The hexagon on the wall gave Chen Yang the feeling that it was the last big question on a math test.
When he first glanced at it, he thought there seemed to be some idea in this question, so he quickly wrote the word "solution", wanting to write some formulas while he was still feeling good.
And then nothing happened.
The word "解" is both a beginning and an end.
Chen Yang shifted his attention from the hexagon to the body. The head was gone and his work ID card fell to the ground.
Judging from the wound on the neck of the corpse, the head was bitten off.
The monster ate her head and sucked her blood.
Chen Yang scanned the corridor on the first floor, holding up the corpse's work ID and asked, "Is anyone her colleague?"
A middle-aged woman vomited and said, "I... I am... vomit... I am Xiaoqin's colleague. We are in the same department."
"At nine o'clock, everyone went upstairs. Now it's past nine twenty and she is not in the company. Why did she come to the first floor?" Chen Yang asked.
"She left her phone on the first floor and asked me to go downstairs with her to look for it." The middle-aged woman spat out yellow water, "When I turned around, she was like that."
"I really just turned around and didn't hear any sound..." The middle-aged woman's clothes were covered with vomit. She didn't even bother to clean it up and cried with a look of breakdown.
"Another person who lost his life while trying to pick up a phone." Wang Hao swallowed his saliva. "There is no signal here. If you lose your phone, just leave it alone. Don't go back to pick it up."
"If you want to say something, just say it clearly. Being unclear will cause more panic. They were killed not because of the cell phone, but because of the taboo. They all broke the taboo!" A different voice came from the corner.
In addition to the young man who was speaking, there were several other people huddled in the corner. They didn't dare to approach or look.
From yesterday to today, they have seen several horrible corpses and monsters, but they have not adapted psychologically or become numb. Instead, they are even more afraid.
"Why did I encounter such a thing? I just came to work yesterday morning. Can't I just work honestly? I'm already tired and annoyed enough, and I have to enter this world..."
A young woman with a ponytail had tears smearing her glasses. She clutched her wrinkled dark blue skirt and dug her nails into it. "Some people who committed crimes but did not get retribution, as well as those corrupt officials, should be allowed to come in. What does it have to do with us? We are just ordinary people."
These words resonated with the public, and more angry voices emerged.
"Yeah, it's all us poor working people. Why don't rich people come in? Why don't they have to go through this..."
"Isn't there President Zheng?"
"He is also working for someone else, how can he be considered a rich man?"
Qiao Qiao, who was standing in the corridor, heard this and turned around and said, "I am a rich man, for sure."
“Would a rich person work in the Human Resources Department?” questioned others.
"It's boring." Qiao Qiao blinked his big sincere eyes.
Li Zheng said: "I will testify."
"Six figures." Li Zheng picked up the pink bag he had given to Qiao Qiao.
There was silence around the corner.
The indignation completely disappeared. They felt a little better knowing that even rich people had to suffer such a fate.
"I'm not the only rich person here." Qiao Qiao saw that her small bag had become the focus, so she waved her hand. Her modesty and girlish demeanor were just right, and people didn't think she was showing off.
The mute silently adjusted the watch on her wrist. It was her 19th birthday present, and its price was one digit more than Qiao Qiao's bag.
Chen Yang took this scene in. At that time at the train station, he knew that the little mute was very rich.
The mute looked at Chen Yang, his small dark eyes full of cleverness and harmlessness.
Chen Yang gestured for her to look at the hexagon on the wall.
Is it related to taboos? The mute asked, holding up the sticky note.
"It's not certain yet." Chen Yang's eyes passed over the middle-aged woman's work ID card, "Sister Wang, did your colleague say anything strange or do anything strange before he died?"
After asking this question, Chen Yang realized that it was meaningless.
Clues are hidden in ordinary words and related to ordinary things.
I like to play with the rules like this and never get tired of it.
The middle-aged woman was supported by Brother Yu, and she was in a bad mood: "No, nothing happened. We searched the office like yesterday. Occasionally, we said a few words, all about getting out alive. She said that if she got out, she would spend all the money she saved, go traveling, and celebrate her new life..."
