TTIG Chapter 32.2

Tang Che described rapidly while Tan Junwen found a blank piece of paper and began drawing on the back. This kind of spatial structure diagram, requiring only accurate line lengths, was quite simple for Tan Junwen.

 

He was an art student after all—his freehand lines were as straight as if drawn with a ruler, and his proportions were very precise.

 

The basement was quickly sketched, then they moved on to the first floor.

 

Fang Yinnian said: “The first floor has the living room, dining room, kitchen, study, and a maid’s room. Let’s calculate the area based on the 80×80 floor tiles.”

 

Tang Che stood up: “I’ll calculate it.”

 

Soon, Tang Che reported the length, width, and corridor dimensions of all first-floor rooms to Tan Junwen, who quickly drew the first-floor structure.

 

Then Tang Che went upstairs to calculate the second-floor dimensions: “Master bedroom 5×6 meters; secondary bedroom 5.2×5.2 meters, music studio 3.5×5 meters, corridor 1.5×5 meters, staircase occupies 2 square meters. Master and secondary bedrooms face south, studio faces north.”

 

Tan Junwen quickly completed the drawing and showed the three-level structural diagram to his teammates.

 

Then everyone discovered a very strange problem.

 

The three-dimensional spaces didn’t match up.

 

The basement was clearly almost 20 square meters smaller than the first floor.

 

Without the diagram, they couldn’t intuitively sense it, but after drawing it, the missing area caused all five of them great shock.

 

Fang Yinnian confidently said: “There’s a hidden room!”

 

Tang Che asked with confusion: “Junwen and I just searched the basement thoroughly, knocking and tapping all the walls, but we didn’t find any hidden compartments or mechanisms.”

 

Fang Yinnian said: “Because the mechanism is on the first floor.”

 

He quickly got up and rushed to the maid’s room.

 

Wealthy homeowners who live in villas often reserve a room for a live-in maid, so they weren’t surprised when they initially found the maid’s room on the first floor.

 

This small room connected to the kitchen and utility balcony, convenient for cooking and hanging laundry. However, the wooden bed had no sheets, and the wardrobe and bedside table were completely empty, suggesting no one lived there.

 

Precisely because the entire room was empty, Fang Yinnian had initially assumed that Allen had given the maid time off when secretly hosting his birthday party—after all, there were too many conflicting interests involved, and it wouldn’t be convenient for outsiders to know.

 

Or perhaps the villa hadn’t yet hired a maid?

 

The empty maid’s room offered no help in deducing the case.

 

Fang Yinnian rushed into the maid’s room and said: “Come help move this bed.”

 

Mo Xun and Fu Fei entered the maid’s room and together carried the wooden bed to the side. Fang Yinnian crouched down, tapping and knocking, and quickly heard a hollow “thud” sound.

 

Fang Yinnian’s expression brightened: “There really is a hidden compartment!”

 

Mo Xun said: “Let’s find where the mechanism is.”

 

Everyone searched the room, and Mo Xun looked up to see an electrical panel on the wall, suddenly having an inspiration: “Could it be here?”

 

The maid’s room was close to the kitchen, and this electrical panel obviously controlled the kitchen’s power. Normally, people wouldn’t randomly pull the circuit breaker, especially since in this escape room, scary NPCs would appear whenever the power went out.

 

However, Mo Xun turned on his flashlight and suddenly pulled down the circuit breaker.

 

The lights in the room went out.

 

BOOM—the sound of a mechanism opening clearly rang out.

 

Tang Che also had a flashlight and immediately shined it toward the source of the sound. Sure enough, the hidden compartment Fang Yinnian had found opened, revealing a staircase leading downward.

 

Viewers watching this were stunned.

 

[6666!]

 

[Damn, these idols are so smart?]

 

[A hidden compartment under the maid’s bed, with the circuit breaker linked to a hidden room switch—I never would have thought of that]

 

[This idol group has something special!]

 

[Epic plus, hidden rooms are really hard to find]

 

Mo Xun said: “You all stay here. Yinnian and I will go in and check.”

 

The two walked down the stairs with their flashlights on.

 

From above came Fu Fei’s scream: “Ahhh those monsters are back, damn it! What do we do? They’re all running this way!”

 

Mo Xun decisively said: “Turn on the lights.”

 

Tang Che said: “If you pull the circuit breaker, you’ll be trapped down there.”

 

Mo Xun said: “It’s fine, turn on the lights first to ensure your safety. After 5 minutes, activate the mechanism again, and Yinnian and I will hurry back up.”

 

Fu Fei had no choice but to push the circuit breaker. As the lights came on, the hidden compartment automatically closed, trapping Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian underground.

 

The two exchanged a glance and raised their flashlights to illuminate the room.

 

The hidden space was absolutely horrifying!

 

Blood stains covered the walls, floor, and even ceiling. The corpse lying on the ground was completely different from those they had found previously.

