DTBS – Chapter 67
Chapter 67: Flashy and Colorful
When their eyes met, the two felt as if time had stopped. In each other's eyes, they saw their own disheveled appearance from being drenched in cold water.
They were very close. The long red string on their wrists was tangled, swaying back and forth, hit by the splashing water, just like their fluctuating heartbeats at this moment.
【What a romantic scene of the year. With these two people's looks and this live broadcast quality, any screenshot is wallpaper-worthy】
【I'm dying from shipping! I'm dying! This eye contact is killing me】
【The red string tied to their pulses, can they feel each other's heartbeat?】
【It's like diagnosing pulse with a thread, hahahaha】
【This variety show knows how to play, creating a suspension bridge effect?】
【Sea King Qiu, no!】
【Go, Sister Qiu, the love in your eyes is real. The close-up shot... it's making me emotional】
【? Something just pressed against my face】
【Milky white snow child, milky white snow child, censor, look carefully! Don't block randomly, my girlfriend is called Milky White and I'm called Snow Child!】
【What girlfriend snow white... oh, my bad】
"How do we escape?" Qin Qingshang asked, confused. "I don't seem to have any clues here to open the door."
"Go to my side?" Tao Qiuyun pointed to the ventilation duct. "It's a bit dangerous, but we can stand on the cabinet first, then you step on my shoulder, and I can help you up."
【Go! Step on her!】
【Let me see——】
【Isn't this unsafe?】
【Sister, don't listen to the Sea King! Maybe she'll take advantage of you】
【With Sister Qiu's looks, is she taking advantage?】
In the observation room, the director slammed the table and stood up. "Close the ventilation duct!"
This guest named Qiuyi completely ignored the script. God knows their hearts were in their throats when they saw her jump down.
They set that height precisely so the two of you wouldn't meet! And you still jumped!
In the end, she actually landed safely.
Are you lying about your profession? You're actually a street parkour runner!
Originally, this segment was designed for the guests to have a tragic ending. Other groups would also face the threat of one person dying, but they would choose who "dies" and who lives, while their group had a fixed plot.
After all, it's a romance variety show. It needs to build up tension before the sweet moments. It's about watching the guests slowly get closer. If they were sweet and loving from the start, why participate in a romance show? They might as well join a romantic travel show and feed everyone dog food every day!
But these two are something else. Their eyes are practically melting together with just a glance. Aren't you two getting familiar with each other a little too quickly?
Also, this is just a variety show game! Are you two getting too into character? No one is actually going to die!
He almost thought he was watching some kind of survival story for a young couple.
"The ventilation duct is closed," Qin Qingshang looked up. "Looks like the production team doesn't approve of our method."
The water had already reached their calves.
Tao Qiuyun waded through the water, looking around. "Did you find a door?"
"Here!" The little cat led the way.
Pulling back the curtain, there was a huge wall on the steps, but they could vaguely see an outline with a small keyhole. Tao Qiuyun compared it with the key she brought, finding it didn't match.
"There's actually such a strange-looking key?" Qin Qingshang stared at the key in her hand, curious.
"Want to see?" Tao Qiuyun handed her the key. "The lock on my side is specially made, the lock cylinder is quite complex."
Seeing the little cat curiously examining the key, Tao Qiuyun bent down to look at the door lock. "This lock seems very simple."
A bad premonition instantly surged in the observation room director's heart. The next moment, he heard that woman say:
"I think I can open it."
"Thump—"
"Someone! The director fainted! Help!" The production staff shouted.
"You can open it?" The little cat was shocked. "You can pick locks too?"
"Just a little bit. Luckily, I had my hair up." After saying that, Tao Qiuyun took off the two hairpins from her hair. "Is there a lighter here?"
"Yes." Qin Qingshang turned to get it for her.
Then, she saw Tao Qiuyun use two hairpins to open the door lock.
Little cat: Wow!
【? Learned something new】
【Just tried it in my dorm, sisters! This method really works, especially on simple padlocks, it opened right away (scared)】
【Help, I need to change to a combination lock】
【Sea King Qiu, you're getting more and more criminal!】
【I know, she's a key maker (dog head)】
"Replace it with the most difficult puzzle," the director struggled to get up. "Quick, quick, quick! Change it quickly. If they both escape as wife and wife, what about the other 'dead' guests! Give me a difficult problem! The most difficult one!"