"She is a fresh graduate this year, a kind-hearted girl. After coming here, she is stronger than me and has been comforting me all the time..." The middle-aged woman burst into tears.
Brother Yu pulled the person to the corner and asked her to stay away from the body.
Chen Yang counted the number of people and found that there were seventeen in total including himself. He couldn't be sure who was not upstairs when the headless female corpse was killed.
Those who act alone have no witnesses, while those who act in pairs or more may conceal something, and the original intention of concealing the truth may not necessarily be love or friendship, but may also be... fear.
I know but I dare not say it.
Chen Yang observed each of his teammates imperceptibly, and said, "The hexagon is very likely the taboo clue for this round. Science students, please solve it."
The first one to take action was the fairy Qiao Qiao. She seemed to have learned dancing since she was a child. She walked with grace and had a fragrance on her body. Changing scenes would cause a burst of whistles.
"Are you studying science?" Chen Yang said in surprise.
Qiao Qiao responded with a reserved, academically gifted smile.
Soon, eight people gathered in front of the hexagon on the wall, and the proportion of them was neither high nor low among science students.
However, among these eight people, more than half have graduated for many years. When they looked at the hexagon, they were completely in the dark and their minds were full of snowflakes.
This is not the ordinary real world. This group of people are in danger of death and their thoughts are not clear. They sit down at the small table in the hall, spread out papers and pens, and whisper to each other, just like a pop exam.
“What is the sum of the interior angles of a regular hexagon?”
“What is each interior angle?”
"… "
"Who knows the formula for the area of a hexagon?"
"I might know. Let me do the math."
"I remember there are several area formulas. List them all."
"… "
"How do you calculate the diagonals? How many are there?"
"I don't know. I don't remember."
"I remember it, it was right on the tip of my tongue, and then, damn, I can't remember it all of a sudden."
"It's over. I've given back everything I learned to the teacher."
"… "
"What's the side length?"
"… "
Chen Yang listened for a long time and seemed to understand everything, but also seemed to understand nothing. He took out a pen and paper and wanted to try, but he couldn't put pen to paper for a long time.
At this time, Chen Yang couldn't help but think of an old saying: You only regret not having read enough when you need it.
Chen Yang pressed the pen to the paper in frustration. The words "powerless" were engraved on his forehead. He turned his head and met the gaze of Zheng Zhitan on the other side of the aisle.
Zheng Zhiqin tilted his head to look at him, and he didn't know how long he had been looking at him, looking like a lonely and infatuated man.
Chen Yang felt goose bumps on the scar on his left ear. He was about to turn his head back, but he saw Zheng Zhitan moving the paper in front of him, and there was a line of words on it.
Come here, I'll teach you how to solve the problem
That sentence was written on the paper, but actually there were a few words missing. What Zheng Zhiqin really meant was - come here and let me lick you a few times, and I will teach you how to solve the problem.
Chen Yang turned a blind eye. He glanced at Pan Lin next to Zheng Zhiqin, who was curled up and sleeping.
Despite the huge noise when the headless body was discovered, Pan Lin didn't wake up. He had dark circles under his eyes, his slightly crooked nose and chin were bitten, and he looked very haggard. It was obvious that he had been severely rubbed in the second half of the night, and he was listless during the day.
Perhaps because Chen Yang kept his gaze on Pan Lin for too long, Zheng Zhiqin suddenly chuckled, but his chuckle had an ambiguous meaning.
Chen Yang didn't understand what was going on. The next moment he felt a chill on his back. He turned around and saw Chao Jian staring at him.
"What are you looking at?" Chao Jian clenched his cold knuckles, and something was about to surge out from his heart.
Chen Yang unconsciously lowered his head: "I'll look at Pan Lin."
Zhao Jian smiled: "Does it look good? Brother."
Chen Yang shook his head.
Chao Jian was still smiling: "If it doesn't look good, what are you looking at?"
Chen Yang: “…”
"I'm going to the bathroom." The moment Chao Jian turned his back, the curve of his lips disappeared and a terrifying gloom burst out from his eyes.
Chen Yang sat there in a daze. The mute came to him with a sticky note to discuss hexagons, which diverted his attention.
