"First task completed by Li Shiji."
These words appeared on the iris chips of every Train Crew member exploring the abandoned factory.
This greatly boosted the confidence of Lao Zhu and the others, who had been somewhat tense earlier!
There had been some concern initially, as there were a total of thirty-six tasks. But shortly after entering the abandoned factory, Li Shiji had already completed the first one, lightening the previously oppressive atmosphere considerably.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Biao Zi... Biao Zi..."
The abandoned factory was vast, and everyone had spread out to explore. Biao Zi entered the basement level, carefully examining his surroundings. This floor was piled with large-capacity containers, long abandoned, with dust and spiderwebs clinging together and drooping from the edges.
Biao Zi muttered nervously to himself for encouragement, his eyes fixed on every corner. He wasn't just looking for tasks but also trying to memorize every detail he saw to avoid missing any clues.
Just then—
A shrill telephone ring abruptly shattered the silence of the floor.
"Ring, ring."
The sudden noise disrupted the quiet instantly!
Biao Zi spun around toward the source, clutching his Tidal Gatling Gun. He saw an old-fashioned wall-mounted landline phone ringing incessantly.
"Who still uses these old landlines nowadays? Is the Mechanical Civilization this nostalgic..."
He took a deep breath and noticed a pale yellow question mark beside the phone.
Stepping forward, he picked up the receiver.
"Hello? Can you check if Old Zhang has arrived yet? Over here, we've already—"
The line was filled with static.
Only the first half of the sentence was audible; the rest was drowned out by harsh electrical noise.
"Old Zhang?"
After the call ended, Biao Zi anxiously scanned his surroundings. He didn't even know what the task was about—was he supposed to find Old Zhang? There shouldn't be any living people left in this Mechanical factory, right?
The next moment—
A message appeared on the iris chips of all Train Crew members inside the abandoned factory.
"Biao Zi has triggered a task: Locate Old Zhang. Provide any relevant clues promptly."
Soon.
Several more lines of text flashed across Biao Zi's iris chip.
"The Third Squad Leader of the Guardians reported seeing Old Zhang's business card on the security room desk at the factory entrance. He specializes in Mechanical repairs and was likely called to fix the giant gear assembly in the central control room. I've already contacted the nearest person to retrieve the card's information from the security room."
"Hold on."
"Found it. The card has Old Zhang's contact number: xxx-3148. No other details are available."
"The first three digits are obscured by coffee stains. Still unclear... Wait... Lao Zhu has entered the central control room. There's another business card there—the first three digits are 652."
"Thanks!"
Biao Zi took a deep breath and thanked him before picking up the phone again to dial the number. No one answered on the other end, and the call automatically disconnected after 45 seconds.
But—
The pale yellow question mark on the wall had now turned into a green exclamation point.
Clearly, the task was to find Old Zhang's phone number and call it.
"Second task, Biao Zi completed."
"Awesome!"
Biao Zi excitedly punched the air in self-encouragement. He felt like he was getting the hang of it and was starting to gain confidence, especially with Director Ai's assistance. Under his guidance, they would merge into a cohesive unit, sharing clues and information with each other.
Abandoned Factory, Central Control Room.
The control room had glass walls on three sides, with only a single console inside, positioned high above. Below the control room was a vast underground space housing several massive gear assemblies, though all were currently inactive.
"Nothing here except this vending machine."
Lao Zhu stared at the vending machine in the central control room and said urgently, "Director Ai, ask if anyone has any coins."
The vending machine's casing bore a pale yellow question mark.
"Team One member Shan Mao Zi has been instructed to retrace his steps and retrieve the coin on the employee dormitory table. The fastest route to this location has been mapped for him."
Xiao Ai's message quickly appeared before Lao Zhu's eyes.
Every Train Crew member sent to explore wore a Mechanical Eye on their chest, back, and both sides of their waist. Everywhere the crew walked, all visual data would be fed into Xiao Ai's database, allowing him to immediately analyze any clues they passed.
About five minutes later.
Hurried footsteps echoed outside the central control room. Soon, Shan Mao Zi pushed open the door, panting heavily, and held up a coin in the air. "Train Conductor Zhu, here!"
Lao Zhu quickly took the coin and approached the vending machine. Glancing down, he saw it was labeled "100." He randomly selected an item priced exactly at 100 and inserted the coin.