The mechanism whirred...
When Tao Qiuyun and Qin Qingshang opened the door, they found another wall in front of them.
Is this a nesting doll situation?
However, this wall had six vertical and six horizontal lines...
"Is it Sudoku?" Qin Qingshang looked at the numbers on it, feeling a headache. "Ah, math, help! If all the questions on my side were related to math, I definitely wouldn't have solved them this quickly. I'll go get paper and a pen."
"No need for paper and pen," Tao Qiuyun stopped her, smiling. "The production team got lazy. This isn't their original puzzle. Coincidentally, I've seen the original version."
Director: ...
Don't save me this time, just let me lie here!
The little cat was impressed: "Tao... is it a template? Qiuqiu, you can even remember Sudoku? That's amazing!"
"This isn't Sudoku, Sudoku is a game," Tao Qiuyun explained to her. "This is a magic square, closer to mathematics, requiring calculation."
"Huh? What's a magic square?"
The woman looked at the numbers on the wall, her eyes scanning up and down. "I can explain it to you slowly later, but for now, let's solve the puzzle. After all, the water level is getting higher."
"Then just tell me briefly~" Qin Qingshang raised her hand and tugged at her sleeve, shaking it like she was acting spoiled.
The little cat was eager: "I really want to know, quickly! What exactly is a magic square?"
【Looked up what a magic square is, it's where every row, column, and diagonal adds up to the same number】
【Help, Sister Qin, you're so cute】
【Sea King Qiu has some skills】
"A magic square is also a grid," Tao Qiuyun explained while filling in the empty spaces with numbers. "For example, this sixth-order magic square is also a quadratic magic square. Besides every row, column, and diagonal adding up to 111, the sum of the squares of the numbers in the first and last rows is 3095, and the sum of the squares of the numbers in the first and last columns is 2047."
"Oh..." Qin Qingshang looked at the numbers she filled in, many of which were two-digit, and felt a headache. "Can you calculate all of these mentally?"
"No," Tao Qiuyun shook her head and chuckled softly. "It's just because this magic square is very special. I studied it for a while when I was younger, so I remember it quite clearly."
"Then you have a great memory!" Qin Qingshang exclaimed.
Hearing this, Tao Qiuyun lowered her gaze slightly...
Yes, her memory was excellent. Otherwise, how could she have missed someone for so many years, remembering even the smallest details of their time together so clearly?
However... perhaps it was also because their story was simply too short, which is why the beautiful moments were infinitely magnified, leaving such a vivid impression on her memory.
"Is there anything else special about it?" Qin Qingshang asked her. "Or is it just special because it's a quadratic magic square?"
"No, I just mentioned the first and last columns and the first and last rows," the woman turned to look at her. "If you remove the outer layer, you'll find that the inner four rows and four columns still form a fourth-order magic square."
Looking at the numbers Tao Qiuyun was filling in, Qin Qingshang silently calculated...
【Oh my goodness, it's true, the rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 74】
"It's true," the little cat said in surprise. "It's seventy-four!"
Seeing her interested, Tao Qiuyun added another point: "Not only that, this fourth-order magic square is also a perfect magic square, because the sum of every pan-diagonal is also seventy-four."
"Then what's a pan-diagonal?" The little cat's eyes were full of wisdom.
"...The door opened."
【Tell us, what's a pan-diagonal! Please tell us!】
【Speaking halfway, I curse your fish pond to never have a fish bite!】
【Sisters, I suggest you look it up yourselves, it's really hard to explain verbally】
【Doesn't anyone else think Sea King Qiu looks better without glasses? And the way she explained just now, she's so intellectual, I really love it!】
【Help, I know who she looks like, let's exchange secret codes: Red Snake】
【Ah ah ah ah ah ah Sister Qing!】
【Huh? What are you saying?】
【Hehehehehehehe I'm shipping them so hard!】
Tao Qiuyun led Qin Qingshang to successfully escape the secret room, completely disrupting the production team's plan. The director bit his handkerchief, tearfully revising the script.
"...That's how it is. Because your partner unfortunately fell into a deep sleep, they need to be awakened by a loving chant at sunrise." The host's voice was gentle.