 

The skeleton’s hands and feet had been forcibly broken, with hardly an intact bone in the entire body. The leg bones were shattered, and the skull had several holes bashed into it, suggesting the victim had endured terrible torture and abuse before death.

 

Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun’s skin broke out in goosebumps.

 

In the empty room were a pile of ropes, a wooden structure resembling a gallows, a blood-covered knife, and a familiar teddy bear.

 

Fang Yinnian picked up the knife: “We found the murder weapon.”

 

Several birthday party victims had been stabbed through the heart, and the murder weapon they couldn’t find before was hidden here.

 

Looking at the brutal scene before him, Fang Yinnian frowned and said: “This victim is female, tied to the gallows with ropes and tortured to death.”

 

Mo Xun remarked grimly: “This kind of death suggests a deep, bitter hatred?”

 

Fang Yinnian walked around the room but found no other useful clues.

 

Mo Xun asked: “How do we explain this extra corpse?”

 

On the day of the birthday party, the male and female owners plus six guests totaled eight bodies, which they had already found.

 

Who was this additional skeletal victim in the basement?

 

Fang Yinnian temporarily set aside his questions: “Let’s go back first.”

 

The two walked to the stairs, and just as the agreed time arrived, Fu Fei activated the mechanism again. Mo Xun quickly grabbed Fang Yinnian’s wrist and they ran up.

 

Fu Fei hurriedly pushed the circuit breaker to turn the lights back on.

 

The five exchanged glances, and Fang Yinnian briefly described what they had seen in the hidden room. Tang Che asked in surprise: “Another body?”

 

Tan Junwen scratched his head with a pained expression: “Why is this getting more complicated?”

 

Fu Fei asked bewilderedly: “Does our previous deduction—that the murderer is Allen’s ex-girlfriend Catherine—still hold up?”

 

Fang Yinnian said: “We need to reorganize the information.”

 

He sat in the living room, carefully examining the jumbled materials before him: music scores, albums, photos, teddy bear…

 

Yes, the teddy bear.

 

The teddy bear found in the hidden room looked similar to the one from the second floor, but its eyes and body were covered in blood, making it look quite terrifying.

 

Fang Yinnian grabbed the blood-stained teddy bear and quickly tore it open.

 

It contained only cotton stuffing, with no other useful information.

 

All five fell silent, deep in thought.

 

After half a minute, Tang Che suddenly asked: “The body in the basement is female—can we determine her height?”

 

Fang Yinnian’s eyes lit up and he said: “We need to reassemble the female skeleton from the basement for comparison. If she’s the same height as the woman from the second-floor bedroom, then we can’t automatically assume the second-floor body belongs to Allen’s wife Nina. The case might take a dramatic turn!”

 

“…” Fu Fei’s face crumpled in distress. “Brother, you want to reassemble skeleton bones?”

 

“These aren’t real human bones,” Tan Junwen said with a smile. “They’re just made of material replicas. We have many such model skeletons at our art academy. The production team wouldn’t be trafficking human remains.”

 

Fu Fei certainly knew these weren’t real human remains. The production team wouldn’t use actual human bones for a variety show, but psychologically he still couldn’t calmly reassemble these skeletons! Didn’t they find it horrifying?

 

The brothers remained calm. Mo Xun beckoned: “Junwen, come, let’s move those bones to the first floor. Xiao Fei, help control the circuit breaker.”

 

Fu Fei reluctantly followed.

 

A moment later, the tortured and shattered bones were moved to the living room, and everyone reassembled them completely based on the other skeletons.

 

Tang Che said: “170cm, the same height as the second-floor victim.”

 

So, the two skeletons in the second-floor room, were they Allen and his wife? Or… Allen and his ex-girlfriend Catherine?

 

This inference gave them chills.

 

Catherine, whom they believed to be the murderer, might also be dead.

 

That’s why there were 9 bodies in the villa!

 

While Tang Che was measuring the skeleton’s height, Fang Yinnian was looking through the albums and drafts, his expression gradually becoming grave.

 

Mo Xun came over and sat beside him: “Any new discoveries?”

 

Fang Yinnian said: “We found 8 albums on the second floor, and the computer also has the complete tracks for 8 albums, but the handwritten drafts from the basement can only piece together 4 albums.”

 

The numbers don’t match, and this can’t be explained by “lost manuscripts.”

 

It must be hinting at something…

 

Fang Yinnian gently tapped his head with a pen, thinking carefully for a moment, then suddenly looked at Mo Xun and said: “These drafts very likely weren’t written by Allen, and the styles of these 8 albums are completely different.”

 

Fang Yinnian arranged the albums in order of their release years.

 

“The earliest album was released in 2000, the latest in 2008.”

 

“The earlier 4 albums are all folk music, while the later 4 albums have more diverse styles, covering R&B, rock, country music—I have a bold guess, the latter 4 albums might have been written by Catherine.”

 

“Huh?” Fu Fei’s mouth fell open. “Allen’s ex-girlfriend?”

 

“Don’t forget, they took a graduation photo together at the school gate, and his girlfriend also studied music,” Fang Yinnian said. “They were both top students at the Royal Academy of Music. If Allen could write songs, his girlfriend could too.”