"Clink."
The sound of metal striking metal rang out inside the machine. The screen slowly displayed a line of text before spitting the coin back out.
"Insufficient change, unable to return."
"Please insert a 5-point coin."
Almost simultaneously.
A message appeared again on the Iris Chips of all exploring Train Crew members.
"Need a 5-point coin. Everyone, keep an eye out for clues."
"Let's check other places first, move!"
Lao Zhu didn't linger either. He strode out of the central control room with Shan Mao Zi, splitting up again. He had already searched here—there was no 5-point coin. It had to be hidden in some corner elsewhere. Staying here waiting wouldn't help. They could return to search again once they found it.
"Zhang Da Mei, the family photo on the ground by your left foot has many holes, like they were poked with a screwdriver. It's probably a clue. Pick it up and check the back for any information."
"Let me see... 'They all deserve to die, betraying me...'"
"Pocket it."
"Try to explore every area first. I'm compiling a 3D map of the factory based on your visual data, but some parts don't match up. There are hidden rooms in this factory—more than one."
"Biao Zi, the safe embedded in the wall in front of you—it's probably not a safe. According to the data, there should be a 20-square-meter hidden room behind this wall. Since this is an office, it's most likely a secret rendezvous spot. Try entering the factory director and his mistress's birthdates."
"Zhang Da Mei, the woman in that family photo of yours might be the factory owner's mistress. See if you can find her birthdate."
"Found it!"
Li Shiji stood in the archives, quickly flipping through paper files: "The man in that family photo is Old Zhang, an outsourced maintenance worker for the factory. The woman is his wife, not a formal employee."
"Every time Old Zhang came for repairs, he brought his wife along."
"His wife's birthdate is—"
"April 27, 7229."
"Let me try."
Standing in the factory director's office, Biao Zi looked at the safe's password panel on the wall and entered the numbers. The wall-embedded safe had originally been concealed behind a painting and blocked by a bookshelf.
Had he not searched thoroughly, he might never have found it.
Beside the safe, a pale yellow question mark was printed on the wall.
72290427.
After entering and confirming the code, the safe's indicator light turned green. Then the wall containing the safe began to recede inward, revealing an accessible private space.
"There really is a hidden room."
Biao Zi quickly scanned the room, where the pale yellow question mark on the wall had also turned green.
"Sixth task, Biao Zi complete."
Inside the room was only a large bed, a washroom, and a floor-to-ceiling window. The glass appeared slightly darkened, like one-way glass.
You could only see out from inside.
Outside, you couldn't see in.
He walked to the window, where from this angle he could overlook the massive gear assembly at the center of the abandoned factory. There were two bloody handprints on the glass, and the floor was covered in dried bloodstains.
Following the stains, he turned to a wardrobe nearby.
Opening it,
he found all the clothes piled in a corner. At the bottom of the wardrobe was a tightly clutched photograph.
A secretly taken photo.
Slightly blurry, it had been shot through the gap in the wardrobe door. In the picture, a petite woman was pressed against the glass, with an extremely obese man standing behind her.
In the corner of the photo was a 5-point coin.
"Director Ai, contact Lao Zhu. I found that coin."
"And I have a new lead."
Biao Zi's voice was excited and hurried: "Clearly, before this factory was completely abandoned, the perverted director often deliberately damaged the 'giant gear assembly,' called Old Zhang in for repairs, then brought Old Zhang's wife into this hidden room—forcing her to watch her husband struggling with the repairs below."
"Then Old Zhang found out, grabbed a knife, and blood was spilled on the spot!"
"But—"
"When this photo was taken, Old Zhang must have been working on the giant gear assembly below. Otherwise, the director wouldn't have needed to bring the woman here, and her face wouldn't have shown that strange mix of guilt and uncontrollable emotion."
"In other words, Old Zhang had drafted a murder plan—while he was doing repairs downstairs to create an alibi for himself, he had someone else hide here in advance to commit the murder."
"And even took photographic evidence. This person must have had emotional ties with either the factory director or his wife, otherwise they wouldn't have clutched the photo so tightly. It's a subconscious reaction under emotional stress. My guess is it's most likely the factory director's original wife!"
"Your deduction is excellent."
