99. The Wisest Person on the Entire Phantom Thief Team

"My head hurts so much... where am I?"

When White Fox opened her eyes, she found herself in a room no larger than thirty square meters.

A huge full-length mirror, a modest single bed, a dressing table, a writing desk piled high with books... it looked like a bedroom, yet not quite like a normal one.

For instance, the bloody painting on the wall, depicting a gigantic eye, was the sort of thing no sane person would ever hang in a bedroom.

"This is so strange. Why am I here?" White Fox tried to think it over, but could make no sense of anything.

"......"

While White Fox was still staring blankly at the situation before her, a hooded man wearing a theatrical mask slowly walked up beside her and began examining the eye painting from top to bottom.

"Aaah! You scared me!" White Fox's ears shot straight up, and she stumbled back two steps in alarm.

"......"

The masked man gave her a calm, almost unsurprised glance, then continued sweeping the room for clues.

Suddenly, a mechanical voice came from above their heads:

"Hey there, my dear contestants! Welcome to Underground Arena Number Thirty-Three! The theme of today's match is 'A Deadly Room Escape on the Brink of Death'!"

"If you were fortunate enough to watch the Thirty-Third Grand Arena Tournament, you may remember that its theme was 'Room Trials,' the only tournament in history to rely entirely on wit and intelligence!"

"Alas, that generation of contestants was rather lacking in brains. Almost none of them tried to solve the puzzles; they were too busy thinking about how to blow the door off its hinges. The final round's ratings even plunged below the lowest record in the series, so the organizers decided never again to hold any contest of intellect."

"But enough of that. To pass this trial, you must find the key through the clues in the room and escape successfully! Otherwise... heh heh heh~"

"In five minutes, the ceiling will begin to descend! Before you're crushed into paste, do your best to crack the puzzle, open the door, and fight your way to freedom!"

As the announcement ended, a five-minute countdown suddenly appeared on the electronic clock on the wall. The lights around them began to flicker as well, heightening the absurd and eerie atmosphere.

"Aaaah! Why does it have to be this kind of competition!" After hearing the explanation, White Fox's fur stood on end with anxiety.

Thinking about it carefully, she had not really "thought" for nearly ten years. Merely enduring the pain caused by explosions had already exhausted her.

If her attribute panel were displayed, it would probably look something like this:

[Basic Attributes: Strength 7, Constitution 8, Dexterity 6, Intelligence -1.5, Inspiration 5.5, Charisma 1]

Her intellect was that tragic. Generally speaking, if a character's Intelligence dropped below -3, they were basically no different from an idiot.

"Annoying, annoying! Just blow everything up and be done with it!"

With that, White Fox threw caution to the wind, yanked open the zipper of her leather jacket, and prepared to cut off her own arm.

But just then, the masked man placed a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to stop.

"Huh? What are you doing?" White Fox asked, baffled.

The masked man did not answer. Instead, he rushed over to the writing desk and began rummaging through the messy pile of books for something.

"What are you looking for?" White Fox tilted her head in confusion, her anxiety rising. "Shouldn't we be thinking about how to blow the door open?"

The masked man merely pointed at the countdown clock on the wall, then continued searching across the tabletop.

Following his gesture, White Fox finally noticed a small line of text beneath the countdown:

"Do you really think decent people keep diaries?"

"Huh?" White Fox's ears twitched in bewilderment. She could not make sense of what it meant.

The masked man, however, found a diary in the pile. Only three pages inside had anything written on them.

"August 1st... the first thing I do every morning is stand before the mirror and admire my peerlessly elegant face! Come to think of it, today is truly a wonderful day~"

The masked man could not help reading it aloud. His voice, somewhat alluring, drifted from beneath the mask.

"Oh? Did you find something good?" White Fox leaned over to look beside him, only to turn away with a troubled expression.

"Aaaah, I can't read a single word..."

The masked man ignored her and stroked his chin in thought. "Mirror... wonderful day..."

Then he walked over to the full-length mirror and examined it closely.

Whether by coincidence or not, he saw the wall calendar reflected in the mirror: 10.31

In an instant, the masked man slapped one fist into his palm and exclaimed in realization, "I see!"

"Huh? Why are you acting so jumpy?" White Fox stood there cluelessly, not knowing what to do.

In fact, the masked man had already noticed the calendar long ago, but what was written on it were four meaningless English letters: "IE.OI."

Only through the mirror's symmetrical reflection could he make out its true meaning.

With that, the masked man began reading the second page of the diary:

"August 2nd... where the hell did I put my money? It can't be in the safe, right? Come to think of it, the bed I've been sleeping on lately feels really hard, like an iron plate...?..."

He quickly deduced the meaning of the page and strode to the single bed in the bedroom, flipping the sheet aside in one motion.

Sure enough, beneath the sheet was a huge safe. The sheet hung all the way down to the floor, completely covering it, so without the diary's hint, it would have been impossible to notice its existence.

A combination lock sat on the safe. It looked like a six-digit code.

"Oh! My dear contestants, it seems you've already solved the first puzzle step!" the mechanical voice rang out again from overhead.

"But here's something you should know. This safe's combination lock only allows two attempts~ If you get the code wrong, then you'll have no choice but to try smashing the door open with brute force, ahahahahahaha!"

The masked man snorted in disdain and immediately began turning the safe's combination.

"Hey, don't just guess randomly!" White Fox was about to warn him, but he had already set the code to 821031 and pulled the switch.

With a crisp springing sound, the safe popped open.

"It really opened?" White Fox widened her eyes in surprise, her ears fluttering curiously.

Inside the safe sat only a glass bottle, a skimmer ladle, and a broken little knife.

Less than four minutes remained on the wall clock, yet the masked man showed no sign of panic at all. Silently, he put away the items and began the next round of puzzle solving.

"Ah... does that mean I have nothing to do?" Afraid of disturbing this master puzzler, White Fox could only sit on the floor and idly play with her own ears.