Chapter 013 Diary
I concentrate on calculating the numbers on the paper, and I may go astray. The patterns hidden between the numbers may be very simple, but it is difficult to think of. As long as I find the right path and door, the solution is right in front of me.
The number 6 starts with the number... Why is it so? These numbers appear in the bardo realm to trap the bardo body, so is it related to Wang Yue herself?
Wang Yue herself... My thoughts were free, recalling the time I had been dating her. What I remember most was one time when it was her birthday. After get off work that day, she mysteriously took her to a private room in a restaurant. I thought it was just a normal meal, but the lights suddenly dimmed and a waiter came in with a birthday cake. I was extremely shocked and asked her if it was her birthday. She nodded. I sighed and said to her, why didn't you tell me in advance so that I could prepare a gift. Wang Yue took my hand and said softly, Lin Cong, you are my best birthday gift.
After that day, I was completely immersed in a sweet feeling. It was at that time that I officially started dating Wang Yue.
I shook my head, trying to recall the scene of that day, and the day slowly emerged. I looked at the numbers on the paper, and suddenly realized something. I opened my phone and entered Baidu, wrote down the keywords in the search bar, and searched.
Ten minutes later, I heaved a sigh of relief and said to the others in the living room, "You two, I figured it out."
Uncle Zhong and Li Daming looked up at me. Li Daming seemed a little unconvinced: "You figured it out?"
I nodded. "Wang Yue was born in 1995, and is 24 years old this year. Her birthday is the sixth day of the fifth lunar month. The first 612 is her birthday when she was ten years old, which was in 2005, and the solar calendar was June 12. The second 601 is her birthday when she was eleven years old in 2006, which is June 1st in the solar calendar. Inferring from this, the missing set of numbers is her birthday when she was thirteen years old, which was the sixth day of the fifth lunar month in 2008, June 9, which is 609."
Li Daming looked carefully, slapped his head and said, "It's true."
"The answer is simple: her birthday according to the Gregorian calendar," I said.
Uncle Zhong said, "Then go back to the room now. I will use a spell to let you enter the room, and you tell her the result of the decryption."
Suddenly Li Daming waved his hand: "Wait!"
We looked at him, and he blinked and said, "I find it strange. Since the answer is Wang Yue's birthday, then as the person involved, she should know it better than anyone else. Why didn't she solve it herself?"
I said, "When I met Wang Yue in the bardo just now, she told me that she was also in a state of soul-leaving there. Because she had no physical body to support her, many of her memories and abilities were stripped away. This is why she sought help from outsiders."
Li Daming thought about it, seemed to want to say something but didn't say it, and nodded.
The three of us returned to the room. It was already two o'clock . After solving the numbers, I was exhausted, but I still persisted. Uncle Zhong performed a ritual, and I returned to the mirror again. This time it was strange. I didn't hear Wang Yue's recording playing. I walked forward ten steps by feeling, came to the wall, reached out and touched the groove and the bracelet.
"Wang Yue, are you there?" I asked.
"Here." A voice came from the other side of the wall.
"I've cracked the number," I said, "and it's 609. That's your birthday, May 6, 2008."
"Thirteen years old..." Wang Yue murmured, "My thirteen years old."
"I don't understand why you don't even know your birthday?" I asked, "Did you lose all your memories in the bardo?"
Wang Yue seemed to have thought of something. She was silent for a long time before she slowly said, "Lin Cong, thank you. Come back tomorrow night and have a good rest first."
Just as I was about to ask, I heard light footsteps coming from the wall. It seemed that Wang Yue had walked away. I struggled for a while, came out of the mirror, and told Uncle Zhong and Li Daming about the situation. Even an old man like Uncle Zhong was a little confused, so we could only talk about it tomorrow night.
It was already past two in the morning. I was so sleepy that I just rested on the sofa in Wang Yue's living room and fell asleep immediately. As for how the two of them solved the problem, I didn't care.
It was around ten in the morning when I woke up. I slept well without nightmares, but I felt uncomfortable all over. Li Daming woke up very early, saw me get up, and brought me a cup of hot water. I looked around but didn't see Uncle Zhong. I asked where he was. Li Daming told me that Uncle Zhong received a call from his daughter early in the morning and left in a hurry. He will come back in the evening.
