Ten Days End Revised Edition

Chapter 12: Your Hometown

If the saying "rules are absolute" still applies to this second "game," then the words written on the mask must be the key to cracking it.But how can it be cracked?When will the harpoons be fired?"The clock never stops..."Could it mean "a quarter past"?Qi Xia turned his gaze to the clock on the desk. It was already 1:05, and if "a quarter past" was when the harpoons would be fired, there were less than ten minutes left."Turn towards your hometown and spin a hundred times..."Each of the nine people in the room had a different hometown, and "a hundred times" was no small task.If they were thinking in the wrong direction, they could easily waste these precious ten minutes.But in this room, besides themselves, what could be "turned"?Qi Xia's gaze landed on the clock at the center of the table.He leaned forward, lightly touching the clock, only to find it was firmly fixed to the table and could not be moved at all."The clock can't move, could it be the chair?"Qi Xia looked down at the chair beneath him. It was an old, moldy chair, simply placed on the floor with no mechanisms attached.In that case, there was only one thing left...Qi Xia looked at the round table in the center of the room and noticed something strange about it.The table couldn't be called a "round table" because it appeared to be a polygon, just with many sides, giving the impression of being round at first glance.He reached out and gave the tabletop a spin. Sure enough, a faint sound of chains came from within the table.But the table was heavy, and despite using considerable force, Qi Xia could only move it a few centimeters."A hundred spins..."This number could not possibly be achieved by just two or three people. The nine people in the room would need to work together to spin the table, and only then could they have a chance to survive.Lin Qin, keenly noticing Qi Xia’s actions, stopped everyone.The others moved to the table and saw that, indeed, the table could be turned."You're quite something, trickster." Qiao Jiajin nodded. "If we spin this table a hundred times, it should open the invisible door."Qi Xia glanced at the clock again. Although time was tight, the problem had become simpler.Turning the round table towards "home" a hundred times was really just two possibilities:Turn left, or turn right.But since everyone’s hometown was located in different directions—north, south, east, west—how could they know whether it should be left or right?"Qi Xia, do you already know when the harpoons will be fired?" Lin Qin asked, covering her mouth and nose."The hint said 'the clock never stops,' so I guess it will be at 1:15." Qi Xia said softly.Qiao Jiajin’s face changed after hearing this. "That means we have less than ten minutes left! Let’s start spinning!"Doctor Zhao moved the body that was lying on the table to the side and slowly sat down. He tested the weight of the table and said, "But we only have one chance. Spinning this heavy table a hundred times—what if we get the direction wrong?""Well, we still have a fifty percent chance of surviving!" Qiao Jiajin said urgently. "If we don’t do anything, we’re dead for sure. If we spin, we still have a fifty percent chance of living. Hurry up!"With that, he used all his strength to start spinning the table to the left.Though Qiao Jiajin appeared thin, he was very strong, and with just one person, he managed to spin the table half a turn."What are you waiting for?! D*mn it, help me!" Qiao Jiajin yelled at the others.The others knew Qiao Jiajin was right and reluctantly began helping him spin.There was no right answer yet; they could only take a gamble.However, Qi Xia remained still.He had no idea which direction to take.Left, or right?Why was the keyword "hometown" so important...?They were all Chinese, so could it be "east"?North is up, south is down, west is left, east is right... could the answer be "right"?But what about those whose hometowns were to the west?Or maybe everyone’s hometowns had something to do with the "Zuo Zhuan" from the Spring and Autumn period, meaning the answer was "left"?Qi Xia closed his eyes slightly. He had initially thought about using the two corpses to shield himself, but what if everyone else died and the next game came?"Now is not the time to abandon them."Qi Xia thought to himself, then reached out, grabbed a piece of white paper from the spinning table, picked up a pen, and walked to the side. He sat down in an empty space and began scribbling something on the paper.The others, though puzzled, didn’t stop what they were doing. The table had already been spun several dozen times."If he hadn't introduced himself as a 'trickster,' I’d think he was some kind of mathematician," Qiao Jiajin said to Tiantian.Tiantian had been feeling dizzy from her own spinning earlier and just nodded half-heartedly.This time, Qi Xia didn’t write down vertical formulas. Instead, he roughly sketched a map of the country."Hometown...?"His mind raced, and suddenly something clicked."Wait a minute..." Qi Xia’s eyes widened. "If the 'organizer' is so powerful that they can find people with similar experiences from so many provinces, then 'provinces' must be a key point?"He turned back and looked at the people still spinning the table. He asked seriously, "Did anyone lie about their hometowns earlier?"The others shook their heads.After all, hometowns were related to accents and expressions, and lying would easily expose a flaw."Good." Qi Xia nodded slightly. "Now, please go around and tell me your hometowns again."Officer Li was the first to speak. "I’m from Inner Mongolia."Qi Xia marked a black dot on the map where Inner Mongolia was."I’m from Western Sichuan," Lawyer Zhang Chenze said coldly."I’m from Shaanxi..." Tiantian said."From Dali in Yunnan," said kindergarten teacher Xiao Ran."Guangdong," Qiao Jiajin said."Ningxia," psychologist Lin Qin said."I work in Jiangsu," Doctor Zhao said.Qi Xia marked everyone’s hometowns on the map, and then wrote "Shandong" for himself.At this point, everyone’s gaze turned to the writer Han Yimo, as he hadn’t mentioned his hometown from the beginning."Han Yimo, are you from Guangxi or Taiwan?"Han Yimo froze. "How did you know?""Time is running out. Answer me now.""I’m from Guangxi..."Qi Xia nodded. There were only two provinces left for Han Yimo. Guangxi or Taiwan.If his answer wasn’t one of these two, it would mean he was lying.Fortunately, he told the truth.Qi Xia marked the last province on the map. Now, the sketch had nine black dots."As I thought."Qi Xia whispered, "Stop. Turn right.""Right?"Qi Xia quickly ran to the table, tossed the piece of paper onto it, and began spinning the table in the opposite direction.Although the others were confused, they followed his lead and spun with him.Doctor Zhao looked at the map on the table and the nine black dots."Why right?"