In the bathroom
Chao Jian stood in front of the pool, lowered his eyes, crushed the milk tablets and poured them into the pool.
There were footsteps approaching outside, and a scent similar to the perfume of burning thatch drifted in from the door and drifted all the way to Chao Jian.
Chao Jian crushed the third milk slice, grabbed a handful and crushed them all at once, then opened them one by one and poured them into the pool.
Zheng Zhiqin straightened his hair and clothes in front of the mirror: "Paranoia breeds suspicion. I see that your suspicion is not very obvious. How did you hide it? It must have taken you a long time to hide it."
Chao Jian turned on the faucet, and a thin stream of water rushed down and hit a pile of crushed powder. White water flowed down in strands. He watched without blinking, and the sinister aura around him was suppressed little by little.
"My doctor told me that focusing on one thing can help me control myself. It seems that what she said is not all nonsense." Zheng Zhiqin wet his hands with water and smoothed the scattered hair on his forehead. "I should control myself. Being suspicious will make people hate me. No one can stand it."
All the white powder in the pool was washed away. Chao Jian felt his pocket, but found nothing. He turned on the faucet and walked outside.
A gentle voice sounded from behind, full of condescending pity: "Love breeds fear, love breeds demons, how pitiful."
When Chao Jian walked to the door, his figure suddenly stopped. His whole back was extremely stiff. He took two steps back and slammed the bathroom door shut.
Chen Yang chatted with the mute for a while, but Chao Jian had not come back yet.
When the mute saw Chen Yang turning his head in one direction from time to time, she exclaimed "Ah".
"My brother went to the bathroom and hasn't come back yet. I'll go check on him." Chen Yang hurriedly said this and ran across the hall towards his destination.
"What's wrong with Mr. Chen?" Qiao Qiao stopped writing and looked at the mute, asking with concern.
Dumb vertical sticky note book.
Go to the bathroom to find his brother△｀
"Could something have happened?" Qiao Qiao's crescent-shaped eyebrows frowned.
"Mr. Chen's brother has the aura of a big boss, nothing can happen to him." Li Zheng massaged her shoulders and back.
"That's right." Qiao Qiao continued to calculate while muttering. Suddenly, her pen stopped. "I seemed to have seen Mr. Zheng go to the bathroom. He had a conflict with Mr. Chen's brother. Are they fighting again?"
"How about I go and take a look?" Li Zheng said, "But if a fight really breaks out, it will be useless for me to go. With their skills, I can't stop them."
"You are not good at literature, martial arts, or courage." Qiao Qiao shook his head and sighed.
"… "
Li Zheng sat down dejectedly. He took out a pill from his bag, opened it and took a few sips. It was so bitter that he swore.
Qiao Qiao said disdainfully: "And you're afraid of taking medicine."
Li Zheng vomited blood and died.
When Chen Yang was still some distance away from the bathroom, Chao Jian appeared in his sight, and he quickened his pace and ran over.
"You..." Chen Yang's breathing suddenly tightened, and he asked Chao Jian nervously, "What's wrong with your left leg?"
Chao Jian's crutches were lying in the hall, useless. He had walked steadily when he went to the bathroom, but now his left leg almost dragged on the ground.
"Nothing," Chao Jian said one second ago, and stopped the next second. He lowered his head to look at Chen Yang, pursed his lips and said, "My legs hurt."
Chen Yang's face turned cold: "Zheng Zhiqin was also in the bathroom? Did he hit you?"
Chao Jian bent down and rolled up his left trouser leg.
A large and shocking bruise caught Chen Yang's eyes. His eyelids trembled and he rushed to the bathroom without saying a word.
"Don't worry about him, just take care of me." Chao Jian grabbed Chen Yang, and his cold and wet fingers wrapped around his wrist like a snake.
Chen Yang thought about the reason why Chao Jian and Zheng Zhiqin had a conflict. He took a deep breath and strengthened his mental state.
"Don't use your left leg for the time being." Chen Yang said in a deep voice.
Chao Jian lay on his back: "Yeah."
Chen Yang turned his head to look at Chao Jian. Why did it seem like Chao Jian had calmed down a lot after having a fight with Zheng Zhitan
Somehow, Chao Jian’s extremely violent side popped up in Chen Yang’s mind. His throat felt a little dry. Could Zheng Zhiqin be dead
A cool touch covered Chen Yang's neck, and he came back to his senses: "How do you feel now?"