Biao Zi's iris chip displayed Director Ai's praise.
Shortly after.
Xiao Ai relayed this information to everyone.
"Everyone, pay attention to traces of the factory director's wife. This could very well be a new task and an important clue."
"And Lao Zhu, your 5-point coin has been found. The optimal route has been planned for you. Please proceed to the factory director's office immediately."
"Heh."
Biao Zi glanced at the countdown—five and a half hours left. They had already completed six tasks. Finishing the remaining thirty in five and a half hours seemed almost too easy.
Excited, he lit a cigarette and crouched on the floor to peer under the bed.
He was feeling great.
Even better than when he first cleared "Biohazard" on Extreme Difficulty!
He had never imagined he could one day rely on his brains. He was already so strong as a pure brute—now with a bit of intelligence, he couldn't help but wonder if God had been too generous with him. How could so many advantages be packed into one person? It was almost embarrassing.
Abandoned Factory.
Inside the archives room, Li Shiji was rapidly flipping through all the paper records. Though there were no tasks here, there might be plenty of clues.
The factory director had an affair with the wife of an outsourced repairman.
Then deliberately designed a secret room to watch the husband repairing while he carried on the affair.
Could this be true love?
Absolutely not.
Pure perversion.
In that case, why use his mistress's birthdate as the password?
There must be something fishy here!
Meanwhile.
Inside the Stellar Train compartment, Chen Mang's face was flushed red as he kept making strange noises.
"Mmm! Mmm!!! Mmm-hmm!!!"
"Mmm-hmm!!!"
By now, the first wave of zombies had all been wiped out—without using any Firepower Accessories, just the Car Blade. It was now rest time, and in one minute, the second wave of Level 2 zombies would attack!
Standing inside the train compartment, Xiao Ai glanced at Chen Mang, meeting his gaze. The words "confused" and "puzzled" appeared on his face, unsure why the Train Conductor was making such odd sounds.
He looked around.
Ji Chuchu hadn't come in, and Xiao Fang was standing obediently to the side. What was wrong with the Train Conductor? Was he... getting off on his own?
After waiting a moment and seeing the Train Conductor say nothing more, Xiao Ai refocused most of his energy on the abandoned factory. That side was more critical right now—he had to devote more processing power and attention there!
"Cough! Cough! Cough!!!"
But then the sound of the Train Conductor's violent coughing rang in his ears again.
"Train Conductor, maybe you should visit the Medical Bay?"
"Damn it all!"
Chen Mang turned to the floor-to-ceiling window beside the train compartment, his face dark with anger. He slammed his palm against the glass and roared, "These damn mosquitoes! They're so damn annoying! Damn it!!"
"Why are there always mosquitoes here?!"
"Damn it all!"
Xiao Ai walked over to Chen Mang in a daze, instinctively looking at the glass the Train Conductor had slapped and then out the window. Outside the train, numerous Zombie corpses were piled up, their mangled flesh strewn about. Among them, only one relatively intact corpse stood out starkly.
The other Zombies were all naked, their bodies covered in shredded flesh, but this one was dressed in what looked like a maintenance worker's uniform.
Quickly snapping out of his confusion, Xiao Ai urgently contacted Shan Mao Zi, who was closest to the factory.
"Shan Mao Zi, return to the train immediately! There's a Zombie corpse outside—it might be Old Zhang, the maintenance worker!"
"Phew..."
Chen Mang's furrowed brows gradually relaxed as he weakly walked back to the control panel, letting out a long sigh. His eyes vacant, he slumped into the chair and lit a cigarette, looking utterly exhausted.
It was agonizing—having something to say but not daring to speak, like holding in a fart. He couldn't risk giving too obvious a hint, afraid of being flagged for cheating and failing the mission.
This level didn't allow the Train Conductor to participate. It was a test of the collective strength of everyone on the train except the Train Conductor. But missing such a crucial clue would make clearing the level impossible!
So... he had no choice but to hint at it this way.
Thankfully, the message got through in the end. Otherwise, he'd have dismantled the Train Auxiliary AI the moment he got out. Damn it—this had been driving him crazy!
"Found it!"
In the archives room, Li Shiji, kneeling on the floor amidst piles of hastily flipped-through and chaotic files, finally spotted a notice in one of them.
