CHAPTER 279: CHAPTER 179: "FOOLS COUNTER EXPERTS."_2

Think quickly, think quickly!

He was only a game designer, with a great love for mazes and a spatial awareness far superior to others, but that’s all...

He wasn’t God.

How could he possibly look at a cipher lock with no clues and instantly know what the password was?

The most important thing was he didn’t even know how many digits the password had. Even if it was a 6-digit password, there are a million possible combinations from ten numbers.

What’s more, he didn’t know how many digits it was, which was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

At that moment—

Li Shiji’s eyes suddenly lit up: "Could it be the coordinates of the copper door?"

"Tried it."

Chen Mang shook his head: "The first attempt was using the coordinates, and it was incorrect."

The light in Li Shiji’s eyes dimmed as he stared restlessly at the copper door on the screen.

"I think..."

Biaozi hesitated for a moment and began to share his insight: "Look at this copper door. It might represent history, while this cipher lock represents modern technology. They’re clearly two extremes."

"And because the cipher lock is above the copper door, so... could the password be the two digits ’09’?"

"Just perfect as two extremes."

"Makes sense." Old Pig looked at Biaozi with some surprise, then offered his own guess.

"Master Mang, I think Biaozi’s theory has potential, and as I see it, there’s no clue on this copper door. The only clue appears at the exact center of the level 3 iron mine."

"The grade division of the regions from low to high is white, green, and yellow."

"’Zombie Basin’ happens to be in the yellow area, which is 3."

"Also in the middle of the level 3 iron mine."

"So the password might be ’3’ or ’33’."

"..."

After pondering for a moment, Chen Mang felt there was some truth in what both had said, and finally turned his gaze to Ai in the corner: "What do you think?"

Ai’s voice echoed in the train cabin.

"What Old Pig and Biaozi said makes sense, but I might provide a different perspective from another angle. This level 3 iron mine is not a recent refresh but has been refreshed several times."

"So, during the previous refreshes of this level 3 iron mine, many trains have mined this place, and surely, they’ve discovered this copper door."

"They surely have made attempts."

"But so far..."

"No train has shared this matter on the Train Radio. Apart from them not wanting to share, the only possibility is that entering the wrong password three times leads to something bad happening."

"It might even lead to the destruction of the entire train."

"Of course, this is a rather pessimistic guess, and my suspicion is that the password might be the specific year and month when Doomsday arrived in this world."

"..."

After listening to everyone’s suggestions, Chen Mang remained silent for a long time before picking up the intercom: "Enter password 33."

From the first-person perspective,

you could see the burly man’s hands trembling slightly, but he still cautiously pressed 3 twice and then hit the "confirm open" button.

Soon.

A line of text appeared on the copper door again.

-

"Incorrect password, 1 attempt remaining."

-

The password 33 was also incorrect.

Chen Mang didn’t speak, just furrowed his brows, staring intently at the image of the copper door on the screen, and only after a long while did he speak again: "Do not enter any password, just press the ’confirm open’ button."

On the other end of the screen.

You could clearly see the burly man shaking like a sieve, yet he forcibly steadied himself and pressed the "confirm open" button directly.

The next moment—

A glimmer of white light suddenly appeared on the copper door, and the indicator light on the cipher lock turned green. The copper door slowly opened.

The password was correct, and it was opened.

Chen Mang laughed, and immediately steered the train towards the copper door, he had gambled right, without any clues or prompts, there was no way anyone could guess the password.

Since no one could guess the password, there was no point for this copper door to appear.

He always believed one thing.

That is, after the Doomsday arrived, everything that appeared couldn’t be without meaning, there couldn’t be a copper door in this world that couldn’t be opened, so there was only one answer.

That is, the purpose of the cipher lock is purely to mislead.

To open this copper door is simple, just press the ’confirm open’ button.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

The moment the copper door opened, several incredulous voices emerged from the train cabin, including Ai’s mechanical electronic voice. They couldn’t believe that the password for this copper door was no password?

Then what were they guessing all this time?

"The fool beats the expert."

Biaozi said with a complex expression: "If we had sent Zhang Er here, it would’ve opened with just one attempt, who the hell would expect that you don’t need to enter any password, just press confirm open, and it really opened."

"Cough."

Old Pig coughed lightly before reminding: "Uh, let me remind you, this cipher lock was opened by Master Mang."

Biaozi, realizing only now, quickly explained with a slight change in his expression: "Master Mang, I didn’t mean it that way, I meant... I meant..."

Li Shiji interjected with admiration all over his face.

"The first-level state, to see a mountain is a mountain, to see water is water."

"The second-level state, to see a mountain is not a mountain, to see water is not water."

"The third-level state, to see a mountain is still a mountain, to see water is still water."

"Though it’s the same to see a mountain is a mountain, to see water is water, Zhang Er is in the first-level state, but Master Mang, you are in the third-level state!"

"Master Mang, impressive!"

"Exactly!" Biaozi sighed long and hard before hurriedly saying: "That’s exactly what I meant, Master Mang."

Chen Mang didn’t mind this trivial matter; he merely parked the train besides the iron mine, jumped down and walked towards the copper door with large strides, smiling in satisfaction when passing by the burly man.

"Not bad, Old Pig, you’re responsible for handling the matter of improving his treatment."

"No problem."

Old Pig nodded quickly, then gestured for the burly man to return to the carriage. He remembered this burly man.

Resident number seemed to be 1998, one among the 1900 survivors, used to work on funerals, was a tough guy, even smashed his head against a steel table to show off his toughness, making his head bleed profusely back then.

Now, he indeed seems very tough.

So fast to obtain first-level resident treatment, he’s the fastest to be promoted among these 1900 survivors.

...

Then Chen Mang looked towards the bottom of the copper door.

The interior space wasn’t large, roughly resembling the size of a tomb, and there were no explosives tucked inside either, meaning even if three consecutive wrong attempts were made, it likely wouldn’t explode.

At most, there would be no opportunity to attempt again and wouldn’t allow this train to attempt further.

As for no one mentioning it on the Train Radio.

It’s simply because such opportunistic matters aren’t often discussed on the Train Radio, even if you don’t get it, you can’t say anything, what if someone else gets it?

It’s obviously upsetting not to get it yourself.

But seeing someone else get it, even more upsetting.

Inside, two items lay flat.

A blueprint, a coupon.

"Master Mang, I’ll go." Biaozi immediately jumped into the pit beside him, stuffed these two items into his pocket, then with a running start, climbed up the wall in three steps, emerging from the pit.

The whole process was incredibly smooth.

And those three steps up the wall were quite slick.

"..."

Old Pig pouted at the sight, the pit was over two meters deep, if he jumped in, he’d really have trouble getting out again. Biaozi was showing off again. When he gets free time, he should also go to the Combat Training Virtual Space for some practice.

Even though he’s in a clerical position, it never hurts to improve his physical fitness a little.

"Master Mang, here."

Biaozi climbed out of the pit smoothly and handed the two items in his pocket to Master Mang.