"Very good." Chao Jian hugged him and said.
In the bathroom, Zheng Zhiqin was lying by the sink washing his face. Blood kept flowing out of his nose and mouth, and it took a long time for it to stop.
Zheng Zhiqin took off his tie and put it on his bleeding hand, then casually wrapped it around a few times and tied a knot.
"You're young, but you look quite evil." Zheng Zhitan sneered and looked at himself in the mirror. He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and spat a mouthful of saliva mixed with the taste of rust into the sink.
"Where are my glasses?" Zheng Zhiqin looked around and found his glasses under his leather shoes. He calmly took his foot away, picked up his glasses and rinsed them with water.
The next moment he threw the glasses with broken lenses into the trash can.
“Shit.”
Zheng Zhiqin walked towards the door. His walking posture was no different from usual. No one would know that his kneecap had suffered a violent attack and it was painful like a needle. One of his legs was even a little twisted.
What ordinary people cannot tolerate is nothing to him.
Zheng Zhiqin turned to the stairs. As he walked, his pace slowed down and he stood on the stairs.
I didn't notice it before, but how come this time after I had a serious fight with that guy, I felt that he was familiar
Zheng Zhitan rubbed the purple root of his nose, thinking it was strange.
The science students in the hall are still struggling with the hexagons.
Chen Yang glanced at the hexagon on the paper and scratched his head in distress. He nudged Chao Jian with his arm: "Do you want to give it a try?"
Chao Jian said something shocking: "I studied literature."
Chen Yang was stunned: "You are a liberal arts student? When you were on Xiaoyin Island, you even calculated the spatial overlap points."
Chao Jian said: "That's a blind cat catching a dead mouse."
Chen Yang's face was full of suspicion.
"I am indeed a liberal arts student." Chao Jian was playing with folding paper.
Chen Yang's attention unconsciously fell on his hands. Seeing him flexibly fold different shapes with a piece of paper, he felt that his skills could compete with his own.
"I don't believe that you calculated the spatial overlap point by accident."
Chao Jian's eyes were covered by her eyelashes: "Someone taught me something similar, I can draw inferences from it."
"Including the things you are told in the mission," he said. "Those are not things you can learn from textbooks, and have nothing to do with my studies in literature and science."
Chen Yang easily understood who Chao Jian was referring to. The brother in the illusion had a close relationship with him.
A very complicated relationship between brothers.
Chao Jian was unlikely to share such a private part with him.
But Chen Yang guessed Chao Jian's heart through his experience in the illusion. Chao Jian admired that person, but also resented that person, and longed for the other person to value and love him.
Chao Jian's dependence on that person was stronger than normal, like the last pill in the hands of a dying patient.
A trace of unhappiness and depression flashed through Chen Yang's heart, but it disappeared in a flash. He touched his nose. The topic had come to this point, and it was obvious that "the front is a restricted area, please do not approach", and there was no way to continue.
"You don't look like a liberal arts student, nor do you look like you like liberal arts." Chen Yang couldn't digest the information that his partner was a liberal arts student for a while.
He curled his lips towards Jian: "I don't like liberal arts."
There is also the second half of the sentence, Chen Yang is waiting.
Chao Jian did not add the second half of the sentence. He just glanced at Chen Yang and then placed a paper bird in front of him.
Chen Yang took it subconsciously and used a black pen to paint two eyes for the bird. After finishing the last stroke, he was a little dazed.
A hand reached out and snatched the bird away.
Chen Yang's face twitched. What was going on? He pointed at the bird with his pen and said, "Isn't it for me?"
Chao Jian didn't respond. He held the paper bird in his hands and played with it, not giving it to Chen Yang.
Chen Yang was speechless.
"Mr. Chen, we can't do this anymore!"
A wailing sound reached Chen Yang's ears, and he made eye contact with the science students: You are the hope of the team, you can't fail.
They all responded with a look that said, "We really can't do it anymore, we've tried our best."
