Players, Please Board the Train

Until late at night, the bus finally returned to the town.

The mayor’s office building was located in the western part of the small town, a two-story structure with the mayor’s office on the second floor and an exhibition hall on the first floor containing a sand table model of the town and some exhibits.

This time, Lin Pei accompanied Xu Huo. He fumbled to turn on the main switch of the office building, and the small two-story building instantly lit up.

”This place still has electricity?” Xu Huo paused his movement of taking out a lighter.

”Throughout the entire town, aside from those riddle mechanisms that sound off at irregular intervals, only this office building still has electricity. These places probably have separate wiring,” Lin Pei explained before walking over to the sand table. ”We’ve already examined this sand table many times.”

The model matched the town’s appearance completely, scaled down proportionally. Just by looking at this sand table, one could roughly sketch out the town’s structure.

”Do all the places with small flags have riddle mechanisms?” Xu Huo paid special attention to this—the town had too many riddle mechanisms, with almost half of the buildings having them.

”Correct,” Lin Pei nodded. ”The Clock Master Nise from the game background was this town’s mayor. In his later years, he became obsessed with puzzle games, so riddle notes can be found everywhere throughout the town.”

”But to be honest, those riddles can hardly be considered actual riddles. They’re just some common knowledge questions that should be very simple for NPCs in the game, like how many clocks Nise made in his lifetime, Nise’s favorite flower or color.”

”Some are even stranger, like whether Nise wore reading glasses or nearsighted glasses, how many potted plants are in the mayor’s office, what time Nise went to bed yesterday, how many pies he ate for breakfast.”Xu Huo was mentally matching the model with buildings he had seen in town today when he suddenly looked up. ”These aren’t riddles.”

”Of course they’re not,” Lin Pei laughed. ”Probably just the childlike whimsy of a master-level figure.”

”These questions are targeted at children,” Xu Huo pondered for a moment. ”They’re not real riddles, just meant to amuse children.”

Lin Pei’s mouth fell open as he processed this. ”So that’s how it is, no wonder they reward chocolate candy for wrong answers.”

He had once speculated that Nise was an overly narcissistic person, or that all the town’s residents were die-hard fans of Nise who even paid attention to trivial matters like eating and sleeping.

”These riddle mechanisms are fixed, but their content consists of life details. Nise probably didn’t come to settle in this town alone—he at least brought a child with him.” Xu Huo asked, ”Have you seen Master Nise’s residence? It’s not on the sand table.”

Lin Pei shook his head. ”There is a residential area in the town center, but we haven’t thoroughly searched through it.”

”Should we go look now?”

The bus had already driven far away, and moving around at night was inconvenient. They had already planned to stay overnight in the office building when they got off the bus.

”Let’s go tomorrow,” Xu Huo said. ”We’ll see if there are any clues about opening doors at Nise’s residence. The townspeople must have some method for entering and exiting.”

From the office building’s windows, they could just see the large gate on the western wall. Lin Pei shook his head and said, ”Can’t speak loudly, can’t go out in groups, to put it bluntly—even babies can’t cry when they’re born. The main gate is also sealed shut. This doesn’t seem like peacefully spending one’s later years—it’s more like being in prison.”

Xu Huo’s eyes flickered slightly as he returned to the sand table. He carefully examined the marked photos on the model. Aside from basic living necessities, the other shops generally catered to young children: children’s clothing stores, doll shops, craft stores, picture book libraries, crayon shops. Combined with the riddles found everywhere throughout this town, it seemed this town was built for children.

And just looking at these elements, the town should be full of childlike fun. But there were walls added outside, such strange regulations within the town, and security guards hired at high prices... If you equated mutants with security guards, this wasn’t about maintaining town order at all—it was about slaughtering those who didn’t follow the rules.

Master Nise and the town residents did not get along.

The town was built for children, but a group of people moved in whose lives Master Nise completely disregarded. With such harsh rules where carelessness could cost your life, someone actually chose to live here.

This town was full of contradictions everywhere.

But the more contradictory a place was, the more likely it held the key to solving the problem.

Xu Huo casually tore off a riddle pasted on the stair railing, glanced at it, put it in his pocket, and quietly made his way up to the second floor.

Pushing aside toys scattered all over the floor, he entered the mayor’s office.

Like the clock shop, the walls here were covered with clocks of various styles. The potted plant in the corner had withered and died. The bookshelf haphazardly held some books about clocks, along with some picture books and fairy tales.

On the desk was an unfinished clock, with some tools scattered across the desktop and floor. All the drawers were pulled open, completely empty. Aside from the bookshelf, there weren’t any other paper items in this office—not even a single sheet of blank paper could be found. It looked like it had been ransacked.

”After all, he was a Clock Master. The manuscripts he left behind during his lifetime must be quite valuable. It’s normal for townspeople to steal some things before moving away,” Lin Pei said.

Xu Huo nodded slightly and walked to the windowsill behind the desk. Looking out, he had a perfect view of the west gate.

By the faint moonlight, he could see a faint glimmer reflecting off the wall surface, and that point of light kept moving.

”It’s probably the reflection from the second hand of that large clock on the rooftop,” Lin Pei noticed his gaze. ”The tip of the second hand on the rooftop clock has a reflective surface.”

When the second hand completed a full circle and reached the twelve position, the doll hanging behind the office door suddenly started playing music. ”It’s twelve o’clock, it’s twelve o’clock! The pleasant night has arrived. This is Clock Master Nise’s favorite time.”

”Today’s question is: How many clocks did Master Nise, who adored timepieces, make in his lifetime?”

Xu Huo picked up a picture book from the shelf and found the largest number inside. ”20,001 clocks.”

”Doot doot! Correct answer!”

”The Puzzle Solver has provided the correct answer. Master Nise has decided to reward you with a hand-folded little star.”

Xu Huo reached out and caught it—it was just a thumb-sized paper-folded five-pointed star, the kind children like.

”Seems this is also for amusing children,” Lin Pei couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

But the doll didn’t announce the end of the questioning session and continued: ”Clever Puzzle Solver, the second question is: What flavor of pie did Master Nise like most?”

”Strawberry flavor,” Xu Huo said, glancing at the strawberry doodle next to the picture book.

”Doot doot! Correct answer!”

”The Puzzle Solver has provided the correct answer. Master Nise has decided to reward you with a little strawberry mirror.”

The mirror that landed in his hand was a strawberry-shaped makeup mirror with strawberry patterns, about half the size of a palm.

Then came the third question: ”What was Master Nise’s favorite game?”

”Solving puzzles.”

”Beep beep! Wrong answer!”