"Wang Ziru married the factory director's daughter and inherited the position of factory director from the old director."
"His ex-girlfriend, heartbroken, left the factory."
"The truth is out."
Li Shiji murmured, his lips slightly pale: "The factory director and the maintenance worker's wife must have been genuinely in love at first. But for the sake of his future, the director abandoned his girlfriend and married the old director's daughter—riding on her coattails."
"Yet, deep down, he still loved her, using her birthday as the password for his secret love nest."
"Some time later..."
"When maintenance worker Old Zhang came to the factory to repair equipment, the director realized the woman he'd abandoned was now Old Zhang's wife. The two locked eyes, and old flames reignited, sparking an affair."
"The story flows smoothly..."
"But where can these clues be used?"
Meanwhile—
On another hidden front, a level-17 Mechanical Train sat in the square, its ceiling covered with tens of thousands of "Glass Cabins" filled with various mechanical organs.
A Bald Man sat grim-faced inside the train, staring up at the ceiling.
His deduction was correct.
The Glass Cabin above was indeed a matching game, but it required a level-20 attack to clear. By now, his train had exhausted all its resources—both Iron Ore and Copper Ore were gone. Nearly 70,000 Glass Cabins had been cleared.
Yet, new ones kept pouring in endlessly, as if inexhaustible.
"At most, 100,000."
The man muttered. 100,000 was a round number. If this Serendipity Map wasn't entirely a scam, there should be exactly 100,000 Medical Pods. The problem was, his train had no resources left at all.
The reserve resources in his Train were already considerable, but here they were completely insufficient.
The other nineteen Trains were all holograms, all fake.
"I wonder if the other Trains have passed this level yet."
The man looked across the cliff, a trace of unwillingness flashing in his eyes. He had already deduced the solution correctly, but was stuck here due to lack of resources. Wasn't this supposed to be a puzzle map? Right now, he felt like...
The final math problem in the college entrance exam—he knew the answer, but his pen had run out of ink.
This feeling was even more disgusting than eating a cockroach raw.
It would have been better not to know the answer at all—then he could have accepted it peacefully.
But he didn't choose to give up.
He still jumped out of the Train cabin and began searching the square for other clues. This Serendipity Map couldn't possibly demand such high resource reserves from the Train. Maybe there was a large deposit of Copper Ore somewhere—he just had to find it.
"Up, up, down, down..."
A level-17 Flesh Train was parked inside a cage where the walls were embedded with hundreds of thousands of human faces. Two enormous tentacles extending from the Flesh Train were rapidly scanning each face one by one.
"Nine ups, three downs."
"And the ground is engraved with '1892,' so the correct sound frequency should be 11352."
The young boy sitting inside the Train cabin smiled.
"Not too hard, barely any pressure."
He thought he must be the fastest—no doubt about it. It seemed he could steadily advance to the third level without issue. The only question was whether he'd be first or fifth.
Only the top five could enter the third level.
The next moment—
"Beep, beep, beep!"
As his Flesh Train emitted a piercing sound, all the faces embedded in the walls closed their eyes, and the wall ahead slowly opened, revealing a Train Tunnel.
The Train entered the tunnel and moved forward, emerging to see an abandoned factory.
A glowing screen appeared before him.
-
"Congratulations, Pioneer. Making it this far is proof enough of your strength."
"But—"
"A Train is a collective. If only the Train Conductor exerts effort, this Train will never reach its full potential. Talent reserves are an inhuman demand in the apocalypse—yet they are also an absolute necessity."
"What comes next will be... fun."
"You."
"."
"In this level, the Train Conductor must remain aboard the Train and may not enter the factory."
"In fifteen minutes, the first wave of the Corpse Tide will arrive."
-
As he read the glowing screen, the smile on the young boy's face gradually froze. His gaze fixed on the line of fine print:
"The Train Conductor must remain aboard the Train and may not enter the factory."
He glanced at his Train Crew count: zero. The entire Train consisted of only him. Where would a Flesh Train get residents from?
After a long silence.
He finally tried speaking hoarsely, "Hey, I'm a Flesh Train. If you don't let me disembark, how am I supposed to clear this level? Aren't there any adjustments for Flesh Trains?"