After so many years, I experience the fear of being beaten up by math again, and it’s still the same love-hate relationship as before.
Chen Yang went over to look at the pile of manuscripts on the table. The messy calculation formulas tried to get into his mind, but were blocked by his defense wall to prevent them from clogging his brain.
"Is it possible that, like a brain teaser, the answer will be very simple, so simple that we all think it is absolutely impossible." Chen Yang put down a pile of manuscripts, turned to another pile, and sighed, "Liberal arts students should also think about it. The hexagonal clue may not be an ordinary routine."
"I'm a liberal arts student, and my first reaction when I saw a hexagon was a honeycomb," Wang Hao said thoughtfully.
"Beehive? Yes! That's what a beehive looks like." Li Zheng snapped off half of a long biscuit. "Is the hint related to bees?"
Wang Hao rolled his eyes: "There are no bees here, honey is better."
"Does that mean we can't eat honey? We'll die if we eat it?" Someone followed this line of thought.
Sister Wang in the corner raised her head and said with disheveled hair: "Xiaoqin has never eaten honey."
Brother Yu asked, "Your seat is next to her?"
Sister Wang shook her head: "No."
Yu Ge fell silent, and the others expressed their thoughts: "You are not next to each other, and the office is dimly lit. You don't know whether she has eaten or not."
Sister Wang wanted to refute but couldn't think of any words to say.
Chen Yang gave some manuscript papers to Chao Jian. The two liberal arts students looked through them one by one, and neither of them expressed any opinions.
The former reserved some of his energy to pay attention to the conversation of his teammates, while the latter just wanted to finish reading what the former handed over.
"I'm not sure about honeycombs and bees, but the hexagon being associated with a mathematical formula is probably misleading." Brother Yu scratched his swollen mole. "The rule doesn't require us to calculate various answers and then infer something from the answers. It has another meaning."
"What does that mean?" Wang Hao's face changed. "Does it mean that there are six monsters among us?"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Qiao Qiao disagreed and said, "I think Mr. Chen is right. The hexagon should be related to today's taboo, not a hint for the entire mission."
The people in front of the sofa fell silent again. They played with the hexagons all over again, but still could not figure out what to do.
Li Zheng asked a stupid question: "How many triangles make up a hexagon?"
Qiao Qiao said: "Six equilateral triangles."
"Six?" Li Zheng picked up a pen and wrote on Qiao Qiao's manuscript paper. "Look, it's a hexagon. Six sides and six corners. All six."
When he said this, he blurted out: "666?"
“…” I was stunned.
A middle-aged man who had graduated from a science school many years ago was driven crazy. He muttered to himself: "6636, 6 plus 6 equals 12, 6 minus 6 equals 0, 6... 6..."
“Can’t say 6?” The middle-aged man murmured, “It seems impossible, but it’s actually the correct answer…” His eyes were trembling with excitement, “This is the taboo!”
Li Zheng couldn't bear to watch it anymore and said, "Uncle, you keep talking."
The middle-aged man looked dull: "Yes."
"… "
Another stupid one.
In the first round, the water on the soles of the deceased's shoes revealed the taboo, and in the second round, there was a hexagon on the wall next to the deceased.
If the difficulty level is similar to the first round, then you really can’t think too deeply about the hexagons, you have to think shallowly.
Qiao Qiao was spinning the pen, and five minutes later the pen was still spinning, with the lines drawn by the pen being smooth and perfect.
The pen is exquisite, the fingers are exquisite, and it is pleasing to the eye.
It was not until Pan Lin woke up and did not see Zheng Zhiqin, and started crying like a baby looking for its mother for milk, that the pen between Qiao Qiao's fingers fell.
Chen Yang pointed upstairs.
Pan Lin wanted to go up to find Zheng Zhiqin, but he didn't dare to climb to the fourth floor alone. Without much struggle, he chose to stay in the lobby and wait for Qiao Qiao and Li Zheng.
Chen Yang caught the change in Pan Lin's expression and thought that he had a good ability to respond.
So Chen Yang said this.
Everyone's eyes were focused on Pan Lin. Pan Lin's face turned red when he was stared at, and his slightly slanted left eye kept moving around because of shyness. When he saw the disgusted expressions on the faces of several people, he immediately covered his left eye in embarrassment, and the blush on his face faded away completely.