But the guests fell silent in unison.
The "surviving" guests were Ding Yuyan, Wu Shenfeng, Ai Yi, and... Jiang Lihe.
【Hahahaha, help, go look at Brother Meng in the lounge, he's letting out a huge sigh of relief, I'm dying of laughter】
【Meng Wuzhong: Fortunately, I chose to sacrifice myself for others】
【Hahahahaha, it's really funny, Ming Siwen and Zhou Linwan also breathed a sigh of relief】
Yes, Ding Yuyan, who was forced to survive, felt suffocated. What was this loving chant? And she had to do it facing Screenwriter Bai? Why did it sound so terrifying?
Jiang Lihe's face was dark, wishing he had chosen to "die" back then.
He had to face a muscular man with chest muscles so developed they could burst through his clothes and... chant with love?
Why did he have to survive! It would have been better to just die!
How could anyone like watching this kind of thing! Are you trying to traumatize the audience?
Wu Shenfeng felt okay, though. Confessing to Sister Ming Siwen was an opportunity many people wanted but didn't have. Although the person he liked was Sister Qiuyi, it was still better than that pretentious guy confessing to a man.
Ai Yi also thought it was fine. After all, the person he had to confess to was a lesbian, so she definitely wouldn't be interested in him. He could just treat it as a game penalty, completely stress-free.
"Where are Qingshang and the others?" Ding Yuyan looked around, not seeing Tao Qiuyun and Qin Qingshang. "Haven't they come out yet?"
"Ah," Wu Shenfeng was a little sad. "Did Sister Qiu and Sister Qin... commit suicide together again?"
Just a few seconds after he finished speaking, Tao Qiuyun and Qin Qingshang walked out from a rotating wall nearby.
"This is ridiculous, this passage is quite long. Does the owner of this villa really like these mechanisms so much?" Qin Qingshang was complaining to Tao Qiuyun when she turned around and saw Ding Yuyan and the others.
"Sister Ding?" Qin Qingshang looked over. "You guys... where are the others?"
Tao Qiuyun wiped the water off her glasses and put them back on.
"Qingshang, Qiuyi!" Ai Yi waved. "You two actually both survived?"
"Can't everyone survive?" Tao Qiuyun frowned. "What happened on your side?"
Wu Shenfeng wouldn't miss any chance to talk to Tao Qiuyun and proactively said, "After the shield opened, I found Sister Ming and I were in the same room. After reading the background introduction, we learned we were locked up by a pervert and had to find a way to escape."
"We were solving the puzzle together just fine, but just as we opened the door to escape, a cloaked man suddenly appeared. He held a gun and said only one of us could leave."
He lowered his head, his tone slightly dejected: "Then Sister Ming immediately said she would die so I could live."
【Hahahaha, what are you dejected about? Your Sister Ming is having a great time cracking melon seeds in the lounge】
【Sister Ming is an old hand, she definitely knows there are benefits to 'dying'】
"You were all solving puzzles together from the start?" The little cat exclaimed. She looked at Tao Qiuyun, feeling a bit wronged: "Then why did the production team specifically separate us!"
After saying that, she realized she seemed too agitated and immediately corrected herself: "That wasted so much time. Is the production team deliberately retaliating against us for not drawing lots? There's foul play!"
The host received instructions from the director and explained: "The setting for Room 1 was like that. Originally, it was all up to luck, but since the guests chose to team up freely in the end, the room numbers were assigned according to the teaming order. The show is open and fair, there is no foul play, and no deliberate retaliation."
"Really?" The little cat was suspicious.
"Uh... Although Qiuyi and Qingshang survived, the more 'living' people performing the ritual, the better," the host said, biting the bullet and explaining the production team's new script. "So you two also need to take turns performing a loving chant to each other at sunrise, relying on the deep love between you to save your companions."
Tao Qiuyun: ?
Qin Qingshang: ?
Everyone else: ?
So what exactly does this loving chant mean?
This romance variety show is getting a bit too flashy!
The inspiration for the magic square part comes from an ancient artifact unearthed in 1956 at the site of the Yuan Dynasty Anxi Prince's Mansion in Xi'an, Shaanxi. It features this magic square, but uses Arabic numerals.
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