Chapter 25: Knocking Guest House (X)

"No time left, we have to move fast!"

Zhou Ke and Li Hua worked their fingers in tandem, tearing away at the cement wall as if peeling a hard-boiled egg, covering themselves in lime and rubble. Thanks to Linghu Shiyu's "Truth," they faced little resistance and quickly revealed the reality hidden behind the wall.

It was a real door.

Forged entirely from a cold-toned alloy, it was a double-door that opened from the center. To describe it in high-end terms, it resembled the blast door of a sci-fi laboratory; in layman's terms, it was like the door to an old apartment elevator. It was tightly shut, and on its right side were digital buttons and a line of small text imprinted on the frame.

[The first is the constant number, the second is the number that has changed, and the third is the number about to change.]

It was so brief, so cryptic.

"A riddle, of all things?!" Li Hua was frantic, pulling at his hair.

This impregnable iron door stood as a barrier to their hearts, cutting off their last hope. Behind them came the sounds of the steel door being slammed and torn—a cacophony of struggle, mingled with the wailing and mourning of ghosts. The overwhelming noise made it impossible to think.

"Ugh!"

And yet, that wasn't the worst of it. As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. Just as they felt mocked by the appearance of the new door, a scream flew toward them from the distance.

Zhou Ke looked back just in time to see Louis tumble hard onto the staircase. Louis lay on his back, his skull striking the concrete steps, eyes rolling back, his curly hair limp and matted, blood flowing upward from his mouth to his eyes and forehead. Even without checking, it was clear he had lost consciousness.

Looking up at the stairs, the shadows of the malevolent aura filled the entire corridor. A pair of blood-red eyes swiveled within hollow, withered sockets. The Doorbell Ghost had not only fully recovered but had grown even stronger; its gaunt form now towered over three meters tall.

"This is going to be difficult..." Zhou Ke muttered, but Li Hua patted his shoulder with a grave expression.

"Ke, it's up to you now."

Zhou Ke had expected the guy to cower in the back, but to his surprise, Li Hua stepped forward and charged straight at the Doorbell Ghost.

Li Hua was, of course, not possessed of lion-hearted courage; he knew full well that doing this would almost certainly lead to a gruesome death. But so what? He knew his wits weren't as sharp as Zhou Ke's—he couldn't solve the riddle, so how could he let Zhou Ke try to solve it while simultaneously fighting the Doorbell Ghost?

He didn't want to stand out. He wanted to cower behind everyone else and be a self-serving, useless scumbag. But! But he was the only one left who could step up!

"Hey, don't die too soon."

Watching the back of the man who walked up the stairs empty-handed, Zhou Ke instantly understood Li Hua's resolve. He no longer worried about the danger behind him and turned his focus to the puzzle.

"Heh, heh, heh! I don't mourn the defeat of the exhibitionist pervert for even a second! The one rushing to the battlefield now is the 180th successor of 'No-Holds-Barred Fighting' and 'Mad Dog Fist,' Li Hua!"

Li Hua took a deep breath, suppressing his trembling fingertips. As the "Truth" manifested, various combat techniques targeting the human body became clear to him.

"First move: If you can run, don't fight. Not applicable."

"Then skip to the second move." Li Hua glared at the terrifying Doorbell Ghost with the ferocity of a rabid dog. He raised his tightly clenched right fist and, with lightning speed, flung the lime he had hidden in his palm: "Sand-blinding eye attack!"

Ordinary lime powder couldn't touch a spirit; it passed straight through those blood-red eyes and out the back of the head. Still, it wasn't entirely useless—it caused the Doorbell Ghost to falter for a split second, slowing its descending claws.

Taking advantage of that fraction of a second, Li Hua narrowly dodged the attack, shrinking his frame and sliding between the Ghost's legs in a posture that looked almost like begging for mercy. He scrambled through without a shred of dignity and didn't bother standing up; instead, he frantically searched the floor for a sharp fragment of the steel door. "Yield! You demoness, don't blame me! This is legitimate self-defense!"

Before the Doorbell Ghost could turn around, he summoned all his strength and plunged the steel shard into the enemy's lower half—a "door-breaking" move against the door-haunting entity.

"Third move: Strike the crotch!"

Li Hua shouted the crude technique name with such imposing, righteous momentum that the scene was as jarring as it was absurd.

"I take back that tiny shred of respect I just felt for you; I despise you even more now." Zhou Ke coolly flipped him the international gesture of politeness.

"Despise me, my foot! If you don't hurry up and solve the riddle, what am I supposed to do when I get a taste of my own medicine?! Daddy is panicking right now, okay?!" Li Hua kept his eyes shut, stomping his feet in rage. As for why his eyes were closed—the lime he’d thrown earlier had drifted back into them.

"You saying that actually reminds me—maybe I should just wait and finish the show before opening the door." Zhou Ke flashed a wicked grin. Honestly, with his intense curiosity, he did want to see someone get their rear end handed to them by a ghost. But given that such restricted content couldn't be broadcast, he reluctantly let it go and turned back to the puzzle.

"The first is the constant number... this hotel really loves numbers." The first question wasn't difficult; Zhou Ke quickly recalled the celestial patterns he had seen from the corridor window last night.

"The Gate of the 'Ghost-Gold-Sheep,' the second mansion of the south, like a crown worn on the head of the Vermilion Bird." He wasn't knowledgeable about astronomy, but he remembered what Louis had said when they first met.

Therefore, Zhou Ke pressed "2" without hesitation. The celestial patterns were constant; the second mansion of the south corresponded to the number 2.

"The second is the number that has changed... if this 'change' refers to the history of astronomy, I definitely wouldn't be able to solve it."

"However." Zhou Ke looked at the hint for the third number, his lips curling into a knowing smirk. "Combined with this final number that is about to change... hmph, this is almost too simple. Am I being underestimated?"

He extended his index and middle fingers, pressing the buttons "4" and "0" in succession.

4 was the changed number, referring to the number of people currently alive—the original seven had become four. 0 was the number about to change, because regardless of whether they succeeded or failed, whether they lived or died, the number of people remaining here would become 0.

Both numbers referred to the count of people. Separately, they would be hard to guess, but placed together, they were connected. That was why Zhou Ke said it was too simple.

Solving the puzzle took less than five seconds. As the three buttons clicked into place, the alloy door began to open slowly.

It also signified that 240 was the password, and the final answer.