"Mr. Chen, I can't do it. I'm the worst one. Everyone is better than me." Pan Lin said in a muffled voice.
Chen Yang wanted to say a few more words to Pan Lin, but then he heard Brother Yu ask, "Mr. Chen, is the monster still Xiao Huanyu?"
"Of course." Someone answered immediately, "There is get off work and there is off-duty. We stay here for four days, and Xiao Huanyu has to work for four days. It hides in the building and eats whoever breaks the taboo."
As he spoke, he looked around, his eyes darting around restlessly.
"I feel like I've changed." Qiao Qiao said.
This statement caused a huge reaction, and several people were confused.
"What do you mean by changed?"
"Can I change it?"
"That's right, how do you change it?"
All of a sudden, those people thought of something at the same time, and they all fell silent.
Pan Lin saw that everyone's faces were not good, and their positions had also changed. He wrung his hands, wanting to cry but not tears, and said, "No... It won't really change, right?"
No one replied to him.
"Qiao Qiao, Li Zheng..." Pan Lin placed his hopes on his two colleagues.
Li Zheng was confused himself, how could he help Pan Lin solve his doubts
Qiao Qiao nodded to Pan Lin, and Pan Lin collapsed on the sofa with weak legs.
Chen Yang's idea was the same as Qiao Qiao's. One of their group of people became a monster at work today, but he had no evidence and no suspect. It was just a hunch.
In fact, the taboos of the rules are more important than identifying the identity of the monster.
As long as they successfully find out the taboos and don't violate them, the monster will be powerless and will eventually have to leave without completing the target.
When Chen Yang thought of this, he looked at Chao Jian.
Chao Jian: “Yeah.”
Chen Yang smiled helplessly: "I didn't say anything, and you knew what I was thinking?"
Chao Jian said nothing.
"You are not my partner, you are the worm in my stomach." Chen Yang said vaguely, and his peripheral vision caught something inadvertently, and his eyes fixed, "Qiao Qiao, why are your shoes wet?"
Qiao Qiao was stunned. She lowered her head and saw that the light brown heels of her sandals were indeed wet.
"I don't know where I stepped on the water..." Qiao Qiao was interrupted by Li Zheng's roar before he could finish his words, "Take it off quickly, I want to change with you!"
Qiao Qiao was a little confused by the yelling: "Treading water was a taboo in the last round."
"Just in case." Li Zheng forcibly took off her sandals and gave her his sneakers. "It's a little big, but you can wear it after you tie the laces."
Qiao Qiao didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "No need..." Seeing that Li Zheng's eyes were about to pop out, she pursed her lips and said, "Okay."
Li Zheng placed Qiao Qiao's sandals in front of him. He couldn't squeeze in, so he simply pushed the two thin straps forward and wore them as slippers, with his heels completely exposed.
Wang Hao said, "She has already changed her shoes, why are you still wearing hers? Why don't you just not wear them?"
"I have to wear them. Only by wearing the shoes she has stepped on water can I replace them." Li Zheng squeezed his feet into the sandals and felt a burning pain on his foot skin.
"You are willing to die for your fairy." Wang Hao smacked his lips, "Then you must understand Zhang Lan very well."
Li Zheng paused, neither admitting nor denying.
After some distance, Chen Yang whispered to Chao Jian, "Li Zheng has done so much, but Qiao Qiao can't even see his thoughts and intentions."
Chao Jian said: "Normal."
"Is it normal?" Chen Yang said, "Li Zheng is so obvious, is Qiao Qiao a little dull?"
Chao Jian: “Heh.”
Chen Yang glanced at him with his eyes twitching. What are you laughing at? It's so scary.
"I feel like Qiao Qiao is used to Li Zheng's care and doesn't think it's a big deal. This causes her to no longer be on guard against him and unknowingly let him enter her world." Chen Yang's analysis was very logical. "In fact, I think Li Zheng is a bit cunning. He asked me to give you a through train and give you all kinds of special cases that no one else has, so that you get used to it and can't leave. It's smart."
Chao Jian: “…”
He turned his head away silently.