 

“Suppose Allen had writer’s block, lacking inspiration and unable to write, so he had his girlfriend help him write, then published under his name?” Tang Che suddenly grasped the key point: “No wonder the manuscripts and albums don’t match—the manuscripts are Catherine’s?”

 

“Yes, Catherine must have loved him deeply. ‘Just for You’ was a song Catherine wrote for him. For her boyfriend’s success and fame, she always credited her works under his name. Allen gained both fame and fortune, becoming a well-known music producer in the industry. His status rose, and then he met Nina, the wealthy heiress,” Fang Yinnian said.

 

“Allen wanted to marry Nina, Catherine refused, and was silenced when she came to argue?” Fu Fei speculated.

 

“It’s not like that,” Fang Yinnian quickly refuted. “The basement of the villa has a separate suite, and the manuscripts were found there, indicating that this villa was Allen and Catherine’s residence.”

 

“Allen couldn’t write songs himself, so he definitely wouldn’t dare kill Catherine, his big meal ticket. He needed to keep his girlfriend around to continue leeching off her new works.”

 

“The two probably reached some agreement. It’s very likely that Allen married Nina for benefits but continued maintaining a romantic relationship with Catherine. Catherine still lived in this villa.”

 

“I understand now,” Mo Xun recalled the rooms on the second floor. “That’s why there are two locked rooms on the second floor—one master bedroom with wedding photos, and another secondary bedroom filled with couples’ items.”

 

“The secondary bedroom with the password related to ‘just for you’ was where Allen and Catherine lived together,” Fang Yinnian added. “The master bedroom password 12171116 was the combination of Allen and Nina’s birthdays, it was their marital bedroom.”

 

“…” His teammates were collectively speechless.

 

“What a messy situation!” Tan Junwen said, pressing his temple. “Juggling two relationships, with both lover and wife under the same roof—Allen was quite the scumbag.”

 

“That’s why he was killed,” Fu Fei snickered. “Along with a bunch of people who knew about it, wiped out at the birthday party. Serves them right!”

 

“The body with Allen in the secondary bedroom is actually Catherine,” Tang Che concluded. “The one tortured to death in the hidden room is Nina.”

 

“Nina discovered Catherine’s existence, killed her with a knife, and then Catherine’s family, knowing the truth, came back for revenge and killed everyone,” Fang Yinnian looked at Tang Che: “Is the maid the murderer?”

 

“She might be Catherine’s mother,” Tang Che said.

 

“That’s right, they had identical teddy bears,” Fang Yinnian said.

 

“…” The room fell silent.

 

After a moment, Fu Fei scratched his head: “If the murderer is the maid, then committing the crime would be convenient. She could tamper with the food at the birthday party.”

 

“I found a row of batteries in the kitchen at the time, thought they were for flashlights,” Tang Che said. “Dry batteries contain large amounts of heavy metals and [redacted], after soaking in water and using them for cooking, heavy metal poisoning can make people lose their ability to resist.”

 

Fang Yinnian gave Tang Che a thumbs up: “The maid bought batteries, opened them to soak in water, and tampered with the food while preparing the birthday dinner.”

 

The final puzzle was solved.

 

The maid used batteries, which are easily available in the market and wouldn’t arouse suspicion, to poison everyone—killing 8 people to avenge her daughter. Since Nina was the primary culprit in killing her daughter, she tied Nina in the basement and tortured her to death.

 

She must have infiltrated this villa for a long time, meticulously planning until she killed all those responsible for her daughter’s death at the birthday party.

 

Fang Yinnian said: “Next we need to find the maid’s name.”

 

He hadn’t paid attention to this clue initially, after all, the maid’s room was empty, and they had been deducing in the direction of a “crime of passion.”

 

As it turned out, Catherine, who they initially identified as the “murderer,” had already died tragically, and it was her family who came back for revenge.

 

Fortunately, Fang Yinnian interrupted when they were about to submit the answer, otherwise their incorrect deduction would have resulted in failure.

 

The five searched throughout the villa and finally found several contracts in a hidden compartment of the study desk drawer. Most were album production and copyright sale contracts, with a maid employment contract mixed in.

 

The maid was named Jane, a 48-year-old woman.

 

Mo Xun decisively said: “Let’s go, hurry.”

 

Everyone ran to the third floor and wrote down the answer.

 

The third-floor door opened with a creak, revealing an elevator. They entered, and it transported them back to the original game hall.

 

Joy simultaneously appeared in the five’s eyes—had they completed the challenge?

 

In the game hall, the spherical icon on the screen began rotating.

 

“Congratulations to FTM group for completing ‘Desperate Escape Room’ Episode 8 ‘The Cursed Music Castle’ in 1 hour and 26 minutes, with 100% clue collection. Perfect completion, breaking the ‘Desperate Escape Room’ fastest completion record!”

 

The five: “???”

 

What? They actually broke the record?!

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