Under the dazzling white light, Lin Sanjiu sat on the ground and stared at the half of the lock in front of her. The whole warehouse shook again and again. From time to time, a handful of dust would fall from the ceiling. If it was an earthquake, the frequency of the tremors was too rhythmic.
"That corpse should be desperately trying to return to the pocket dimension," Mrs. Manas couldn't help but break the silence after some time.
Lin Sanjiu stared at the lock for a long time before she blinked.
"It wants to return to the warehouse, not the dungeon."
"What's the difference?"
In the simple gray warehouse, everything was illuminated by the light. When Lin Sanjiu raised her head, the light shone into her amber-colored eyes, making them look a shade lighter than usual. If someone were to look closely at her jet-black pupils, they would notice that they were quivering slightly, as if her gaze was following some kind of intricate structure.
"… One minute."
Lin Sanjiu suddenly muttered as she stood up from the ground. On the other side of the warehouse, there was a hole in the wall. The broken racks piled up like a small hill. Due to the constant attacks from the dead body outside, a huge wooden board or iron bar would fall to the ground from time to time. Every time there was a loud noise, she would be startled, even though she was mentally prepared for it.
The grand prize sure is a coward.
"Tell me, what's the difference?" Mrs. Manas didn't forget to get to the bottom of it.
"When I used [Tornado Whip], I carefully calculated the amount of wind, so I only knocked the corpse out of the warehouse, but not out of the dungeon. Fortunately, my wind was sent back to the pocket dimension once, so I have a reference to calculate the amount of wind. "Lin Sanjiu exhaled and stretched her limbs. Then, she walked toward the door. "You didn't forget, right? When I first came down from the cement floor, I had to walk through the grass for a long time before I was forcefully sent back here because I crossed the dungeon."
"In other words, there is still some distance between the wall and the boundary of the pocket dimension. You just happened to smash it into that area …" Mrs. Manas suddenly paused, "Wait, wait, that's not right. When you climbed the wall, didn't you get sent back because your body crossed the line? "
"There's only one explanation." Lin Sanjiu gripped her [Power of Description] nonchalantly. Through the barbed wire gate, she could still see Ryuji sitting in the bushes. "That's because I created the walls. In other words, I artificially altered the boundaries of the dungeon."
"So, if it breaks the wall, then …" Mrs. Manas understood, but she had another question, "Why would it hit the wall? I can just walk out like you and be teleported back, right? "
"You forgot, it's a dungeon creature. It can't leave the dungeon." Lin Sanjiu stopped and mumbled to herself. When the lock on the door began to grow and fill the gap, she continued, "The first step that leads to the outside of the pocket dimension is the step that will lead to us being teleported back. It can't be taken out of this pocket dimension."
"You … How did you know …"
"I've been forcefully teleported back a few times already. Can't you make a simple analysis?"
"When did you analyze it?" Mrs. Manas was shocked. "You analyzed so much while you were dealing with the corpses and rebuilding the lock?"
Strangely enough, Lin Sanjiu didn't even realize when she did the analysis. Everything seemed to happen naturally. The amount of information that Ji Shanqing could process in a minute was far more than what other people could process in a few hours.
Lin Sanjiu chuckled but didn't answer. The lock on the door had also finished its restoration process. It was shiny as if it had never been through a storm. Lin Sanjiu took out the keys and picked one at random. She smiled and said, "Now, it's time to test the internal structure of the lock. I wonder if any of these keys can open the door."
Even though she said "I don't know", her tone was not worried at all. The key hit the lock cylinder again and again. In the dark and lonely warehouse, the sound of metal hitting against metal rang out. When she tried the second last key, the lock clicked and the key in her hand turned smoothly.
"Finally, the door is open!"
Even with her [Consciousness Mimicry], Lin Sanjiu's heart raced a few times. She took a deep breath and opened the door. The night breeze, which carried the scent of grass and soil, blew into her.
"Can you come out now?" Ryuji scrambled to his feet and walked to the door. "Have you solved the mystery of the locked-room murder?"
"Yes," Lin Sanjiu smiled. She didn't step out of the door, "It's not really a mystery."
"How … How so?"
"It's too simple. Watch me," Lin Sanjiu pushed the door open and took out the jacket and pants that she had found earlier. Without waiting for Ryuji to come closer, she suddenly raised her hand and threw the pants into the warehouse. It was obviously just a pair of jeans, but when it fell to the ground, it made a clattering sound. It turned out that she had put the keys into the warehouse.
"There's something ironic about this so-called locked-room murder case. The victim died in a warehouse full of clothes, but his clothes were taken away by someone, "Lin Sanjiu said. As she spoke, she shook off the dust on the windbreaker, "Because the clothes that were taken off are the key to forming the 'locked-room'. As you said, many of the locked-rooms are not locked-rooms. "
"Why?" Ryuji reacted in hindsight. "Well, are you different from before? Did you change your clothes?"
"I didn't change my clothes, but I'm going to put on a new one soon."
Lin Sanjiu's face scrunched up when she thought of her grand prize's mysophobia and looked at the dirty and rotten clothes in her hands. She checked her pockets and made sure that the window key and employee card were in her pocket. Then, she endured the nausea and put on the jacket.
She lifted her foot and smoothly landed outside the door frame, on the muddy ground in front of the bush.
"You're out!" Mrs. Manas couldn't help cheering, "This wall isn't broken. You've really crossed the boundary of the pocket dimension!"
Ryuji stared at her blankly. He looked like he was in a daze. After a few seconds, he raised a finger.
"Erm … Why can you leave the pocket dimension after you put on the jacket and leave the pants behind?"
Lin Sanjiu immediately took off the jacket and threw it on the ground. Then, she took out a towel and wet it. She began to wipe her face and body with it.
"I'm telling the pocket dimension that I've solved the secret room." Just like her grand prize, she wiped every inch of her exposed skin and whispered, "The murderer took the jacket out of the warehouse and put it on again."
"Huh?" Ryuji and Mrs. Manas exclaimed at the same time.
"Let me tell you from the beginning." Lin Sanjiu tapped the cement floor with the tip of her foot. "Do you remember this? The same floor inside and outside the door frame, and the steel bars in the wall all indicate that this warehouse isn't a single room. It's part of a building. Usually, a room in a building is used as a warehouse by a company. In that case, unlike the other warehouse managers, the deceased actually had a colleague who worked together with him. "
"Could it be a colleague?" Ryuji asked blankly, "My colleague had the key, so it wasn't a secret room?"
"No," Lin Sanjiu sighed, "I'm afraid it was a colleague who killed him. However, if the murderer also had the key, he wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to create a secret room. It's meaningless. The only person who had the key was the warehouse manager, the victim. "
"Then, how did he —"
Before Ryuji could finish his sentence, the ground beneath their feet shook violently. It wasn't the sound of the corpse crashing into the ground. Instead, it was as if a giant beast was awakening from the depths of the earth. The earth rumbled and cracked, and chunks of earth tumbled down from the sky. The violent tremors caused the two of them to lose their footing, and they almost tumbled back into the dungeon. Fortunately, Lin Sanjiu reacted quickly. As she held Ryuji back, she also stabbed a stick into the ground. Only then did she manage to stabilize her momentum.
"It's here," Lin Sanjiu's face turned pale, "The cover of the secret room is gone. It can't wait any longer."
"Who is it?"
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