"Hey, hey, can you hear me? I said I'm a Flesh Train—there are no residents inside the Train. Did you not consider Flesh Trains when designing the Serendipity Map?"
"Are Flesh Trains the Mom's least favorite child?"
He didn't know who he was talking to.
Nor whether anyone could hear him.
But...
He still hoped to struggle as much as possible. After all, he had passed the first two levels so quickly and smoothly—surely he wouldn't be stuck here just like that?
He pleaded many times, begged repeatedly, and waited for fifteen minutes.
No response came.
But what did arrive was the first wave of the Corpse Tide.
"Damn it, I'm talking to you!!!"
The young man completely ignored the oncoming Corpse Tide, his face flushed with agitation as he roared, "If you won't let me get off the damn train, how am I supposed to clear this level, huh? Tell me that!"
"That damned Tuotuo Princess of yours—did she even consider Flesh Trains when designing the Serendipity Map?"
"Aren't Flesh Trains people too?"
"The Train Profession Change never said Flesh Trains aren't people! Why do we Flesh Trains have to suffer such unfair treatment when we're just like any other train?"
"And that godforsaken Neon City Serendipity Map—why can't Corpse Meat be exchanged for Stellar Coupons? Where the hell am I supposed to dig for Iron Ore?"
"If you're going to target Flesh Trains like this, why not just delete us outright?!"
Still, no one responded.
Silent treatment always cut the deepest.
Even if the screen had just insulted him, he'd at least feel a little better.
Every punch he threw landed on cotton—that powerless, sinking feeling pushed him to the brink of collapse. Without another thought, he leaped off the train, determined to force his way into the Mechanical Abandoned Factory.
But the moment his left foot crossed the threshold...
A screen flickered before his eyes.
-
「Train Conductor has entered the Mechanical Abandoned Factory, violating the rules. Mission automatically failed.」
「A Portal will open in ten seconds and close after one minute. Please exit promptly to avoid unforeseen incidents.」
-
"..."
The young man froze at the factory entrance, then turned to watch the rapidly retreating Corpse Tide. Despair and resentment filled his eyes. Why... just why?
This is discrimination!
Why discriminate against Flesh Trains?!
If he'd known it would be like this, he'd rather have failed the first level outright. Now it felt like he'd gone to take the imperial exams—he knew every answer, his brush moved with divine inspiration, his mind brimming with solutions.
His inkwell was full.
Everything was perfect.
All he had to do was submit his paper, and he'd be the top scholar, his life set for glory.
But...
Just as he was about to write his name, they told him he couldn't—because his skin was black. Who could he even complain to?
He really wanted to cry.
So badly.
"...Everyone's holding steady."
At the first checkpoint, a man sitting in the train compartment of the square glanced at the nineteen motionless trains around him and sneered. "Since no one's in a hurry, let's all wait it out. See who cracks first."
They had 48 hours to clear the level.
Three or four hours had already passed.
From the start, every train had remained parked here, unmoving. Though he couldn't see the expressions of the other Train Conductors in their compartments, he knew what they were all thinking—waiting for some bold soul to fly across the cliff and scout the situation.
He sure as hell wasn't going to be that sacrificial lamb.
They could all just keep waiting.
Only the top five to clear the level would advance to the third round. With everyone stuck here, why should he rush? They could wait till the end of time!
"One more hour."
Inside the Stellar Train compartment, Chen Mang murmured as he studied the control panel. Five hours had passed since the mission began. A new wave of Zombies was approaching—41 Viper Unmanned Fighters circled overhead, unleashing a barrage on the 1,000 Level 16 Zombies.
The Zombies now were all Level 16.
The train could hold out for at most another hour—that was the absolute limit. Beyond that, it would be nearly impossible to sustain, as ammunition was running critically low.
He turned his gaze to the screen displaying Lao Zhu and the others exploring.
For this level, he had to remain stationed inside the train. The mission requirement stated, "The Train Conductor must remain on the train," without explicitly mentioning whether he could issue commands. But he didn't want to push his luck. Biao Zi and the others were performing well enough without his interference.
From start to finish, he had only intervened once—to remind Xiao Ai to take away the Zombie corpse—and hadn't spoken up since.
And now—
Only three tasks remained.
Completing three tasks in an hour seemed feasible, especially since they had blazed through six tasks in just half an hour at the start. It had been an incredibly smooth opening.
