and was also a little darker in color, forming a circular area less than two centimeters in diameter.

"What's this?" the lynx asked, coming closer.

"It looks like... a keyhole? Or a mechanism disguised as wood grain." Shadow carefully poked that area with the tip of a tool.

No response.

He pressed it down a little harder.

There was still no response.

"Isn't this the place?" Wu Wenbin wondered. "It requires a key, or an object to activate it!"

"The key!" Lin Qian shook her head. "That voice didn't give us any clues about the key. What does that mean?"

"Does this mean he's already given us the key, but we just haven't noticed? Or... is there a key in Cheng Tan's dream?" Lin Qian looked at Cheng Tan. "Hurry up and think... how to open it!"

"What has he ever given us?" Cheng Tan squatted down, looked at his feet, and suddenly laughed.

"I think I know what the key is. It wasn't in my dream, it's in..."

After he finished speaking, he raised the object in his hand.

"The key must be this half of the lipstick."

Because the size of the lipstick appears to be about the same as the size of the circular groove.

Is lipstick a key?

Li Kai was the first to move. He rushed towards Cheng Tan, snatched the half-lipstick, and his fingers were already trembling slightly.

"Wait!" Cheng Tan stopped him. "I was just guessing! This could be a trap! Maybe that voice is trying to lure us in!"

"Even if it's a trap, I'll jump in!" Li Kai roared, his eyes turning bloodshot. "My sister has been dead for thirteen years! The truth is down there! On the second floor... How long do you want me to wait?!"

"But what if there's danger..." Lin Qian also tried to dissuade her.

"Dangerous?" Li Kai gave a bitter laugh. "Isn't our situation dangerous enough? People outside want to kill us, the police can't get in for the time being, we're trapped here, suspecting each other... What could be worse than this?"

"Then let me do it..." Shadow snatched the lipstick from Cheng Tan's hand and, without thinking, tried to put it into the groove of the box.

"Wait... let's see if there's any prompt to open it!" Lin Qian stopped him this time by pressing his hand down.

Sure enough, under the flashlight beam, six thin lines appeared on the lipstick:

—Left—Right, —Left Left—Right Right

"This should be the rotation order: one circle to the left and one circle to the right, then two circles to the left and two circles to the right," Lin Qian said.

"Let's begin!" This time, Shadow seemed to realize she had been a bit rash and actually handed the lipstick to Li Kai.

Li Kai thought for a moment, then his fingers traced the edge of the wooden bottom of the box, found the indentation, and gently inserted the lipstick.

It actually fits perfectly!

He twisted the lipstick, once to the left and once to the right, then twice to the left and twice to the right...

"Click".

A crisp sound of a spring snapping open.

The thick wooden board at the bottom of the box actually bounced upwards with a gap of about two millimeters, using the circular indentation as its axis!

There really is a hidden compartment!

The live stream chat exploded again:

"It's open!!!!"

"There really is a second layer of switch!"

"That voice wasn't lying!"

"What's in the box?!"

"Open it quickly!"

In the room, everyone held their breath. Li Kai and Shadow exchanged a glance, and Shadow nodded. Li Kai took a deep breath, gripped the gap with his fingers, and slowly lifted the wooden panel at the bottom of the box.

The wooden board was fully opened, revealing what was inside the interlayer.