Behind the door was...
Qiao Sixiao took half a step forward, but then stopped in her tracks. She hadn't figured out the rules yet. What if this was a trap and she got eliminated?
No, she couldn't get eliminated before Qin Wei at least!
Thus, Qin Wei waited and observed for a moment longer as well.
The person behind the door couldn't wait any longer. He opened the door a little more, and a voice came from inside, low and firm:
"The dark night has fallen. We long for daylight. Nightingale, it's time for you to wake up."
Qiao Sixiao's pupils shrank slightly. This day had finally come!
...
Temporarily free of the pressure of being chased, Qin Wei and Li Hanming walked along the street, going from door to door asking the NPCs for clues about the bank. The results were not too optimistic. The NPCs were similar to those in single-player games, although portrayed by real people, their lines were fixed. No matter what was said to them, the reward was always those few sentences.
But the program team was quite generous, and the props in the shops were mostly real.
As a result, Qin Wei and Li Hanming got sour plum soup, cold noodles, and two mung bean cakes.
The two ate happily. Li Hanming was quite curious:
"Why don't they give me things when I ask, but give them to you when you ask?"
Qin Wei answered him frankly:
"Because my dad mixes with the underworld, connecting both white and black worlds. Who would dare offend the daughter of a mob boss?"
[Staff: Teacher Qin, please complete the task seriously and treat the props rationally!]
Although they got another warning, they had already eaten the food and drinks. There was nothing the staff could do.
Just when Qin Wei was wandering the streets aimlessly with Li Hanming, full and restored, someone said:
"Miss, please stop. I see your forehead is dark. You must have an ominous reading."
They turned to see a fortune teller's stand by the riverside. Next to it sat a lean middle-aged man wearing a melon hat and black changshan, with sunglasses perched on his nose and a folding fan grasped in his hand, slowly fanning himself.
"A Man in Black!"
Li Hanming's instinct was to run.
"He's a fortune teller."
Qin Wei held him back and told him to stay calm.
If it was really a Man in Black, they would have already lost.
"The young miss has good eyes."
The fortune teller put away his fan and tapped the short stool in front of the stand with it. After they were seated, he continued,
"Since we have met by chance, it must be fate. Although I am blind, I can feel that the young miss has a kind heart. I will give you this reading, free of charge."
As he spoke, the fortune teller shook out his fan again,
"Weaving strands north facing the window, the foundation produces water.
The paper feels shallow in the end, the lamplight now sparse."
Qin Wei thought about it for a long moment, then turned to her teammate, who also looked blank.
Qin Wei asked him:
"Can you say it more clearly?"
The fortune teller raised his head arrogantly:
"The secrets of heaven cannot be divulged!"
The director was quite smug as he watched them on the monitor screen. He had written this cryptic poem himself -
The weaving strands referred to books, the foundation producing water was the Xun gua, meaning the north direction.
Go north and find a place related to books. Then take one character from each of the last two lines to form the bookstore name "Shallow Lamplight Bookhouse". As long as they figured out the meaning of the first two lines, when they arrived at the place, they would naturally find their destination. The bank they were looking for was there.
Perfect!
On the monitor, he could see Qin Wei repeatedly negotiating with the fortune teller, hoping he would lower the difficulty, but the fortune teller refused. The two were arguing like they were bickering.
"My dad mixes with the underworld. You do business along the river without a pair of decent fists. Be careful or you'll accidentally fall into the river some night when you're closing up shop."
Qin Wei lowered her voice, trying to get him to submit through threats.
"I am fearless."
After a few exchanges, the fortune teller remained nonchalant.
Unable to make any progress negotiating, Qin Wei picked up the brush from the table and snatched the fan from the fortune teller's hand. With broad strokes, she wrote characters on the fan surface.
What was she writing?
The director couldn't tell from the monitor, so he quickly told the crew to switch camera angles. He saw Qin Wei had finished writing. She returned the fan and left with Li Hanming.
The fortune teller lowered his sunglasses and held up the fan towards the overhead camera above him -
On one side were the characters for "revere science".
On the other: "oppose superstition".
The words were crooked, but the values were upright.
Exasperated, the director realized he had overestimated the guests' intelligence. He spoke into his headset:
"They've had enough of a break. Send in the chasers!"
...
"Sister Qin Wei, don't you feel like there's some mystery in those four lines of poem?" Li Hanming asked as they walked.
Qin Wei nodded: "Do you know what the mystery is?"
Li Hanming shook his head: "Then how will we find the bank?" My information doesn't say..."
Qin Wei looked all around them:
"Let's go find Reporter Qiao first!"
As she walked, relying on memory she found the bridge where she had separated from Qiao Sixiao and headed over in that direction.
As luck would have it, The Men in Black appeared again.
...
On Qiao Sixiao's side, she was also being chased by The Men in Black. But she ran along the riverside for as long as she could, doing her best to retrace her steps towards where they had gotten separated earlier.
Qin Wei, as a lost child, I hope you have the awareness to go back and wait for your parents!
No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't outpace the tireless pursuit of The Men in Black. Qiao Sixiao was exhausted now, and her pace had clearly slowed.
The Men in Black were getting closer and closer until they matched her footsteps!
Was it too late for everything?
She couldn't run anymore, although Qiao Sixiao felt unwilling, she allowed The Men in Black to catch her. But just as she was about to be grabbed, the Man in Black suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, including the hand about to grab her shoulder.
The four Men in Black were frozen as if spellbound!
"Qiao Sixiao, over here!"
Qiao Sixiao looked back to see Qin Wei poking her head out from around the street corner, beckoning to her,
"Hurry!"
Qiao Sixiao didn't have time to think. She could only walk over to her as fast as she could.
Before she could ask what had happened, she saw Qin Wei wave a card in her hand:
"Benefits from watching ads. It's for you."
Qiao Sixiao didn't understand.
Li Hanming explained:
"It's a freeze card. Using it freezes all Men in Black in place for ten seconds. Random drop, kind of like getting equipment from defeating monsters."
So that was it.
"Let's go quickly, the effect is limited."
Another girl walked out from behind Qin Wei. Tall and gorgeous, with masculine brows and eyes that belied her beauty.
She wore a blue shirt with black pants, typical Republican era student clothing.
It was...
Qiao Sixiao recognized her, Wei Lai, from when they recorded "Sailing Against the Wind" together.
Looks like there were a lot of familiar faces in this show...
"Just earlier, Xiao Han and I almost got done in too. Luckily we ran into Wei Lai."
Qin Wei said,
"Oh right, Wei Lai, what identity do you have?"
Wei Lai lowered her eyes and replied softly:
"A student."
Qin Wei: "..."
It seemed like perhaps everyone had some secrets...
But her identity and Qiao Sixiao's were public. At least these two didn't ask for any more information after seeing them.
As they talked, the Men in Black in the distance had already walked away, though they knew the streets nearby still had them around.
After being chased a few times, everyone vaguely felt there were some rules to it.
And surprisingly, it was Qin Wei who noticed the pattern first.
Why was it her??