However.
The reality was that they had been stuck on these last three tasks for the past two hours. One of them had yielded no clues whatsoever, while the other two hadn't even been located.
Yes, they hadn't even found where those two tasks were hidden.
The entire Mechanical Abandoned Factory had been turned upside down in the search, yet nothing had turned up. Even the secret rooms marked in the 3D map Xiao Ai had drawn had all been checked—still no trace of the remaining tasks.
"Keep going..."
At this point, all Chen Mang could do was silently cheer them on. He had already envisioned both the celebration if they succeeded and the words of comfort if they failed. Which scenario would unfold? He didn't know. All he could do was try his best.
He had no clue where those last two tasks were hidden either.
Turning his head, he looked outside the train and refocused on fending off the enemy. The monsters were gradually increasing in level, making it impossible to rely on the train's automated defenses. He had to take manual control with precision. The rest was up to Biao Zi and the others—whether a miracle would happen was now in fate's hands.
Time to light some incense for the heavens.
Inside the Mechanical Abandoned Factory.
Lao Zhu and Biao Zi met in the factory's core area, staring at the massive gear assemblies before them. Their expressions darkened as they exchanged glances and shook their heads in unison. Three tasks were still left.
One task had no leads whatsoever.
That task was located among the giant gear assemblies at the factory's center. On the steel surface of one gear, a faint yellow question mark was imprinted.
What the clue meant, they didn't know.
Nor did they know what they were supposed to do.
As for the other two tasks, they were completely missing.
"One hour left," Biao Zi rasped, his voice strained. "We're running out of time. Maybe we should tell Lord Mang to let all the Train Residents in to help search for clues. At this point, there probably aren't any clues left to ruin."
The reason they hadn't allowed so many people in initially was precisely to avoid damaging potential clues—like coins or other small items. With too many people trampling around, who knew where such things might get kicked.
"No," Lao Zhu shook his head. "Haven't you noticed? These 36 tasks are all interconnected. If we bring the Train Residents in now, we'd have to recap the entire storyline for them. A crowd flooding into the factory would definitely destroy some clues."
"Let's keep looking. There are only three tasks left—we must have missed something."
Just then—
A message appeared on the iris chips of all Train Crew members who had come to explore.
"Li Shiji found a notice issued by the factory director in the archives, searching for his lost password diary. That was the most recent notice, meaning it was likely the last one issued before the factory's downfall. Everyone, pay attention to the clue about the diary."
"The diary?"
Biao Zi was momentarily stunned, then turned his head toward the massive gear assembly nearby, his voice involuntarily rising: "Right! Didn't they say the factory director often deliberately sabotaged the giant gear assembly? If this thing was severely damaged, the factory would shut down, causing massive losses."
"If the damage was minor, the factory had in-house maintenance workers—no need to hire Old Zhang at all."
"So there must be some method to damage this giant gear assembly just right, and this method was probably recorded by the factory director in his diary."
"Once we find the diary, we'll complete this mission!"
The two exchanged glances, seeing excitement and renewed hope in each other's eyes, and hurriedly strode out of the core area together!
"Would the diary really record something like that? Do people actually write the truth in their diaries?" Lao Zhu said hurriedly.
"Wasn't it a password notebook? It was locked."
"Who could have stolen it?!"
"Definitely Old Zhang."
"We already searched Old Zhang's body—no diary was found."
"He must have handed it over to someone else. Like when he tried to recruit the factory director's wife, he'd need some evidence, right? To convince her that her husband was really cheating. That diary was probably the evidence—the factory director recorded his dirty deeds in it. So the diary must be with his wife now."
"Damn! That makes perfect sense. The logic is flawless and fits all the clues. Biao Zi, how did you suddenly have this epiphany?"
"Epiphanies don't count as cheating."
"But the factory director's wife doesn't live in the employee dorm. Where could she have hidden the diary? Surely not at her own home? We can't go there—this area only has this one factory."
"It must be in the factory, but hidden in some obscure corner. Somewhere no one would find, and the factory director would never look. Let me think... Could it be in the 'Processing Department'?"
"The Processing Department?"