I was a little dazed while drinking the hot water. Luckily, today was Sunday, so I could have a day off. If I had to work like this every day in the middle of the night, I didn't know how long I could last. I was exhausted from working during the day, and couldn't sleep at night to solve puzzles. No one is made of iron.
I told Li Daming about this concern, and he was surprised: "You still want to go to work? Why not just take a week off? You still have annual leave. You are so careless. Have you ever thought that if you can't make it through these seven days, you will end up as an idiot?"
He has a point.
We spent a day at Wang Yue's house. Li Daming was very interested in checking every room and the things inside, especially Wang Yue's study. He read almost every book and forgot to eat and sleep. I was not happy with his behavior, but I did not stop him. Maybe I could find some clues.
At night, Uncle Zhong came back with a bad look on his face, probably because he had encountered something unpleasant. Although he is so capable, every family has its own problems, and he may not be able to handle all the things at home.
Uncle Zhong took us into the bedroom and started the ritual. I entered the mirror again, walked to the wall, tentatively touched the bracelet with my hand, and said, Wang Yue, are you there?
"Yes." Wang Yue reacted immediately.
"Are you at the second level now?" I asked.
"Yes. I went into a new room and got stuck here and couldn't get out," she said.
I finally asked the question I had been holding back for a day: "What kind of space do you have there? Rooms within rooms?"
"I can't explain it clearly." Wang Yue said, "You can't understand it either. To put it simply, this place is like a huge maze with various spaces, not just rooms, but also outdoors, corridors, underground passages, secret rooms, palaces, prisons, etc."
My throat gurgled. “Is this place designed?”
Wang Yue sighed: "Lin Cong, everything has a creator, not just the bardo realm. Aren't you and I also created? We are all in the creation."
I shook my head slightly, not agreeing with her statement. This question already had some philosophical meaning, and it was hard to explain it in a short time. I should hurry up and get down to business. "Tell me, what should we do next?"
"There is a switch in the room I'm in, and there's a sentence written on it." Her voice suddenly trembled: "That's the key to cracking the code."
I quickly asked, what did you say?
She said: "It said 'The answers you need are in the person you hate the most.'"
I was stunned, my breath was rapid, and I asked what that meant?
"It means exactly what it says." Wang Yue said, "If you want to find the person I hate the most, the answer is him!"
I asked in confusion: "Who do you hate the most?"
Wang Yue was silent for a moment, then said something inexplicable: "Do you want to know what happened when I was thirteen ?"
I blinked quickly. The birthday number of thirteen is the key to cracking the first mechanism. I thought that I had passed the previous level and this matter was over. Why did Wang Yue bring it up again?
Wang Yue said: "Lin Cong, there is a diary in my study. It records what happened when I was thirteen years old. The person I hate the most is in it! Lin Cong, remember, you only have one day to find him. You must tell me the answer tomorrow night . Otherwise, I will be trapped in this secret room and will never get out."
Before I could ask further, her voice disappeared. No matter how much I asked, there was no response. I came out of my trance. Uncle Zhong held a candle in the black smoke and asked me how I was. I told him everything that happened just now and the conversation with Wang Yue.
"Diary?" Li Daming said from the side, "It seems that there really is such a diary."
I hurried him to bring it over. We went outside, and Uncle Zhong and I waited in the living room. Not long after, Li Daming came over with a diary. This diary was old, made of kraft paper , with some bills and newspaper clippings inside, like a hodgepodge of memories.
"Have you seen it? What happened when Wang Yue was thirteen years old?" I asked.
Li Daming smiled bitterly: "I saw this book during the day, but I didn't realize it was a diary. After flipping through it, there was no date at all. I thought it was an essay. You know, I hate reading this kind of whining stuff, so I put it back where it was."
"You have to watch it even if you don't like it." Uncle Zhong said, "Let's find out what happened when Wang Yue was thirteen years old."
He sat in the middle of the sofa with his diary in his hand. Li Daming and I sat on either side. He turned the pages one by one, and the three of us read together. After reading less than ten pages, Uncle Zhong became impatient and said, "You're too slow."
"I have a way." Li Daming took the diary and took out a paper cutter from the drawer. In front of us, he cut the diary into three parts along the middle with a few strokes.
I was furious: “What are you doing?!”