"When I met Li Shiji, he was in the archives. I skimmed through and noticed one detail: before becoming director, the factory director was an employee in the Processing Department and was constantly bullied. So after taking office, he always gave the old Processing Department employees a hard time and refused to set foot in that department."
"Biao Zi."
"Yeah?"
"You've really transformed. I'm starting to see you in a new light."
"Not bad, I guess. I don't know why, but I used to hesitate to voice my theories. Now I feel more and more confident, daring to speak up. Before, I was always afraid of making a fool of myself."
"It's 'making a fool of oneself.'"
"Oh, I prefer 'fool of the four directions.'"
The Mechanical Abandoned Factory's Processing Department was a shed filled with automated assembly line machines. Most of the crew had gathered here, turning the place upside down.
It had already been searched many times.
But under the carpet-like search, they actually found a password-protected diary hidden inside a machine tool.
It was marked with a pale yellow question mark.
"Found it!"
Biao Zi took a deep breath: "But obviously, this diary can't be opened directly—it requires a password. Do you have any clues?"
"Try 72290427," Li Shiji spoke up.
"That's Xiao San's birthday, which was already used to unlock the safe room's combination lock. The diary can't possibly have the same password." Biao Zi tried entering the string, and sure enough, it prompted an incorrect password with four attempts remaining.
"Only four chances left."
He hesitated before continuing, "First, this diary was definitely stolen by Old Zhang. After reading its contents, Old Zhang handed it over to the factory director's wife."
"And this diary shows no signs of forced entry!"
"That means—"
"The password must be something Old Zhang could guess!"
"So as long as we go through Old Zhang's character profile, I think we can start from there."
He glanced at the countdown—only 50 minutes left. The sound of artillery fire outside the factory and the growls of Zombies made him slightly anxious: "Time's running out. Only fifty minutes left."
"Once we crack this diary's password, we'll have just one last task left!"
"A password Old Zhang could guess..."
The Third Squad Leader quietly repeated the phrase before speaking up: "Could it be the factory director's birthday or something?"
"I think it might be the day the director rose to power."
Lao Zhu said softly, "Before climbing the ranks by marrying up, this director was just a low-level factory worker. So the day he rose to power should be more memorable to him!"
"Possible. Let's try both."
After entering both passwords, the diary flashed red twice in a row, meaning both attempts were wrong.
"Only two more chances left."
Biao Zi shook his head with a grimace: "Everyone, if we fail this mission, we won't have the face to return to Lord Mang. We just had a banquet in Neon City the day before yesterday—failing today would make us all look terrible."
"Could it be..."
Zhang Yi, standing in the corner, seemed hesitant to speak. But under the group's expectant gazes, he shrank back and muttered, "Just a random thought. Keep brainstorming—it's probably not the password I'm thinking of."
Originally, Zhang Yi and Zhang Er weren't assigned to exploration.
But a few hours ago,
there were many heavy objects in the factory that needed moving, so Zhang Yi and Zhang Er were sent in.
"Finish your sentence."
Lao Zhu looked at Zhang Yi seriously: "This is a critical moment. Any idea, right or wrong, could give us inspiration."
"Well..."
Zhang Yi hesitated before continuing, "I saw the Wi-Fi password on the factory wall was eight 8s. Could it be that eight 8s is the diary's password?"
"Moreover, this factory director didn't climb to the top through his own abilities—he rode on his wife's coattails. Generally speaking, people who rise by luck tend to believe in fortune even more. The number 8 is considered quite auspicious, and his office is filled with lucky cats and money trees. I think the diary password might really be eight eights."
"Of course, the probability is too small. I know it's unlikely—just throwing it out there."
"Don't take it seriously."
"..."
Biao Zi fell silent, tilting his head to look at the faded notice on the wall beside them.
「WiFi Password: 88888888」.
Not very conspicuous.
But...
Would the factory director really make his diary password so blatantly public?
There were only two attempts left. If this one failed, they'd be down to their final chance—the one that would decide their fate.
He couldn't bring himself to make the call.
"Give it a try," Lao Zhu said softly. "I think Zhang Yi's guess has a decent chance."
"Alright."
Since everyone agreed, Biao Zi didn't argue further. Nervously clutching the diary, he carefully entered the password: eight eights.
The next moment—
"Click."
With a crisp sound, the diary unlocked.
(End of Chapter)